As reported by Nintendo, Splatoon 3 has surpassed ‘3.45 million in {the} first three days.’ Since its release on September 10th, Splatoon 3 has sold over 3.4 million copies in Japan alone. This makes it the biggest game launch that the country has ever seen. This includes both digital and boxed copies.
This means that Splatoon 3 has beaten out the likes of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which sold 1.88 million copies in Japan at launch. Perhaps even more surprising is that Splatoon 3 has even beaten out the Nintendo juggernaut Pokémon, as the 5th Generation titles Pokémon Black & White were to that point the highest selling releases of any game in Japan, where they sold 2.55 million copies across its opening weekend.
Looking Fresh
If nothing else, this shows how dedicated and beloved the Splatoon franchise is in Japan. The other two titles sold relatively well in and of themselves. Splatoon 1 reached a million copies sold 2 months after release, with over half a million coming from Japan. Splatoon 2 sold well worldwide (reaching over 3.6 million sales) and did well domestically, too, with 671,000 copies sold (as reported by Famitsu). Now, Splatoon 3 has come along and showcased how strong its community is once more.
Splatoon 3 has been gathering critic and commercial success, with an 84 on Metacritic and with many fans praising its campaign mode and additions to the multiplayer element. The game promises several more years of content, just as the first 2 titles did.
SOURCE: Nintendo Co. Ltd Twitter Post on the Sales Figures of Splatoon 3 + Nintendo Japan Corporate News Release: September 12th, 2022
