Pikmin 3 is out in Japan, and while it’s been well received by reviewers and Wii U owners, it hasn’t been a sales hit so far. According to Japanese sales tracker Media Create, Pikmin 3 sold about 95,000 units during its first week. Those might not be bad sales numbers, but compared to the last Pikmin game, they’re somewhat disappointing.
When Pikmin 2 was released back in 2004, it sold 160,000 units during its first week. However, Pikmin 1 sold about the same as Pikmin 3: just over 100,000 units. Granted, Pikmin 1 was a brand new franchise back then, but it eventually went on to sell over half a million units in Japan, and over 1 million worldwide.
Pikmin 2 had the best first week sales in the series, but it had a big advantage: the install base of the GameCube was far greater in 2004 than in 2001, and certainly better than the Wii U now.
While first week sales of Pikmin 3 might sound a bit disappointing, it’s not an indication that the game is a flop by any means. Many games in Japan, especially Nintendo titles, see steady sales over a longer period of time. Both Pikmin 1 and 2 went on to sell over a million units worldwide, and there’s no reason to think Pikmin 3 won’t reach that milestone.
Pikmin 3 launches in North America on August 4, and in Europe on July 26. Be sure to check out some new Pikmin 3 multiplayer gameplay footage, and over an hour of singleplayer footage as well.
UPDATE: As some of our readers have pointed out, the Media Create sales could be tracking only the first two days of Pikmin 3 sales, which means that the first week sales are likely to be significantly higher. Additionally, Nintendo hasn’t published any Pikmin 3 sales from the Wii U eShop.
