It's time for our weekly dose of Media Create charts out of Japan, and this week's results bring a couple of key developments, with Nintendo's rivals benefiting from a major release.
In the software stakes The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D has enjoyed a reasonable second week in sales, holding second place in the charts. The notable new arrival in top spot is Bandai Namco's God Eater 2: Rage Burst; though it's also available on PS4, it's the portable iteration on Vita that's stormed into first place, further reinforcing the fact that portable gaming is King in Japan.
The top 20 is below, with lifetime sales in brackets.
- [PSV] God Eater 2: Rage Burst – 234,180 (New)
- [3DS] The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D – 71,181 (302,246)
- [PS4] God Eater 2: Rage Burst – 37,824 (New)
- [PS4] The Order: 1886 – 25,023 (New)
- [PS4] Dead or Alive 5: Last Round – 24,457 (New)
- [3DS] Yokai Watch 2: Shinuchi – 17,738 (2,497,462)
- [PS3] Dragon Ball Xenoverse – 12,211 (72,838)
- [PS3] Dead or Alive 5: Last Round – 11,271 (New)
- [3DS] Pokemon Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire – 11,256 (2,525,177)
- [PS3] Samurai Warriors 4-II – 8,936 (53,510)
- [3DS] Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate – 7,910 (2,478,064)
- [3DS] Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS – 7,860 (2,157,653)
- [PS4] Dragon Ball Xenoverse – 7,239 (54,442)
- [PSV] Otoko Yukaku – 7,083 (New)
- [PSV] Samurai Warriors 4-II – 5,223 (28,742)
- [PSV] Hakuoki Zuisouroku Omokage Hana – 5,154 (New)
- [Wii U] Super Smash Bros. for Wii U – 4,881 (592,794)
- [Wii U] Mario Kart 8 – 4,603 (921,092)
- [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf – 4,595 (3,923,419)
- [PSV] Fuuraiki 3 – 4,435 (New)
God Eater 2 has had an impact on the hardware charts, too, with Vita sales more than tripling over last week. In contrast 3DS LL (XL) has seen sales return back to normal levels after a boost following the release of Majora's Mask 3D. The Wii U, unfortunately, continues to struggle; results are below with last week's sales in brackets.
- PlayStation Vita – 35,203 (10,901)
- PlayStation 4 – 24,737 (21,381)
- New 3DS LL – 23,466 (41,821)
- New 3DS – 8,657 (9,584)
- Wii U – 6,070 (7,007)
- PlayStation 3 – 5,810 (6,683)
- 3DS LL – 3,343 (4,126)
- 3DS – 2,707 (3,214)
- Xbox One – 1,381 (191)
- PlayStation Vita TV – 731 (588)
The 3DS isn't often toppled in the hardware charts - if you combine all models, however, it's still technically leading - but has fallen victim to a major boost through Bandai Namco's release. With that said, Nintendo's likely to be more concerned with long-term trends rather than one-off results.
[source gematsu.com]
Comments 46
The Wii U's 7007 is from this year and not lifetime right?
Wouldn't have expected God Eater to be a system seller, but it's supposedly a great game, so why not?
Also, I can barely stop laughing at all these fools who got The Order - boy, will they be disappointed.
Even Xbox One is in the four digits this week. Not sure what caused that spike.
@DBPirate that is from last week.
@sinalefa Ah, ok.
God Eater looks like a great game. All the good PS4/Vita games stay in Japan though. Oh well, I have the real McCoy anyways. Still, I do hope they localize God Eater 2 Rage Burst. Never been able to get into another hunting game but that one looks interesting
Hardware sales in parentheses are the previous week
I am STILL curious as to why Microsoft even bothered with Japan. Even by Wii U standards, those numbers are pretty pathetic
wow,credit where credit is due. good job Sony!
@Kaze_Memaryu
I got it. It's fun, but it's nothing particularly revolutionary. Inferior to Gears of War, which did this kind of gameplay to near perfection.
I do wish people would stop twisting The Ripper into so many stories and concepts. I get we're all fascinated by the world's first truly notorious serial killer, but can we just let it go already?
@TingLz
Microsoft did successfully fill a niche in Japan last generation, and that was among shmup fanatics (as I understand it, the X360 has well over a hundred), and there was a fanbase, however small, but dedicated. Microsoft also thinks in the bigger picture, and are maintaining a brand, so there must be some good reason for them to keep it up.
Woah. Fantastic performance from the Vita. 3DS still edges it out with combined SKUs though, with total 38,173 units.
If only Capcom had put MH4G on Wii U as well... It would've been a double-whammy like this God Eater 2 business...
Nintendo should merge console and handheld as one single badass unit. They are halfway there with the Wii U. All they need to do is figure out how to get a powerhouse in a small box and make the small box dock on a larger gamepad. That would solve their woes of having to split dev teams between 3ds and Wii U and they would have an amazing solution for all territories.
Talk about a system seller. God Eater 2 must be good.
@MightyKrypto I don't see where any credit is due to Sony; it's CAPCOM'S work, not Sony's.
@sinalefa - Yeah, I was wondering about that 700% X1 bump myself, it doesn't even have a game in the top 20 either. Maybe the $50 price drop kicked in over there last week?
Wii U outsold X1 last week 35 - 1, this week 5 - 1, that can't be good for HQ morale.
Sony is gradually becoming the dominant force in Japan it seems, even the ps4 outselling the top 3ds!!! Of course this is a short term change for now but would never have been the case in the last few years no matter what Sony released......worrying!!
@ULTRA-64 lol....just look again an add all the different 3DS models....then Nintendo is back on top again!....I always find weird why they report sles like this. Is not like they split Vita between the old OLED screen and the new screen. Is not like in the past they split the PS3 different versions (main difference been hard-drive sizes). Anything to make Sony happy in Japan I guess....
