Japanese Charts: Splatoon 3 Closes In On 3 Million Copies Sold

Not bad opening numbers for Taiko. Glad DQXO is chugging along.

"For a game that caused many to question the validity of its own existence..."

Nice use of weasel words to pretend your own skepticism is common. Evidently, there are "many" that don't share it.

Kinda cool seeing Xbox finally, albeit slowly, getting some foothold in Japan.

That's because it's brilliant, barely touched story mode been enjoying online to much

@IronMan30 I'd argue that questioning the validity of a video game's existence is not even skepticism - the more fitting term would be "pretentious boredom".

Wow the fact that the Xbox Series S beat the PS5 DE, Switch Lite, Xbox Series X, New 2DS, and PS4 is impressive. That's five platforms it dominate over, usually Xbox hardware doesn't do this well in the Land of the Rising Sun. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo should be worry a new player is coming against them.

@nhSnork fair, I guess I am being generous by even using that term.

If anything screams new Nintendo hardware next year, it's these charts. You have to listen very closely. Go on, put your ear up to the screen. DO IT!

It was reported Japan sold over 3.5 Million in just the first 3 days (both P/D) it might not have reached 3 Million physical but it's common knowledge it reached over 3 Million sales

@IronMan30,

What a shocker, niche views are indeed niche views.

@RubyCarbuncle I got that one first try, the angle shooter one tho... 😓

Keep in mind thats just physical. Its probably over 4 million when digital is also includeeld.

@Serpenterror that’s most likely the effect of it being the most affordable and most available next-gen console, plus I’m sure many people who would still buy a switch are waiting for either the Pokémon edition or holding out for a possible Zelda edition. Taking those into account, I think the Series S still has a long, uphill climb

@GrailUK
I tried doing what you said, but all I got was strange looks from family members, as I smashed the family iPad up against my ear.

Series s not beating playstation this week? Wonder if certain sites will conveniently not report this.

@blindsquarel Then my work here is done. Until next time.

Splatoon 3 sales are fully deserved, been playing a lot over the the last 10 days and won the recent splat fest as a ruler+1, looking forward to the inevitable Halloween splat fest, I wonder what the options will be?

Just need them to fix the connection errors and hope they support the game with regular new maps and weapons for longer than a year

Is this chart only for physical copies? I thought they sold 3.75 million in the first week.

If so - what are total sales - or do we not know?

This game rubs me the wrong way and the characters are obnoxious, that’s why i didn’t buy it

@GrailUK yep, these sales are dire for Nintendo. New hardware is desperately needed.

@23BFahey3, yes these are retail/physical only. Nintendo issued a press release saying that Splatoon3 sold 3.45 million copies both digital and physical in its first 3 days in Japan only.

The article should say 'Closing in on 3 million retail (or physical) sales in Japan' to be more accurate.

Given that in we can deduce that in the first week Splatoon3 sold about 1.5 million copies digitally I think it's fair to say sales in Japan are now somewhere between 4.5- 5.0 million total.

"Reckon Splatoon 3 will pass 3 million copies sold in Japan by next week? Share your predictions in the comments below!"

It already did. Nintendo's press release stated that in the first 3 days Splatoon3 sold 3.45 million both retail and digital.

Therefore, the question should be if Splatoon3 will sell 3 million retail next week.

@IronMan30 There were a TON of people here questioning why the game exists before it came out. It was getting really annoying to see on every single article about it. It's definitely not just the author of this article that felt that way. Obviously, he and everyone else have been proven wrong haha

Smash Ultimate is so close to 5 million sold in Japan alone! Come on guys, just a little more!

@GrailUK Sorry I can’t hear anything over the roar of my launch switch as it tries to push age of calamity is dynamic frame rates higher.

@IronMan30 It's clear they don't like money.

@Ryall SORRY, WHAT?

Microsoft should just hire a talented studio to remake Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. Its a company that is bleeding financially for over 20 years in Japan but still havent given up. Lol guess its kinda starting to pay off. Not that they will see profit anytime soon but they got a presence there now

Splatoon 3 isn't perfect, but I feel like it's one of those games where the benefits truly outweighed the flaws. That's not even mentioning how Nintendo seems a lot more active in addressing issues with this game compared to most of their other games.

@Anti-Matter
I'm curious, because I've seen you around Nintendo Life articles here and there. What Nintendo games do you happen to like (besides Animal Crossing)?

@PepperMintRex
Yes. I believe Nintendo's collaborations with Microsoft massively helped Japan understand the market for Xbox and start riding on the train as well. That's also not to mention how Sony doesn't seem to be paying as much attention to the Japanese audience as they did with the PS4.

With these numbers I don't even think we will get a new Switch before 2025.

"For a game that caused many to question the validity of its own existence"

lol I think "many" is a stretch. Also, why would I care to see Xbox do well in Japan? Am I the only one here who doesn't give a crap about that?

Splatoon in 3 weeks outsold the ps5. And people think that Xbox is making headway in Japan.

@ModdedInkling
I prefer 3rd party games than 1st party games actually despite I have some interest with certain 1st party games.

After ACNH, the 1st party games I have interest about such as ARMS , Miitopia , Tomodachi Life , 1-2-Switch, Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival , Mii games on Wii (Wii Sports, Wii Party, Wii Music, etc).
These are the 1st party games that most peoples here have low interest but I have more interest with them.

I have some interest with certain Mario games, Kirby games, Starfox games, Pokemon games but I have low hype with these games than the 1st party games I typed above so I have tendency to finish those games very slow or very infrequently.

I have zero interest with 1st party games such as zelda games, xenoblade games, splatoon games, metroid games as I don't see the appeal from those games and to see a lot of peoples liking these games when I completely dislike them, it started to annoy me.

@BFahey3 Yes this chart is physical only. Splatoon 3 sold 3.45 million first week. With digital it should be over 4.5 million by now since it had a over 40% digital ratio in it's first week.

@Anti-Matter People like different things, there's no reason to be annoyed by that. For instance games like GTA, Fortnite, Minecraft, and Call of Duty are as huge as ever, but they don't interest me in the slightest. And that's fine, I understand their appeal but they are not for me, and there's an ocean of games I can enjoy and have a great time with, the same goes for you.

Kirby ATFL has fallen off the top 10 list for the first time. At least it hit 900k physical sales in Japan alone (easily over a million if you count digital).

Such is the Power of Nintendo and Splatoon!

@Anti-Matter
It's definitely okay to have your own opinions, but I'm not sure if it's ever necessary to even go out of your way to continue to express that, as if people want to hear that multiple times. If you are annoyed by it, it's probably just better to avoid it as a whole than be expressive, especially when some people can see it as hostile.

@IronMan30 “many” - a microcosm of gaming enthusiasts on niche sites and YouTube channels. Barely 0.0001% of the buying public but make a racket.