Monster Hunter still has incredible power, not just worldwide—where its performance has caused it to become Capcom’s highest selling game ever—but also in Japan, which is where the series first found success. According to report published by Famitsu (translation via Gematsu), it sounds like Monster Hunter World was the highest selling game in Japan in 2018 once physical and digital sales are combined.
Monster Hunter World’s success, alongside, no doubt, the success of Pokemon Let’s Go, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and of course, longstanding Nintendo evergreen games such as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, actually helped propel the Japanese software industry to seeing a growth in software revenue year on year. This is in contrast to hardware revenues, which saw a contraction, no doubt owing to the PS4’s collapse in Japan, leaving the Switch as the lone performing system in the country.
You can check out the full charts for yourself below. Do remember that Famitsu’s numbers for digital game sales are (contested) estimates, and may not be entirely accurate.
■ Japan’s Top-Selling Software of 2018
- Monster Hunter: World
- Platform: PlayStation 4
- Publisher: Capcom
- Release Date: January 26, 2018
- Physical Sales: 1,985,886
- Digital Sales: 873,898
- Combined Physical and Digital Sales: 2,859,784
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Platform: Switch
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Release Date: December 7, 2018
- Physical Sales: 2,360,655
- Digital Sales: 309,229
- Combined Physical and Digital Sales: 2,669,884
- Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! / Let’s Go, Eevee!
- Platform: Switch
- Publisher: The Pokemon Company
- Release Date: November 16, 2018
- Physical Sales: 1,253,677
- Digital Sales: 107,945
- Combined Physical and Digital Sales: 1,361,622
- Splatoon 2
- Platform: Switch
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Release Date: July 21, 2017
- Physical Sales: 1,122,324
- Digital Sales: 68,630
- Combined Physical and Digital Sales: 1,190,954
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Platform: Switch
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Release Date: April 28, 2017
- Physical Sales: 926,553
- Digital Sales: 76,139
- Combined Physical and Digital Sales: 1,002,692
- Super Mario Party
- Platform: Switch
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Release Date: October 5, 2018
- Physical Sales: 764,853
- Digital Sales: 62,739
- Combined Physical and Digital Sales: 827,592
- Kirby: Star Allies
- Platform: Switch
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Release Date: March 16, 2018
- Physical Sales: 664,815
- Digital Sales: 56,104
- Combined Physical and Digital Sales: 720,919
- Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition
- Platform: Switch
- Publisher: Microsoft
- Release Date: June 21, 2018
- Physical Sales: 525,045
- Digital Sales: 166,272
- Combined Physical and Digital Sales: 691,317
- Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII
- Platform: PlayStation 4
- Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Release Date: October 12, 2018
- Physical Sales: 479,511
- Digital Sales: 145,458
- Combined Physical and Digital Sales: 624,969
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Platform: Switch
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Release Date: October 27, 2017
- Physical Sales: 575,926
- Digital Sales: 22,020
- Combined Physical and Digital Sales: 597,946