If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

DS hardware caning PSP in Japan

Software-wise it's even scarier.

PlayStation Portable is completely failing to keep pace with Nintendo DS in Japan, Bloomberg reports today - with sales of the Nintendo handheld outstripping PSP by around three to one.

Japanese PSP shipments to the end of January 2007 totalled 5 million, a spokesperson informed Bloomberg, while DS had shipped 14.4 million to the region by the end of 2006 according to Nintendo figures. Independent weekly hardware sales figures for Japan suggest that DS (including DS Lite) had reached 15.38 million sales by the end of February.

The Japanese software charts will make grim reading for Sony as well, with just one PSP title in the top 40 (Monster Hunter Freedom 2, at number two), compared to 26 DS games including five in the top 10 alone.

Nine of those have passed one million sales, and a few by a considerable distance - with Pokemon Diamond/Pearl at over 5 million, while Brain Training 2, New Super Mario Bros. and Animal Crossing: Wild World all sit comfortably in the 4-million-plus bracket.

PSP hardware shipments outside Japan are a bit more impressive - the Asian market overall had had 6.23 million by the end of 2006, while the US had seen 9.58 million and Europe 8.89 million for a total of 24.70 million worldwide according to Sony's published figures.

DS, however, has built up a considerable head of steam too, with North American sales surging past 10 million at the beginning of last year and stated figures for the rest of the world doing likewise by the end of 2006. Worldwide, the DS (including DS Lite) is thought to have shipped more than 40 million units.

We asked Nintendo for a bit more clarification this morning (the reporting's scattered), but judging by their silence they haven't got back from the bank yet.