Report: More than 88,000 PS3s sold in Japan

Namco Bandai posts strong showing, credited with releasing the two best-selling games of launch.

While a universal sell out was all but assured for the PlayStation 3's Japanese launch last weekend, there was still a question about how many units Sony would be able to provide for the country on the system's first day of sale last Saturday. The answer to that question is 88,400 units, according to a Reuters report citing figures from Famitsu publisher Enterbrain.

The article also says that Namco Bandai Games was responsible for the two best-selling games of the launch, with Ridge Racer 7 and Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire each selling about 30,000 copies. To claim the top two spots, the pair of games beat out a relatively small collection of other launch titles, including Sega Golf Club and Sony's own pair of launch offerings, Resistance: Fall of Man and Genji: Days of the Blade.

Reuters also reports on the breakdown of 20GB PS3 systems to the premium 60GB PS3 packages. The article again cites Enterbrain figures in saying the 60GB model accounted for about 62 percent of the systems.

The PS3 is scheduled to launch in North America this Friday, November 17. Sony has previously said it expects to have 400,000 systems available for consumers but has not said how many of those will be the 60GB version of the hardware.

703 Comments

  • _Sam_

    Posted Nov 17, 2006 4:09 pm PT

    they could have sold a lot more if there were more available

  • iceman08jrl

    Posted Nov 16, 2006 4:00 pm PT

    just like xbox 360 when it first came out thier were alot of reported breakdowns

  • nch_maximus

    Posted Nov 16, 2006 3:12 am PT

    i wonder how many system Wii will be able to sell?

  • charly_zero1

    Posted Nov 15, 2006 8:45 pm PT

    If i sell my soul ill get one???? where?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Paper and pen!!! Now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Ravenstyle

    Posted Nov 15, 2006 6:58 pm PT

    the ones responsible for the release of the ps3 should have known that the output of consoles to consumer demand would be incredibly insufficient. so now people are about ready to sell their souls to the devil for these things. duhhhhhhhh!

  • xtremeg4m3r

    Posted Nov 15, 2006 4:59 pm PT

    This is a small number of ps3 sold at japan cause there are not that many units i wish they had done better.

  • True_Sephiroth8

    Posted Nov 15, 2006 4:23 pm PT

    lovermanxxx:

    "the XB360 would never do as well as PS3 in JPN. the Japanese are racist and snobby - especially regarding American hardware. even if Final Fantasy was exclusive to 360 it would only sell a 10 or 20 thousand more units. it is a real shame."

    Quite the contrary. If anything, the Japanese are less racist, and bicker less about gaming systems.

    "to me the funniest thing ever is listening to all these fanboys. PS3 this... Wii that....

    dont you understand, that they are trying to play you against each other! just enjoy the fact that you will soon have the choice between the 3 most powerful consoles ever made.
    buy all 3! show them all that they can all make machines - or else great companies pull out and that screws the whole market . Look at what happened when Sega pulled out of hardware. Sony owned the industry and that was not good for anyone."

    Well, Sony owning the industry set the bar for gaming now, so they wouldn't be as good, had nobody had Sony to compete with.

    "so buy them all. if the PS3 is too much now, save and buy later. just dont rag on each other. it is stupid and childish - take it from someone who was in the old Sega vs Nintendo wars (or even Commodore vs Spectrum - yes I am that old lol)"

    I agree.

  • GrimBee

    Posted Nov 15, 2006 3:24 pm PT

    Just wait til the wii launch, those numbers will quadruple you mark my words

  • Mrbiggerdems

    Posted Nov 15, 2006 3:21 pm PT

    seanmclaren101
    "Resistance looks cool-shouldn't be exclusive to PS3 only"
    Jack ass -_- it is made by Sony that is why.

  • blaze000o

    Posted Nov 15, 2006 3:04 pm PT

    Yes, it almost here! So muck time i have waited for it to finally be here!!!!!!!!!!

