The Japanese annual video games sales chart – Year 2023

In 2023 – from December 26, 2022, to December 31, 2023, to be precise – the full quantity of income generated from boxed video games and {hardware} mixed in Japan was ¥403.8 billion ($2.7 billion). This is a rise of seven.8% in comparison with ¥384.6 billion ($2.5 billion) grossed within the yr earlier than.

It comes as no shock that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was the number-one promoting title of 2023 within the area, with over 1.9 million bodily retail items bought. What makes this achievement all of the extra spectacular is that the newest recreation was solely launched in Might.

The Zelda franchise is fashionable worldwide however no extra so than in Japan. In actual fact, the favored action-adventure video games are one in every of solely a handful of video games to ever obtain a number of good scores from Famitsu evaluations.

In second place, and proper behind Zelda was Tremendous Mario Bros Marvel. The side-scrolling platformer bought over 1.5 million bodily copies in simply three quick months, because it was solely launched on October 20, 2023. These first-rate gross sales figures present that each franchises are nonetheless simply as fashionable as ever all these years later.

Within the No. 3 place was Pikmin 4, promoting over 1.1 million copies. In fourth place was Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, with mixed gross sales of simply over 900,000 copies. And rounding out the highest 5 was Momotaro Dentetsu World: The Earth Spins With Hope, which loved a considerable enhance in gross sales in December and comfortably beat out Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to the No. 5 spot.

It’s attention-grabbing to notice that each title that made it into the highest 10 in Japan in 2023 had been for the Nintendo Change platform. Seven out of the ten video games had been even immediately revealed by Nintendo.

Talking of the Nintendo Change, the versatile console was as soon as once more the top-selling system in Japan this previous yr when it comes to {hardware} gadgets. Total, greater than 2.8 million had been bought, with the Nintendo Change OLED model being the preferred of the bunch.

Regardless of being No.1 throughout most areas in 2023 when it got here to the variety of consoles bought, Sony’s PlayStation 5 needed to accept second place in Japan at simply over 2.5 million items bought. The Xbox Sequence X/S got here in third place and continues to wrestle within the area with solely 141,712 whole items bought.

That’s it for the sport business gross sales information out of Japan for 2023. With virtually $3 billion made, the gaming world continues to be one of many largest and most booming industries in the whole world, not simply Japan. With that mentioned, 2024 is bound to be one other thrilling yr.