Kotaku: simple 2000: the japanese hardware chart

Japan Takes A Week Off From Buying Game Hardware

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:40:49 MST

The nation of Japan started 2009 off rather slowly in hardware sales terms. Buying slowed to a crawl overseas, as they tend to do, at the turn of a new year.

Looking at the drop-off, you'd think it's rather grim, but that's the New Year's holiday hangover in action. No new video game releases means far less clamoring for shiny hardware. Still, the Nintendo DSi managed to squeeze out another 78,000 units, with the PSP lagging close behind with 60,000 sold.

There's not much we can sex up here. Everyone's in their right place and selling about half of what they did the week prior. The numbers are after this.

Nintendo DSi - 78,201
PSP - 60,495
Wii - 41,243
PlayStation 3 - 28,144
Nintendo DS Lite - 23,429
Xbox 360 - 10,554
PlayStation 2 - 6,628

Sales-day is almost over, kids. Thanks for bearing with us while we choke you with data!

Dissidia, White Knight Keep Sony's Japanese Hardware Sales Up

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:00:27 MST

Japan's best-selling Dissidia: Final Fantasy helped the PSP outsell the Wii this week, even though it couldn't muster enough sales to dethrone the Nintendo DSi. Also seeing a big boost was the PlayStation 3.

It even outsold the Nintendo DS Lite, still going strong in Japan to the tune of almost 50,000 handhelds sold per week. With recent PS3 releases also showing up the Media Create software sales charts — Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Spec III and World Soccer Winning Eleven 2009 — we'd almost think Japanese gamers were starting to come around to gaming in 4D!

The hardware race for the week of December 29th to January 4th ended like so.

• Nintendo DSi - 182,518
• PSP - 157,088
• Wii - 119,965
• PlayStation 3 - 60,654
• Nintendo DS - 48,160
• Xbox 360 - 19,694
• PlayStation 2 - 12,548

Wii, PS3 See Hardware Sales Gains In Japan

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:40:40 MST

The holidays were very good to Nintendo in Japan, with hardware sales big enough to translate to a second bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas Eve. We're talking 380,000 game machines moved in a week.

Leading Nintendo's hardware charge was the Nintendo DSi. Sales were actually down, week to week, but still far enough ahead to claim the top spot. Also down was the PSP, which dropped from its Dissidia: Final Fantasy release week high.

Seeing the biggest gain, however, percentage wise, was the PlayStation 3. That was thanks to the release of Level 5's PS3 exclusive role-playing game White Knight Chronicles. Not enough to push it past Nintendo DS Lite numbers, but a step in the right direction for Sony in Japan. Perhaps the Japanese releases of Yakuza 3, Demon's Souls and Street Fighter IV launches in early February will help spark PS3 "momentum."

Not much happening on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 2 front, but the full chart from December 22 to 28 looks like...

• Nintendo DSi - 188,697
• Wii - 134,958
• PSP - 118,765
• Nintendo DS - 56,453
• PlayStation 3 - 45,989
• Xbox 360 - 13,011
• PlayStation 2 - 10,404

Breaking: Nintendo DSi Still Doing Awesome In Japan

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:40:00 MST

Weekly sales of the Nintendo DSi in Japan have doubled over where they were just two weeks prior, moving an impressive 173,000 this week. Overall, Nintendo sold almost 300,000 hardware units to Japanese consumers.

That's with over 90,000 Wiis and more than 30,000 Nintendo DS Lites, according to Media Create. PlayStation 3 sales held steady, moving nearly three times what the Xbox 360 sold in a week. The PSP still continues to perform extremely well, even with only a handful of games in the top thirty.

Weekly hardware sales for the week of December 8th to the 14th are as follows.

• Nintendo DSi - 173,693
• Wii - 91,641
• PSP - 71,540
• PlayStation 3 - 33,688
• Nintendo DS - 31,120
• Xbox 360 - 11,797
• PlayStation 2- 6,659

Media Create Weekly Sales

Nintendo DSi Sees Big Boost In Japan

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:40:00 MST

Sales of the Nintendo DSi on its home turf were way up this week after dipping into "just awesome enough" territory the week prior. Nintendo moved another 126K, according to Media Create.

