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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

About the domestic home video game market in 2023

The size of the home video game market* in 2023 was ¥ 267.49 billion (127.5% year-on-year) for hardware and ¥ 136.38 billion (82.6% year-on-year) for packaged software, for a total of ¥ 403.88 billion (107.8% year-on-year).

The hardware market exceeded the previous year's results for the fourth consecutive year and is the largest in the past decade. The top spot for annual unit sales was taken by the Nintendo Switch, which sold 4,063,000 units (total of the three models). The PlayStation 5 sold 2,587,000 units, more than double the previous year's figure, against the backdrop of an end to shortages. It secured the largest share in value terms, partly due to the impact of price revisions, contributing to the expansion of the market size.

In the packaged software market, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo / 12 May 2023 / Switch) topped the annual software ranking with 1,930,000 units sold.The Nintendo Switch's launch title, The Legend of Zelda. Breath of the Wild (Nintendo / 3 Mar 2017 / Switch), the long-awaited sequel to Breath of the Wild, is quickly closing in on the 2,264,000 total sales accumulated by that title.

In second place was Super Mario Bros Wonder (Nintendo / 20 October 2023 / Switch), which, together with third-placed Pikmin 4 (Nintendo / 21 July 2023 / Switch), made up the Top 3 for Nintendo titles. However, the packaged software market as a whole fell short of the previous year's line-up, which had three titles with over 2 million units, and was also affected by the development of digital distribution and the increase in basic fee-free games.

In 2024, the home video game market is expected to see a further boost from strong new titles such as Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix / scheduled for release on 29 February 2024 / PS5).

Market size comparison (unit: billion yen)​

2023 (53 weeks)​

• Hardware: 267.49 billion yen
• Packaged software: 136.38 billion yen
• Total: 403.88 billion yen

2022 (52 weeks)​

• Hardware: 209.78 billion yen
• Packaged software: 165.04 billion yen
• Total: 374.82 billion yen

Hardware​

Nintendo Switch​

• Manufacturer name: Nintendo
• Release date: 2017/3/3
• Estimated annual sales: 4,062,609
• Estimated cumulative sales: 31,786,656

PlayStation 5​

• Manufacturer name: Sony Interactive Entertainment
• Release date: 2020/11/12
• Estimated annual sales: 2,587,468
• Estimated cumulative sales: 4,964,857

Xbox Series X|S​

• Manufacturer name: Microsoft Japan
• Release date: 2020/11/10
• Estimated annual sales: 141,712
• Estimated cumulative sales: 540,107

PlayStation 4​

• Manufacturer name: Sony Interactive Entertainment
• Release date: 2014/2/22
• Estimated annual sales: 73,292
• Estimated cumulative sales: 9,491,059

Top 10 home game software sales in 2023​

1st place "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom"​

• Hardware: Switch
• Manufacturer: Nintendo
• Release date: 2023/5/12
• Estimated annual sales: 1,929,603
• Estimated cumulative sales: 1,929,603

2nd place ``Super Mario Bros. Wonder''​

• Hardware: Switch
• Manufacturer: Nintendo
• Release date: 2023/10/20
• Estimated annual sales: 1,549,401
• Estimated cumulative sales: 1,549,401

3rd place "Pikmin 4"​

• Hardware: Switch
• Manufacturer: Nintendo
• Release date: 2023/7/21
• Estimated annual sales: 1,119,027
• Estimated cumulative sales: 1,119,027

4th place ``Pokemon Scarlet Violet''​

• Hardware: Switch
• Manufacturer: Pokemon
• Release date: 2022/11/18
• Estimated annual sales: 907,432
• Estimated cumulative sales: 5,246,363

5th place "Momotaro Dentetsu World: The Earth Spins with Hope" ~"​

• Hardware: Switch
• Manufacturer: KONAMI
• Release date: 2023/11/16
• Estimated annual sales: 795,681
• Estimated cumulative sales: 795,681

6th place "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe"​

• Hardware: Switch
• Manufacturer: Nintendo
• Release date: 2017/4/28
• Estimated annual sales: 617,223
• Estimated cumulative sales: 5,631,598

7th place "Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe"​

• Hardware: Switch
• Manufacturer: Nintendo
• Release date: 2023/2/24
• Estimated annual sales: 514,581
• Estimated cumulative sales: 514,581

8th place "Dragon Quest Monsters 3: Journey of the Demon Prince and the Elf"​

• Hardware: Switch
• Manufacturer: Square Enix
• Release date: 2023/12/1
• Estimated annual sales: 510,477
• Estimated cumulative sales: 510,477

