Death Stranding Has Enjoyed the Biggest Launch in Japan for a New IP This Generation

Being one of the most highly anticipated games of this generation, there was no doubt in anyone’s minds that Death Stranding would enjoy impressive sales across the world at launch, and it’s certainly managed to do so. Yesterday’s Famitsu figures for the weekly software and hardware sales in Japan showed that Death Stranding topped the charts on debut, selling over 185,000 copies with just three days on the market.

Now, Game Data Library over on Twitter has posted some interesting facts to put that figure into perspective. It has enjoyed the biggest launch for a new IP this generation, coming out ahead of the likes of Judgment, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Bloodborne, Days Gone, and many others. Considering the sheer popularity of the Yakuza series and FromSoftware games in Japan, that’s mighty impressive. In fact, you’d have to go all the way back to Dark Souls in 2011 for a new IP with a bigger launch in Japan than Death Stranding.

Death Stranding also performed well on its debut in the UK charts, coming in at second place, though it failed to outsell Sony’s own Days Gone from earlier in the year.

The game is out now on PS4, and launches next year for PC (simultaneously for Steam and Epic Games Store). Read our review through here.

Launch sales of Death Stranding is the biggest IP launch we've seen this generation yet (Knack doesn't count).

I checked quickly and seems like it's the biggest new IP launch since the original Dark Souls, and if you don' want to count that either, then the original Wii Fit. pic.twitter.com/qPmhlmTLuJ

— Game Data Library (@GameDataLibrary) November 13, 2019