Japanese hardware sales, Apr. 23 - Apr. 29: Weak midweek edition

man, FFXII is printing money on DS.

PS3 is finally outselling PS2

PSP is selling better than I thought, with no price decrease or any good game releases (FFtactic won't come out until the 10th)

Xbox is making a move? why? is there some game out there I don't know about?

GBA sold exactly... 0 copy

DS Lite and Wii of course are way up there but the PSP, PS3 and PS2 are doing pretty good too everything else is kinda blah

Wow... selling 12,000 is so nex gen! PS3 Rules! Fuck Nintendo! Selling 100,000 is so last gen!

(Note: I better explain that it was sarcasm cause PS3 fanboys do not tell the diference... I mean, they are all 14 year old, so I need to explain to them)

Look at the DS go! Are gifts given during any of the holidays during Golden Week? That could be the reason for the nearly across the charts up-ness in the sales.

The PS3 just barely edges out the PS2, but it still sells more than 400% as much as the Xbox 360. Which is pretty good for the 360 over there.

www.halo3vidoes.net does anyone know what this is or is it a web park

>selling 12,000 is so nex gen! PS3 Rules!

tell me you actually know the difference between "sales number" and "next gen Console"

It's really not that complicated. CRT TVs are outselling HD TVs in most of the world, it doesn't make the next gen.

@kingofwale

So, nex-gen means HD Graphics??

HD graphics has been on PC way before PS3 and Xbox 360...

Wii Remote IS nex-gen... and you will see, that in the nex generation of consoles (PS4, Xbox 720, Xii) will have motion sensitive and pointer capabilities.

Looks like the lack of graphics isn't hurting the Wii at all.

"3. ...but the PSP, ***PS3*** and PS2 are doing pretty good too everything else is kinda blah"

Joke post?

>So, nex-gen means HD Graphics??

as oppose to sales number?

and what would that make xbox360? last gen?

Hope all the 15 users of PS3 enjoy curing cancer

>Hope all the 15 users of PS3 enjoy curing cancer

psst, the sales chart is RIGHT ABOVE. ;),

and yeah, what a shame for PS3 owners to have to help curing cancers.

102,522 divided by 12,791 is 8.015. SPIN THAT.

@and yeah, what a shame for PS3 owners to have to help curing cancers

it some sort of sarcasm??? cause I thought that the Playsation was a gaming machine, not a medical-experimental machine?? Oh I forgot, thats nex gen: being able to perform a lot of tasks: movie player, paper holder, medical-experiental machine, grill... but no games... games are for kids... right?

Aww, and here I thought it was the weekend already. =0

Aaand the PS3 and the PS2 are in a dead heat! Who will win this generation?! Taking all bets, currently at a 2-to-1 in the PS2's favor!

"SPIN THAT."

I DID. I wrote it on a top, then spun it, it got boring after a minute, so I stopped.

You guys comment have no good making

>it some sort of sarcasm???

Psst, there's only ONE sort of sarcasm. ;)

and Folding@Home is a medical-experimental thing? hmmmm. maybe not understanding sarcasm isn't such a big deal for you after all. :)

Shinigami Illustrated Picture Book!
GOLDEN!















That's all I have to say.

samfish, don't drink so much bleach.

Hardware sales are starting to get boring. Sony fanboys don't come here anymore. I wonder why...

@Fernando

"but no games... "

not having the games that you like is one thing, not having ANY games at all... is another. But dont worry the games are coming (shooters included) so that is being resolved, I prefer to have a good system that Im SURE will have plenty of games that a system that Im SURE at some point(s) wont play the games that it has...

@ kevout

"You guys comment have no good making"

what is that supposed to mean? is that supposed to be english?

Ugh

Fine I'll take a spin.

PS3 is doing fine. Wii is doing FAR better than expected. XBox 360, considering it's Japan, is doing better than expected. This is considering pre-Wii-launch numbers, and comparisons of generation-to-generation attachments. (aka statistical measurements, as opposed to considerations to target demographic [since there's no data for the new target demographic Wii's targetting], technology used, and etc)

(By comparison, for an example, consider the ratio of PS1 to PS2 to PS3, or XBox to XBox 360 (when they were this new), then consider the ratio of Gamecube to Wii, and see the significant difference.)

