Japanese charts - Release drought results in slow sales week

News by Brenna Hillier Contributor

Published on June 29, 2011

The Japanese hardware and software charts for the week ending June 26 saw the latest entry in the long-running Atelier series take top spot, but modest hardware sales.

No heavy hitters

It was quite a slow week in japanese sales, with Atelier Meruru: Alchemist of Arland the top performer at just 82,585 units sold, which is a let-down after last week's two plus-100,000 sellers.

We were expecting to see a large Ocarina of Time sales spike after rumours of low stock keeping sales down, but either the new shipment hasn't arrived or it was wishful thinking.

The PS3 and the PSP remain dominant on the charts, but it's interesting to note four Wii entries. The usual first-party perennials are joined by Kadokawa's Earth Seeker, sneaking in on the bottom rung, a mysterious post-apocalyptic action game. Another target for localisation campaigns, I suspect.

The West represented with the newly-released Mass Effect 2 PS3 and Grand Theft Auto IV complete edition. Hooray!

Below you'll find Media Create's Top 20 sales chart for the week ending June 26, 2011. Life to dat figures appear in brackets where applicable. Last week's edition can be found here.

Atelier Meruru: Alchemist of Arland 3 (PS3) - 82,585 (New)
Steins; Gate (PSP) - 63,558 (New)
Gundam Memories: Memories of the Battle (PSP) - 52,067 (New)
Little Battle eXperience (PSP) - 38,326 (204,513)
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time 3D (3DS) - 37,452 (201,563)
Tennis no Oujisama Gyutto! Doki Doki Survival Umi to Yama no Love Passion (DS) - 30,234 (New)
Yakuza Of The End (PS3) - 24,247 (376,738)
Bleach Soul Ignition (PS3) - 23,516 (New)
Wii Sports Resort (Wii Remote Plus Pack) (Wii) - 9,874 (362,957)
Gloria Union (PSP) - 8,933 (New)
Pokemon Black & White (DS) - 7,086 (5,211,443)
Wii Party (Wii) - 5,980 (1,923,731)
Mass Effect 2 (PS3) - 5,885 (New)
Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 Professional (DS) - 5,814 (543,834)
Resident Evil The Mercenaries 3D (3DS) - 5,633 (89,038)
Mother Goose no Himitsu no Kan Nursery Rhymes for You (PSP) - 5,295 (New)
Grand Theft Auto IV Complete Edition (PS3) - 4,629 (New)
One Piece Unlimited Cruise Special (3DS) - 4,289 (116,463)
Mario Kart Wii (Wii) - 4,154 (3,249,050)
Earth Seeker (Wii) - 4,055 (New)

Software top 20 chart offerings per system:

PS3 - 5
PSP - 5
3DS - 3
DS - 3
Wii - 4

PSP back on top
It was a poor week all-round for hardware sales. After last week's Zelda-driven surge, the 3DS has dropped back into second place on the hardware charts. The PSP continues to sell steadily, but not to shine, with nothing spike-worthy in the summer software line-up.

The PS3 disappointed despite securing the top software spot and four other top-20 positions, noting only a blip of increased sales.

The Wii was the only system to see a significant boost in sales, up to 9,511 units from last week's 6,678.

The DS, taken as combined SKUs, actually shifted about the same number of units as the Wii as both legacy systems wind down.

Japanese hardware sales, June 20 - June 26, 2011 (separate SKUs)