Japanese game magazine Famitsu has published a list of the best selling games for 2015 in Japan. Not entirely unexpected either is that the majority of the games are from Nintendo and Nintendo’s dominance in the Japanese market.
Most of the games from Nintendo are for its 3DS system. Japan has a larger, denser population size compared to other countries, making it more conducive to handheld play, especially on public transit.
Other systems like the PlayStation 4, are doing relatively fine, with titles like Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain sitting at 15th place. As is also common in Japan, western games aren’t doing particularly well, with Call of Duty: Black Ops III sitting in 23rd place. The mass-market appeal that is Minecraft has finally broken through into the country though, holding 11th place on the Vita.
The top 10 best selling games in Japan in 2015 are:
Monster Hunter X (Capcom/3DS) 2,441,977
Yo-Kai Watch Busters (Level-5/3DS) 1,965,202
Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer (Nintendo/3DS) 1,282,880
Splatoon (Nintendo/Wii U) 1,064,897
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (Square Enix/3DS) 864,865
Super Mario Maker (Nintendo/3DS) 674,194
Monster Strike (Mixi/3DS) 636,709
Yo-Kai Watch 2: Shin’uchi (Level-5/3DS) 625,223
Rhythm Heaven: The Best+ (Nintendo/3DS) 607,343
Fire Emblem Fates (Nintendo/3DS) 538,669
A translation of the full chart is available at NeoGAF.
Source: Famitsu, NZ Gamer, Gamasutra