Wii was up. PSP was down. PS3 was down. Nintendo DS Lite was down. Xbox 360 was down. PS2 was up. Look, that's all the color you're gonna get, guys. Sorry. Writing about hardware and software sales all day is mind-numbing. I'm going to go look at pictures of puppies or something while you enjoy this week's hardware chart.

• Nintendo DSi - 126,648
• Wii - 56,702
• PSP - 54,782
• PlayStation 3 - 30,309
• Nintendo DS - 12,096
• Xbox 360 - 9,988
• PlayStation 2 - 5,743

Weekly PS3 Sales Double In Japan, DSi Holds Top Spot

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:00:00 MST

The Nintendo DSi is still the best-selling platform in Japan, with its camera-less predecessor similarly selling in the tens of thousands. But Sony's PlayStation 3 saw the biggest gains this week, thanks to Konami.

The developer-publisher's World Soccer Winning Eleven 2009 sold over 168,000 copies in Japan last week, helping to double PS3 hardware sales to nearly 35,000 units. A pretty big improvement from its October lull.

Wii sales were also way up, by more than 14,000 units.

The full hardware sales tally from Nov. 24 to 30 was:

• Nintendo DSi - 87,185
• PSP - 55,090
• Wii - 49,848
• PlayStation 3 - 34,978
• Nintendo DS - 26,851
• Xbox 360 - 11,423
• PlayStation 2 - 5,628

Japan Starts Its Holiday Hardware Buying Frenzy

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:00:16 MST

Nintendo DSi sales are still HOT in Japan, with the camera-equipped revision moving another 88,000-plus units last week. The PSP also got a major shot in the arm, thanks to the latest Gundam release.

Curiously, the Nintendo DS Lite also had a very good week, which may illustrate that supply of the DSi can't keep up with demand in the face of Chrono Trigger DS's release — and a top ten dominated by DS software.

The PlayStation 3 holds strong while the Xbox 360 sees a big boost alongside the release of The Last Remnant. For the full hardware contest, read on.

• Nintendo DSi - 88,843
• PSP - 61,226
• Wii - 35,298
• Nintendo DS - 18,580
• PlayStation 3 - 17,436
• Xbox 360 - 15,474
• PlayStation 2 - 5,281

The PlayStation 3 has plenty of "The Best" label budget releases hitting before the end of the year, which should help keep its momentum (yes, I did) going. The release of Gundam Musou 2 will probably help the long-suffering console keep sales higher.

Xbox 360 has its own version of Gundam Musou 2 en route, as well as Fable II. We'll be interested to see how the latter fares in the coming weeks.

Nintendo DSi Still The System To Beat In Japan

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:00:55 MST

It was a down week for hardware sales in Japan, with the Wii the only platform to see an uptick in sales week-to-week. The recently launched Nintendo DSi still tops the charts and is in no danger of losing its position to any of its hardware competitors. It does about half of the total hardware sales for the week of November 10 to 16. PlayStation 3 sales stay solid amid a half-dozen new releases over the past month, including Way of the Samurai 3, Resistance 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV. Wonder how long the DS Lite will continue to chart...

• Nintendo DSi - 85,327
• PSP - 38,153
• Wii - 26,787
• PlayStation 3 - 17,448
• Xbox 360 - 7,983
• PlayStation 2 - 5,421
• Nintendo DS - 3,559

PlayStation 3, Nintendo DSi Sales Cool Down In Japan

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:40:00 MST

After last week's exciting new hardware debuts, the Japanese hardware sales charts calm down a bit. Sure, the Nintendo DSi is still selling like gangbusters, but the PlayStation 3 starts its journey downward into more normal territory, moving less than half of what it did the week prior. On the flip side of the hi-def console war, the Xbox 360 doubles its week-to-week sales in Japan, making this pie chart a lot less red and a lot more lime green.

Wii and PSP sales are mostly steady, with the former selling nowhere near as spectacularly as it does on this side of the Pacific. For the week of Nov. 3 to 9, here's how the Japanese spent.