  • Ashkanhoss29

    Posted Nov 15, 2006 2:51 pm PT

    Does anyone know how many consols were avaliable?

  • bc226

    Posted Nov 15, 2006 1:47 pm PT

    Total Hardware Sales: 81,639 PlayStation 3 60 GB: 45,774 PlayStation 3 20 GB: 35,865

    Ridge Racer 7: 21,654
    Mobile Suit Gundam: Target In Sight: 21,309
    Resistance: Fall of Man: 13,545
    Genji: Days of the Blade: 8,766
    Sega Golf Club: 1,410`

    The real nimbers not the ones Sony are trying to make everyone believe.
    From Media Create

  • Kane04

    Posted Nov 15, 2006 1:16 pm PT

    2 days, 88,400 units, thats more consoles that they 1ยบ predicted.

    if there was 500.000 they would sell them all.

    PS.analysts predicted that PS3 is going to outsell wii by the end of 2007, and it will take X360 next making the PS3 leader again.

  • halofreak3487

    Posted Nov 15, 2006 12:43 pm PT

    how much is the Wii going to sell?

  • dragkill

    Posted Nov 15, 2006 10:30 am PT

    "rule of thumb: Never buy a console at lauch"

    I give that as a rule of thumb to people also, but if they are still too impatent to wait, I just laugh at them for doing such a move, and then when people complain about bugs, etc, I tell them that they should have listened to the various other people on here about not getting one on launch.

  • Animal91X

    Posted Nov 15, 2006 9:40 am PT

    There target was 120,000 lol, they did not make it, SONY's down fall !!!

  • inferno394

    Posted Nov 15, 2006 8:52 am PT

    bazanime
    i guess this is where most went to http://feeds.joystiq.com/~r/weblogsinc/joystiq/~3/49355390/ hAHA HAHA.. i wish i was this guy. Over 100 ps3?!?!? thats crazy!

  • 21121

    Posted Nov 15, 2006 8:03 am PT

    i love it how people make judgements about which is better.... xbox or ps3....how can you know? have you played a PS3? no. sh00sh then. I got a 360...and i aint saying its better than ps3. But then i aint played a PS3. So how could i? Wait till it comes out, and acctaully PLAY it. Then you can say which is better.

  • anamnawshad

    Posted Nov 15, 2006 7:02 am PT

    Didn't Sony said there will be 80,000 PS-3s for Japan?
    Where did the 8,400 extra units came from? Or was teh 80,000 number was a prediction....

  • Jebril

    Posted Nov 15, 2006 6:59 am PT

    Yeah I agree with tr00pa if we had the money we would buy them all but not everyone is as fortunate as some 10 yr olds that have a TV for each of their systems, but I also agree with loverman Japanese are just pure racists, I mean I heard something from the guy who made DOA producer that made me sick the suggestion came up that one of the charachters was black and he later responds to say "I was shocked to hear that some people could believe that I would put a black person in my game" Even me a big DOA fan was apalled by this, but what can you do almost 90% of them never leave their country to see other people so they have no idea how people live outside their country.

  • tr00pa_26

    Posted Nov 15, 2006 2:59 am PT

    lovermaxxx its not like u can afford one..fool

  • bazanime

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 7:10 pm PT

    i guess this is where most went to http://feeds.joystiq.com/~r/weblogsinc/joystiq/~3/49355390/

  • UmonDaisuke

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 7:07 pm PT

    Funny ! It already has 8,000 defects.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061114/ap_on_hi_te/japan_playstation

    Yes, it is funny that you don't even read articles carefully. Here's the exact quote that mentions no hardware defects:

    On Tuesday, the company acknowledged the console won't run some of the 8,000 titles designed for previous PlayStations

    (Never used to happen in the days of nes and genesis)

    It happened back then, and it happens now (and look for that correction on the claim of 8,000 defects above). Some of you just aren't old enough know, and there certainly wasn't there anything like the internet back then for spreading FUD.

