Halo 3 big in Japan

Bungie's shooter grabs the top slot in the Japanese charts, 360 sales also see spike in the region.

It's the Xbox 360 title that has become the fastest-selling game ever in the US and already made developer Bungie a cool $300 million. It's everywhere, and it even has its own drink. It's Halo 3, of course, and even the Japanese, it seems, can't resist.

The game was released on September 27 in the region and burst straight into the Japanese charts at number one, according to figures released by Media Create for the week of September 24 to 30. Halo 3 sold 58,672 units in its first week on sale, some 3,000 more than the next best-selling title.

Media Create states that this is the first time an Xbox 360-exclusive title has entered the chart in the number one slot. The 360 itself also saw a relative spike in sales to 5,215 units--as compared to the 1,687 reported last week--no doubt another part of the Halo 3 effect.

In other news, the PlayStation Portable was on top of the hardware charts for the third week running, having sold 102,809 units. The new PSP slim and the release of exclusive Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII have been attributed as the driving forces behind the surge in sales. In comparison, the Nintendo DS Lite sold 72,895, the Wii 24,143, the PS3 13,105, and the PS2 12,980.

343 Comments

  • wiidominance

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 1:21 pm PT

    I wonder whats the state of mobile games in Japan, that might be where the impressive figures are ...

  • RaiKageRyu

    Posted Oct 15, 2007 12:11 pm PT

    Hmm strange, this contradicts VGChartz list of the sales of the week.

  • Cirus2

    Posted Oct 11, 2007 7:34 pm PT

    they shot them self in the foot now, basically killed off everyone in Halo3.. surely microsoft will say "make halo 4 now!!!" easy 1billion made

  • MetaRidley42

    Posted Oct 10, 2007 4:20 pm PT

    Good for it.

  • jknight5422

    Posted Oct 10, 2007 1:45 pm PT

    Well this kind of blows the theory that Japanese people only want RPG games in the previous article. I hope I don't get banned again for talking about Japanese markets since I couldn't get in contact with anyone at Gamespot for the reason I was banished to begin with! A R G H...

  • myjota

    Posted Oct 10, 2007 6:11 am PT

    only one word - leave- japan market. if you respect yyourself

  • Franzkill

    Posted Oct 10, 2007 5:52 am PT

    MSG Bioshock is on the PC too.

  • PS360owner

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 11:35 pm PT

    Here's the income per capita figures for 2005: 1) Luxembourg 2) Norway 3) Switzerland 4) Denmark 5) Iceland 6) US 7) Sweden Ireland 9) Japan 10) UK. The US and Europe combined have about 10 times the population of Japan. You add this to the per capita figures and you see why Microsoft, an American company, should focus more of its efforts on the US and European markets. While more Japanese per capita play video games, the real money to be made is in Europe and the US, not Japan. Microsoft should change its strategy here to one of getting more people in Europe interested in playing video games., instead of getting more people in Japan to move past their antipathy and contempt for electronic consumer goods made in America. The Japanese consider themselves top dog producers in the world of consumer electronic goods and it would be like them admitting defeat in a war for them to come to prefer those goods made by a competing country.

  • osxgp

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 11:17 pm PT

    Now this is a shock.

  • zidjian

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 10:48 pm PT

    But whatever gotta play it anyway

  • zidjian

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 10:46 pm PT

    I dont even know why it made it so big here in u.s! too much hype!

  • BoobyUnger

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 9:35 pm PT

    doesnt count if a microsoft guy goes and buys all the copies from their stores

  • bulletwaster

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 5:33 pm PT

    I think there will be more halos sure bungie wanted to drop it but microsoft will never let it happen halo just makes too much money they thought star wars was only going to be a trilogy too you know

  • rose_please

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 4:24 pm PT

    ive never played with neone from japan on halo 3..

  • Darqness

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 4:23 pm PT

    Wow! Maybe moonbases before 2020 are possible if MS can sell systems at that rate in Japan.

  • The_Chronicle

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 1:28 pm PT

    Add some dragons and give MC some funky looking hair and halo 3 would have sold 20 times better.

  • tonymatt225

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 10:31 am PT

    im not japanese but yea they are pretty good players. i like challenges too!!!

