Skip to main content

PlayStation 3 Sales Tanking in Japan?

Japanese market research firm Media Create tabulates sales records from about 3,000 shops and retailers around Japan and uses the data to make estimates of game and game systems sales throughout Japan. Media Create’s latest data finds that last week was the worst sales week for Sony’s PlayStation 3 since its launch in Japan, with 25,531 units sold during the week ending January 14. Sony launched its next-generation console in Japan on December 2, 2006, and claims to have shipped 1 million PlayStation 3 systems to retailers in Japan as of January 16. However, it look like it may take retailers a long time to sell those units.

According to Media Create, Nintendo’s Wii console did much better during the week in terms of raw sales numbers—some 93,708 systems—but that actually represents the Wii’s second-worst week in Japan since the console’s launch. (The worst was about 85,500 units right after launch.) Meanwhile, Japanese sales of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 have dropped back down to pre-December levels, moving just 9,035 units. The Xbox 360 received a bit of a boost at the end of 2006 when the new game Blue Dragon was bundled with systems, but sales have returned to previous levels in the wake of the promotion.

Recommended Videos

Media Create found that Wii Sports was the nation’s number one game title for the week, selling over 61,000 units. (Wii Sports isn’t bundled with the Wii console in Japan, unlike the United States.) Wii Play came in third with about 54,500 units, but the rest of the top ten game titles were for the Nintendo DS, with the exception of Metal Gear Solid Ops for PSP, moving about 28,100 copies. No PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 games cracked the top 30, although Resistance: Fall of Man for PS3 claimed the #40 position.

The sales figures would seem to indicate that the Nintendo Wii, with its relatively low price tag and innovative controller, is the strongest contender in the Japanese market amongst the next-generation console systems, and that Sony’s PlayStation 3, despite the massive popularity of previous PlayStation consoles, is off to a very slow start. Industry watchers speculate consumer reluctance may come from a convergence of factors, including “sitting out” next-generation consoles until the next-gen DVD format war is resolved, and a lack of blockbuster titles for the PS3. Of course, now that the end-of-year holiday season is over, consumers may be more worried about paying for holiday spending than purchasing new game consoles.

Geoff Duncan
Former Contributor
Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…
Topics
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles drops on PlayStation 5 this fall
Final Fantasy Tactics

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is coming to PlayStation 5 on September 30, 2025, and contains both the 1997 version of the game and a new, remastered edition. It's available for preorder starting today.

Final Fantasy Tactics is arguably one of the greatest tactical RPGs ever made, and is still a fan favorite nearly three decades after its release. The Classic version of the game "unites the graphics and gameplay of the original with the renowned War of the Lions translations," while the Enhanced edition provides a more modern interface, "extensive" additions to the game — though no word on what, exactly, that means — and fully voiced dialogue.

Read more
Everything announced at PlayStation’s June 2025 State of Play
A samurai fights a boss in Nioh 3.

Summer game reveal season began today. While Summer Game Fest and the Xbox Games Showcase will have our attention this weekend, Sony kicked things off with a PS5 showcase that was very juicy. After all, the back half of 2025 was a bit of a mystery for Sony heading into today's stream. We knew that Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Marathon, and Ghost of Yotei would be the system's biggest upcoming games, but we saw a whole lot more during a loaded 40 minute stream.

After kicking off with a surprise Lumines revival, Sony showed off a rapid fire collection of trailers. That included highly anticipated games like Pragmata and big surprises like Nioh 3. We even got a Final Fantasy Tactics remake, which likely wasn't on your State of Play bingo card. If you missed the stream, you can catch up on every announcement below.

Read more
The Witcher 4 runs at 60 FPS and has ray-tracing even on the base PlayStation 5
Ciri wielding a burning chain in The Witcher 4.

At the State of Unreal 2025 event, CDProjekt Red revealed the first real look at The Witcher 4 gameplay. While it was a limited demo primarily focused on the improvements to Unreal Engine 5, we did get a solid look at how the game runs, even on a base PlayStation 5, and all the small ways tweaks and optimizations have been applied to make the game look as good as it does.

And that's the biggest takeaway from the demo: it looks really good. The presentation opened with a new trailer for the game, showing a rather grumpy merchant in a wagon traveling down a bumpy road, only to have his journey cut short by the appearance of a Manticore. Ciri later finds the remnants of the attack, and then we see a smooth transition from cutscene to gameplay.

Read more