Japanese Hardware: Sales Drop Across The Board

Media Create's Japanese Hardware Charts (11th - 17th January 2010) makes a depressing read, as week-on-week sales are down for every platform, with some – like the PS3 and DSi – dropping significantly. Despite the consumer apathy, the Wii and the PSP have control of the week's respective console and handheld chart.

Home Console
Wii: 57,349 (76,772)
PS3: 35,156 (61,591)
360: 4,622 (5,461)
PS2: 2,580 (3,092)

Handheld
PSP: 71,186 (145,682)
DSi LL: 30,418 (45,221)
DSi: 27,292 (50,178)
DS: Lite: 6,574 (10,067)
PSP Go: 2,027 (2,841)

(Previous week's unit sales in brackets for comparison)

Between the two lists, the PSP sold the most units, but it wouldn't be unkind to simply say the PSP was the platform that dropped in sales the least, thanks to the presence of Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep. On the home console side, New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles helped Nintendo's white box take the lead.

In the DS family, the Lite dropped under the sub-10,000 units level to 6,574 this week. Nintendo recently announced its continuing commitment to the original DS revamp, but we wonder if the numbers will force the company to think otherwise.

It's been a strange week for Japanese sales all-round, so perhaps the Lite will come back next week. The PSP Go on the other hand, may not have the same fortune.