Japanese game sales remain unchanged in 2001

Overall video game sales for the Japanese market remained virtually flat in 2001 when compared to the previous year, according to Famitsu publisher Enterbrain. A Reuters report cites data provided by the publisher, which collects sales data from 2,900 retail stores and 26,500 convenience stores across the country. The report states that video game sales in Japan stood at 468.1 billion yen ($35.2 billion) in 2001, as opposed to 467 billion yen in sales in 2000--this despite the launch of two hardware platforms from Nintendo, the GameCube and the Game Boy Advance, and the release of several high-profile games for the Sony PlayStation 2. In terms of specific hardware sales, Famitsu numbers show that Sony sold 3.6 million units of the PlayStation 2 console for the year in Japan and Nintendo sold 925,925 units of the GameCube and 4.2 million units of the Game Boy Advance in that territory.

Not surprisingly, SquareSoft's Final Fantasy X was the best selling game for the year, selling 2.3 million units to date--Gran Turismo 3, which sold 1.4 million units, was second on the list.