Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII off to slow start in Japan

Last week (Nov 18-24) saw a lot of action as far as Japanese video game releases go with both Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII and Super Mario 3D World hitting shops.

According to Media Create Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII on PS3 sold 277,082 copies while Famitsu pegged at as 301,181. Both lists featured the game as the clear cut winner of the week. It should be noted that the Final Fantasy XIII games have been on a steep downward slope in Japan. The first one debuted selling an impressive 1.5 million copies and Final Fantasy XIII-2 managing just over half a million (via Siliconera.

Meanwhile, Super Mario 3D World managed 99,588 (Media Create) and 106,967 (Famitsu). This means approximately one in ten Wii U owners in Japan picked it up during launch week. Nothing terrible, but it doesn't seem like the release helped boost hardware numbers much. Wii U sold 21,002/20,177 (Media Create/Famitsu), up just under 50% when compared to the previous week. A modest boost under the circumstances. Nintendo 3DS regained it's number one spot in the hardware charts from PS Vita (last week Vita topped the list on the back of the God Eater 2 launch).

Source: NeoGAF