Japanese PS3 sales rocket, Nintendo slows
updated 04:15 pm EDT, Fri August 3, 2007
PS3 sales up in Japan
The research group Media Create is reporting that sales of the Sony PlayStation 3 more than doubled in Japan last week, while Nintendo's own hardware sales fell slightly. Whereas the PS3 sold just 12,000 units in the week ending July 22nd, that number shot up to 28,829 by July 29th, a badly-needed morale boost for a company which recently declared losses of $245 million in large part due to poor sales of the console. Some 710,000 PS3s were sold worldwide in the last quarter, a number dwarfed by units from rivals Nintendo and Microsoft.
By comparison, Nintendo's DS handheld and Wii console sold 150,000 and 77,000 units in Japan last week, numbers still representing a sales slump. Microsoft's Xbox 360 does continue to remain a Western phenomenon though, with regional sales of less than 4,000 units in the same period. Sony's PSP handheld jumped from 32,000 to 35,000 units.
No reason for the PS3's resurgence has been given, but the number-two selling game in Japan was "Hot Shots Golf 5," a PS3 exclusive that beat out many (but not all) Nintendo titles. Leading the charts was Nintendo's "Mario Party 8." [via Gamesindustry]
