Period: The week of January 21st – January 27th (2013)
Top-seller: Animal Crossing: New Leaf – 82,370
Nintendo 3DS sales: 26,898 | Total sales: 7,906,606
Nintendo 3DS XL sales: 48,226 | Total sales: 2,402,173
PlayStation Vita sales: 9,748 | Total sales: 1,194,006
Wii U sales: 13,746 | Total sales: 745,485
<< Last week’s software sales chart
Last week, Nippon Ichi released The God and Fate Revolution Paradox in Japan, and the game sold 23,417 copies in its first week. That’s less than Nippon Ichi’s last new I.P., Z.H.P Unlosing Ranger, which released in 2010 for the PSP, and sold 31,447 copies in its first week.
In general, it appears that Nippon Ichi games that aren’t Disgaea RPGs are unable to break out and reach a larger audience. Here’s a comparison of some of the games NIS have published in Japan in recent years, with first-week sales listed for each:
(2007) Soul Nomad & the World Eaters – 43,253
(2008) Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice – 54,596
(2008) Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? 16,240
(2010) Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood! – 9,353
(2010) Last Rebellion – 3,565
(2010) Z.H.P Unlosing Ranger – 31,447
(2010) Disgaea Infinite – 2,656
(2011) Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten – 79,425
NIS recently opened a new studio in Osaka this past October, which they stated would get to work on its own independent projects, so it should be interesting to see what they put out. In the meantime, it’s a good thing for the company that there are two new Disgaea games in the pipeline to hold them over.
In other news, Level 5’s Fantasy Life is back in the top-20. Following reports of shortages and the game being unavailable at stores, it looks like Level 5 have managed to get more copies to retailers. The game wasn’t even listed in the top-50 for the week prior, so one can only assume it was completely sold out. Between Fantasy Life and Inazuma Eleven Go 2, things are starting to look up for Level 5, following disappointing sales of Girls RPG and The Little Battlers W.
The top-20 chart for the week was as follows:
| Lw | Tw | Title | Weekly Sales | Total Sales | Sys. | Publisher |
| 01. | 01. | Animal Crossing: New Leaf | 82,370 | 2,366,126 | 3DS | Nintendo |
| 02. | 02. | DmC Devil May Cry | 31,627 | 142,056 | PS3 | Capcom |
| New | 03. | Gintama’s Sugoroku | 27,011 | New | PSP | Namco Bandai |
| New | 04. | Demon Gaze | 25,316 | New | PSV | Kadokawa |
| ??? | 05. | Fantasy Life | 25,042 | 187,772 | 3DS | Level 5 |
| New | 06. | Monster Monpiece | 24,978 | New | PSV | Compile Heart |
| New | 07. | The God and Fate Revolution Paradox | 23,417 | New | PS3 | Nippon Ichi |
| New | 08. | Hitman Absolution | 22,233 | New | PS3 | Square Enix |
| 03. | 09. | Digimon Adventure | 13,991 | 61,798 | PSP | Namco Bandai |
| 04. | 10. | New Super Mario Bros. 2 | 12,834 | 1,886,476 | 3DS | Nintendo |
| 05. | 11. | Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Best Price!) | 12,105 | 196,243 | 3DS | Capcom |
| 06. | 12. | Inazuma Eleven Go 2: Chrono Stone – Neppuu/Raimei | 8,942 | 400,331 | 3DS | Level 5 |
| 08. | 13. | Paper Mario: Sticker Star | 8,185 | 504,107 | 3DS | Nintendo |
| 12. | 14. | Taiko Drum Master: The Little Dragon and the Mysterious Orb | 7,640 | 401,125 | 3DS | Namco Bandai |
| 09. | 15. | New Super Mario Bros. U | 6,883 | 448,591 | WiiU | Nintendo |
| 19. | 16. | Taiko Drum Master: Super Splendid Edition | 6,852 | 367,165 | Wii | Namco Bandai |
| 07. | 17. | Run for Money Tousouchuu | 6,761 | 406,143 | 3DS | Namco Bandai |
| 15. | 18. | Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (Dubbed Version) | 6,111 | 112,964 | PS3 | Square Enix |
| 10. | 19. | Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2 | 5,983 | 222,794 | PS3 | Tecmo Koei |
| 11. | 20. | Nintendo Land | 5,914 | 276,831 | WiiU | Nintendo |
Sales data acquired from 4Gamer, Media Create and Geimin.net.
Published: Jan 30, 2013 01:00 pm