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JoshuaJSlone · Nov 29, 2008

Famitsu Software Stuff
Last week the new Kirby (3265) did better than any other modern Kirby through two weeks. Now after two weeks it's doing better than any other modern Kirby through four weeks, and just barely misses making it five. It also passes up Canvas Curse altogether.

Through its first few weeks, Wii Music was holding on to a greater percent of its opening sales on a weekly basis than last year's Super Mario Galaxy, but that changes with week five. Though SMG launching slightly later in the year, its week five is further into the normal holiday bump.

Some new software groups:
Way of the Samurai
Way of the Samurai 3 (3272) opens with a first week just slightly below the original (1434), and well above Way of the Samurai PSP (3189) and Samurai Western (2070).

Shiren
Shiren DS 2 (3274) opens nearly 40% lower than its predecessor from last year (155), though last year's game has an advantage being a late December release. Also a slightly weaker opening than this June's new Wii Shiren (2984).

Resistance
Resistance 2 opens up with a much stronger first week than the original. I'm sure having a userbase of more than 90K this time around helps.

Mega Man Star Force
Mega Man Star Force 3 (3273) starts out just below the original (218) and the second (2665). The second ended up doing far less than the original, though, so it's hard to say where 3 will go from here.

donny2112 · Nov 29, 2008

JoshuaJSlone said:
Mega Man Star Force 3 (3273) starts out just below the original (218) and the second (2665). The second ended up doing far less than the original, though, so it's hard to say where 3 will go from here.

The second and third have two versions whereas the first had three. Probably impacts it somehow.

DS Lite supply running low at Amazon.co.jp? Standard price is 16800Y (IIRC), and the reseller prices are all 20000Y+ for new DS Lites. I guess all the stock is going to NA+Other for the holidays. Maybe that means there'll actually be no shortage come January in the U.S., this year. :lol

PantherLotus · Nov 30, 2008

Interesting stuff JJ.

1. Great news for Kirby. Seems like the franchise is fully revived, and it should have a huge holiday bump.

2. Wii Music is a certifiable flop. This one just missed the mark, apparently. I think a Rhythm Tengoku Diamond for the Wii would sell pretty well, though.

PantherLotus · Nov 30, 2008

You guys wanna see something fucked up?

YOY charts incoming.

PantherLotus · Nov 30, 2008

*

*DS, PSP, WII, 360, PS3

=========

I'll make a wild prediction:

Next week we will see total hardware sold somewhere between 220-260k. (247k +/- 15k)
Next week we will see total handhelds sold somewhere between 160k-180k. (175k +/- 8k)
Next week we will see total consoles sold somewhere between 50k-90k. (69k +/- 15k)

Vilix · Nov 30, 2008

Possible effects from another recession happening in Japan?

Link · Nov 30, 2008

Probably just a case of less interesting software all around.

d+pad · Nov 30, 2008

PantherLotus said:
I think a Rhythm Tengoku Diamond for the Wii would sell pretty well, though.

God, I would offer up my first born for this to come true...

Back to Wii Music: I think Nintendo would have been smarter to make Band Bros. Wii instead. I'm sure I would have enjoyed that game more than Wii Music.

PantherLotus · Nov 30, 2008

Vilix said:
Possible effects from another recession happening in Japan?

2008 vs. 2007
Total Hardware: -21.87%
Total Handhelds: -23.47%
Total Consoles: -12.65%

PantherLotus · Nov 30, 2008

d+pad said:
God, I would offer up my first born for this to come true...

Back to Wii Music: I think Nintendo would have been smarter to make Band Bros. Wii instead. I'm sure I would have enjoyed that game more than Wii Music.

Here's the pitch, johnny:

Super Smash Band Brothers Bash
It's a music/rhythm game with the all the usual suspects of Nintendo's smash-hit Smash games. Fans of Nintendo's beloved collection of mascots from around the gaming universe compete to form the best Nintendo Band, ever!

