Halo: Reach a Big Success Elsewhere, Fourth Place in Japan

Once again Microsoft has failed while reaching for the brass ring. (See what I did there?) While Halo: Reach has been a resounding success elsewhere, rounding up to $200 million in day one sales according to Microsoft’s Tokyo Game Show press conference, the flagship series once again failed to have a major impact in the Japanese marketplace.

The game sold 44,413 copies in its first week, landing it in fourth place on the nation’s sales charts. (Page in Japanese)

The second and third place games, Front Mission Evolved (PS3) and Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Tagforce 5 (PSP) respectively, didn’t beat it by much, but the winner by a mile was Pokemon Black and White (DS) with over 2.5 million copies sold.

This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, as the biggest launch in the series, Halo 3, only managed 61,143 over the same period of time.

I guess there are two important lessons to take from this. First, if you are releasing a game in Japan, don’t have it be Halo. And second, if you see Pokemon on the release calender there, don’t bother.

(Via 1up)