Japan charts: Dragon Quest IX rules roost

By Robert Purchese Published 24 August, 2009

While Xbox 360 moves above PS3.

Dragon Quest IX has mustered 126,682 sales to soar back to the top of the Japanese chart, according to Media Create data for the week ending 16th August.

Its performance helps DSi and DS Lite combine to 95,857 units sold, which is just over double that of the nearest challenger Wii, which sold 47,732 consoles.

Wii champion Monster Hunter Tri holds on at four and hits a lifetime milestone of 750,000 units.

DS game Tomodachi Collection (Friend Collection) takes two this week, followed by Wii Sports Resort at three and SD Gundam G Generation Wars (PS2) at five.

The PSP is Japan's third most popular console with 39,882 units sold. Fourth, surprisingly, is Xbox 360 with 9162 consoles shifted. PS3 and PS2 are almost neck-and-neck with 5994 and 4907 units sold, respectively.

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 (36) Latest comment 3 years ago

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

  • The-Bodybuilder #1 3 years ago

    I see.

  • Gaol #2 3 years ago

    Not really that surprising given the new model of PS3 comes out next week.
    Edited by 1 at 24/08/09 @ 10:44

  • NotSoSlim #3 3 years ago

    Plus not suprising as apparently Japan has been low on stock of ps3'S for a few weeks. Anyway its only numbers

  • miiiguel #4 3 years ago

    Perhaps not surprising the PS3 numebers, though 360 selling almost the double then last week, is. Or maybe some of those weird games for the system came out.

  • El-Dev #5 3 years ago

    Or maybe Miiiguel, just maybe, Japanese people are waiting for the new model of the PS3 to come out.

  • myiagros #6 3 years ago

    Nothing to see here PS3's have been widely unavailable in Japan for the last few weeks (due to retaills clearing out out stock for the new Slim model).

  • woodnotes #7 3 years ago

    @ El-Dev "Or maybe Miiiguel, just maybe, Japanese people are waiting for the new model of the PS3 to come out."

    You didn't read his post, did you.

  • Beek4257 #8 3 years ago

    @El-dev:
    Shoot first, read post later ...

  • Dizzy #9 3 years ago

    Yea there were only 5000 PS3s available in the whole of Japan.

    Or then again.. maybe there have not been any games available that people want for PS3.

    I see shelf space for Wii and DS in Japan. Almost nothing for 360 and PS3.

  • Erebu #10 3 years ago

    @ donnie080208

    Because the retail is cleaning out the stock of old PS3s to make room for the Slim.

  • Goodfella #11 3 years ago

    @ donnie080208

    You really believe every retarded comment you make don't you?

    Working in retail myself it's pretty clear Sony have depleted stocks of current PS3's to make way for the slim. We haven't had a single PS3 in stock for about 2 weeks now.

  • nasanu #12 3 years ago

    Dizzy
    "I see shelf space for Wii and DS in Japan. Almost nothing for 360 and PS3. "

    Thats not what I see. All stores I go into have solid sections for the PS3/360. Nintendo usually has better positioning, but the presence of the other two is respectable.

  • Goodfella #13 3 years ago

    How the hell have 360 sales doubled that of the PS3 in your crazy little world?

  • Dizzy #14 3 years ago

    >but the presence of the other two is respectable.

    If by respectable you mean four times smaller than yes.

  • GreyBeard #15 3 years ago

    Objectively speaking, if FXIII and GT5 can't spark the Japanese HD console market to life - it aint going to happen.

    There certainly is no property that MS controls that has anything like the same pedigree as a box-shifter in that territory. So its hard to see how they can make any further headway in the region.

  • KDR_11k #16 3 years ago

    Yes it's just a temporary dip for the PS3 but I bet you if the Wii had a dip like that even for one week all gaming sites would scream "the fad is over! The Wii is dead!"

  • EvilBob_leeds #17 3 years ago

    Donnie, listen. I know you think you're some kind of maveric, and you're doing these boards some kind of service, but really you aren't. Your posts aren't getting marked down because they make some point too profound for the rest of us to understand, they're getting marked down because they're drivel. Baseless, brainless drivel. They read like you're an ADHD riddled 12 year old, who for some reason is being forced to type with boxing gloves on.

