Japanese PSP Sales Top 10 Million, Monster Hunting Is Big Business
Any doubts that the Japanese gaming market has experienced a shift away from home consoles this generation have been quelled in the latest issue of Famitsu. The Japanese publication has reported that sales of PSP hardware has reached over 10 million units since its release at the end of 2004. That translates to roughly ten percent of the total population of Japan having Sony's handheld, not too shabby for the mini-Playstation. As for the top selling games on the platform, Monster Hunter is the big winner taking 3 of the top 5 slots on the sales chart. The big hitters are as follows:
1. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (Capcom)
2. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom)
3. Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII (Square Enix)
4. Monster Hunter Portable (Capcom)
5. Phantasy Star Portable (SEGA)
It's hard to deny that the East has really embraced handheld gaming, but will this take a toll on the home console market? Specifically, will we see more Japanese developers focusing their efforts on PSP and DS releases instead of releasing games for their big brothers? One look at the DS sales in America and one could argue that the market is not all that different here in the states. There looks to be some interesting days ahead for the gaming community.
Over Ten Million PSPs Sold, Top Five Games Are... [Kotaku]
TheDoctor
Posted to Video Games on 27 August 2008
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