Japanese hardware sales, Sept. 7 - Sept. 13: Heart and Soul edition

by Griffin McElroy { Sep 20th 2009 at 10:00PM }

Ahhh. Nothing feels quite so soothing as a swift return to the world of Japanese hardware sales which we're all familiar with. The roaring sales inferno sparked by the launch of the PS3 slim has died down, percentile increases and decreases are back in the double digits (as opposed to the quintuple digits) and Nintendo's handhelds are flourishing following the release of another installment in an ever-popular RPG franchise, Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver. Tired of disrupting the status quo, our charts have settled back into the nook they've carved into the soft suede recliner of history.

Also, for curious parties, Soul Silver outsold Heart Gold by nearly 3,000 units. This means that not only are purchasers of the former going to find it incrementally more difficult to catch 'em all, but that the Japanese people clearly prefer Ag over Au. Who'd have thunk it?

- DSi: 66,498

6,079 (10.06%)
- PS3: 55,344

96,439 (63.54%)
- PSP: 18,375

3,809 (17.17%)
- Wii: 17,568

3,989 (18.50%)
- DS Lite: 11,179

2,870 (34.54%)
- Xbox 360: 7,568

741 (10.85%)
- PS2: 2,612

389 (12.96%)

[Source: Media Create]

See: The silvery, silvery archives

Tags: japanesehardwaresales

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

why not the LS2LS7? @ Sep 20th 2009 10:02PM

Down 64%? Doomed!

Solace @ Sep 20th 2009 10:03PM

plusle and minun FTW!

Derick @ Sep 21st 2009 12:59AM

Lugia > Ho-oh

^Empirical

JDxUndeadX @ Sep 20th 2009 10:06PM

Is that a Pokemon tamagotchi? DO WANT

solarshadows074 @ Sep 20th 2009 10:10PM

nahh its a pedometer that you can use so that whenever you walk one step, your pokemon gains one exp. it comes with the game too.

Sly (Now with less shake, more bake!) @ Sep 20th 2009 10:14PM

"pedometer"

i could really use one of those. it would make avoiding those damn pedobears hiding in those dark alleys much easier.

wait, that's not what a pedometer does?

Nasty NaS @ Sep 20th 2009 10:25PM

No, it measures how much of pedo you are by keeping track of how many little kids made you pop one.

WINterfang @ Sep 20th 2009 10:25PM

Ha! you wish but Pedobear only like young girls, you probably mean Shotacat.

finnith @ Sep 20th 2009 10:38PM

It'd be really useful for me, since I'm going to uni right now. Would finally get something out of all that walking.

Other than actual exercise, and higher education.

abelpc @ Sep 20th 2009 10:06PM

wow.. I figured the PS3 sales would not drop that much. Wonder what got the 360 sales to go up too? Weird.. Japanese trends are hard to follow. Pokemon increases Nintendo sales is a no brainer tho.

Mr Khan @ Sep 20th 2009 10:20PM

The Japanese market is the most volatile, and statistically, it would be very hard for PS3 to keep up those kind of weekly numbers. The DS Lite did (not quite those numbers, but a solid 100k weekly), through the summer of 2006 and on into 2007, but the DS runs that country.

There was no question that 150k was going to be a one-shot deal, though it'll definitely be repeated for FFXIII and GT5. The big question is where PS3 will land after the slide, that will determine the long-term success or failure of the price-cut

Temple @ Sep 21st 2009 12:17AM

I mean, its still 50,000 units in a SINGLE week. That is steller numbers for a home console in Japan. We really can't expect the PS3 to sell 150,000 every single week now can we...

In this last half a month, the PS3 has sold 200,000 units in Japan alone.

mahouneko @ Sep 21st 2009 3:27AM

People are also forgetting that Tales of Vesperia just came out for the PS3 so it is very likely that the PS3 will still be buoyed by sales of ToV. I'd say that it's very good timing on Sony's part in getting the price cut and the Slim to coincide with the launch of a major Tales title.

Halo Pony @ Sep 20th 2009 10:08PM

Considering it nearly sold what the DS did..

I'd say the "sales inferno" is still burning pretty hot.

WREturns(There was once a dream called Rome) @ Sep 21st 2009 12:03AM

Not really. It'll be back to 10k in 3 weeks or so.

Markez @ Sep 20th 2009 10:08PM

The 1st person to pull out the Kanye meme, letting the Japanese finish catching 'em all or something, will be sentenced to the hell of upside down sinners as referenced in Big Trouble Little China.

abelpc @ Sep 20th 2009 10:19PM

yes.. no More Kanye west for awhile PLEASE.

MystileArmor @ Sep 20th 2009 10:20PM

I think your comment is great and all, and I'll let you finish, but Beyonce's comments are better.

Sly (Now with less shake, more bake!) @ Sep 20th 2009 10:24PM

mystile, you messed up one of the easiest memes on the planet. all i can ask is HOW?

Shmil @ Sep 20th 2009 10:28PM

Excuse me markez. I'm really happy for you and I'm gonna let you finish. But the Kanye meme is the quickest funny to stale meme ever!!!

WINterfang @ Sep 20th 2009 10:28PM

I'm sorry to interrupt you but Beyonce has one of the best videos of all time.