    Regretably Farticus Maximus was, and in all likelyhood still is a total fucking moron. He trolled for reasons best known to himself, and was usually an unwelcome presense. If you've got an interesting point to make, please make it. But we get that you don't like the PS3, and, as you can probably tell by your ratings, we're not fucking interested.
    Edited by 1 at 24/08/09 @ 13:03

  • makeamazing #18 3 years ago

    Donnie you just make yourself look silly with the fanboy ranting.

    It was advertised on a number of sites about two weeks ago (even with Pictures ;) of no stock of PS3 in many of the Japanese stores. Do you think the correlation of no sales maybe has something to do with no stock and many people already knowing that the PS3 slim was on its way.

    Of course if after the release date for the slim the PS3 sales are still as bad as the Xbox, then please rant away, but use a bit of common sense first.

  • EvilBob_leeds #19 3 years ago

    Oh quit your bitching, you ponce. You acted like a trolling cock and you know it.
    Edited by 1 at 24/08/09 @ 13:29

  • TheStatics #20 3 years ago

    Japanese sales wise, I always see it as simple as:

    360 - Probably selling as MS expected it do, not great but an improvement on the Xbox (what wouldn't have been!).
    PS3 - So far, I've no doubt Sony are massively down on where they thought they would be.
    Wii - Exceeded all expectations I'm sure.

    I know the Japanese like their gadgets but I think it will be stretching it to suggest that the new slim model will have a revolutionary impact on PS3 sales.

    Note - I have a 360 and PS3 and have previously owned a Wii... Just before I get some ill-informed anger aimed towards me!
    Edited by 1 at 24/08/09 @ 13:34

  • groovychainsaw #21 3 years ago

    360 and PS3 have been neck and neck in japan for a long while now. The reason for the dip for the PS3 is certainly due to the low stock of ps3s there (and then, the subsequent PS3 slim announcement). Although, as someone else mentioned, the rise in xbox 360 this week seems a bit odd? Anything come out/get announced over in japan this week?

  • Bazfrag #22 3 years ago

    Have to agree with Evil Bob.

    Farticus actually put me off joining EG, and i joined after i presumed he was perma banned. I'm not happy hes still here to be honest. Seems you can troll and insult anyone and the mods are like "whatever"

    However don't counter him (or the other ft trolls) with insults, or you lose the highground somewhat.

    Edit. Lol im getting negative karma. Whodda thunkit? :)



    Edited by 2 at 24/08/09 @ 13:56

  • Bazfrag #23 3 years ago

    No thanks, i've witnessed your reasoned debates before. Usually ends up with the other party being called a cunt.

    Bah im out of this.

    On Topic. Those are slow numbers for all again. Luckily Japan is apparently out of recession, so maybe things will pick up.
    Edited by 1 at 24/08/09 @ 14:08

  • el_pollo_diablo #24 3 years ago

    I didn't expect this thread to be such a goldmine.

    edit- :D
    Edited by 1 at 24/08/09 @ 14:24

  • SwedBear #25 3 years ago

    Actually Nick. You are getting voted down because you are an moron. Think about it - if your posts keep getting voted down in every thread you are in, maybe the issue isn't "Xbox 360 fanboys" but the simple fact that you are doing the PS3 and its followers a HUGE disserivce by even living and breathing on this planet.

    Getting a few negative votes is one thing, getting 5,10,15 or more negative votes - that's a clear indication that your opinion simply isn't interesting to anyone else than maybe your mother or any of your fellow trolls.

  • DrDamn #26 3 years ago

    I think the Slimness of the Slim PS3 will have a bigger effect on sales in Japan than other places. There have been surveys previously where a shocking percentage of people had not bought a 360 or PS3 with the main reason being their size. Never bothered me, it's not like either are massive but to some in Japan it's a consideration.

    The rating of comments seems to have encouraged some good discussion on here and hidden the majority of the crap. If people could stop down rating people simply because they disagree with the comment that would be good too - it's really not meant to work like that.

  • GamesConnoisseur #27 3 years ago

    Total global saturation. Nick

    Lol!

    I actually laffed out loud at his brazen immature post, doesnt seem fair that people picks on apparent X360 fans and yet we do need to treat all kind of trollings in the same way?

    This article is not the domain of PS3 but as its affect everyone and therefore open to all of different denominations!

