Media Create Sales for 05/18 to 05/24 - Better Late Than Never?

[Chris_D]

Here are the software and hardware numbers from Japan, straight from Media Create, for the week 05/18 to 05/24.

Hardware sales failed to pick up last week, still down from a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, Nintendo appears to be maintaining it's superiority with both the Wii and DSi outselling their competitors. The Wii even managed a small increase over the previous week, while PS3 sales dropped alarmingly close to the 10,000 mark.

Software sales were also weak with few new titles of note released. Mass Effect for the 360 made it to number 3 selling a modest 17,502 copies. The DS was the clear winner capturing 6 of the top 10 spots. The top seller was Sloan to Michael: Nazo no Monogatari from Level 5, a title I know nothing about. Can anyone else chip in about this one? There were further signs of Wii 3rd party software weakness with Winning Eleven Playmaker 2009 already slipping out of the top 10 after selling only 14,232 copies in it's opening week, surely equalling disappointment for Konami. Meanwhile, Monster Hunter G for the Wii was clinging onto 13th spot, continuing to raise questions as to how successful the Wii exclusive, Monster Hunter 3, will be.

Last week, Microsoft announced that worldwide 360 sales had hit 30 million. While an impressive number, according to VGChartz, the 360 has sold only 1,062,149 units to date in Japan showing that Microsoft still has a long road ahead. By comparison, the Nintendo DS has just hit 2 million units in Australia, a country with a population of only 21 million.

This week is shaping up to be a big one with Japanese people mostly recovering from the initial overreaction to the H1N1 influenza virus entering Japan, along with a large number of exciting software releases.

For the PS3 there is Agarest Senki, a SRPG from Compile. Koei has yet another entry in the long running Dynasty Warriors franchise, Shin Sangoku Musou 5 Empires, for both PS3 and 360. Also on the PS3 is a disc release of the previous download only title The Last Guy. Despite including a few extra stages, it does seem wildly overpriced at 3,890 yen. The Wii has the stylish looking action RPG Ougon no Kizuna.

However, it's the DS that will be bringing the big guns this week. The long awaited Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days from Square Enix has finally arrived. It received luke warm praise at last years Tokyo Game Show so it will be interesting to see how this one does. 1UP has a preview of the Japanese release. Also on the DS is Gyakuten Kenji (Ace Attorney: Edgeworth), a game that I'm eagerly waiting to be localized!

I'd like to apologize for the late posting this week. I was overworked, fatigued, and suffering from a throat infection (also Persona 4 stole a rare energetic moment from me!). Feel free to message me and tell me I'm lame .

Hardware
DSi - 33,833 (-1%)
PSP - 27,536 (-4%)
Wii - 16,233 (+7%)
PS3 - 10,932 (-6%)
DS Lite - 5,631 (+1%)
PS2 - 4,075 (+22%)
Xbox 360 - 3,854 (+19%)


Software
01. [NDS] Sloan to Michael: Nazo no Monogatari (Level 5) 43,501 / NEW
02. [NDS] Let's Create a Pro Baseball Team! 2 (Sega) 39,273 / NEW
03. [360] Mass Effect (Microsoft) 17,502 / NEW
04. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (PSP the Best) (Capcom) 14,329 / ~692k
05. [PSP] Bleach: Heat the Soul 6 (SCE) 12,689 / ~54k
06. [NDS] Dragon Ball Z: Story Saiyajin Raishuu (Bandai Namco Games) 12,340 / ~148k
07. [NDS] Pokemon Fushigi no Dungeon: Sora no Tankentai (Nintendo) 12,082 / ~311k
08. [NDS] Made in Ore / WarioWare Myself (Nintendo) 11,169 / ~123k
09. [Wii] Wii Fit (Nintendo) 10,168 / ~3,424k
10. [NDS] Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (Nintendo) 8,742 / ~624k

Source - Media Create, Play-Asia, Chart Get!, VGChartz, Gamespot, 1UP.

See the previous week's sales.

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

Note: Software cumulative sales estimates are provided by Media Create via Chart Get.

[mister slim]

Sloan to Michael is apparently a keyword-based conversation puzzle game following the Professor Layton style. I wonder how localizable it is.

[Xerxes]

Wow.... Mass Effect out of nowhere.

[divinechaos]

I'm surprised to see Mass Effect so high up. Who would've thunk Japanese people could deal with an RPG where men look like men?

[Xerxes]

Originally Posted by divinechaos

I'm surprised to see Mass Effect so high up. Who would've thunk Japanese people could deal with an RPG where men look like men?

Ugh... They don't look like Japanese men though.

[KamaItachi]

Originally Posted by divinechaos

I'm surprised to see Mass Effect so high up. Who would've thunk Japanese people could deal with an RPG where men look like men?

It's high up, but the numbers are pretty bad. 17,000? I'd hazard a guess it'll drop off completely next week and be lucky to break 50k.

[menage]

Originally Posted by divinechaos

I'm surprised to see Mass Effect so high up. Who would've thunk Japanese people could deal with an RPG where men look like men?

Probably all playing as a pink haired woman though

[Chris_D]

Originally Posted by menage

Probably all playing as a pink haired woman though

It would have been cute if they'd anime'd up the characters a bit, kind of like the arcade version of Half-Life that came out over here.

The Mass Effect numbers weren't so hot, although sales generally have been depressed across the board the last couple of weeks. When the top game is only selling 40,000 it's a bad sign.