  • 69PS3cool69

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 4:53 pm PT

    i agree with dd99 dont buy at launch wait until after the recall and if there is no recall YAY and plus by that time the console would be a lot cheaper

  • SonyPSP

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 4:23 pm PT

    HEY the ps3 is a great system and i CANNOT wait until the 17th to get my hands on this beauty! hey, at least it isn't chewing up discs, disk read errors, random crashing and overheating/cooking eggs like the 360 proof>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLabckoPC0g

  • tballer11

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 3:47 pm PT

    the ps3 is not all that great. Y r u all so hyped? Almost all the games are goin to come out for 360 & the graphics look about the same but the 360 is cheaper. personally i hope the 360 is first this console generation, wii second, and ps3 dead last. go 360!

  • bigmouthkid

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 3:41 pm PT

    something tells me that sony already has japan. i mean that's alot of console sales in one day in my opinion.

  • seanmclaren101

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 3:25 pm PT

    Resistance looks cool-shouldn't be exclusive to PS3 only.

  • WeeMan411

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 3:22 pm PT

    crills said "ha ha sony fanboys those ps3 in japan are allready haveing problems playeing ps2 games so its haveing problems with ps2 games ha ha great lets the games begin. and if you dont believe me go to gameinformer .com its there in the news section"

    hey, at least it isnt chewing up discs and overheating like the 360 did at launch tard. Everyone knows that every new console has a few bugs in the first generation of the consoles. Thats why no smart person buys one on the release date. Thats the good thing about Europe getting the PS3 in kmarch, we get the nice new shiny 2nd generation, which should be bug free.

    And anyway, big deal it doesnt play a few of the older games, I think i speak for everyone who plans on buying one, or has already bought one that we arent getting it to play the old games.

  • dd99

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 3:01 pm PT

    rule of thumb: Never buy a console at lauch

  • cheezlarson

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 2:03 pm PT

    crills said "ha ha sony fanboys those ps3 in japan are allready haveing problems playeing ps2 games so its haveing problems with ps2 games ha ha great lets the games begin. and if you dont believe me go to gameinformer .com its there in the news section"

    Yeah 200 games don't work, the other 10,000 do. How many games work for the 360 again?

  • incredibilistic

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 1:31 pm PT

    Finally, something both the 360 and the PS3 have in common.

    I can't say I'm not disappointed. I would hate to boot up 007: Everything or Nothing (don't laugh, I'm sure everyone has at least one oldie but goodie they haven't got around to completing yet) only to get a "cannot read disc error" or something similar.

    But, when I finally do get a PS3 I doubt I'll care since I'll be too busy playing Heavenly Sword, MotorStorm, Resistance, and Ridge Racer 7 to care. Being the minority here (I'm a glass half full kinda guy) I'm sure Sony will work this out with updates just as Microsoft has done with constant updates to the dashboard and list of games that still aren't compatible.

    The one thing working against Sony is that they didn't make news of this before it happened so now they've added more fuel to the fire.

  • Konfusion

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 1:20 pm PT

    Software sales? Heard they weren't as good . . .

  • TVR_Fan

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 1:19 pm PT

    I still reckon Sony should of only given the US 250,000, while making the other 250,000 work in European nations.

  • grklover389

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 1:14 pm PT

    Can somebody tell me how i can lie to my dad about not getting the ps3 and waiting outside Walmart to get it. OPEN TO ALL ANSWERS!!!!!

  • eanbowman

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 1:09 pm PT

    This coupled with the previous news of 1500 people waiting in the parking garage of just one store for thier chance to buy a PS3 isn't surprising.

    Neither is the news that some games are not completely upward compatible with the new PS2 emulation. It would have taken Sony programmers ages to iron out the bugs with thousands of games on the shelves for their previous systems. The only reason public domain emulators do better is that they have long development cycles and millions of people beta-testing and griping about them when they don't work. That, and they're a labour of love.

