Japanese hardware sales, Feb. 12 - Feb. 18: before the storm edition

Maybe this is common knowledge somewhere, but why does joystiq only post Japanese sales figures? Is there no reliable source for the rest of the world?

Joystiq releases the Japan figures because they're A) freely available and B) free. To acquire similar weekly figures in the US (I don't know about Europe) apparently costs quite a bit of money.

I'd say those figures are pretty much as expected. The word on the street was that sales last week were up because of an odd Japanese tradition on Valentine's Day (i.e. guys don't get screwed, as in the US... umm.. maybe I should re-word that...). Good for the PSP to increase sales, though I wouldn't expect it to catch up to the DS any time soon...

I'm a 360 fanboy myself... but that would be awesome to have one console dominate each region. As much as I prefer xbox over them all... I don't want to see any of them die. I like the 3 companies competing because it only benefits the gamers and brings about better products. Good luck to PS3 in Europe and with more new titles this spring. Hell, good luck to all 3 that they'll be here for years to come!!!

Didn't try to be funny this time?

You're absolutely right #3-- I'm a PS fan myself, but I am really glad there is something right now to compete with (ie attempt to catch up with). The day one console absorbs all is the days owning a console sucks.

~

Cheers to 360 rulez on that statement. If all three consoles are truly competing with each other, the winners will be those of us playing the games. They'll just get better and better, there will be less room for complacent developers and the manufacturers themselves will have to stay on their toes.

Awww... c'mon Ludwig, where's the humor?

I've got three guesses:

One, someone asked you to tone it down, which seems least likely to me...

Two, you got tired of the rest of these blogger punks trying to imitate you and failing miserably (and even though they're like a bunch of little geek engines that shouldn't, there is no replacement for "The Kietz Man")...

Or number three, which seems far more likely to me... you've gone without humor this time as bait, for material to be used in next week's edition.

In any case, I look forward to next week with gleeful anticipation. Gotta get my kicks from somewhere though, so Hugh Laurie will have to suffice for now. You go get 'em, House!

Hiroken- Or it could mean no more buying 3 consoles to play all home console games. One system to play them all... (that hurt).

Guess the system doesn't like umlauts anymore. Ah well.

Shit guys, Ludwig isn't funny ONCE and everyone is all over him? It's a pity he wasn't up to his usual tricks this time, but on average he makes me rofl.

I only read Joystiq for Ludwig's sales figures and Shagi.

The DS has a "significant drop"---no quotes needed, really---and it still outsells every other gaming system put together. Those are the kind of significant drops Nintendo can live with.

@5
for example.. madden.

The DS dropped by more units than the wii even sold.

The wii is still sold out in japan right? This means since the wii is still sold out then nintendo made 14,000 less wii's right?

This just in! All other consoles combined has a whopping 142,000 while the DS Lite has a meager 136,000.

what.will.Nintendo.do?

Can someone give a ballpark comparison of the size of the three major markets in terms of home console sales? (america, japan, and europe) While the american market always seems to be growing, it seems like Japan is steering further away from home consoles than ever before opting for handhelds instead (and, i suppose, cellphones as well). Can anyone comment on that. Thanks

Honestly, I don't understand why they even bother putting up the numbers week after week. It's always the same. I would be happy if the article simply stated, "Ditto from last week," and be done with it.

"It's an unremarkable week, notable only for the significant drops experienced by the current chart leaders, the DS Lite and the Wii." Yeah, the DS only outsold the PSP by a 4 to 1 ratio and the Wii only outsold the PS3 by a 3 to 1 ratio. I'm still curious about availability of both. Can anyone confirm what the situation in Japan is?

"It's an unremarkable week, notable only for the significant drops experienced by the current chart leaders, the DS Lite and the Wii." Yeah, the DS only outsold the PSP by a 4 to 1 ratio and the Wii only outsold the PS3 by a 3 to 1 ratio. I'm still curious about availability of both. Can anyone confirm what the situation in Japan is?

"It's always the same."

Well, considering the DSL dropped in sales as much as the Wii had total, it's not exactly the same.

I think it's important for their to be a new number one market leader to keep the market interesting.

"Can someone give a ballpark comparison of the size of the three major markets in terms of home console sales?"

The US is the largest, Europe is second and Japan is third, but the difference is not as great as the populations would suggest. Japan buys more games per capita. It is almost as large a market for games as all of Europe.

You are also correct that Japan has made the move towards handhelds over home consoles. Home console sales have continued to drop there, overall, whereas DS sales have gone through the roof and stayed there. I think they're on the leading edge with this, as they often are in video gaming trends; I expect this to happen in the US and Europe eventually also, though it might take another generation of hardware for us to get there.

"I expect this to happen in the US and Europe eventually also, though it might take another generation of hardware for us to get there."

I don't think that'll ever happen here. Japan has a very large commuter culture and I think that has played a really big role in the early success of the DS. Adults could play the games (or non-games) on their way to and from work.

I can't speak for Europe, but I know where I live, most people drive themselves to work. No subways or buses and even carpools are rare. There's just no time for handhelds in that environment.

That's not to say handhelds can't be played other times, but I just see the whole commuter thing in Japan as the reason they initially became successful. Without that foot-in-the-door, the DS can't get the same adult consumers in America.

since Joystiq has failed to mention it: Monster Hunter 2 portable sold an estimated 500,000 copies today

you heard that correctly folks... a PSP game sold 500,000 copies in it's first day.

