Japanese Hardware: Yakuza 3 Helps PlayStation 3 Sales Beat DSi, PSP

The PlayStation 3's getting its own chance to shine on the Japanese hardware charts after last week's Xbox success -- thanks to Sega's Yakuza 3, it more than doubled its sales and beat the Nintendo DSi (but not Nintendo DS sales overall). Last week, the Xbox 360 enjoyed a boost in sales from the release of Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope. This week, PS3 sales more than doubled to 36,513. It has Sega’s Yakuza 3 to thank for its jump in sales, with the game selling 372,000 units in its first week in the software sales chart. PS3's performance eclipsed even the Nintendo DSi – which fell by 6,000 units to 35,827. Technically, though, the DS was still the best selling hardware platform of the week, with DS Lite sales of 11,774 making for a combined total of 47,601 units. Thanks primarily to the release of Koei’s Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce, PSP sales also rose this week, up 6,000 units to 35,588. Wii sales also increased, but by just less than 1,000 units to 17,876. Despite its success last week, the Xbox 360 lost almost all of its previous gains, with sales falling by 13,500 units to 11,795. PlayStation 2 sales remained static at 5,099 units. Looking at the overall software top 50, the PS3’s hardware success can be seen to be due almost entirely to Yakuza 3, with only two other titles in the chart. By comparison the Xbox 360 has a record four games in the top 50, most placed higher than their PS3 rivals. Overall in the software top 50 there were 19 titles for the Nintendo DS, 11 for the PSP, seven for the Wii, six for the PlayStation 2, four for the Xbox 360 and three for the PlayStation 3.