Each Competition includes a chance to pick 3-5 members of the player's "band," and each member has specific abilities and instruments that make him or her a valuable addition. Who would have guessed that Donkey Kong is a legendary drummer, Bowser was an amazing electric guitar player, or that Link could play the flute?! Watch for special moves where characters perform awesome solos!

Play against the computer or a friend to unlock over 100 Songs which include recognizable hits from the Super Mario Brothers series, The Legend of Zelda masterpieces, and many more.

Cheesemeister · Nov 30, 2008

PantherLotus said:
Play against the computer or a friend to unlock over 100 Songs which include recognizable hits from the Super Mario Brothers series, The Legend of Zelda masterpieces, and many more.

Battle Hymn of the Republic
Ba Ba Black Sheep
Gregorian Chant #5
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
The Magic Flute
Ave Maria
AND MANY MORE

Phife Dawg · Nov 30, 2008

JoshuaJSlone said:
Famitsu Software Stuff
Resistance
Resistance 2 opens up with a much stronger first week than the original. I'm sure having a userbase of more than 90K this time around helps.

I don't know, Resistance is a special case. Due to it being a launch title and a western FPS (though there aren't too many japanese ones :lol ). It had serious legs for such a title, I guess due to the problem that there wasn't really that much software released during the launch window and people just gave it a try as they bought the systems. Right now it seems that the PS3 userbase occupies some of those niche followers of western games and FPS. These buy games day 1. I think that's why we see a bigger first week but I also think its drop-off will be sharp and it won't sell as much as Resistance did LTD although there is a much bigger userbase now.

Captain Smoker · Nov 30, 2008

All-Time Top15 Publisher in Japan - Update (I've added 411 games since the last breakdown).

Total number of games: 4.902
Total number of units: 816.977.785
Average: 166.662

Number of games / Publisher / Units total / Average / Total market share

Code:

404x Nintendo		269.213.266		666.369		32,95%
515x Konami		 63.301.977		122.916		 7,75%
 90x Square		 52.490.149		583.224		 6,43%
257x Capcom		 48.659.567		189.337		 5,96%
243x SCE		 44.883.202		184.705		 5,49%
268x Bandai		 37.347.277		139.356		 4,57%
 47x Enix		 35.033.899		745.402		 4,29%
315x Sega		 34.854.346		110.649		 4,27%
146x Namco		 30.508.492		208.962		 3,73%
111x Square Enix	 29.195.195		263.020		 3,57%
178x Bandai Namco	 18.377.766		103.246		 2,25%
168x Koei		 17.189.670		102.319		 2,10%
115x Banpresto		 17.067.435		148.412		 2,09%
107x Hudson		 16.612.967		155.261		 2,03%
 65x Tecmo		  6.124.738		 94.227		 0,75%

DNF · Nov 30, 2008

Captain Smoker said:
Number of games / Publisher / Units total / Average / Total market share

Code:

404x Nintendo 269.213.266 666.369 32,95%

Thanks for numbers. Are this 404 games since NES days ? May i ask if you could share a platform-specific (NES, SNES, GB...) statistic for Nintendo ?

Stumpokapow · Nov 30, 2008

DNF said:
Thanks for numbers. Are this 404 games since NES days ? May i ask if you could share a platform-specific (NES, SNES, GB...) statistic for Nintendo ?

Without making any assumptions about Captain Smoker's data,

wii
ds
gcn
gba
gb
n64
sfc
virtual boy

that's everything except famicom and fds, which they don't have listed online.

Captain Smoker · Nov 30, 2008

DNF said:
Thanks for numbers. Are this 404 games since NES days ?

Yes, but I havn't that much data for their old systems (NES, SNES).

May i ask if you could share a platform-specific (NES, SNES, GB...) statistic for Nintendo ?

Sure.

