Big in Japan Apr. 19-25: Nier Replicant

Japanese game sales started this month strong, with tracking firm Media Create reporting nine titles selling more than 30,000 copies for the week ended April 4. Things slowed down after that, with only five titles managing to meet that mark in the following two weeks combined. That malaise continued deep into the month, as Media Create today released its Japanese sales figures for the week of April 19-25, showing that just a single title managed to top 30,000 copies sold.

The good news is that Square Enix's action-role-playing game Nier Replicant cleared that line, selling 60,174 copies for the week. Its sister release, Nier Gestalt for the Xbox 360, finished just outside of the top 10, selling fewer than 12,500 copies. (Versions of Nier Gestalt were released in North America this week for both the Xbox 360 and the PS3. Nier Replicant is not yet confirmed for an international debut.)

Nier Replicant wasn't the only new release in the top 10. Atlus' Tokyo Mono Harashi isn't part of the publisher's Persona series, but the third best-selling game of the week does share both a genre and a scholastic setting with the popular role-playing game franchise. Another PSP RPG, Falcom's Ys: Felghana no Chikai, slipped into the top five, selling a modest 16,167 copies. The final new entry in the top 10 isn't terribly new at all, as the PS3 Game of the Year Edition of Bethesda Softworks' Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion managed to sell 12,479 copies in its first week on shelves.

Continuing the slow sales trend, hardware numbers were also down for the week. The PSP and the PS3 were the only systems to sell more units week-over-week, although they improved their sales figures by only 123 and 39 units, respectively. The pair also finished in first and second place for the week overall, with the PSP hitting 28,758 sold and the PS3 trailing with 25,629.

Overall, the console and handheld pecking order was well preserved for the week. The Wii finished in third place overall, followed by a trifecta of DS systems, the Xbox 360, the PSP Go, and the PS2.

JAPAN GAME SALES WEEK OF APRIL 19-25, 2010
Software:
Rank / Title / Publisher / Platform / Unit sales
1. Nier Replicant / Square Enix / PS3 / 60,174
2. New Super Mario Bros. Wii / Nintendo / Wii / 28,757
3. Tokyo Mono Harashi / Atlus / PSP / 21,953
4. Tomodachi Collection / Nintendo / DS / 19,681
5. Ys: Felghana no Chikai / Falcom / PSP / 16,167
6. Pro Baseball Spirits 2010 / Konami / PSP / 15,607
7. Wii Fit Plus / Nintendo / Wii / 15,217
8. Mario Kart Wii / Nintendo / Wii / 13,671
9. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition / Bethesda / PS3 / 12,479
10. Pokemon Ranger: Hikari no Kiseki / Nintendo / DS / 12,408

Hardware:
PSP - 28,758
PS3 - 25,629
Wii - 23,691
DSi LL - 16,676
DSi - 10,640
DS Lite - 2,789
Xbox 360 - 2,214
PSP Go - 1,544
PS2 - 1,490