The Japan Preview: 8/14/11 Edition (Obon, MonHun PSP, 3DS 10k Cut) - News
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 14 August 2011 / 8,199 Views
The Japanese video game market was energized by three potent forces this week: Spinoffs to the most popular franchises in Japan - Pokemon (3DS) and Monster Hunter (PSP), the Obon festival, and the massive 3DS 10,000 Yen price cut which took effect late this week, not just in Japan but globally. Software figures reflect a fairly massive week at Japanese retail on the confluence of these events, particularly on the 3DS side, as all kinds of software that had basically stopped selling at relevant levels has picked strongly with the price cut and holiday bump.
The top 15 games for the week, based on the preliminary data are assembled below:
1) Pokemon Scramble (3DS) - 116,000
2) MonHun Nikki: Poka Poka Ailu Mura G (PSP) - 111,000
3) Rhythm Heaven Wii (Wii) - 94,000
4) Atsumete! Kirby (DS) - 57,000
5) J-League Pro Soccer Club o Tsukurou! 7 Euro Plus (PSP) - 43,000
6) Nintendogs + Cats (3DS) - 40,000
8) Toriko: Gourmet Survival (PSP) - 32,000
8) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS) - 28,000
9) All Kamen Rider: Rider Generation (DS) - 28,000
11) Taiko no Tatsujin Portable DX (PSP) - 21,000
11) Wii Play: Motion (Wii) - 21,000
12) Disney Epic Mickey (Wii) - 18,000
13) Inazuma Eleven Strikers (Wii) - 16,000
15) One Piece Unlimited Cruise SP (3DS) - 15,000
15) Family Fishing (Wii) - 15,000
In addition to the games above, Wii Party (Wii), Pokemon Black / White (DS), Danball Senki (PSP), Wii Sports Resort (Wii), and Devil Survivor 2 (DS) likely will finish amongst the twenty best selling games for the week in the final data.
Before Nintendo announced the 3DS price cut in late July, 3DS was selling 25,000-35,000 units per week. If we take the baseline as 30,000, add in the two weeks of supressed sales after the cut was announced for another 40,000 units, add 80% to the baseline from the 40% 3DS price cut (25,000 Yen to 15,000 Yen), add 40% from Obon to the baseline, and also say, a 15,000 lift from Pokemon, the 3DS hardware math looks like this for this week:
3DS sales = 30,000 + 40,000 + 24,000 + 16,000 + 15,000
The software figures above don't quite support 3DS selling 125,000 units I've just outlined, but the lift still looks pretty substantial. The odds are strong that3DS is going to be near 100,000 units for the week in Japan, the increase should really be pretty similar to PS3 in the week of the Slim launch + price cut vs. the week before the Slim launch + price cut.
With Mon Hun Nikki and Rhythm Heaven also performing quite well this week, Wii and PSP hardware look like they'll be up 20-50% as well, so it was a pretty good for both software and hardware. PS3 and DS look like they'll be up much more modestly, as PS3 software has been quiet for a few weeks now, and much of the DS software purchased this week - Kirby in particular - could be from new 3DS owners. Depending on where 3DS stabilizes after this week, PSP and DS hardware figures should begin to really wind down in Japan, especially as Vita gets more attention from GamesCom in coming weeks.
Following the big hardware and software push this week, Monster Hunter Portable 3G HD Edition looks like it will open at around 150,000 units in late August. Dragon Quest Collection for Wii is further out, but it looks like it perform similarly to MHP3 HD in September.
Contact VGChartz at jmazel@vgchartz.com
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40k for Nintendogs+Cats!? That's fantastic if it's true. Hopefully, some other old titles like Layton picked up as well.
Next week is Nintendo Domination... :)
Maybe wii will be above PS3 and do like 17,500.
nice pokemon.
No ps3 games on the top 15? No wonder wii is catching up
3DS did good, 207K.
Could you remind us the best launch to date (Zelda ?) on 3DS each time a good 3DS game launch occurs ? That would help understand if a 3DS launch is big or not...
and this is with just 2 days after the price cut? nice!
How does immortal's post have so many downvotes tests
I enjoy casual games and I recognise that others enjoy them too
inb4 shitstorm of downvotes?
Nice boost after 3DS price cut, and Nintendogs and Zelda got good boosts from this. I'm sure the Pokemon Spin-off helped its share as well. However, I don't expect any of the 3DS software currently out, nor the new Pokemon game to keep the 3DS high for very much longer without SOMETHING big.
It'd be nice if Nintendogs started gaining extreme momentum from here on out, though. That would certainly help the 3DS a lot.
We want some Xillia numbers! It's the biggest launch of the summer and no mention? :/ What are the preorders so far and what are you expectations for FW?
ghghghgh
well ps3 is about to get some pretty big games including what quite possibly the biggest game of this season, XIllia.
No games for PS3 ends in one or two weeks :)
