This Week In Sales: Yo-kai Watch 3 Cooks Up Its Sukiyaki Version

Period: The week of December 12th – December 18th (2016)

Top-seller: Yo-kai Watch 3: Sukiyaki – 337,979 (3DS)

Nintendo 3DS sales: 226

Nintendo 3DS LL sales: 62

Nintendo 2DS – 39,218

New Nintendo 3DS sales: 9,149

New Nintendo 3DS LL sales: 84,823

PlayStation Vita sales: 36,214

Wii U sales: 5,095

PlayStation 4 sales: 70,031

PlayStation 4 Pro: 9,317

PlayStation 3 sales: 925

Xbox One sales: 1,872

<< Last week’s software sales chart

<< How to read and understand sales

Last week, Japan saw the release in a major title with Yo-kai Watch 3: Sukiyaki, Level-5’s third version of Yo-kai Watch 3 for Nintendo 3DS, as well as SaGa: Scarlet Grace on PS Vita by Square Enix.

To kick things off, it comes as no surprise to see Yo-kai Watch 3: Sukiyaki take the #1 spot of the week, but with its 337,979 copies sold in its debut is actually the lowest main-numbered Yo-kai Watch debut since the very first game. Here’s a look at how it stacks compared to all the other titles from the series:

• (2013) Yo-kai Watch—53,654
• (2014) Yo-kai Watch 2: Head/Founder—1,316,707
• (2014) Yo-kai Watch 2: Headliner—1,244,171
• (2015) Yo-kai Watch Busters—693,538
• (2016) Yo-kai Watch: Sangokushi—269,516
• (2016) Yo-kai Watch: Sushi/Tempura – 632,135
• (2016) Yo-kai Watch 3: Sukiyaki – 337,979

The first Yo-kai Watch started out with 53,654 units sold in its debut, but that was before its boom in Japan, which helped the game reach 1,340,808 in life-to-date sales within a few months after it blew up. Yo-kai Watch 2 continued to carry its momentum, reaching an impressive 3,167,329 copies sold for life-to-date numbers.

When Yo-kai Watch 2 released with its Head and Founder versions, the series carried over the momentum from the first game and combined for 1,316,707 copies for both versions of the sequel. Its third version impressively sold 1,244,171 in its debut, almost as much as the debut of the two original versions combined.

After the successful spinoff in Yo-kai Watch Busters, the action RPG-style title based on the side game in Yo-kai Watch 2, we can see how the market has been seeing a lot of Yo-kai Watch, and it certainly shows in the big sales drop. While the series remains popular in Japan, it’s pretty evident that the series is on a downward slope. As I previously mentioned, especially after this third version of the third installment of the main series in less than three years, now is probably a good time for Level-5 to take a pause in the series and focus on Snack World, Megaton Musashi, and the revival of Inazuma Eleven.

Pokémon Sun & Moon continues to impress with less than 500 shy of 200k last week with 199,514 copies sold for #2. Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS also had a strong follow with 168,072 copies sold for the #3 spot.

The next new title was Square Enix’s SaGa: Scarlet Grace, which placed #4 with 64,965 copies sold on the PlayStation Vita for its debut. Those aren’t bad numbers, but probably not enough to bring a big SaGa game to consoles anytime soon. Series creator Akitoshi Kawazu did mention that the series will go on as long as there’s fan demand.

Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu Heroes released with 26,673 copies sold on the Nintendo 3DS for #8. Yo-kai Watch had another appearance in the top-20 at #10 with 17,709 copies sold for the Yo-kai Watch 3: Sushi/Tempura Busters T Pack, a special double-version with the original two versions.

While it’s not shown in the top-20, the Friday update from Media Create shows that Akiba’s Beat’s PlayStation 4 version released in Japan on December 15, and while we don’t have its debuting sales numbers, it is listed at #43 of the weekly ranking. It’s also worth noting that it’s pretty cool seeing New Super Mario Bros. 2 and Mario Kart 7 make a return after sneaking into #15 and #20 for the week.

On the hardware front, the New Nintendo 3DS LL went up from 67,247 the week prior to 84,823 units sold. Yo-kai Watch 3: Sukiyaki is certainly helping those numbers, but with a strong top-3 that also features Pokémon Sun & Moon and Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS, the pre-holiday 3DS boost comes as no big surprise. Meanwhile the PlayStation 4 sales remains strong with 70,031 units sold as well as several must-have titles in Yakuza 6, Final Fantasy XV, and The Last Guardian. PlayStation Vita sales also remain healthy with a bump from 22,314 to 36,214 units sold in the week.

The top-20 chart for the week was as follows:

Sales data acquired from 4Gamer and Media Create.