Japanese hardware sales drop 42%

The latest Japanese hardware charts reveal an ongoing decline during what's traditionally a tough period for the market.

Overall, sales dropped by 42 per cent from the previous week, with PS3, Wii and DS hit the hardest. Only the PSP bucked the trend, its sales increasing by around 4 per cent thanks to strong demand for Another Century's Episode Portable, the current software number one.

MediaCreate speculates that the PSP - which two weeks ago was selling over 70,000 units - would have been far higher if not for an apparent stock shortage.

Japanese hardware sales, week ending January 16 (figures in parentheses denote previous week's sales):

• PS3 - 33,190 (59,612)
• PSP - 29,806 (28,757)
• Wii - 21,291 (56,547)
• DSi XL - 17,452 (44,122)
• DSi -13,416 (38,486)
• Xbox 360 - 2636 (3859)
• DS Lite - 1956 (4510)
• PS2 - 1629 (2547)
• PSPgo - 1208 (4084)