Japanese January Sales: Nintendo Over Sony

Nintendo has jumped out to an early lead in Japan, as the Wii is by far the most popular console. The latest sales figures provided by Enterbrain reveal January's numbers, and they're to be expected: during the month, Nintendo sold about 405,000 Wiis, which is way ahead of Sony's PS3 (148,000) and PS2 (111,000), and Microsoft's Xbox 360 (40,000).

As of right now, Nintendo has sold a grand total of 1,395,000 Wiis worldwide, while Sony has only managed about 614,000 PS3s. However, the PS3 has yet to launch in PAL territories (the system release is scheduled for March), and the severe lack of PS3s in Japan certainly contributed to the lower sales numbers. In stark contrast to the U.S., Sony has had difficulty delivering PS3s to Japan over the past couple of months, while the reverse is true for the Nintendo Wii in the U.S. (none to be found) and Japan (you can get 'em).

Still, it was Nintendo's other system that took the sales crown in January. The DS sold about 700,000 units, as it continues to dominate the handheld market despite another strong showing by the PSP, at 230,000 units. As for software, the DS wins again (Dragon Quest Monsters Joker sold 400k alone), but Wii Sports is still immensely popular, selling 350k copies. Most expect the game to be the Wii's first million-seller, but then again, it's not that difficult when the game comes packaged with the console.

For comments by Enterbrain's president on the current console race, click here.

2/7/2007 Ben Dutka