• Nintendo DSi - 104,897
• PSP - 43,726
• Wii - 24,726
• PlayStation 3 - 18,354
• Xbox 360 - 12,759
• Nintendo DS - 8,381
• PlayStation 2 - 5,743

PlayStation 3 Sales Rebound In Japan, DSi Tops Charts

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:20:00 MST

The PlayStation 3 hasn't had a good couple of weeks, with sales bottoming out at just 3,931 according to Media Create. Fortunately for Sony, the PS3's fortunes have changed in a major way with the introduction of a new 80GB model and bundles featuring LittleBigPlanet and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Spec III, with a ten times increase week to week. GTA IV's stellar sales certainly didn't hurt.

But it's the Nintendo DSi sitting pretty atop the Japanese sales charts this week, with over 170,000 units sold. That's why there's a new cool gray slice on this week's chart and a big reason for that wee key lime slice for the Xbox 360, which assumes the position of last place again.

• Nintendo DSi - 171,925
• PSP - 50,358
• PlayStation 3 - 39,587
• Wii - 23,123
• Nintendo DS - 16,369
• PlayStation 2 - 6,714
• Xbox 360 - 6,119

PSP Tops Hardware Sales Again, PS3 Sinks To New Low

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:30:00 MDT

Sales of the PSP-3000 model in Japan have cooled considerably since it launched in the region, but Sony's portable sells far more than enough to retain the top spot on the Media Create hardware charts. The PSP's hardware peers all took a hit this week; the Nintendo DS drops to third, with the Xbox 360 holding steady with the week's lowest decline.

The bad news continues for Sony's PlayStation 3, which suffers its worst week ever, selling just half of what its HD competition did, shedding nearly 17% of its sales week-to-week. Those LittleBigPlanet bundles can't come soon enough.

PSP - 60,467
Wii - 24,292
Nintendo DS - 22,965
Xbox 360 - 7,844
PlayStation 2 - 6,962
PlayStation 3 - 3,931

PlayStation Tops, Bottoms Weekly Japanese Sales Charts

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:30:12 MDT

After taking a breather from consuming video game hardware last week, Japanese gamers return to the electronics stores of their choosing, snapping up almost 160,000 new PSPs. That's substantially more than Famitsu estimated. The PSP-3000 model took Japan by storm, outselling every other platform combined. And multiplied by two.

As good as Sony's fortunes were on the PSP front, PlayStation 3 sales continued to drop. Weekly PS3 sales sink to a Media Create chart all-time low, with less than 5,000 units sold. It's the only hardware platform to drop in sales this week, possibly due to the soon to be released 80 GB model, which arrives alongside a pair of LittleBigPlanet and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Spec III bundles.

• PSP - 159,816
• Nintendo DS - 29,839
• Wii - 26,024
• Xbox 360 - 7,856
• PlayStation 2 - 7,261
• PlayStation 3 - 4,725

Japanese Hardware Sales Slump Hits PS3 Hard

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:40:17 MDT

Man, things are tough all over. This week's Media Create sales charts show that Japanese gamers basically took the week off from buying hardware. It's possible they were simply concerned about the volatility of the global market, as the softer side of sales failed to blow our socks off, too.

More surprising is the stagnation of PlayStation 3 hardware, which is actually selling some games (Aquanaut's Holiday, Eternal Sonata) but places well behind the Xbox 360. Crazy, crazy days.

• Nintendo DS - 31,914
• PSP - 23,901
• Wii - 22,877
• Xbox 360 - 7,763
• PlayStation 2 - 6,982
• PlayStation 3 - 5,734

Nintendo DS, Xbox 360 Sales Slip In Japan

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:40:16 MDT

The Media Create weekly hardware charts show some minor shifting, not unlike the earthquake we experienced in Tokyo this week. Fortunately, our hotel didn't crumble as Nintendo DS sales did this week, even though Pokémon Platinum continues to top software sales charts. The Wii and PSP swap places, as do the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360. Poor PlayStation 3 settles for last place again.

Too bad we don't get Game Boy micro sales data anymore...

• Nintendo DS - 42,385
• PSP - 26,045
• Wii - 25,330
• PlayStation 2 - 8,618
• Xbox 360 - 8,271
• PlayStation 3 - 7,232

Xbox 360 Still Loved, Purchased By Japan

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:40:00 MDT

For the third week in a row, Microsoft has outsold Sony again on its home turf, continuing to move Xbox 360s at a respectable clip. Nintendo remains undaunted in the console wars, as combined sales of both the 360 and PS3 are well below that of the Wii and account for about a third of Nintendo DS sales. In other words, Nintendo rules, everyone else drools, hardware-wise.

