Namco Bandai Took 18% Share Of Japanese Market During 2011 First-Half

Namco Bandai was the top selling video game publisher in Japan during the first half of the 2011 fiscal year, according to media reports. Shared sales information from Enterbrain's Famitsu Game Hakusho publication, and as reported by Andriasang, shows that the Tales of Xillia publisher saw revenue of ¥17.8 billion ($234.6 million) for the first half, giving it an 18 percent share of the overall market. This compares to the same period last year, when the company placed fourth with ¥11.8 billion ($155.5 million) in sales. Nintendo followed behind Namco Bandai, with ¥14.9 billion ($196.4 million) in revenue for the 2011 fiscal first half -- down from ¥21.5 billion ($283.3 million) year-on-year. Following Namco Bandai and Nintendo, the top list sees, in descending order, Konami, Capcom, Square Enix, Sega, Level-5, Tecmo Koei, Sony, Pokemon, Atlus, From Software, Imageepoch, Marvelous AQL, D3 Publisher, Electronic Arts, Idea Factory, Gust, Spike and Kadokawa Shoten. As for software units sold, Nintendo topped that particular chart, with over 3 million sales. Although the data from Famitsu did not give specific figures, it did note that Namco Bandai came in second, with 94,000 sales under Nintendo's total.