Vita sales surge in Japan on release of new Persona game

The PlayStation Vita nearly tripled its sales in Japan last week thanks to the release of Persona 4: The Golden.

The Vita has struggled to gain a strong foothold in Japan, due in no small part to the absence of franchises that appeal to the selective local gaming community. However, the popular Persona series has rescued the Vita's fortunes with its fourth iteration, selling almost 140,000 units in its debut week.

The most notable other new entry was Grasshopper Manufacture's Lollipop Chainsaw. Both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions made the top 10 - at number 3 and number 9 respectively - selling a combined total of around 68,000 units.

The seven day period ending June 17 is the first time the Vita has broken out of the teens in sales in several months. However, the 3DS comfortably maintained its primacy, selling more than 60,000 units.

The full software chart is below. Last week's sales are in parentheses.

• [PSV] 01. Persona 4: The Golden (Atlus, 06.14.2012): 137,076
• [3DS] 02. Dragon Quest Monsters Terry's Wonderland 3D (Square Enix, 05.31.2012): 66,434 (662,946)
• [PS3] 03. Lollipop Chainsaw (Kadokawa, 06.14.2012): 53,347
• [PS3] 04. Tokyo Jungle (Sony, 06.07.2012): 35,989 (146,298)
• [PS3] 05. Akiba's Trip Plus (Acquire, 06.14.2012): 29,505
• [PS3] 06. Dragon's Dogma (Capcom, 05.24.2012): 18,039 (437,248)
• [3DS] 07. Mario Tennis Open (Nintendo, 05.24.2012): 17,856 (185,011)
• [WII] 08. Mario Party 9 (Nintendo, 04.26.2012): 16,143 (433,787)
• [360] 09. Lollipop Chainsaw (Kadokawa, 06.14.2012): 14,422
• [3DS] 10. Super Mario 3D Land (Nintendo, 05.24.2012): 9,244 (1,623,749)
• [PSV] 11. Gundam Seed Battle Destiny (Namco Bandai, 06.07.2012): 8,826 (49,122)
• [3DS] 12. Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo, 12.01.2011): 6,664 (1,741,745)
• [3DS] 13. Fire Emblem Awakening (Nintendo, 04.19.2012): 5,758 (413,787)
• [3DS] 14. Monster Hunter 3G (Capcom, 12.10.2011): 5,569 (1,477,374)
• [360] 15. Root Portable Before Crime After Days (Views, 06.14.2012): 5,450
• [WII] 16. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo, 11.10.2010): 3,981 (961,427)
• [3DS] 17. Mario & Sonic at London Olympics (Nintendo, 03.01.2012): 3,580 (183,824)
• [3DS] 18. Gon Baku Baku Baku Baku Baku Baku Baku Baku Baku Baku Baku Baku Adventure (Nintendo, 03.01.2012): 3,208
• [PS3] 19. Fist of the North Star F Pachislot (Sega, 05.31.2012): 3,163 (21,801)
• [WII] 20. Wii Party (Nintendo, 07.08.2010): 3,071 (2,365,018)

The full top hardware chart is below. Last week's sales are in parentheses.

• 1. 3DS: 61,793 (64,875)
• 2. PSV: 34,459 (13,383)
• 3. PS3: 14,673 (15,593)
• 4. PSP: 9,740 (10,038)
• 5. Wii: 5,963 (6,029)
• 6. PS2: 1,237 (1,091)
• 7. X360: 1,084 (1,001)
• 8. DSi LL: 689 (615)
• 9. DSi: 380 (383)

Thanks, Andriasang