Nintendo is CLEARLY limiting supply to push up demand.

Sony and Microsoft have shipped plenty of consoles, therefore people don't feel they need to buy as many of them.

OBVIOUSLY.

Cant wait for the PS4. Its gonna be awesome with the duplicated Wii controls and it's gonna rock so much so that people will behave as if there never was a PS3 and then Wii can all get along and play games through the 5th dimension. And the PSP2 will copy the DS controls but will have better graphics also. Sony rocks when it comes to copying Nintendo's genius innovations!!!!

@ Kasey

If thats what they are trying to do then its working out pretty good for them wouldn't you say, nothing wrong with that, Nintendo isn't putting guns to peoples heads and making them purchase a Wii and/or DS.

It has been said before and someone has just got to say it this week:

"IT STILL PRINTS MONEY!"

Man, as an accountant even I got all giggly over news like this. Nintendo has got to be rolling in so much money it needs to buy a third bank to keep it all in.

wow japan has approx 100 million people and you mean to tell me that since the DS came out EVERYONE IN THE FREAKING COUNTRY HASNT GOTTEN ONE YET????? I wish they would tally up ALL the DS Sales im sure its over 100 Mil by now. This just doesnt make any sense. Im not doubting the DS but cmon thats a 1/4 of a million right there this aint adding up anymore...

I guess there are "some" japanese that have more than one DS, maybe?

I'll give kow credit. I didn't expect him to even comment on this entry. And that's all I'll say about that.

kow, I don't think repeating myself is going to make it through that thick skull. So if you happened to respond to me in previous entries (whether it be here or PS3Fanboy.com), don't worry about it. I'm done dealing with someone who doesn't have a clue about gaming.

Newer MC numbers via neogaf:

GW Number (MC)

1. FF12RW - 109,000
2. Super Paper Mario - 90,000
3. Wii Sports - 85,000
4. Yoshi's Island DS - 59,000
5. Wii Play - 59,000
6. Mario VS DK 2 - 58,000
7. BBA Wii - 55,000
8. NSMB - 52,000
9. Momotarou Dentetsu DS - 46,000
10. Brian Age 2 - 44,000

@30, I really hope that's sarcasim?

I mean 250,000 sales a month x 12 months in a year only = 4 millino. At that rate, for everyone to have a Nintendo DS in Japan as you've suggested? Hopefully sarcastically? It would take 25 years. I doubt the ds's life span will ever be 25 years before ultimately being replaced by Nintendo's next handheld and/or Sonys.

Granted, you could get up to 1/5 of japanese population that that rate in just 5 years time :|

it some sort of sarcasm??? cause I thought that the Playsation was a gaming machine, not a medical-experimental machine?? Oh I forgot, thats nex gen: being able to perform a lot of tasks: movie player, paper holder, medical-experiental machine, GRILL... but no games... games are for kids... right?

Uh excuse that would be GEORGE FORMAN grill...thank you very much.

People are a bit defensive over their consoles. Pick the one that best suites you and your needs and hope it does good. Sales does not make a game system better than another until that starts turning into more games for the system like in the case of the PS2. Unless someone is posting lies than don't worry about it. I like the 360 the most because it thus far best suites my gaming needs and tastes, I don't care about yours unless you are a friend of mine and we play online. When the PS3 and wii come into their own in my opinion I will consider them as well. Some people feel differently than me, it happens. Get over it.

hmm its 250,000 a week >.>

Let me tell you a story about the 12,791 people who bought a PS3.

3,216 of them are well aware of the differences between PS3 and Xbox360 and have a legitimate reason to prefer the PS3 (for Bluray, exlusive Sony games, built-in Wifi, or the media card reader).

4,007 do not understand that the Xbox360 is a better console with better games and is actually starting to cater more to the Japanese RPG market. Due to this ignorance of the facts, they buy the PS3.

The remaining 5,568 know in their hearts that Xbox360 is the better console, but their xenophobic nature and fierce nationalism make them feel obligated to buy the PS3 for no other reason but that it's a Japanese product and they refuse to see anything good in an American product.

Actually Wes, the above chart is weekly sales, not monthly. So by your calcuation 250,000 x 52 weeks is 13 million, not 4 million. So that means that half the population could have one in 4 years.

