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Japan Half-Year Sales Show Sony Domination

Posted by simoniker on from the tokyo-state-of-mind dept.

Thanks to Polygon for posting the Japanese games industry's half-year console hardware and software stats on their site. They summarize: "Sales of Sony's PlayStation 2 console significantly outpaced all competitors... surprisingly, Square-Enix topped all software publishers by a large margin." As far as Japanese hardware sales go, the GameCube (8.3 percent) and especially Xbox (1.6 percent) are falling ever-further behind the Playstation 2 (58.5 percent.) Regarding software, Square Enix may not have expected Final Fantasy X-2 to sell almost 2 million copies, but it only boosted their already top-selling Japanese output. Nintendo's second place in software may be more due to their handheld output, not including (?) the separately-listed and top-selling Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire for GBA, rather than their GameCube titles (though some GC titles like Animal Crossing have been surprise hits.)

26 comments

  1. Pokemon listed seperate by Mike+Hawk · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I notice Pokemon has a seperate listing in the software category. Is that 1.44 million already included in Nintendo's 3.15 total above? If so, that would seem to show a weakness in Nintendo's lineup outside of Pokemon. If not then all is as expected with Nintendo taking the top spot with a total of 4.59 million.

    I'm not familiar with how Japanese totals are reported, I just found that listing interesting.

    1. Re:Pokemon listed seperate by simoniker · · Score: 1

      Thanks for pointing this out - I've amended the post a little to reflect this. I'm not entirely sure why Pokemon would be listed separately - is it counted as a separate company from Nintendo?

    2. Re:Pokemon listed seperate by Gr33nNight · · Score: 1

      No, Nintendo owns pokemon and all the profits from its various incarnations (BK toys, movies, games) all go to Nintendo. Beats me why they are on a seperate listing though.

    3. Re:Pokemon listed seperate by dammitallgoodnamesgo · · Score: 1

      In Japan at least, Pokemon seems to be administered by "The Pokemon Company" - I'm not sure if that's just a licencing company, or if it's a wholly owned subsidiary and running it that way makes more sense for some reason.

    4. Re:Pokemon listed seperate by BigDork1001 · · Score: 1
      Yep, Nintendo definatly has a weakness outside of Pokemon. That's why Viewtiful Joe is so hard to find in Japan right now.

      --
      "Armed forces abroad are of little value unless there is prudent counsel at home" - Cicero
    5. Re:Pokemon listed seperate by simoniker · · Score: 1

      Actually, turns out that there were only about 30,000 copies of Viewtiful Joe printed, according to some online reports - so the sell-out, although sounding impressive, isn't quite as impressive as it might sound. Still, if it keeps selling out..

    6. Re:Pokemon listed seperate by Gunsmithy · · Score: 1

      Viewtiful Joe has breached 61k as of now, so it's selling awfully well for a niche 2D beat'em up. Heck, this early, and it's already the 23rd beset selling GameCube game in Japan. Plus, it's already beaten Halo. :P

      --
      Kids these days. They don't know the difference between classic, and just plain old.
    7. Re:Pokemon listed seperate by Gunsmithy · · Score: 1

      Pokemon is an empire within itself, so Nintendo seperated it for tax purposes. Some of thos numbers look fairly off from what numbers have been released individually...but eh.

      --
      Kids these days. They don't know the difference between classic, and just plain old.
    8. Re:Pokemon listed seperate by devnull17 · · Score: 1

      The "The Pokemon Company" moniker appears on the new American products, too. I'm not quite sure how the relationship between them and Nintendo is structured, and I'm betting it's somewhat complex.

  2. Any titles coming up by Daetrin · · Score: 1

    that have a chance of pulling Nintendo out of the hole in the console market? Off the top of my head the only one i can thinks of is the upcoming Namco Tales RPG, although i don't keep up on the Japanese side of things as much i would like. Maybe some RPGs combined with leverage from the GameBoy Player will help them out.

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    This Space Intentionally Left Blank
    1. Re:Any titles coming up by Hedonist123 · · Score: 1

      Mario Kart, I think, could be a big hit for them, especially with the inclusion of the ability to hook two gamecubes together and play with 8 players on two screens. I know I'll be buying that. I love Mario Tennis, and they've had plans for a cube version of that, when it comes out it should sell well, though I doubt anyone besides me would be buying a cube just for it. Hed.

