Pikmin 3 Japanese debut produces unexpectedly modest sales

Pikmin 3's first week on sale in Japan produced a modest number of sales well below those of the last entry in the series, despite topping the charts.

Media Create's first week sales figures for the three Pikmin games so far are below, courtesy of Siliconera, with their initial shipment sell-through percentages in brackets and lifetime sales following:

• Pikmin – First week: 90,000 (54.9%) Total sales: 549,000
• Pikmin 2 – First week: 160,000 (48.4%) Total sales: 484,000
• Pikmin 3 – First week: 92,720 (48.45%)

You'll notice that Pikmin 3 barely pipped its progenitor in first week sales and came in significantly below the second game, although with a similar sell-through rate - suggesting Nintendo predicted the decreased sales.

This may be related to the Wii U's lower install base, as by the time Pikmin 2 came out the GameCube had been on the market for three years. Meanwhile, as I'm sure you recall, the Wii U launched in Japan in December 2012 - just seven months ago.

That said, Pikmin 1 was a launch window title for the Gamecube in October 2001 and still managed almost the same first-week sales as Pikmin 3.

Pikmin 3 did have a few less days to register sales for its first week charts; a Media Create chart week runs from Wednesday to the following Tuesday, and Pikmin 3 launched on a Saturday. Pikmin 2 launched on a Friday and Pikmin 2 on a Thursday.

Pikmin 3 releases in Europe on July 26 and hits North America on August 4.