I'd say an other reason for handheld success in Japan is that (at least in Tokyo), houses are smaller and many households don't have a secondary TV to plug the game device. When the unique TV is shared with the rest of the family, a handheld is more convenient - even to play at home.

i personally havnt been big into handhelds since the gameboy color way back in the day. i have a limited budget, being 17, going to school, having a part time job and having to buy my own gas and car insurance. so not only do i not really have the time or money for a handheld. i dont have the desire for one. i would rather spend my money for a worthwhile experience with a home console. we really shouldnt spend all our waking hours on some kind of video game anyway.

also. the day the psp2 come out i will buy it in a second. depending on it having 2 thumbsticks and at least one first person shooter. xbox1 graphics would be nice but ps2 graphics would do. psp graphics are like ps1.5 graphics and ds graphics are like N64. niether of which are good enough for me. but im a graphics whore myself

wow, how can you tell the difference in graphics on such a damn small screen?

If all machines has equal share that would be brilliant. I don't want to experience any more companies bite the dust. Atari and then Sega and at the rate the Gaming community continue, it will be Sony next. So its nice to see some "equal is good" comments even from fanboys.

As a side note, i've noticed my screen name has TOTALLY changed to my PS3 and Xbox 360 gamer tag name since starting to use your Password and email system to post quicker. Thats sinister. Is it linked somehow?? I'm not bothered, just a little spooked...

21 id say there where more people in europe than north america something like 400 million in the eu and thats not all of europe, north america is still a bigger games market though

22 around the big cities i think almost everyone commutes on trains or buses at least that whats its like around london

Thanks for the info/thoughts Jeff, Probot, and Erwan. To me, that is in interesting discussion.

23. "It's an unremarkable week, notable only for the significant drops experienced by the current chart leaders, the DS Lite and the Wii." Yeah, the DS only outsold the PSP by a 4 to 1 ratio and the Wii only outsold the PS3 by a 3 to 1 ratio. I'm still curious about availability of both. Can anyone confirm what the situation in Japan is?

Shipments of DSs sell out in a few hours upon arrival. Lines still form for blocks to get one unit per person.

PSPs are readily available and are often sold on sale for just a few dollars more then a DS lite also psps are often bundled by stores with several games to reduce their psp game inventory. PSP games sell like crap with the exception of a few titles that peak at 100,000 then crash.

Wiis sell out each shipment. more crazily then the DS. Trade in price worth more then what the PS3 would fetch. DS and DS lite trade in prices still extremly high. Heck the xbox 360 trade in price is better then it was last year so the xbox 360 has gone up somewhat in value. Even PS3s are readily found with stores often taking weeks to sell a shipment while Wiis can sell out the shipment in minutes or a few hours if they have a few thousand units.

DS is sold out almost everywhere in tokyo.. still. You can find them if you look hard enough, but walk into most games shops and they will have signs up saying "sold out".

they must get regular batches in at certain tims to keep up the inanely huge sales figures though. YOu can also pick up overseas models in Akihabara, but they cost about 10-20% more. (but of course ar multi region, multi-language.)

The Wii is also sold out pretty much everywhere. I have only seen two shops with any in stock.

There are PS3s everywhere, and pretty much every games shop i've been in is selling second hand PS3s.

PSPs are getting a boost this week because Monster Hunter 2 just launched, and it seems to be about the most popular game on the system over here. Adverts everywhere.

Thats about all for this report.

Yeah, where's the humor, Ludwig?

You know, though, I was just wondering after reading the first paragraph, can you imagine how insane that would seem only three years ago, with Sony struggling and Nintendo consistently on top? The tables have turned so drastically in such a short period of time.

The unstoppable juggernaut that is the DS Lite continues. It makes me wonder just when and if the newer, bigger screened DS will hit Japan and the rest of the world.

I'm also impressed with Wii's sales as usual, and for this week in particular, Xbox 360 and PSP. PSP is still overall, doing a lot less each week than DS, but it's fairing better than it has in the past, and this has been going on for a few weeks. Meanwhile, Xbox 360 is at least doing better as of late, than most of its 2006 weeks.

It's also good to see PS3 outsell PS2...that IS the way things should be. Nice looking charts, but I think that major differences will occur starting in April, since that's when Nintendo's Wii and DS manufacturing plants are going to go way up.
Paul Gale
1up.com

YES! My second cousin living in Japan finally got his hands on a GBA! I can't wait till he brings it over here and I get to play it.

"Can someone give a ballpark comparison of the size of the three major markets in terms of home console sales?"

Combined PS2/GCN/Xbox hardware sales from vgcharts:

Americas: 73.6M
PAL: 54.9M
Japan: 28.5M



Combined DS/PSP hardware sales:
Americas: 17.1M
PAL: 15.8M
Japan: 16.9M

OMG, it you add up everything under the DS Lite. The total is greater than DS Lite sales.

The DS Lite had a good run, but it's all over now.

Would be intresting to have different leaders of the console world in each region, but i highly doubt it.. it will probably take Sony a few months [if Sony maintain the stock of PS3's] to overtake 360 in the market..

The brand is wayy to great, in the UK at least.