Japanese Hardware: DS Well Ahead In Initial 2009 Data

Following the first weekly software chart of 2009 in Japan, hardware data for the region shows the Nintendo DS format is still comfortably ahead of its rivals. Combined sales of the DSi and DS Lite models were down by 14,000 units, but still dominated the market with a total of 230,678. With Dissidia: Final Fantasy back at number one, the PSP saw a significant boost this week, up 38,000 units to 157,088. With sales falling by 15,000 units to 119,965, the Wii slipped back into third place, behind Sony’s portable. Despite a large drop in second week sales for White Knight Chronicles, the PlayStation 3 saw an increase in sales of over 14,500 units to 60,654. By the narrowest of margins (the week’s data covers December 29th to January 4th), this just tipped the console’s 2008 total in Japan to over 1 million units sold. The PlayStation 3’s lifetime total in the country now stands at over 2.5 million units. Although for the second week running there are no Xbox 360 titles in the software top 50, the console still saw an increase in sales, up 7,000 units to 19,964. PlayStation 2 sales also rose by 2,000 units to 10,404. Overall in the top 50, there were 24 titles for the Nintendo DS, 14 for the Wii, seven for the PSP, four for the PlayStation 3, one for the PlayStation 2, and none for the Xbox 360.