14 DAY TRIAL // The Media Create software and hardware charts are out, showing game industry trends in Japan, at least as far as retail sales go.
The data is a good way to gauge interest in various traditionally western games in the Land of the Rising Sun, a veritable enclave when it comes to video game and hardware preferences, but one of the major consumers in the market, only coming second to China and the United States of America.
The information covers the week of October 6 to October 12, with the most notable events being the release of the new Nintendo 3DS models and of Capcom's Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate.
Software evolution
The Monster Hunter series is hugely popular in Japan, so it's going to surprise no one that Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate for the 3DS was last week's star.
What is surprising, however, is the fact that the role-playing game managed to sell over 1.4 million copies in its launch week, marking a hugely successful launch for the title.
The usual suspects followed, in the form of Super Smash Bros. and Yo-kai Watch 2: Ganso / Honke, both 3DS games, with 76k and 57k units sold, respectively, with Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX a distant third with 21k copies pushed.
New entries in the top are FIFA 15, with the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita editions of the game landing at 5, 6, and 12 respectively, with an aggregate of 36k units sold, and PlayStation 4 exclusive racing title Driveclub, selling 8.6k units.
Bayonetta 2, the Nintendo Wii U exclusive action-adventure video game, is already gone from the charts
Hardware sales
This week best seller was, as usual, the Nintendo 3DS handheld device, only with a twist. The Big N has just released a revised edition of the console, with various improvements such as a beefed up processor, out-of-the-box support for the upcoming Amiibo miniatures, an additional analogue stick, and shoulder buttons.
The 3DS sold a total of 261k units, out of which the old edition of the console accounted for close to 30k units, making the new hardware very successful during its launch week.
Other notable shifts in hardware sales are the PlayStation Vita falling to under 10k units sold for the first time this year, probably due to it not running Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, and the PlayStation 4 managing to push over 10k units, most likely due to the white version of the console being bundled with Driveclub.
The Xbox One is continuing its downward crawl, the home entertainment system already falling under 1k units sold per week, with a grand total of 33k units sold in Japan since its release at the beginning of September.