Japan Charts: Market slumps as Golden Week looms
The leisure software market in Japan dipped to its lowest point in 2005 so far last week, with sales dropping to 48 per cent of the weekly average thanks to a sparse release schedule ahead of the country's Golden Week holidays.
The leisure software market in Japan dipped to its lowest point in 2005 so far last week, with sales dropping to 48 per cent of the weekly average thanks to a sparse release schedule ahead of the country's Golden Week holidays.
The new only title making any kind of solid showing was Hudson's PS2-exclusive RPG title, Far East of Eden III: Namida, which sold 87,000 units to take the top spot - but aside from that title, only two other new games made it into the top 100, with neither denting the top ten.
The quiet release schedule can in part be pinned on the fact that Japan's Golden Week holiday - a set of four public holidays spanning seven days, and one of the biggest holidays in the national calendar - starts next week, and many companies may be saving their major releases for that period.
Older titles also sold slowly last week, although there were decent showings for last week's number one, Bandai's anime-based PS2 action title Mobile Suit Gundam: One Year War (this week's number two) and Konami's Pro Baseball Spirits 2 (at number three).
The top ten was once again dominated by PlayStation 2 titles, with only one DS game and one GBA game breaking up the single-platform run - namely Kirby Canvas Curse DS at number seven, and Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team of Colonel at number eight.
In hardware terms, the PSP once again overtook sales of the Nintendo DS after falling behind for three weeks, with Sony's handheld taking 30 per cent market share compared to 23 per cent for the DS.
The PlayStation 2, however, continues to rule the roost with 32 per cent market share - while the Game Boy Advance is still selling surprisingly strongly, with over 11 per cent share this week.