Wed, Sep 17, 2008 | 11:02 BST
Xbox 360 outsells Wii in Japan
Good. Grief. According to this AndriaSang post, Enterbrain figures are showing that Xbox 360 has outsold Wii in Japan in the week ending September 14.
The surge has come off the back of a major price cut, the introduction of the 60Gb SKU and the release of Square Infinite Undiscovery, giving 360 28,681 sales in the period.
By contrast, Wii sold 27,057 machines in the same week.
More through the link. Thanks to everyone that sent this in!



31 comments
#1
captaineurogamer
17/09/08, 11:05 am
Not suprising./ I followed Amazon japan charts it was doing well.
#2
Blerk
17/09/08, 11:05 am
Stay a while… stay forever!
Unbelievable, although they have been helped on their way by a fairly slow market the last few weeks in Japan. Guess MS have finally cracked what Japanese gamers need in order to buy a 360 – top-notch exclusive RPGs. Shame they take so long to produce, it’s still going to be very hard for them to maintain any momentum in the gaps between.
#3
Psychotext
17/09/08, 11:10 am
The end is nigh.
/flees
#4
Syrok
17/09/08, 11:12 am
Run away!
#5
patlike
17/09/08, 11:17 am
Astounding. Seems over for Wii.
#6
evilashchris
17/09/08, 11:18 am
They should re-release Lost Odyssey, surely the Japanese have to like that. Again.
Or they could just announce the sequel I suppose.
#7
Tiger Walts
17/09/08, 11:25 am
Another exclusive RPG, another one-week bump.
GTA IV is still to release in Japan, the earlier games in the franchise sold quite well in the territory so it’d be interesting to see what that does to the figures.
#8
Withnail
17/09/08, 11:27 am
I’ve been thinking for a while that things aren’t over for MS in Japan by a long shot. The 360 currently has by far the best line up of Japanese-developed HD games, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it consistently outsells the PS3 by a decent margin for quite a while to come.
#9
Robo_1
17/09/08, 11:29 am
I can’t believe Sony have let their eye slip off the ball so badly regarding the Japanese market. MS have totally swooped under their nose and plucked some great RPG’s from them.
Ridiculously complacent of them really.
#10
No_PUDding
17/09/08, 11:33 am
I reallycan’t believe everyone is pissing their pants over this.
Notice that it’s Microsoft who have been advertising it. It’s an udnerhwhelming westernised JRPG that’s doing it, along with it being priced lower than the Wii.
Sony aren’t complacent, lazy mgiht have been the word you were looking for. And I wouldn’t even call it that. Devs have got the much less complicated 360 hardware (and some moneyhats) to create PS2 style JRPG’s.
And I am still pretty certain that all these titles will arrive on the PS3. When they’re irrelevant ofcourse.
#11
Psychotext
17/09/08, 11:36 am
lol… you should have probably stamped your feet at the end of that post No_PUD.
Sony are complacent. Not tying up franchises that used to belong to them. Assuming that people will buy their console, even without the games. Assuming that people will buy their console at any price. Not putting money into developing games that the Japanese market wants.
It screams complacency… and yet they still think they’ll do over 120m with the PS3 – which just backs up how complacent they are.
#12
Blerk
17/09/08, 11:37 am
Come on, Pud – it’s a huge story, if only because of how terribly they’ve done historically.
Infinite Undiscovery most certainly won’t be appearing on the PS3, by the way, because Microsoft funded its development, but that’s alright because it’s “underwhelming”.
#13
El_MUERkO
17/09/08, 11:39 am
how long before they give away xboxs with cereal?
#14
Blerk
17/09/08, 11:41 am
They should give all consoles away with breakfast cereal.
I’m surprised nobody’s ever tried to bundle a console with a game rather than the other way around.
#15
Tiger Walts
17/09/08, 11:43 am
Wait… that really is foam packing in my box of Arcadeos?
I was wondering why they floated on the milk and didn’t go soggy.
#16
Psychotext
17/09/08, 11:45 am
heheh… Arcadeos.
/trademarks
#17
Tiger Walts
17/09/08, 11:46 am
They’re kind of round with an X-shaped hole in the middle.
#18
Blerk
17/09/08, 11:48 am
And they turn the milk green.
#19
Blerk
17/09/08, 11:48 am
And get hotter the longer you leave them. Then explode.
#20
Psychotext
17/09/08, 12:07 pm
I’ve heard that eating them results in a red ring… but not always.
#21
No_PUDding
17/09/08, 1:17 pm
Why do you always misconstrue my posts Psychotext?
If anything they are worse than complacent, but its not the right word. They are not even lazy, they are just arrogant. And it’s clear as of recent they have eaten soem very humble pie.
Agreed Blerk it’s huge in that respect, in fact it’s comparable top the second coming, but it’s come with a huge price cut, and an exclusive extensively marketed game.
Are we really shocked?
It’s a stat, and an impressive one but it’s impact is minor, contrary to what people here are saying, unless it’s continues.
#22
Psychotext
17/09/08, 1:21 pm
I like arguing No_PUD. It’s pretty much that simple.
Well, that, and sometimes you seem to struggle to get your point across.
#23
No_PUDding
17/09/08, 1:26 pm
Well that’s fine with me I guess, just so long as we sort it out in a civilised argument.
lol.
And I am sorry, but from what I’ve heard underhwelming is certainly a way to describe Infinite Undiscovery. But it’s better than no JRPG’s.
#24
Blerk
17/09/08, 1:55 pm
There aren’t many people in this thread claiming that this will be anything other than a blip, Pud.
#25
Shatner
17/09/08, 1:59 pm
That’s only because Morriss hasn’t added a comment Blerk
#26
deftangel
17/09/08, 2:16 pm
I think it will have an “impact” but only relative to Microsoft’s current sales. Before Blue Dragon came out, it would struggle to make 1k a week but for a good while after it was much higher. It’s very rare to see MS have a sub 1k week over there and I will venture the average is now 3k or so. In the grand scheme of things, not meaningful but that was still triple their sales.
If say they double their weekly average to 5k or so, then they would still have a long shot at making 1m in Japan assuming a Blue Dragon 2 was in the works. After the 1st Xbox, that would probably have been written off as madness from day 1.
#27
Blerk
17/09/08, 2:19 pm
They’ve been regularly doing 4-5k a week for months.
#28
Blerk
17/09/08, 2:47 pm
Some other interesting figures from Enterbrain. They now estimate that the 360 has sold 717,275 units in Japan. Maybe they’ll make that ‘million’ goal after all.
Infinite Undiscovery shifted an impressive (for the 360) 86,708 units week one, but in a nice piece of “back to the real world” reality-checking it was totally demolished by Pokemon Platinum for the DS, which sold a FUCKING INSANE 967,675 units.
#29
Psychotext
17/09/08, 2:49 pm
I really don’t know why people still buy the Pokemon games. They’re essentially identical to the ones that came before.
/thinks of FIFA / Madden / PES
/drops point
#30
Blerk
17/09/08, 2:50 pm
As far as I can tell, it’s still the same game I played on the vanilla Gameboy in 1998. Yet nobody seems to care. No wonder Nintendo’s laughing all the way to the bank.
#31
Tonka
17/09/08, 2:54 pm
There was a Vanilla Gameboy? My collection is incomplete?
Hallelujah
/storms of to GeekCollectorsParadise