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Big in Japan Oct. 26-Nov. 1: Bayonetta, Tekken 6

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Nov 6, 2009 12:07 pm PT

PlatinumGames' latest action effort grabs the gold while Namco Bandai's King of Iron Fist tournament earns bronze; new Final Fantasy Gaiden for DS takes second.

Sega partner PlatinumGames is now two-for-two on its home turf. In June, the upstart developer's DS strategy title Infinite Space topped Media Create's Japanese sales charts. While the game's performance was not overwhelming (its 38,400 copies led a notably slow week), Media Create's latest figures show a much more impressive debut for PlatinumGames' first follow-up.

Bayonetta cast a spell on Japanese gamers.

For the week of October 26 through November 1, Bayonetta on the PlayStation 3 was the best-selling game at Japanese retailers, with Media Create reporting 135,242 copies sold. The Xbox 360 version of the game sold 64,325 copies of its own, good enough for seventh place on the chart. An over-the-top action game starring a gun-toting witch, Bayonetta is the latest effort from Hideki Kamiya, the director of Devil May Cry and Viewtiful Joe.

PlatinumGames' only other release to date, the hyperviolent Wii action game MadWorld, was commercially underwhelming upon its February US release. Sega opted not to release it in Japan, leaving Spike to publish the game in PlatinumGames' homeland next February.

Bayonetta wasn't the only new release to perform well for the week. Square Enix's latest Final Fantasy spin-off, Four Warriors of Light: Final Fantasy Gaiden (Hikari no 4 Senshi: Final Fantasy Gaiden) for the DS, came in second with 114,714 games sold. That was good enough to fend off the PlayStation 3 version of Namco Bandai's latest fighter, Tekken 6, which sold 103,105 copies. Exact sales of the Xbox 360 version of Tekken 6 weren't released, but it finished 11th on the charts.

Two more new releases made the top 10 for the week, as Atlus' Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable for the PSP finished fourth with 94,287 sold, and Super Robot Taisen Neo for the Wii snuck onto the charts in 10th place, selling 26,559 copies. The remaining four spots on the software chart were claimed by familiar faces Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver, Wii Fit Plus, Tomodachi Collection, and Izuma Eleven 2.

On the hardware front, system sales showed more parity than in the past, with the first and fifth best selling systems separated by fewer than 9,000 sales. The DSi topped all comers with 37,517 sold, followed by the resurgent PS3 with 36,061. Sony's portable platforms took third and fourth, with the PSP racking up sales of 34,911 and its downloadable-only counterpart, the PSP Go, claiming 34,911 new owners itself. The Wii pulled up the rear of the lead pack with 28,888 systems sold, with the DS Lite, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 2 all moving under 7,000 units.

JAPAN GAME SALES WEEK OF OCTOBER 26-NOVEMBER 1, 2009
Software:
Rank / Title / Publisher / Platform / Unit sales
1) Bayonetta / Sega / PS3 / 135,242
2) Four Warriors of Light: Final Fantasy Gaiden / Square Enix / DS / 114,714
3) Tekken 6 / Namco Bandai / PS3 / 103,105
4) Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable / Atlus / PSP / 94,287
5) Pokemon HeartGold and Soul Silver / Nintendo / DS / 87,594
6) Wii Fit Plus / Nintendo / Wii / 82,427
7) Bayonetta / Sega / 360 / 64,325
8) Tomodachi Collection / Nintendo / DS / 53,159
9) Inazuma Eleven 2: Kyoui no Shinryokusha - Fire and Blizzard / Level 5 / DS / 41,437
10) Super Robot Taisen Neo / Namco Bandai / Wii / 26,559

Hardware:
DSi - 37,517
PS3 - 36,061
PSP - 34,911
PSP Go - 29,109
Wii - 28,888
DS Lite - 6,902
Xbox 360 - 6,047
PS2 - 1,966

67 Comments

  • TheImporter

    Posted Nov 19, 2009 12:31 pm PT

    @GameFan1983,

    I wasn’t impugning your intelligence by saying you were eight. What I meant was that you must be young because you obviously don’t remember the Ps2 and probably never owned one. I can see how you could take that the wrong way. Stupid comment, sorry. Then again, your comment was just as stupid.

    As for the Wii being the most successful console ever, you might be right about that profit-per-console wise; but I stand by my statement that the Wii will never approach the 130 million PS2s sold. Wii sales are already slowing down worldwide; and like any fad, once all the nongamers buy one, Wii sales will continue to slow. It is already happening worldwide. By the way, I have a Wii, a PS3, and a 360; and believe me, the Wii is a novelty.

  • BLuFAlc0n

    Posted Nov 15, 2009 9:59 am PT

    ...this year, the PS3 will win this year! Tekken 6 and FFXIII sealed it, not even Forza, or MW2 can beat those. The Wii's already first, but after FFXIII came out... I'm importing it day 1.

  • SalarianChemist

    Posted Nov 10, 2009 12:47 am PT

    It's no surprise to see the PS3 sales have increased during the second half of this year in Japan, since Final Fantasy 13 is about to be released there soon.

