Nintendo’s New ‘Chameleon’ Hits #3 in Price Rankings — Debate Erupts Over Actual Sales Figures

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The story

A new title on Nintendo Switch, ‘Chameleon,’ has caused a stir after landing at No. 3 on the revenue-based sales chart despite costing just 630 yen (about $4). Some in the thread praised it as ‘another Nintendo-born hit, following Minecraft, Suika Game, and Exit 8,’ while others pointed out that official figures put worldwide sales at only 100,000 units, sparking debate over whether it really deserves to be called a ‘massive viral hit.’ There were also posts that mixed up PC (Steam) numbers with Switch numbers, with bold claims of ‘1 million concurrent players’ quickly getting corrected.

What people said

1AnonymousSep 14, 2026 08:50
This never would've caught on with a high-barrier platform like PlayStation or PC.
6AnonymousSep 14, 2026 08:54
This is the game Nintendo should've made.
Why couldn't they get from Splatoon to a hide-and-seek concept?
10AnonymousSep 14, 2026 08:56
Re: #6
Nintendo gets to skip the development effort and still rake in the profit — perfect for them.
41AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:29
Re: #6
Is this really a game Nintendo needed to make, though?
18AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:05
You can play something similar for free on Roblox.
52AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:47
Re: #18
So in the end we're stuck playing the knockoff version?
21AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:09
'Trashstation' (a mocking nickname for PlayStation) really has nothing going for it, huh.
27AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:12
Re: #22
LOL, 'Chameleon' is basically made of prefab assets 🤪
23AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:10
Minecraft, Suika Game, Exit 8, and Chameleon —
Nintendo was the one who made all of them blow up, wasn't it?
What does PlayStation even have?
30AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:13
Re: #23
They made a Zelda ripoff popular, though.


Such shabby graphics lol
31AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:14
Re: #30
So blocky/pixelated lmaooo
A game that isn't even 4K these days? My eyes are rotting.
25AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:11
The Switch 2 game that actually gets the most use out of the mouse feature.
34AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:16
Re: #25
Go play some basketball outside for once. (5ch slang for 'go touch grass')
32AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:15
There's been no sales report since day two.
That says it all.
37AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:19
The sales-tracker account ('Ryuutsu') is going off today more than usual.
Did something happen?
46AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:38
Re: #37
I think we're past 'did something happen' and into 'something already happened'
There's just too much bad news lately.
38AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:19
Come to think of it, the Steam version's sales
are about on par with Switch 2 console sales.
44AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:35
Re: #38
Well, compared to PC it's a pretty tiny market.
39AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:24
This is pretty interesting.
54AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:48
For something that supposedly went massively viral, it's not selling that well, is it?
58AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:52
Re: #54
Unlike the free-to-play charts, actual money's changing hands here, nice.
No wonder the market's heating up and more people are ditching PlayStation.
61AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:59
Re: #54
Say what you will, but Switch 2 is starting to outsell now.
The transition [to Switch 2] is going smoothly.
55AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:50
It's a revenue-based ranking, after all.
If Elden Ring sold 20,000 downloads,
then Chameleon sold 300,000 downloads.
56AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:51
Re: #55
But the official announcement caps worldwide sales at just 100,000.
57AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:52
Hitting No. 3 on the revenue chart at just 630 yen means it's selling like crazy.
60AnonymousSep 14, 2026 09:59
Re: #57
It only hit No. 3 because nothing else is selling.
Guess that just exposed how weak this sales chart really is.
63AnonymousSep 14, 2026 10:01
Re: #62
Only 100,000 sold worldwide, though?
How do you get to 1 million concurrent players from that?
64AnonymousSep 14, 2026 10:02
Re: #63
You're seriously underestimating Nintendo.
Can you even read the numbers?
65AnonymousSep 14, 2026 10:08
Re: #64
That's the PC version.
Here's the Switch version's numbers.
70AnonymousSep 14, 2026 10:16
Re: #65
You can clearly tell the boom already died down.
73AnonymousSep 14, 2026 10:19
Re: #65
Compared to PC, the Switch 2 market is pathetically tiny lol
82AnonymousSep 14, 2026 10:45

Background and Key Points of This Discussion

Switch software sales charts come in two types: unit-based and revenue (price)-based. This time it was the latter that sparked discussion. A low-priced title landing near the top of a revenue-based chart doesn’t necessarily mean explosive unit sales — there’s a structural quirk where rankings climb more easily during periods when few high-priced, major titles are competing. As one thread comment pointed out, ‘it only hit No. 3 because nothing else is selling,’ so chart position shouldn’t be conflated with actual sales volume or genuine buzz. Several posts also mixed up concurrent-player counts and sales figures between the PC (Steam) version and the Switch version — a common source of confusion worth keeping in mind whenever these ‘viral hit’ stories circulate across platforms.

※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry, ‘Geha’) thread “Nintendo’s Chameleon is a massive hit! Surprisingly deep gameplay for just 500 yen“.

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