9th place "Splatoon 3"​

• Hardware: Switch
• Manufacturer: Nintendo
• Release date: 2022/9/9
• Estimated annual sales: 503,312
• Estimated cumulative sales: 4,191,126

10th place "Super Mario RPG"​

• Hardware: Switch
• Manufacturer: Nintendo
• Release date: 2023/11/17
• Estimated annual sales: 447,687
• Estimated cumulative sales: 447,687

2023年ゲームソフト&ハード販売数が公開。『ゼルダの伝説 ティアキン』が首位を獲得 | ゲーム・エンタメ最新情報のファミ通.com

2024年1月12日、ファミ通調べによる2023年ゲームソフト・ハード売上データが公開。『ゼルダの伝説　ティアーズ オブ ザ キングダム』が年間ソフトランキング首位を獲得し、ハード市場はNintendo Switchが販売台数トップを記録した。

www.famitsu.com

 

[Fake]

Nintendo don't take hostages I see. Not a single playstation game in their top 10.

 

[daclynk]

Nintendo has now dominated Japan game sales for 19 consecutive years​

Nintendo right now:

 

[AJUMP23]

Does anyone else in Japan sell games?

I guess FF16 did not hit in Japan.

 

[Physiognomonics]

Does anyone else in Japan sell games?

I guess FF16 did not hit in Japan.

Exactly. There was a new and genuine final fantasy game after FF15?

 

[daclynk]

Super Mario RPG in top 10 over FFXVI on powerful NEW hardware

 

[Duchess]

Nintendo really knew what they were doing when they made the Switch.

They clearly noticed the trend of people playing games on the go, on their phones, so decided to make a console that could double as a home and mobile device.

Makes me think that Switch 2 will actually be a bigger hit than the first.

 

[Pelta88]

Over on Era, XB is beasting in Japan. They even a thread dedicated to it where they ban people for suggesting otherwise.

 

[nial]

FFVII Rebirth is pretty much the one made for the Japanese audience.

 

[Woopah]

Great to see the market continuing to grow, especially after reading multiple times about how "Japan market is dead" or 'doesn't care about home consoles".

Does anyone else in Japan sell games?

I guess FF16 did not hit in Japan.

Nintendo has been the biggest publisher in Japan for about 2 decades I think.

Nintendo really knew what they were doing when they made the Switch.

They clearly noticed the trend of people playing games on the go, on their phones, so decided to make a console that could double as a home and mobile device.

Makes me think that Switch 2 will actually be a bigger hit than the first.

I don't think it has anything to do with smartphones. People were playing games on the go long before that.

 

[SJRB]

Over on Era, XB is beasting in Japan. They even a thread dedicated to it where they ban people for suggesting otherwise.

 

[StereoVsn]

All the games seemed reasonable for most part considering the market. Although I am kind of curious now what the heck are PS5 users playing since software doesn’t seem to sell well.

Anyways, what the heck is this:

5th place "Momotaro Dentetsu World: The Earth Spins with Hope" ~"​

Seems some weird Animal Crossing or a board game of some sort.

 

[LordOcidax]

Switch just dropping 15% in their 7 year is mind blowing. Amazing year for Sony. Peak year for the PS5 in Japan?

 

[Woopah]

All the games seemed reasonable for most part considering the market. Although I am kind of curious now what the heck are PS5 users playing since software doesn’t seem to sell well.

Anyways, what the heck is this:

5th place "Momotaro Dentetsu World: The Earth Spins with Hope" ~"​

Seems some weird Animal Crossing or a board game of some sort.

It does play basically like a board game, and is a franchise created by Hudson Soft back in thr 80s.

It took advantage of how popular local multiplayer games are on the Switch. The previous one did over 3.5 million in Japan.

 

[Saber]

Totally deserved. Nintendo release games, no drama, no social crap and no bad practices. Only the good stuff, simple as that.

 

[Ibara]

How are there still after so many years this many people who need to buy the Wii u Mario kart game

 

[Hudo]

More like Nintendomination.

 

[Fake]

Does anyone else in Japan sell games?

I guess FF16 did not hit in Japan.

Is a more western focused FF, so I quite not expected either to hit on Japan.

Maybe the remake sequel can hit.

 

[LakeOf9]

FF16 not being in the top ten makes me so happy

Other than that, it's good for Nintendo I guess but no market should be so dependant on just one platform. I hope PS5 starts putting up more of a fight.

 

[Woopah]

Switch just dropping 15% in their 7 year is mind blowing. Amazing year for Sony. Peak year for the PS5 in Japan?

