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Youkai Watch 2 sold over 1.2 million units during first 4 days in Japan (Famitsu)
- Thread starter L~A
- Start date
Dr. Buni
Member
Boo, I wanted an explanation, not a gameplay video.
I will watch it, tho.Boo, I wanted an explanation, not a gameplay video.
But a gameplay video will do a better job of explaining the game to you
sixteen-bit
Member
Sounds like a colossal hit.
Theme parks!
KillerMan91
Member
I don't see how one game changes anything. Japanese market is still massively down yoy in both software and hardware sales.
Sammy Samusu
Member
Top 5 biggest opening:
3DS : Pokémon X / Y ( Pokémon Co. ) { 2013-10-12 } - 2,096,050
3DS : Monster Hunter 4 ( Capcom ) { 2013-09-14 } - 1,875,115
3DS : Yo-kai Watch 2: Ganso / Honke ( Level 5 ) { 2014-07-10 } - 1,281,096
3DS : Dragon Quest VII: Eden no Senshitachi ( Square Enix ) { 2013-02-07 } - 836,654
3DS : Animal Crossing: New Leaf ( Nintendo ) { 2012-11-08 } - 721,786
Million sellers:
3DS : Pokémon X / Y ( Pokémon Co. ) { 2013-10-12 } - 4,398,073
3DS : Animal Crossing: New Leaf ( Nintendo ) { 2012-11-08 } - 4,154,825
3DS : Monster Hunter 4 ( Capcom ) { 2013-09-14 } - 3,488,051
3DS : New Super Mario Bros. 2 ( Nintendo ) { 2012-07-28 } - 2,270,879
3DS : Mario Kart 7 ( Nintendo ) { 2011-12-01 } - 2,269,779
3DS : Super Mario 3D Land ( Nintendo ) { 2011-11-03 } - 1,961,311
3DS : Tomodachi Life ( Nintendo ) { 2013-04-18 } - 1,648,095
3DS : Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate ( Capcom ) { 2011-12-10 } - 1,589,804
3DS : PazuDora Z: Puzzle & Dragons Z ( GungHo Online Entertainment ) { 2013-12-12 } - 1,419,931
3DS : Yo-kai Watch 2: Ganso / Honke ( Level 5 ) { 2014-07-10 } - 1,281,096
3DS : Dragon Quest VII: Eden no Senshitachi ( Square Enix ) { 2013-02-07 } - 1,227,377
3DS : Yo-Kai Watch ( Level 5 ) { 2013-07-11 } - 1,160,576
3DS : Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon ( Nintendo ) { 2013-03-20 } - 1,011,955
Pokémon comparison:
3DS : Yo-kai Watch 2: Ganso / Honke ( Level 5 ) { 2014-07-10 } - 1,281,096 / 1,281,096
GBA : Pokémon Ruby / Sapphire ( Pokémon Co. ) { 2002-11-21 } - 1,245,003 / 5,337,045
(doesn't include digital sales)
3DS : Pokémon X / Y ( Pokémon Co. ) { 2013-10-12 } - 2,096,050
3DS : Monster Hunter 4 ( Capcom ) { 2013-09-14 } - 1,875,115
3DS : Yo-kai Watch 2: Ganso / Honke ( Level 5 ) { 2014-07-10 } - 1,281,096
3DS : Dragon Quest VII: Eden no Senshitachi ( Square Enix ) { 2013-02-07 } - 836,654
3DS : Animal Crossing: New Leaf ( Nintendo ) { 2012-11-08 } - 721,786
Million sellers:
3DS : Pokémon X / Y ( Pokémon Co. ) { 2013-10-12 } - 4,398,073
3DS : Animal Crossing: New Leaf ( Nintendo ) { 2012-11-08 } - 4,154,825
3DS : Monster Hunter 4 ( Capcom ) { 2013-09-14 } - 3,488,051
3DS : New Super Mario Bros. 2 ( Nintendo ) { 2012-07-28 } - 2,270,879
3DS : Mario Kart 7 ( Nintendo ) { 2011-12-01 } - 2,269,779
3DS : Super Mario 3D Land ( Nintendo ) { 2011-11-03 } - 1,961,311
3DS : Tomodachi Life ( Nintendo ) { 2013-04-18 } - 1,648,095
3DS : Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate ( Capcom ) { 2011-12-10 } - 1,589,804
3DS : PazuDora Z: Puzzle & Dragons Z ( GungHo Online Entertainment ) { 2013-12-12 } - 1,419,931
3DS : Yo-kai Watch 2: Ganso / Honke ( Level 5 ) { 2014-07-10 } - 1,281,096
3DS : Dragon Quest VII: Eden no Senshitachi ( Square Enix ) { 2013-02-07 } - 1,227,377
3DS : Yo-Kai Watch ( Level 5 ) { 2013-07-11 } - 1,160,576
3DS : Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon ( Nintendo ) { 2013-03-20 } - 1,011,955
Pokémon comparison:
3DS : Yo-kai Watch 2: Ganso / Honke ( Level 5 ) { 2014-07-10 } - 1,281,096 / 1,281,096
GBA : Pokémon Ruby / Sapphire ( Pokémon Co. ) { 2002-11-21 } - 1,245,003 / 5,337,045
(doesn't include digital sales)
Dr. Buni
Member
Tell that to Monster Hunter, Pokémon and some others, besides the Youkai Watch franchise. Japanese game market isn't dead, at least not for handheld games.
