Ghost of Tsushima Becomes Biggest First-Party PS4 Debut in Japan

When Ghost of Tsushima was announced, some wondered how Japan would react to a game from Western developers taking place mostly in Japan. The answer seems to be, "They love it."

Famitsu sales numbers are in (via Gematsu) and Ghost of Tsushima has slammed up to the top of the charts with 212,915 copies sold. That was more than enough to grab the first place spot, with the second place being Nintendo's Paper Mario: The Origami King for Switch at 109,092. Nintendo is holding on strong on the rest of the charts, with Animal Crossing: New Horizons (#3, 71,897 units), Ring Fit Adventure (#4, 36,183 units), Clubhouse Games (#7, 20,586 units), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (#8, 10,031 units), and Pokemon Sword/Shield (#10, 7,834 units) all rounding out the top 10.

More importantly, when you step back and look at previous PlayStation 4 first-party debuts, Ghost of Tsushima stands at the top for the generation.

• Death Stranding - 185,909
• The Last of Us Part 2 - 178,696
• Days Gone - 114,319
• Spider-Man - 132,520
• God of War - 50,257
• Bloodborne - 150,245
• Horizon Zero Dawn - 109,739

Not too shabby for Sony Interactive Entertainment, even if Nintendo continues to rule the roost in Japan. Worldwide, the debut of Ghost of Tsushima was similarly impressive. According to the official PlayStation Twitter account, Sucker Punch's adventure is the "fastest selling first-party original IP debut" for the platform, with 2.4 million units sold. The original record was set by Horizon Zero Dawn, which sold 2.6 million copies in two weeks.

The specificity of Sony's statement because that 2.4 million is a far cry from best-selling PS4 first-party title. The Last of Us Part 2 sold over 4 million copies in three days, beating God of War, which crossed 3.1 million in three days. And although it wasn't first-party, Final Fantasy 7 Remake shipped 3.5 million copies in the same time frame.

Ghost of Tsushima is doing quite well, it seems. We'll probably see a sequel from Sucker Punch eventually, unless the studio returns to making Infamous games again. Considering it took Infamous: Second Son nine days to sell 1 million copies worldwide, that's unlikely, though that was early in the PS4's lifespan. If you want to get in on Ghost of Tsushima, you should check out our review and extensive set of guides. We've also written about its story stumbles, samurai film inspirations, most meaningful moments, and how it represents this generation in terms of gameplay.