Summary
Nintendo Switch exclusive gamePikmin 4has been the best-selling game in Japan for five weeks in a row. Nintendo releasedPikmin 4back in July to rave reviews. In fact,Pikmin 4is one of the highest-rated new game releases of the year, though it seems to be getting overlooked somewhat thanks to all the other big games that released around the same time.
2023 has been a huge year for the gaming industry, and will likely be looked back on as one of the best in gaming history. High profile, highly-reviewed games have been releasing at a steady pace, withThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomblowing away expectations in May followed by the launches ofDiablo 4,Street Fighter 6,Final Fantasy 16, andBaldur’s Gate 3.Pikmin 4has stood tall with these gamesin terms of overall review score, and while its overall sales numbers are unavailable at the time of this writing, it’s enjoying an incredible win streak in Japan.
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Famitsu has reported the latest estimated sales numbers for physical game sales in Japan for the past week.Pikmin 4is estimated to have sold 54,904 copies this week in Japan, bringing its total sales numbers in the region to an impressive 721,281. Since thePikminfranchise isn’t exactly known for its high sales number, it seems that thenew Switch exclusive is outperforming expectations, though it remains to be seen if the incredible success it’s enjoying in Japan will extend to other regions or not.
Thebest-selling games for July 2023list for the US hadPikmin 4in sixth place for the month of its release, beaten byRemnant 2,Diablo 4,Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2,Hogwarts Legacy, andFinal Fantasy 16. Typically, a game’s strongest sales month is the one it’s released in, and so it’s very well within the realm of possibility thatPikmin 4will drop out of the 10 best-selling games list when August’s numbers are counted up. Regardless, its strong sales in Japan could very well ensure thatPikmin 4is the best-selling game in the series when it’s all said and done.
Nintendo could be re-evaluating thePikminfranchisein light ofPikmin 4’s sales success. There was some talk thatPikmin 4could be the last game in the series since the franchise isn’t typically a hot-seller for Nintendo, but the new game seems to be turning things around. And if a potentialPikmin 5were to address some of the complaints fans have about the newest title, perhaps it could be an even bigger hit.
WhilePikmin 4has earned high marks from reviewers, it hasn’t been free of criticism. The biggest complaint critics and fans seem to have about the game isPikmin 4’s downgraded co-op optionscompared toPikmin 3 Deluxe. If a potentialPikmin 5were to bring back co-op in full force, maybe it could even outpacePikmin 4’s impressive early sales numbers.