# of titles / System / Units total

Code:

 96x NDS	64.797.965
 26x NES	48.700.227
 39x GB(C)	46.572.416
101x GBA	30.955.557
 17x SNES	22.841.770
 43x N64	21.246.493
 30x Wii	19.015.103
 52x GCN	15.083.735

404x Total	269.213.266

DNF · Nov 30, 2008

thanks to both of you.

PantherLotus · Dec 1, 2008

(this was flawed data, please see below)

Loudninja · Dec 1, 2008

I guess the Last Remnant will be Square Enix first PS3 game.

Zoe · Dec 1, 2008

PantherLotus said:
Square Enix
1. Have they released a game for the PS3...at ALL?

They have on PSN!

Defuser · Dec 1, 2008

Loudninja said:
I guess the ~~Last Remnant~~ FFXIII demo will be Square Enix first PS3 game.

Fixed.

PantherLotus · Dec 1, 2008

donny2112 · Dec 1, 2008

Famitsu Nov 10-16

1. NDS Kirby Super Star Ultra Deluxe 96591 / 357458
2. PS3 Way of the Samurai 3 81395 / NEW
3. NDS Mega Man Star Force 3: Black Ace/Red Joker 65356 / NEW
4. NDS Tongari Boushi to Mahou no 365 Nichi (Little Magician's Magic Adventure) 50981 / NEW
5. NDS Fushigi no Dungeon: Furai no Shiren 2 - Demon Castle of the Desert 47429 / NEW
6. PS3 Resistance 2 35182 / NEW
7. NDS Wagamama Fashion: Girls Mode 33334 / 192307
8. NDS Rhythm Tengoku Gold 32968 / 1070899
9. NDS DS Nishimura Kyotarou Suspense Detective Series 2: Kanazawa, Hakodate - Extreme Cold, Shadow of Vengeance 24984 / NEW
10. NDS Pokemon Platinum 23138 / 1884679
11. PS3 Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Spec III 20852 / 79246
12. WII Wii Fit 17353 / 2714053
13. PSP Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (BEST) 15820 / 53533
14. PS3 Grand Theft Auto IV 15750 / 171784
15. WII Family Ski & Snowboard 13233 / NEW
16. PS3 FIFA 09: World Class Soccer 12588 / NEW
17. NDS Valkyrie Profile: The Accused One 11168 / 118374
18. WII Wii Music 9789 / 188883
19. WII Mario Kart Wii 9293 / 1820036
20. NDS Walk to Know: Lifestyle Rhythm DS (Personal Trainer) 8784 / 40259
21. PS3 Little Big Planet 8583 / 71873
22. PSP Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida or 2 7079 / 125862
23. NDS Cid and Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon: The Labyrinth of Lost Time DS+ 5951 / 46362
24. WII Wii Sports 5845 / 3179657
25. PS2 Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon 5698 / 107431
26. PSP Sengoku Efuda Yuugi: Hototogisu Ran 5657 / NEW
27. NDS Animal Crossing: Wild World 5469 / 4759791
28. NDS Inazuma Eleven 5293 / 144496
29. WII Shape Boxing Wii: Enjoy the Diet! 5147 / 22020
30. 360 Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation (BEST) 5038 / 11082

*. 360 Beautiful Katamari (BEST) 4828 / 10610
*. PSP FIFA 09: World Class Soccer 3800 / NEW
*. 360 FIFA 09: World Class Soccer 3775 / NEW
*. 360 Grand Theft Auto IV 3613 / 50382
*. PSP Chuumon Shiyouze! Oretachi no Sekai (Place Your Order! Our World) 3300 / NEW
*. NDS Juggler DS 2800 / NEW
*. PS3 Derby Time Online 2200 / NEW
*. WII Jinsei Game Wii EX 1400 / NEW
*. NDS Elminage DS Remix: Yami no Fujo to Kamigami no Yubiwa 1300 / NEW
*. NDS Ikamo no Tantei: Ikatan (Disguised Detective) 760 / NEW
*. WII de Blob 730 / NEW
*. WII FIFA 09: All-Play 640 / NEW
*. PS3 Major League Baseball 2K8 620 / NEW
*. NDS Cooking To Rhythm: Welcome to Sweets Party 560 / NEW

Bar Chart Nov 10-16 (thanks to JoshuaJSlone/garaph.info)

Note: Image may be delayed from the time of this post, but will automatically show once the data is ready.

