Here's a little trivia for you: The original Xbox never sold out it's original 500,000 shipment to Japan.  In fact you can go into stores now and find an original Xbox.  So with the Xbox 360 not too many people had a lot of faith the 360 could compete, let alone outsell one of the the established Japanese console makers.  Well this generation Microsoft has partnered with Japanese game developers to create exclusive Japanese style RPGs for their console.  After Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey failed to capture much attention in Japan it seemed like Japan would be another failure for Microsoft.

Thanks in part to a struggling PS3 in all markets and a healthy install base for the 360 in Europe and North America, Japanese developers decided to make more exclusive RPGs for the Xbox 360.  Now with Tales of Vesparia, Last Remnant and Infinite Undiscovery all hitting the Xbox 360 this Fall it seems the 360 has surpassed the PS3 for total sales in September and has outsold the PS3 the last five weeks.

This generation the Japanese consumers have not embraced either of the HD consoles.  It is shocking to see the PS3 sell so few consoles considering the PS2 sold on average 3 to 4 times as much as the PS3.  The DS and PSP sell significantly better in Japan ans the Wii is on pace to surpass the sales records of the PS2.  The sales of the Xbox 360 have increased as their price has dropped to ¥29,800 ($277).  I'm curious if the price point has been a larger issue in Japan than originally thought.  If Microsoft can continue to beat the PS3 in Japan this would be an incredible turn of events.


Week                Xbox 360     PS3
Sept 29-Oct 5        7,763      5,734
Sept 22-28            8,271      7,232
Sept 15-21          11,291      8,275
Sept 8-14            13,777      8,156
Sept 1-7              28,188      8,053
Totals                 69,290     37,450

Source:
kotaku.com