This is not the line for Halo: Reach's Japanese launch. In fact, it's just a minuscule sampling of the reported 2.6-million-and-then-some strong who picked up Pokémon Black and White in Japan last weekend. Reach debuted several days before, on September 15, selling a respectable 44,413 units through Sunday, and ranked fourth on the weekly Japanese sales chart, according to Media Create.

Reach was hardly Japan's "Cabela of the Week," but it would seem that a new Pokémon diverted some sales away from Bungie's encore effort. Recall that in September 2007, Halo 3 launched in the #1 spot in Japan, recording about 59,000 units sold in its first week (though combined sales of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Toki and Yami reached 101,000 units that week, the games' third week at retail). Still, Reach's Japanese launch week sales easily trumped those of ODST (about 30,000 units), which was -- this is getting predictable! -- buried under sustained sales of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver a year ago.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/24/dont-release-your-game-the-same-week-as-pokemon-in-japan/

Posted: Sep 24, 2010 4:55 pm