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Japanese Hardware: Wii Sales Quadruple On Monster Hunter 3 Launch

A few weeks after the Square Enix RPG Dragon Quest IX drove Nintendo DSi sales through the roof in Japan, another third-party game, Capcom's Monster Hunter 3, helped quadruple weekly Wii sales.

Kris Graft, Contributor

August 7, 2009

1 Min Read
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A few weeks after the Square Enix RPG Dragon Quest IX drove Nintendo DSi sales through the roof in Japan, another third-party game, Capcom's Monster Hunter 3, helped quadruple weekly Wii sales, tracking firm Media Create said Friday. Japanese sales of the Wii for the week ended August 2 were 95,357, up from about 24,000 units the week prior. Capcom's Monster Hunter franchise is hugely popular in Japan, and previously appeared on PlayStation 2 and PSP. Monster Hunter 3 is the first time the franchise has come to a Nintendo console, and Nintendo appears to be reaping the benefits. Capcom's website says the Monster Hunter franchise has sold 9.5 million units in total. Monster Hunter 3 sold over 520,000 units in just two days. DSi sales dropped week-on-week to 73,710 from 80,362. While weekly DSi sales continue to recede in recent weeks, they're still 57 percent higher than they were compared to the week just prior to Dragon Quest IX's release. Including sales of the DS Lite, total DS sales were 85,737. With the Wii rising to the top of the hardware charts, Sony's PSP dropped to third place for the week with 33,049. PS3, PS2, and Xbox 360 rounded out the charts. The full Japanese game hardware charts for the week ended August 2 are as follows: Wii: 95,357 DSi: 73,710 PSP: 33,049 DS Lite: 12,027 PS3: 8,760 PS2: 3,617 Xbox 360: 3,552

About the Author

Kris Graft

Contributor

Kris Graft is publisher at Game Developer.

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