Japanese hardware sales, Aug. 27 - Sept. 2: job interview edition (part 2!)

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Sep 7th 2007 at 9:05PM }

By complying with my request to cast your mind back to the month of February, you'll accomplish two very important things. Firstly, you'll conjure up the always hilarious image of a brain splattering across a slightly yellowed calendar page, preferably one of those featuring a woman you only dream of seeing on the romantic kind of date. And secondly, you'll recall the disappointing results of my last job interview, which saw the position of Finnish Sales Chart Tracker elude me entirely.

Not being one to ~~thhro in teh towle~~ therow in the towl whatever, I decided I'd venture into the terrifying, neon-lit world of public relations. Hey, that Karakker guy just quit -- maybe I could take a karak at his job? Failing that, I'll become a comedian!

Find the conveniently transcribed job interview after the break.

- DS Lite: 94,339

6,091 (6.06%)
- Wii: 39,371

6,912 (14.93%)
- PSP: 22,196

3,893 (14.92%)
- PS3: 18,068

1,675 (10.22%)
- PS2: 14,280

859 (5.67%)
- Xbox 360: 1,635

409 (20.01%)
- Game Boy Micro: 263

160 (37.83%)
- GBA SP: 195

32 (19.63%)
- Gamecube: 73

43 (37.07%)
- GBA: 16

49 (75.38%)
- DS Phat: 0

30 (100.00%)

[Source: Media Create]

See also: Previous Japanese hardware sales charts

"Ah, Mr. Kietzmann. You're applying for Mr. Karakker's position, correct?"

"That's right. I just love cats! Big ones, small ones, even musical ones."

"Oh, that's... that's nice. I'm really more of a dog person. But let's stick to business, shall we?"

"Are you kitten?"

"Am I what?"

"Kitten. Like kiddin'. Are you kiddin'? It was sort of a joke type thing."

"Right. Umm, I guess I'd be LION? If I said that was funny?"

"I don't get it."

"See, a lion is a cat and... hang on, why are cats crawling into this conversation all the time?"

"Well, I'm here for the purr director job, obviously."

"Purr? You mean the PR director job?"

"Pee Arr?"

"Public Relations. Director."

"Oh. OH. Well, yeah, I could do that."

"Well, it says here you work well in a team and that your best positive attribute is 'healthy skepticism'."

"I don't know about that."

"But it says so on this sheet of paper."

"You're trusting some random printout? Where'd it even come from?"

"You gave it to me when you came in."

"Are you sure it was me?"

"Let me ask you this: Do you have any experience in this field?"

"Yes, I've had several."

"Years?"

"No, relations. Especially during college."

"Those would be private relations, surely."

"Oh no, they were public. There was this one time when I had this camera and -"

"Next question! How familiar are you with Sony products?"

"Very familiar. I have a Sony TV at home and you know, just like the name, I really have to say, 'Bravo! Job well done Sony! Bravo!' I've also got a PS3 because, you know, I'm really into HT graphics and blue movies."

"Oh god. You know what, I'm going to throw some hypotheticals at you."

"Will that hurt?"

"A journalist contacts you and requests a release date for an upcoming PLAYSTATION 3 game. How do you respond?"

"I find out when the Xbox 360 version comes out and add three weeks."

"A member of the media has found out and written about a super secret announcement you had planned. Do you let them run with it, or do you blackball them?"

"I'd wait for the dude to get home and run him through with my cutlass."

"The slaughter of a goat has somehow been associated with an upcoming PLAYSTATION game. What do you do?"

"I'd arrange the slaughtering of a more exotic animal associated with a competing product. Like, a gorilla. Is Donkey Kong a gorilla?"

"A blogger asks you to comment on rumor and speculation. Do you comment?"

"I don't... but by saying I don't, am I not commenting by default? And by remaining silent, could that not be interpreted as commentary? So... yes?"

"That's the wrong answer, I'm afraid. You were doing so well, by which I mean you really need to get out of my office."

"Okay, but which way is mine?"

Tags: JapaneseHardwareSales

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Guybrush Threepwood @ Sep 7th 2007 9:11PM

Signs of the Apocalypse:

The DS Lite is under 100k units sold and the PS3's sales actually went up.

EVERYBODY RUN!!!

Word of the street. @ Sep 7th 2007 9:13PM

Damn it,I was just about to say that.

Kye @ Sep 7th 2007 9:31PM

me too!

Oh well.

Run away! run away!!

blooh @ Sep 7th 2007 9:13PM

weren't these posted like 2 days ago?

