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[jarrod]

In the end it doesn't really matter, its the genre itself pulling it down and not it's art style or gameplay system.

Still wrong, it's chiefly the platform pulling it down. See also; Musou, Virtua Fighter, Ridge Racer, Gundam, RGG, Winning Eleven, Disgaea, Mingol, GTPro, Folksoul, Genji, etc, etc.

SRPGs in and of themselves, aren't a sales killer.

 

[kswiston]

Only a 20% drop-off for monster hunter this week. Next week will determine how quickly it reaches 2M, but I think it is pretty much guarenteed now. 40% drop-offs from here on out put MHP2G at 2M in 4 weeks. With 25% drop offs, MHP2G could be at 2M in just two weeks.

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

My weekly post to say, 'Go Monster Hunter!'

Anyone check this out? How long before something like this in the US? :lol

http://www.psphyper.com/psp/monster-hunter-invades-tokyo/

Well, first they're going to have to convince North Americans that Monster Hunter does not in fact give them the deadly motaba virus.

 

[Hammer24]

PS3 is over 10k again, will it stay that way with no big release on the horizon?

IIRC next week is golden week, so yes. But afterwards it will probably drop again, as the bump for Valkyrie is pretty unimpressive.

 

[Kyoufu]

Still wrong, it's chiefly the platform pulling it down. See also; Musou, Virtua Fighter, Ridge Racer, Gundam, RGG, Winning Eleven, Disgaea, Mingol, GTPro, Folksoul, Genji, etc, etc.

SRPGs in and of themselves, aren't a sales killer.

I hope you're not comparing an SRPG to a well-established mainstream franchise. Disgaea 3 sold no better or worse than Disgaea 2, what does the PS3 have to do with it? The hardcore bought it.

If we're talking about Winning Eleven or Gran Turismo, then yes, but we're not.

 

[dionysus]

PSP and DS hardware switched positions. The PSP is selling insanely well. I think that even if Nintendo dropped the DS price they would have a hard time competing with those sales. Not that it matters much but its surprising to see such a turnaround in the Japanese handheld market. I think pretty soon we will be seeing a lot of PSP software populating the charts as well.

It takes a while for software to be developed, so any change in software releases due to psp success is at least a year away. That being said, the userbase gap is still so huge I don't see anything really changing in the software landscape.

 

[Pureauthor]

I hope you're not comparing an SRPG to a well-established mainstream franchise. Disgaea 3 sold no better or worse than Disgaea 2, what does the PS3 have to do with it? The hardcore bought it.

Well, actually, unless something happened I'm not aware of, Disgaea 3 is performing worse than Disgaea 2, despite the good start.

 

[jarrod]

I hope you're not comparing an SRPG to a well-established mainstream franchise. Disgaea 3 sold no better or worse than Disgaea 2, what does the PS3 have to do with it? The hardcore bought it.

If we're talking about Winning Eleven or Gran Turismo, then yes, but we're not.

Uh D3 sold significantly worse than D2, and undershot NIS' own modest expectations.

And I wouldn't exactly call Disgaea "mainstream"... if anything Valkyria has more mainstream appeal than anything NIS has ever done.

 

[ksamedi]

It takes a while for software to be developed, so any change in software releases due to psp success is at least a year away. That being said, the userbase gap is still so huge I don't see anything really changing in the software landscape.

Thats true. But I'm talking about the current release schedule. There are some decent games coming that will probably get a boost due to the PSP's succes. The true killer applications are probably more than a year away. Which also means a longer handheld life cycle.

 

[ethelred]

Uh D3 sold significantly worse than D2, and undershot NIS' own modest expectations.

You have a cite for that last part?

 

[Captain Smoker]

For them, who are interested in, here´s the japanese All-Time Top30 [Famitsu]:


Rank / System / Title / First week / LTD / Publisher / LTD´s till

 

[ksamedi]

For them, who are interested in, here´s the japanese All-Time Top30 [Famitsu]:


Rank / System / Title / First week / LTD / Publisher / LTD´s till

You mean the Nintendo top 30? Oh I'm sorry, it is indeed the All-time top30.

