The Japan Preview: 12/28 Edition (SW down slightly, hw up slightly) - News

by VGChartz Staff , posted on 29 December 2008 / 11,955 Views

Jacob Mazel

Summary:

After the fireworks last week, software sales have quieted down a bit in Japan for this week. However, volumes of software sold remain at near seasonal highs, and hardware sales continue to climb. The preliminary data shows six games selling over 100,000 units this week, though a few games could end up just under or just over the 100,000 unit level as was the case last week in the final data.

Key Points:

- DS software continues to sell well in Japan. In the preliminary data, 11 of the games to chart were on the DS and roughly half the total software sales were on DS.

- A number of older games which help define the image of the platforms saw rising sales this week.

- The peak week for Japanese sales in the winter is still yet to come, so it is encouraging to see software sales remain over 1.5m units for the top twenty games in a week where rates are still steady or increasing.

Understanding the Japanese Preview:

Rather than saying x game for y platform sold between 20,000 and 28,000 units as in the past, the preliminary data will be broken down into charts by platform. Within these charts, there will two additional categories besides the rounded sales figure under ‘sales’. On the left will be ‘low end’ depicting the lowest amount the title likely sold for the week, while to the right will be ‘high end’ depicting the highest amount the title likely sold for the week. As always, this data is preliminary, and therefore, not final, but it is based on a sample. The varying platform market share the sample represents is why consistent sellers like Wii Fit do not always appear in the preliminary data. Sales for this report are for the week ending December 28, 2008.

Software by Platform Breakdown:

Wii Software – Three Wii games charted in the preliminary data. The Animal Crossing sku without Wii Speak saw a bump in sales. The game sold 189,000, and should approach 300,000 with the Wii Speak sku included in the final data. Mario Kart Wii managed to double its sales from the previous week, selling over 100,000 units this week. The last title is the Wii-make of Pikmin, which sold nearly 50,000 units this week. Expect Wii hardware sales to rise into the 145,000 to 175,000 unit range.

Preliminary Top Twenty Wii Software	Sales	Low End	High End
Animal Crossing: City Folk (game sku only)	189,000	170,000	208,000
Mario Kart Wii	102,000	92,000	112,000
Wii-make Pikmin	48,000	43,000	53,000

PS3 Software – White Knight Chronicles managed to sell 212,000 units in its debut for PS3. The only other PS3 title to chart was Gundam Musou 2 which debuted last week. White Knight Chronicles managed to outsell the game by about 4:1. Expect PS3 hardware sales to rise into the 50,000 to 60,000 unit range.

Preliminary Top Twenty PS3 Software	Sales	Low End	High End
White Knight Chronicles	212,000	192,000	233,000
Gundam Musou 2	50,000	45,000	55,000

Xbox 360 Software – No Xbox 360 titles were in the preliminary data. Expect Xbox 360 sales to remain in the 11,000 to 16,000 unit range this week.

PS2 Software – Gundam Musou 2 sold another 40,000 units on PS2 this week. The only other game for the platform to chart was a Winter Sonata game at 25,000 units. Expect PS2 hardware sales to remain in the 8,000 to 12,000 unit range.

Preliminary Top Twenty PS2 Software	Sales	Low End	High End
Gundam Musou 2	40,000	36,000	44,000
Winter Sonata 2	25,000	22,000	28,000

PSP Software – Final Fantasy: Dissdia dropped to 138,000 units this week after debuting last week as the top seller. This time though, it was joined by another title in the preliminary data. Monster Hunter Portable 2G (the re-released version) managed to sell about 55,000 units this week. Expect PSP hardware sales to drop slightly as disappearance of much of the Dissidia boost offsets the expected holiday rise. PSP sales should be in the 100,000 to 140,000 unit range for the week.

Preliminary Top Twenty PSP Software	Sales	Low End	High End
Final Fantasy Dissidia	138,000	124,000	152,000
Monster Hunter Portable 2G (Cheap Edition)	55,000	49,000	61,000

DS Software – DS remains the go to platform for big software sales in Japan at the moment. This week, the preliminary data shows four DS games selling between 95,000 and 195,000 units. Kirby, Wagamama, Rhythm Heaven Gold, and others from both Nintendo and third parties have seen significant boosts this week. New debut Phantasy Star Zero also managed to sell nearly 100,000 copies. Tales of Hearts, which debuted last week, had a sharp drop, but just about every other DS title to chart this week has proven legs as a top selling title. Expect DS hardware sales to remain in the 240,000 to 290,000 unit range this week.