I hope God Eater 2: Rage Burst ends up getting localized. Other than some smaller titles and Danganronpa: Another Episode, this year looks particularly slow for my Vita.
@garthvader
I agree. They HAVE to do a hybrid console/handheld unit next time. That'll be the thing to keep them going strong. Like a smaller version of the gamepad that is completely portable and having some kind of device to stream it onto TV. Plus making a way for everyone to transfer over their VC games again.
@Mus1cLov3r
Eh? god Eater 2 isn't a Capcom game.
And yes Sony deserve credit for getting as good, popular third-party game. Something they find quite easy yet seems beyond Nintendo.
XboxOne is doomed! lol
@TingLz pathetic? Probably. But that's 1300 more Xbox One owners that Microsoft didn't have last week. It's sort of how I look at the Wii U and it's overall situation in the marketplace.
@Quorthon Not saying it's bad, but defintely not worth the launch price. It's good when you can still have fun with a game, but The Order is a huge letdown for almost everyone (like AC Unity, just with less bugs and less gameplay).
@rjejr Japan just got the Halo Master Chief Collection, bundled with a special white Xbox One and a $100~ price drop.
It's pretty much the same value as November in NA, when the Xbox One was $350 with two games. Only... the Xbox One sold over 2 million consoles in America in November. So Japan's 1,300 is still pretty much dead in the water.
Wow go Vita! This further proves the point that software drives hardware.
Looking forward to see Wii U's number when xenoblade X hits.
I also always wanted to try God Eater....but I'm already playing Monster Hunter 4. .....
@CaviarMeths - Thanks. I suppose if the top 20 list was a top 30 Halo would probably be around 25 or so and new so I might have been able to figure out it caused the sales spike. I know X1 is dead in Japan, which is why I was so surprised it had a 700% sales jump that almost brought it into Wii U territory, which must be very bad for Wii U self esteem.
@rjejr I don't know if I'd consider almost 500% difference in sales "almost Wii U territory."
@JaxonH we got the 1st on PSP and if i recall we are (UK/EU dunno bout US) getting it but only on PS4.
@Kaze_Memaryu
The gameplay is super solid and the presentation is incredible. I'm not very far in, so I can't judge the story yet, but my first impressions is that it's a solid, if unoriginal title. Kind of a typical "early gen" title in that it pushes the technology and graphics, but falls a little short on the gameplay, rather like New Super Mario U. Lots of new graphics and touch-screen nonsense, but overall unoriginal and a little flat.
I'll finish The Order maybe this weekend as I hear it isn't particularly long, and then go back to Far Cry 4.
By the way, if any of you have PS4 or Vita and want a cool Metroidvania title, Rogue Legacy is incredibly fun and addictive. I don't know how I did it with so little free time, but somehow I crammed over 20 hours into that in just a couple weeks.
@BacktoNarnia
Not to worry, the Vita has 117 games slated for 2015 so far. What will actually get on your nerves is the small memory cards.
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2015/02/12/2015-video-game-release-schedule.aspx
@Quorthon It's not so much the number of games that I'm concerned about. There are a lot of great games launching this year for the Vita, but unfortunately the majority of them are also launching on PS4. When given the choice between the two, most of the time I pick the PS4 version over the handheld. I'm really hoping for more unique, immersive Vita experiences.
@CaviarMeths - "4 figures" And it puts the Wii U a whole lot closer to X1 than PS4, and that's certainly not the comparison anyone wants, not even Microsoft.
Maybe Wii U needs a price drop? Though I don't expect 1 w/ MP10, XCX and Splatoon coming out over the next few months. Maybe an E3 surprise?
Are the game numbers lifetime Japan or lifetime worldwide?
sooo... what sells is sex and monster hunter, apparently.
@Tsurii897 "wow,credit where credit is due. good job Sony!"
@electrolite77 Ah, didn't know that...
Sony deserves absolutely no credit for a developer making a game on their console; all credit is due to Bandai Namco (did I get it right, this time?)
Wow, those numbers for most systems are terrible.
@BacktoNarnia
Ahh, I see what you're saying. I do a kind of pick-and-choose with those. If it "feels" like a portable game to just pick up and play on the Vita, I get it there, otherwise, most go to the PS4 since it has (for now) more storage space. Like Rogue Legacy--felt more natural on the Vita, and because of that, I've somehow crammed over 20 hours into that already.
@Hero-of-WiiU
Japan is actually one of the smaller gaming markets. Japan has 127 million people compared to over 500 million in North America and 500 million in the European Union. North America buys more games than anyone else, which makes these numbers from Japan look really small.
They're more like "small for Japan" since console sales are down compared to the previous generation as Japan's population spends more time on public transportation.
@Kaze_Memaryu
God Eater is a damn good game. But really just a Monster Hunter clone. Just got my PS4 when I found out it was coming to console.
Now if only God Eater 2 would come to America, especially after the first one was so great! Did the original sell poorly here or something? It seems to be massively popular in Japan, it even got its own anime.
Okay. Im guessing People like God Eater 2.
Less than 300k copies between both versions? That's less than half of what I was expecting, to be honest. I can't see the PS4 version ever hitting 20k + again, but the Vita could take it to a million.. maybe.
Even in Japan, Vita is pretty underwhelming.
@TomKnows It obviously is, but I think it was necessary. Monster Hunter was starting to define its own niché, and God Eater came around when Monster Hunter was close to its peak. And with God Eater still being drastically different about many aspects (most importantly combat and story), it's not a blatant clone at least.
I wonder if Mario Kart 8's May-DLC will bring a spike in its sales and make it reach over 1 million sold.
god what now
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