Latest Japanese Hardware Sales

[AlphaPrime]

Software Sales: February 19 - 25

01. (PSP, Capcom) Monster Hunter Portable 2nd - 705,281

02. (PS2, Alchemist) Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - 80,002

03. (WII, Nintendo) Fire Emblem: Goddess of the Dawn - 75,359

04. (NDS, EA) SimCity DS - 50,826

05. (NDS, Level 5) Prof. Layton and the Mysterious Village - 49,979

06. (WII, Nintendo) Wii Sports - 47,053

07. (WII, Takara-Tomy) Naruto: Shippuuden Gekitou Ninja Taisen! EX - 45,792

08. (NDS, Square-Enix) Dragon Quest Monsters Joker - 40,507

09. (WII, Nintendo) Wii Play - 35,811

10. (NDS, Nintendo) Picross DS - 26,693

Wow...

[George P Global Moderator]

Well, it took forever for the PSP to get something big to sell in Japan, but I don't think this will help close the gap with the DS at all.

Great news for capcom though.

[KoL Veteran]

February 19-25

DSL - 136,128

PSP - 100,210

Wii - 78,506

PS3 - 19,315

PS2 - 15,054

Xbox360 - 4,183

GBASP - 1,035

GBM - 907

GC - 323

DS - 132

GBA - 59

http://www.m-create.com/jpn/s_ranking.html

not bad for the PSP

[AlphaPrime]

Both DS versions just took over the GBA series:

Total Sales

DS/L - 15,410,009

GBA/SP/M - 15,324,613

[George P Global Moderator]

It just shows that japanese are big on portables, I mean you have Wii sales starting to come down, PS3 is just, well, forget about that, the 360 is floating in it's sales range until the next game comes out.

[The Teej]

****, DS actually had some bitching competition this week! GG PSP!

But dayamn, the DS has just owned the GBA franchise in like, what, 2 and a half years? That's awesome :D

EDIT: The DS is only 5 million units away from beating the original Game Boy sales in Japan! The DS will probably go down as the most successful handheld of all time when it is eventually discontinued. However, I predict that it will go on for many, many years yet. As Many as the Gameboy? Maybe.

Edited March 4, 2007 by The Tjalian

[AlphaPrime]

February 29 - March 4

DSL - 111,814

PSP - 66,156

Wii - 57,972

PS3 - 44,000

PS2 - 15,364

Xbox360 - 3,379

GBM - 805

GBASP - 738

GC - 303

DS - 112

GBA - 25

PSP broke the 5 million mark in Japan this week.

[gunnerhkjp]

PS3 did quite will with Gundum Muso.

[George P Global Moderator]

It did, one good game can help push sales up, not that gundam muso is a "good" game, but put gundam in the name, and it'll sell good regardless.

That said, the 360 needs something new to jump start sales again.

[AlphaPrime]

March 5 - 11

DSL - 108,512

PSP - 56,175

Wii - 44,495

PS3 - 32,115

PS2 - 14,585

Xbox360 - 3,333

GBM - 812

GBASP - 679

GC - 240

DS - 119

GBA - 13

[The Teej]

Wait wait wait, PSP just outsold Wii?

SAY IT ISN'T SO

[Rudy]

Wait wait wait, PSP just outsold Wii?

SAY IT ISN'T SO

well if it's the same in Japan as it is here, the Wii is almost impossible to find, therefore it might have sold more if there was more supply

[George P Global Moderator]

I don't think that's the case really, if you go back to past weeks, the Wii and the PS3, also the 360 are all falling in sales, though the PS3 got a kickstart with the new Gundam game. The Wii doesn't have anything new to push new sales, and same with the 360 at this point. If they get a new game we could see them go back up again.

[majortom1981]

no, The case is because of low supply for the wii. Thats why its sales went down.

Here you cant find a wii anywhere on long island.

Once nintendo ramps up its manufacturing then they should do okay.

IF Ssbb is as good or better then melee there might be even more demand for the console.

[gunnerhkjp]

I was reading an interview with Mistwalker's Hironobu Sakaguchi at gamespot. He goes into why the 360 is doing badly in Japan.

GS: You mentioned that Blue Dragon has been one of the top sellers on the 360 in Japan, but the system's success in Japan still hasn't come close to what it has reached in the United States. What else do you think that Microsoft and developers have to do to bring the 360 up to that level of success in Japan?

HS: [in English] Good marketing. Japanese marketing guys are not so good. Marketing is important, most important.

GS: How do you think they could strengthen their marketing in Japan? What are they doing wrong? Is there a different strategy they should pursue?

