Monday, November 27, 2006

Koei On Top In Subdued Japanese Charts @ GamaSutra

The launch of the PlayStation 3 has continued to have no appreciable effect on the Japanese game charts, with another week of below average sales across the board.

Although an additional 42,099 hardware units of the PS3 were sold, despite continued shortages, the highest ranking PlayStation 3 software title was Ridge Racer 7 at number sixteen, with less than 19,000 unit sales.

The highest selling title of the week was Koei’s strategic spin-off to Sengoku Musou 2 (aka Samurai Warriors 2), which performed well for a stand alone expansion, but charted less than the 100,000 units usually expected of a number one title. Technically, Pokemon Diamond/Pearl exceeded Koei's figure, with a lifetime-to-date total now in excess of 3 million units, but the two versions of the game are counted as separate titles in the Media Create charts.

The second highest new entry of the week at 78,000 units sold was Nintendo’s Magic Taizen, a magic trick compendium - which, despite its non-traditional nature is not officially part of the Touch! Generations family. The only other new entry of the week is a sequel to anime action adventure Naruto: Uzumaki Chronicles at number ten.

Despite the release of the PlayStation 3, the Nintendo DS remained the number one selling hardware of the week with 128,803 units, versus the 42,099 for Sony’s new home console. The PSP and PlayStation 2 failed to experience the same sales boost described by Sony of America, with both consoles well down on their usual amounts to just 16,690 and 15,068 units, respectively.

The Xbox 360, though, continues to perform better following the release of the Core version of the console, with a total of 4,050 units sold. The Game Boy Advance family of consoles sold 2,266 units and the GameCube 514.

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