Enterbrain president and prominent Japanese industry figure Hirokazu Hamamura has given his annual speech in Japan, in which he predicts that the current lull in Nintendo hardware and software sales is likely to be temporary - and that PlayStation 3 sales are also likely to increase with the release of the 40GB model.
Speaking at a seminar in Tokyo, as reported by Mainichi Interactive and
translated by IGN, Hamamura suggested that the Nintendo DS would exceed 30 million units shipped in Japan by 2009. He also predicted that the release of
Dragon Quest IX on the format could see the series achieve a record five million unit sales.
The most
recent figures from Nintendo themselves put the Nintendo DS sales total in Japan at 18.11 million at the end of June, 2007. The worldwide total at the time was put at 47.27 million units, with 14.14 million sold in the Americas and 15.03 million in the rest of the world.
Commenting on the recent slowing in demand for Wii hardware and software in Japan, Hamamura indicated that Enterbrain market research showed that 67 percent of current Wii owners in Japan had not used the console recently. He also suggested that the format was suffering from the lack of a follow-up hit to
Wii Sports (which is not bundled with the console in Japan).
Hamamura remained positive about the Wii’s long-term future, though, and predicted that other high profile
games such as Monster Hunter 3 could be moved to the format in the future. He was also optimistic about the potential success of
Wii Fit, which is released in Japan on December 1 this year.
There was further optimism for the future of the PlayStation 3 in Japan, with Hamamura describing, via the IGN translation, the
recently announced 40GB model as “the system's arrival at the starting line”.
He did however indicate that there was no guarantee that Square Enix’s
Final Fantasy XII and Konami’s
Metal Gear Solid 4 would remain format exclusives, and that Sony was well advised to ensure a steady stream of high quality first party exclusives.
