Hello Rebels. For the last few months I have been doing a weekly (if possible) post on the NeoGAF forums about the sales of selected games and systems in my small town in Japan. I never posted it here on 4cr before (other than on the forums) because I didn’t know if it would be of any interest to you guys. But, after being prodded by the rest of the staff, I have decided to give it a shot. These reports often cover non-Nintendo games and feature a lot of numbers that mean very little by themselves. Still if you enjoy them, I will continue to post them on 4cr.

Most anecdotal reports come from big cities like Tokyo and Osaka. In those places people will line up for new games and things sell out all the time. We read about these reports on many sites. However, it doesn’t always paint a very accurate picture of Japan. For example: big cities often receive more copies of games per capita and get restocks faster. Also games like Doki Doki Majo Saiban (the witch touching game) completely sold out in Akihabara, but I would be surprised if more than a couple copies have sold in my town since it came out. These are just a few examples. A lot of people live outside of metropolitan areas. I am one of those people. My numbers are not supposed to represent Japan, but are just my observations based on the town I happen to live in. They should not be extrapolated to represent all of the country but then again neither should the sales in Tokyo.

My town is in Oita Prefecture (in the Kyushu Region) the population is 80,000 (or 60,000 before it merged with the 4 tiny villages surrounding it); this city is quite small by Japanese standards.

I will track remaining inventory from all the stores that sell video games. They are:

2 department stores that sell games (Jusco and Youme Town)
1 discount store with a very small game section. (Mr.Max)
1 manga/anime/game store (Book-net)
1 porn store that tries to look legitimate buy having a small game/DVD section in the front and a massive porn section behind a curtain. (Goody)
2 electronics chain stores with game sections (Best Denki and Yamada Denki)
2 dedicated game stores (Wanpaku and Famicom Dojo)

For this weeks Media Create sales numbers (to compare) go here.

For this report I was asked to look for Wii, DS lite, Final Fantasy CC: RoF and Gyakuten Saiban 3, I visited the stores on Thursday, August 30th, 2007.

Jusco
Wii: 2
DS lite: 11
GS3: 2
FFCC:RoF: 3

Youme Town
Wii: Sold out
DS lite: 7
GS3: 1
FFCC:RoF: Sold Out

Mr. Max
Wii: 3
DS lite: 6
GS3: Sold out
FFCC:RoF: Sold out

Book-Net
Wii: Sold out
DS lite: 8
GS3: 1
FFCC:RoF: Sold out

Goody
Wii: sold out
DS lite: 4
GS3: None
FFCC:RoF: None

Best Denki
Wii: 6
DS lite: 12
GS3: 2
FFCC:RoF: 9

Wanpaku
Wii: 2
DS lite: 8
GS3: Sold Out
FFCC:RoF: 3

Famicom Dojo
Wii: Sold out
DS lite: 2
GS3: Sold Out
FFCC:RoF: 1

Yamada Denki
Wii: 8
DS lite: 10
GS3: 2
FFCC:RoF: 8

TOTALS:
Wii: 21
DS lite: 65
Gyakuten Saiban 3: 8
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates: 24

NOTES:

1. Wii is very interesting. During the last 2 weeks I checked on it at every store I visited. Sometimes there would be several in a store and sometimes there would be zero. This is very different from how it has been for the last few months where it was a rare occurrence to see a Wii in a store at all and if you did, there were only one or 2 at most. What this tells me is that the Wii is still selling (thus the stores with no units) but that fact that sometimes you can see as many as 8 sitting in a store with no rabid mothers pushing kids out of the way to get one, shows some sign of slowing demand. But I personally feel that this will be short lived. When Mario Galaxy and Smash Bros. hit, I am fairly certain Wii will be supply constrained again.

2. DS lite is not supply constrained. You still might have to go to a few stores to find your perfect color, but in general anyone can get a DS who wants one. Is it worth it to keep gathering numbers for the DS lite at this point?

3. The games stores are starting to really push FF: Crisis Core. There are kiosks set up in Wanpaku, Best and Yamada Denki. Even the convenience stores are showing the trailer for the game on their cash registers (which, yes, have video screens). I would say this is probably the most hype I have seen for a PSP game since Monster Hunter 2.

4. Dragon Quest Swords is selling very well, but as a used game. I see many people buying it and many people selling it. It is great for the used game stores (they make more money on used than new games) but pretty bad for Square-Enix because there is little reason to buy this game new when cheaper, mint condition copies, can be found almost everywhere. Several of my students bought it recently and none of them bought it new. I can guarantee you that over 1 million people will buy the game. But most of those sales will be the same copies re-bought and resold.

5. Gyakuten Saiban 3 is sold out at most stores in my town. I don’t think the retailers were expecting it to sell this well since it is a GBA remake. I pre-ordered 3 copies and I am glad I did because there weren’t 3 copies to be found at any of the stores in my town. These sales must take even Capcom by surprise.

6. The regular game store Otaku (nerds) in my town continue to discuss DQIX and recently some of them are getting hyped for Final Fantasy Crisis Core. As for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates (DS) very few of them have any interest in the title. The main thing that is keeping them away is the name. Crystal Chronicles for Gamecube was not the type of game these JRPG fans were hoping for and they told me that they have no interest in further games in that series (despite me telling them that it is actually quite different). They do hope for a sequel to “It’s A Wonderful World” though which shows they are willing to try games in a new series. Interestingly enough one of them asked me if I had played “Bioshock” since he read about it online and really wants to try it. This again goes to show how small of a segment the hardcore really are in Japan.

7. Special thanks to all the sales-age crew at NeoGAF and to user JunkWaffle for the logo.

Previous Reports:

August 11th,2007
July 26th, 2007
July 19th, 2007
July 12th, 2007
July 5th, 2007
June 28th, 2007
June 21st, 2007
June 14th, 2007
June 7th, 2007
May 30th, 2007
May 24th, 2007
May 17th, 2007
May 10th, 2007