Nintendo dominates sales in 2023 in Japan, no one has stopped it since the days of PSP and PS2

The Japanese newspaper Famitsu has published its annual report on sales of games and videogame hardware Japanese. The data confirms that Nintendo dominates the nation Once again

Precisely, Nintendo Switch is the best-selling console in Japan in 2023 with 4.8 million units bringing the console close to 32 million on Japanese soil. According to data from Famitsu, in the last 19 years only once Nintendo did not get the number one position, which is when PSP was the flagship console. For the rest, DS, 3DS and Switch have always been the best-selling platforms.

PS5 sold 2.6 million units in 2023 (4,964,857 total sales since release), a growth of 124% compared to the previous year: this is a consequence of the fact that in 2022 there were still stock limits caused from COVID. Xbox Series X | S instead stops at 141,712 units, down 47% compared to the previous year. PS4 reaches 73,292 units, with total sales in Japan amounting to 9,491,059 million.

Best-selling games

As for the software side, in 2004 eight out of ten games were from PS2, but since then most of the games in the annual Japanese Top 10 have been from Nintendo. In 2023, the entire ranking is Switch themed (total sales in brackets, if the game is not released in 2023):

1. The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom (Switch) – 1,929,603
2. Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Switch) – 1,549,401
3. Pikmin 4 (Switch) – 1,119,027
4. Pokémon Scarlet & Violet (Switch) – 907,432 (5,246,363)
5. Momotaro Dentetsu World (Switch) – 795,681
6. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – (Switch) 617,223 (5,631,598)
7. Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe (Switch) – 514,581
8. Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince (Switch) – 510,477
9. Splatoon 3 (Switch) – 503,312 (4,191,126)
10. Super Mario RPG (Switch) – 447,687