Sales for Sony Corp.'s Playstation 3 dropped 63% in Japan in a video game hardware retail slump for the week.

Media Create Co. on Fri. reported that the PS3 sold 25,531 units in Japan between Jan. 8 and Jan. 14.

By comparison, the PS3 sold 69,944 units the week prior.

The sharp drop in sales is in accord with overall lower sales for video game hardware in Japan. Nintendo Co.'s Wii and Nintendo DS handhelds experienced lower sales, in addition to Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360.

In addition, only one PS3 game title ranked in the top 50 software sales.

Sony this week announced that it has sold 2 million PS3 units worldwide, missing its year-end forecast by several weeks. The company maintains a sales forecast of 6 million units by fiscal Mar. 2007.