Japanese hardware sales, Jan. 29 - Feb. 4: award-winning edition

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Feb 9th 2007 at 10:30PM }

"Excuse me, but aren't you ... that guy?"

The sound of success is not entirely dissimilar from the sound of a passing stranger, politely seeking to confirm his or her suspicions regarding your familiar identity. The higher intonation which ends the question might give you pause to doubt, but the eventual answer brings with it more certainty. You are that guy. We are that guy. Those guys. Whatever. We totally won an award!

More than one, in fact. In a recent and moderately glitzy ceremony held by the Academy of Non-Interactive Japanese Sales Charts Tracking Interactive Arts and Science Devices, Joystiq waltzed away with 3 highly prestigious awards and one award which borders on notable, but isn't quite there yet. In the categories of "Sales Chartiest Chart," "Best Chart That Knows It's A Chart," "Best Use of Soul-Crushingly Oppressive Red Arrows" and "Best Sales Chart That Conveys Information Beneath Universally Appalling Attempts at Humor", our team of overworked writers were given recognition in the form of glorious trophies and mildly disconcerting winks from the judges. They also won't be killed this week.

Thanks for molding us into that guy that roams the streets with a trophy in his hand and a wildly inaccurate self-image in his mind. We couldn't have done it without you looking at stuff like this:

- DS Lite: 146,073

48,453 (24.91%)
- Wii: 65,740

18,014 (21.51%)
- PSP: 31,216

4,484 (12.56%)
- PS3: 18,727

1,269 (6.35%)
- PS2: 17,540

3,455 (16.46%)
- Xbox 360: 6,130

1,235 (16.77%)
- Game Boy Micro: 1,050

127 (10.79%)
- GBA SP: 724

299 (29.23%)
- Gamecube: 306

41 (11.82%)
- DS Phat: 119

37 (45.12%)
- GBA: 28

6 (17.65%)

[Source: Media Create]

See also: Previous Japanese hardware sales charts

Tags: Japanesehardwaresales

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Grunge @ Feb 9th 2007 10:33PM

1) Wii outselling PS3 5:1
2) Ludwig I love your posts

Marth @ Feb 9th 2007 10:37PM

heh the only reason the DS Lite sales are down is because everyone in Japan already bought one.

NintendoFanbot @ Feb 9th 2007 10:37PM

GAMING IS DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO........

*3 years later*

...OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO......

*5 years later, when facts are ready to dispute the initial claim*

...OOOOMMMMED.

jp @ Feb 9th 2007 10:37PM

wii not facin ps3 they are in their own league
i would never just own a wii i would also need a ps3 or 360

nintendo and sony have japan on lockdown

Will @ Feb 9th 2007 10:52PM

Grunge: i think you need to repeat 2nd grade math...the Wii is outselling the ps3 by 3.7 to 1....a good bit away from 5 to 1

Aex @ Feb 9th 2007 10:53PM

@Grunge

You suck at math.

I wonder if the bad ps3 sales are due to fact that 80% of ps3 available are the 60gb and not the 20gb? You'd figure that 499yen would sell a ps3. Guess not, maybe next weeks figures will perk up a little with the introduction of VF5. Maybe not... I guess we'll find out next friday.

KC @ Feb 9th 2007 10:58PM

VF5 will push a few consoles.

Not enough to make it a "winner", if that's how we're judging these new consoles. But it'll sell some more I'm sure.

jaysins @ Feb 9th 2007 10:59PM

Kudos to Ludwig for making these funny week after week. My favorite one yet, especially the arrow part. I know those arrows crushed my soul:(. Wonder how the DS will sell when the FFXII DS comes out?

Rubang B @ Feb 9th 2007 10:59PM

Considering how DS-crazy Japan is, once the Wii has a DS demo channel, people will start buying it just to act as a DS download station at home for their 20 DS's per family.

NintendoFanbot @ Feb 9th 2007 11:01PM

PS3 20GB is 49,800 Yen.

