Monster Hunter Portable 3rd sets Japan PSP sales on fire.

DEC. 8, 2010 • Soon after Capcom’s Monster Hunter Portable 3^rd was released in Japan sales of the Sony PSP exploded. For the week of November 29 through December 5, according to Media Create, 323,653 PSPs were sold in the country, up from 75,689 the previous week. Interestingly, of those extra PSPs sold, only 1,875 were the PSP Go.

Impact: Outside of Japan, the PSP has really struggled to maintain its status as a significant game system.  In Japan it is a very different story and the PSP continued to have strong sales.  However, a significant portion of the PSP’s s Japan success is the Monster Hunter franchise.  The previous PSP version, released in 2008, sold over 4 million copies in Japan and caused sales of the PSP to soar in the country that year.