Slashdot Mirror
Quantifying the DS Lite's Japanese Dominance
kukyfrope writes "According to the data trackers at Media Create, for the week of May 29th through June 4th the DS Lite sold 135,614 units in Japan, easily beating out the PSP (24,595 units), PS2 (18,513 units) and Xbox 360 (just 1,245 units). New Super Mario Bros. for DS also sold 334,208 units, putting total sales at about 1.2 million, in just 2 weeks. 'From the end of last year up until right now the sales of DS and DS Lite in Japan have been simply explosive. It was unprecedented in the Japanese game [industry] history for there to be that kind of incredible demand for one platform,' said Nintendo President Satoru Iwata."
How did this turn intto a 360 discussion?
M$ only invested about $20 in advertising the system in Japan. Many gamers over there aren't even aware the system exists. Gamers are going to the store to buy an Xbox1 not even knowing there is a 360 out.
In the United States it is still doing well, both in consoles sold and games sold/console. Here is the wrap up of last weeks games sold in the US.
6 Xbox 360 games.
2 Gamecube games.
1 DS game (New Super Mario Brothers, which was #1 on the list).
1 PS2 game, which was dead last at #10 (Kingdom Hearts).
Pointing out how poorly the 360 is doing in Japan is similar to saying MySpace isn't popular with the over 90 years old demographic. The games aren't meant for that demographic, and the marketing isn't targeting it either.