I reckon 2023 will be the peak year yes. Unless 2015 gets KH4 and a price drop, as well as MH Wilds.

 

[foamdino]

Apparently PS5 is selling at PS2 levels in Japan:

 

[LakeOf9]

Apparently PS5 is selling at PS2 levels in Japan:

Now if only it was also actually selling, you know, games

 

[HeWhoWalks]

Totally deserved. Nintendo release games, no drama, no social crap and no bad practices. Only the good stuff, simple as that.

Outside of the whiny circles of the internet, most people don’t give a shit about any “social crap”. They buy the games they like. Hogwarts faced “boycotts”? How did that turn out? People didn’t give a fuck.

Sony also just posted the best year for PlayStation in Japan since 2004. They’re clearly doing something right and deserve their accolades as well.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Apparently PS5 is selling at PS2 levels in Japan:

PS2 levels and not a single PS5 game made the top ten?

Maybe it just means it did better than PS3/PS4.

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

Nintendo don't take hostages I see. Not a single playstation game in their top 10.

Did you somehow miss the install base difference?

All Nintendo has to do is have their worst-selling game for the year sell to over 1% of their user base which exceeds ~10% of the PS5 user base.

Having said that though its kinda shocking that this means FF16 didn't even break 450k sales in Japan.

 

[Robb]

Nintendo Switch​

• Manufacturer name: Nintendo
• Release date: 2017/3/3
• Estimated annual sales: 4,062,609
• Estimated cumulative sales: 31,786,656

Top 10 home game software sales in 2023​

1st place "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom"​

• Hardware: Switch
• Manufacturer: Nintendo
• Release date: 2023/5/12
• Estimated annual sales: 1,929,603
• Estimated cumulative sales: 1,929,603

2nd place ``Super Mario Bros. Wonder''​

• Hardware: Switch
• Manufacturer: Nintendo
• Release date: 2023/10/20
• Estimated annual sales: 1,549,401
• Estimated cumulative sales: 1,549,401

3rd place "Pikmin 4"​

• Hardware: Switch
• Manufacturer: Nintendo
• Release date: 2023/7/21
• Estimated annual sales: 1,119,027
• Estimated cumulative sales: 1,119,027

4th place ``Pokemon Scarlet Violet''​

• Hardware: Switch
• Manufacturer: Pokemon
• Release date: 2022/11/18
• Estimated annual sales: 907,432
• Estimated cumulative sales: 5,246,363

5th place "Momotaro Dentetsu World: The Earth Spins with Hope" ~"​

• Hardware: Switch
• Manufacturer: KONAMI
• Release date: 2023/11/16
• Estimated annual sales: 795,681
• Estimated cumulative sales: 795,681

6th place "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe"​

• Hardware: Switch
• Manufacturer: Nintendo
• Release date: 2017/4/28
• Estimated annual sales: 617,223
• Estimated cumulative sales: 5,631,598

7th place "Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe"​

• Hardware: Switch
• Manufacturer: Nintendo
• Release date: 2023/2/24
• Estimated annual sales: 514,581
• Estimated cumulative sales: 514,581

8th place "Dragon Quest Monsters 3: Journey of the Demon Prince and the Elf"​

• Hardware: Switch
• Manufacturer: Square Enix
• Release date: 2023/12/1
• Estimated annual sales: 510,477
• Estimated cumulative sales: 510,477

9th place "Splatoon 3"​

• Hardware: Switch
• Manufacturer: Nintendo
• Release date: 2022/9/9
• Estimated annual sales: 503,312
• Estimated cumulative sales: 4,191,126

10th place "Super Mario RPG"​

• Hardware: Switch
• Manufacturer: Nintendo
• Release date: 2023/11/17
• Estimated annual sales: 447,687
• Estimated cumulative sales: 447,687

 

[foamdino]

Does Famitsu track digital games or are these just physical?

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

Now if only it was also actually selling, you know, games

PS2 levels and not a single PS5 game made the top ten?

Maybe it just means it did better than PS3/PS4.

Dumb...

NSW has a userbase of 31M. Its best-selling game for the year sold about 2M. Thats around 7% of its entire user base.

PS5 has an install base of 4.9M. 7% of that is ~400k. Why should you expect the PS5 to be selling at over 3-4x the rate that NSW sells games in relation to their respective install bases? Cause that is what it would have to do to make the top 10. Even if the PS5 best selling game sells as well as the NSW best-selling game percentage-wise in relation to their install base, that game on the pS5 will still not break 400K sales.

