Demon's Souls boosts Japan PS3 sales

By Robert Purchese Published 13 February, 2009

From Software's action RPG does job.

PS3 action role-playing game Demon's Souls debuts at two in Japan this week, helping Sony's flagship console go from strength to strength in the region.

Developed by From Software (Armored Core, Enchanted Arms), Demon's Souls adopts a medieval fantasy style and follows an armoured fighter around various dingy dungeons full of baddies whose souls appear to be absorbed on death. Presumably that's got something to do with the name.

The real-time combat is quite similar to Oblivion, with thrusts and blocks and timing playing roles. We're investigating European details now.

Meanwhile, there's a beefy Demon's Souls trailer to watch on Eurogamer TV.

The only other new entry in the Japan chart for the week ending 8th February is Detective Conan & Kindachi for DS, according to Media Create data (translated on NeoGAF).

Elsewhere there's little change in the software or hardware running orders. Sales are generally down week-on-week, as the gap between PS3 and Wii slims to roughly 4,000 units.

The PS3 also counts eight top 50 games this week, which is the same as the PSP and only two behind Wii.

Xbox 360 sales are ever so slightly up - around half of the PS3 number - which isn't too bad, considering only Midnight Club: Los Angeles represents the system in the top 50. Slowly but surely Xbox 360 sales are rising across Japan.

This Week Last Week Title Platform Weekly Sales Lifetime Sales
1 1 Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 PSP 44,922 258,000
2 New entry Demon's Souls PS3 39,689 39,689
3 2 Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 PSP 37,862 147,000
4 3 Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 PS2 36,990 145,000
5 4 Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time DS 33,985 136,000
6 New entry Detective Conan & Kindachi DS 19,973 19,973
7 5 Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP the Best) PSP 17,821 398,000
8 6 Taiko: Drum Master Wii Wii 16,338 355,000
9 9 Rhythm Tengoku Gold DS 15,555 1,650,000
10 10 Wii Fit Wii 14,826 3,123,000
Platform This Week Last Week This Year Lifetime
Nintendo DS 62,013 70,760 611,709 25,731,352
PlayStation Portable 34,969 44,135 383,381 11,741,545
Nintendo Wii 20,412 23,278 264,001 7,742,902
PlayStation 3 16,082 17,405 160,683 2,783,111
Xbox 360 8311 8107 63,905 894,445
PlayStation 2 5089 5334 40,436 21,439,960
Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (21) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • menage #1 3 years ago

    Demon Souls intrigues me. On one hand it looks very nice, but the main character is so slow it kinda makes me wonder if the game doesn't control like a slow-mo PS2 game.

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #2 3 years ago

    Another few weeks and PS3 might actually outsell Wii in a week. Or sales of all consoles will drop to 0.

  • Brianstorm #3 3 years ago

    Blimey top 4 all Sony games... complete contrast to the U.S.

  • CallousB #4 3 years ago

    "Demon's Souls boosts Japan PS3 sales"

    Strange definition of boost....considering 1300 less PS3's were sold this week than last.

    As far as the PS3 going from strength to strength in the region...sales are currently lower now than they were in the same week s in 07 and 08.

    The only machine doing better than last year is the 360 (bizarre I know).

    It's not the PS3 doing better and catching up to the Wii.....it's simply the Wii dropping down to PS3 levels.
    Edited by 1 at 13/02/09 @ 15:20

  • FeralUK #5 3 years ago

    "Slowly but surely Xbox 360 sales are rising across Japan"

    Enough with your 360 bias!
    360 has failed in Japan. End of story.
    This war is between PS3 and Wii!

    /wishes Microsoft would realise this as well.

  • miiiguel #6 3 years ago

    ^ Don't understand that... Like, Arsenal should quit football ?

  • Monkey_Puncher #7 3 years ago

    Only thing of note there really is the drop off in Wii sales.

  • FeralUK #8 3 years ago

    I just wanted to make a point about eurogamer still having a glimmer of hope that 360 will still succeed in Japan.

  • miiiguel #9 3 years ago

    err... I didn't understand the "/wishes Microsoft would realise this as well.". What MS is supposed to do? Apart from leaving that market - which I think it wouldn't be good for no one.
    And they seem to be doing much better with 360 than with the Original one.

  • DrDamn #10 3 years ago

    Demon's Souls looks quite interesting. Apparently the Asian version due on 24/02 will be in English should anyone wish to import.

  • des #11 3 years ago

    Negative boost,hehe

  • systems #12 3 years ago

    @DrDamn - yes, make sure you get the Asia version (in Hong Kong English) and not the Japanese version (in Japanese Japanese).

  • GamesConnoisseur #13 3 years ago

    In response to Jigsaw, a retort could be 'PS3 is being outsold by X360 and the gap is furthering widening in USA... LOL'

    Any comments re Sony should pull out PS3 in US etc would also serves no one. Anyway PS3 is actually doing reasonably very well in USA, just in the content of head to head comparasion to Wii and X360 (see Jan sales).

    X360 never never had any chance in Japanese market as despite the contrary views, Japanese tends to follow Japanese's products far more than any other. Ipod is the exception and not the norm. X360 did reasonably well against all expectations and bettering the first xbox, and I hope they continue to serve a small and cultish following.

    Demon's Souls look good and certainly dead keen to get it from the shots/clips, hope EG will be able to confirm when expected in Europe.

  • Triggerhappytel #14 3 years ago

    I like the sound of Demon's Souls; will definitely be one to check out when it comes out here in 2011. It reminds me of Folklore a bit, which I love.

  • Widge #15 3 years ago

    I'm keeping Demon's Soul on my radar.

  • Olemak #16 3 years ago

    Taiko Drum Master sounds pretty cool.

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #17 3 years ago

    I would have preferred Demon Soul to Ninja Blade. Seems the Japs do too.

    Not sure what they expected releasing a game that already has the definitive equivalent on the 360 in NG2.

    I'm sure these companies don't have a clue sometimes.

  • Raziel #18 3 years ago

    Will most likely be importing this soon.

  • DutchDemons #19 3 years ago

    this is the 3rd time in a row that EG give a headline to this type of news that totally does not fit the actual figures...:-)

    somewhat amusing...as this indicates either poor comprehension of facts, or a bias towards a system....which seems unlikely as you've been accused of being pro-everything to my knowledge.

  • Doctor_What #20 3 years ago

    Wait... Which system is EG supposed to be biased towards? I keep on losing track. :D

    It's good to see the PS3 making some headway in the region. It's nice that the 360 hasn't completely wiped out, but it's still only selling 3k more units than the PS2! I'm impressed by how much progress MS has made in Japan with the 360, but I don't think that they will win any friends if they drop the 360 for a new machine in a couple of years. That kind of stratey might lose them some of the people they're winning over at the moment.

    Japan remains an interesting market to keep an eye on.

  • ElNino9 #21 3 years ago

    Good week for the Playstation brand.