Japanese Hardware Sales Slow Down For the Second Consecutive Week

This week's Japanese chart results are in, and show that the slow software release schedule in the past couple of weeks is causing a hit on hardware sales across the board. Only the PSP enjoyed a small boost, which can be attributed to the fact that this week's number one is for Sony's ageing handheld.

The software chart sees Tomodachi Collection: New Life slip off the top spot for the first time since release, but it's already accumulated nearly one million physical unit sales — it's likely to have easily surpassed that total thanks to download copies. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon and Animal Crossing: New Leaf continue their own consistent performance.

1. [PSP] Summon Night 5 – 105,511 (New)
2. [3DS] Tomodachi Collection: New Life – 63,055 (925,108)
3. [3DS] Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon – 20,304 (712,225)
4. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf – 16,492 (3,217,351)
5. [PS3] Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse – 12,373 (New)
6. [PS3] Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen – 8,759 (178,755)
7. [3DS] Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission – 4,539 (189,056)
8. [Wii] Taiko Drum Master Wii Super Wonderful Edition – 4,351 (477,739)
9. [3DS] New Super Mario Bros. 2 – 3,851 (2,028,663)
10. [3DS] Mario Kart 7 – 3,354 (2,051,201)
11. [PS3] Tomb Raider – 3,276 (57,397)
12. [3DS] Run For Money: Flee From the Strongest Hunters in History – 3,033 (486,038)
13. [PSV] Photo Kano Kiss – 2,807 (46,167)
14. [PSP] Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2013 – 2,577 (146,135)
15. [3DS] Taiko Drum Master: Chibi Dragon and the Mysterious Orb – 2,567 (485,981)
16. [3DS] Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Best Price!) – 2,534 (307,473)
17. [PS3] Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 – 2,532 (125,507)
18. [PSP] Seven Dragon 2020 II – 2,324 (104,473)
19. [Wii U] New Super Mario Bros. U – 2,237 (512,244)
20. [NDS] Pokemon Black 2 / White 2 – 2,168 (3,005,619)

As we said at the start of this article, hardware has shown a notable drop for the second successive week; the 3DS is still dominant in terms of the sales that have come through, while the Wii U continues to slumber as it awaits new software.

3DS LL/XL – 24,123 (33,351)
3DS – 13,001 (16,412)
PlayStation 3 – 10,948 (12,793)
PlayStation Vita – 10,931 (12,331)
PSP – 6,524 (6,360)
Wii U – 6,037 (7,974)
Wii – 1,143 (1,506)
Xbox 360 – 349 (485)

The Japanese games scene is enduring a quiet spell at present, then, proving the well-worn concept that games sell systems; more tellingly that means those that are actually on the shelves, rather than calendars and wishlists.