 

[Walter Matthau]

Does Famitsu track digital games or are these just physical?

Physical only which includes hardware bundles that come with a select game.

 

[Gaelyon]

How are there still after so many years this many people who need to buy the Wii u Mario kart game

It's the same people that still buy GTAV

 

[Kerotan]

Massive growth year for the PS5. kinda shocked Xbox dropped so much.

 

[Orbital2060]

Hardware numbers are meaningless without software sales. Third parties dont make royalties on hw sold.

Maybe C Celine or someone else with knowledge can explain, but sw sales for Sony have been on a 20-year downward slope, and still dropping as of last year. I havent followed the threads on IB much this year.

But some software numbers for PlayStation in Japan would be a constructive addition to the conversation.

 

[Woopah]

Dumb...

NSW has a userbase of 31M. Its best-selling game for the year sold about 2M. Thats around 7% of its entire user base.

PS5 has an install base of 4.9M. 7% of that is ~400k. Why should you expect the PS5 to be selling at over 3-4x the rate that NSW sells games in relation to their respective install bases? Cause that is what it would have to do to make the top 10. Even if the PS5 best selling game sells as well as the NSW best-selling game percentage-wise in relation to their install base, that game on the pS5 will still not break 400K sales.

When people talk about low software sales for PS5 in Japan, it's not because they are below those of the Switch, but because they are below those of the PS3 and PS4 (possibly below Vita and Wii U as well).

If FF16 sold as well as FF15, it would have been 5th on this list. It was completely possible for it to be in the top 10.

 

[LakeOf9]

Dumb...

NSW has a userbase of 31M. Its best-selling game for the year sold about 2M. Thats around 7% of its entire user base.

PS5 has an install base of 4.9M. 7% of that is ~400k. Why should you expect the PS5 to be selling at over 3-4x the rate that NSW sells games in relation to their respective install bases? Cause that is what it would have to do to make the top 10. Even if the PS5 best selling game sells as well as the NSW best-selling game percentage-wise in relation to their install base, that game on the pS5 will still not break 400K sales.

PS4 in 2016 had fewer consoles sold and was selling more games consistently

Switch in 2017 and 2018 (years where it had less consoles sold than PS5 does right now) sold more games consistenly

The Vita and Wii U, which were utter and dismal bombs in Japan, sold more software than PS5

The PS5's install base is not the problem, multiple consoles have had install bases lower than that, and the PS5 itself is actually selling well when it comes to hardware. No one simply seems to want to buy games for it.

That is the problem. Sony needs to fix it.

 

[Mr Moose]

PS2 levels and not a single PS5 game made the top ten?

Maybe it just means it did better than PS3/PS4.

The power of 32 million console sales.

 

[Banjo64]

Did you somehow miss the install base difference?

All Nintendo has to do is have their worst-selling game for the year sell to over 1% of their user base which exceeds ~10% of the PS5 user base.

Having said that though its kinda shocking that this means FF16 didn't even break 450k sales in Japan.

Dumb...

NSW has a userbase of 31M. Its best-selling game for the year sold about 2M. Thats around 7% of its entire user base.

PS5 has an install base of 4.9M. 7% of that is ~400k. Why should you expect the PS5 to be selling at over 3-4x the rate that NSW sells games in relation to their respective install bases? Cause that is what it would have to do to make the top 10. Even if the PS5 best selling game sells as well as the NSW best-selling game percentage-wise in relation to their install base, that game on the pS5 will still not break 400K sales.

It’s not an impossible task. Below are the figures for 2017 (Switch released in March 2017). Consider the difference in install base PS4 vs Switch. With the right software they could easily crack this list

Next, the Top 10 best-selling games in Japan in 2017 (physical + download cards, but no digital):

1. [3DS] Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon (The Pokémon Company): 2 003 607 (2 003 607)
2. [NSW] Splatoon 2 (Nintendo): 1 752 096 (1 752 096)
3. [3DS] Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (Square-Enix): 1 744 603 (1 744 603)
4. [3DS] Monster Hunter XX (Capcom): 1 684 991 (1 684 991)
5. [PS4] Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (Square-Enix): 1 336 680 (1 336 680)
6. [NSW] Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo): 1 324 280 (1 324 280)
7. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo): 1 103 744 (1 103 744)
8. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo): 688 044 (688 044)
9. [3DS] Pokémon Sun and Moon (The Pokémon Company): 576 506 (3 822 728)
10. [3DS] Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo): 423 073 (1 166 461)

And here’s the best-selling consoles in Japan in 2017:

