Japanese Six-Month Hardware Sales: PSP Leads The Pack

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Everyone, say hello to the best selling video game platform in Japan for the first half of the fiscal year: it's the handheld that nobody thought could compete with Nintendo's DS; the PSP.

According to Gamasutra and gathered statistics by Famitsu and Enterbrain, the PSP sold 1,583,731 units during the first six months of the year in question, and that brings the total number to well over 10 million (10,157,757) in the land of the Rising Sun. Not surprisingly, the DS was second with 1,314,919 units sold, and of course, still holds a substantial lead with a total of 23,484,680 units sold overall. The Wii still dominated with 1,105,174 units moved (lifetime figure of 6,800,753), the PlayStation 3 sold 352,457 (lifetime: 2,361,949), and the Xbox 360 - once again - brings up the rear with 138,740 units sold. Believe it or not, throughout its entire tenure in Japan so far, Microsoft has only sold a not-so-grand total of 741,298 consoles in Japan. But the big winner for the first half is the PSP, so break out the champagne and party favors; Sony's portable remains super popular just about everywhere.

But it's also important to mention that the Japanese market shrunk by 21.3% during the six-month period, which marks the first year-to-year interim decline in four years. On the other hand, gaming in the Western markets continues to flourish...are we looking at a shift in the balance of power? Many analysts and game designers seem to think so.

10/2/2008 Ben Dutka

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