Misc. LTD Updates
360 Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway - 3,357
360 Dead Rising (BEST) - 24,761
360 Infinite Undiscovery - 109,630
360 Musou Orochi: Maou Sairin - 13,052
360 Raiden IV - 6,191
360 Tales of Vesperia - 155,477
360 Unreal Tournament 3 - 6,634

Recent Famitsu Top 30s

Oct 13-19, 2008
Oct 20-26, 2008
Oct 27-Nov 2, 2008
Nov 3-9, 2008

freddy · Dec 1, 2008

SquareEnix without Final Fantasy whoring in 2008

PantherLotus · Dec 1, 2008

freddy said:
SquareEnix without Final Fantasy whoring in 2008

I wrote an article on this here: http://chartget.blogspot.com/2008/11/japan-square-enix-2008-unit-sales-down.html,

...But not sure if it deserves its own thread. If anybody thinks it would, please do so that it won't appear that I'm attempting to whore out my site. I'd genuinely like a discussion on this.

edit:

vv yeah, probably. Made the thread for a separate discussion, here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=343858

freddy · Dec 1, 2008

I think you should just make a thread. It's not whoring your site if it's relevant to the discussion at hand. No different from Kohler or JVM linking to an article.

Kurosaki Ichigo · Dec 1, 2008

I had to post this, PAIN (PSN) promotion.

/facepalm

freddy · Dec 1, 2008

Hmmm nice.

test_account · Dec 1, 2008

Kurosaki Ichigo said:
I had to post this, PAIN (PSN) promotion.

http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/20081201/pain02.jpg

/facepalm

Hehe, i think it is a cool picture though

Kurosaki Ichigo · Dec 1, 2008

I should have known female elves were a plus here

Doc Evils · Dec 1, 2008

test_account said:
Hehe, i think it is a cool picture though

It sure as hell does grab your attention.:lol

JoshuaJSlone · Dec 1, 2008

gaftemp said:
How is this possible? They're down in unit sales by nearly 74%!!

Hate to say it, but it looks like the "stick Final Fantasy at the beginning of every game's title" strategy worked pretty well. That seemed to make for a pretty big mid-tier of games that sold a few hundred thousand, while this year there's a huuuuuuge gap between #1 and #2: 1.15 million to 0.14 million.

PantherLotus · Dec 2, 2008

Ok, let's try this again, this time with a little bit better method.

Problems with the previous method:

1. Calendar vs. Fiscal: While this is certainly relevant to investors looking at yearly numbers, it's simply irrelevant for our discussion. I am sticking with Calendar 2007 vs. Calendar 2008.

2. The important factor is that we compare similar time periods, which I admit that I accidentally neglected by including the second half of November and all of December 2007 data. (1.9 million difference! that's significant.)

3. I also was admittedly using Garaph in error by not realizing that limiting the release dates was not also limiting the sales period. In retrospect it seems obvious, but if you were to assume the difference in sales of every title past the ones released in December was minimal, you'd be correct. (207k difference)

Ok, that being said, let's take another look at the data:

2007___________________________________________________
[PSP] Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - 729,459
[NDS] Dragon Quest IV - 601,737
[NDS] Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings - 500,543
[WII] Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors - 453,445
[NDS] Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fate - 363,030
[NDS] Itadaki Street DS - 361,558
[PS2] Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ - 301,830
[PSP] Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions - 282,770
[NDS] Final Fantasy Tactics A2: The Sealed Grimoire - 259,364
[NDS] Subarashiki Kono Sekai: It's a Wonderful World - 171,629
[PSP] Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition - 117,689
[PS2] Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System - 104,287
[NDS] Heroes of Mana - 82,865
[PS2] Final Fantasy XI: Wings of the Goddess expansion data disk - 82,597
[PSP] Final Fantasy II Anniversary Edition - 45,627
[NDS] Front Mission - 17,715
[360] Final Fantasy XI: Wings of the Goddess expansion data disk - 12,927
[360] Final Fantasy XI: Vana'diel Collection - 3,212
_______________________________________________________
18 TITLES THROUGH 11-19-07, TOTAL: 4,492,284

