Summary and a Look Ahead:

With the launch of the DSi LL model this week, software sales were pretty quiet in Japan. Sony had its weakest week for software sales in several months, with only seven PS2, PS3, and PSP titles charting in Japan. Wii and DS held twelve of the top twenty spots in the preliminary data. X360 had the remaining slot – Left 4 Dead 2.

There were a handful of modest software debuts this week. Taiko 2 for Wii came in at 35,000 units, significantly less than the original title. However, the current version includes an expensive sku (~$100) so revenues are probably not down much from the original title because of the higher selling price. With legs even remotely like the original game, the Taiko sequel will sell in the thousands per week for months. Dorabase 2 (DS), Mario & Sonic 2010 (DS), and Ratchet & Clank 2 (PS3) all had fairly decent debuts as well.

The big news of the week though is the DSi LL. Before the DSi rumors and announcement came, the DS was returning to steady sales of about 50,000 units in the aftermath of a three month Dragon Quest IX + Pokemon double-whammy lift. In the weeks since, sales have been closer to 40,000. Given that 10,000 people were not buying DS over the previous weeks, and PSP Go did 28,000 units in a single day, it is not unreasonable to expect DS to be 28,000 units * 2 higher than its October average of 50,000 units per week. Thus, it looks DS hardware sales have returned to 100,000+ units this week.

In terms of preorders, New Super Mario Brothers Wii has increased impressively over the last week. Preorders now stand at about 250,000 and are increasing at a rate of 20,000 to 50,000 units per day. Tales of Graces now has over 60,000 preorders on Wii, and the two versions of Samurai Warrior 3 we have data for (out of the four skus) stand at over 45,000 units. Final Fantasy XIII has seen preorders rise to about 675,000 units.

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 22, 2009.

Software by Platform:

Wii Software – Two skus of Taiko 2 appeared with Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort in the preliminary data for Wii. The cheaper version of Taiko 2 sold 22,000 units and the bundled version which includes a Tatacon, sold 13,000 units. Wii Fit Plus (the game only sku) sold another 45,000 so the game should come in around 55,000 units overall. Wii Sports Resort sold another 18,000 units. Expect Wii hardware sales to remain in the 25,000 to 30,000 unit range for the week.

PS3 Software – Four PS3 games charted in the preliminary data. Winning Eleven was the top game for the system, though sales fell to 21,000 units. Ratchet & Clank 2 debuted at 15,000 units on the PS3 this week putting it well ahead of Dragon Ball which fell to 11,000 units. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare also charted, with sales at 6,000 units – probably as some gamers in Japan try to determine how the sequel to this title could sell so well so quickly. Expect PS3 hardware sales to fall into the 28,000 to 34,000 unit range this week.

X360 Software – Left 4 Dead 2 was the only Xbox 360 game to chart in the preliminary data. It sold 29,000 units for the week. Expect Xbox 360 hardware sales to rise into the 4,000 to 6,000 unit range for the week.

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

PSP Software – Only three PSP games charted in the preliminary data. Sega’s Pro Soccer title fell to 24,000 units after a strong debut last week. A new Armored Core debuted to sales of 12,000 units. Persona 3 fell to 7,000 units for the week. Expect PSP hardware sales to fall into the 35,000 to 45,000 unit range this week on the DSi LL launch and drop off from software released last week.

DS Software – Eight skus, across six games charted for the DS this week. Tamodatchi Collection came in at 43,000 units for the week. Dorabase 2 debuted to sales of 33,000 units. The two Pokemon skus came in at 55,000 units, with a 31,000 to 24,000 split in favor of Soul Silver. Mario & Sonic 2010 debuted to 30,000 units on DS this week. Inazuma Eleven 2 saw both skus chart this week, with the Fire version selling 14,000 units and the Blizzard version selling 20,000 units. Ocha Ken 2 debuted to sales of 11,000 units for the week. Expect DS hardware sales to rise into the 95,000 to 115,000 unit range on the DSi model debut on November 21.

Contact Vgchartz at jmazel@vgchartz.com