Reuters is reporting that March sales for the PS3 in Japan (146,948 units) ended up higher than the Wii’s (99,335 units) for the first time since the console’s launch. The article reports that Sony’s big sequel releases “Resident Evil 5” and “Ryuu ga Gotoku (Yakuza) 3” were the reason for the spike in Sales.
While it’s easy to tell that sequels to Sega and Capcom’s hit series would drive up console sales, it’s hard for me to ignore how little the Wii was promoted in domestic advertising during the past month. I would say the vast majority of Nintendo’s regualar public ads (public transportation, TV etc.) focused mainly on the DSi, its new colors, and first party title “Mario and Luigi RPG 3.”
After reading last month’s sales figures it started to hit me that Nintendo’s domestic ads often seem somewhat polar, focusing a lot of energy onto a single product or title even if it might mean neglecting other recent releases. While this strategy may work just fine when Microsoft and Sony console struggle to gain a foot-hold, I’m beginning to wonder if a more comprehensive advertising approach isn’t going to be necessary for Nintendo to compete with the growing library of hit titles on other consoles going into the Summer.
Then again, Reuters’ analyst doesn’t think that the figures are any real threat to the Wii’s overall success and I’d like to agree in thinking a slow sales like last month’s shows not a slump but merely a calm before the storm.