2008___________________________________________________
[NDS] Dragon Quest V - 1,152,229
[PSP] Star Ocean: Second Evolution - 141,218
[NDS] Valkyrie Profile: The Accused One - 118,374
[360] Infinite Undiscovery - 96,197
[NDS] Cid and Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon: The Labyrinth of Lost Time DS+ - 46,362
[NDS] Sigma Harmonics - 42,552
[NDS] Nanashi no Game (The Game with no Name) - 41,481
[NDS] Front Mission 2089: Border of Madness - 32,917
[WII] Soul Eater: Monotone Princess - 8,198
[NDS] DS Bookkeeping, Level 3 - 6,044
_______________________________________________________
10 TITLES THROUGH 11-19-08, TOTAL: 1,685,572

Japan: Square Enix Sales Down By Nearly 63%

Jonnyram · Dec 2, 2008

PantherLotus said:
1. Calendar vs. Fiscal: While this is certainly relevant to investors looking at yearly numbers, it's simply irrelevant for our discussion. I am sticking with Calendar 2007 vs. Calendar 2008.

It depends what your discussion is about. If you are making some claim about the financial state of the company, it is necessary to discuss fiscal years, not calendar years. If you are just having some random discussion about games sold this year, go ahead!

DogWelder · Dec 2, 2008

2007___________________________________________________
[PSP] Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - 729,459
[NDS] Dragon Quest IV - 601,737
[NDS] Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings - 500,543
[WII] Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors - 453,445
[NDS] Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fate - 363,030
[NDS] Itadaki Street DS - 361,558
[PS2] Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ - 301,830
[PSP] Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions - 282,770
[NDS] Final Fantasy Tactics A2: The Sealed Grimoire - 259,364
[NDS] Subarashiki Kono Sekai: It's a Wonderful World - 171,629
[PSP] Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition - 117,689
[PS2] Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System - 104,287
[NDS] Heroes of Mana - 82,865
[PS2] Final Fantasy XI: Wings of the Goddess expansion data disk - 82,597
[PSP] Final Fantasy II Anniversary Edition - 45,627
[NDS] Front Mission - 17,715
[360] Final Fantasy XI: Wings of the Goddess expansion data disk - 12,927
[360] Final Fantasy XI: Vana'diel Collection - 3,212

I've located the problem.

PantherLotus · Dec 2, 2008

Jonnyram said:
It depends what your discussion is about. If you are making some claim about the financial state of the company, it is necessary to discuss fiscal years, not calendar years. If you are just having some random discussion about games sold this year, go ahead!

In the context of both the original article and thread/post, one would know it had nothing to do with a financial outlook and everything to do with a matter of perspective.

[ ] It was interesting to note the fewer releases and fewer sales in 2008 and the reliance on the Final Fantasy nameplate in 2007.

[ ] It was interesting to point out the cyclical nature of Square's releases, and predict that the number of releases for 2009/2010 would go up considerably.

[ ] And after looking even closer at 2007, it becomes obvious that Square Enix isn't just using the Final Fantasy nameplate, they are using the Final Fantasy (roman numeral) nameplate. I expect a number of FFXIII-branded titles and perhaps a couple of DQIX-branded titles in the time surrounding the release of each. I think its a brilliant strategy that allows for them to create an entire universe, and give the gamer the ability to explore every nook and cranny of that universe from a series of different games that all appeal to different tastes.

