Square Enix released Final Fantasy XIII last week, a release that, in its first four days, sold more than 1.5 million copies. But how did the competition fare with the Final Fantasy sales juggernaut vying for Japanese gamer’s yen?
Quite well, especially if you consider the competition to be New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which has sold another 568,000 copies, just a hop, skip and jump away from crossing the two million mark in Japan. And speaking of selling two million copies of something to Japanese consumers, it appears Nintendo’s other hit, Tomodachi Collection, has done just that. The Nintendo DS game once again shows off its long legs, securing third place behind Final Fantasy XIII and New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
And what games would dare go up against Square Enix? Well, clothes-ripping, breast-teasing PSP game Queen’s Blade: Spiral Chaos, which moved 50,000 copies to horny Japanese gamers in its debut week.
A handful of other competitors also made first appearances on this week’s Media Create software sales chart, highlighted below. Can you find them all?! Probably, since they’ve been bolded.
01. Final Fantasy XIII (PS3) – 1,502,000 / NEW
02. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) – 568,000 / 1,934,000
03. Tomodachi Collection (DS) – 166,000 / 2,090,000
04. Pokemon SoulSilver / HeartGold (DS) – 111,000 / 3,340,000
05. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) – 93,000 / 1,201,000
06. Inazuma Eleven 2: Fire / Blizzard (DS) – 71,000 / 808,000
07. PokePark Wii: Pikachu no Daibouken (Wii) – 71,000 / 192,000
08. Layton Kyouju to Majin no Fue (DS) – 54,000 / 496,000
09. Phantasy Star Portable 2 (PSP) – 50,000 / 412,000
10. Queen’s Blade: Spiral Chaos (PSP) – 50,000 / NEW
11. Wii Sports Resort (Wii)
12. Taiko no Tatsujin Wii Dodoon to 2 Yome! (Wii)
13. Pen 1 Grand Prix: Penguin no Mondai Special (DS)
14. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (DS)
15. Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam vs. Gundam Next Plus (PSP)
16. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
17. Naruto Shippuuden: Narutimate Accel 3 (PSP)
18. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010 (PSP)
19. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3)
20. Sengoku Musou 3 (Wii)
21. Tales of Graces (Wii)
22. Power Pro Kun Pocket 12 (DS)
23. Stitch! Ohana to Rhythm de Daibouken (DS)
24. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
25. Tamagotchi no Narikiri Channel (DS)
26. Katekyoo Hitman Reborn! DS Ore Ga Bosu! Saikyou Famiri Taisen (DS)
27. Momotarou Dentetsu 2010 Senkoku Ishin no Hero Daisyuugou ! No Ken (Wii)
28. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii)
29. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010 (PS2)
30. Metal Fight Beyblade: Bakutan Cyber Pegasus (DS)
Adrian Verna
Friday, December 25, 2009 at 5:49 PMAnd here I was thinking this had something to do with FFXIIIVersus.
Oh well, I’m still glad to see FFXIII and NSMBW doing well in Japan :)
Jay
Saturday, December 26, 2009 at 12:17 PMDitto to Adrain.
I nearly didn’t click on it thinking it would have been some screenshot releases or something.
1.5 million is well, impressive right?
Andrew
Saturday, December 26, 2009 at 6:36 PMNot quite
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=8671
Final Fantasy X: 1.8 million first week
Final Fantasy X-2: 1.5 million first week
Final Fantasy XII: 1.76 million first week
Considering this is the first true next generation FF game I’m guessing they will be happy with the sales, but they could have been happier. But yeah with the economy in the shape that it is, it was probably to be expected that sales may be down somewhat. 1.5 million in the first week is still a phenomenal number and squaresoft should be extremely happy with those figures, it’s just that FF games have done better.
Jay
Sunday, December 27, 2009 at 1:24 PMWow. You are so right.
And no, i wouldn’t blame the economy in any way.
I’m pretty sure the Japs have been pre-ordering this game for years now. I may be wrong, but i’m sure games are selling better in their first week/month than what they used to.
Games back in the day used to sell better over time. Some games continue to do this and Nintendo are good at doing that with their games – but you do find more games selling most of their stuff at launch.
I would say, with the way the industry is now, more people rush to get a game on launch and first week. So comparing 1.5million to the other FF’s (even though 1.5 is great for a PS3 game) it is fairly dim. Especially with how well the PS3 has been taking off and it IS a FF game. Not only that, you probably still have the die-hard FF fans from back in the 90s but also newcomers that only got a console this generation and thought “Oh Final Fantasy, thats popular, gotta get it!”
But i suppose we could always fall back on the excuse,
“Well it is the Japs” the one ethnic group that are impossible to predict.