When you normally think of games that Japanese gamers lover, it is the exact opposite of the rest of the world. While Americans love FPS and Sports titles, our Japanese counterparts would rather buy the newest Dragon Quest or Monster Hunter title. Don’t get me wrong, I’m an avid fan of Japanese games and their developers, but there is a world of difference between their taste and the rest of the world’s when it comes down to videogames. There’s nothing wrong with that, however it seems that things are beginning to change and Square Enix, of all companies, is the ‘Captain’ of this vast vessel. Square Enix is leading the way with Call of Duty, which has found its way to over 500,000 homes in Japan with Square Enix proudly bumping their chest along the way.
Square Enix was proud to announce that the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2, both of which they’ve published in the land of the rising sun, have combined to sell over half a million copies, 300K for MW and 200K for MW2, across all three systems combined. Shocking, right? With the rest of the world having laid claim to over 15 million copies of Infinity Ward’s latest FPS, Japan is attempting to catch up, just really slowly.
To celebrate this milestone in Japanese gaming, Square Enix plans to issue a re-release on September 2, and Modern Warfare 2 will also receive a price cut to ¥3,990 (About $45.56 USD) so that even more Japanese gamers will join onboard the COD train before Black Ops hits later this year.
[Source]