Bobby @ Sep 7th 2007 9:16PM

I wonder how the sales of the PSP Slim will be now, Nintendo will still make it its bitch but I wonder it it'll have noticably better sales than its predecessor.

I must be the only one on Joystiq that likes the PS3/PSP. Any news on the PS3 here gets all the commenters a good hearty laugh at yet another of Sony's blunders, fuckups, gaffes, poopsie-whoopsies eh?

Neebs @ Sep 7th 2007 9:17PM

The Ludwig - HE makes us laff.

Vegnagun @ Sep 7th 2007 9:18PM

rofl at interview

Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Sep 8th 2007 4:03PM

Monty Python never dies ^_^

playwhutyalike @ Sep 7th 2007 9:19PM

Maybe Nintendo needs to drop it's price to sell more units. Just kidding. Nothing to worry about here.

Joshua @ Sep 7th 2007 9:20PM

I haven't really been following the charts much, but between this reported week and the one before it, what the HELL has happened to EVERYTHING?

And as Fernando Rocker said last week and Guybrush Threepwood has just said this week...The DS Lite is now below 100,000 for the first time ever (IIRC)...Apocalypse now?

J-Guy @ Sep 7th 2007 9:24PM

Apocalypse Later

Joshua @ Sep 7th 2007 9:29PM

Nevermind about the first time ever thing. There was at least one week in which the DS Lite "only" sold 74,495 units.

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/08/25/japanese-hardware-sales-14-august-20-august-supreme-bias-edi/

Neebs @ Sep 7th 2007 9:44PM

Apocalypse Lite™

BPM @ Sep 7th 2007 9:58PM

Apocalypse Cow.

aristokrat @ Sep 8th 2007 10:04AM

"Arthur! Evil is afoot, and hoofing it with dark gusto. Quickly chum, there's fire everywhere!"

Raikage @ Sep 8th 2007 1:30PM

Apocalypse Please

That was for you Mr. Kietzmann....

J-Guy @ Sep 7th 2007 9:24PM

What a great interview! Oh and yeah sales reports, blah blah blah...

RoboChamp @ Sep 7th 2007 9:24PM

The wii is dooomeD!!11!11seven-eleven1!!

Vince UK @ Sep 7th 2007 9:35PM

The fondue effect?

blooh @ Sep 7th 2007 9:31PM

there's a thing called market saturation...

Mr Khan @ Sep 8th 2007 12:01PM

I would bet on it, considering ~1 in 10 Japanese owns a Nintendo DS, although a small number may be doubles of phat and lite

slacker164 @ Sep 7th 2007 9:44PM

LOL. Nice job, Ludwig. Best sales chart comedy in a while, imho. Got a good laugh out of that. ^_^

ruibing @ Sep 7th 2007 9:51PM

PS3 just needs to do a price drop on the 80GB and roll out more games to keep the momentum moving.

BPM @ Sep 7th 2007 9:59PM

Just to reiterate:
Japanese sales are given out every week by Media Create, and for free. And are fairly accurate, as they also account for online sales in Japan.
American sales are given out once a month by the NPD Group, and are not free. They are somewhat inaccurate, as they don't track online sales or sales from some retailers (i.e. Wal-Mart).
European and Australian charts are given out sporiacally.

Japanese sales charts are important as they'll help indicate the trends in Japan, meaning also where Japanese development will follow.

Also, Ludwig is made out of 100% pure lulzanium.

Crono @ Sep 8th 2007 10:55AM

Actually, in this case Media Create is wrong by about 10,000 wii. It actually sold 49k. There was a big discussion about it over at VGChartz.

And these signs don't really mean anything, because the amount that Wii is down this week from last week in japan is also the same amount wii is up from last week in america.

They just shifted units. If you look at the overall hardware sales for wii worldwide for the last 4 weeks, it hovers between 250k and 280k. And this week is no exception.

This is just a shift of units from one region (japan) to another (America) to make sure they had stock of systems for a big release game (Metroid Prime 3).

BPM @ Sep 8th 2007 11:36AM

O RLY? Since when were numbers from VGChartz to be trusted?

cc123 @ Sep 8th 2007 3:51PM

"O RLY? Since when were numbers from VGChartz to be trusted?"

Since the demand for the Wii in Japan legitimately went down. Now MC numbers are wrong.

Forget the fact that the Wii is available in stores and online in Japan for the first time this year. It has to be supply problem!

BPM @ Sep 8th 2007 9:49PM

That still doesn't explain how Media Create's numbers are wrong. From what I've been reading, yes people are no longer lining up for Wii in Japan. However, most stores still sell out. It's just that you don't have to arrive as soon as a store opens the day a shipment arrives to be guaranteed one.