    Sony is probably very happy to see what they are seeing this year, since last year the Xbox 360 was outselling the PS3 in Japan thanks to all those exclusive JRPG games like Tales of Vesperia, Infinite Undiscovery, Star Ocean 4, and The Last Remnant.

    Wii sales seem to have declined now that HDTV sets are more of a "standard" thing in homes, but the Wii still sells very well and has such a huge lead over the competition that the Wii will remain #1 in Japan. So, I'm sure Nintendo is still happy about that. I think Nintendo will lower the price by another $50 at the start of 2010.

  • SalarianChemist

    Posted Nov 10, 2009 12:41 am PT

    I'm glad to see that the PS3 and Xbox 360 are experience such nice software sales in Japan. I think this is particularly impressive for the Xbox 360, because it has exceeded Japanese sales expectations for hardware and software by such a significant margin this generation.

    Congratulations to all three game companies for doing so well in Japan lately!

  • Trogeton

    Posted Nov 9, 2009 6:46 pm PT

    WOW.. ps3 is on top of in home console in hard and software... No surprise Good job sony

  • jeffv541

    Posted Nov 9, 2009 1:02 pm PT

    @GameFan1983

    haha you take gamespot seriously... loser pants..

  • sleepy_eyed

    Posted Nov 9, 2009 4:46 am PT

    Bayonetta rules

  • jeffv541

    Posted Nov 8, 2009 8:52 pm PT

    @GameFan1983

    Your IQ doesn't change with your age haha DF

  • jeffv541

    Posted Nov 8, 2009 8:49 pm PT

    This game looks so dumb, I would rather eat a bag of thumbtacks than play it for even a second.

  • D3A7HJ0K3R

    Posted Nov 8, 2009 7:20 pm PT

    PS3 is catchin up to the DSi.

  • Fed__X

    Posted Nov 8, 2009 5:46 pm PT

    Too much like Devil May Cry. I'm kinda done with the Japanese action titles like this. They don't seem epic anymore. I'll stick to the Fighters and RPG's though.

  • mariokart64fan

    Posted Nov 8, 2009 2:01 pm PT

    im a roust.. do not expect any current console to exceed what ps2 sales or ps1 sales , b ecause 1 games are more expensive and theirs less rpgs , , thats the main reason ps2 ds ps1 all sold over 100 million nes sold 80 million followed by snes 60 and wii 55+ wii did not stall , it just slowed . theres a big difference it only stalled 10 thousand , that is not much for sony to celebrate dont forget nintendo for 3 yrs striaght out sold ps3 2 to 1 some times even 3 to 4 to 1 , so its not nothing to celebrate us sales are about even so , , wii is still on track , , may not get 100 , but im sure itll get near nes sell mark , its already at 60 ,, , which is snes sale mark , and what console after snes besiides gba ds was nintendo ever sellling more then 30 k . the point here is the wii is nintendos first succesfull console since snes , 360 is ms in its own rights first success ful microsoft console , , as far as the hd market is concerned, but that will change once ps3 over takes it it will not over take wii , thats a dream that wont come true because of the 3 yr 3 to 1 advantage nintendo had , ,

  • Doolum

    Posted Nov 8, 2009 3:36 am PT

    awesome.

  • coldsauce09

    Posted Nov 7, 2009 5:05 pm PT

    bayonetta is awesome!!! i prefer it rather than getting GOW3 and ninja gaiden.

  • HerbalVideogame

    Posted Nov 7, 2009 11:12 am PT

    Bayonetta looks so rad. DMC dev team, on Sega, even more radness! DS and PS2 greatest systems of all time!

  • Fernicum

    Posted Nov 7, 2009 9:10 am PT

    What the Playstation first did was...?

    sell at a loss.

    Yep, selling videogame consoles at a loss was unprecendented until Sony joined in with their Playstation console.

    http://www.edge-online.com/magazine/the-making-of-playstation?page=0%2C3

  • Jhoalot

    Posted Nov 7, 2009 9:04 am PT

    @im-a-roustabout

    i'm not saying that, there is other people saying that ms and sony lost $ for every console selled,that is a stupid thing!

  • Fernicum

    Posted Nov 7, 2009 8:47 am PT

    The 10 year console lifespan is not unprecedented. The Gameboy was introduced in 1989. It's successor won't be released until 2001. The PS2 was introduced in 2000. It's successor would be introduced in 2006. Support for the PS2 would be extended but the Sony intended to replace it with the PS3.

    Following the computation of support for the PS2 as a 10 year life cycle then the NES would have the longest being introduced in 1985 and officially retired by Nintendo in 2007.

  • im-a-roustabout

    Posted Nov 7, 2009 7:19 am PT

    @Jhoalot

    MS and Sony do lose money for every console they sell. I don't think that's the case anymore now of course, but typically when a console is first released they lose money untill they figure out a way to produce them cheaper. Just google it, it's true.

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