MystileArmor @ Sep 20th 2009 10:43PM

Watching the football game (GO GIANTS), sorry for the sloppyness with the meme.
Also, Kanye West and the MTV awards suck, so I didn't even see the actual thing.

WINterfang @ Sep 20th 2009 10:45PM

http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Image:Genesiskanye.jpg

Sly (Now with less shake, more bake!) @ Sep 20th 2009 10:51PM

mystile - it's alright, football makes up for everything.
winterfang - that last pic made me lol for real haha

MystileArmor @ Sep 20th 2009 10:54PM

Offtopic, but yeah I got the Giants and the points so I'm hoping they can score a touchdown this last drive
(friends system pleeez)

Apollo @ Sep 20th 2009 10:08PM

I miss my pocket Pikachu.......

Sly (Now with less shake, more bake!) @ Sep 20th 2009 10:12PM

it doesn't miss you.

Special Agent Steve @ Sep 20th 2009 10:17PM

You do realize that you have to feed those things to keep them alive, right?

The Artist formally known as Jesus @ Sep 20th 2009 10:10PM

Well when comparing the medicinal benefits of silver and gold, who wouldn't choose silver?

Hydrophobicfish (PSN: HydrophobicFish) @ Sep 20th 2009 10:38PM

The person who chooses them for their worth in conducting electricity!

Sly (Now with less shake, more bake!) @ Sep 20th 2009 10:12PM

i would actually buy a DS for soul silver (and scribblenauts). i have such great memories of silver version...

Special Agent Steve @ Sep 20th 2009 10:19PM

DO.... it.... now. Sell all the food in your fridge for a DS. Sure, won't eat for a week, but you'll be playing Scribblenaughts.

Sly (Now with less shake, more bake!) @ Sep 20th 2009 10:25PM

when is soul silver coming out in the states? i won't buy a DS until it comes out. the iphone serves as a decent handheld for me right now (i'm serious too).

WINterfang @ Sep 20th 2009 10:30PM

why don't you have a DSlite? you should get one and Platinum.

Sly (Now with less shake, more bake!) @ Sep 20th 2009 10:55PM

i want platinum too. and a couple other games. but i don't have a DS lite yet because this gen, the first consoles i wanted to get were the PSP and PS3. now i'm looking at the 360. but for the 360, i need money for the games, hard drive, wireless adapter (YES I NEED IT, so don't feed me hard wire bullshit. i can't.), and a year of live, so i've been saving up money (which is kinda hard when you can't legally get a job). the DS comes after that. then i'm done for this gen.

WINterfang @ Sep 21st 2009 12:34AM

Well the beautiful thing about the 360 is that it doesn't force you to get all this time at the same time, you could do what I did.

I got an Arcade and Sonic Unleashed by the time I finished Sonic Unleashed and Arcade Unplugged I had enough money to buy an HDD, since you can play the arcade out of the box.

Still I haven't bough a DS game since platinum and I already sold the game. ( love it but was hungry)

Sly (Now with less shake, more bake!) @ Sep 21st 2009 7:27PM

but i pretty much only play online, so i need the wireless adapter and LIVE for sure, and the HDD for DLC.

Mr Khan @ Sep 20th 2009 10:23PM

Those first-week stats for Gold and Silver are quite insane, but it didn't really reflect in the DSi numbers. It'll be of great interest to watch where PS3 lands off it's early high, and Wii seems to be sliding into the same rut it was in before it started getting Monster Hunter games.

Quattro @ Sep 20th 2009 10:26PM

I was going to grab Heart Gold but it was sold out, so I only ended up getting Dearly Stars. Too bad.

Special Agent Steve @ Sep 20th 2009 10:34PM

Dearly Stars? What?

Quattro @ Sep 20th 2009 10:37PM

The Idolm@ster: Dearly Stars

Donald @ Sep 20th 2009 11:15PM

So you'd be the only one qualified to answer this pressing question:

Biggest trap, Ryo or Bugsy?

Quattro @ Sep 20th 2009 11:18PM

Who is Bugsy?

Pappasman @ Sep 20th 2009 10:41PM

ive been playing heart gold for about 8 hours. its an incredible remake.

Cheesus Crust @ Sep 20th 2009 11:23PM

The Japanese one looks AMAZING! Can't wait for english release!(Whats the point of an RPG (i.e STORY DRIVEN), when I can't understand it, granted I could play the originals again but...yeah, gonna wait till april lol)

Mr Mobius - the wandering artist @ Sep 20th 2009 10:46PM

Well, everyone knows Silver kicked ass, and the only reasonable assumption is that Soul Silver continues that.

Sly (Now with less shake, more bake!) @ Sep 20th 2009 10:56PM

truer words have never been stated.

Danny @ Sep 20th 2009 10:48PM

DSi is a great platform anyways, makes pokemon much better looking on the larger screen. And everyone knows Lugia is more powerful than Ho-Oh, plus he's more useful in terms of he can surf and fly. Also has anyone seen what it looks like when it follows you? It's amazing! Well, not as cool as suicune following you. With suicune following you it makes it seem like your about to jump to the moon at any second, badass like.