2006: Record year for Japanese games market

Since the NPD figures for North American sales are out, this time we’ll turn our attention to the Japanese market. MCV reports that Japan‘s games market hit a record high in 2006. Hardware sales were up by 160 percent to 261.9 billion yen, and software sales were up by 125 percent to 363.89 billion yen.

The latest report from Famitsu‘s research division reveals that (*yawn* as expected) the DS was the top-selling piece of hardware with 7.5 million units sold. The second best selling console was the PSP with 1.9 million in sales and the PS2 is at third with 1.5 million units sold.

On the software side, Nintendo was the top-selling publisher in Japan with 24.2 million copies of its titles sold during 2006. Square-Enix is at second with 6.8 million in sales and Pokemon (yes, Pokemon is a publisher label in Japan) is third with 5.6 million units sold.

The top selling games were Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, New Super Mario Bros, and Brain Training.

Via MCV

Since the NPD figures for North American sales are out, this time we’ll turn our attention to the Japanese market. MCV reports that Japan‘s games market hit a record high in 2006. Hardware sales were up by 160 percent to 261.9 billion yen, and software sales were up by 125 percent to 363.89 billion yen.

The latest report from Famitsu‘s research division reveals that (*yawn* as expected) the DS was the top-selling piece of hardware with 7.5 million units sold. The second best selling console was the PSP with 1.9 million in sales and the PS2 is at third with 1.5 million units sold.

On the software side, Nintendo was the top-selling publisher in Japan with 24.2 million copies of its titles sold during 2006. Square-Enix is at second with 6.8 million in sales and Pokemon (yes, Pokemon is a publisher label in Japan) is third with 5.6 million units sold.

The top selling games were Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, New Super Mario Bros, and Brain Training.

Via MCV