Nintendo has announced that Splatoon has sold more than 4.06 million units worldwide, adding that the Wii U exclusive had “consistently exceeded” Mario Kart 8 at retail.
That momentum has carried into the new year, and Nintendo are now looking to retain interest through public events. An interesting note was that Japan’s most recent Splatfest saw 690,000 players participate, which was noted as being “an all-time high number.”
With more than 1.2 million copies sold in Japan alone, that represents more than half of the country’s players still actively engaging with the game eight months after release.
“Splatoon has been showing steady sales for a long time since its release last May. It has shipped 4.06 million units worldwide as of the end of the third quarter of this fiscal year,” Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima explained to investors.
“It has gradually expanded even among kids and female consumers, and we expect more popularity due to word-of-mouth. We can say a good cycle has been established for this title.
“We are also trying various measures from an operational perspective, including holding events in and out of the game, to create opportunities for consumers to continue playing it even long after its release. It has contributed to maintaining high usage rate and public attention.
“For your information, the number of participants in Japan taking part in events inside the game called ‘Splatfests’ has been consistently increasing since the first one. There were approximately 690 thousand participants in the 10th ‘Splatfest’ held on January 23 and January 24 in Japan, which is an all-time high number.”
“This graph compares sell-through transition in Japan from the release week until the new-year holiday sales season for Splatoon to that of a major title released in the same period of the previous year, Mario Kart 8.
“Sales of Splatoon have consistently exceeded that of Mario Kart 8 with the exception of the period right after its release. You can also see a substantially bigger sell-through of the title in the year-end sales season.
“Splatoon is not losing momentum even after the start of a new year and we anticipate it has the potential to be a long-selling title.”
Ahhh…Splatn…the little game that could. I absolutely adore this game…personally it was the cause of me purchasing 3 Wii U’s and three copies of the game. Can’t get enough of the inky madness. Thank you Nintendo!
Same