Japanese hardware sales, 20 Nov - 26 Nov: Krazy Kutaragi addition
FROM THE DESK OF: Kaz HiraiATTN: Ken Kutaragi
To whom it may concern,
Actually, this just concerns you, Ken. After arranging several meetings, internal polls and Aibo races, we've determined that your recent performance with regards to the PLAYSTATION 3 has been less than satisfactory. It's nothing personal, but we feel it's a fair comment to make given your actions behind the wheel of our Blu-ray vehicle. You've hit a concrete barrier, rolled over a cliff and even run over some pedestrians. I'm not really sure where this metaphor's going (it's running out of gas, you might say), but the general feeling I'm trying to convey is WRONG. BAD. UNHAPPY.
So, we're kicking you down a couple of notches in the business. I'm going to need you to write me a full sales report and have it on my desk by tomorrow. We don't have any tracking infrastructure in place yet, so I'm going to need you to manually count every PLAYSTATION 3 system sold.
FROM THE POORLY LIT WORKSTATION OF: Ken Kutaragi
ATTN: Kaz Hirai
To whom it may concern,
I have intensely calculated the sales numbers you requested:
- DS Lite: 201,378
72,757 (56.57%)- PLAYSTATION 3: 32,662
9,437 (22.42%) (Ken's note: Only the second smallest percentage decrease! The system is clearly a success!)- PSP: 30,815
14,125 (84.63%)- PS2: 26,263
11,195 (74.30%)- Xbox 360: 7,007
2,957 (73.01%)- GBA SP: 1,264
65 (5.42%)- Game Boy Micro: 1,235
198 (19.09%)- Gamecube: 576
62 (12.06%)- DS Phat: 212
30 (16.48%)- GBA: 27
3 (10.00%)- Xbox: 0
6 (100.00%)[Source: Media Create]
See also: Previous Japanese hardware sales charts
Can I have my old job back, now?
FROM THE DESK OF: Kaz Hirai
ATTN: Ken Kutaragi
To whom it may concern,
No.
FROM THE POORLY LIT WORKSTATION OF: Ken Kutaragi
ATTN: Kaz Hirai
To whom it may concern (jerk),
This is completely unfair. The PLAYSTATION 3 has been a resounding success. It's been consistently selling out and I have yet to see our "competitors" match its flawless design. This job you have relegated me to is degrading and could be done with but ONE of the CELL SPEs inside the PLAYSTATION 3. That's how powerful it is! Why, if I were a PLAYSTATION 3, I could calculate the sales numbers for every country in the world simultaneously and render a pie chart in four dimensions.
I could connect to the internets, link to other corporate executives and run sale simulations that encompass every planet in the known universe. If I used all my SPEs, I could travel back in time at a 120FPS at the wink of an eye. Of course, I wouldn't need eyes, because the power would allow to see the very matter of existence on an atomic scale. In HD. And not some shitty HD, I mean true, 1080p.
You are a fool to demote me.
FROM THE DESK OF: Kaz Hirai
ATTN: Ken Kutaragi
To whom it may concern,
Ken. YOU THINK YOU ARE A PLAYSTATION 3.
I'm not sure there's much more to be said.
FROM THE POORLY LIT WORKSTATION OF: Ken Kutaragi
ATTN: Ken Kutaragi
To whom it may concern,
By my calculations, every person in the world will have enough jobs collectively to be able to afford a PLAYSTATION 3, by 2008. This statistic is irrefutable and will restore my reputation and the faith of the shareholders. Where you see launch delays, I see expanding anticipation. Where you see Blu-ray diode shortages, I see rarity and exclusivity! It is a pity that your mind is too narrow to accomodate these concepts. This was the perfect launch.
FROM THE DESK OF: Kaz Hirai
ATTN: Ken Kutaragi
To whom it may concern,
I'm trying to keep this impersonal, Ken, but you are making things a bit more difficult than I am accustomed to. Also, I didn't get your last memo, because apparently YOU SENT IT TO YOURSELF.
You're also embarrassing yourself. You made a few mistakes with this console -- just accept it. The great games will be there eventually.
FROM THE POORLY LIT WORKSTATION OF: Ken Kutaragi
ATTN: Kaz Hirai
Oh, I'm embarrassing myself, am I? Need I remind you of your favorite game? I think it's called Riiiiidge Racer.
And it's a computer, not a console. There's a difference.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Rasgueado @ Dec 1st 2006 8:55PM
Uhm... ok. I can at least appreciate the attempt at humor here. Unfortunately it is just an attempt however.