AEX sux at math. J/K :P

To be honest, I don't think people are accepting these 'budget gamer' packages. Considering the Core 360 comes with a WIRED controller and a memory card vs. Wireless and 20 GB Hard Drive and a similar (but not the same) difference between the two PS3 packages, people just see the more expensive packages as the real packages.

Brandon Johnson @ Feb 9th 2007 11:45PM

For those of you thinking that VF5 is going to push PS3s I wouldn't count on it. From reports first day sales have not really been all that good.

Covenant @ Feb 9th 2007 11:58PM

Sony's PSP, PS2, and PS3 combined totals barely eclipsed the total for the Wii, never mind the DS. Ouch.

Szu @ Feb 10th 2007 12:39AM

Ha, the PSP, PS2, and PS3 beat out the Wii by more than 1500 units. Just goes to show that the Wii is no match for the combined might of all the Sony products.

Clearly the PS3 is a success.

Revo @ Feb 10th 2007 12:48AM

The PS2 is STILL selling more than the PS3, and now by an even wider margin. Amazing what an absolute flop the latter has become in Japan.

Korova @ Feb 10th 2007 1:30AM

I think all the wafer thin japanese models went out and got DS Phat so people would stop BOTHERING THEM with sandwiches and shit.

"Can't you see, I am playing a game?!"
"Do you think my DS is phat?

Korova @ Feb 10th 2007 1:43AM

Yes, all 37 of them got on a bus and went to get them.

NintendoFanbot @ Feb 10th 2007 1:47AM

SZU:

Clearly, the combined assault of Sony is a multi-pronged strategem, possibly inspired by a collossal crustacean of some sort...

They were man-eaters, I kid you not!

TSD @ Feb 10th 2007 2:30AM

Phhsss
Look at you wiitards lying about the the wii's sucess. It's barely beating out the ps3 3 to 1; clearly Sony's about to pounce and doom kidtendo, lawl.

Jake @ Feb 10th 2007 3:21AM

The Wii is bringing more people to the Dark Side. Soon they will be one of us.

Tiremfej @ Feb 10th 2007 4:46AM

When you look at it, the PS3 percentage wise, lost more than the 360. I can skew numbers with the best of them. On a percentage basis the 360 sold more units than the PS3.

Tiremfej @ Feb 10th 2007 4:47AM

Or maybe not. I'm drunk and confused. Still it's too close to call!!

SteddyMan @ Feb 10th 2007 6:10AM

You got the PS2 and PS3 figures the wrong way round. The PS3 sold more than the PS2.

Ludwig Kietzmann @ Feb 10th 2007 7:16AM

Right you are, SteddyMan. Thanks for spotting that.

Ben Hobbs @ Feb 10th 2007 9:12AM

Its pretty amazing that the brand new PS3 is barely outselling the xbox 360 3:1 in Japan, considering the 360 has been out for a year and the PS3 less than 3 months.

nintendofan @ Feb 10th 2007 9:17AM

Wii and DS lite sales were down due to lack of supply.

PS3 sales were due to down to lack of interest. The gaming community in Japan moved to Nintendo but only keeps buying PS2 games because most of them have them the system.

Virtua Fighter Five PS3 bombed hard as expected to those who actually keep track of how the console series has sold in Japan and the view of the series to fighting game fans.

Several franchises that Sony fans claim will bring an increase in sales are in reality not that big of a deal in Japan or will be multiplatform releases.

The PS3 is truly next gen it reeks of desperation to be accepted now instead of 20 years in the future.

Sir Unimaginative @ Feb 10th 2007 10:18AM

The amazing thing for me is that the DS Lite sold more units than all the other consoles -combined-.

And DS + PSP (We could add in the Micro, GBA and Phat but pour a water bottle into your nearest Pacific and see how much it rises) are well over 2:1 against the consoles.

I wonder if this is representative of a new view toward gaming, or just indicative of unreasonable console pricing.