Another day, another story about how the release of
Monster Hunter Portable G 2nd in Japan has caused a country-wide frenzy of consumerism. Since its release last Thursday, the game reportedly
sold out on its first day on sale, then went on to
shift over one million copies within six days.
Today, chart data from
Famitsu based on software and console sales for last week (March 24-30th) and reprinted
here shows what sort of impact the game's release has had on console sales in Japan.
Answer: a massive one.
Last week PSP actually managed to sell more units than all of its competitor consoles put together. The handheld sold approximately 139,000 units, compared to (rounded up or down) 57,000 DSs, 49,000 Wiis, 13,000 PS3s and 2,800 Xbox 360s.
The game itself unsurprisingly tops the Japanese multiformat chart. But to put it in perspective, the game in second place –
Pokémon Ranger: Batonnage – only sold an eighth of the copies
Monster Hunter managed during that week.
So Sony and Capcom will be buying all the drinks at Tokyo's many bars, although the success of
Monster Hunter in Japan (the series, including the console iterations, has managed sales in excess of six million) just shows how tastes there and in the west vary. Despite the popularity of the franchise's latest PSP outing in its domestic market, Capcom still hasn't announced plans to even release it here, where the series has far fewer fans.
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