PSP Dominates Japanese Hardware Sales In March

Data from market research firm and Famitsu magazine publisher Enterbrain has suggested that the PSP was the best selling console in Japan during March. Already strong sales were boosted by the recent release of smash hit Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G - which also became the best selling software title of the month. According to Enterbrain’s figures, as translated by news agency Reuters, a total of 415,415 PSP consoles were sold during the last month. Data from rival research firm Media Create suggests that 129,986 units were sold last week alone, thanks to the launch of Capcom’s Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G and a new related hardware bundle. Sales of the PSP, Wii and Nintendo DS have remained close in Japan for the majority of the year so far. But despite some recent improvements software sales on the PSP still remain very much lower than would normally be expected from its strong hardware sales. This is despite breakout success for titles such as Monster Hunter and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. The second strongest selling console during March was the Wii, with 265,542 unit sold. With PlayStation 3 sales at 81,579 units, this meant the Wii outsold its nearest home console rival by a factor of 3:1, slightly down on February’s ratio of 4:1. The Nintendo DS was pushed into third place, with the PSP outselling it all month for the first time in six months. Its total of 255,124 units was only slightly behind the Wii, but the Xbox 360 languished far behind in last place with just 13,127 units sold.