 

[Michan]

You're quick!

 

[iidesuyo]

Thats true. But I'm talking about the current release schedule. There are some decent games coming that will probably get a boost due to the PSP's succes. The true killer applications are probably more than a year away. Which also means a longer handheld life cycle.

I think it's up to Sony, they should give the PSP much more love. 3rd Parties will be more sceptic but eventually jump the ship if sales are good.

 

[kswiston]

It takes a while for software to be developed, so any change in software releases due to psp success is at least a year away. That being said, the userbase gap is still so huge I don't see anything really changing in the software landscape.

PSP is never going to pull developers away from the DS, but hopefully the moderately improved sales of PSP games (when PSP games are actually released) during the last six months will encourage more publishers to actually develop PSP games.

Full fledged PSP efforts don't always bomb. Even ignoring Monster hunter, games like Crisis Core and Metal Gear Solid PO had respectable sales. I'm sure the upcoming Kindom Hearts title will also break (or come close to) 500k.

 

[tanod]

VALKYRIA BUMP BITCHES

40% increase!!! IGYAFIYIQIL:GYCILQ

 

[ksamedi]

I think it's up to Sony, they should give the PSP much more love. 3rd Parties will be more sceptic but eventually jump the ship if sales are good.

I think the upcoming Gran Turismo Mobile game will really cement its position as a gaming system. Atleast I hope it does.

 

[schuelma]

Absolutely insane for MH. Wow.

 

[kswiston]

You mean the Nintendo top 30? Oh I'm sorry, it is indeed the All-time top30.

20 Nintendo
9 Square-Enix
1 Capcom :lol

Pokemon and Mario games tie up almost half the list.

 

[Kyoufu]

I think the upcoming Grand Turismo Mobile game will really cement its position as a gaming system. Atleast I hope it does.

Its funny, even without the spelling error, the game doesn't exist

 

[HK-47]

I think the upcoming Grand Turismo Mobile game will really cement its position as a gaming system. Atleast I hope it does.

Only 3.5 years late on that one

 

[hiryu]

Dang, Monster Hunter has become the WoW of Japan. It's too bad Japanese developers have such archaic ideas and implementation of online systems. Capcom could be making a killing if they went with either a pay MMO subscription model or a microtransaction model like Maplestory or even what Mythos will be eventually.

 

[gtj1092]

Didn't they only ship like a 100,00 copies of Valkyria. So how is selling 78000 copies in its first week a failure. Why is there one standard for Wii/DS games as far as weather a game is a success and and a different one for Ps3/PsP games?

 

[PantherLotus]

You have a cite for that last part?

i thought you were trying to be nicer!

 

[norinrad21]

You mean the Nintendo top 30? Oh I'm sorry, it is indeed the All-time top30.

Nintendo is Japan, has always been even when the PS/PS2 ruled the world.

 

[ksamedi]

Its funny, even without the spelling error, the game doesn't exist

Sorry about the spelling error but the game does exist and is coming. The developer stated its coming alongside GT5 as some kind of a supplementary experience.

 

[jarrod]

You have a cite for that last part?

Digging through MC threads from earlier in the year, but I can only find references to the expectations (100k), not the source itself. :/

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

that can't possibly be true?

Two months from TP's release would be between the weeks where it was 394K and 404K. Current highest PS3 game is Hot Shots 5 at 384K as of February 11. From the end of 2007 to that point it was averaging ~1.7K a week. If that rate didn't drop it might have passed the ~400K TP was at by now.

But its an excellent game, so whats wrong with making it?

I think it'd be pretty badass if EAD had a 200-man team working on a game about me making charts and wearing hats, but it would be pretty puzzling if they did.

Well, actually, unless something happened I'm not aware of, Disgaea 3 is performing worse than Disgaea 2, despite the good start.

Disgaea group. As of Disgaea 3's last chart appearance, it was at about 60% of Disgaea 2's sales through the same number of weeks.

