Japan’s August Hardware Sales

Should Sony just kill the PSPgo and put the poor thing out of its misery? That’s the key question raised by this month’s Japanese PSP unit sales figures.  With the ‘go falling to a new record weekly low of just 608 units in the middle of August and a PSP release of a new Monster Hunter title only lifting it to a little over 800 while the PSP-3000 sold over 55,000 the same week, it may be time for Sony to end its ‘experiment’. 

And the PS2 continues to outsell it by around 2:1 each week.

There is little good news for the ‘go on the opposite side of the Pacific either where the imminent release of the new Kingdom Hearts title, Birth By Sleep, is expected to be UMD-only with the venerable PSP-3000 even getting a limited edition bundle.  Combine that with the fact that GameStop will only offer you a trade-in price of $50 on your $250 PSPgo, while offering $80 for a PSP-3000 which is also currently subject to an additional $20 trade-in credit offer.  An offer which explicitly excludes the PSPgo.

In the monthly NPD Group figures for North American sales we are used to seeing the PSP family propping up the foot of the table now PS2 sales are no longer reported.  GameStop’s trade-in price for the PSPgo would suggest that there is little demand in the American market for the download-only console, which in turn suggests that similar to Japan it represents a small fragment of overall PSP sales.

I cannot find European figures but by combing through GAME Group’s financial reports from the last few years we can begin to paint the UK picture for the PSP using the GfK ChartTrack figures they present.  The UK installed base for PSPs, of all flavours, as at 2nd Feb 2008 was 2.7m.  By 31st Jan 2009 it had risen 0.5m to 3.2m.  In the twelve months to the end of Jan this year, which include the launch of the PSPgo,  it only added another 0.4m to reach a total of 3.6m.

There is no indication of how that 0.4m is split between the ‘go and ’3000 and of course falling sales during a recession are not that surprising though the other consoles all sold over a million units each in the same period*.  If we use trade-in prices again as a guide to the fortunes of the ‘go, they suggest that it is performing better here in the UK than in the US.  For example, CeX are offering to pay £78 (and £81 if it’s white) for the £225 PSPgo, while offering £60 for the £140 PSP-3000 in black.

So in Japan the ’3000 is selling well but the ‘go is not.  In America the PSP family is not selling well and indications are that the PSPgo is doing badly.  In the UK the PSP family is not selling well though the PSPgo may be doing better here than in the other territories.  If last year was Sony’s “Year of the PSP”, then next year really needs to be the Year of the PSP2 if Sony is to retain a significant presence in the handheld market outside of Japan.

And speaking of Japan…

Week Ending August 1st

The PS3 and PSP-3000 dominated the hardware sales this week, each selling more than twice as many units as their nearest rivals.  PS3 sales were driven by feudal samurai battler Sengoku Basara 3 which fell just short of the quarter of a million mark with sales of 243,000.  Not far behind and the source of the PSP’s sales climb was Hatsune Miku Project Diva 2nd a rhythm action title from SEGA with sales of 241,000.

Sengoku Basara 3 also made its début on the Wii this week but the Japanese obviously prefer their samurai rendered in glorious HD as that version only saw sales of 50,000.  The other notable software release this week was Modnation Racers, but that only managed to reach 15th place in the software chart.

Week Ending August 8th

In a quiet week for hardware sales a remake of Game Boy Color (remember those?) title Tales of Phantasia Narikiri Dungeon took top spot in the software chart with 108,000 units sold.  Releasing ten years after the original and therefore being imaginatively titled Tales of Phantasia Narikiri Dungeon X.

The game also bundles in more remake madness though as it includes a remake of the original Tales of Phantasia that appeared on the SNES.  That is a game that has already been remade for the PSone with that remake being remade for the PSP.  How the new remake differs from that one, if at all, is anyone’s guess.

Week Ending August 15th

While most consoles saw an increase in sales this week, as mentioned above the PSPgo hit its new sales low of just 608 units.  With no significant software releases this week Wii Party took the opportunity to grab some time at the top of the chart.  Though to be far it had been at third and then second over the previous two weeks.