Preliminary Top Twenty DS Software	Sales	Low End	High End
Kirby Superstar Ultra	195,000	175,000	215,000
Wagamama Fashion: Gal's Mode	133,000	120,000	146,000
Phantasy Star Zero	97,000	87,000	107,000
Pokemon Platinum	95,000	85,000	105,000
Rhythm Heaven Gold	81,000	73,000	89,000
Momotaro Railway 20th Anniversary Edition	71,000	64,000	78,000
Tomgari Boushi to Mahou no 365 Days	48,000	43,000	53,000
Tales of Hearts	31,000	28,000	34,000
Powerful Pro Kun Pocket 11	31,000	28,000	34,000
Tamagotchi Kira Kira Omisecchi	28,000	25,000	31,000
Meccha Taiko Drum Master DS: Adventure in Seven Islands	24,000	22,000	26,000

Contact Vgchartz at jmazel@vgchartz.com

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BTFeather55 (on 31 December 2008)

 I thought WKC would do well.  Is its release date in the US official yet?

tyig (on 31 December 2008)

well, i doubt wkc will sell more than Lost Odyssey, also Tales of Vesperia sold the same amout of V.Chronicles and i think it wasn't released on europe yet.

samus aran rules (on 31 December 2008)

Frictionini: I think that SE should put rpgs on Wii instead of PS3 if they wanna sell. Wii is the console of choise in Japan and it will only get bigger from here on out. I think that with the release on Monster Hunter on Wii it´s gonna be clear that even the most "hardcoreplayers" in Japan is gonna jump onboard the Wii wagon.

frictionini (on 31 December 2008)

@EggsWithLegs

no they're not very good quality games of SE.

And no ones saying WKC vs 360 here. The point of the people here is SE and others should release rpgs on the PS3 if they want to sell although the answer is obvious that MS paid them for exclusivites ^_^

bigjon (on 30 December 2008)

remember these are preliminary numbers.. do not bet your house on them people.

EggsWithLegs (on 30 December 2008)

Jeez, can ppl relax over WKC sales v's the X360 JRPG sales. PS3 has 2.64m consoles in Japan. X360 has .86m and had less then that for each release. Square-enix does not deserve the hate it's receiving from many people! The JRPG's they released are very good quality games.

321tttrini4everz (on 30 December 2008)

good for White Knight Chronicles !

square-enix = fckn stupid...that's why they are loosing alot of revenue

samus aran rules (on 30 December 2008)

Xiao: I think it will show up in the final numbers along with Wii Fit/Sports. Sometimes the prenumbers are a bit off.

XiaoMay (on 30 December 2008)

where s Taiko No Tatsujin Wii ? Out of Stock ?

mai (on 30 December 2008)

@HanzoTheRazor

Good sales != good game.

HanzoTheRazor (on 29 December 2008)

Famitsu should be shot! WKC is a much, much, much better game than what they claim... and the sales even say so.

Princess Azula (on 29 December 2008)

Great numbers! I love it when real games do well in Japan <3

Sullla (on 29 December 2008)

White Knight Chronicles looks like it's off to a great start. It should be fun watching how it does over the next few weeks. (PS3 software in Japan often has great debuts, followed by atrocious followup weeks. Look at Metal Gear Solid.) Hopefully the holidays will offset that trend.

Animal Crossing Wii definitely not a flop, easily powering to 1m plus in Japan. The Pikmin remake did pretty decently too. And the handhelds continue to dominate Japan, between Dissidia and a ton of DS titles.

It's cool to see Japan moving some real hardware and software after the long autumn dry spell.

Gilgamesh (on 29 December 2008)

Alright WKC the second highest debut of any game in Japan for the PS3!!

peachbuggy (on 29 December 2008)

Anything around 200k for WKC on ps3's userbase seems very good to me. Then again it is only my opinion. I know next to nothing about RPGs, period. Well, unless pokemon is considered an RPG.

sergiopepeu2 (on 29 December 2008)

WKC, impressive sales! Square Enix... maybe is crying at this moment....

Stats87 (on 29 December 2008)

@ SleepWaking

You're comparing this to a DQ spin-off? Really?

stimpi13 (on 29 December 2008)

AC excelentes ventas y aparte va para largo su reinado supongo tardara en bajar en los rankins!!

Saludos!!

ylvis (on 29 December 2008)

You know Microsoft has done a great job in Japan this generation when Sony fanboys starts comparing PS3 games sales to 360 game sales.

