The Japan Preview: 8/29 Edition (Good Week for PSP SW)
by Jacob Mazel, posted on 29 August 2010 / 3,393 Views
Summary & A Look Ahead:
Capcom released a spinoff in the Monster Hunter series, MonHun Nikki, this week. The game opened to strong sales in Japan, besting all other games available for purchase by at least 3:1. There was also a bundle of the game with PSP, so overall sales should be a bit above the software figure below which does not include the units sold with hardware bundle. Namco-Bandai also released a new Ace Combat for the PSP. Sales were fairly strong, topping 70,000 units. Outside of PSP though it was a quiet week for new releases.
Nintendo's Wii Party also sold over 50,000 units for the week - but no other titles did. ACE: R released last week for the PS3 but saw a massive drop off from week one to week two. The game fell to roughly 1/8 the sales of week one - putting it well under 50,000 in week two despite a 200k+ opening. Even the mighty DS didn't see any titles top 10,000 units in the preliminary data, although Inazuma Eleven 3 should be at 10,000 - 15,000 units in the final data.
Preorder growth for Pokemon Black / White is slowing now, but is still massive. Next week, preorders should top 1.5m units for th game. Monster Hunter Portable 3 preorders are still rising steadily as well. Next week they will top 400,000 units even though the game lacks a release date. No other games have alot of preorders. None of Sony's Move titles, Nintendo's platformers (Kirby, DKC), or any X360 releases are in the top twenty. Gran Turismo 5 does have nearly 65,000 preorders now. Still, major titles should begin to rise steadily in the coming weeks once they get release dates.
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 29, 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 - With the July software push (Wii Party, Sengoku Basara 3, and DQM: Battle Road Victory) slowing down for Wii, Nintendo and third parties will need to release some big new titles to keep interest in Wii strong through January 2011. Metroid: Other M and Deca Sports 3 are coming in September and could do 30,000 - 50,000 units week one but otherwise the Wii lineup is quiet until games presumed to be 2010 releases, like Inazuma Eleven, Donkey Kong Country Returns and Kirtby's Epic Yarn get release dates. For now, Wii Party is holding the fort rather well, with sales at 850,000 in eight weeks. By the end of September the game will join Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wii Fit, Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit Plus, Mario Kart Wii, Super Mario Galaxy, Monster Hunter 3, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Mario Party 8, Animal Crossing: City Folk, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl to become the 13th million seller on Wii in Japan. For the week, Mario Kart Wii, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Dragon Quest Monsters: Battle Road Victory and Wii Fit Plus should all top 5,000 units as well in the final data. Expect Wii hardware sales to remain in the 15,000 to 18,000 unit range for the week.
PS3 Software - Another Century's Episode: R dropped very quickly from its opening week and is no longer a lock to top 300,000 units in Japan. Capcom's Sengoku Basara 3 on the other hand has decent legs and will likely reach 400,000 units on PS3. So far only 11 games have topped 400,000 units on PS3 in Japan, so reaching that milestone on the system is about as rare as reaching 1,000,000 on Wii (twelve games have reached 1,000,000 units on Wii as was stated above). Chou Jigen had a pretty good hold in its second week, and Powerful Pro continues to sell slowly over a long period for Sony's system. Expect PS3 hardware sales to fall into the 16,000 to 20,000 unit range for the week with no major software to push the system this week.
X360 Software - No games charted in the preliminary data. Expect X360 hardware sales to fall into the 2,500 to 4,500 unit range as the lift from the X360 Slim hardware continues to slowly wear off to pre-lift numbers.
PS2 Software - Konami's soccer games continue to slow only very slowly on PS2. The latest edition sold another 3,000 units on the ancient system this week. Expect PS2 hardware sales to remain in the 1,000 to 2,000 unit range for the week.
PSP Software - With hardware bundles included, Capcom's Monster Hunter spinoff likely sold about 275,000 units this week. Ace Combat opened roughly as strongly as the last title, Ace Combat 6 on the X360 and slightly better than the previous Ace Combat on PSP. Some sports, niche, and RPG titles continue to sell fairly well on the PSP, but right now the system looks like it is slowing down except for the occasional major title that releases which most of the base likes. It is really just five publishers who still see relevant sales on PSP besides Sony - Square-Enix, Konami, Capcom, Namco-Bandai, and Sega. Fortunately for Sony, as long as those publishers can keep making money on PSP, there is no reason to give up on the 15m PSP base in Japan. Expect PSP hardware sales to rise into the 30,000 to 40,000 unit range for the week.
DS Software - What was likely the top DS game for the week, Inazuma Eleven 3, didn't chart in the preliminary data, even though sales probably reached 10,000 - 15,000 units. Overall, DS had a slow week for software, with only four games in the preliminary data topping 5,000 units. In addition to the four titles above, Art Academy, Harvest Moon, New Super Mario Bros. DS, Tetris Party Premium, and Inazuma Eleven 3 should also top 5,000 units for the week on DS. Expect DS hardware sales to fall into the 38,000 to 44,000 unit range for the week - and remain roughly at 40,000 per week until the 3DS gets a hard release date.
Contact VGChartz at jmazel@vgchartz.com
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