Splinter Cell: Blacklist on the Playstation 3 and Killzone: Mercenary notably perform well in the Japanese sales charts, as Uta no Prince-sama Music2 takes the top spot for the week. Interestingly, this does not lead to significantly higher sales for Playstation 3 or Vita, as 3DS picks up in hardware sales again.
Uta no Prince-sama Music2 is a rhythm game spinoff of a popular visual novel series, about a girl who aspires to enter the music industry while surrounded by countless male idols. Broccoli’s game certainly has a big appeal with women, but just like Jojo’s All-Star Battle Royale, this game likely won’t be back on top next week.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist is the latest in Ubisoft’s thrilling espionage FPS series. As is always the case with every sequel, this is the most ambitious iteration yet. Sam Fisher takes control of a new special-ops unit called the Fourth Echelon, as the President of the US assigns him to take out the Engineers before they carry out a planned series of terrorist attacks called the Blacklist.
Killzone: Mercenary, in turn, is a new side story in its series, placing you in the shoes of mercenary Arran Danner. The game has received a mostly positive reception and boasts online multiplayer.
Compared to last week, however, the popularity of these Playstation games did not translate to higher sales for Playstation 3 or the Vita. Playstation 3 sales are down almost half from 20,000 units last week, while Vita sales are down 1,000 units. As always, 3DS maintains a strong presence with its games spreading across the charts, and unit sales up to about 80,000 units, perhaps in anticipation of Monster Hunter 4.
Media Create Sales: Week 36, 2013 (Sep 02 – Sep 08)
01./00. [PSP] Uta no Prince-Sama: Music 2 (Broccoli) {2013.09.05} (¥3.990) – 68.415 / NEW
02./00. [PS3] Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist (Ubisoft) {2013.09.05} (¥7.770) – 22.425 / NEW
03./01. [PS3] JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle (Bandai Namco Games) {2013.08.29} (¥7.980) – 19.720 / 445.437
04./00. [PS3] Dead or Alive 5: Ultimate (Koei Tecmo) {2013.09.05} (¥6.090) – 18.608 / NEW
05./02. [PS3] Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Real Reborn (Square Enix) {2013.08.27} (¥3.300) – 12.336 / 196.354
06./07. [3DS] Friend Collection: New Life (Nintendo) {2013.04.18} (¥4.800) – 11.814 / 1.420.996
07./06. [3DS] Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (Nintendo) {2013.07.18} (¥4.800) – 11.466 / 293.166
08./00. [PSV] Killzone: Mercenary (Sony Computer Entertainment) {2013.09.05} (¥4.980) – 11.053 / NEW
09./05. [3DS] Disney Magic Castle: My Happy Life (Bandai Namco Games) {2013.08.01} (¥5.480) – 10.740 / 255.309
10./09. [3DS] Youkai Watch (Level 5) {2013.07.11} (¥4.800) – 9.539 / 164.230
11./03. [PSV] Ragnarok Odyssey Ace (GungHo Online Entertainment) {2013.08.29} (¥4.935) – 9.383 / 41.005
12./00. [PS3] Puppeteer (Sony Computer Entertainment) {2013.09.05} (¥5.980) – 8.900 / NEW
13./10. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf (Nintendo) {2012.11.08} (¥4.800) – 7.653 / 3.402.742
14./12. [3DS] Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (Nintendo) {2013.03.20} (¥4.800) – 6.010 / 891.248
15./04. [PS3] Lost Planet 3 (Capcom) {2013.08.29} (¥6.990) – 5.516 / 33.019
16./00. [PSP] Kiyoka no Ori: Hiiro no Kakera 4 – Shiki no Shi (Idea Factory) {2013.09.05} (¥6.090) – 5.348 / NEW
17./00. [360] Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist (Ubisoft) {2013.09.05} (¥7.770) – 5.109 / NEW
18./00. [360] Dead or Alive 5: Ultimate (Koei Tecmo) {2013.09.05} (¥6.090) – 4.862 / NEW
19./14. [3DS] Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo) {2011.12.01} (¥4.800) – 4.260 / 2.116.096
20./18. [WII] Taiko no Tatsujin Wii: Super Deluxe Edition (Bandai Namco Games) {2012.11.29} (¥5.040) – 3.717 / 557.290
3DS LL – 60,077
3DS – 19,114
PS3 – 13,790
Vita – 7,314
Wii U – 5,702
PSP – 5,493
Wii – 978
Xbox 360 – 201
Source: NeoGAF