DS games accounted for over half of Japanese market in 08

[wraggster]

Famitsu has released data on the top 100 best-selling games in Japan for 2008, with DS sales making up 51 per cent of the region's market.

The home console race was unsurprisingly won by Nintendo's Wii. The console saw 15 titles in the top 100, the star performer being Wii Fit at number three, with 2,149,131 units sold in the year and lifetime sales just below 3 million. This represents a market share of 15.4 per cent, down by 5.5 per cent year-on-year.

Sony's PlayStation 2 was close behind with 12 titles in the chart, although its best performer, Super Robot Taisen Z, peaked much further down at number 20. However, the platform's market share increased 6.7 per cent from last year to make up 17.5 per cent, according to figures re-published by PS3 Hyper.

PlayStation 3 titles took ten spots, with Metal Gear Solid 4 securing 11th place at 686,254 units, and Grand Theft Auto IV making an appearance at number 66, at 195,779 units. Sony's latest console saw its share of the market drop by 50 per cent to take up 3.9 per cent.

Comparatively, Microsoft's Xbox 360 performed poorly with only one title making it into the top 100. Taking its place at number 82, Tales of Vesperia sold 161,070 units. The console saw its share of the market drop 0.7 per cent to just 2 per cent.

Home console sales paled in comparison to those of the Nintendo DS, which saw 47 titles occupy the chart, accounting for 51.6 per cent of the market - an increase of 8.8 per cent from 2007. The platform's top title, Pokemon Platinum, took second place overall at 2,187,337 units.

Sony's PlayStation Portable had 15 titles in the top 100, with Capcom's Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G, securing the top spot in the chart with 2,452,111 units. However, PSP market share declined to 8.8 per cent, compared to 14.8 per cent the previous year.

Nintendo was the most successful publisher for the second year running, with sales growing from 19 million to 23.5 million units. Namco Bandai was the next most successful, with 8.5 million units sold.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...apanese-market

[goshogun1]

Considering how many amazing RPGs came out for the DS in 2008, this isn't a surprise. Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest = $$$.