Nintendo Labo Dominates God of War In Japan

Sony’s newest entry in the God of War franchise has taken over gaming and social media, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that it’s also a sales titan. But that doesn’t mean Kratos is taking over everywhere.

In fact, over in Japan, the latest adventure in the series has taken a backseat to a surprising new entrant — the Nintendo Labo. This experimental cardboard-based program has managed to land in the number one slot in Japan in its first week of release, with Kratos’ journey close behind in second place.

According to numbers from Media Create, the Nintendo Labo Variety Kit managed to clear out over 90,000 copies in its first week of release, while the Robot Kit was close behind in third place with over 28,000 units sold.

But don’t weep for Kratos, as he still made an impact on the market. God of War found a second place spot with more than 46,000 copies sold — a new record for the franchise. And something tells us that he’s going to stay in the top ten for some time.

Other notable entries in the top twenty games sold include Kirby Star Allies in fourth, with over 433,000 copies sold overall; Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which is nearing 1.5 million copies sold in Japan alone; and Splatoon 2, which is sitting pretty at over 2.2 million copies shifted.

Here’s the full top twenty that sold last week in Japan:

1. [NSW] Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 01: Variety Kit (Nintendo, 04/20/18) – 90,410 (New)
2. [PS4] God of War (SIE, 04/20/18) – 46,091 (New)
3. [NSW] Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 02: Robot Kit (Nintendo, 04/20/18) – 28,629 (New)
4. [NSW] Kirby: Star Allies (Nintendo, 03/16/18) – 17,381 (433,488)
5. [NSW] Splatoon 2 (Bundle Version Included) (Nintendo, 07/21/17) – 16,617 (2,248,923)
6. [NSW] The Snack World: Trejarers Gold (Level-5, 04/12/18) – 15,847 (51,502)
7. [PS4] Metal Max Xeno (Kadokawa Games, 04/19/18) – 15,044 (New)
8. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo, 04/28/17) – 11,393 (1,484,644)
9. [PSV] Metal Max Xeno (Kadokawa Games, 04/19/18) – 8,355 (New)
10. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Limited Edition Included) (Nintendo, 03/03/17) – 6,895 (961,427)
11. [NSW] Super Mario Odyssey (Bundle Version Included) (Nintendo, 10/27/17) – 6,491 (1,697,522)
12. [PS4] Far Cry 5 (Ubisoft, 03/29/18) – 6,280 (122,958)
13. [PS4] Cities: Skylines PlayStation 4 Edition (Spike Chunsoft, 04/12/18) – 5,750 (17,116)
14. [3DS] Pokemon Ultra Sun / Ultra Moon (Nintendo, 11/17/17) – 3,569 (1,618,478)
15. [PS4] Death end re;Quest (Compile Heart, 04/12/18) – 3,348 (18,651)
16. [NSW] Portal Knights (Spike Chunsoft, 04/19/18) – 3,226 (New)
17. [NSW] Neo Atlas 1469 (Limited Edition Included) (Artdink, 04/19/18) – 3,176 (New)
18. [PS4] Monster Hunter: World (Limited and Bundle Editions Included) (Capcom, 01/26/18) – 3,103 (2,006,158)
19. [PS4] Rainbow Six Siege Advanced Edition (Ubisoft, 03/01/18) – 2,896 (41,872)
20. [3DS] Detective Pikachu (The Pokemon Company, 03/23/18) – 2,817 (71,209)

As for hardware sales, the Nintendo Switch dominated with another 34,000 units sold; while the PlayStation 4 Pro was in a distant second place with just under 9,000 units out the door.

(Hat tip to NintendoLife for the details!)