Japanese sales charts – Wii U holds steady, PS4 falls off a cliff

As we’re quickly learning for hardware launches that are anything but a Nintendo handheld, sales quickly fall off in Japan. The same happened for the Wii U when it launched and we’re beginning to see the slope for the PlayStation 4, only two weeks after its official launch. Last week the console managed to sell 309k units during its first week, but this week its down to just 65k. That’s an 80% drop in sales week over week.

Despite the recent release of the PlayStation 4, the Wii U holds steady at 8k and has been doing so for some time, even during the launch week for the PlayStation 4. As Microsoft gears up to launch the Xbox One in Japan, it will be interesting to see what kind of response Japanese consumers have to the new console, as the Xbox 360 never achieved success in the region. In fact, in less than 2 years, the Wii U has managed to outsell the lifetime sales of Microsoft’s last console.

Software Sales

1. [3DS] Harvest Moon: Tsunagaru Shin Tenchi (Marvelous AQL, 02/27/14) – 130,782 (New)
2. [PS4] Knack (02/22/14) – 66,772 (376,076)
3. [3DS] Kaseki Horider: Mugen Gear (Nintendo, 02/27/14) – 58,329 (New)
4. [PS3] Yakuza: Ishin (Sega, 02/22/14) – 54,148 (192,305)
5. [3DS] Dragon Quest Monsters 2: Iru and Luca’s Wonderful Mysterious Keys (Square Enix, 02/06/14) – 53,276 (687,709)
6. [3DS] Yokai Watch (Level-5, 07/11/13) – 37,493 (496,455)
7. [PS3] Deception IV: Blood Ties (Tecmo Koei, 02/27/14) – 23,254 (New)
8. [PS4] Yakuza: Ishin (Sega, 02/22/14) – 22,466 (105,006)
9. [PSV] Deception IV: Blood Ties (Tecmo Koei, 02/27/14) – 19,322 (New)
10. [3DS] Kirby: Triple Deluxe (Nintendo, 01/09/14) – 17,706 (475,502)

Hardware Sales

1. PlayStation 4 – 65,685 (309,154)
2. 3DS LL – 26,027 (22,253)
3. PlayStation Vita – 21,581 (16,857)
4. PlayStation 3 – 13,155 (9,983)
5. 3DS – 11,986 (9,898)
6. Wii U – 8,204 (8,407)
7. PSP – 3,652 (3,171)
8. PlayStation Vita TV – 1,543 (1,383)
9. Xbox 360 – 257 (241)