1. Nintendo Switch – 3 407 158 (3 407 158)
2. PlayStation 4 – 1 935 247 (5 856 863)
3. Nintendo 3DS – 1 827 131 (23 738 544)
4. PlayStation Vita – 396 207 (5 643 626)
5. Xbox One – 14 644 (87 592)

 

[Luminoth-4545]

Apparently PS5 is selling at PS2 levels in Japan:

Best selling Playstation home console in a calendar year since 2004. Reposted from the famitsu thread:

Sony Hardware yearly Japan sales

Nintendo Platforms yearly Japanese sales

 

[blackjon24]

Ps5 software has to be doing much better digitally right? If you followed Elden Ring's sales in japan you would have thought it didn't do so well and then namco announced that it sold a million in japan alone. Hopefully this indicates that the software situation isn't as dire as it looks for playstation and the fans there are just buying things digitally

 

[Saber]

Outside of the whiny circles of the internet, most people don’t give a shit about any “social crap”.

Wasn't talk about the people outside. Talking about inside, meaning devs. Devs at Nintendo want to bring fun and engaging gameplay and interesting ideas. No social crap, no drama, just games. And for whatever reason you put Sony on discussion when I'm talking about Nintendo.

 

[HeWhoWalks]

Wasn't talk about the people outside. Talking about inside, meaning devs. Devs at Nintendo want to bring fun and engaging gameplay and interesting ideas. No social crap, no drama, just games. And for whatever reason you put Sony on discussion when I'm talking about Nintendo.

Because Nintendo isn’t the only company wanting to do that. Or doing that. Other companies are also about bringing fun, engaging, interesting, unique experiences out.

The “drama /social crap” is a personal issue.

 

[Woopah]

Ps5 software has to be doing much better digitally right? If you followed Elden Ring's sales in japan you would have thought it didn't do so well and then namco announced that it sold a million in japan alone. Hopefully this indicates that the software situation isn't as dire as it looks for playstation and the fans there are just buying things digitally

Some of those Elden Ring sales would have been on PC.

Generally if you take the PS5 physical sales and double them you will roughly the total physical sales. But it will be different for each game.

 

[Saber]

Because Nintendo isn’t the only company wanting to do that. Or doing that. For that matter, neither is Sony.

And since when I talked about Sony? I'm praising Nintendo, if anyone is putting Sony into the mix is because of their console warrring.

 

[HeWhoWalks]

And since when I talked about Sony? I'm praising Nintendo, if anyone is putting Sony into the mix is because of their console warrring.

Uh, no. It is because Nintendo isn’t the only one bringing out those kinds of experiences.

That was my point. Sony is an example, not the only example.

 

[Saber]

Uh, no. It is because Nintendo isn’t alone when mentioning what you mentioned.

I don't care, I was talking about Nintendo. If you feel insulted because I didn't talk about Sony thats not my problem.

 

[HeWhoWalks]

I don't care, I was talking about Nintendo. If you feel insulted because I didn't talk about Sony thats not my problem.

You clearly don’t get it, but it’s all good. I’m cool to agree to disagree.

 

[systemr123]

Massive growth year for the PS5. kinda shocked Xbox dropped so much.

 

[Walter Matthau]

Dumb...

NSW has a userbase of 31M. Its best-selling game for the year sold about 2M. Thats around 7% of its entire user base.

PS5 has an install base of 4.9M. 7% of that is ~400k. Why should you expect the PS5 to be selling at over 3-4x the rate that NSW sells games in relation to their respective install bases? Cause that is what it would have to do to make the top 10. Even if the PS5 best selling game sells as well as the NSW best-selling game percentage-wise in relation to their install base, that game on the pS5 will still not break 400K sales.

I have no opinion on the current state of PS5 software sales in Japan and if they're good or bad, but this logic is flawed. Install bases can only increase over time, but engagement declines significantly in the twilight years of a console's lifespan. Trying to create some universal ratio off of some aged console doesn't really work.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

he size of the home video game market* in 2023 was ¥ 267.49 billion (127.5% year-on-year) for hardware and ¥ 136.38 billion (82.6% year-on-year) for packaged software, for a total of ¥ 403.88 billion (107.8% year-on-Year

If I see the numbers correctly that is actually a growth of 7.8%, not 107.8%. Very strange way to report it.

 

[Woopah]

If I see the numbers correctly that is actually a growth of 7.8%, not 107.8%. Very strange way to report it.

Not sure if that is a Japan thing, or just a Famitsu thing.

 

[Kerotan]

I was sure Xbox would grow this year.