Pokemon beats GTA to number one in Japan

X and Y sells 1.8 million, handily beating Rockstar’s opus with less than 400,000 units.

Pokemon X and Y comfortably beat Grand Theft Auto 5 to the number one spot in Japan last week, selling more than 1.8 million units in the process.

Japan will be one of the few major markets where Rockstar’s record-breaking hit won’t trounce the competition, and it sold fewer than 400,000 units in its first week on sale across all platforms – the lion’s share on PlayStation 3.

The somewhat inevitable success of Pokemon X and Y also boosted sales of the 3DS, with both models roughly doubling the previous week’s total – the original model sold 72,000 units, while the dominant 3DS XL sold 141,000.

However, the real success story on the hardware chart was the PlayStation Vita, which received a proportionally astounding boost thanks to the release of a new model. Sony’s resurgent handheld more than 60,000 units, an impressive 1600 per cent increase over the prior week’s 3,500 units.

The software top ten is below, with lifetime sales in parentheses:

• 1. [3DS] Pokemon X and Y (Nintendo, 10/12/13) – 1,866,570 (New)
• 2. [PS3] Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar Games, 10/10/13) – 360,115 (New)
• 3. [3DS] Monster Hunter 4 (Capcom, 09/14/13) – 110,208 (2,652,824)
• 4. [PS3] Tales of Symphonia Chronicles (Namco Bandai, 10/10/13) – 77,228(New)
• 5. [PSV] DanganRonpa 1&2 Reload (Spike Chunsoft, 10/10/13) – 76,162 (New)
• 6. [PS3] Sakatsuku Pro Soccer Club wo Tsukurou (Sega, 10/10/13) – 73,696(New)
• 7. [PS3] Fairy Fencer F (Compile Heart, 10/10/13) – 40,666 (New)
• 8. [PSV] Sakatsuku Pro Soccer Club wo Tsukurou (Sega, 10/10/13) – 33,898(New)
• 9. [360] Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar Games, 10/10/13) – 26,612 (New)
• 10. [PS3] Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate (Tecmo Koei, 09/26/13) – 11,044 (116,054)

The hardware chart is below, with the prior week’s sales in parentheses:

• 1. 3DS LL – 141,245 (85,885)
• 2. 3DS – 72,325 (37,102)
• 3. PlayStation Vita – 60,166 (3,538)
• 4. PlayStation 3 – 12,395 (10,232)
• 5. PSP – 3,467 (4,093)
• 6. Wii U – 3,276 (4,001)
• 7. Wii – 703 (914)
• 8. Xbox 360 – 575 (354)

[source]