DiahrreaMan @ Dec 1st 2006 8:55PM
LOL. What more can you say?
STILL WAITING FOR GOLDEN SUN 3 DAMMIT!
Storm9 @ Dec 1st 2006 8:56PM
PS3 is down b/c less shipments came in than the week before?
ozzydavid @ Dec 1st 2006 9:01PM
The Xbox360 is clearly picking up steam in Japan. They havent even realeased Blue Dragon and look at those numbers rising weekly. Anyone else excited?
CT A @ Dec 1st 2006 9:03PM
You're really an a-hole Ludwig, you know that?
LordMinogue @ Dec 1st 2006 9:07PM
If the 360 breaks the 10,000 mark this year, I'll be amazed. Whatever MS is doing, they just need to do more of it.
There still selling at 1/3 the rate of the "scarce" PS3, and where is the Wii?
JRM @ Dec 1st 2006 9:12PM
I don't know why they waited this long to get rid...er...promote ken. We all knew the PS3 was a train-wreck from more than a year now. The execs should have known this before--they should have gotten rid of their engineers for putting together a bad system. As far as I know, though ken was an engineer at sony, he's not involved in that capacity anymore.
Nossy @ Dec 1st 2006 9:13PM
Because Wii's not out yet for Japan?
Pedro @ Dec 1st 2006 9:14PM
Ds Lite sales: 201,378
Sony Sales: 89,740
NON DS Lite sales: 100,061
All we need to know?The ds lite sells two times as much as everything else combined. Also, its sales went up by just slightly less than the total Sony sales.
Isn't it about time Japan just renamed itself DSlite land?
Sizer @ Dec 1st 2006 9:33PM
Well either way this is not good. Either sales are falling or production is falling.
David @ Dec 1st 2006 9:37PM
Xbox 360 got some boosts because Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 released over there. and it cracked the top ten! Yes, japanese like it~
PS3, well, even though its percentage reduced, it probably sold out or nearly sold out. It did outsell PS2.
tam @ Dec 1st 2006 9:52PM
Awww, all a y'all just suck, that was kinda cute. Why do people have to be so dagnabit serious all the time?
justchris @ Dec 1st 2006 9:55PM
Ludwig, I always enjoy your posts, but it was funnier without the stuff after the cut. It is possible to take a joke too far.
Also, could you put software sales on here as well. I know Media Create does the top 30 for Japan, and NPD does the top 10 for the US, and those would be nice to see.
Also, it'd be really great if we could see numbers from Europe. I know gamasutra gets them for game sales, but I've never been able to find hardware numbers. Does no one gather that information?
Foetoid @ Dec 1st 2006 9:55PM
ZOMG, I have been following those DS sales figures for sometime and even i am shocked to see so many units being sold this week, it's amazing. As for the people who are wondering about the Wii in japan, it was released like 12 hours ago (AND JOYSTIQ STILL HASNT DONE AN ARTICLE ON IT WTF!). I see the 360 had the biggest percentage increase, well done. And yes, Japan should be renamed DS Lite land, can anyone confirm if that receipe guide for the DS was released this week and may have contributed to such a massive spike for the DS.
jgrey @ Dec 1st 2006 10:00PM
I have my doubts over PS3 as many others, but articles like this ridicule Joystiq.
These days I don't know what the "standard" is for Joystiq articles. While back it was very anti-Nintendo. Then things changed a bit, and now it's often anti-Sony.
From journalism standpoint, this article is poor. I've been leaning towards 360 and Wii for months now, but this seems like an unnecessary cheap shot at PS3, likely seen more often in school play grounds.
I don't think it would hurt Joystiq to bring in a bit more rationale and discipline in some of the articles. It's one thing to present facts and statistics, something else to put a childish spin.
O_o @ Dec 1st 2006 10:03PM
Also Blue dragon will be released on Dec 2nd with the Wii. Wonder if 360 will do even better then.
PS3's production clearly cant keep up with the market. And Sony is the only party at fault.
BklynKid @ Dec 1st 2006 10:15PM
Man, next week the 360 may just outsell the PS3 :p
Zak @ Dec 1st 2006 10:18PM
The DS Lite sales are so high because Pokemon Diamond and Pearl just came out. They sold a million copies in a day, as well as a Pokemon special edition.
That explains the phenomenon...for this week anyway.
