Splatoon Raiders Becomes Japan's Best-Selling Game
Splatoon Raiders rose to number one on Japan's best-selling games list for the week of July 20-26. Anime News Network, in a report published on August 1 and based on Famitsu retail data, announced that the new game topped the chart in its debut week. The site delivered the news to readers under the title 'Splatoon Raiders debuts at #1'.
Nintendo's ink-themed action series Splatoon began with the first game released for the Wii U in 2015. Produced by Hisashi Nogami, the title quickly became one of Nintendo's new-generation icons with its Inkling and Octoling characters and the Turf War mode. The series' third main game, Splatoon 3, was released on September 9, 2022, and sold approximately 3.45 million copies in three days in Japan, becoming the country's fastest-selling game.
The impact of this success is not limited to the gaming world. The Splatoon manga, drawn by Sankichi Hinodeya since 2016, is published in Shogakukan's CoroCoro Comic magazine. The manga is also available to readers in English through Viz Media, expanding the Splatoon world beyond the game.
In the Japanese gaming market, it is not unusual for Nintendo's first-party titles to appear at the top of the charts. However, Splatoon Raiders topping the chart in its first week shows the interest both from the existing fan base and from a new generation of players. Full sales figures to be announced in the coming weeks will clarify whether the game can maintain this strong start and how Nintendo's new content plans will proceed.
