Nintendo still tops in Japan
Enterbrain (publisher of Japanese gaming mag Famitsu) recently released its monthly sales data for May 2007 and the fact of the matter is: Nintendo still rules gaming in Japan. Famitsu also has reported that the gaming market overall is continuing its momentum for the month, with an increase of more than 10% over the same period last year.
Hardware-wise the big winner was unsurprisingly the DS Lite, which topped 600,000 units sold for the month. These sales accounted for almost 56% of hardware sales for the month. This puts the life-to-date sales for the handheld at 17,152,000 units (this number includes the DS Phat). Meanwhile, Sony's PSP had a strong month as well, topping 120,000 units sold in May.
Curiously, The PSP title FF Tactics gained the top spot in the software rankings despite sluggish system sales. Here are the overall top 10 best-selling games in Japan for May 2007:
1. Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions – 241,904 (PSP) Square Enix
2. Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings – 180,260 (DS) Square Enix
3. Super Paper Mario – 156,642 (Wii) Nintendo
4. Wii Sports – 140,704 (Wii) Nintendo
5. Momotarou Dentetsu DS: Tokyo & Japan – 124,223 (DS) Hudson
6. Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree – 113,035 (Wii) Nintendo
7. New Super Mario Bros. – 112,486(DS) Nintendo
8. Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day – 103,610 (DS) Nintendo
9. Shining Wind – 101,138 (PS2) SEGA
10. Yoshi's Island DS – 97,331 (DS) Nintendo
image and original story via IGN