• Nintendo DS - 57,847
• Wii - 26,314
• PSP - 25,671
• Xbox 360 - 11,291
• PlayStation 2 - 9,848
• PlayStation 3 - 8,275

Xbox 360 Outsells PS3 In Japan. Again.

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 19:30:48 MDT

For the second week in a row, Microsoft outsold Sony on its home turf, with the Xbox 360 beating out the PlayStation 3 on the Media Create weekly sales charts. That's likely due to the console's recent price drop in Japan and the effects of the one-two software punch of Tales of Vesperia and Infinite Undiscovery.

Xbox 360 sales were essentially halved, week-to-week, but it was still enough to beat out Sony on the console front. Nintendo continued not to notice the PS3 vs. 360 dust-up, instead opting to sell another shitload of hardware.

• Nintendo DS - 61,242
• Wii - 29,921
• PSP - 28,674
• Xbox 360 - 13,777
• PlayStation 3 - 8,156
• PlayStation 2 - 7,720

Xbox 360 The Best Selling Console In Japan? Media Create Says 'No'

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:30:42 MDT

In the world of console sales, a thousand unit discrepancy here or there isn't really a big deal. But when the Xbox 360 makes headlines for being the best selling console in Japan for the week, those numbers matter. While Famitsu publisher Enterbrain calls Microsoft the winner for the week of September 8 to 14, alternative sales source Media Create sees it differently. It puts the Wii ahead of the 360 by about 1500 units.

The two sales watchers disagree on how many 360s were sold last week, which may help explain the differences in data, even though they both claim to cover the same timespan. Regardless of who won coveted ~~third~~ first place on the hardware charts, that's a lot of green.

- Nintendo DS - 63,859
- PSP - 30,156
- Wii - 29,686
- Xbox 360 - 28,188
- PlayStation 3 - 8,053
- PlayStation 2 - 7,669

Maybe The Xbox 360 Really Is Sold Out In Japan...

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:00:02 MDT

...because it only moved a thousand units last week. That's with two Xbox 360 titles charting in the top fifty (Musou Orochi: Maou Sairin and Tales of Vesperia). Sure, it was a slow week for hardware sales across the board, with Wii sales bottoming out at 33K, but it certainly reads like Microsoft's supply is at near-starvation levels. Look at that teeny green slice! Now look away! It's too horrible...

Media Create's weekly hardware sales for September 1 to 7 are as follows.

Nintendo DS - 51,412
PSP - 34,462
Wii - 33,128
PlayStation 3 - 8,317
PlayStation 2 - 7,948
Xbox 360 - 1,044

Nintendo DS Now On Sales Cruise Control In Japan

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 19:40:31 MDT

The Nintendo DS looks like its back on pace in Japan, outselling the PSP in the country for the fourth week in a row. With no major software releases for Sony's portable platform in the coming weeks, it appears it will stay that way for a while. Not much in the way of change for the week of August 25 to 31, as we await the Japanese release of Infinite Undiscovery to see if that shakes things up on the Xbox side.

Nintendo DS - 56,439
PSP - 41,664
Wii - 35,755
PlayStation 3 - 9,775
PlayStation 2 - 8,810
Xbox 360 - 3,124

Japanese Xbox 360 Drought Looking Dire

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:30:58 MDT

No relief in sight for the 5000 or so Japanese gamers who might be on the weekly hunt for an Xbox 360. With a limited supply, those looking for a Microsoft brand console on which to play a copy of Tales of Vesperia or a second game will be left wanting until such time as supplies are replenished. That means that only 3500 Japanese gamers could get their hands on a 360 this past week. Just heartbreaking to see demand kind of (maybe) outstripping supply like this.

There's better news for Nintendo, as continued sales of Rhythm Tengoku Gold and Dragon Quest V help the portable carve out a big slice of the hardware pie.

Nintendo DS - 55,995
PSP - 47,604
Wii - 35,173
PlayStation 3 - 9,020
PlayStation 2 - 8,420
Xbox 360 - 3,551