Nintendo Switch and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Were Japan’s Biggest Sellers in 2023

Famitsu has published a report compiling data for all software and hardware sales in Japan for the entirety of 2023, and unsurprisingly, Nintendo once again dominated proceedings last year on both fronts.

On the software front, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was the best-selling game of the year in Japan, with over 1.9 million copies sold. Other fellow new Nintendo releases also performed well, with Super Mario Bros. Wonder taking the No. 2 spot (over 1.5 million units sold), Pikmin 4 coming in at No. 3 (over 1.1 million units sold), Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe sitting at No. 7 (over 514,000 units sold), and Super Mario RPG bringing up the rear at No. 10 (over 447,000 units sold).

Square Enix’s Dragon Quest: The Dark Prince also performed quite well, selling over 510,000 units over the course of the year for a No. 5 finish in the annual charts. Notably, however, fellow Square Enix title Final Fantasy 16 failed to make it into the top 10.

On the hardware front, meanwhile, the Nintendo Switch was, unsurprisingly, the best-selling console of the year in Japan, having sold over 4 million units. It’s followed in second place by the PS5, and the two are separated by quite some margin, with the PS5 having sold over 2.5 million units- which was still a notable increase over what it managed in 2022 (more than double, in fact), owing to its supply constraints finally easing up this year. Xbox Series X/S performed poorly in Japan once again, selling just 141,000 units throughout the entire year.

In total, hardware spending in Japan in 2023 stood at 267.49 billion yen (up from 209.78 billion yen in 2022), while software spending stood at 136.38 billion yen (down from 165.04 billion yen in 2022). Overall, the gaming market’s spending in Japan in 2023 was 403.88 billion yen (up from 374.82 billion yen in 2022).

You can check out Japan’s full software and hardware charts for 2023 below.

2023 software sales (followed by lifetime sales):

1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – 1,929,603 (1,929,603)
2. Super Mario Bros. Wonder – 1,549,401 (1,549,401)
3. Pikmin 4 – 1,119,027 (1,119,027)
4. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet – 907,432 (5,246,363)
5. Momotaro Dentetsu World: Chikyuu wa Kibou de Mawatteru! – 795,681 (795,681)
6. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 617,223 (5,631,598)
7. Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe – 514,581 (514,581)
8. Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince – 510,477 (510,477)
9. Splatoon 3 – 503,312 (4,191,126)
10. Super Mario RPG – 447,687 (447,687)

2023 hardware sales (followed by lifetime sales):

• Nintendo Switch – 4,062,609 (31,786,656)
• PS5 – 2,587,468 (4,964,857)
• Xbox Series X/S – 141,712 (540,107)