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Japanese Software: Bayonetta For PS3 Leads Charts, Pokemon Dethroned
by Kris Graft
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November 5, 2009
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Sega's action game Bayonetta debuted at the top of Media Create's weekly Japanese sales charts, with the PS3 version selling 135,000, knocking down the three-week leader Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver for the week ended November 1.
Bayonetta is the latest game developed by Platinum Games, the developer of the violent stylized Wii game Madworld. Japan-based Platinum formed in 2006 from the remnants of Capcom's defunct Clover Studio, creators of Viewtiful Joe, Okami and God Hand.
Bayonetta sparked pre-release buzz among gamers after the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game scored 40/40 and 38/40, respectively, in popular Japanese gaming mag Famitsu.
The game was able to dethrone the combined weekly sales of Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver, which together topped Japanese charts for the previous three consecutive weeks.
Two other games during the week topped 100,000 units on debut: Square Enix's Final Fantasy Gaiden: Four Warriors of Light for Nintendo DS sold 115,000 units, while Namco Bandai's fighter Tekken 6 sold 103,000 units on PS3.
Other new games during the week in Japan include the Sony PSP game Persona 3 from Atlus, which sold 94,000 units and the Wii title Super Robot Taisen NEO from Namco Bandai, which sold 26,000.
Games that fell out of the top 10 from last week include Marvelous' Rune Factory 3, Microsoft's Forza Motorsport 3, EA's FIFA 10 World Class Soccer, Wii Sports Resort, Sony's Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Koei's Shin Sangoku Musou 5 Special.
Below are Media Create's Japanese rankings by unit sales for the week ended November 1:
| LW | TW | Title | Publisher | Platform | Weekly Sales | | NEW | 1 | Bayonetta | Sega | PS3 | 135,000 | | NEW | 2 | Final Fantasy Gaiden: Four Warriors of Light | Square Enix | DS | 115,000 | | NEW | 3 | Tekken 6 | Namco Bandai | PS3 | 103,000 | | NEW | 4 | Persona 3 | Atlus | PSP | 94,000 | | 1 | 5 | Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver | Pokemon | DS | 88,000 | | 2 | 6 | Wii Fit Plus | Nintendo | Wii | 81,000 | | NEW | 7 | Bayonetta | Sega | Xbox 360 | 64,000 | | 3 | 8 | Tomodachi Collection | Nintendo | DS | 53,000 | | 4 | 9 | Inazuma Eleven 2: Kyoui no Shinryakusha (Fire/Blizzard) | Level 5 | DS | 41,000 | | NEW | 10 | Super Robot Taisen NEO | Namco Bandai | Wii | 27,000 |
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The difference in sales is somewhat to be expected though as consoles with larger install bases typically also have install bases with wider tastes...they are owned by more types of people...meaning, it wouldnt' be surprising that this game would appeal to a higher % of the 360 install base, which is likely more 'old guard core' than the PS3 install base, which mixes in more types consumers and therefore consumer tastes. (which would decrease the attach rate of the specific game to the console despite it having higher sales - it's a pretty common phenomenon actually, and it has played out in the reverse in some more 'core' offerings on the PS3 in the US of late)
A markets monetary surplus for any given week and the flow of this surplus given over a month may cap the maximum number of sales irrespective of the install base.
In other words......not everybody had extra money to buy a title this week.
To use a stupid analogy...........if I had 10 empty glasses(systems) and you had 5 but we both had 1 liter of water(money) you could fill 4 of your 5 cups while I could only fill 4 out of 10.