The most boring poster on this site is by far DJMeister. Has anyone ever seen that guy comment on anything other than Sony exclusives? The funny part is that he has probably not even played the games he commented on (Dissidia, WKC and MHP2).

leo-j (on 29 December 2008)

It could have sold from 140k-320k

These are just estimates from the date vgchartz has gathered thus far, anything can change.

I do expect higher PSP hardware, and either lower or higher ps3 hardware either 40-50k or 60-70k

GhaudePhaede010 (on 29 December 2008)

Nice start for PS0 indeed. And I am waiting on my copy from playasia.

Ratix240sx (on 29 December 2008)

nice start for PS0.

samus aran rules (on 29 December 2008)

We´ll see if the preliminary numbers holds true, if so, fantastic numbers for Animal Crossing (number 1 game of the week since Wii speak version not including in pre numbers), great for Kirby,Wagamama and Mario Kart Wii because of the fantastic legs those games are having.

Most likely Wii Fit will end up very high in the final numbers as well. Wkc did very good if over 200k but not spectacular as some here are saying since it will most likely fall pretty fast the coming weeks.

Ota (on 29 December 2008)

wkc is solid but not amazing. very solid concidered that it was sold only 3 or 4 days in that week.

SleepWaking (on 29 December 2008)

How is WKC that impressive??? Because it easily outsold the 360 titles?? This title will only shows it's best putting JRPG's on the Wii. A very bad spin off sold 50% more a half year ago.

Slimebeast (on 29 December 2008)

I perdict WKS 180,000 copies 1st week sales.

Erik Aston (on 29 December 2008)

Wagamama!

Animal Crossing, Kirby Superstar and Wagamama are all approaching their first million in Japan... If the numbers hold, this is the second biggest week for AC and Kirby, behind their launch weeks, and the biggest week for Wagamama above last week.

luisgvm (on 29 December 2008)

WKC DID AMAZINGGG is this game being bundled? couse if not then sony is stupid they would have sold a lot of ps3s in japan with wkc bundled.

tombi123 (on 29 December 2008)

I did say WKC had a chance at beating Blue Dragon's lifetime sales in its first week. Lets hope these preliminary numbers are spot on.

Spectre35 (on 29 December 2008)

Good for WKC.

Xen (on 29 December 2008)

WKC Started off well. Sony advertised it well too... I'm glad. Now I hope to lay my hands on it myself...

Ah, and SE, up yours!

Phoenix_Wiight (on 29 December 2008)

kirby is a beast...

Riachu (on 29 December 2008)

I wonder if WKC see the same sales success when it gets released in the West. WKC outsold every 360 JRPG in Japan, even Blue Dragon.

WiiStation360 (on 29 December 2008)

AC sales keep rolling.

Good start for WKC.

dark_gh0st_b0y (on 29 December 2008)

Animal Crossing is 1st, Wii Speak version is not included up there!!

Jo21 (on 29 December 2008)

WKC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, outsold all 360 RPG in a week.
and likely outsold everything except dragon quest swords LTS!

Globox (on 29 December 2008)

Glad that WKC did good. 400 life time in Japan would be great.

Egghead (on 29 December 2008)

OMG, look at WKC = S

DMeisterJ (on 29 December 2008)

Great for WKC.

212k from a 132 opening. What's that, a sixty percent increase from FD sales? Pretty good.

And Dissidia dropped, but not drastically to sub 100k, so that's fine, and MHP2G graces the top 20 again.

So the Preliminary top 5 are

White Knight Chronicle
Kirby
Animal Crossing
Dissidia
Wagamama

frictionini (on 29 December 2008)

212k in 3 days

nyc wKC

kazenolalala (on 29 December 2008)

best wishes to the not so good wkc and pikmin wii

woopah (on 29 December 2008)

if animal crossing comes out top that would be crazy

TheConduit (on 29 December 2008)

Japan is almost completely under Nintendominance.
Nintendo owns
68% of the home console market
69%of the handhold market
With this kind of dominance the Japanese developers are going to be leaning towards the Wii from now on.

As soon as capcom finds a way to do Monster hunter on the DS the PSP is done.

hayeya_k (on 29 December 2008)

GREAT FOR WKC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SQUARE ENIX ARE YOU WATCHING ?????????? A new IP RPG not made by square and got a bad review from famitsu on an HD console outperformed all your 360 games in 3 daysssssss, soon it will outsell all your games combined :)

XxXProphecyXxX (on 29 December 2008)

good debut for WKC...ps3 hardware increased as well

outlawauron (on 29 December 2008)

@ Xiao

Animal Crossing did, but Kirby didn't.

