Another week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 1/14-1/20
by Candace Savino 
{ Jan 23rd 2008 at 3:00PM }
The Wii continues to flip-flop positions with the PSP, this time ending up on the more favorable side of the coin. Regaining the second place spot with 76,000 units sold, the Wii only dropped 6,000 units from last week's numbers.
Wii software continues to do well, too -- at least concerning "Wii" and "Mario" games. Wii Fit sales in Japan were even greater than DS handheld sales. Super Mario Galaxy also ended up back in the top ten, in part because of consistent sales, and in part because a few DS games lost steam.
Some other Wii games didn't make the top of the charts, like Trauma Center: New Blood (which sold 3,100 copies last week in its debut).
Check out the actual sales numbers and rankings for hardware and software after the break.
Hardware:
- DS: 91,000
- Wii: 76,000
- PSP: 65,000
- PS3: 32,000
- PS2: 13,000
- Xbox 360: 4,400
- Wii Fit (Wii) --- 108,000 (1,114,000)
- Mario & Sonic at the Olympics DS (DS) --- 91,000
- Mario Party DS (DS) --- 38,000 (1,531,000)
- Wii Sports (Wii) --- 31,000 (2,664,000)
- Wii Play (Wii) --- 19,000 (2,139,000)
- Monster Hunter Portable 2 (PSP) --- 18,000 (1,569,000)
- Professor Layton 2 (DS) --- 17,000 (714,000)
- Mario & Sonic at the Olympics (Wii) --- 17,000 (474,000)
- Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) --- 17,000 (844,000)
- Mario Party 8 (Wii) --- 15,000 (1,154,000)
- Mario Kart DS (DS) --- 14,000 (2,796,000)
- Final Fantasy IV (DS) --- 11,000 (559,000)
- School Days LxH (PS2) --- 11,000
- Dragon Quest IV (DS) --- 10,000 (1,150,000)
- Professor Layton (DS) --- 10,000 (813,000)
- New Super Mario Bros. (DS) --- 10,000 (5,0651,000)
- Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS) --- 10,000 (4,564,000)
- Winning Eleven (PS2) --- 9,600 (605,000)
- Unreported
- Rune Factory 2 (DS) --- 8,800 (83,000)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nigeria @ Jan 23rd 2008 3:12PM
What game is at number 19?
I don't usually go for number porn but I am curious to what the secret of number 19 is. I want it, whatever it is.
gevenstaines @ Jan 23rd 2008 3:43PM
wow, mario kart and new mario are still on the chart! everyone should own these games.
Croove55 @ Jan 23rd 2008 4:02PM
I really want to believe that the "Throw the Thing at the Thing" game was a reference to That 70's show.
Kelso: Hey, I have an idea! Let's throw stuff... at other stuff!
Eric: Oh man, Kelso that's perfect; *I* have stuff!
Max Headroom @ Jan 23rd 2008 5:17PM
The Japanese software charts look so different from the US charts. Each week, Nintendo takes 15 or so of the top 20 spots. Often, the Wii is the only new-gen console on the chart, with a new PS3 release occassionally popping up and falling off pretty rapidly.
If Nintendo is dominating software this completely in Japan, is the world wide tie ratio (games to systems) increasing at all? I've seen reports saying that the 360 has a higher tie ratio (6.9:1 compared to Wii's 3-ish:1 I think). But what's the trend? Surely with so many top 20 titles week after week, Wii's ratio must be going up at least a little. Can someone research this or point me in the right direction to do it myself?
Alternatively, at some point, it doesn't even matter how high the tie ratio is if you dominate by a large enough margin in overall system sales. For example, given current data from VGChartz.com, a 1:1 ratio on Wii would be better than a 8:1 on 360 in Japan. 1:1 on Wii would be better than 2.75:1 on PS3 in Japan.
Mr Khan @ Jan 23rd 2008 5:25PM
Remember how much smaller the Japanese console market is, however.
Wii's dominion in Japan makes good for 3rd parties, however, even if their titles aren't doing all that well. Makes it a target they can't afford to ignore, especially for newer, riskier projects