It might be the start of 2025, but 2024 still has some interesting pieces of news for us to digest, and one of them involves the game sales that occurred in Japan last year. You see, Famitsu did a tally of every game that was released in Japan to see how they did and who came out on top. To be more specific, the publication looked at the physical game sales, not the digital ones. When all was said and done, the Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake was the game that came out on top in Japan, with over 1.6 million physical game units sold. So, when you figure in the likely large number of digital sales that the game has had, it’s even more impressive.
However, there are some caveats that you should know that make this “feat” a bit more interesting. For example, when Famitsu calculated the 1.6 million number, that was COMBINGING the physical sales of the game on PS5 and the Nintendo Switch. Why is that important? Well, the Switch version sold over 930K to the PS5’s 230K-ish. That alone should show you how Japan values Nintendo products over Sony, which is a trend that’s been happening for two decades now.
Thus, if you look at this list in a way that separates the console-specific versions of the game, the actual best-selling game in Japan in 2024 was Super Mario Party Jamboree! It’s true! Famitsu notes that the Nintendo Switch exclusive sold over 950K in physical sales, which is very impressive when you think about it because that’s not the franchise you would expect Japan to “hop onto.” It also all but confirms that the party title has sold over a million units in Japan alone because, again, digital sales aren’t included, and we’d be you that over 50K in digital sales were done in the county.
Going back to the Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake, regardless of whether you view it as the No.1 or No.2 best-selling game in Japan, the game is easily one of the biggest success stories Square Enix had in 2024. In fact, not only did this game outside everything else when combining the versions, but it also far outpaced Square Enix’s other big JRPG release of 2024. You know, the one with Cloud and Sephiroth? Yeah, that game only got to No.9 on the charts in Japan!
Do recall that Square Enix will be releasing two more remakes of this nature in the future, and so long as things remain the same level of quality, similar success in Japan is all btu guaranteed.