Noobie (on 29 December 2008)

WKC might be the top selling game of Japan this week.. That will be nice for Sony. But Kirby and AC are almost equivalent to it... So let see wot the final number will be..

XiaoMay (on 29 December 2008)

Holy Shit Animal Crossing and Kirby stole WKS's 1st place

outlawauron (on 29 December 2008)

@ papflesje

Yes there was a price drop last year along with the release of Dynasty Warriors 6.

papflesje (on 29 December 2008)

@ hyruken: wasn't there a price cut last year?

Hyruken (on 29 December 2008)

as nice as these sales are we have to remember this time last year the PS3 sold 55k without anything new being released then (Prologue was like a month before). The fact even with its high profile JRPG released it equalled those numbers or maybe even wasent as high keeps up with the actual trend that the PS3 sales are in bigtime decline.
The WKC sales are awesome though. Will be interesting to see how well it does in its second week.

Vanadium2k8 (on 29 December 2008)

@leatherhat:

Didn't Dragon Quest Swords debut at 310,000?

KBG29 (on 29 December 2008)

Very nice week for everyone besides Microsoft.

The DS numbers are just insane.

PS3 selling very well, but the Wii is still doubleing it.

If the numbers hold true, White Knight Chronicals off to a nice start. Would be nice to see it crack 400k in Japan.

Now it will be interesting to see how sales go as we move into the new year. Will PS3 be able to stay above 10k the whole year or will sales plumet again? Hopefully with all the big releases coming through March that won't even be close to an issue for a while.

arsenicazure (on 29 December 2008)

SONY seems to be having a decent software month after all.

SnakeEyez (on 29 December 2008)

WKC had a nice debut, especially since it was only 3 days. Let's see if it has good enough legs to get to 300-350k in Japan.

dark_gh0st_b0y (on 29 December 2008)

Animal Crossing Wii taking the same path as SSBB and Mario Galaxy, huge sales!! : )

nice for white knight chronicles!! : )

bigjon (on 29 December 2008)

@montana

actually animal crossing is track alot like SMG did last year, just better look at this graph

http://vgchartz.com/swlaunch.php?reg1=Japan&game1=Animal+Crossing%3A+City+Folk+-+Wii&reg2=Japan&game2=Super+Mario+Galaxy+-+Wii&reg3=Japan&game3=Wii+Fit+-+Wii&weeks=8

actually, it seems to be somewhere in between.... but wiifit was completely sold out so its sales were lower than it should have been...

Also I just noticed no WiiFit in the preview? Source's source sold out of it?

bigjon (on 29 December 2008)

I like the numbers...

I just hope this is not a repeat of what happened last year (preview was about 50% high) but these numbers seem very very good.

Good job source, the preview seem to be much more accurate than it used to be. Thanks for the work you put in.

ShinKazenoKizzu (on 29 December 2008)

worth the wait

Stats87 (on 29 December 2008)

Wagamama Fashion: Gal's Mode.....really?

saicho (on 29 December 2008)

we'll see about Animal Crossing... so far it has much stronger legs in JP than in NA... pretty impressive sales for the holidays.

yay for Meccha Taiko Drum Master DS: Adventure in Seven Islands back in Top 20

MontanaHatchet (on 29 December 2008)

Animal Crossing is this year's Wii Fit, or something close to it. Kirby is doing incredibly. And White Knight Chronicles had a good increase after its first day, and definitely a great debut. Hopefully the preview is fairly accurate.

Gearbox (on 29 December 2008)

man i totaly guesed just over 200k

leatherhat (on 29 December 2008)

With the PS3 and wii hw sales, Japan is starting to amount to something again. For a while there they were just a drop in the bucket compared to America and Europe, but now there showing some impact

scottie (on 29 December 2008)

Good sales all round, it's very nice to see Animal Crossing picking up some momentum. 10 million WW by the time it stops selling is now looking like a possibility

48 k for Pikmin is decent, although less than half of the GC version's first week Japan sales. Hope for legs people

Stats87 (on 29 December 2008)

Somebody joked that WKC could be the top selling HD RPG in Japan after it's first week. Well, depending on what side of 210k the sales are, that might become a reality. (although technically these numbers are 3 (4?) day sales.)

leatherhat (on 29 December 2008)

Let me change that, best debuting JRPG this gen. I don't need to give people ammo

shams (on 29 December 2008)

If WKC does 200k, I'll be impressed. I'll wait for the real figures before assuming too much ;)

Mario Kart did 50k last week - why did it jump to 100k this week??

Animal Crossing could smash 1m in Japan, already? Wow...