This year isn’t over. There are still months to go. But according to Famitsu publisher, Nintendo didn’t own the first six months of this year. Other years, sure, but not this one.
In a recently released report, Nintendo tumbled to the number two spot for Japanese software sales, dropping from ¥21.5 billion (US$283 million) to ¥14.9 ($196 million). In 2010, Nintendo was numero uno.
This year, Namco Bandai jumped to first place, going from ¥11.8 billion ($155 million) to ¥17.7 billion ($234 million) thanks to strong sales across all platforms, including the 3DS, the DS, the PSP, the Wii, and the PS3. Bandai Namco did not post strong sales on the Xbox 360 in Japan.
Coming in third was Konami, followed by Capcom and Square Enix.
Since Namco Bandai releases its games on a variety of platforms, it’s not surprising to see the game maker take the top spot. What is surprising is that Nintendo, which only releases its games on Nintendo hardware, was able to be king of the hill for so long.
Like I said, there are still a few months to go. Namco Bandai and Nintendo are running neck and neck.
2011年度上半期メーカー別ソフト販売金額TOP20 [Famitsu]
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