Monster Hunter 3 is Japan's best-selling third-party Wii game

by JC Fletcher { Aug 13th 2009 at 1:15PM }

Sinobi posted a list of the top ten third-party games on the Wii in Japan in terms of sales. At the top of the list, based on Enterbrain sales numbers acquired early by Sinobi, sits Capcom's Monster Hunter 3, with 720,000 copies sold.

Despite the best-seller status, we doubt Capcom is pleased with these sales numbers. The publisher famously shipped one million copies of the game, which have yet to sell through. While sales of the hardware bundle have been good, the standalone version of the game sold only 40% of its stock in the first week, and is already being dropped in price in some stores by over half.

[Via Andriasang]

Tags: bundle, capcom, enterbrain, japan, monster-hunter-3, sales

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

eat my face [ wiizer is a party pooper ] @ Aug 13th 2009 1:24PM

this wouldnt have happened if you lived in cambodia

Mr Khan @ Aug 13th 2009 1:26PM

The problem with the sell-through lies in the standalone copies, i think. Like in the story, it's only been at 40% for the standalone, while the bundles are up in the 80s or something, and my guess is that people are still looking for the bundles, and neglecting the standalones, which would explain their price-cut

Tony Montana @ Aug 13th 2009 1:59PM

It's not really a big deal to be honest you have to remember Mario Kart sold about 600 thousand copies in its first week only a little more than Monster Hunter 3's overall sales.

Now Mario Kart stands at around 18 million.

I expect Monster Hunter 3 to sell at least 5 million lifetime and maybe more.

Roto13 @ Aug 13th 2009 2:00PM

If Capcom expected the game to do better than "best selling 3rd party Wii game ever", it's their own fault if they're disappointed.

devilsei @ Aug 13th 2009 2:36PM

While I'm a fan of Monster Hunter, I can't help but laugh at Capcom and say its their fault for trying to make a quick buck off the series by switching from the PS3 to the Wii.

Maybe, when they make four, they'll actually try to update everything instead of porting the engine from the PS2/PSP versions of the game to the Wii.

MRLN, Fountain of Monumental and Beautiful and Otherwise Ineffable Wit and Wisdom @ Aug 13th 2009 2:52PM

They were talking about huge budget cuts which made them switch. I don't know if this was an excuse , but I like giving people the benefit of the doubt.

That said, it's a totally new engine.

devilsei @ Aug 13th 2009 2:59PM

Ahh, I remember them saying that it was expensive to make on the PS3, but considering the install base for both the PS3 and Wii in japan are rather high, it would of been equaled out I bet, specially considering that the PS3's online system is more multiplayer-friendly.

And most I've seen of the game, the graphics don't look all that different, so I assumed it was the same engine, just touched up a bit.

tuunicopapi @ Aug 13th 2009 2:57PM

those KINDA LOW (come on now JC those sales are way better then you think) sales figures mean nothing to me for reason's such as

1) it's UNDOUBTEDLY been pirated. anyone who says "pirating isn't the reason that the sales have been affected" is obviously lying to themselves and others or just plain stupid. if you pirated the game without purchasing it then that's 1 less digit on those sales figure's.

2) it's only been released in japan! heck NA won't be seeing this game hit our sores till march and EU is getting it in Q1 2010. plus its only been 2 weeks. 2 weeks! for Christ's sake give the poor the game a chance!

KaBob799 @ Aug 13th 2009 2:57PM

Sounds like they doing very good...

MRLN, Fountain of Monumental and Beautiful and Otherwise Ineffable Wit and Wisdom @ Aug 13th 2009 3:01PM

When they release it elsewhere without the bundle, it'll probably sell better.

Mabui @ Aug 13th 2009 3:14PM

Games that do well on Wii usually sell for a long period of time - rather then other consoles where the initial blush of sales is it. The biggest issue is convincing retailers to keep your product stocked so sales can continue.

tuunicopapi @ Aug 13th 2009 4:41PM

couldn't have said it better myself. all Nintendo needs to do is bundle it with a black Wii console and it should sell like hot cakes. it would also help sales if they would give consumers a receipt of some kind entitling them to 1000 Nintendo points.

ChromeAlchemist @ Aug 13th 2009 3:17PM

720 grand in it's first few is fine. Considering the fact that this hasn't touched USA or EU yet, that's more than fine in fact. Nintendo say they are pushing for an ad campaign in the west as well, apparently on the same level as Pokemon back in the day.

So that's going to be pretty impressive methinks. About time they got off their asses and advertised something.