With 2015 now complete, Famitsu compiled data from the year (December 29, 2014 to December 27, 2015) in Japan, revealing that the retail video game market saw ¥321 billion in revenue, which is down 13% year-on-year. For a breakdown, software sales were down 16% to ¥191 billion, with console sales down 8.5% to ¥130 billion.
The ¥321 billion last year is the lowest since 1988, suggesting that consumers are moving towards digital (Famitsu’s results didn’t include digital numbers).
According to Media Create numbers (including the last week of 2015), Monster Hunter X for 3DS was the #1 selling game of 2015, moving 2.44 million units. It’s followed by Yo-kai Watch Busters: Red Cat Team/White Dog Squad on 3DS at 1.97 million, Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer on 3DS at 1.28 million, and Splatoon on Wii U at 1.06 million.
On Famitsu’s list, no PlayStation games cracked the top 10.
Just like 2014, the 3DS was the #1 selling piece of hardware in 2015, moving 2.3 million units. In 2nd place is the PlayStation 4 with 1.33 million, bringing its lifetime total in Japan to 2.26 million. The worldwide lifetime PS4 total is sitting at 35.9 million units.
Here’s how each system performed in 2015, according to Media Create (lifetime in brackets):
- 3DS (includes all models) – 2,347,554 (20,194,610)
- PS4 – 1,330,410 (2,255,980)
- PS Vita (including PS Vita TV) – 1,069,471 (4,492,546)
- Wii U – 877,082 (3,000,365)
- PS3 – 219,103 (10,237,637)
- Xbox One – 20,624 (66,582)
Do you think the PS4 will overtake the 3DS in 2016?
[Source: Famitsu via MCV, NeoGAF, Dualshockers]
