Splatoon 3 Sets Record for Biggest Debut in Japan With Sales of 3.45 Million Units - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 12 September 2022 / 5,117 Views
Nintendo announced Splatoon 3 has set a new record for the biggest debut in Japan for any Nintendo Switch game in its first three days with sales of 3.45 million units. The figure includes retail and digital units.
This is also the biggest debut for any game in Japan as the previous record was set by 2010's Pokémon Black / White. The game sold 2.64 million units in its first week. Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold 1.88 million units at retail and while digital sales aren't known, Nintendo did say Splatoon 3 was the biggest launch ever for a Switch game.
"Nintendo announced that domestic sales of the Splatoon 3 game for the Nintendo Switch system have surpassed 3.45 million units in the first three days since its launch on September 9, 2022," reads the press release. "This is the highest domestic sales level for any Nintendo Switch software within the first three days."
Read details on the game below:
In the Splatoon series of action-shooting games, players play as Inklings—squid characters that can also take on a humanoid form. Nintendo launched the Splatoon game for the Wii U system in May 2015, and the Splatoon 2 game for Nintendo Switch in July 2017.
Splatoon 3 is the latest game in the Splatoon series, in which players face off against each other in two teams of four players, claiming territory by covering it in ink in Turf War battles. Building on the series’ foundation, Splatoon 3 adds new weapons, special weapons, and action to the game. In Splatsville, a chaotic city crowded with various elements, players can enjoy a large variety of battles: not only Turf War battles, but also the Story Mode in which players can battle and discover a mysterious place called Alterna on their own; and Salmon Run, where up to four players can work together and fend off powerful bosses. In addition, Nintendo will add more weapons and stages through updates for two years after launch, and hold events such as Splatfests, where players split into three teams to claim turf and overall victory. Players can connect with others around the globe online*, as well as play together locally, each with their own Nintendo Switch system.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Good lord!!!! These numbers would've been impressive if it was worldwide sales figures for the first 3 days, but just for Japan alone?! Oh yeah, Splatoon is already one of the big dogs of Nintendo franchises. Or should I say, Nintendogs ;)
Yeah for real I expected around 4 million worldwide for launch week. Wonder how the rest of the world sales will compare to these record breaking monster Japan sales
Man what a missed opportunity for you to write "For eel!"
Yeah I've played Splatoon 2 too much :P
That's not true at all. First of all we are still in a mixed generation of PS4 and PS5, the PS4 is also faster than the Switch, so really you should be comparing against PS4+PS5 sales of a game.
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Minecraft 100+ million copies of course. Every kid in America owns the game practically.
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GTA 5: 50 million copies sold on PS?
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PubG: 10 million copies?
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Red Dead 2 sold almost 20 million copies in the first 2 weeks on sale? Tall order for Splatoon 3 to beat that.
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Call of Duty sells so much on PS I can't even guess. Way more than 100 million copies (multiple entries, don't forget F2P also I didn't even include that).
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Horizon Zero Dawn 20 million?
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God of War 20 million?
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Last of Us 20 million?
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Uncharted 4 20 million?
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Spiderman, Gran Turismo both, and Jeeze, almost 20 million copies of Elden Ring by now also.
Don't be ignorant of other consoles just because you like the Switch.
That would be impressive if all those games weren't mark down after 3 months.
God of war for ps4 is literally under $20 dollars.
Horizon ZD is under 30 also.
I'm sure there's more under 30.
Relax a moment and reread your post. It's so charged and spiteful. Can we at least agree that the 20 million or so sold of these games aren't as impressive as they are no longer charging them for $60 their original price.
No you are not relaxed. You want to dispute every little thing. You have that, "I need to be right" mentality and worse off is that you think this all means something. For reals, reread your posts and tell me there's no air of condescence from you. And don't give me that I'm in the search for truth bs, you just want to be right.
To add, the PS4 and PS5 are two different consoles so it is unfair to combine the software sales then compare it against the Switch and secondly. The sales information presented earlier is partially inaccurate. Uncharted 4 sold 16 million. Also with Red Dead Redemption 2, are you sure that that figure only includes PlayStation as Rockstar never specified. For a good list of the bestselling PS4 games (of what we know) go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_PlayStation_4_video_games. And yes, the types of games that sell on PS vs Nintendo are completely different. PS thrives off of 3rd parties while Nintendo lives on 1st parties. Because of that PS has more games however if you were to look at a chart it would look noticeably weaker. In fact, the Switch is the first console to be confirmed to have more then 10 games shipped with more than 10 million units (PS4 likely did that as well but not confirmed). Also consider that the Switch has shipped less than 900 million units of software while the PS4 has shipped between 1.5 - 1.6 billion units of software. To be clear, I am not dissing the PS4 as many people enjoy it and I can see why but that does not justify the Switch being dissed. Let’s enjoy both PS, Nintendo’s, and Xbox’s successes.
I didn't diss the Switch. I pointed out that PS buyers buy MANY MANY different games, and many of them have sold over 20 million copies, contrary to his post.
Woozah!
This series have truly grow.
Yeah, but it's also the same series that sold 5 million in Wii u or something like that. So it's an impressive launch number, even if it was worldwide, but I'm not surprised at all. Splatoon 2 launched when there were less than 10 million switches in the world.
It has been a powder keg since 2015.
I need to pick it up. Love the series and miss it
This is a bit unexpected, because we already have Splatoon 2 on the same system.
If this is indicative of worldwide success, I can imagine Nintendo not waiting for a new gen to release new iterations of their big series as often.
Amazing. Congrats Nintendo!
Absolutely bonkers.
3.45 million in one week in Japan. Can't wait to see if the WW numbers match up. Plus. Nintendo games tend to have looooong legs.
3 days.. not even half a week
I won't be surprised if it hits 10 million in the first week. If not, week 2.