 

[schuelma]

Why is there one standard for Wii/DS games as far as weather a game is a success and and a different one for Ps3/PsP games?

Such as?

 

[HK-47]

Nintendo is Japan, has always been even when the PS/PS2 ruled the world.

norinrad - The Jeremiah Wright of Nintendo fans

 

[Stumpokapow]

Didn't they only ship like a 100,00 copies of Valkyria. So how is selling 78000 copies in its first week a failure. Why is there one standard for Wii/DS games as far as weather a game is a success and and a different one for Ps3/PsP games?

:lol no agenda here

 

[kswiston]

It's crazy that only one PS2 title managed to crack the all-time top 30 despite the fact that the PS2 probably sold more software (in total) than any other console ever in Japan.

I wonder what other titles will make that list this generation. DQIX is a good bet, as is Wii Play and Wii Fit (eventually). Anything else?

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

Didn't they only ship like a 100,00 copies of Valkyria. So how is selling 78000 copies in its first week a failure. Why is there one standard for Wii/DS games as far as weather a game is a success and and a different one for Ps3/PsP games?

Well, part of your question is just not properly thought out at all, but for the part that is a decent question, 78k isn't that bad off of a shipment of 100k. It might get to 150k lifetime which is pretty good for a PS3 game. The 'failure' term was getting tossed around before we had the 78k number and we were going off first day numbers, which weren't great.

 

[PantherLotus]

Two months from TP's release would be between the weeks where it was 394K and 404K. Current highest PS3 game is Hot Shots 5 at 384K as of February 11. From the end of 2007 to that point it was averaging ~1.7K a week. If that rate didn't drop it might have passed the ~400K TP was at by now.

That's shocking, and should be troubling to anybody that thinks that Japanese Publishers value money and would be moving high-profile projects to handicapable systems.

Luckily, we know better.

 

[jarrod]

I wonder what other titles will make that list this generation. DQIX is a good bet, as is Wii Play and Wii Fit (eventually). Anything else?

Mario Kart Wii. Beliive.

I think MHP2G has a chance too actually.

 

[Captain Smoker]

Nintendo = Japan


I´ve currently 1.337 titles in my Excel - file [without GCN, GBA, NES/SNES/PS2 games that didn´t managed 1.000.000 units] [I´ll update the list ]:

1.) Nintendo [206 titles]: 219.416.947 units
2.) Squaresoft [33 titles]: 37.887.188 units
3.) Enix [15 titles]: 26.800.595 units
4.) SCE [71 titles]: 24.838.593 units
5.) Konami [122 titles]: 25.509.417 units

 

[PantherLotus]

you currently have 1337 titles in your database. how cute.

 

[Durante]

SRPGs in and of themselves, aren't a sales killer.

So, what's the last new franchise SRPG title that sold significantly more than 78k copies in its opening week in Japan? I'm genuinely curious.

Also, I'm looking forward to the next few weeks with interest:

Okay... there's basically no way this one[Valkyria]'s gonna crack 100k before price collapse.

 

[schuelma]

I'm starting to agree with others that Mario Kart might just beat out Smash Bros. over its lifetime. Smash has really slowed down and I have a feeling Kart will have uber legs.

 

[The-Switcher]

Holy crap...the top 10 best selling games of all time in Japan are Nintendo?

Pimpin'!

 

[Souldriver]

Nintendo = Japan


I´ve currently 1.337 titles in my Excel - file [without GCN, GBA, NES/SNES/PS2 games that didn´t managed 1.000.000 units] [I´ll update the list ]:

1.) Nintendo [206 titles]: 219.416.947 units
2.) Squaresoft [33 titles]: 37.887.188 units
3.) Enix [15 titles]: 26.800.595 units
4.) SCE [71 titles]: 24.838.593 units
5.) Konami [122 titles]: 25.509.417 units

That's just utterly insane.