  • ebookerd1

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 6:25 am PT

    I am totally amazed that Halo 3 even made it on the japanese charts. The Japanese market rarely accepts american games. For this to be number one is even more amazing. As for everything else it, those are the average figures for the Japanese market. Protable Gaming is there number 1 field.

  • MSG-Deathscythe

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 1:49 am PT

    @ towely62: my apologies if my comments hurt your feelings. i speak my mind regardless of how fanboys might react, besides, my comment was just something based on the numbers on the news item. if those numbers made you all giddy and excited, other people might not be as impressed. live with it. you also said that i don't own a 360. you are such a psychic besides being a math wiz. anyways, i haven't finished halo 3 yet, so i haven't commented on it yet. it is the sole reason why i got a 360 and i'm liking it so far. bioshock and gears of war gave me two other reasons to like the 360, but since they are all going to the pc anyways, which has a better control scheme and 3 experiences of the 3-rings of death ... you're psychic, you know what i'm saying ...

  • towely62

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 11:30 pm PT

    MSG-Deathscythe shut up. u liar u dont have a 360, u said in your other comments that, ''u would sell your xbox360 if halo4 went to ps3?'' first of all there will be no halo4, its done .What part of FINISH THE FIGHT did u not understand? u never had a 360 and u probably never will, am i right?

  • Unreal_007

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 10:42 pm PT

    lunatai you dont see why the market is that significant they sold 73 thousand ds' in one week, one week. its maddness

  • lunatai

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 9:15 pm PT

    I agree with rbop's point totally. I would like to see larger sales in Japan so we might get a few quirky Japanese titles like a new Okami or Ico, but I don't see why that market is THAT significant. Most of the great games I am playing are made by my fellow Canucks actually!

  • rbop

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 8:17 pm PT

    Good news I suppose. I still don't see why selling "lots" of games in Japan is worth all the fuss. I mean, comparitively the market is small. It seems to be more about bragging rights than anything. Japanese games had their heyday in the late 80's early 90's, but have since fallen off. I am an OLD gamer. Every now and again it's nice to put a DQ cartridge in for nostalgia's sake, but at this point North American developers rule the land. Show me anything from Square, Capcom or Konami in the last year or two that matches Oblivion, Bioshock, GoW or Halo 3. You can't (unless your insane). These things are cyclical, I'm sure, and Asian developers will again have their day (unless Europe does first), but until then US developers selling games in Japan is all about being the biggest nerd trying to marry the home-coming queen.

  • kingrutoz

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 6:59 pm PT

    this proves it HALO 3 rules!

  • darknferno12

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 5:44 pm PT

    Halo 3 is bigger than Pokemon.......ok lets not get crazy

  • sw_and_wet

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 5:33 pm PT

    It is a good thing that Japanese finally start to accept games from other coultures, instead of hugging their own trees for decades. Sure japanese got good classic games like final fantasty, MGS, etc, etc. but they also have to admit XBOX now got a large amount of good games, and i am sure these innovative games like GoW, Halo, Bioshock etc will definetly become classic in the future.

  • Swift18

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 5:10 pm PT

    harr i agree Japan isnt big on any thing other then Japan made devices or games. Its mostly troops/visitors/tranfers from other countries and all that im sure some Japanese people have bought it but not as many as the numbers are showing which is pretty low compared to most of the other platforms numbers i mean they never said any where on here that it was a sales record just that it hit number one and that is a record for the 360 which is sad in its self.

  • harrassee

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 2:38 pm PT

    i suspect that a huge percentage of the halo 3's bought in Japan were bought in and around the US military bases there. There are close to 40k American military service members and civilians working for the military based in Japan.

  • bullyovwolves

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 12:52 pm PT

    Who doesn't want to finish the fight?

  • TMontana1004

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 11:33 am PT

    Halo owns the world.

  • jansdman

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 10:54 am PT

    And so is YUI and Boa

  • Axe_336

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 10:31 am PT

    The new PSP has a fair number of improvements other than size, the ability to hook it up to your TV for one.

    So did Halo finally catch popularity in Japan? Thats interesting... I wonder if they have Japanese dubs.

