PlayStation 3 Re-establishes Itself in Japan

Hardware sales of Sony’s PlayStation 3 improve in Japan, even managing to battle Nintendo’s DS in the Software Charts.

The PlayStation 3 struggled to reach 5,000 weekly units in Japan this October, even lagging behind Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Things weren’t looking good for the console in its home country, but recent developments suggest that the dark clouds might be clearing.

In mid-October, PlayStation 3 hardware sales fell behind the Xbox 360’s 6,690 units sold with only 5,899 trickling off the shelves. Following these lows, three games launched that put a smile on the face of Japanese gamers: Grand Theft Auto 4, LittleBigPlanet, and Gran Turismo Prologue Spec III.

These releases caused a surge in the week ending November 2nd with 39,587 units sold, according to Media Create. In the last two weeks, sales settled at around 18,000 units with new releases Samuraidou 3 (Way of the Samurai 3) and Resistance 2 floating in a sea of Nintendo DS games.

As was found in the UK, LittleBigPlanet sales have crashed, falling from 10th to 21st on the software charts, with only 8,600 copies sold.

Despite its price point and a stash of Japanese friendly RPG games, the Xbox 360 has dropped off once again, selling under 10,000 units. Nonetheless, tomorrows release of Square Enix's The Last Remnant should cause a surge in sales for Microsoft's console.

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SOFTWARE

1. NDS Hoshi no Kirby Ultra Super Deluxe (Nintendo) - 97,449
2. PS3 Samuraidou 3 (Spike) - 81,047
3. NDS Tongari Boushi to Mahou no 365 Nichi (Konami) - 71,914
4. NDS Fushigi no Dungeon Fuurai no Shiren DS 2: Sabaku no Majou (Sega) - 45,327
5. PS3 Resistance 2 (SCE) - 33,584
6. NDS Nishimura Kyoutarou Suspense 2 Shintantei Series: Kanazawa, Hakodate, Gokkan no Kyoukoku - Fukushuu no Kage (Tecmo) - 33,079
7. NDS Ryuusei no Rockman 3: Black Ace (Capcom) - 33,067
8. NDS Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo) - 30,434
9. NDS Wagamama Fashion: Girls Mode (Nintendo) - 29,870
10. NDS Pocket Monsters Platinum (Pokemon Co.) - 26,767

HARDWARE

DSi - 85,327
PSP - 38,153
Wii - 26,787
PlayStation 3 - 17,448
Xbox 360 - 7,983
PlayStation 2 - 5,421
DS Lite - 3,559

Source: Media Create