They won’t have escaped your attention: in this part of the world, calendar renewal will make it possible to keep the accounts and discover that the Switch has once again dominated the year 2021.
As every year, the famous weekly Famitsu has compiled the archipelago’s hardware and software charts just to do the accounting and award the crown to the best builder. You have probably already seen it coming: Nintendo has sold its Switch millions of times this year and won the bet again.
Full box (s)
This means that the most portable console on the market climbs to number one on the hardware charts: With 5,381,073 million switches sold (including the Classic, Lite and OLED versions), Nintendo remains number 1 in Japan. While the beauty is soon celebrating its fifth birthday, sales have fallen by 10% compared to the record for 2020 of 5.9 million.
Unsurprisingly, Sony ranks second and third, as we find the PlayStation 5 and 4 with 942,798 and 103,786 consoles sold, respectively. We can bet that if the semiconductor shortage had not marked the year 2021 with its seal, the Japanese manufacturer could undoubtedly have exceeded the symbolic mark of one million units. Sony had recently revised its targets downwards and is now hoping to ship 14.8 million PS5s in the current fiscal year, compared to 16 million previously.
With 95,598 Xbox Series X and S sold in Japan, Microsoft logically inherits fourth place, and retains its place as an eternal underdog among Japanese players.
10/10, thank you, you’re welcome, goodbye ladies and gentlemen
Hence, it is not difficult to imagine what the top 10 best physical sales will look like, because 2021 will also have been dominated by the Nintendo console, which, as in 2020, places seven of its games among the winners:
- Monster Hunter Rise (Switch)
- Sparkling Diamond / Sparkling Pearl Pokémon (Switch)
- Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa mo Teiban! (Change): 1,233,023
- Super Mario 3D World + Bowsers Fury (Switch)
- Ring Fit Adventure (Switch)
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch)
- Animal Crossing New Horizons (Switch)
- Minecraft (switch)
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch): 560.122
- Mario Party Superstars (Switch)
This is sure to put some industry analysts into perspective in terms of Nintendo’s recurring imminent death or the absolute need to get a new model out quickly. With repeated boxes (and records) of titles, some of which are from 2014, we imagine that CEO Shuntaro Furukawa has to look to the future with a certain calm.
