Summary and a Look Ahead:

What a week! Japan had not only big software launch this week, but a price cut (X360 Elite), and a new hardware model (PSP Go). The following titles sold over 100,000 this week according to the preliminary data: Persona 3 Portable (PSP), Hikari no 4 Senshi: Final Fantasy Gaiden (DS), Bayonetta (PS3), Tekken 6 (PS3). Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver (DS) was right on the 100,000 line. Wii Fit Plus continues to hover between 75,000 and 100,000 too. Tekken 6 and Bayonetta both performed fairly well on X360 as well. Combined with several other titles selling over 20,000 units for the week, it was simply a great week for the Japanese video game industry. With only twenty slots revealed to us early, a lot of content that probably sold at decent rates didn’t even make the early data. Dragon Quest IX, Rune Factory 3, Wii Sports Resort, Forza 3, Uncharted 2 and a few others probably topped 10,000 units for the week but simply didn’t chart in the preliminary data.

Final Fantasy XIII preorders continue to rise steadily and are now a bit over 450,000 units in Japan. Winning Eleven 2010 is really the only PS3 title with a notable amount of preorders now that Tekken 6 and Bayonetta are out, so it will be interesting to see how the PS3 performs over November with a bit of a gap between major content releases. Wii has a steadier string of small releases punctuated by New Super Mario Brothers. Tales of Grace preorders are about 40,000 now, and it remains the most preordered Wii game in Japan. Samurai Warriors 3 has entered the bottom of the chart, with preorders of 12,000.

Understanding the Japanese Preview:

Rather than saying x game for y platform sold between 20,000 and 28,000 units as in the past, the preliminary data will be broken down into charts by platform. Within these charts, there will two additional categories besides the rounded sales figure under ‘sales’. On the left will be ‘low end’ depicting the lowest amount the title likely sold for the week, while to the right will be ‘high end’ depicting the highest amount the title likely sold for the week. As always, this data is preliminary, and therefore, not final, but it is based on a sample. The varying platform market share the sample represents is why consistent sellers like Wii Fit do not always appear in the preliminary data. Sales for this report are for the week ending November 1, 2009.

Software by Platform:

Wii Software - The Wii had two games chart in the preliminary data. Wii Fit Plus (the edition without a balance board) sales increased slightly, to 76,000 for the week. Super Robot Taisen Neo debuted to sales of 39,000 units for the week. Sin & Punishment 2 didn’t chart, but should end up around 8,000 units for the week. Wii Sports Resort will probably come in around 20,000 in the final data, and the balance board + Wii Fit Plus package probably sold another 10,000-15,000 units – but none of these titles and skus charted for the week. With the new releases and activity of the market this week expect Wii hardware sales to remain in the 24,000 to 28,000 unit range.

PS3 Software – Three PS3 games across four skus charted in the preliminary data. Bayonetta had a strong debut for Sega, coming in at 144,000 units for the week. Tekken 6 and the Tekken 6 Collector’s Box totaled 121,000 units for the PS3. Samurai Duo Plus debuted to sales of 7,000 units for the week. Expect PS3 hardware sales to rise into the 35,000 to 40,000 unit range for the week – mainly on Bayonetta as with Street Fighter and Soul Calibur titles the PS3 already has an established fighting game audience.

X360 Software – Two X360 games charted in the preliminary data. Bayonetta essentially sold out on X360 – with sales at 57,000 units for the week. Tekken 6 (the main edition only) sold 27,000 units for the week. The Xbox 360 Elite also had a price cut this week in Japan. Expect Xbox 360 hardware sales to rise into the 8,000 to 12,000 unit range on Bayonetta and the price cut.

PS2 Software – No PS2 games charted in the preliminary data. Expect PS2 hardware sales to remain in the 1,500 to 3,500 unit range.

PSP Software – Sony launched the PSP Go on the last day of the week in Japan. As a result, software sales were relatively quiet. Persona 3 Portable did quite well – 113,000 units but it will likely fall off sharply. Dissidia: Final Fantasy Universal Tuning debuted to sales of 27,000 units. Dynasty Warriors and the latest Pro Yakyuu title both came in at 8,000 units for the week. Expect PSP hardware sales to rise into the 50,000 to 65,000 unit range on the PSP Go/Persona 3 debuts.

DS Software – The DS had another strong week for software. Final Fantasy Gaiden and Pokemon both topped 100,000 units for the week. Tamodatchi Collection sold another 42,000 units for the week in third place. Only one sku of Inazuma Eleven 2 charted, but combined both titles should be right around 40,000 units. Grand Theft Auto: China Town Wars debuted to 8,000 units on DS as did Fresh Precure. Shin Megami Tensei fell to 9,000 units for the week. Dragon Quest IX and Rune Factory 3 – neither of which charted – should end up between 10,000 and 15,000 units in the final data. Expect DS hardware sales to rise into the 52,000 to 57,000 unit range for the week.

Contact Vgchartz at jmazel@vgchartz.com