Japanese hardware sales, Oct. 26 - Nov. 1: Away we Go edition

DS- pshh. Everyone in Japan now owns a DSi. Next it's going to be XL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

about 4 out of 5 Japanese people at the last count I think

A better question to ask might be "What percentage of the Japanese population own more than one iteration of the DS?".

Also, I'm going to make this a shameless post-hijack, (which I am adamantly apposed to 99.9% of the time), but I want this to be seen, (which is true for 99.9% of post-hijackers...). Downvote if you disagree with what follows...

Dear Joystiq, I feel that we have reached an unusual point in time in regards to the traditional hardware sales numbers. There is a current abundance of consoles/handhelds that, while having certain features to separate them from their predecessors, are essentially the same product in a different form. Because of these incremental hardware improvements, I feel that you should group the numbers of similar hardware together to give us a better picture of how any single system is doing.

For instance, it would only make sense for the PSP Go to be considered part of the sales for the PSP in general. Ditto for the DSi/DS Lite, (though there are potentially more significant differences there). Really, you're already doing this for the PS3. Although discontinued, the remaining "Phat" PS3's are still lumped together with the newer "Slim" models in the sales numbers. The differences between them are no different then those of the Go and the 3000 -- storage capacity and form-factor.

I do think that you should continue to note the separation of models, but only after clicking on the article from the mainpage, (i.e. the snippet shown on the main page shows the sales of varied models grouped together, but after going past the break the sales of the each individual system are shown).

Sorry for hijacking the post once again. If you disagree, or are just angry for derailing the topic, please feel free to downvote this into invisibility.

@Domo:
While I understand where you're going with this, I have to disagree with the idea of putting the Go together with the PSP. The Go is essentially dependent on digital distribution for games and entertainment whereas the PSP still uses the UMD.

DSi and DS Lite are different enough that keeping them separate is logical. The DSi has actual firmware upgrades and its DSiWare is region-locked and even the new DSi-enhanced IdolM@ster game is region-locked. The DS Lite still sports the trusty GBA slot and most games work on the DS Lite, including the DSi-enhanced IdolM@ster game. This might be confusing, but let me explain: the game itself doesn't work on an American DSi whereas it'll load and play as usual (without the DSi features) on any DS Lite. You can find the evidence here:
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/09/18/dsi-enhanced-idolm-ster-is-region-locked/

I view the hardware sales spot as a comparison between platforms, not between models. I would think the point of the article is to show how the PSP is doing vs the DS. I totally agree with the hijacker. You get the idea from the front page, and if you want to know how much of the PSP numbers are made up of Go sales, you can click the read link. I like it.

Tekken 6 just isn't that good, which could be a factor.

I mean, it's not bad, but considering how long it took to release, I was expecting something that was noticeably better than the copy of Tekken 5 I downloaded for £12 off the PSN on launch day.

There are loads of bayonetta adverts, but i haven't seen many for Tekken, or even for the Go.

Of course, I don't watch the tv at kids anime time. Maybe i missed them all.

what i would call disappointing is the fact that the go sold less than the PSP-3000 did in the same time frame.

I like Quarter Pounders, with cheese!

The go in Japan came out on the 1st of November, so those are one day sales.

Outselling the Wii? Pfft that's nothing these days. Wii is yesterday's news. Outselling PS3 is the new bar to beat!

ahh crap, i was thinking Nov. 1 - Nov. 8 which is today. my bad...

One day sales of 29,109 x $249 = $7,248,141.

I'd call it a success.

For the million or so dollars worth of research and platform development, I'd say $7,500 is a healthy return.

Wait.. what?

Oh god, I fail. I can't read. :(


This is why posting at midnight is a bad thing.

I've though-ed a lot of things in my life. They were also tough. And I thought about them a lot.

dammit, i guess that's why you're the special agent

Well, actually, that's just the title my mom gives me. I still have no idea why.

Yeah, the DSi.

2 different systems for 2 different customers.

both selling well.

Sony must be feeling terrible right now!

A week of sales for the PSP 3000 vs a day of sales for the Go.

I think that's a success for the Go launch in Japan.

@Kinsey: If that's a success I don't want to see what failure looks like. Seriously this is just bad. Sure it's only a day of sales... but that was the LAUNCH DAY. The one that's heavily promoted in nationwide advertising and the lots of people have presumably been waiting for. The PSP-3000's seven days were just any old seven days and anyone who wanted the system could get it any time beforehand..

PSP (3000) is a success and is doing well, but the GO launch is definitely a failure on these numbers. Of course even though the launch was a failure, that doesn't mean the system will be - things could pick up gradually. Maybe word-of-mouth will be good. Who knows.

Don't be such a dingbat. Add the PSPs up and you get 64,020 versus the DSs 44,419.

Sony sold twenty thousand more.

I meant "The PSP 3000 is a better value than the GO!".

Who gives a shit if it sold more than the DS. It didn't outsell its predecessor. Also, it was launch week, and in most cases, the system does better during launch week. PSP GO! is weak compared to the 3000. Can't wait for the 4000.

But the PSP as a whole did, combine it beat the DS systems.....this week

Which is why it's doing so badly in sales.... wait.

Sony sold twenty thousand more than its Nintendo competition.

and for the PS2, you were a baby of the past, time to retire

You're gonna be disappointed. It's sold very well, but it's not Halo/Gears/CoD numbers, which people on here tend to think is the standard (see: "lol, LBP flopped").

At least, according to VGChartrz, who had it at around half a million for the US in October.They tend to be pretty okay though. Don't expect them to be too far off.

That is disappointing. It's such a great game.

Ah, well. The best games are rarely sales successes. See: Team ICO fare, Valkyria Chronicles, etc.

Oh no, it's a big success.

It's one of the best selling PS3 games, the second best selling PS3 exclusive (just behind MGS4), and selling far, far better than the original game (which sold decently in itself).

It's just that people here have really inflated expectations.

Yeah, 500k is great for any game in any region. Any launches higher than that come from the biggest, most front-loaded games in the industry. Halo, Madden, GTA 1st-month numbers, that sort of thing.

We can all dream, can we? Surely you are. I'm a rockstar. See! It works. :)








(Xbox isn't taking over anything)

It was only one day of sales, though. Next week, we'll be able to really tell whether Sony has a better read on the market than us.

Well... that was kinda my point... the DSi sold more than 100,000 first day, so I expected similar numbers for the Go.

I like the idea of the Go, but there is one thing I don't like about digital distribution: the lack of a box, a manual, art, etc... the only way I would like a fully digital distribution system is if we have the option to buy the cases at stores, with a voucher inside, kinda like Patapon 2 did.

there are a couple games like that (the voucher in the case thing). i think motorstorm has that option.

Problem with the Go: Pointless if you already have a PSP.

With the various DS models, you could upgrade/downgrade to any model and enjoy all of your DS games, without question. Same with PSP-1k/2k/3k. But with lacking a UMD drive, and no official means to transferring UMD games to digital versions (and no unofficial means for PSP Go), if you have an existing library PSP games, you can't use them on PSP Go.

Plus, it's pricey for a PSP remodel. Still, we should wait for next week's numbers to see if it was a hit or not with Japan. This is just one day's worth of sales.