Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO has been off to an impressive launch, marking another successful release for Bandai Namco this year. Let’s take a look at its sales figures and compare them to some other titles in the franchise.
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero sold over 3 million copies globally in its first 24 hours, Bandai Namco announced in a press release today. It is available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, but it is unclear how the sales are split between platforms.
Launched on October 11, Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero remains the highest-grossing premium game on Steam for the second week in a row. It also peaked at 122.5k concurrent players on the platform, outperforming all other Dragon Ball games and fighting titles like Tekken 8 (also published by Bandai Namco), Street Fighter 6, and Mortal Kombat 1.
Sparking! Zero is the first game in the Budokai Tenkaichi series. The previous three main installments each sold millions of units, but it is hard to compare their worldwide launch sales to the new game due to a lack of data.
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero might be the fastest-selling Dragon Ball video game, especially when looking at the sales of other titles with fighting elements based on the franchise:
- Dragon Ball FighterZ — 2 million copies shipped in its first week (lifetime sales — over 10 million units, as of May 2023);
- Dragon Ball Xenoverse — 1.5 million copies sold in its first month (lifetime sales — over 10 million units, as of May 2023);
- Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 — 1.4 million copies shipped in its first week (lifetime sale — over 10 million units, as of May 2023);
- Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot — 1.5 million copies sold in its first week (lifetime sales — over 8 million units, as of July 2024)
In FY24 ended March 31, 2024, the Dragon Ball IP generated ¥140.6 billion ($942.5 million) in revenue for Bandai Namco, down 2.7% year-over-year. This includes sales of video games, merchandise, and other products. Only the Gundam franchise brought in more money for the company last year, with ¥145.7 billion ($976.7 million), up 11% year-over-year.
Sales of Bandai Namco’s products globally: FY23 vs. FY24
In addition to Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, Bandai Namco published several other top-selling games this year. Tekken 8 sold 2 million copies globally in less than a month, while Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree topped 5 million units sold in just three days.