    The PS3's new cell processor architechture likely means huge changes in both their supporting sytems (BIOS, I/O, etc.) and in their programming APIs. Perhaps Sony should have outsourced the PS2/PSOne emulation to another company. *shrug* I'm sure if you mod your PS3 that there will be a fully functioning emulator that you can run off the hard disk made by PS3 owners that will play everything soon enough.

    That being said, I love console modding. I don't like it for the obvious reasons, ie. stealing games, but for the not-so-obvious reasons, such as having a fully-functioning media-center, emulator and gamestation all in one box. Right now I have that for my XBOX and although I haven't bothered with the 360 so far, I wonder what modding the PS3 will be like? I guess we'll have to see about that one.

    I think I'll pick up a Wii this fall and perhaps another next-gen console after a few months. I have no need to play the newest games right away. These days there are so many games out there I can't even keep up with the last-gen consoles let alone the brand new ones. I guess that's the trouble with working full time and going to school. :3

  • the_junk

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 12:42 pm PT

    actually i thought toadstool had a point. a funny one too. i liked it. lol

  • Buttmonkey9000

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 12:41 pm PT

    Cool! It won't be available in Europe until March though...

  • the_junk

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 12:32 pm PT

    and i realize that telling people there is something going to be wrong with your product may turn people away from it and make them question your reliability, but not saying anything could be worse. not saying it was in this case, but it could be. it's to early to know.

    and domopunk, i realize what the utter destruction of SONY would mean for the videogame industry, and i'll admit it, im a nintendo guy. xbox is pretty good, but i like nintendo more. im SO pumped for the Wii. i just dont want SONY to win the race. i'd like dead last for them if possible lol. utter defeat of SONY is simply something i dream about.

  • GrimBee

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 12:25 pm PT

    well.. duuh! It's not so great news, especially considering we KNEW they would sell this much (and more).
    Nintendo with the Wii (already have with the ds! lol) would double this amount in one DAY in japan, which is quite insane really especially with a reputation like Sony.

    The ps2 launch was absolutely MASSIVE in Japan... I wonder what could of happened

  • the_junk

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 12:17 pm PT

    i was simply pointing out the fact that SONY could have let people know there was going to be a problem with their system. Fukuoka said the problems in playing the older games was not a glitch and HAD BEEN EXPECTED. that was my point

  • lbrad2001

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 11:55 am PT

    Well it looks like hype can only carry a system so far, now it has to actually produce. By by Sony.

  • Toadstool1969

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 11:52 am PT

    kyosukeugc said, "Most of you are American or European and make your culture look completely moronic by some of the things you say.

    kyosukeugc, I recommend you stop attacking cultures and making racist comments. Let's talk about "moronic" statements for a bit... because your earlier one takes the cake. You said, "Japanese like a challenge, they're the smartest people in the world..."

    Now that is moronic!

    kyosukeugc said, "BUT your opinion isn't needed on something liek thsi if all it's going tobe is negative when there's no rom for negativity here."

    WTF did you just say?!!!"

    kyosukeugc said, "If you don't want a PS3, then get out of here. Read the news, say at most "that's nice" and be on your merry way, but stopmaking this a bad place for us people who actually give a damn about the news."

    You give a damn about the news? I thought you just wanted to tell us how "moronic" we were.

    kyosukeugc said, "Grow up and shape up please, for the benefit of the community. This fighting is so old."

    Have a nice day!

  • Kravyn81

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 11:44 am PT

    Now we just have to wait to see how many out of that 88k are defective

  • xatman911

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 11:39 am PT

    Hmm, good start atleast .

  • Ghetto_ninja

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 11:38 am PT

    Yeah but only on a few games. Hey even the 360 can't play all the old Xbox games. Backwards compatibilty has always had some sort of issue. I'm sure the graphics and audio were unaffected by this. So 360 still sucks compared to PS3.

  • nobeaner

    Posted Nov 14, 2006 11:37 am PT

    Well here comes the madness my friends.

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