Monster Hunter Frontier Online Boosts Xbox 360′s Fortunes in Japan, Tops Software Chart
Sometimes a game doesn’t have to be original, or even new, in order to sell. This is proven in spades by the latest game to land atop the Japanese software sales charts, Monster Hunter Frontier Online for the Xbox 360, which outpaced its runner-up by nearly 10,000 units.
For those who might only be familiar with Monster Hunter from its recent Wii release, Monster Hunter 3 Tri, the series is big business in Japan– big enough to make the top spot on the software charts go to the Xbox 360 in a land that is generally considered unwelcoming to the platform. What’s more, Monster Hunter Frontier Online isn’t even a new entry in the series– it’s basically a port of a massively multiplayer online PC title released three years ago.
And according to sales data from Media Create (by way of Andriasang), there were 93,000 Japanese gamers who were eager to get their hands on the title in its first week.
Of course, it did have some help, if only a little: Siliconera notes Capcom’s plan is to use the game to expand the series’ userbase, and to help entice them, the game comes with a free 12-month subscription to Xbox LIVE Gold. The game also requires a fee to play, so another inclusion in the package is the “Hunter’s Life” code, which allows for 30 days of free online play. From there, another 30 days will cost a player 1,400 yen, or about $15.
For those curious, the fee is greater than what Japanese players are charged to play Monster Hunter 3 Tri for the Wii, but is on par with what PC users were/are charged to play.
Perhaps helping further boost the game’s fortunes was that the game went on sale the same day that Microsoft launched its newer, slimmer Xbox 360 in Japan (while marking down older models). It certainly couldn’t have hurt.
In fact, as Edge Online reports, sales of Xbox 360 hardware jumped to 17,370 from 2,060 the previous week. Not bad, but not enough to topple the PlayStation 3 (19,578) or Wii (19,115) from their console thrones.
For those curious, the game to follow Monster Hunter Frontier Online by a difference of less than 10,000 was Konami’s Love Plus + for the Nintendo DS, which debuted to sales of 84,000 units. The rest of the chart is as follows:
03. Atelier Totori: Alchemist Of Arland 2 (Gust, PS3) – 54,000 / New
04. Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side 3rd Story (Konami, DS) – 52,000 / New
05. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo, Wii) – 42,000 / 614,000
06. Hatsune Miku Project DVIA Value Version (Sega, PSP) – 29,000 / New
07. White Album: Tsuzurareru Fuyu no Omoide (AquaPlus, PS3) – 26,000 / New
08. Starry Sky In Spring Portable (Honeybee / PSP) – 22,000 (New)
09. Ghost Trick (Capcom, DS) – 20,000 / 44,000
10. Painting Classroom DS (Nintendo, DS – 20,000 / 41,000
Source: Edge Online