HS: Just to give you an example...the "jump in" statement, right? Jump in...the tagline. Nobody can understand it or knows what "jump in" means. So it has to be localized to cater to the audience in Japan, to get them to understand what that's about. So paying particular attention to [the marketing]--not just bring everything as is over to Japan--it's not going to do any good. You have to really think about the market, market needs and demands, and then really tailor it to that audience.

HS: [in English] If you say "jump in" in Japanese. Jump in. It's not so cool in Japanese.

GS: It doesn't make sense.

HS: [English] Yeah, makes no sense.

Microsoft PR rep: "Do, do, do." [the recent Xbox 360 slogan in Japan]

HS: [English] "Do, do, do" is not so good either. [laughs]

GS: So they need to try harder then.

HS: [English] Yeah, it's not so cool. [laughs]

GS: That's interesting because we've seen the Japanese version of Gears of War with its localized Japanese voice acting and everything. How well do you feel Microsoft brought that game to the Japanese market? America obviously has a great appetite for Japanese games, but perhaps that's not so much the case in the other direction. Do you feel that Microsoft did a good job of localizing and marketing Gears of War for the Japanese market?

HS: [in English] Yeah, the localization is good, but the marketing is too bad...too bad. [laughs]

GS: Still no good?

HS: [English] Nobody knows about Gears of War.

Its a pretty cool interview by the way.

[dnast]

I was reading an interview with Mistwalker's Hironobu Sakaguchi at gamespot. He goes into why the 360 is doing badly in Japan.

I haven't read the whole interview yet, but the quotes are very interesting. I think I remember you saying all along how the 360 marketing sucks in Japan. Since Sakaguchi is almost like the "savior" of the 360 in Japan, maybe they'll listen to his feelings about the marketing?

[George P Global Moderator]

One would have to think they already know the marketing is not working. No one should have to tell you, just look at the numbers. Though at this point, the 360 is doing better then the original did. So that's at least some good news.

[AlphaPrime]

Monster Hunter Portable 2nd became the first PSP game to sell 1 million copies in Japan this week. Nice work Capcom.

[macrosslover]

One would have to think they already know the marketing is not working. No one should have to tell you, just look at the numbers. Though at this point, the 360 is doing better then the original did. So that's at least some good news.

you would think that should be common sense on their part but go figure lol. they way he's describing MS Japan, they could end up having Final fantasy and metal gear thrown in their laps and still screw it up.

[dnast]

It's not as simple as that. Even with good marketing, selling the 360 in Japan would still be a struggle (although I must admit that the Mistwalker titles combined with formerly Sony exclusives coming to the 360 make it a little easier). For any of you that were into consoles when the 3DO and Atari Jaguar were around, just imagine how difficult it would be for those companies to convince you to invest in a next-generation version of those consoles instead of the companies you're most familiar with. That's basically how the situation is with the Xbox line in Japan. It's kind of hard to get the masses to join your side when your last try didn't even net you a half million consoles sold throughout that whole generation (if my numbers are correct).

[AlphaPrime]

March 12 - 18

DSL - 121,471

Wii - 67,070

PSP - 43,769

PS3 - 21,635

PS2 - 13,321

Xbox360 - 2,910

GBM - 727

GBASP - 557

GC - 367

DS - 159

GBA - 9

[gunnerhkjp]

It's not as simple as that. Even with good marketing, selling the 360 in Japan would still be a struggle (although I must admit that the Mistwalker titles combined with formerly Sony exclusives coming to the 360 make it a little easier). For any of you that were into consoles when the 3DO and Atari Jaguar were around, just imagine how difficult it would be for those companies to convince you to invest in a next-generation version of those consoles instead of the companies you're most familiar with. That's basically how the situation is with the Xbox line in Japan. It's kind of hard to get the masses to join your side when your last try didn't even net you a half million consoles sold throughout that whole generation (if my numbers are correct).

Good marketing is a start, but right now MS has no marketing.

Every second ad on TV is nintendo and sony.

I haven't seen a MS ad AT ALL.

You know something is wrong when Japanese gamers don't know what "gears of war" is...

[DanManIt]

The DS Lite is selling amazingly well. I was surprised that the 360 wasn't doing so well, but dnast and gunnerhkjp explained why.

[Aero Ultimate]

March 12 - 18

Wii - 67,070

PS3 - 21,635

DSL - 121,471

PSP - 43,769

The PS3 continues its downwards trend quite rapidly, not even selling a third anymore of what the Wii sells :laugh:

The Psp seems to sharing the same fate now, selling only a third of what the DS Lite sells as well.

MS still needs to come up with a proper slogan and campaign for the X360 in Japan.

[George P Global Moderator]

I think MS is waiting for another game to help push sales, like blue dragon did a bit, maybe now that DMC4 is on the 360 as well as a few others, they'll let the marketing for the games also help market the system. It just takes something big to kickstart it. Like say, something new from square-enix maybe? heh heh