69% of all physical games sold in Japan last month were Splatoon 3

Splatoon 3 reportedly accounted for nearly 70% of all physical games sold in Japan in September.

The latest monthly sales data from Famitsu (via GamesIndustry.biz) shows that 2.7 million boxed copies of Splatoon 3 – which was released on September 9 – were sold in Japan across the entire month.

Given that 3.9 million physical games were reportedly sold in Japan last month, this means Splatoon 3 accounted for 69% of all boxed games sold during that period.

The rest of the Japanese top 10 last month mainly consisted of Switch games, with the exceptions being the PS4 and PS5 versions of Dragon Quest X: Rise of the Five Tribes Offline, and Earth Defence Force 6 on PS4.

These figures are only for physical copies of the game, meaning the total number of Splatoon 3 sales in Japan for the month isn’t fully clear, given that Nintendo rarely gives information on digital sales figures for its products.

However, in the case of Splatoon 3, the company did reveal a few days after the game’s release that it had smashed Switch software records in Japan.

According to Nintendo, in the game’s first three days 3.45 million copies were sold across both physical and digital – nearly 600,000 units more than Switch’s previous biggest Japan launch, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, managed in its first week on sale.

Further reading

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Review: Splatoon 3 gives Nintendo’s weirdest world its safest sequel

How do you expect to defeat aquatic enemies without an obvious hook?

The Splatoon series has enjoyed continued popularity in Japan. According to Famitsu, Splatoon 2 was the fifth best selling Switch game overall in the country, with 4.03 million copies sold as of March 2022. Given Splatoon 3’s start, however, it may be close to overtaking its predecessor soon, if it hasn’t already.

In VGC’s Splatoon 3 review, critic Matthew Castle called the game “Nintendo’s safest sequel”.

“Its back-of-the-box features read more like (generous) patch notes than a bold invitation to a world of ink-flinging revolution. But if it provides solid fun within those baby steps, does it truly matter? In a game where point one of a percent can result in its biggest thrills, a major splash of paint isn’t always required.”