Anatomy of a system seller

It's a truism in the technology world that software sells hardware. Besides Apple, the exception that proves the rule, I don't know of any counter examples. Now not all software sells hardware on it's own and those that do are called killer apps or system sellers. Recently Monster Hunter Freedom 3 became a system seller for the PSP in Japan. Here are the top five games by unit sales:

Media Create Sales: November 29, 2010 - December 5, 2010 

01. / 00. [PSP] Monster Hunter Freedom 3 (Capcom) {01/12/10} - 1.950.717 / NEW 
02. / 00. [PS3] Tales of Graces F (Bandai Namco) {02/12/10} - 215.187 / NEW 
03. / 03. [WII] Mario Sports Mix (Nintendo) {25/11/10} - 59.007 / 143.991 (-31%) 
04. / 00. [NDS] Mario Vs. Donkey Kong: Miniland Mayhem (Nintendo) {02/12/10} - 57.474 / NEW 
05. / 01. [PS3] Gran Turismo 5 (SCE) {25/11/10} - 55.682 / 486.389 (-87%)

Getting to a million units sold is pretty much the definition of a blockbuster in Japan. The latest Tales of Graces game might make the cut sometime in the next few months, but Monster Hunter Freedom 3 has very nearly doubled the number in less than a week. Even for a hit series like Monster Hunter (in Japan) it's an impressive start. What's more impressive is the hardware sales chart:

|System | This Week | Last Week | Last Year |       YTD |  Last YTD |        LTD |      
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------      
|  PSP  |   325.528 |    77.364 |    42.648 | 2.291.127 | 1.909.470 | 16.034.215 |
|  NDS  |    78.526 |    56.457 |   111.532 | 2.313.272 | 3.331.138 | 31.592.352 |
|  WII  |    56.095 |    41.267 |    46.673 | 1.286.265 | 1.312.870 | 10.891.464 |
|  PS3  |    41.760 |    68.840 |    46.558 | 1.354.075 | 1.284.059 |  5.855.442 |
|  360  |     3.497 |     4.329 |     3.685 |   194.399 |   341.943 |  1.404.071 |
|  PS2  |     1.440 |     1.332 |     2.057 |    76.593 |   195.156 | 21.686.770 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

Unlike the rest of the world, Japan has bought a fair number of PSPs in part because of exclusive series such as Monster Hunter. Nintendo's DS handheld still has outsold the Sony handheld by nearly 2 to 1, but it would be fair to say the PSP is a success in Japan. It's also interesting that DS sales are starting to fade, in part because of the imminent release of the 3DS. But the story for this particular week is the huge sales of the PSP. There can be no other explanation for selling 248,164 more systems this week compared to last except that roughly 12% of the people buying Monster Hunter Freedom 3 bought a PSP at the same time.

Since this is the third Monster Hunter title on the PSP and that a special version of the hardware was released in concert with the game, the audience for PSP titles probably hasn't expanded much, but there is no denying that Monster Hunter sells systems (in Japan).