Sales figures are typically pretty boring! Except for when, they’re interesting. And by interesting, I mean telling. Recently, Sony held the PlayStation Awards in Japan. This is a publicity stunt — and usually a dull one at that — in which Sony gives awards to those domestic studios which sell a certain number of units, such as over a million and between half a million and a million.
Platforms include the PSP, the PS Vita and the PlayStation 3, hence the name of the event.
This year, the sales figures were based on the units sold in Japan between November 1, 2011, and October 31, 2012. In previous years, the numbers were based on a similar time frame. The key difference was both the games and the game-buying audience, which is increasingly being lured away by smartphone games.
The PlayStation Awards have been held every year since 1995. As Mainichi points out, this year was the first in seventeen years that there was not a million-selling game at the PlayStation Awards. That’s right, there wasn’t a million seller on the PSP, the PS Vita, or the PS3. Meaning big games like Final Fantasy XII-2 and to a lesser extent Resident Evil 6, which was released in early October, didn’t hit that magic number. Ouch.
A year to remember for Sony, this ain’t.
レイステーションアワード ： PSソフト、ミリオンなし 初回以来17年ぶり [毎日]
「PlayStation Awards 2012」開催 [Game Watch Impress]
Top photo: Game Watch
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