According to a report from the Bloomberg news agency, the Nintendo Wii outsold Sony’s PlayStation 3 by three-to-one in August in Japan, with Microsoft’s Xbox trailing in third place. The agency, however, does not state where exactly it gets its figures.
Nintendo sold 245,653 Wiis in August, Sony shifted 81,541 PS3s, while Microsoft only sold a paltry in comparison 11,288 Xbox 360 consoles.
The sales ratio of Wiis to PS3s was four-to-one in July and and six-to-one in May and June.
Shares in Nintendo fell 1.7 percent to 52,800 yen on the Osaka Securities Exchange today, while Sony gained 0.4 percent to 5,600 yen.
Here are the Japanese hardware sales figures since November 2006 in full, stats fans!
Nintendo sold 245,653 Wiis in August, Sony shifted 81,541 PS3s, while Microsoft only sold a paltry in comparison 11,288 Xbox 360 consoles.
The sales ratio of Wiis to PS3s was four-to-one in July and and six-to-one in May and June.
Shares in Nintendo fell 1.7 percent to 52,800 yen on the Osaka Securities Exchange today, while Sony gained 0.4 percent to 5,600 yen.
Here are the Japanese hardware sales figures since November 2006 in full, stats fans!
| - | Wii | PS3 | Xbox 360 |
| Before November | 168,898 | ||
| November | 169,082 | 21,771 | |
| December | 989,118 | 297,634 | 99,798 |
| January | 405,423 | 147,519 | 43,700 |
| February | 296,338 | 85,812 | 18,629 |
| March | 262,754 | 112,027 | 14,444 |
| April | 287,722 | 71,247 | 17,094 |
| May | 251,794 | 45,321 | 11,082 |
| June | 270,974 | 41,628 | 17,616 |
| July | 396,752 | 91,987 | 17,970 |
| August | 245,653 | 81,541 | 11,288 |
| Total | 3,406,528 | 1,143,798 | 442,290 |
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Comments
Hypnotoad 4 Sep 2007 01:52
1/4
Well, at least it's all all-time low :)
Crisko 4 Sep 2007 02:50
2/4
And Microsoft still try and force-feed the 360 to the Japanese market.
Can't really blame Microsoft. They've pulled out all the stops and the 360 is a great machine. The Japanese are just so ignorant when it comes to foreign technologies, thinking they could never be better than their own. Used to be true but not anymore and certainly not the case with the video game market since Microsoft have come in .
Can't really blame Microsoft. They've pulled out all the stops and the 360 is a great machine. The Japanese are just so ignorant when it comes to foreign technologies, thinking they could never be better than their own. Used to be true but not anymore and certainly not the case with the video game market since Microsoft have come in .
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NiktheGreek 4 Sep 2007 08:36
3/4
There probably is some element of the Japanese game-buying public which isn't up for the idea of a foreign console, no matter how good. However, I'd say that the major problem the Xbox 360 (and the Xbox before it) has is that the games tend to cater to the tastes of the American buying public. Lots of excellent FPS games, lots of sports and racing games that focus on realism, and some of those fun "sandbox" adventures in the Grand Theft Auto mould. With the odd exception (Gran Turismo and the Winning Eleven series do good business), Japanese players are tending to gravitate towards RPGs, cutesy action games and the various "Training" games doing the rounds.
It's not wholly Microsoft's fault - they have definitely tried to put some weight behind securing good exclusives that will appeal to the Japanese market (in particular, Tecmo's games and Sega's efforts on the original Xbox). Unfortunately for them, both Xbox systems have found their greatest success in the US, and that only perpetuates the problem because developers tend to go where the money is.
It's not wholly Microsoft's fault - they have definitely tried to put some weight behind securing good exclusives that will appeal to the Japanese market (in particular, Tecmo's games and Sega's efforts on the original Xbox). Unfortunately for them, both Xbox systems have found their greatest success in the US, and that only perpetuates the problem because developers tend to go where the money is.
Crisko 4 Sep 2007 15:50
4/4
NiktheGreek wrote:
It's not wholly Microsoft's fault - they have definitely tried to put some weight behind securing good exclusives that will appeal to the Japanese market (in particular, Tecmo's games and Sega's efforts on the original Xbox).
They have a fairly substantial library of "typical Japanese" games out on the XBox and X360 don't they? The sort of ones that don't make it over here like "Super Doggy Adventure: Cloud Land" etc...