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Yo-kai Watch Projected to Top Gundam in Bandai's Toy/Hobby Sales
posted on by Kyle Cardine
Bandai Namco announced in an earnings report on Thursday the projected best-selling toy and hobby brands for the company for the fiscal year ending in March 2015. Yo-kai Watch tops the list with 40 billion yen (about US$350 million) in projected sales with Gundam in second place with 22 billion yen (about US$190 million), just over Kamen Rider with 20 billion yen (about US$170 million) in sales.
However, Gundam does top the character franchise sales charts for the entire Bandai Namco group with a projected 70 billion yen (about US$600 million).
Yo-kai Watch was recently named second place after Disney's Frozen as a top product for 2014 in Japan. A Yo-kai Watch feature film is opening on December 20, and a second film was announced on Monday due to the 721,422 advance tickets the first film has sold- an all-time record for TOHO.
Game developer Level-5 announced the Yo-kai Watch franchise in 2011 with a game, manga, and anime already planned. The franchise's first game for the Nintendo 3DS debuted in Japan in July 2013, and two versions of the Yo-kai Watch 2 3DS game shipped in July. A third version titled Yo-kai Watch 2: Shinuchi (Yo-kai Watch 2: Headliner) will ship on December 13, and will tie in to the upcoming film. The anime premiered this past January. The manga has four volumes that have sold 1.5 million copies.
[Via Yaraon]
