PSP Still On Top In Japanese Hardware Charts

Market research firm Media Create has revealed data for weekly hardware sales in Japan for the week ending September 30th, following details of the software top thirty. For the third week in a row the PSP is the best selling console in Japan, following the successful launch of the PSP Slim and Lite version of the hardware. However, sales have dropped considerably from the previous week, down by almost 175,000 units to 102,809. According to Media Create data, total sales for the PSP over the last three weeks now stands at 476,090 units. This figure is difficult to reconcile with Sony’s own assertion that the PSP Slim and Lite has sold 580,000 units in Japan since launch, especially since the Media Create figure also includes sales of the original version of the hardware. The slowing of Nintendo format hardware sales has at least stabilized this week, with Nintendo DS sales up by over 2,000 units to 72,925. Wii sales have continued to fall, although by only a few hundred units this week to 24,143. With four titles in the top fifty, although only one in the top twenty, PlayStation 3 sales have risen by over 2,000 units to 13,105. PlayStation 2 sales have risen by only just over 1,500 units, allowing its successor to overtake it for the first time in many weeks. As expected, the success of Halo 3 in the software charts has seen a related rise in hardware sales for the Xbox 360, although despite a more than threefold rise in sales it has still managed a total of only 5,215 units. Sales of the Game Boy Advance family of consoles fell slightly to 319 units, while the GameCube increased fractionally to 73 units.