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The Japan Preview: 6-29 Edition (The Return of DS SW, Tales debuts for Wii)
Posted by: TheSource
30th Jun 2008, Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, 1,391 views
DS software had its best week in six months in Japan according to the preliminary data. Tales of Symphonia debuted to solid numbers as well.
Jacob Mazel
Summary:
The top twenty sellers in the preliminary data saw huge increases compared to the top twenty from last week. Nearly 1 million units of software were sold in the preliminary data, with Tales of Symphonia (Wii) and Derby Stallion DS leading the way by selling roughly 400,000 units combined. After a two week absence, an Xbox 360 title also made it into the top twenty. PSP and PS2 sold more software than PS3 in the preliminary data as both older platforms got fairly significant new titles. Looking at first day sales, it looks like a few of the new titles have already sold through their first shipments, which is a fairly uncommon, but not at all unprecedented occurrence.
Key Points:
- DS had its second best sales week in 2008, trailing only the week ending January 6, 2008 in the preliminary data. The last week that was close to this week was the week ending March 23, 2008.
- Tales of Symphonia will become just the 11th 3rd party game in Japan on this round of consoles (Wii, 360, PS3) to pass lifetime sales of 200,000.
- This is the first week Japan has seen three titles (or more) launch to sales of over 100,000 units since the week ending February 3, 2008 when Super Smash Brothers Brawl (Wii), Devil May Cry 4 (PS3), Tales of Destiny Director’s Cut (PS2), and Liang Palace (PS2) all launched at once.
Understanding the Japanese Preview:
Rather than saying x game for y platform sold between 20,000 and 28,000 units as in the past, from this point forward, the preliminary data will be broken down into charts by platform. Within these charts, there will two additional categories besides the rounded sales figure under ‘sales’. On the left will be ‘low end’ depicting the lowest amount the title likely sold for the week, while to the right will be ‘high end’ depicting the highest amount the title likely sold for the week. As always, this data is preliminary, and therefore, not final, but it is based on a sample. Sales for this report are for the week ending June 29, 2008.
Software by Platform Breakdown:
Wii Software – Tales of Symphonia was the only Wii title in the preliminary data this week. However, since so much software was sold this week it is more likely that Mario Kart Wii sold ~28,000, Wii Fit sold ~30,000, Mario Stadium sold ~25,000, and that older titles like Wii Play and Wii Sports saw a slight boost this week. Regardless, Tales of Symphonia managed to slightly out do the sales of its predecessor in week one, by selling 188,000 units week one. With first day shipments at ~170,000 it seems Namco had to ship another batch of the game to meet demand within the first week. That bodes well for Tales – as it is a fairly rare occurrence. A very quick glance at first day sales/first day shipments from Y-Koron’s reports vs. week one sales shows that Super Smash Brothers Brawl for Wii had a first day shipment of 600k and sold over 800k for week one, and that Powerful Pro Baseball Portable 3 for PSP had a first day shipment of 100k but saw week one sales at nearly 120k . Expect Wii hardware sales to see a small boost from the Tales launch, to 50,000 to 60,000 units for the week.
Preliminary Top Twenty Wii Software
Sales
Low End
High End
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
188,000
169,000
207,000
PS3 Software – Metal Gear Solid 4 was the only PS3 title in the preliminary data this week. Only the ‘limited edition’ version of the game appeared at about 21,000 units. However, the ‘special edition’ version of the game likely sold about as well as the ‘limited edition’ despite being sold out at this retailer. Regardless, drops for Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3 suggest that the game should be in the 25,000 to 40,000 unit sales range despite the irregular supply in this sample last week. Expect PS3 hardware sales to drop to the 10,000 to 25,000 unit range this week.
Preliminary Top Twenty PS3 Software
Sales
Low End
High End
Metal Gear Solid 4 (Limited Edition)
21,000
19,000
23,000
Xbox 360 Software – Xbox 360 had one title in the preliminary data this week. Gundam Operations Troy sold about 26,000 units in its debut. Expect Xbox 360 hardware sales to see a small boost, to the 2,000 to 4,000 unit range.
Preliminary Top Twenty Xbox 360 Software
Sales
Low End
High End
Gundam Operation Troy
26,000
23,000
29,000
PS2 Software – PS2 continues to sell lots of niche software. The latest Panchinko game sold nearly 70,000 units in its debut, while King of Fighters 98’ sold nearly 20,000 units. The two skus of Sengoku Basara X combined to sell over 20,000 units as well. Another title which debuted this week but is difficult to translate into English sold about 11,000 units. Expect PS2 hardware sales to remain in the 5,000 to 9,000 units this week.
Preliminary Top Twenty PS2 Software
Sales
Low End
High End
Hisshou Pachinko Pachislot Series Vol. 12: CR Neon Genesis Evangelion
68,000
61,000
75,000
The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match
18,000
16,000
20,000
Sengoku Basara X
12,000
10,000
14,000
Sengoku Basara X (Limited Edition)
11,000
9,000
13,000
Aria The Origination Erushiero Blue Planet (Limited Edition)
11,000
9,000
13,000
PSP Software – PSP had four of the top twenty titles in the preliminary data this week. The top PSP game for the week was Ken to Mahou to Gakuen Mono which sold 35,000 units. Aside from that, Monster Hunter Portable 2G continues to sell well, as do Powerful Pro Baseball Portable 3, and Super Robot Wars A Portable. All three sold between 15,000 and 20,000 units for the week. Expect PSP hardware sales to remain in the 55,000 to 65,000 unit range for the week.
Preliminary Top Twenty PSP Software
Sales
Low End
High End
Ken to Mahou to Gakuen Mono
35,000
31,000
39,000
Monster Hunter Portable 2G
20,000
18,000
22,000
Powerful Pro Baseball Portable 3
18,000
16,000
22,000
Super Robot Wars A Portable
17,000
15,000
19,000
DS Software – DS software had its second biggest week of 2008, with almost 500,000 units of software sold according to the preliminary data. Derby Stallion DS sold over 220,000 units in its debut, making it another solid entry into the Derby Stallion franchise. The new Band Brothers game sold over 100,000 units as well. Aside from these big new titles, six other DS titles managed to fall in the 15,000 to 40,000 unit range. With the top twenty software sales elevated this week, none of the DS titles in the preliminary data last week were present this week. Also worth noting is that DS remains capable of moving serious amounts of software even without major titles from Nintendo to push things along. Expect DS hardware sales to see a boost this week, to the 35,000 to 50,000 unit range.
Preliminary Top Twenty DS Software
Sales
Low End
High End
Derby Stallion DS
222,000
200,000
244,000
Daigasso! Band Brothers DX
105,000
94,000
116,000
Wolf and spices and I Jolo year (Limited Edition)
38,000
34,000
42,000
Bleach: the Third Phantom
31,000
28,000
34,000
Taken Do! Life in This Desert Island
28,000
25,000
31,000
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna Vol. 1: Tatari
25,000
22,000
28,000
Disgaea: the Prince of Dark world and Red Moon
24,000
22,000
26,000
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kizuna Vol. 1: Tatari (Limited Edition)
19,000
17,000
21,000