    Games is where its all at, and there are going to be plenty to come on X360 and PS3 and to declare one or other dead is premature at this point of time, both now have 20 millions plus following. DONT discard them all.

    Xbot fanboys doesnt need to blather anything as the stats stands for themselves, Sony and Sony fans would never imagine the situation as we are in now 3 or so years ago. Would have been impossible to swallow but yet we still got lots of positive from this kind of break even market share.

  • samaran #28 3 years ago

    guys i haven't seen a major retailer over here with PS3 in stock for weeks - most of them literally had signs up saying 'sorry, no PS3s, wait for an announcement soon'. i'd be surprised if the wonderswan didn't outsell it, never mind 360.

  • Machiavellian #29 3 years ago

    People keep saying the PS3 was low on stock in Japan but is definitely not true. Sony may not have shipped any new consoles to retailer during that time but the PS3 itself was widely available and in stock at every bit name store in Japan. Since the PS3 does flux around 6 to 11 thousands units a week when nothing big comes out. This is probably a case where the PS3 is on the low end of sales and the 360 got a boost from some Japan only game.

  • makeamazing #30 3 years ago

    People keep saying the PS3 was low on stock in Japan but is definitely not true.

    Well I'm going off what was written on a number of gaming sites with images of no stock pictures. Of course this is the internet and I dont live in Japan, so I cannot confirm it and it could just be all rubbish.. of course if you have any more evidence to suggest otherwise it would be better to say why rather than just the "not true" :)

  • samaran #31 3 years ago

    where do you live, machiavellian? i live in osaka (japan (asia)) and all i can say is that if osaka has no PS3s then 95% of japan is unlikely to, unless we're talking like some backwater village in shikoku that still has some unsold stock from launch when a bunch of homeless koreans were the only ones lining up.

    available in every big name store? well, bic camera and yodobashi camera were both sold out, and they don't get much bigger than that. you could pick them up from a few stores in den den town, but most only had used stock. bic camera used to have a big display with all 3 colours of PS3 (black/white/silver) but took it down like a month ago.

    as my guy above me says, you can't just say things like that based on nothing. i got evidence, man, i seen it with mine own eyes.

  • Deckard1 #32 3 years ago

    私のアナグマは 517;を持っています 。 私はそれを私の 597;親に差し込みま した。 私の陰のうの笑 356;。 私にそれを押し 390;ください！

  • Goodfella #33 3 years ago

    @ donnie080208

    Jesus Christ, is it really that hard to work out that with the PS3 slim being announced for release in a few weeks, people are going to hold off buying a 'fat' PS3 and wait a short while, thus resulting in a temporary dip in sales?

  • Walshicus #34 3 years ago

    The interesting thing here isn't that PS3 sales tumbled, it's that 360 sales spiked. So clearly some people are waiting for the new PS3, but it makes no sense to attribute that to an increase in the 360's Week on Week.

  • Calgon #35 3 years ago

    There have been surveys previously where a shocking percentage of people had not bought a 360 or PS3 with the main reason being their size. Never bothered me, it's not like either are massive but to some in Japan it's a consideration.

    Surely if they they are that concerned with the size of the consoles, they will notice that that it's the same size footprint on your desk, just slimmer. It's obviously going to give Sony a boost when it arrives, but Im not sure how long that will last.

    I wonder if MS have a smaller SKU planned, they can shrink their board further than Sony can, especially since Valhalla is the next revision in line with the GPU and CPU on a single chip (CELL needs more die space on its own anyway as far as the CPUs go and I doubt we will see them putting both CELL on RSX on the same chip any time soon). If it was significantly smaller than the PS3 slim, we would see for sure how important the bulk of the console is to the Japanese market.

    It could be that it's too little too late for both PS3 and 360 in Japan now though. Unless they are getting bored of their Wiis.
    Edited by 2 at 25/08/09 @ 13:39

  • cyber_nicco #36 3 years ago

    Um, people keep saying that it's because retailers are clearing off their shelves for the new PS3 Slim. If that were the case, you would expect sales to be higher, as retailers clear out shelves by selling things - not by dumping them in the ocean. One could argue it is because retailers ALREADY cleared off their shelves, but not that they are CLEARING of their shelves.

    But whatever reason makes people happy is fine by me...