Media Create Sales for 03/16 to 03/23 - 360 Loses Momentum, Wii Stuck in Second Gear

[Chris_D]

Here are the software and hardware numbers from Japan, straight from Media Create, for the week 03/16 to 03/23.

The 360 continues to lose the momentum it gained from Street Fighter 4 (~50k), Star Ocean 4 (~200k), and Biohazard 5 (~100k), slipping to a dismal 5,441 units, a drop of 35% from the previous week. It seems that the 360 just doesn't sell outside of the weeks of big releases, which is going to be a tough trend for Microsoft to break.

Wii sales trended low again, seemingly stuck in the low 20k range until at least the next big software release. Or maybe some new console colors. How about it Nintendo?

PS3 sales held steady off the back of highly successful releases of Street Fighter 4 (~120k), Yakuza 3 (~450k) and Biohazard 5 (~410k).

The release of 3 new colors sent DSi sales surging last week, up 158%. Also, the continued drop off in DS Lite sales shows that Japanese consumers are more than happy to switch to the new model despite the difference in price (18,900 yen compared to 16,800 yen). The DS also had the biggest selling software title of the week with Super Robot Taisen K, selling a solid 117k units in it's first week.

Sony has to be happy with the continued sales success of the PSP, only just being beat out by the DSi last week despite not having any big software releases. Two PSP titles, Shin Sangoku Musou: Multi Raid (~335k) and Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (~506k*) continue to perform well in the charts.

This week's big release is Mobile Suit Gundam: Senjou no Kizuna for the PSP, which was released on Thursday, 03/26.

Hardware
DSi - 71,233 (+158%)
PSP - 65,765 (+51%)
PS3 - 25,435 (-9%)
Wii - 18,095 (+1%)
DS Lite - 8,948 (-23%)
Xbox 360 - 5,441 (-35%)
PS2 - 5,067 (+5%)

Software
01. [NDS] Super Robot Taisen K (Namco Bandai) 117,388 / NEW
02. [PS2] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2009 (Konami) 50,324 / NEW
03. [PS2] Amagami (Enterbrain) 42,490 / NEW
04. [NDS] Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (Nintendo) 39,183 / 428,000
05. [PS3] Musou Orochi Z (KOEI) 35,545 / 148,000
06. [PS3] Resident Evil 5 (Capcom) 29,120 / 410,000
07. [NDS] Rittai Picross 3D (Nintendo) 24,172 / 62,000
08. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (PSP the Best) (Capcom) 22,714 / 506,000
09. [WII] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu Next (Konami) 22,496 / NEW
10. [PSP] Shin Sangoku Musou: Multi Raid (KOEI) 18,678 / 335,000

A Super Robot Taisen K promotion at Tsutaya

Source - Media Create

* Numbers for Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (PSP the Best) edition only. Combined sales are over 3 million.

[Kielaran]

Wow. It's interesting to see how much better RE5 is selling on the PS3 than the 360. I had expected 2:1 or maybe 3:1, but over 4:1 is pretty telling about how much better Sony is doing than Microsoft in Japan.

[Superman's Dead]

Here's a question for you people who follow numbers...does releasing consoles in new colors create as much demand as the US as in Japan? The whole notion of colors as buying incentive shocks me a little. They don't have masking tape and glossy spray-paint in Japan?

[Iron Past]

Originally Posted by Chris_D

A Super Robot Taisen K promotion at Tsutaya

What game was it they wanted me to buy again?

But yeah. there's abviously a much, much bigger install base for PS3:360 in Japan, but those are still pretty big differences for the multiconsole stuff, especially BH5. I still find it funny that releasing new colors causes such a big surge in sales.

[Shrinn]

How do the US sales of RE5 compare between consoles?

[TheFlyingOrc]

Originally Posted by Shrinn

How do the US sales of RE5 compare between consoles?

Looks to be about 50% higher on the 360 in America.

Slightly higher on the PS3 in Europe/other.

It's probably going to sell more copies long term(internationally) on the PS3, though I might be wrong.

[Chris_D]

Originally Posted by Superman's Dead

The whole notion of colors as buying incentive shocks me a little. They don't have masking tape and glossy spray-paint in Japan?

I tend to agree. Especially in a time where you think people would be most money conscious, and the Japanese are already very money conscious to begin with. However, somehow a shiny lime-green DSi seems to fly right under the budget radar. Amazing. I'm not sure if Sony or MS get the same benefits from it, it seems more skewed towards Nintendo's demographic. Still, Nintendo has an absolute guaranteed way to boost Wii sales whenever they choose, they don't even need to add HD.

[Chris_D]

Originally Posted by Iron Past

What game was it they wanted me to buy again?

Also, I'm sure they'd love you to pick up one of those sweet new DSi colours advertised on the top right . A mere 18,880 yen ($192).

[Iron Past]

Originally Posted by Chris_D

Also, I'm sure they'd love you to pick up one of those sweet new DSi colours advertised on the top right . A mere 18,880 yen ($192).

Maybe if they offered them here, instead of black and eye-wrenching blue-green. I'm in no hurry, though.

[Chris_D]

I don't want to blow my own horn (OK maybe I do) but Gamespot isn't the only media outlet that seems to have forgotten about the release of the 3 new DSi colors this week (despite reporting on Nintendo's press release about it previously).

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6207099.html

Super Robot Taisen K's strong debut undoubtedly helped Nintendo move systems on the week. The DSi and DS Lite combined to sell just over 80,000 systems, outpacing the PSP's 65,800-unit tally.

Sorry, but a 100k selling game alone is not going to result in a 50k increase in hardware sales. Sometimes I'm glad that gaming journalists salaries are not that high (supposedly).