"25. Fine I'll take a spin.

PS3 is doing fine. Wii is doing FAR better than expected. XBox 360, considering it's Japan, is doing better than expected. This is considering pre-Wii-launch numbers, and comparisons of generation-to-generation attachments. (aka statistical measurements, as opposed to considerations to target demographic [since there's no data for the new target demographic Wii's targetting], technology used, and etc)

(By comparison, for an example, consider the ratio of PS1 to PS2 to PS3, or XBox to XBox 360 (when they were this new), then consider the ratio of Gamecube to Wii, and see the significant difference.)"

If you really think the PS3 is doing okay by non-Wii standards, I'd be interested to see how you explain the following:

http://tinyurl.com/2ynrl2

At 25 weeks after its launch, the PS3 is where the PS2 was at THREE WEEKS after its respective launch, where the PSP was at 10.4 weeks, where the GCN was at 15.5 weeks, and where the Wii was at 4.4 weeks.

As you can see, not only did the Wii and the PS2 absolutely murder the PS3 in sales at their respective launch points, but the PSP creamed it as well, and after an intial struggle even the Gamecube comes out with a clear victory. By pretty much any comparison, the PS3 is an absolute failure in Japan.

Also, I should note that the point you were trying to make was a bit unclear to me, so if I apologize in advance if I misunderstood you and that's not what you were saying.

The DS figure is not so much how many people wanted to buy it, but how many were on the market.

The DS in Japan has been virtually out of stock since christmas, and if you want to buy a DS in Tokyo in a different day than when the shops restock, I wish you luck.

The PS3's situation is not so dramatic, but stores do not seem to have stock piles of it neither, so that reveals that Sony must STILL have some manufacturing problems, at least to feed Japan.

@37, Tom

> The remaining 5,568 know in their hearts that Xbox360 is the better console, but their xenophobic nature and fierce nationalism make them feel obligated to buy the PS3 for no other reason but that it's a Japanese product and they refuse to see anything good in an American product.


Yes, just like the mobs in Japan that own an iPod, and crowd MacDonalds and Sturbucks.

Get over that argument, please. It is been used, reused, and debunked. Japan LOVES everything that transpires American, but they still have their tastes. Give them proper games (and a proper good marketing campaing, damn it) and they'll take it out of your hands.

I was in Japan for Golden Week. These sales figures seem in line with what I observed: the DS is king, the Wii is sold out, the 360 is a non-runner, and despite Sony's heavy advertising and plentiful supply, the PS3 is stagnant!

I made a full report of my observations on Gaming.Wikia: http://gaming.wikia.com/index.php?title=Report_from_Japan

To save you lazy bastards the trouble of clicking the link, here's a copy:

"I was recently vacationing in Japan for "Golden Week". Here is what I observed about the state of the game consoles in Japan.

I visited Yodobashi Camera... THE Yodobasbi Camera featured in the PS3 launch. It's a massive electronic superstore in the heart of Akihabara. Upon entering the 5th floor, I was confronted by two large displays. One was an imposing black monolith baring the Playstation 3 brand. Three large HD monitors on each side displayed looping demos and trailers. PS3 appeared like a mighty and unapproachable god, perhaps overly so, because it wasn't immediately obvious that any product was actually available for purchase. Nintendo's white kiosk stood in stark contrast to Sony's black monolith. It was much friendlier, and featured playable DS systems, a DS download station, and actual DS and Wii products behind glass display cases.

Beyond the displays were the actual isles of games and accessories for sale. The DS section was prominently located directly in front of the cashier queue. New games commanded entire shelves to themselves, and an entire isle was devoted to non-game DS software! The DS section was crowded with customers and full of life.

The PS2 section was even larger than the DS section. It featured isles of games that we North Americans drool over because they are not released on this side of the Pacific. However, the Japanese seemed less enthralled by the PS2 section, because it was nearly deserted of customers.

You'd be forgiven if you didn't notice any other systems. The PS2 and DS commanded the majority of the floorspace. The Wii and PSP each had an isle that blended in with the DS and PS2 sections, respectively. And despite Sony's mighty monolith, the actual PS3 section was a mere blip on a wall!

