Modern Warfare 2 Gets Off To Strong Start In Japan

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, published by Square Enix in Japan, has gotten off to a strong start in the region, according to Japanese retail blog Sinobi.

Modern Warfare 2 sold 117,000 copies on the PS3 — debuting at the #3 position on the weekly software sales chart — and 61,000 copies on the Xbox 360 in its first week. It was bested by New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which has retained its #1 spot since the time of its release, and Tales of Graces, which debuted at the #2 spot with 143,000 copies sold in its first week.

The point of interest here is that Modern Warfare 2 sold 178,000 units combined across the PS3 and Xbox 360, thereby besting Tales of Graces. For the sake of comparison, here are life-to-date sales numbers for other recent notable Western releases in Japan:

Resistance: Fall of Man [PS3] – 136,492

Little Big Planet [PS3] – 99,984

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [PS3] – 113,957

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [360] – 54,752

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (The Best)* [PS3] – 62,813

Halo 3 [360] – 83,696

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion [360] – 72,274

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion [PS3] – 49,114

Gears of War [360] – 68,270

Gears of War 2 [360] – 61,860

It’s worth noting that the first Modern Warfare was published by Activision and Ubisoft (who published the PS3 version). Having Square’s name on the box certainly seems to have boosted the sequel’s popularity.

* Published by Square Enix under their "The Best" label.