Recently, some serious shade was thrown against Japanese game developers for being unable to “reach global audiences.” Anyone who knows the gaming industry’s state right now knows that this statement (made by a former head of Sony) was inaccurate and biased. To prove this, a sales list was recently compiled to showcase the various Japanese-made franchises that have dominated the industry for years. At the top of it is Mario, who has sold over 870 million units of titles over his 40-year lifespan. Yeah, that’s not bad at all.
Then you have Pokemon, which has been doing gangbusters over on the Nintendo Switch, selling basically 100 million units on its own! Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, and The Legend of Zelda have all made over 150 million in sales, and the reveals keep going from there. Plus, if you look at the Dark Souls numbers, that clearly does not count the other titles that are in the Souls genre that From Software has made, like Elden Ring. The point here is that the Japanese gaming industry is doing much better than people like that ex-Sony head think.
Some of the biggest Japanese video game series sales numbers!
• Mario – over 870M
• Pokemon – 480M
• Final Fantasy – 195M
• Resident Evil – 163M
• Zelda – over 150M
• Monster Hunter – 105M
• Dragon Quest – 91M
• Metal Gear – 62.1M
• Tekken – 57M
• Street Fighter – 55M… pic.twitter.com/I59mJKNhMz— Genki✨ (@Genki_JPN) November 11, 2024
Plus, if you recall, while there have been layoffs on the Japanese side of gaming, there have been just as many in the US, UK, and other international companies. Nintendo, with Mario in the lead position, is one of the few that seem exempt from this for the time being. This is likely because they take making games seriously and focus on customer satisfaction. Go figure.
