White Knight Top Of Charts
The PS3's first JRPG of note tops the Japanese sales charts.Published 04/01/2009 at 11:10 by nofi
Review: White Knight Chronicles [22]
White Knight Chronicles gets free DLC [7]
First Level: White Knight Chronicles [24]
The week leading up to Christmas must surely be one of the best times to launch a new game, especially when there really isn’t much competition, which is exactly what SCEI did with White Knight Chronicles. Despite a luke-warm review, the Japanese RPG out sold everything else across all formats for the week 22nd to the 28th of December, according to Famitsu magazine.
Yes, the charts are dominated by Wii, DS and PSP games of questionable value and quality, but this is Japan where anything fluffy sells like doughnuts in America, so it’s nice to see something PS3 topping the charts ahead of the risible Animal Crossing (seriously Nintendo, at least try next time) and yet more ‘fashion’ games.
01 [PS3] White Knight Chronicles (SCEI) – 203,000 / NEW
02 [WII] Animal Crossing: City Folk (Nintendo) – 168,000 / 895,000
03 [NDS] Kirby Super Star Ultra Deluxe (Nintendo) – 159,000 / 855,000
04 [PSP] Dissidia: Final Fantasy (Square Enix) – 157,000 / 660,000
05 [NDS] Wagamama Fashion: Girls Mode (Nintendo) – 120,000 / 549,000
06 [NDS] Pokemon Platinum (Nintendo/Pokemon Co.) – 94,000 / 2,187,000
07 [NDS] Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo) – 93,000 / 1,351,000
08. [NDS] Phantasy Star Zero (SEGA) – 86,000 / NEW
09 [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) – 80,000 / 2,967,000
10 [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) – 74,000 / 2,003,000
The only other PS3 games in the top 30 were Gundam Musou 2 and GT 5 Prologue. Go figure. In terms of hardware, well, the PS3 did sell some, but barely made a scratch of the other systems with the new rebranded DSi destroying everything else that week. For the number concious, here’s the full rundown:
DSi – 218,000
Wii – 162,000
PSP – 120,000
DS Lite – 58,000
PS3 – 48,000
PS2 – 13,000
360 – 13,000
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
cc_star | 04/01/2009 11:36
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Strange to see the DS lite outselling the PS3 given the fact the DSi is out, are R4 cards the reason?
Nothing can hide the fact the PS3 is till selling dreadfully
djhsecondnature | 04/01/2009 11:40
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What I think tells the story is there is one PS3 game, one PSP game in the top 10. The rest are Nintendo. Why oh why!?
Spotter5 | 04/01/2009 12:05
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Why has the background gone black? :S
djhsecondnature | 04/01/2009 12:06
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nofi’s experimenting
cc_star | 04/01/2009 12:06
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It’s a work in progress, so just wait an hour or 2 for the tweaking to settle down
nofi | 04/01/2009 12:08
Wants a custom tag.
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Ah, you know me too well.
GTOWN | 04/01/2009 13:39
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People always seem to think that sales are slow for the PS3 but in the european market they are way out in front. Japan is a very fickle market and the fact is that PS2 games and machines are still selling very very well.
cc_star | 04/01/2009 13:47
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Japan is Sony’s heartland, if they aren’t backing Sony’s amazing piece of kit who will?
But there’s no need to worry, 2009 is the year of the PS3. right?
(Any similarity between that statement and the one Sony made in 2007, about 2008 being the year of the PS3 is purely coincidental)
xvLIAMvx | 04/01/2009 15:06
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I have a theory. With the wii and ps2 doing as well as they are, maybe this “next gen” thing came around too early. I would blame it on 360, but that’s more a half a gen product than next gen. So the ps3 will pick up when consumers are ready to pick up this next gen. Meaning microshafts decision to put 360 out first will hamper them, as when ps3 shines and converts none believers that it is the true next gen machine, xbox will need a new console. But if peeps are hesitant to jump on this “next gen” wagon, then the next xbox will be way way too early. 10 year life cycle Sony? Spot on. Everyone will be making HDTV purchases within the 10 years and looking to the shiny black hi def console to make use of their new tv. IMO
theshockwave | 04/01/2009 15:10
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Wow, the PS3 destroyed the 360.
LOVE the new design!!
kamiboy | 04/01/2009 15:13
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What the turnip? That piece if sheit sandwiched between two plies of ugly plastic I like to call PC in a box ™ is up to selling 13000 units a week without any major releases? This is terrible, it used to barely be able to pull in 3000 weekly, it is gaining ground fast. Looks like Uncle Billy’s forceful entry combined with his infinite resources and refusal to take no for an answer is slowly but surely paying off, as it always eventually does.
I would like to see if White Knight is a long term seller for SONY or not, usually SONY’s big Japanese games do most of their sales in the first week then DS and Wii shovel ware re-conquer the top ten in the consequent weeks while the PS3 goes back to struggling with outselling the PS2. Other than a serious lack of quality titles I think the thing that is working most against the PS3 in Japan is the price of entry. That is at least one thing the other regions have in common with Japan.
seedaripper1973 | 04/01/2009 16:03
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i couldn’t of put it better myself (hence me not doing so…well apart from agreeing, which i do, do, wholeheartedly)…er…BLOODY YANKS!
*scratches face*
Paragonknight | 04/01/2009 17:20
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Nice to see White Knight Chronicles get some good sales. Hopefully it’s good. Also when are we expecting it?
crack398 | 04/01/2009 19:02
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man this looks way better in white, its easier on the eyes
djhsecondnature | 04/01/2009 19:13
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Are you sure about that? *fists at the ready*
cc_star | 04/01/2009 19:15
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But did the black look better than this blue?
Los Havros | 04/01/2009 12:54
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nofi, is this design no# 50? :p
Jeebers | 04/01/2009 13:21
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I like it, dark backgrounds are easier on the eye. My eyes are feeling very rested.
toutski | 04/01/2009 14:50
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Agree. It looks sweet!
seedaripper1973 | 04/01/2009 15:57
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you know what they say about people, who like to ‘paint it black’ dont you?!
Spotter5 | 04/01/2009 18:40
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I for one dislike this layout.. it is too dark and heavy, it does not convey a sense of sleek modernness like the white background did..
It reminds me of some mmorg about dungeons and things along that line
djhsecondnature | 04/01/2009 19:20
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I will give my opinion once it’s finished I think