 

[PantherLotus]

I'm starting to agree with others that Mario Kart might just beat out Smash Bros. over its lifetime. Smash has really slowed down and I have a feeling Kart will have uber legs.

all due respect shuelma, but we can't be ruled in sales-age by these things you call 'feelings.' show me a chart of MKW vs. SSB weekly sales and we can call it something better: logic.

 

[schuelma]

all due respect shuelma, but we can't be ruled in sales-age by these things you call 'feelings.' show me a chart of MKW vs. SSB weekly sales and we can call it something better: logic.

I miss the old Panther who was slightly arrogant and loved his charts and banners

 

[jarrod]

So, what's the last new franchise SRPG title that sold significantly more than 78k copies in its opening week in Japan? I'm genuinely curious.

I dunno, when's the last time this team launched a new big budget SRPG series? People are acting like there's no established associations or noted investment here, as if Valkria was some low budget effort from some no name developer. Considering the circumstances, this would be an unqualified bomb were it on PS2, I don't see why fumbling excuses are being continually made for it on PS3 (laying blame at near everything *but* the platform).

Yes, Valkyria's a new IP. But it had things going for it basically no other new IP in it's genre had in recent memory (barring maybe ASH, which at least had a shared established developer pedigree... kinda). This isn't an issue of genre, it's an issue of platform, a platform where basically everything but one game (DMC4) has had a similarly dissapointing performance...

Also, I'm looking forward to the next few weeks with interest:

It's following through about as well as D3 did actually (which was ~70k after 2 weeks iirc). I guess we'll avoid price collapse though, thanks to retail foresight.

 

[PantherLotus]

I miss the old Panther who was slightly arrogant and loved his charts and banners

Putting my charm aside for a moment, you politely ignorned my point. Let's look at the chart.

 

[schuelma]

Putting my charm aside for a moment, you politely ignorned my point. Let's look at the chart.

Well, Smash went:

816K
266K
165K
81K


MK Wii has gone:

608K
201K
143K


So it already looks to me like MK Wii is starting to show better legs.

 

[manueldelalas]

20 Nintendo
9 Square-Enix
1 Capcom :lol

Pokemon and Mario games tie up almost half the list.

10 third Party games (unless you count Pokemon as third party, as they are publishe by the Pokemon company)

5 on Nintendo consoles
5 on Sony consoles

1 non Nintendo, DQ or FF game.

1 remake

 

[Durante]

I dunno, when's the last time this team launched a new big budget SRPG series? People are acting like there's no established associations or noted investment here, as if Valkria was some low budget effort from some no name developer. Considering the circumstances, this would be an unqualified bomb were it on PS2, I don't see why fumbling excuses are being continually made for it on PS3 (laying blame at near everything *but* the platform).

Yes, Valkyria's a new IP. But it had things going for it basically no other new IP in it's genre had in recent memory (barring maybe ASH, which at least had a shared established developer pedigree... kinda). This isn't an issue of genre

I don't see anything in your post that proves the bolded part. In fact, the one game you bring up as somewhat comparable has sold some 92k copies after price collapse on what is generally agreed on as the "best" platform in terms of sales in Japan right now. How can we honestly conclude that "This isn't an issue of genre" under such circumstances?

 

[linsivvi]

I think the upcoming Gran Turismo Mobile game will really cement its position as a gaming system. Atleast I hope it does.

Not just that, the success of Monster Hunter will also prompt Capcom to revive Devil May Cry PSP.

Spoiler

believe

 

[jarrod]

I don't see anything in your post that proves the bolded part. In fact, the one game you bring up as somewhat comparable has sold some 92k copies after price collapse on what is generally agreed on as the "best" platform in terms of sales in Japan right now. How can we honestly conclude that "This isn't an issue of genre" under such circumstances?

Okay... but how "high end" was ASH in terms of production value? What previously successful SRPG series did we get from Mistwalker or Racjin? What sort of promotion and advertising did ASH get?

If this *is* an issue of genre... well where are all the Valkyria comparable games that also bombed? This works both ways, if it is an issue of genre there should be at least one similar precedent here... I can name plenty of platform centric precedents if you'd like though?