Japanese Holiday Sales Pt. 1: Handheld Hardware Domination
The tail end of April and first week of May are so littered with national holidays in Japan, most folks take the whole week — or dang near it — off work or school. This means good things (read: money) for entertainment industries such as the gaming biz and movie biz, naturally. Shown below are Japan’s hardware sales for April 25 through May 1, which show every single current system getting a sales boost. Well… all except for the PSPgo, which had the one and only decrease.
PSP: 76,974 (last week: 49,162)
3DS: 28,413 (last week: 23,038)
PS3: 23,954 (last week: 19,033)
Wii: 10,889 (last week: 7,866)
DSi LL: 9,235 (last week: 7,064)
DSi: 7,584 (last week: 6,214)
X360: 4,082 (last week: 1,891)
PS2: 1,582 (last week: 1,163)
DS Lite: 319 (last week: 283)
PSP go: 251 (last week: 265)
Check out the Xbox 360 selling more than double last week. Still not a lot but hey, what a jump. The PSP, meanwhile, continues to knock stuff over and casually ask “What?” You might remember the last sales report, which saw it doubling the sales of the second-place system with room to spare. This week, the 6-year-old platform’s sales were more than 250 percent of the 3DS’s.
Notable releases on the system, such as Final Promise Story and Patapon 3, were presumably big parts of the PSP’s huge sales.
Stay tuned for more.
8 Responses to “Japanese Holiday Sales Pt. 1: Handheld Hardware Domination”
The only thing I can think of that could make Xbox sales jump would be the fact that PSN is down and some people fled to get their online fix. I can’t say I don’t blame them. That could also explain part of the reason PSP sales have jumped.
Na I don’t think so; it was probably just a random spike. The Japanese are much more into RPGs which can be easily played offline, unlike us most of us Westerners who constantly rely on the internet for FPS etc.
The thing that always amazes me is that the PS2 sold over 1000 units last week. There are people in Japan who haven’t bought a PS2 yet???? Its been out for 11 years, even the Slim’s been out for 7 years. You would think that Japan, of all places, would have had their fill.
It comes down to lifestyle, largely. Like you mentioned the system is 11 years old, so a child could have been born 10 years ago and now…is starting to play more and more games and wants something on the big TV instead of just his DS (if he has one, which isn’t a sure thing even in Japan). So the parents, not wanting to spend a whole lot of money, go out and buy a TV console that is both kiiiind of recent and not too expensive. Boom, PS2.
It’s way cheaper than the PS3 or even the Wii here, and there’s a huge library of games for it, a lot of which can be bought cheaply. Best thing is, there are lots of games for the kid and lots of games for dad, including some the country’s most popular franchises like Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Monster Hunter, and Yakuza — all available for real cheap, or at least in comparison to newer games.
Then take the poor college kids that had to sell a bunch of stuff to pay the rent (I think back to me having to eBay my copy of Suikoden II to pay my rent when I was in college ;_; ). Maybe once they get out of school and get a job, they’ve got some more free time and more money to spend so they buy back some stuff they’d once loved or missed out on.
Or perhaps the foreign folks who don’t bring a whole lot of baggage into the country (because that’s a pain) when they move here, but then find themselves wanting to play some games AND be able to watch Japanese DVDs. Boom, PS2 again. Cheap, can play Region 2 DVDs, and so many games to choose from.
Or the sheltered kid whose parents did let him play video games, now out on his own but only has a few dollars with which to game…PS2!
I can definitely see a couple thousand scenarios like this playing out each week ^_^
It’s just hard for us to imagine them sometimes because they aren’t OUR situation.
Wow, japanese people love their handhelds. Then again if I had a handheld I would love it too
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You gotta get a PSP bro! So much to love!
Yeah I know Heath! Your welcome to buy me one
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I’m thinking about it, I’m thinking….