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Sony PS3 catching up to Wii in Japanese sales (reuters.com)

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Despite MGS4 giving PS3 a bump, Wii sales still annihilated it!

Gothic Girl | July 03, 2008 | News | Playstation 3 Wii

This is sad news for Playstation 3 owners who were hoping that the console's biggest exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4 would give the PS3 a much-needed boost in sales. It seems that, despite MGS4's popularity, the Wii still managed to double the sales of PS3 for the month of June.
This is especially depressing for PS3 owners since Nintendo didn't release any first-party Wii titles in June, let alone any big titles.

It takes more than a big time PS3 exclusive like Metal Gear Solid 4 to beat Nintendo. Way more. While MGS4 did give Sony a bump in sales, it wasn't enough, and the Wii outsold the PS3 in June. This is the seventh consecutive month that the Wii has come out on top in The Land of the Rising Sun. For those interested in the number crunching, data from Famitsu publisher Enterbrain has the Wii moving 235,990 consoles during June, while the PS3 shifted 139,494 consoles. In short: Even without a new, huge blockbuster title, Nintendo still sold 59 percent more machines than Sony. Guess Metal Gear Solid 4 didn't drive Japanese hardware sales as Sony had hoped.

News Story attached to:

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots [PS3]

23 comments | go to source (kotaku.com) | Add to favorites!

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Comments

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0 thumbs!
BlackLabel | July 03, 2008

It's hardly depressing, like with all statistics there are an infinate number of ways you can read them. This could be down to the Wii's low price or it could mean that those that wanted MGS4 bought the PS3 for other games earlier on. I know many people that bought a PS3 for MGS4 but got the console upto 4 months before its release for games like Grand Theft Auto IV and Gran Turismo 5.
- 1 thumbs!
  Gothic Girl | July 03, 2008
  
  quote
  I know many people that bought a PS3 for MGS4 but got the console upto 4 months before its release for games like Grand Theft Auto IV and Gran Turismo 5.
  The article still applies though. As said, the Nintendo has dominated the console sales for seven consecutive months. Almost a year.
  
  I'd certainly said that it's sad that such a big well-hyped title like MGS4 still can't help the PS3 top the sales charts, if only for one month.
1 thumbs!
bbb7002004 | July 03, 2008

The comments section on Kotaku is far more interesting than the article. The responses range from Nintendo killing the industry to Nintendo saving the retro gamer. Its amazing the variety of posts, the vast majority of which have absolutely no bearing on the article (I'm aware of the hypocrisy) or are just too stupid to decipher.

As to the actual article, I did read one comment that seemed most correct to me. The problem isn't the Wii, or MGS4, its the PS3, namely the price. It is still far too expensive for most people to buy, especially if the only game they want for the system is MGS4. MGS4 is an excellent game, but most people aren't willing to pay $400 for it.

I figure future big releases will aid console sales more, since the price will inevitably drop down to a reasonable level, and the back catalog will be more appealing with games like MGS4 waiting for new adopters.
- 0 thumbs!
  Gothic Girl | July 03, 2008
  
  quote
  MGS4 is an excellent game, but most people aren't willing to pay $400 for it.
  You Americans are so lucky. I would love to have paid only $400 for a PS3. $400 sounds like a fantastic price when you compare it to what we Australians are paying
  
  Over here in Australia a 40gb PS3 is about $700. And as you can see by that link, a pre-owned 40gb PS3 is $650, and a pre-owned 60gb PS3 is $899. (don't even asked about the brand new 60gb PS3s. Before they were discontinued, they were $999.99 over here! Yes, one thousand *bleep*ing dollars!)
  
  And before anyone asks about our exchange rate, the Australian dollar is equivalent to about 90-95 American cents, so we're paying exactly double the price for our consoles. It's *bleep*ing ridiculous.
  - 0 thumbs!
    Gutter_Tech | July 04, 2008
    
    sux to be an ausie...... no offence intended
- -2 thumbs!
  Final Blade | July 03, 2008
  
  _{Considering the fact that I made an article about the PS3's getting the new 65nm RSX Graphics chips which are smaller, the price of the PS3 should come down probably around November when the Holiday season comes in. I don't see the price coming down earlier though.}
  - -1 thumbs!
    Gothic Girl | July 04, 2008
    
    Even if the PS3's price does come down, Australians will still be paying double the price than Americans for it.
0 thumbs!
Agrias | July 03, 2008

$400? How much is that in euros? Here they cost 499 euros...I think euro is more valuable than dollar!
- 0 thumbs!
  slumpy monkey | July 03, 2008
  
  It is, So is the pound.
  
