Rob Fahey 11:41 03/12/2004
Long-awaited new chapter in the Dragon Quest saga beats its predecessor's records
Square Enix' latest instalment in the epic Dragon Quest series has had a major effect on the Japanese market, selling over two million units in its first weekend at retail and driving major PS2 hardware sales.
Dragon Quest VIII sold 2.167 million units in two days, according to the latest figures from market research firm Media Create, making it into a faster seller than its predecessor, Dragon Quest VII, which sold 1.83 million units in its first week.
The PlayStation 2 RPG title, which comes from Square Enix' largest franchise outside the Final Fantasy series, is also believed to be well-stocked at retail and should have healthy second week sales, matching the previous title which sold over a million units in the second week.
The launch of the eagerly awaited game drove sales of the PS2 skywards, with Sony's console taking almost 74 per cent market share as a result, compared with 22 per cent for the Game Boy Advance and four per cent for the GameCube.
Further down the chart, no other new releases made a particularly large impact, but Sony's Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal came in at number two, continuing the popularity of the US-developed series in Japan.
Anime-based titles featured heavily in the rest of the chart, with Tomy's Naruto 3 (Cube) at number six, Banpresto's Dragon Ball Advance Adventure (GBA) at seven, and Bandai's Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny (GBA) at number eight.
Aside from Dragon Quest VIII and Gundam SEED Destiny, the only other new release in the top ten was Dorart's PS2 title Slotter Up Core 5, which came in at number five this week.