I think its fucking brilliant. I wouldn't be shocked if Rockstar, EA, and Ubi all followed suit by creating a 'hub-world' in which to tell several stories across a myriad of different-genre games. Perhaps that's what they meant in their ERA 3 references?

freddy · Dec 2, 2008

Franchise whoring? Is the answer to media convergence franchise whoring? Mario Tennis>Halo Wars>Final Fantasy Snowboarding?

DCharlie · Dec 2, 2008

I think its fucking brilliant. I wouldn't be shocked if Rockstar, EA, and Ubi all followed suit by creating a 'hub-world' in which to tell several stories across a myriad of different-genre games. Perhaps that's what they meant in their ERA 3 references?

fucking brilliant??

i'm either too old, too cynical, or a twat - because that sounds fucking horrific.

Jonnyram · Dec 2, 2008

Sorry, I'm still not getting it. Further clarification is necessary.

PantherLotus said:
In the context of both the original article and thread/post, one would know it had nothing to do with a financial outlook and everything to do with a matter of perspective.

I am struggling to discover the nature of this perspective even now.

[ ] It was interesting to note the fewer releases and fewer sales in 2008 and the reliance on the Final Fantasy nameplate in 2007.

No. This is not how SE works. Let's consider FY2007/8 vs CY2007/8 shall we.

FY2007
Final Fantasy (PSP)
Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings (DS)
Final Fantasy Tactics (PSP)
Final Fantasy II (PSP)
Final Fantasy XII International (PS2)
FFCC Ring of Fates (DS)
Crisis Core FFVII (PSP)
FFTA2 (DS)
Chocobo's Dungeon (Wii)
FFXI Wings of the Goddess (PS2, 360, PC)
Final Fantasy IV (DS)
FFCC My Life As A King (Wii)
FFIV The After (Mobile)

FY2008
Chocobo's Dungeon+ (DS)
Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP)
Chocobo Tales 2 (DS)
FFCC Echoes of Time (DS)
FFCC Echoes of Time (Wii)
Advent Children Blu-ray + Final Fantasy XIII demo
FFXI Three expansion chapters (PS2, 360, PC)

CY2007
Final Fantasy (PSP)
Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings (DS)
Final Fantasy Tactics (PSP)
Final Fantasy II (PSP)
Final Fantasy XII International (PS2)
FFCC Ring of Fates (DS)
Crisis Core FFVII (PSP)
FFTA2 (DS)
Chocobo's Dungeon (Wii)
FFXI Wings of the Goddess (PS2, 360, PC)
Final Fantasy IV (DS)
FFIV The After (Mobile)

CY2008
FFCC My Life As A King (Wii)
Chocobo's Dungeon+ (DS)
Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP)
Chocobo Tales 2 (DS)

Fiscal = 13 vs 7
Calendar = 12 vs 4
Quite a difference. And there is still potential for more FF-based games to be released before the end of March, potentially.

If we look outside of the FF nameplate, we notice even larger disparity. Approximating (using dates from wiki which are far from complete, I realise).
Games released Jan 1-Mar 31 2007: 4
Games released Jan 1-Mar 31 2008: 1
Games currently scheduled to be released Jan 1-Mar 31 2009: 6+

Do you see what I'm getting at?
The FY07 releases in CY08 were minimal, but there are a lot of major FY08 releases in CY09, incl. DQIX, KH358/2, AC BD with FFXIII demo.

[ ] It was interesting to point out the cyclical nature of Square's releases, and predict that the number of releases for 2009/2010 would go up considerably.

The cyclical nature should definitely be based on FY though. Square Enix doesn't plan any other way. Your cycle of 2 on years 1 off year (CY) is basically 3 on years (FY) in Square Enix's eyes, and if you attempted to project your analysis, you could come unstuck when SE releases according to a FY schedule that doesn't match what you have measured so far.