And what of the Xbox 360? A 360 display lined a side wall, and commanded far less attention that Sony's monolith and Nintendo's Kiosk. The display featured dedicated display sections, with posters and LCD monitors, for two 360 games: Blue Dragon and Idol Master. And those were the only two 360 games that seemed to fit in. The 360 selves of familiar boxes of Gears of War and Crackdown seemed out of place in Japan, where dating sims are more popular than shooters. Shunned to the side wall with only Blue Dragon and Idol Master to keep it afloat, its no wonder the 360 is sinking in Japan!

(And I doubt the 360's problems have anything to do with Japanese attitude towards America, considering the popularity of American movies in Japan. Spiderman 3 was heavily advertised, tv stations aired several dubbed American movies while I was there, and DVD stores had plenty of dubbed American movies - everything from Pirates of the Caribbean to Jackass - prominently displayed.)

As for availability, a sign by the cashier queue listed the DS and Wii as out-of-stock, but the PS3 was available. Behind the cashier's partition, I witnessed two folk-lift-palette sized stacks of PS3s, and a third stack of 360s. (Also, another tv-games store I visited had about a dozen USED PS3s, discounted by about 20,000 yen off the price of a new system, just sitting around!) There is no shortage of PS3s or 360s in Japan!

It was the same story in all the stores I visited: the tv-game sections were dominated by PS2 and DS games. It's clear by its massive software library that the PS2 was king, but it is being de-throned by the DS!"

to #40 Revo

I was actually referring to how long it takes for a specific piece of hardware to get upgraded (in my definition, the turning point is when the new generation hardware start to outsell the old generation hardware). This value is usually determined by commitment to the previous hardware (the more commitment to older hardware, the longer it takes) and the improvement of older hardware to new.

The XBox360 has already completely replaced the XBox, meaning that to Japan, the XBox360 has a significant improvement over the Xbox (though not too remarkable since the XBox wasn't considered very good to begin with). The Wii has also practically replaced the Gamecube, which is rather remarkable, considering that the Gamecube wasn't doing that overwhelmingly bad to begin with. (at least, definately not as bad as the XBox, which has about the same ratio to begin with) The PS3 is at about the (theoretical) halfway point in replacing the PS2, which when considering the relative newness of the PS3 and the attachment rate of the PS2, is rather reasonable.

"45. to #40 Revo

I was actually referring to how long it takes for a specific piece of hardware to get upgraded (in my definition, the turning point is when the new generation hardware start to outsell the old generation hardware)."

Ah, I see. That explanation makes more sense. However, I still think that a comparison of sales data like the one I gave is a much better indicator of a console's success than the length of time it takes for that console to replace its predecessor.

@elmimmo

"mobs in Japan that own an iPod, and crowd MacDonalds and Sturbucks. (...) Japan LOVES everything that transpires American"

Only because there aren't huge, Japanese-owned, multinational corporations providing competition for the American products you mentioned. iPod, McDonald's, and Starbucks are all monopolies in their respective fields. There's not even a Burger King in Japan!

Anyway, my point is that, when given the choice between two products that are TRYING to do the same thing (I say try because PS3 is clearly trying and failing), the typical Japanese consumer will go with the Japanese product because of some vague national loyalty. I'm not saying they always do that all the time, I'm just saying Americans never hopped into manned torpedo missiles and crashed them into aircraft carriers: we don't have that kind of hive mindset... except the Republicans... ooo akward...

all 3 next gen consoles are suffering from a drought there are just no good games out at the moment.. and yes i own all 3.. im playing my ds while my next gen systems are collecting dust, if it wasnt for my ds id be going crazy. WE NEED GAMES@@@!!!

@Revo

You also realize that all those systems were either half the price of the PS3 or less than half at launch. If the PS3 were in a price range similar to all of those, and it had these sales figures, then we could easily say it was doing poor, but for being a significantly over priced piece of hardware (at least imo) it is doing surprisingly OK.

When the price point was announced there was a resounding, "thats not going to sell great" and "Not for $599", but everyone acts like they expected it to fly off the shelves.

Whhhhrrrrrrrrrrrlllllllll!

to #47 Tom

You know that the walkman, a SONY product, came before the iPod, right?