Japanese retailer Tsutaya released their sales charts for the last week, giving us a cross section look at total sales for the country. It’s comparable to Gamestop revealing their top selling games in advance of NPD’s report.
In order, the top 20 games are
- Monster Hunter 4 – 3DS
- AKB1/149 Renai Sosenkyo Special Edition – PS3
- Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle – PSP
- Splinter Cell: Blacklist – PS3
- AKB1/149 Renai Sosenkyo – PS3
- Brothers Conflict: Brilliant Blue – PSP
- Disney Magic Castle: My Happy Life – 3DS
- Mario & Luigi: Dream Team – 3DS
- Killzone: Mercenary – Vita
- Puppeteer – PS3
- Ragnarok Odyssey Ace – Vita
- Uta no Prince Sama: MUSIC 2
- Tomodachi Collection: New Life – 3DS
- Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn – PS3
- Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate – PS3
- Animal Crossing: New Leaf – 3DS
- Youkai Watch – 3DS
- Lost Planet 3 – PS3
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II – PS3
- Luigi’s Mansion 2 – 3DS
As you can see, major Western releases Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Killzone: Mercenary, and Call of Duty: Black Ops II made the list, but the big story here is Monster Hunter 4, which had a huge launch over the weekend.
Outside of this, the persistence of games like Uta no Prince Sama: MUSIC2 and Brothers Conflict: Brilliant Blue shows female gamers in Japan have some spending power in that market. This does not preclude them from buying general audiences or even male-marketed games, rather, that games made specifically for them actually sell well and are a worthwhile investment for developers there. I guess smartphones have not quite cornered that niche yet.
Source: VGChartz
