Big in Japan June 1-7: Kingdom Hearts DS reigns
358/2 Days sells over 100,000 in first full week of release; latest Ace Attorney, Dynasty Warriors games take second, third spots.
While last week's Electronic Entertainment Expo served to whip gamers into a frenzy over highly anticipated titles set to hit the US in the coming months and years, some of those titles were already burning up sales charts in Japan. For the week of June 1-7, Media Create's gaming sales charts were topped by DS titles Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (out this September in the US) and the Phoenix Wright spin-off Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (due by the end of the year).
358/2 Days, the first multiplayer-equipped portable installment in the Final Fantasy-Disney crossover role-playing game series, sold more than 106,000 copies for the week, easily beating all comers. While a distant second, Ace Attorney Investigations' 42,000 sold was enough to put some separation between the courtroom adventure game and the remainder of the field.
Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires for the PlayStation 3 (due out later this month in the US) was the third best-selling game and the best-selling console title, managing to move 27,000 copies. Sales figures for the Xbox 360 edition of the same game were not released as it failed to make the top 10, but it was the best-selling title on Microsoft's console (and the only one to crack the top 50), ranking 17th overall.
While titles like Monster Hunter Freedom Unite for the PSP and Wii Fit maintained their long-standing status as residents in the top 10, the trend of "evergreen" titles was less visible than in weeks past. Of the other eight games in the top 10, none were more than three weeks old.
Japanese hardware sales for the week were unremarkable, with the DSi again ruling the roost with nearly 39,000 sold, followed by the PSP with 29,000 units moved. As is the norm, consoles sold in significantly fewer numbers, with the Wii ruling the living room (17,000 sold), trailed by the PS3 (10,000 sold), and the Xbox 360 bringing up the rear (6,500 sold). If there is consolation for Microsoft, it's that the 360 managed to outsell both the DS Lite and the PlayStation 2.
Week of June 1-7, 2009
Software:
1) Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (DS) - 106,104
2) Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (DS) - 42,065
3) Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires (PS3) - 27,022
4) Arc Rise Fantasia (Wii) - 25,914
5) Sloane to MacHale no Nazo no Story (DS) - 25,545
6) Evangelion: Jo (PSP) - 14,968
7) Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (PSP) - 13,671
8) Half-Minute Hero (PSP) - 9,348
9) Wii Fit (Wii) - 9,258
10) Pro Yakyuu Team o Tsukurou! 2 (DS) - 9,041
Hardware:
DSi - 38,783
PSP - 29,070
Wii - 17,177
PS3 - 10,173
Xbox 360 - 6,625
DS Lite - 5,664
PS2 - 4,096
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