Let’s talk about Japan, shall we? It’s much more than just a nation with a drive for certain kinds of technological advancement and creating all kinds of “fan service.” It’s the nation that helped create video games as we know them and has saved the industry more than once. Without Japan and many of its gaming companies, the video game industry would either look incredibly different or it wouldn’t exist at all. So, when you hear rumblings about the “failings” of Japanese developers, you need only look at a certain list starring Mario, Pokemon, Final Fantasy, Sonic The Hedgehog, and more to see just how foolish people are to doubt these franchises.
The list below compiles the total sales, and sometimes free-to-play downloads, of various franchises made by Japanese developers; as you can see, even the “lesser” ones have had great success, and those numbers will grow as the franchises continue to produce titles. What’s honestly a little shocking is how much certain series have gotten, as you might not have expected them to be like this in terms of rankings.
For example, Mario is at the top with his long breadth of successful main games and spinoff titles, which isn’t anything new. Heck, just in 2024, he’s already had two titles go over one million in sales, and a certain party title that was recently released will likely add to that.
Then, with the Pokemon franchise, that’s not surprising either. Just on the Nintendo Switch, they’ve moved over 100 million units! Plus, it’s clear this isn’t counting all the free-to-play titles that are out there, including a certain mobile title that became a global phenomenon for years?
Final Fantasy being here also isn’t a surprise, as Square Enix embraces both mainline games and spinoff titles to help get sales, even if the franchise hasn’t been pushing units as of late. The further you go down the list, the more impressive things get. Plus, some franchises aren’t on here for one reason or another, which would only bolster the greatness you see.
Why does this matter, though? You might recall that a former head of Sony, Shawn Layden, blasted Japanese developers by saying they shouldn’t focus on “worldwide markets” and that they’re “failing to recapture the success of past times.” As this list proves, that’s not the case at all. Many of these franchises are still active right now, and some are hitting crescendos in recent years.
Ignore the Japanese developers at your own peril.
