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Famitsu: Game Industry in Japan Jumps 12.5% in 2020, Nintendo Switch Makes Up 87% of Console Sales
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Video game news website Famitsu released its data regarding video game console and hardware sales for 2020 in Japan on Tuesday. According to the website, the video game industry in Japan made 367.38 billion yen (about US$3.54 billion) in 2020, up 12.5% compared to 2019.
The hardware market sold 185.66 billion yen (about US$1.79 billion), up 16.4%, and the software market sold 181.72 billion yen (about US$1.75 billion), up 8.9%. It is the first time since 2017 that both sides of the market increased.
The top 10 bestselling games in Japan in 2020 were:
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons (6,378,103 copies)
- Ring Fit Adventure (1,591,366 copies)
- Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa mo Teiban! (1,233,023 copies)
- Final Fantasy VII Remake (949,379 copies)
- Pokémon Sword / Shield (892,456 copies)
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (798,174 copies)
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (560,122 copies)
- Minecraft (556,982 copies)
- Sekai no Asobi Taizen 51 (519,649 copies)
- Super Mario 3D All-Stars (492,620 copies)
The above sales numbers only include physical edition sales.
Famitsu also broke down the number of consoles sold in Japan in 2020:
- Nintendo Switch (including Switch Lite): 5,956,943 units (for a total of 17,340,374 units)
- PlayStation 4: 542,647 units (for a total of 9,290,890 units)
- PlayStation 5 (including both versions): 255,150 units
- Nintendo 3DS (family of consoles): 62,761 units (for a total of 24,558,908 units)
- Xbox Series X|S: 31,424 units
- Xbox One: 3,585 units (for a total of 114,831 units)
The Nintendo Switch sold 86.9% of all consoles sold in Japan in 2020. The console has now topped console sales in Japan for the fourth year in a row. The Switch console also saw its best sales year yet in 2020, selling 1.32 times more consoles in 2020 than in 2019.
Source: Famitsu via gamesindustry.biz
