The Japan Preview: 8/22 Edition (ACE: R opens well) - News
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 22 August 2010 / 4,682 Views
Summary & A Look Ahead:
Namco-Bandai's ACE: Another Century's Episode R for PS3 was the only major game to debut this week. Still, with nearly 200,000 copies sold software sales were roughly flat from last week, even with the end of Obon-induced lifts. The DS and PSP both had very, very quiet weeks for software, with a grand total of six games above 10,000 units - even though the two devices have a combined base of well over 46 million units in Japan. Wii and PS3, with a combined base at about a third of that had five games sell over 10,000 units for the week.
We still don't really what know when most big titles are coming in Japan. For Wii, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Donkey Kong Country: Returns are presumed for 2010. Games like Inazuma Eleven Wii and The Last Story could make it as well. But beyond that, the final quarter of 2010 for Wii is largely a mystery. On DS, Pokemon Black / White have release dates. Kingdom Hearts: Recoded has a release date. These are both early Fall titles though. Major content for November-January is still a bit up in the air. On PSP, Monster Hunter Portable 3 is supposedly coming in 2010, probably as the big late fall / winter title. For PS3, Gran Turismo 5 is November. Whether 3DS is arriving in 2010 - and if it does - with what titles - is also an open question. So overall, the final few months of 2010 in Japan are still a bit of a mystery. At this point though, it looks like a quieter end-year sequence than 2009 - which saw three price cuts (Wii, PS3, PSP), the PS3 Slim, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Final Fantasy XIII, Inazuma Eleven 2, Wii Fit Plus, Samurai Warriors 3, Pokemon HG / SS, Persona 3 Portable, Winning Eleven, Layton, Pokepark, Tales of Graces, Momotarou Dentetsu Wii, and Phantasy Star Portable 2 all had solid to spectacular sales in Sept-Dec 2009.
Pokemon Black / White does look like it will be bigger than any of those title though. With three weeks left until release, preorders are over 1.3 million units - suggesting an opening of 2 million units or more is possible. The game will likely be more front-loaded than previous Pokemon games but with so much time left until release a record setting opening week is not out of the question. Preorders already rival week one sales for Pokemon Heart Gold / Soul Silver - a game which sold over 3.5m units in Japan. Monster Hunter Portable 3 preorders are up to 370,000 units this week, even as Capcom's title lacks a release date.
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 Plus do not always appear in the preliminary data. Sales for this report are for the week ending August 22, 2010.
Software by Platform:
Figures are listed by the age of the platform, for the top twenty sku information that we recieve early.
Wii Software - Sengoku Basara 3 dropped out of the preliminary data this week. It probably will be above 5,000 units in the final data though. Wii Party continues to sell well. Sales are over 800,000 units lifetime through the middle of August and will easily top 1 million units by the time Japanese sales begin to really lift in December. Super Mario Galaxy 2 will likely top 1 million units as well - but it is going to take a much longer time. Looking ahead, Kirby's Epic Yarn, and Donkey Kong Country: Returns are both potentially million-sellers in Japan so it will be interesting to see how the releases are timed. DKC: Returns in particular should be quite big - sales for the three DKC games on SNES were between 1.7m and 3.0m units in Japan, and even on N64, Donkey Kong 64 topped 1m units. For this week, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Wii Fit Plus, Mario Kart Wii, and Wii Sports Resort should also be above 5,000 units in the final data. Expect Wii hardware sales to fall into the 14,000 to 19,000 unit range for the week.
PS3 Software - ACE: R debuted similar to the last big PS2 title in the series. Additionally, the 189,000 debut for ACE: R should prevent PS3 from dropping off in the typical 20-40% way seen after Obon. Otherwise, PS3 had a quiet week and this looks the last major software push for a few weeks. Sengoku Basara 3 should continue dropping for a few weeks - but Capcom will continue to sell 5,000 or more units on PS3 for another three weeks or so. In the final data, Powerful Pro Yakyuu should also be above 5,000 units for the PS3. Expect PS3 hardware sales to fall into the 22,000 to 27,000 unit range for the week.
X360 Software - No X360 games charted this week. Expect X360 hardware sales to fall into the 3,500 to 5,000 unit range for the week.
PS2 Software - Konami continues to benefit from milking the PS2 in developed markets with its baseball and soccer games. Expect PS2 hardware sales to remain in the 1,200 to 1,800 unit range for the week.
PSP Software - The PSP had a quiet week. Sega's Project Diva 2 is stabilizing a bit, but will probably drop off the preliminary top twenty over the next couple of weeks. Tales of Phantasia fell a good bit again but should drop slower from now on. Pro Yakyuu is doing fairly well again on PSP, and should continue to sell slowly for a long time. Monster Hunter Portable 2G should also be over 5,000 units in the final data. Expect PSP hardware sales to fall into the 25,000 to 30,000 unit range for the week.
DS Software - Inazuma Eleven 3 is still selling pretty well on a weekly basis and now stands at over 780,000 units through eight weeks. Nintendo's Eigoroko game (Art Academy) is looking more and more like a long term seller. Opening sales were 22,000, sales this week - two months later - are 10,000 units. The game might end up selling 300,000 or so which would be remarkable from a 22,000 week one. Fire Emblem, Friend Collection, Harvest Moon, and Taiko are all showing pretty good legs still, despite dropping off substantially from last week. Tetris Party, NSMB DS, and Pokemon Heart Gold / Soul Silver should all be over 5,000 units for the week as well. Expect DS hardware sales to fall into the 35,000 to 41,000 unit range for the week.
Contact Vgchartz at jmazel@vgchartz.com
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PS3 will sell over 30k this week.
ACE:R is finally out and it seems I need to go ahead and order my copy!
I bet the preview is off once again with ACE: R, it did better than 189k.
Wii party will hit 1M in about 3 to 4 weeks, will be a big hit in the west it seems, I will pre-order mine soon.
Wii Party will never cease to amaze me.
With a lower than expected (for me) Obon for 360 I'm guessing 360 is more or less back to pre-360s sales levels.
PS3 and Wii must be getting close to even in terms of number of weeks at #1 (for home consoles) in Japan in 2010. Though I do recall Wii spending a large number of weeks above PS3 in the first half of 2010.
why no one saw this?
ot: 20k >>>>> wii again?
damn this sucks
