Even though hardware sales numbers have bounced around because of the turbulent global economy, market research indicates that the Sony PlayStation 3 has yet again topped hardware charts in Japan.
The PS3 sold 23,351 units in Japan, with the Nintendo Wii selling 18,439 units last week, while the Microsoft Xbox 360 game console sold just 7,016 units. The Wii has continually outsold both consoles since their respective releases, although both the PS3 and Xbox 360 were on top of the charts at various points.
This also happens to be the second month in a row that the PS3 outsold the Wii in Japan, as 108,530 PS3 units shipped in Japan during April, with just 67,116 Wii units sold.
The PS3 received a hefty sales boost thanks to the Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete movie and the release of the Final Fantasy XIII demo available for the PS3.
Analysts are watching console sales closely to try and see how Sony's efforts of turning around its struggling game business is going, as the company aims to finally convince consumers to purchase its expensive, powerful game console. Furthermore, the Nintendo Wii's growth momentum has finally slowed, and observers are curious to see if it will continue to slow.
There were some people who predicted the PS3 would eventually begin to outsell the Xbox 360 and Wii, but weeks and months of continued dominance by Nintendo made that seem rather doubtful. It'll be interesting to see how Nintendo fires back against the PS3, as the company hasn't cut prices of its console since its release.