Pulse @ Dec 1st 2006 10:21PM
DOA is fun for a short time, but eventually seeing virtual girls on screen dancing around and not having one in real life begins to annoy you, thus you take it out and replace it, lol.
Fortunatly, I have all the DOA I could want right here with me, I don't need a virtual girl to make me happy, lol
Blue Dragon will be a hit over there, but once Zelda and Wii dominate as well as FF, even Blue Dragon won't stand a chance.
Pulse @ Dec 1st 2006 10:22PM
Did I mention how much I dislike Krazy Ken? Can't stand the guy, hes just on Sony exec I'm glad I'll see more the back of his head then front.
VampireHunter Z @ Dec 1st 2006 10:22PM
The 360 can never die. They can still build up a decent user base in Japan. Enough to keep developers interested.
MoonfirePewPEwPEw @ Dec 1st 2006 10:23PM
@19
You do know Pokemon came out like a month ago?
You do know that the DS Lite was selling 200-300k a week before then?
You do know that this weeks numbers aren't influenced by that anyway?
You do know...
Nvm, I am done wasting my energy on a fanboy.
Foetoid @ Dec 1st 2006 10:29PM
@23 Actually this is the first time in a few months (i think since FFIII came out) that the DS has topped 200k units. Go check out the pervious weeks statistics and come back when you have actual information.
MoonfirePewPEwPEw @ Dec 1st 2006 10:32PM
"Actually this is the first time in a few months (i think since FFIII came out) that the DS has topped 200k units. Go check out the pervious weeks statistics and come back when you have actual information."
WTF does your gibberish have to do with my post? How about you inform your own self before trying to downplay someone else, dumbass.
And a FYI: DS lites over the pass few months have been in short supply. They sell out as fast as the stores get them. That is why it has been selling "poorly", not because of pokemon, but because of lack of supply for the demand.
MoonfirePewPEwPEw @ Dec 1st 2006 10:34PM
What I meant to say, pokemon had no influence as to why DS lite sells are up this week, it is due to a higher supply of them to the stores compared to the preview few weeks.
SkyCroc @ Dec 1st 2006 10:43PM
>19
Uhhh Diamond and Pearl came out in September.
ealba @ Dec 1st 2006 10:46PM
Hey, that's 32,662 more PS3s than Wiis that were sold this week. That's something to be proud of.
Zak @ Dec 1st 2006 11:01PM
Oh, I thought the Pokemon games came out more recently than that. Sorry, but in typical Joystiq commenter fashion, not having your facts just makes you a fanboy.
Wow.
Sorry, didn't know that having some misinformation made me a fanboy. So exactly who was I fanboying right there? Microsoft? Sony? I guess we'll never know.
Tom @ Dec 1st 2006 11:24PM
Zak, you are clearly a Digimon fanboy.
Fine Art Guy @ Dec 1st 2006 11:26PM
Wow, 200k for a system that every gamer has already. The Blue Ocean strategy is going very, very well.
driven2sin @ Dec 1st 2006 11:30PM
Well if you read Game Informer the DS and Nit in general are still lame and only 5 year olds play it.. here is a thought, there have been a lot of casual gamers masked as 'hardcore gamers' that got sucked into sony / xbox for the Madden's & FPS Deathmatches that have no clue about any true history of gaming and all the multiple genres that exist. With the DS & Wii, it is almost like many true gamers that were pushed out of the gaming community can come back. Nintendo got that magic going again.. it is like Atari & PacMan Fever all over again
justchris @ Dec 1st 2006 11:34PM
Actually, the reason DS sales are up has nothing to do with Pokemon or any game specifically. The DSL is selling out everywhere in Japan still. The increase in sales is due to an increase in number of consoles produced.
Part of that is due to the biggest seller in games last week, which was Love and Berry (made by Sega) for the DS. There was a bundle with a specially branded DSL, so that probably accounts for the increase in production. Incidentally, Love and Berry sold >421,000 units in it's first week. The next highest was Jump Ultimate Stars with ~150,000. Also, there was a PS2, 360 & PSP game in the top 10 this week. PS2 games come and go with different debuts, but it's pretty rare for the 360 or PSP to make it into the weekly top 10.
Blue Dragon does not come out until Dec 7, so it will not be on this week's sales charts. The Wii, however, will. Depending on how many are produced, it will likely outsell every other console, possibly including the DS, which will be quite a feat considering the DS' still strong performance. We'll have to wait yet another week to see how Blue Dragon affects 360 sales. It may be the first time the 360 tops 10,000 sold since launch.
