Japan '08: PS3 Software Sales up 75%; DS Dominates

Nintendo and their handheld dominate Japan's 2008 software sales, but the PlayStation 3 experiences a healthy increase.

In Famitsu's end of 2008 numbers, they reveal that 47 of the top 100 best selling games in Japan are Nintendo DS titles.

Nintendo's handheld dominates in software sales, double the sales of its closest competition; the Nintendo Wii. This is despite software sales being down by 28% for the handheld, reflecting the shrinkage of Japan's video games market.

The rest of the chart is made up by fifteen Wii titles, fifteen PSP (which tops with Capcom's Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G), twelve PlayStation 2, and ten PlayStation 3.

The PlayStation 3 experienced the largest software sales growth, with a 75% increase over 2007; spearheaded by Metal Gear Solid 4. Still, this is all relative, since the console's still lagging behind the leaders.

The Xbox 360 has one entry in the top 100: Tales of Vesperia at number 82, selling 161,070 for Microsoft's console.

The performance of Nintendo's first party games on the Wii and DS has resulted in the company leading the top publishers list by quite some margin, even despite a drop over 2007.

You can find the top 20 software sales below, or follow this link to the translated top 100. In addition, find total platform software sales, the top 5 publishers, and total 2008 hardware sales as reported by Famitsu.

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TOP 20 SOFTWARE TITLES

1. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (Capcom) 2,452,111

2. [NDS] Pokemon Platinum (Pokemon) 2,187,337

3. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) 2,149,131

4. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) 2,003,315

5. [WII] Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo) 1,747,113

6. [NDS] Rhythm Heaven (Nintendo) 1,350,671

7. [NDS] Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (Square Enix) 1,176,082

8. [WII] Animal Crossing: City Folk (Nintendo) 895,302

9. [NDS] Kirby Super Star Ultra (Nintendo) 855,427

10. [WII] Wii Sports (Nintendo) 841,736

11. [PS3] Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami) 686,254

12. [PSP] Dissidia: Final Fantasy (Square Enix) 660,262

13. [NDS] Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia (Pokemon) 636,777

14. [PSP] Phantasy Star Portable (Sega) 633,954

15. [NDS] Professor Layton and the Last Time Travel (Level 5) 628,143

16. [NDS] Mario Kart DS (Nintendo) 621,890

17. [WII] Wii Play (Nintendo) 602,625

18. [NDS] Mario Party DS (Nintendo) 599,621

19. [NDS] Wagamama Fashion: Girl's Mode (Nintendo) 549,348

20. [PS2] Super Robot Taisen Z (Bandai Namco) 480,093

SOFTWARE SALES - 2008 (2007 in brackets)

Nintendo DS - 28,260,498 (39,130,595)

PSP - 9,745,758 (6,750,169)

Nintendo Wii - 13,802,220 (11,665,679)

PlayStation 3 - 5,155,082 (2,951,390)

PlayStation 2 - 7,111,971 (13,262,872)

Xbox 360 - 1,770,034 (1,480,551)

TOP 5 PUBLISHERS - 2008 (2007 in brackets)

Nintendo - 19,100,000 (23,520,000)

Bandai Namco - 8,550,000 (7,580,000)

Capcom - 5,340,000 (7,500,000)

Konami - 5,040,000 (5,560,000)

Square Enix - 4,040,000 (4,910,000)

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HARDWARE SALES - 2008

Nintendo DS - 4,029,804

PSP - 3,543,171

Nintendo Wii - 2,908,342

PlayStation 3 - 991,303

PlayStation 2 - 480,664

Xbox 360 - 317,859