The award for best titled new game for this week goes to Corpse Party: Blood Covered – Repeated Fear on PSP which entered the chart in 12th place.  As far as I can tell from the screenshots it seems to about preventing schoolkids, primarily schoolgirls of course this being Japan, getting eaten by zombies.  At least that’s my interpretation, yours may be different.

As an interlude, and taking the opportunity to combine interests as I sometimes get a chance to do in posts, I was struck by how much the PSP’s line on the graph resembled the constellation Cassiopeia.

After that brief stellar diversion we return to your regularly scheduled sales news…

Week Ending August 22nd

The PSPgo could take a positive view of this week’s hardware sales as it was the only console to see a rise in sales.  Okay, so it only sold 23 units more than the previous week but a rise is a rise, right?  On the software side of things the PS3 saw two new entries in the top three.  Straight in at number one was Another Century’s Episode: R that gives Japanese gamers a chance to fight mechs from series such as Gundam, Macross and Full Metal Panic against one another.

Presumably in the West this would become a Batman vs. Superman game, but let’s not restart that debate.  Wonder if Hideo Kojima was paying attention this week and noticed a PS3 mech game at the top of the chart?  Where’s ZOE 3 Kojima-san?  The second new PS3 game was Super Dimensional Game: Neptune an RPG which apparently sets out to parody the video games industry with the aid of the standard scantily-clad, doe-eyed female animé characters you can find in most Japanese games.

Week Ending August 29th

An extraordinary result for the PSPgo this week with its unit sales rising a massive 32% to, erm, 836.  Meanwhile the PSP-3000 only managed to up its sales by a fraction over 100% to 55,112.  What could possibly get so many Japanese excited enough to rush out and buy a PSPgo?  The answer to that is the same as that to the question, “What do you get if you cross Monster Hunter with Animal Crossing and make it impossibly cute?”

What you get is Monster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Airu Village.  How impossibly cute can it get?  You play as cute versions of the mascots from the Monster Hunter games, the Airu.  Then you can dress your Airu in clothing based on icons of cuteness such as Sony’s cat mascots Toro and Kuro as well as Hello Kitty.  Then you can buy a Hello Kitty guild tent with a heart-shaped door.  That’s how impossibly cute.

Monster Hunter is seemingly no longer just about driving a cruelly-barbed spear though the still-beating heart of a hapless monster that’s minding its own business in a remote corner of the world.  Will it ever recover?  256,000 sales of Monster Hunter Diary have just added their weight to the discussion.

The PSP had two more titles enter the top five this week with Ace Combat X2 Joint Assault at number two, some considerable way behind, with 58,000 sales.  In fifth spot was Haku Uoki Zuisouroku with sales of 24,000.  The only other new entry in the top 30 was another PSP title, Nise no Chigiri, which sold 8,558 copies.  So now you know how to get a boost in sales of the PSPgo of 205 units, release four new PSP titles in one week.

The Monthly Console and Corporate Fights

Across the month the PS3 handsomely beat the Wii (161,397 vs. 97,482), the DSs beat the PSPs (231,631 vs. 200,960) and as you have already seen the PS2 continued to savagely beat the PSPgo (7,367 vs. 3,560).  Overall shares of the month’s hardware unit sales see Sony retaking the number one spot that Nintendo have held for the last couple of months, albeit with a lead less dominant than Nintendo’s 58% in July.

Out of the 722,977 consoles sold Sony accounted for 51% (369,724), Nintendo 46% (329,113) and Microsoft 3% (24,140).

Finally, here are the hardware unit sales presented in a dense grid of numerals:

*In the twelve months from Jan ’09 to Jan ’10 the UK installed bases for the consoles grew as follows:  Wii up 1.5m to 6.6m, DS family up 1.7m to 10.7m, PS3 up 1.1m to 3.0m, 360 up 1.6m to 4.9m and PSP up 0.4m to 3.6m.  Source: GfK ChartTrack figures presented in GAME Group’s financial reports.