Increase in 360 sales can probably be attributed to DOAX2 and Culdecept Saga (in the top 10 & top 30 respectively).
PS3 sales are down, which is really, really bad news for Sony. Not because people are losing interest, but because they've gone from >80k at launch, to >40k, to >30k, which means either production is getting steadily worse, or they're stockpiling. If they can't produce systems a little faster, they're going to be hurting seriously come next year.
Next week should be pretty nice with JP sales numbers including the Wii, and NPD sales numbers for November as well. I predict DS will still be best selling console in NA for November.
JIB @ Dec 2nd 2006 12:20AM
How come NPD never shows sales charts for America.
Or am I not looking hard enough?
TGStarfire @ Dec 2nd 2006 1:34AM
Well, I dunno...maybe he's onto something about the Pokemon influence?
As it is, with the Wii being launched in Japan this week, wasn't the Wii Pokemon Battle Revolution game supposed to be released at launch? (Maybe some people are just getting ready for that, rather than wait during Wii week to get a DS)
Zo K. @ Dec 2nd 2006 1:48AM
Don't worry, Ludwig... these people just don't GET you.
You're like the Andy Kaufman, the Wes Anderson, the... umm... Martha Stewart... of video game bloggers.
bubbacrosbysucks @ Dec 2nd 2006 1:50AM
yeah Ludwig, that was almost Eckhardt-esque right there. And as satisfying as it was, could've been chopped at the break as said by a previous poster (i'm a too lazy to scroll up).
Make sure this man gets paid more than Vladimir, AOL-Time Warner.
bubbacrosbysucks @ Dec 2nd 2006 1:53AM
and thanks for teaching me keelhaul
serb @ Dec 2nd 2006 2:25AM
be careful ludwig, if u do this with the wii you will get
flamed, i can guarantee that
robinhood @ Dec 2nd 2006 4:22AM
come next week, i fully expect Wii to be at number 1 spot!
mocax @ Dec 2nd 2006 6:21AM
Ken has scary crazy eyes in that picture....
hahaha @ Dec 2nd 2006 6:34AM
haha, the ps3 is almost as big as his hair in that picture
VerdigriS @ Dec 2nd 2006 8:13AM
Considering the Wii just sold out all 400k units in Japan yesterday, I'm assuming it will top the chart next week?
Man, 400k in US the first week, 200k the second week, and 400k in Japan this week... they actually sold 1M units in their launch period like they said they would... and it's not even out in UK!!!
Nintendo just shit a gold brick... again
Sponge @ Dec 2nd 2006 10:07AM
Why does everyone say internets? As in:
I could connect to the internets, link to other blah blah blah blah blah.
It makes you sound hillbillyish. I'm gonna go gets me some internets.
Gneekman @ Dec 2nd 2006 11:17AM
@45:
Exactly.
nsolo1717 @ Dec 2nd 2006 1:40PM
this is free content, from a blog.....and you are complaining about poor quality journalism.....are you serious? remember, there's a world wide web you have access to on the internets. There are other websites to go to if you don't like what's being posted here. The writers prolly chuckle every time you shoot at them with that nonsense.
nsolo1717 @ Dec 2nd 2006 1:42PM
i say internets because it sounds funny. I'm not a hillbilly. I'm from the bx and i know proper english as well.
idioteraser @ Dec 2nd 2006 7:27PM
How many times must it be repeteated that the United States sales are released on a monthly basis not weekly like the Japanese ones?
They are also much harder to get spread around since each NPD report costs a grand or more. So websites often get it from companies or offical retailer releases weeks after a NPD report comes out.
kftgr @ Dec 2nd 2006 10:53PM
"Increase in 360 sales can probably be attributed to DOAX2 and Culdecept Saga (in the top 10 & top 30 respectively)."
Actually, Culdcept Saga was ranked 15th
Tacoman @ Dec 3rd 2006 12:04AM
15th place is still in the top 30.
Anthriel @ Dec 3rd 2006 8:10AM
Actually, I think the DS sale numbers are somewhat misleading in a way. They lead you to believe that the DS is still the rival of the PSP or other consoles, which is not really the case.
In Japan, the DS is apparently no longer part of the console market, it is part of it's very own DS market.
It may have started as an ordinary console, but by now it apparently gets used for all sorts of different applications, from recipe storing to school work.
So, unlike in the West, it's not about whether you own a PSP or a DS, it's about whether or not the gaming capabilities of your DS are enough of you, if you want to have a PSP on top of the DS you are pretty much required to own anyway.