Week 11 - 17 June 2007
Last week has been very unusual for the Japanese market for three reasons. One, you need (a lot) more training. Two, Xbox is seeing double vision. Three, is that a PS3 game that I see?
Unusual Suspect 1
We all know training softwares in Japan are immensely popular for various reasons. Last week was no different, except that we have not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 training software in the top 10. That's 40% of the top 10 solely for training games. I mean, these games don't tell a story. They are solely there to improve your memory or eyesight or English. Hell, they even have the word "training" written all over the box.
Brain Training (15,405) and More Brain Training (24,901) are regulars on the list; Eye Training that was released three weeks ago is back at ichiban last week (63,439); while English Training moved 15,855 units last week. For a game that was released in 2005 to be still in the top 50 after two years is hard enough, yet we have TWO such games in the top 10.
Benefiting from all these was Professor Layton. Primarily a puzzle game, it jumped 6 places to finish the week in 11th.
What is with the Japanese?
Unusual Suspect 2
Now we all know the Xbox 360 is all about Halo in the rest of the world, but in Japan, this machine is all about Blue Dragon, the RPG game with Goku-look-alikes. But now, it seems like the Japanese will have one more reason to buy an Xbox. Eternal Sonata (better know as Trusty Bell in this part of the world) debuted at number 2, shipping 49,334 units. That's the best Xbox game since Blue Dragon late last year.
But there was something else on the chart that makes last week rather unusual. At 40th was Dead Rising Platinum Collection on Xbox. That makes not 1, but 2 Xbox games in the top 50 in the same week! When was the last time that happened? Like never.
It was almost worth celebrating at Redmond. Bill Gates probably went, "Oh, look. We have TWO games in the top 50 in Japan! Drinks are on me!"
Unusual Suspect 3
It was a long time since a PS3 game makes it anywhere close to number one. The last one to make it was Gundam Muso topping the chart back when dinosaurs were still ruling the Earth. Last week, a ninja made it to third place. It just couldn't poke a knife at the eye or kill helpless little kids on an adventure.
Ninja Guardian Sigma settled in third place with 46,307 stealthily left the stores. Did it sell more PS3? Not particularly. It's still selling less than the PS2.
Best selling games for each platform (that is on the chart) this week
DS - Practice by Observing: DS Observation Training
Xbox 360 - Trusty Bell
PS3 - Ninja Guardian Sigma
Wii - Wii Sports
PS2 - Hisshou Pachinko*Pachi-Slot Kouryoku Series Vol. 10
PSP - Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai 2
Number of titles in the top 50 for each platform this week:
DS - 33
Wii - 7
PSP - 5
Xbox 360 - 2
PS3 - 1
PS2 - 1
Console War VII: Battle for Nippon
The position remains the same, it's the numbers that are different. DSL and Wii continue to lead in its usual numbers. PS3 has increased slightly. But it was the Xbox that gained the most, no doubt due to Trusty Bell and whoever's dream that was. Sales for the Xbox gone up 300% from the week before!
Of course, no one is expecting this trend to last. Any bets on how long it's going to last?
DSL - 118,684
Wii - 65,521
PSP - 33,359
PS2 - 11,974
PS3 - 9,481
Xbox360 - 7,583
Market share this week
DSL vs PSP
78.06% vs 21.94
Wii vs PS3 vs XBox 360
79.34% vs 11.48% vs 9.18%
Source: Media Create
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