Nintendo's console lead in Japan isn't growing as fast as it used to. But it's still growing.
The Wii is still dominating the Japanese hardware sales charts, but not with the ferocity that it was at its launch a year ago.
Enterbrain, publisher of Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu Weekly and independent tracker of game sales data, said that the Wii sold 110,415 units in the month of October. Its nearest competitor, the PlayStation 3, sold 47,183 units in the same time period. This means that the Wii is currently outselling the PS3 a rate of more than 2-to-1 in Japan.
Earlier this year, the Wii was outselling the PS3 at a rate of as high as 6-to-1. Comparison of these numbers would offer the impression that the Wii's lead over the PS3 in Japan is “shrinking," as many other publications have reported. This is incorrect; the Wii's rate of growth is merely slowing. Until PlayStation 3 sales surpass those of the Wii in a given month, the Wii will only continue to run away with the market leadership without fear of being overtaken.
Even if the PS3 manages to top the Wii for a few months, Sony has a long way to go to reclaim Japan. Sony has sold approximately 1.3 million PS3s there, while the Wii has triple that: nearly 3.7 million.