The charts are in for Japanese sales figures from August 31st-September 6th and in an surprising upset, Ring Fit Adventure has outsold Marvel's Avengers by over 20,000 units sold. Even more so, Ring Fit Adventure sold at the number one spot, beating out such titans like Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Ghost of Tsushima.
To put these sales into context, this was Avenger's first week after a long, hype-filled ad campaign that seemed promising. And selling nearly 43,000 units certainly isn't something to sniff at. Ring Fit Adventure, however, released back in October of 2019 and has sold around 1.5 million copies in Japan alone with about 64,000 of those coming from just this sales week.
It's largely no surprise that a Nintendo game holds the number one spot on the sales charts in Japan, though. Nintendo knows its core audience fairly well and consistently. And in this case, Nintendo games are placed at five of the top ten games sold that week. Even more impressive is that of the top five, the only non-Nintendo game is Marvel's Avengers, a brand-new title that just barely eeks out a victory over Animal Crossing: New Horizons and the ever-selling Mario Kart 8: Deluxe.
All of this doesn't mean though, that Marvel's Avengers isn't selling well or that Japanese reception is poor. The hero-laden adventure game has topped sales charts all around the globe to no surprise at all. Despite the massive success of the film franchise, games surrounding the best-selling series have largely been non-existing and it's great to finally see these heroes playable together on our screens at home.
It should be mentioned that Ring Fit Adventure has had stock issues during these trying times. With everyone working from home and many businesses shut down, fitness fans have been seeking alternative outlets for their exercise fix and Ring Fit Adventure seems to be the perfect at-home solution. It seems every time a new shipment comes in, stock is quickly snatched away from those also looking to get their body in shape to counter this sedentary life we've all been accustomed to lately. Basically, these sales speak more to the hype of Ring Fit Adventure much more so than they say anything about the quality or response to Marvel's Avengers.
Though, despite Ring Fit Adventure's presence in our homes, it can also be said that perhaps Japan just doesn't see much appeal to these Western heroes and their loot-filled, grind heavy adventure title. As stated in the sales figures, the best-selling games from the week are overwhelmingly Nintendo titles or games that have a hard appeal to a Japanese audience. While fans of Avengers might see this as an insult, it's merely the symptom of an audience who just doesn't care that much about the stories of Captain America and pals fighting hordes of aliens.
RingFit Adventure is currently available on Nintendo Switch and Marvel's Avengers is available on Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Source: NintendoLife