  • andrew_ribbons

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 9:32 am PT

    Lol what IS the big deal over the PSP Lite? Seriously, they've trimmed it down slightly and that is it? Heck the DS Lite had LOADS of improvements, like better screens, lighter and MUCH smaller, higher quality plastic. As far as i can see, the PSP looks pretty much exactly the same. Horray for Sony, for they are lame! Wii360 ftw!

  • m_stifler

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 9:17 am PT

    "Whats crazy here is that the PS3 is barely outselling the PS2 in the worlds gaming capital. I didn't think there was anybody in Japan who didn't have a PS2."
    umm not crazy, they DO all have one but have to purchase a new one every year coz ps2's tend to get disk read errors (damaged laser lenses) on a 12 month basis..........lmao i was dumb enough to buy 4 back in the day! and ppl talk bad about 360 *rolls eyes*

  • CrushedGroove

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 7:44 am PT

    Wow, never would have guessed. This is a fairly big deal in the grand scheme of things. Everyone expected the sales Halo is getting stateside, but to see it doing well in Japan is quite a surprise. 'Go-Go Bungie Bank Account!'

  • Tommi88

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 7:15 am PT

    well said mcuth

  • thekey

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 6:56 am PT

    Now that I'm finally back.(Thanks Gamespot) All I have to say is this. PS3 People! STOP SAYING HALO3 isn't so great. Its obivous PEOPLE WANT THE GAME! If people didn't want the game it wouldn't have sold 5 million copies in a week. I don't care if you put a billion dollars into marketing, if people don't want it, it won't sell. (Ask Clear Pepsi)

    Both Halo and 360 is here to stay, live with it!

  • weiliang_1988

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 5:40 am PT

    what u expect? other titles other than halo3 to sell in japan?

  • Eclipse_ShinRa

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 5:00 am PT

    @MSG-Deathscythe
    Yea, because the name FFVII and FF sells.. You should now that.. FFXIII could end up the worse JRPG of all time and it will have the best sells probably..

  • memnoch2099

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 4:28 am PT

    Japanese gamers are good at playing Halo3 MP. Big improvement from the Halo 2 days

  • miiiguel

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 3:20 am PT

    MSG-Deathscythe: don't worry our lovely 2nd home - Japan, is stil resisting. LOL!

    valcrist09, luis13yearsold, and mainly jakndaxter7223: you sound like constipated haters, take some laxative and... let it go.

  • MSG-Deathscythe posted Oct 8, 2007 2:52 am PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    MSG-Deathscythe

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 2:52 am PT (hide)

    i don't see what's so "big" about this. halo 3 moved 360 sales up by 3,500 units in a week in japan. big deal. ffvii : crisis core has moved 580,000 units in japan in 2 weeks.

  • towely62

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 12:11 am PT

    wow i didnt know japan liked halo ,i guess i should watch out for crazy good japan guys in halo now, im probably goin to get pwned

  • tongan_busta

    Posted Oct 8, 2007 12:06 am PT

    dang tis is goin to one of the badest games in hisrtory...lol cant wait to play live wit some japs....hahaha...no offence

  • atom2000

    Posted Oct 7, 2007 11:29 pm PT

    mcuth "The campaign was better than that of Bioshock. It didn't match Bioshock's brilliant first 15 minutes, but neither did it get bogged down in redundancy and have a last several levels that were a mere obstacle to seeing the ending. Halo 3 got better and better during the campaign leading up to the end."

    Thank you mcuth.
    Though Bioshock still rocks.

  • mes323

    Posted Oct 7, 2007 8:58 pm PT

    So its big now....this again is Japan we're talking about. I can't see it being very big in the coming weeks...but who knows, maybe Japanese gamers are warming up to the "bad box" (or whatever) as they call it.

  • shokama

    Posted Oct 7, 2007 8:51 pm PT

    The game was HEAVILY advertised here (Japan), unlike Halo 1 and 2. Halo 3 commercials on TV once every hour or so, lots of coverage made by Famitsu and other magazines etc. I guess that money spent in advertisement paid off

    And, yes, Japanese like FPSs...but in a different way (Time Crisis, for example)

    Now, back to the arcades to play Half Life 2 (arcade version)

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