Enterbrain: MGS4 Helps PS3 Close Wii Sales Lead In Japan

Though the Wii outsold the Playstation 3 6-to-1 in Japan in May, Sony's console managed to narrow Nintendo's lead in June, bringing that hardware sales ratio down to 1.7-to-1, according to a report from magazine publisher Enterbrain, made available to Reuters. Nintendo sold a total of 235,990 Wii consoles in June, with Sony selling 139,494 PlayStation 3 units and Microsoft trailing at only 10,964 Xbox 360 units sold. PlayStation 3 sales were largely driven by the launch of system-exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4 from Konami, which sold 465,000 units in Japan in its first week on store shelves. As a result, the PS3 enjoyed its highest weekly sales since the console's launch, and was the highest selling console in Japan that week for the first time this year. Despite its strong performance in June, Sony has a long way to go to match Nintendo's sales, as the PlayStation 3 has only sold 12.85 million units worldwide as of March 2008, just half of the Wiis sold since both consoles launched in late 2006. On the handheld side, Sony is faring much better, with 274,131 PlayStation Portable units sold in June in Japan, compared to the Nintendo DS's 195,714 units sold.