Q4 2012 Hardware Analysis (VGC Exclusive)

[Michael-5]

Platform	Q4 2012 Sales
3DS	2.27 million
WiiU	0.64 million
PS3	0.41 million
PSP	0.30 million
PSV	0.13 million
Wii	0.077 million
360	0.025 million
PS2	0.014 million
DS	0.006 million

DS is the poorest selling console in Japan, selling less then the now discontinued (In Japan only) PS2. PSV, Wii, and 360 also sell pretty poorly, which is expected for a repeaced console like Wii, and an American console like 360. However this is worrysome for PSV, Japan should be the handhelds strongest region, but instead it's the systems weakest region by far. 3DS dominates Japanese sales, selling more then every other console combined by about 29.5%. Wii U is the second best selling console there, followed by PS3 and PSP which are both selling moderatly. PSP is outselling the PSV by more then 2:1 and it's selling nearly twice as well in Japan as it is the rest of the world. Japan marks PSP's only major hardware market.

The first console labeled in the legend represents 2012 sales, the second represents 2011 sales. E.g. PS3 is Dark Blue in 2012, and Cyan in 2011. PS2 and 360 lines are nearly impossinle to distinguish due to their overlap.

Platform	Q4 2011 Sales	Q4 2012 Sales	% Difference
WiiU	N/A	0.64 million	N/A
PS3	0.52 million	0.41 million	-24.1%
Wii	0.36 million	0.077 million	-78.6%
360	0.027 million	0.025 million	-7.4%
PS2	0.018 million	0.014 million	-22.2%

Too bad Japan is such a weak market for the 360, as it dropped significantly less then any other system in Japan. Wii sales have crashed from 2011, and PS2/PS3 sales have fallen moderatly as well. Wii U dominates in its 4 weeks on sales, and will likely to continue to do so in Q1.

The first console labeled in the legend represents 2012 sales, the second represents 2011 sales. E.g. 3DS is Dark Red in 2012 and Bright Red in 2011 (It actually sold worse in 2012 then 2011 for Q4, but barely in Japan)

Platform	Q4 2011 Sales	Q4 2012 Sales	% Difference
3DS	2.34 million	2.27 million	-3%
PSP	0.54 million	0.30 million	-44.4%
PSV	0.44 million	0.13 million	-70.4%
DS	0.063 million	0.006 million	-90.4%

3DS is the only platform to remain relatively flat from 2011 in Q4 for Japan. This is largely due to releases like Monster Hunter 3G before the Quarter and Animal Crossing, now the best selling 3DS game in Japan. PSV sales have dropped over 70%, which is worrysome because PSV was only out for 3 weeks in 2011. DS sales have crashed and the system will likely be discontinued in Japan in 2013. PSP is selling moderatly well and still seeing exclusive releases in Japan to boost software.