Again, you're saying the primary source is wrong based on what the secondary source says.

cc123 @ Sep 9th 2007 12:09AM

@BPM

I was being sarcastic. Of course Media Create numbers are right.

I was mocking the people that accuse media create numbers of being wrong because they refuse to believe that Wii demand is going down in Japan.

BPM @ Sep 9th 2007 12:54AM

Ah. Well, how the hell was I supposed to know? Written text doesn't carry sarcasm so well, ya know.

Time @ Sep 7th 2007 10:04PM

hey this is nothing to get crazy about....sure I want the ps3 to do better,....BUT...it's still way to early to say anything.....I am holding judgment after the hoildays.....then we could run around yelling and screaming at each other with these useless flamewars

til then lets just chill

Rubang B @ Sep 7th 2007 10:59PM

The ONLY difference between Christmas 2007 and Christmas 2006 is that now the Wii has had a whole year's worth of good publicity and the PS3 has had a whole year's worth of bad publicity. Other than that, same thing all over again.

HB96st @ Sep 7th 2007 10:04PM

apocalyPS3

BPM @ Sep 7th 2007 10:26PM

I see what you did there.

ill trooper @ Sep 8th 2007 4:48AM

¡C'est trés eL33t!

Spirit @ Sep 7th 2007 11:56PM

Can someone find the people who buy the GBA every week? They are particular fellows, I would like to meet them.

Xeno Mezphy @ Sep 7th 2007 11:56PM

"A journalist contacts you and requests a release date for an upcoming PLAYSTATION 3 game. How do you respond?"

"I find out when the Xbox 360 version comes out and add three weeks."

This is swimming in a sea of win.

playwhutyalike @ Sep 8th 2007 12:26AM

Does anybody here know how much it costs to make a PS3 vs. what it is selling for? Kinda curious.

Jeff @ Sep 8th 2007 12:32AM

"apanese sales are given out every week by Media Create, and for free. And are fairly accurate, as they also account for online sales in Japan.
American sales are given out once a month by the NPD Group, and are not free. They are somewhat inaccurate, as they don't track online sales or sales from some retailers (i.e. Wal-Mart)."

Grrrr!

Will people please stop saying this?

NPD uses statistical sampling just like Media Create does. Nobody in the world - NOBODY - and let me repeat that again so it's clear - NOBODY - counts every single store sale at every single store. Not the NPD. Not Media Create. Not Enterbrain. Nobody.

Statistical sampling is accurate to a certain fraction of a percent, depending on how big and how accurate your sample is. In the NPD's case, they're sampling about 60% of all retailers in the United States. They then extrapolate the rest of the numbers from that, which is accurate to within something like 0.3%.

In other words, THEY ARE COUNTING WAL-MART. Just not directly. They're extrapolating Wal-Mart's numbers from everybody else's.

Put it this way: the game industry relies on the NPD's numbers. Every game publisher watches those numbers to see how the competition is doing. Do you think they'd care if they thought that literally almost half of the US's store sales were not being counted? No. They care because those sales ARE being counted, and because they're about as accurate as they would be if they were being counted by hand. The NPD says straight up in their actual reports that 100% of all store sales in the United States - both retail and online - are represented in their reports.

josh @ Sep 8th 2007 4:51AM

you know that for sure? soundscan in the US actually counts 95% of all CD sales, based on when the barcode is scanned at the register, does media create do that in japan? does npd here account for amazon, etc?

BPM @ Sep 8th 2007 7:04AM

Jeff, that is not correct.

Media Create's numbers are exact, right down to the one's position (note how DS Lite sales end in a 9). From what I can tell, they sample all retailers, including online Japanese retailers.

NPD's numbers are a rougher estimate, always reporting sales rounded to the nearest thousand. They don't sample online sales, either. They only estimate for that.

Crono @ Sep 8th 2007 11:11AM

No BPM, you are wrong here. Jeff is correct.

maylon @ Sep 8th 2007 1:07AM

I really think MS needs to admit defeat in Japan and save themselves some money, because it just aint gonna happen. I realize they needed a foothold over there to secure eastern developers, but for gods sake let it die.

severian00 @ Sep 8th 2007 1:51AM

I think they have pretty much already said as much. Just because they don't expect to win in Japan, doesn't mean they should stop selling them there. I think the numbers will be slightly higher than the original Xbox when everything is said and done. I think they'll go after the Japaneese even harder for the Xbox 3