Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl and Nintendo Switch Dominate Japan’s Weekly Sales Charts

Famitsu has released the latest data for weekly software and hardware sales in Japan, and it was a big week on both fronts. The biggest new release of the week was Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, which, as previously reported, sold nearly 1.4 million units in just three days, outperforming the launch sales of 2019’s Pokemon Sword and Shield, and become the second-biggest Switch launch in Japan to date, behind Animal Crossing: New Horizons. 

Another major new launch last week was Battlefield 2042, which has done quite well for itself. Its PS4 version debuted at No. 3, selling over 25,000 units, while its PS5 version took fifth place with over 21,000 units sold. Collectively, both versions sold nearly 47,000 units, making Battlefield 2042 the second-highest selling game of the week. That also means EA and DICE’s shooter sold more at launch in Japan than Call of Duty: Vanguard did earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Shin Megami Tensei 5, which saw a solid chart-topping debut last week, has dropped down to No. 4, selling over 22,000 units over the week.

On the hardware front, the new Pokemon launch resulted in significantly boosted hardware sales for the Nintendo Switch. The hybrid console sold nearly 168,000 units during the course of the week, nearly twice as much as it did the week before. Of these, nearly 69,000 units were the Switch OLED model, and over 60,000 units were the base Switch model.

You can check out the full software and hardware charts for the week ending November 21 below.

Software sales (followed by lifetime sales):

1. [NSW] Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl – 1,395,642 (New)
2. [NSW] Mario Party Superstars – 39,797 (329,497)
3. [PS4] Battlefield 2042 – 25,268 (New)
4. [NSW] Shin Megami Tensei 5 – 22,513 (165,760)
5. [PS5] Battlefield 2042 – 21,637 (New)
6. [NSW] Ring Fit Adventure – 11,822 (2,920,975)
7. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 11,149 (6,945,689)
8. [NSW] Minecraft – 10,084 (2,279,676)
9. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 9,890 (4,142,150)
10. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 8,621 (4,506,739)

Hardware sales (followed by last week’s sales):

• Nintendo Switch – 167,778 (87,269)
• PS5 – 4,307 (4,910)
• Xbox Series X/S – 3,422 (2,593)
• PS4 – 188 (1,399)