Japanese hardware sales before Christmas saw a decline year-over-year
Media Create has posted new analysis about the latest gaming sales from Japan.
Youkai Watch 2: Shinuchi was the big seller last week with 1.244 million copies sold. The title’s sales saw an expected drop to 533,000 units. As a result, overall sales for the market were at 1.909 million, which was 84.36 percent of the previous week.
Because of Christmas demand, consoles sold 108.48 percent compared to last week. Total hardware sales for the week before Christmas went down to 71.48 percent of that of last year.
Wii U and 3DS hardware sales saw significant drops compared to last year. Nintendo’s console sold only 35.11 percent year-over-year, while the company’s handheld moved 84.42 percent compared to 2013. Nintendo systems as a whole sold 68.33 percent last week compared to the same period last year. However, software sales were roughly on the same level (97.88 percent for Wii U, while 3DS sold more this year than last year at 114.12 percent).
Final Fantasy Explorers was the best-selling new title last week with 161,000 copies sold. Bravely Default sold similarly in its first week (142,000 copies), so Media Create believes that fans of Square Enix’s RPGs primarily purchased Explorers.