      --
      http://goldysmom.blogspot.com
    2. Re:Any titles coming up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Yep, either Mario Kart, or perhaps Viewtiful Joe (assuming they fix some of the design "bugs" in the Japanese release). However, I don't know how many people will be playing 8-player Mario Karn when THE FARKING BROADBAND ADAPTER IS IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND IN THIS COUNTRY.

    3. Re:Any titles coming up by edwdig · · Score: 1

      Need the broadband adapter?

      http://store.nintendo.com

    4. Re:Any titles coming up by Yorrike · · Score: 1
      Maybe some RPGs combined with leverage from the GameBoy Player will help them out.

      Four words. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles.

      --

      Looks can be deceiving. Or CAN they?

    5. Re:Any titles coming up by Daetrin · · Score: 1
      Heh, true, i'd entirely forgotten about that one, although i'm not sure if that's exactly a good sign :) From what little they had availble for play at E3 it seemed a lot like the Seiken Densetsu/Secret of Mana series. If they'd announced a Secret of Mana game and given me that, i would have thought it was great, but illogically, i didn't enjoy it very much because i was hoping for a Final Fantasy game.

      Hopefully either there's more to the game that was apparent at E3, or most people won't have their emotional reaction be as affected by their expectations.

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      This Space Intentionally Left Blank
  3. Re:Are you really surprised about the X box? by Ty · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This actually made me laugh and there's more truth to it than seems. Anyone who knows Japanese culture to any extent knows why the XBOX isn't selling well in Japan. It's a similar reason that SONY/NINTENDO can't break into the huge Korean gaming market.

  4. Re:Are you really surprised about the X box? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought I knew Jap culture but don't know why the incredible difference in sales. Please enlighten me.

  5. Re:Are you really surprised about the X box? by M3wThr33 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Psst. The XBox ain't doing so hot in Korea either. It's doing extremely pitiful. Less than 40,000 sold(two months ago) since release.

    And what is Peter Moore's plan to improve the XBox in the East? Release more American games..
    *sigh*

  6. Slashdot cracks me up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    The same geeks who whine and bitch about the RIAA and a Microsoft monopoly happily bang away on their Sony PS2s, when Sony is a larger and more ruthless monopoly than Microsoft will ever be.

    Losers.

  7. Nintendo vs. Sony by CashCarSTAR · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Nintendo, at this point will always be a bit-player in the console market. That is not necessarly a bad thing, it's just market reality.

    Nobody wants to compete with Nintendo's first party games. They so dominate the system (in reality they dominate all the systems for the most part). No 3rd party games, equals no broad support.

    Nintendo really is the Apple of the video game world business wise. Selling to a small group of people for a good profit.

    On the other hand, I think that the PS2 has it's lead just because it was the first in. More consoles sold=more games=more consoles sold. Sure the games don't look quite as nice, but it's still spectacular enough.

    It'll be interesting to see what happens for the next Generation. If Nintendo jumps on with a competitive All-in-one system, (GC 2, GC and GBA support) Quite frankly, they still could slug it out with Sony.

    1. Re:Nintendo vs. Sony by rizawbone · · Score: 1

      On the other hand, I think that the PS2 has it's lead just because it was the first in. The only problem with your theory is that the Dreamcast was the first next-gen console to the market, and it failed.

    2. Re:Nintendo vs. Sony by mabinogi · · Score: 1

      First well managed console that it's not ridiculously easy to copy the games for.

      --
      Advanced users are users too!
  8. Re:Are you really surprised about the X box? by pmz · · Score: 0

    Anyone who knows Japanese culture to any extent knows why the XBOX isn't selling well in Japan.

    It took me a second to understand "yank tank". I wouldn't be suprised if the best selling games for the XBox are themed after NASCAR, monster trucks, and WWE. Perhaps I should buy stock in that Hulk game...

    --
    Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
  9. Kinda sad: by pmz · · Score: 1

    "...PSone - 3.7 percent
    Xbox - 1.6 percent..."

    BTW, those PSones with the attached LCD and speakers look pretty cool. Perfect for the backseat on a family road trip.

    I was also suprised to see a snap-on battery and LCD for the gamecube at Toys'R'Us, too. Although the advertised play time for the battery wasn't too impressive (it would need a 12V plug for cars).

    --
    Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
    1. Re:Kinda sad: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      those PSones with the attached LCD and speakers look pretty cool. Perfect for the backseat on a family road trip.

      Yeah, until you find out that the disc would skip horribly if a fly landed on the console.