  The dollar is quite weak atm.
3 thumbs!
Koloth | July 03, 2008

I don't know why anyone would think this is sad or unexpected really. Yes price is a factor in addition to the Wii's strange fad following. Frankly I never expected the PS3 to beat the Wii at all. Not until the strange obsession with owning one slows down. The Wii still literally sells out within 24 hours of shipping in most areas.

Now to be honest I would be more interested in seeing the PS3 to 360 sales. The Wii has just been ridiculous from the get go. But the 360 and the PS3 is a more interesting contest. The battle for second between comparable hardware.
- 1 thumbs!
  drpunk | July 03, 2008
  
  Not worth posting for Japan.
  
  360 probably shifted 3 consoles, 4 at a push.
  
  The only area that Sony and Microsoft can really compete for is Europe.
  - 0 thumbs!
    Gutter_Tech | July 04, 2008
    
    lets not forget the 360 and ps3 battle is going on in the US too
- 2 thumbs!
  Akira_EX | July 03, 2008
  
  Yeah, Wii vs. PS3 is really the only thing that can be observed in Japan. The 360 is a non-factor in Japan, and the DS already destroyed the PSP.
  - 0 thumbs!
    Drogo Baggins | July 03, 2008
    
    wow, really? I knew that the original Xbox wasn't popular in Japan, but the 360 as well? That's interesting.
    - 2 thumbs!
      Akira_EX | July 03, 2008
      
      The 360 hasn't even broken a million in Japan.
-1 thumbs!
Sereph | July 03, 2008

Lol at the Wii fanboy who submitted the article. How many software units did the Wii move this month? A couple thousand? How many software units did the PS3 move? A few million?

Give me a *bleep*ing break.
- 0 thumbs!
  bbb7002004 | July 03, 2008
  
  Actually, plenty of Wii software has done well in Japan. Perhaps not this particular month, but several games lately have seen excellent sales on the system.
  
  Lol at the Wii hater who has to bring an arbitrary comparison into a completely unrelated topic.
- 0 thumbs!
  Akira_EX | July 03, 2008
  
  Cute.
  
  Going solely by Media Create top ten numbers from the past four weeks (including this week):
  Wii Software Top Ten Sales: ~732k
  PS3 Software Top Ten Sales: ~677k
  
  Again to keep in mind, this is just games in the top ten; Media Create only provides rankings for 11-50, with no numbers. Each week, there are more Wii games than PS3 games in the top 50.
  
  Thusly, Wii software sales > PS3 software sales.
  
  Oh, and MGS4 sales amount to 567k of those 677k sales. It's set to drop out of the top ten next week.
  - 0 thumbs!
    Fatal Error | July 03, 2008
    
    MGS4 sold over 470k in its first four days in Japan, so I don't see how those numbers could be even remotely accurate.
    - 0 thumbs!
      Akira_EX | July 03, 2008
      
      MGS4 Weekly numbers, from Media Create, through GPara, because MC doesn't keep previous weeks on their site:
      
      06/09-06/15: ~465k (debut week)
      06/16-06/22: ~68k
      06/23-06/29: ~34k
      Japan LTD: ~567k
      
      It's really frontloaded, like most games are. There's not enough weeks to tell if it has any real legs.
0 thumbs!
reaver11 | July 03, 2008

Doesn't matter to me. I'll be getting a Wii soon anyways, so I'll be contributing to those says. Hoorah!
0 thumbs!
Fishlock | July 03, 2008

And the really sad part is those numbers were probably broght up by Wii Play and Wii Fit
-1 thumbs!
Dai | July 04, 2008

I'm certainly not surprised. Heh...