Xbox 360 outsells PS3 in Japan for fourth time, Four Horsemen draw closer

The Xbox 360 has only outsold the PlayStation 3 several times before, so we're reticent to bring the Four Horsemen out of their winter hibernation. However, if Japanese hardware sales tracker Media Create is to be believed, the 360 not only outsold the PS3 in Japan last week, it handily trounced all competition, with sales just over 25,000 units (compared to nearly 17,000 units for Wii and just over 16,000 for PS3).

Considering Star Ocean: The Last Hope was released this past week and is outselling every game on the chart by a margin of at least 3:1 (162,232 units, folks -- in one week!), we're taking a stab in the dark here and saying 360 sales had something to do with that. After all, the last few times we put out a call to the horsemen, two other JRPG titles were to blame: Infinite Undiscovery and Tales of Vesperia.

Can you remember the other game that put 360 on top in Japan for a week? Hint: It involves fire and liberation and ... fighter jets. Give up? Too bad! We're still not telling!
Okay, fine ...

Reader Comments (64)

ill be picking up star ocean this weekend. i hope its everything ive been waiting for. also, congratulations xbox 360. four is an awesome number.

It's probably just because everyone already has one

It does make you wonder at what point "everyone" who wants one will have one and sales will slow for that reason

rather than them being less popular

if you see what i mean

(tumbleweed)

But Blu-ray!!!

It's time for Microsoft to re-brand for the Japanese market. Just have Toshiba make a console that kinda looks like a PS3 but is really a 360 on the inside + built-in wireless. Call it the "Toshiba 360" or something and just market it as this cool new thing that also plays Xbox games. There needs to be the perception among the Japanese consumers of "Japanese console, Japanese games? Yes, here's all my money!" Just friggin' take advantage of their fierce nationalist pride.

Go Star Ocean go!

I hope to pick it up eventually... still have SO much to play already though!

Japan is the most volatile market when it comes to software. Appropriately targeted software will take the market with it, and its only on down weeks that you see where the "real" pecking order stands, but those are few enough to make a difference

It makes you wonder that everyone doesn't try to keep sales up through some game or other, it's not like the opposing markets where you need a really, really big title to make a real change in the pecking order (like the one time that 360 outsold Wii in September of 2007 with Halo 3)

you forget to mention that the 360 still couldn't outsell the PSP. So really Sony did outsell the 360 but just with a different console. But Nintendo still won with the DSi. And last time the 360 outsold the PS3, the PS3 ended up blowing out the 360 a few weeks later. When it did come back it was somewhere around 60,000 units in a week basically undoing everything that M$ had done over the course of a few weeks of outselling the PS3.

Not that big of a deal.

Sony is actually doing rather well in Japan. If you look at weekly sales you'll realize that the PS3 only sells a few thousand less per week than the Wii does. There was less than a thousand systems difference this week.

The problem is that the Japanese console market is a mere shadow of what it used to be. Handhelds do fantastic there, but the console market is pitiful. A normal month has less than 125k consoles sold, and that's the Wii, PS3, and 360 combined.

That is more on the lines of the Wii finally slowing down. Ps3 has, for the majority of the time, been in the 14k to 20k range per week.

Well, I suppose we're franchise whores just as much.

Well I guess you could be happy about this but still that is what 4 weeks out of how many years? I think we all agree that the PS3 needs these JRPGs. However I would really be interested if any console outsells the Wii.

Microsoft should release an orange Naruto system and bundle all the games. That would boost even more sales...

too bad they can't use all the unsold ones here in the US..

Naruto is not as popular as it used to be in Japan. Technically, One Piece has a higher ranking over there in viewers per episode.

The real question here is how much are the over all sales in general, just because they sold more for 3 or 4 weeks dosent mean it's making that much of a difference in a 3 year timespan. you can sell like hotcakes for a full month and look like a big deal but it's the over all numbers that matter most.

Xbox 360 outsells PS3 in Japan for fourth time, Four Horsemen draw closer

Reader Comments (64)

Posted: Feb 26th 2009 1:20PM Rhamsey said

Posted: Feb 26th 2009 2:40PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 26th 2009 1:32PM Mics said

Posted: Feb 26th 2009 1:35PM In A World said

Posted: Feb 26th 2009 1:37PM Deck said

Posted: Feb 26th 2009 2:30PM Mr Khan said

Posted: Feb 26th 2009 2:44PM (Unverified) said

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Posted: Feb 26th 2009 3:09PM Ethan said

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Posted: Feb 26th 2009 3:41PM Mezstizo said

Posted: Feb 26th 2009 4:33PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 26th 2009 3:49PM PN04 said

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