I promised a chart of east vs. west comparisons for multipliers of various titles. However, I was kind of interested in this:

The fact is, each of the 3 next-gen consoles, in Japan have utterly atrocious attatch ratios. The PS3 is at 1.05, the Wii is at 2.25, and the X36 is at 3.30. This is in comparison to 2.8, 3.85 and 5.8 respectively.

Obviously the hardware is similar for PS3 and Wii. However, I was wondering, if hardware sales and tier ratios remained the same for the given systems, where would the top 10 be for each game?

So I submit this list: Each system's sales are equated to the US/NA numbers for hardware, and the tier ratios as of April (which were given). Sales of the top 10 games are multiplied to this, just to show how different the Japanese market is from the US market in many games.

Nintendo Wii: Hardware Multiplier 1.21 ; Tier Ratio Multiplier 1.71

With the Wii list, it's obvious there is 1 huge discrepancy, in the fact that Wii Sports would easily be over a 1:1 ratio, as well as Wii Play would be near a 95% tier ratio. Aside from this, we see Zelda obviously much lower (about 700k lower than US), SPM much higher, and then a ton of un-released games. Also, the fact that 3rd party games are highlighted at a much stronger rate than Japan.

Playstation 3: Hardware Multiplier 1.56 ; Software Multiplier 2.66

Totally opposite of the Wii charts - there are only 3 titles that had remotely any similar succuess in both countries. Although Gundam Mousou isn't released in the US, I doubt it'll have similar succuesses, and reach the top 10. I think this shows exactly why the PS3 is failing somewhat: the titles that are doing well in Japan aren't translating to a similar ranking in the US. Likewise, if Japan and/or the purchasers of the PS3 had similar buying prowess, then we'd finally have our first million seller of the PS3 system in one area, but we unfortunately do not.

Xbox 360: Hardware Multiplier: 16.1 ; Software Multiplier: 1.75

Now, obviously this chart is screwed up vs. Wii and PS3 since it's been out for quite some time. However, like the PS3 it proves a point: if sales were equal (in terms of hardware and software), the Japanese charts would be totally alien to the US, and vice versa. At most, 3 of the games (GOW, LP, and DR) would be in the US/NA top 10, whereas the rest are nowhere near it. RR6 had maybe 100k sales in the US, DOA4 had 250k, DOAX2 had under 80k, N3 had 90k-ish, and RRXX had maybe 50k. The point is the mere fact that just like the PS3, game sales are pretty foreign between both markets.

 So there you have it. I'm not trying to say "oh, 360 software is doing great in Japan" - not in the least. I'm just trying to open up discussion about how different eastern markets vs. western markets, and the huge difference between PS3/360 tastes vs the somewhat more balanced tastes of the Wii.

Erm, this just shows the obvious, the 360 has the highest attach rate of consoles, east or west. If you want to do a EvW then probably comparison against top 10 in US would be interesting

Hmm, I draw a few conclusions from that. - 3rd parties are doing ok on the Wii in America but are sucking in Japan. - 3rd parties would be doing well on PS3 in Japan if it were actually selling consoles, probably b/c Sony's first party hits are more western-oriented. - 3rd parties aren't doing as well on PS3 in America probably 'cause the 360 is stronger there and people are buying their multiplats for that system. People also seem to buy multiplats on PS3 ahead of Wii, but Wii's exclusives keep it bumped up over PS3. Top 5 3rd-party games in America with sales added up for each system: Wii = 1.83M PS3 = 1.22M 360 = 6.29M (over double the holiday time and triple the total sales time, closer to 2.5M over a similar period probably) So 360 is doing the best in the US, no surprise with its large userbase lead and its hardcore userbase. PS3 sells more per console than Wii but 2/3 less overall since its install base is so much lower. I wouldn't expect too many western 3rd-party exclusives on the PS3 to be announced in the near future when they could potentially sell twice as much on the 360 alone.

i think 3rd parties aren't doing so well on PS3 in America because of the relative strength of the 1st party games compared to Japan. Japan doesn't really care about motorstorm or Resistance so it opens the door for Gundam and Ridge Racer.

360 has absolute freak of nature attach rates. Its just stupidly high. Even in its supposed 'weak' market. I notice this looking at MC numbers too for Forza. Forza did what 18k? And 360 console at 2k? What type of insane attach is that? I swear, I think that both the Wii and 360 have the ability to absolutely own the market if they could manage to capture the other consoles market. Imagine the 360 if it had the market the Wii is selling too right now, that would move the hardware in every country, the attach rate is already high because of the hardcore, it would be the perfect console and would rule them all. All I say. MS next gen console is going to be the one to watch.....Waggle for the casuals (if they decided to do it) plus if they manage to keep the hardcore? Omg.

I think that it differentiates how strange the J-market is for the 360. Gears of War has only sold *maybe* 5% of the total software upto this point, and has maybe a 30% attach ratio per system. Blue Dragon, on the other hand, has about 15% of the total 360 games sold in Japan, and a near-50% attach ratio. Certainly it's interesting, as it's kinda like the Nintendo Wii: your never gonna know what kind of attatch ratios your gonna get.

I think the unusually high 360 attach rate in Japan makes sense. Only the most devoted 360 fans are purchasing one, and these are the fans who buy a lot of games. The same may be true to a somewhat lesser extent in the Americas (likely there are just a ton more devoted 360 fans here than Japan).