Weekly Japanese console chart: PSP sales rocket in tandem with new game

Japanese sales of the handheld PSP console nearly doubled in comparison to the previous week, up from 38,634 to 66,083 in the week of March 1-7. Looking to the software chart for explanation, three top 10 PSP titles present themselves as likely motivators for this boost.

God Eater has been out since early February and sold 29,000 copies during the current week. Kenko Bancho 4 (trans. 'School Gang Boss 4') was out on Feburary 25 and sold very well in its first week, finding itself in 5th place in this, its second week, shifting 36,000, and could account for some of the renewed PSP interest.

The new .hack//Link game is most likely to be behind a surge in sales, as the .hack franchise has a cult following, and this is both the first game to appear on the PSP (all six previous entries were on PlayStation 2), and said to be the last in the series. .hack//Link sold 60,000 copies in this, its first week.

Just as with North American and European console sales, it will be interesting to see whether sales of the large-screened cross-generational favourite DSi LL go up around Mothers' Day - but unlike the UK and in common with North America and much of Europe, for Japanese residents that's traditionally not until the second Sunday in May.

1) Sony PSP: 66,083
2) Nintendo DS: 42,944
3) PlayStation 3: 28,824
4) Nintendo Wii: 33,880
5) Xbox 360: 2,764
6) PlayStation 2: 1,839

Sony PSP sales breakdown
PSP: 64,808
PSP Go: 1,275

Nintendo DS sales breakdown
DSi LL (aka XL): 23,611
DSi: 15,017
DS Lite: 4,316

Source: Media Create