[ ] And after looking even closer at 2007, it becomes obvious that Square Enix isn't just using the Final Fantasy nameplate, they are using the Final Fantasy (roman numeral) nameplate. I expect a number of FFXIII-branded titles and perhaps a couple of DQIX-branded titles in the time surrounding the release of each. I think its a brilliant strategy that allows for them to create an entire universe, and give the gamer the ability to explore every nook and cranny of that universe from a series of different games that all appeal to different tastes.

I am not 100% sure that you are saying anything we don't already know here. SE has already stated they have a large FFXIII universe planned with multiple games. They still have the FF nameplate for Chocobo, Tactics and Crystal Chronicles games. Also, there is no indication whatsoever that they will make a DQIX spin-off. Every DQ spin-off to date has dropped the numerals from the main games, even if they feature characters from the numbered series.

Edit to clarify:
I am not opposed to your comparisons of calendar year releases. But the conclusions you are drawing from them are better suited to comparing fiscal years.

JoshuaJSlone · Dec 2, 2008

I know this is how businesses actually operate, but I guess I don't understand why. I know they want to time things to make one financial year or another look impressive, but when everyone knows this is what's going on I don't know why it works.

Considering such things don't matter to actual end users who make the purchases, isn't an imbalance like

Jonnyram said:
If we look outside of the FF nameplate, we notice even larger disparity. Approximating (using dates from wiki which are far from complete, I realise).
Games released Jan 1-Mar 31 2007: 4
Games released Jan 1-Mar 31 2008: 1
Games currently scheduled to be released Jan 1-Mar 31 2009: 6+

a waste of the Jan-Mar 2008 quarter's potential? Regardless of whether it's considered to be grouped with the preceding 9 months or the following 9 months.

Jonnyram · Dec 2, 2008

JoshuaJSlone said:
I know this is how businesses actually operate, but I guess I don't understand why. I know they want to time things to make one financial year or another look impressive, but when everyone knows this is what's going on I don't know why it works.

Considering such things don't matter to actual end users who make the purchases, isn't an imbalance like

a waste of the Jan-Mar 2008 quarter's potential? Regardless of whether it's considered to be grouped with the preceding 9 months or the following 9 months.

Well, there are dev cycles to consider as well. The big three sales periods in Japan are year end, spring holiday and summer holiday, with the main one being year end. The spring holiday coincides with the FY end for SE, so it's a great opportunity to release big RPGs that miss the year end. This is exactly what has happened to DQIX, and perhaps also SO4. These would have been their leading holiday games this season, were they developed in time. It's not so much a waste of potential in either case; I think they use the Feb-Mar window as an emergency exit more than anything. A lot of pubilshers rush out games at the end of their FY. It's a necessity for balance sheets.

duckroll · Dec 2, 2008

JoshuaJSlone said:
I know this is how businesses actually operate, but I guess I don't understand why. I know they want to time things to make one financial year or another look impressive, but when everyone knows this is what's going on I don't know why it works.

I'm not sure what it is that you don't understand. It's how the balance sheets and financial reports are filed and it's not something you can or want to change overnight. It's not meant to matter to end users, it's simply how they do accounting and report profit margins to shareholders. We're not talking about a private firm here, S-E is a publically traded company.

Jonnyram · Dec 2, 2008

By the way, has anyone else typed up the LTD DS edutainment sales from "Famitsu for Family" yet? There are a few surprises that have been bubbling away off the bottom of the top 30 by the looks of it.

e.g. Nepleague DS 152,989
IQ Supli DS 258,476
Magic Taizen 277,815

Stumpokapow · Dec 2, 2008

Jonnyram said:
By the way, has anyone else typed up the LTD DS edutainment sales from "Famitsu for Family" yet? There are a few surprises that have been bubbling away off the bottom of the top 30 by the looks of it.

e.g. Nepleague DS 152,989
IQ Supli DS 258,476
Magic Taizen 277,815

I don't have the full list to be able to tell you whether or not there are some games bubbling up below the top 30, but Magic Taizen and IQ Suppli were both on the 2007 top 500 with those figures. Nep League was on the 2008 half-year list at 147k, so it looks like that's an updated figure.

