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Rockstar's San Andreas successful in Japan

3 February 2007 18:08 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 12 comments

Rockstar has proven that Western developed games can be successful in the Japanese market. The infamous Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has just been introduced to the Japanese market and immediately took the #1 spot in the charts. Published by Camcom in the territory, the title for the PlayStation 2 (PS2) platform sold an impressive 227,000 units in its first week.

In comparison, Gears of War entered the top ten last week in Japan, but immediately slid out of the top 50 this week. This can be explained by the poor performance of the Xbox 360 console in the territory. Namco's The Idol Master is the only title for the Xbox 360 in the top 20.

From Software's Enchanted Arms for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) console it as #29. Sony sold 19,996 PS3 units in Japan in the last 7 days, compared to 7360 Xbox 360 consoles. The PlayStation Portable (PSP) sold 35,700 units. Nintendo did extremely well with the DS moving 194,600 units in the last week, and the Wii moving 83,750 units.

Source:
GamesIndustry.biz

Permalink to this article

Sony says it will shrink the PSP (13 March 2007)

Take-Two enters settlement for Hot Coffee (1 March 2007)

Wii continues to outsell PS3 in Japan (6 February 2007)

GTA must be banned to protect Prostitutes (14 February 2006)

DVD format just too small for Xbox 360 games? (5 December 2005)

GTA: Liberty City Stories delayed in Europe (24 October 2005)

GTA: San Andreas banned in Australia (29 July 2005)

GTA: San Andreas adverts restricted (3 March 2005)

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Discuss this article!
mknapper1 (Junior Member) 3 February 2007 18:55
jeez japan must hate M$...wait a second so does the rest of the world [ + quote]
hade (Senior Member) 3 February 2007 21:30
the series has been a success just about every where now and it isn't too often you see a western dev'd game successful over there. i wouldn't also be surprised if people see a jump in ps3 sales when GTA IV is released over there. that is if they are releasing it over there in October of '07. i'll have to look... "jeez japan must hate M$...wait a second so does the rest of the world" what have they done to make people not hate them? japan's always been supportive and loyal to their own...maybe if microsoft got up and moved to japan they'd have better luck. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 3 February 2007 21:32
limelight (Member) 4 February 2007 3:52
Its the controller, they hate the controller... I know i do! [ + quote]
Razengan (Member) 4 February 2007 7:30
The controller? It's nearly the same! I have a 360 and a PS2 and the controller are too similar to consider it a factor. [ + quote]
hade (Senior Member) 4 February 2007 8:30
the positioning of the thumbsticks aren't the same at all. can be an unusual experience the first few times playing with that controller if you've primarly played games using the DualShock controller... [ + quote]
Stu_d07 (Newbie) 4 February 2007 9:09
who thinks theres a big foot in sa? S.Dawson [ + quote]
scorpNZ (Senior Member) 4 February 2007 11:17
The japnaese are not into fps they prefer singstar (stay at home karioke...lol...)& game styles like final fantasy etc,so no suprise GTA is doing well should be interesting to see if there's a furore over the coffee hack thingy...lol... or was that for the comp version only ? [ + quote]
supacool (Newbie) 4 February 2007 20:06
It's not M$ fault. Japs like only childish stuff. [ + quote]
Musashi13 (Newbie) 4 February 2007 22:46
It's not really childish stuff but the games that do well are not as sinister as GTA. I've been in Japan for 8 years and people here have been crying out for it but it took freaking ages to get released. No idea why. [ + quote]
solarf (Member) 5 February 2007 7:38
Well thats new a western Dev. game doing so well in Japan, who would of thought. [ + quote]
Unfocused (Member) 6 February 2007 17:15
This just goes to show that a game with solid gameplay and an above average "fun factor" were never meant to be location specific. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 7 February 2007 3:42
the Xbox controller is bulky and the triggers are annoiyng the PS2 could have stiffer analog sticks but it sets well in the hand no matter the size of your hands. the 360 updated its control some but MS still has alot of troubles dealing with Japan if you want that market set up a large office /store front a dev department get other devs on board by handing out dev kits get them interested in deving for MS's system but MS has pretty much ignored or halfhazardly sought out devs. if MS took some time and money they could get a better footing in japan they are doing better than with the Xbox but still its a tuff market to crack when you are number 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 (DC was stil in print not to long ago PSX is still in print I think,PS2 is selling strong) Japan is like a nut its both the center of gaming that accounts for half of it,if your in side the shell things are sold well within and with out if you are but side you have to break threw. [ + quote]