Slashdot Mirror
DS Dominates Japanese PSP Sales 3:1
Just on the heels of the good news for PSP Slim sales numbers comes an analysis by a Japanese business firm essentially saying that the PSP's competitor, the DS, is single-handedly driving the Japanese gaming market. "The DS, which Enterbrain says sold 3.478 million units (including both DS and DS Lite) in the fiscal first half, outsold Sony's PSP, at 1.07 million units, about three to one. Enterbrain added that console sales, encompassing Wii and PlayStation 3, also bolstered the market, which expanded by 33.5 percent to ¥138.3 billion ($1.2 billion), while software sales were also up 12.8 percent to ¥154.5 billion ($1.34 billion). Reuters cited the same Enterbrain report when it noted that in April through September, Wii outsold the PlayStation 3 by more than four to one in Japan, with 1.6 Wii units sold versus 385,492 PS3s."
I just got back from a week-long trip to Tokyo, and I can say first-hand that the DS is everywhere there. In the time I spent riding subways and trains in the city, I must have seen 50 DS's in use by Tokyo residents. It was rare to get on a train and not see someone using a DS. The variety of titles available for the platform is also staggeringly wide compared to what we have in North America. Some of the more interesting titles I saw: - an interactive wine appreciation guide called "Sommelier DS", as well as an equivalent title for sake - numerous training titles for kanji - numerous training titles for english It's no wonder the DS is selling well in Japan, with the breadth of available Japanese titles it's a viable purchase for anyone who speaks Japanese, young or old, gamer or non-gamer.