PSP Leads Japanese Hardware In 2008

The PSP has been the best selling hardware platform in Japan for the first half of the fiscal year, from April to September, according to new sales data from Famitsu magazine publisher Enterbrain. The data, which broadly agrees with weekly results collated by Media Create, shows that the Japanese market as a whole shrunk by 21.3 percent during the period, to a total worth of ¥238.8 billion ($2.27bn). This was the first year-to-year interim decline in four years, according to information translated by Reuters. Hardware sales alone fell by 33.5 percent to ¥95.23 billion ($903.7m), with the PSP the biggest seller with a total of 1,583, 731 units and a lifetime figure of 10,157,757 in Japan. The Nintendo DS was just behind with 1,314,919 units sold during the six months and a lifetime figure of 23,484,680. The Wii was the best-selling home console during the period, with sales of 1,105,174 units and a lifetime figure of 6,800,753. It handily beat the other platforms -- PlayStation 3 sold 352,457 in the last six months (lifetime: 2,361,949) and the Xbox 360 just 138,740 units (lifetime: 741,298). In additional data translated by consumer blog Kotaku Mario Kart Wii was revealed to be the best selling title of the period on 1,744,387 units. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G on PSP was second on 1,602,386 units (lifetime: 2,425,651), followed by the just released Pokemon Platinum on DS at 1,481,725 units. Square Enix’s Dragon Quest V on DS was the fourth highest seller on 1,152,229 units, with Wii Fit on 845,238 units (lifetime: 2,607,431) in fifth place.