Thanks for the heads up, though, I'm sure some of the other figures have shown growth. I'm certain Brain Age and Brain Age 2 will have sold a few thousand per week this whole time so naturally they should both have a nice bump.

duckroll · Dec 2, 2008

The word from 2ch from today's SCE retailer meeting has the following sales info about Dissidia:

- They will be shipping about 550k units in the initial shipment, including bundles. The bundles are already completely preordered/presold.

- The target is 600k within 2008, and a million within the fiscal year.

max-pain · Dec 2, 2008

duckroll said:
The word from 2ch from today's SCE retailer meeting has the following sales info about Dissidia:

- They will be shipping about 550k units in the initial shipment, including bundles. The bundles are already completely preordered/presold.

- The target is 600k within 2008, and a million within the fiscal year.

What? 600k in the first two weeks and another 400k after that? With a Final Fantasy title?:lol

Stumpokapow · Dec 2, 2008

duckroll said:
The word from 2ch from today's SCE retailer meeting has the following sales info about Dissidia:

- They will be shipping about 550k units in the initial shipment, including bundles. The bundles are already completely preordered/presold.

- The target is 600k within 2008, and a million within the fiscal year.

I'm of two minds on this one. I would assume it would attract a similar audience as Crisis Core and be around the same magnitude in terms of number of sales, so instinctively I'd say a million is a bit of a stretch.

On the other hand, Dissidia should last longer and thus lose fewer sales to used copies and the PSP has picked up some momentum since then as well as pretty greatly expanded its install base.

I'm more curious about the quantity on the bundles.

duckroll · Dec 2, 2008

Stumpokapow said:
I'm of two minds on this one. I would assume it would attract a similar audience as Crisis Core and be around the same magnitude in terms of number of sales, so instinctively I'd say a million is a bit of a stretch.

On the other hand, Dissidia should last longer and thus lose fewer sales to used copies and the PSP has picked up some momentum since then as well as pretty greatly expanded its install base.

I'm more curious about the quantity on the bundles.

Yeah, it's not mentioned how limited the bundles are, but from what I've heard it's going to be pretty damn limited. Maybe 50k?

As for the audience, it's important to remember that Dissidia was designed as a multiplayer game first and foremost, with ongoing character building and so on. This is an aspect that might be pretty strong if the game catches on, since the audience for multiplayer stuff on the PSP is pretty strong and these might not be FF fans at all.

The other aspect that has been mentioned but not gone into detail is that S-E seems to be planning a longterm playability aspect with Dissidia. Not only are there tons and tons of unlockables, it's been implied that there is more content and unannounced surprises/features for the game that might not be known even after launch.

It seems to me that S-E is trying to mimick how arcade fighters keep the interest of less-hardcore players, by having timed unlocks and other hidden surprises as time goes by. It remains to be seen how successful this will be for Dissidia and whether it'll have any impact on the longterm sales of the title.

Kurosaki Ichigo · Dec 2, 2008

Looks like we can have a good guess at DSi sales last week. Enterbrain says DSi has surpassed 500k and is at 535.379. Since previous weeks were: 170,779 + 93,136 + 81,156 + ~102,000...so its about 88,308 last week.

JoshuaJSlone · Dec 2, 2008

duckroll said:
I'm not sure what it is that you don't understand. It's how the balance sheets and financial reports are filed and it's not something you can or want to change overnight. It's not meant to matter to end users, it's simply how they do accounting and report profit margins to shareholders. We're not talking about a private firm here, S-E is a publically traded company.

It's not the nature of filing dates, it's the making sure things get into one financial year or another to make one or the other look better, even if it's just a difference in release date of a few weeks. Anyone who's actually paying attention can see what's happened and the sum of the two years will end up the same anyway, so it seems like a very transparent effort to impress people who aren't paying much attention.

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