Well, sure, and Nintendo really could have used GTA on the Gamecube instead of the PS2 back in the day. There are some obvious upsides to relying on third party support, but one of the downsides is that you can't reliably predict which game is going to blow up and be the next huge hit. It's obvious in retrospect, but while it's happening, it's not. In its first week, Youkai Watch was just another game selling ~53k.
I like the ending of IE, I try not to let the mediocrity of GO to ruin that.
Top 5 biggest opening:
3DS : Pokémon X / Y ( Pokémon Co. ) { 2013-10-12 } - 2,096,050
3DS : Monster Hunter 4 ( Capcom ) { 2013-09-14 } - 1,875,115
3DS : Yo-kai Watch 2: Ganso / Honke ( Level 5 ) { 2014-07-10 } - 1,281,096
3DS : Dragon Quest VII: Eden no Senshitachi ( Square Enix ) { 2013-02-07 } - 836,654
3DS : Animal Crossing: New Leaf ( Nintendo ) { 2012-11-08 } - 721,786
Million sellers:
3DS : Pokémon X / Y ( Pokémon Co. ) { 2013-10-12 } - 4,398,073
3DS : Animal Crossing: New Leaf ( Nintendo ) { 2012-11-08 } - 4,154,825
3DS : Monster Hunter 4 ( Capcom ) { 2013-09-14 } - 3,488,051
3DS : New Super Mario Bros. 2 ( Nintendo ) { 2012-07-28 } - 2,270,879
3DS : Mario Kart 7 ( Nintendo ) { 2011-12-01 } - 2,269,779
3DS : Super Mario 3D Land ( Nintendo ) { 2011-11-03 } - 1,961,311
3DS : Tomodachi Life ( Nintendo ) { 2013-04-18 } - 1,648,095
3DS : Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate ( Capcom ) { 2011-12-10 } - 1,589,804
3DS : PazuDora Z: Puzzle & Dragons Z ( GungHo Online Entertainment ) { 2013-12-12 } - 1,419,931
3DS : Yo-kai Watch 2: Ganso / Honke ( Level 5 ) { 2014-07-10 } - 1,281,096
3DS : Dragon Quest VII: Eden no Senshitachi ( Square Enix ) { 2013-02-07 } - 1,227,377
3DS : Yo-Kai Watch ( Level 5 ) { 2013-07-11 } - 1,160,576
3DS : Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon ( Nintendo ) { 2013-03-20 } - 1,011,955
Pokémon comparison:
3DS : Yo-kai Watch 2: Ganso / Honke ( Level 5 ) { 2014-07-10 } - 1,281,096 / 1,281,096
GBA : Pokémon Ruby / Sapphire ( Pokémon Co. ) { 2002-11-21 } - 1,245,003 / 5,337,045
(doesn't include digital sales)
So there's a chance that Yokai Watch 2 might outsell ORAS 1st week?
I don't think the DL sales will be all that great, there was no stock problem for this game.
It might happen yeah. Pokemon are a bit more frontloaded these days though. In any situation it will be close.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
And how may I ask did you come to that conclusion?
There are plans to bring this franchise to the West, yes.
If Nintendo is doing it, we might get them in a timely manner. If Level 5 International America is doing it themselves, find methods for reincarnation.
Pokémon comparison:
3DS : Yo-kai Watch 2: Ganso / Honke ( Level 5 ) { 2014-07-10 } - 1,281,096 / 1,281,096
GBA : Pokémon Ruby / Sapphire ( Pokémon Co. ) { 2002-11-21 } - 1,245,003 / 5,337,045
(doesn't include digital sales)
Wow, that's mighty impressive (gonna add that to the OP, by the way). I wonder if it'll manage to grow as much as Pokémon did, and more importantly, remain as popular throughout the gens.
Unlikely, though Youkai Watch 2 definiely got more chances again ORAS than X/Y.
Various blogs reported that there was plenty of stock for the week-end (second shipment I guess). The sell-through will be high like all massively popular game but it seems like Level-5 shipped enough copies to sustain demand.
High DL sales relative to physical usually come from stock problems as far as super popular games are concerned.
actually, we saw reports from the reliable JP blog about L5 unable to cover all the pre-orders they've got for the game, but able to release a seocndo shipment during the weekend. Pre-orders were more than 800k, so being the game able to sell more than 1.2 millions as the news says, we can argue that they were able to have a very good second shipment during the weekend. But I'd say that it could be that some areas were unable to satisfy the demand (we know that in Tokyo you were allowed to pick up the game only if you pre ordered it, while in other stores you were be able to pick up just one copy of the game, and so on...) so we could see at least decent DL numbers for this game, at launch
Sammy Samusu
Member
People lining up for YK2 said they don't care about the digital version because if you buy the retail copy you get a Jibanyan medal, cards and shit.
Harlock
Member
The game need to be release together with the toys, the watch and the medals? With Nintendo releasing the amiibos I dont know if they want two toys lines at same time.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Its why the digital version had to offer the robot-nyan and forgot what the female one was for the 2 different editions as a special bonus.
But yeah the physical did indeed come with a jibanyan medal and cards.
Exactly thats what I was getting at with the comment towards that other user.
well, I think that it is normal for people lining up in the stores to not be interested in the DD version of the game, isn't it?
I think that the ones interested in DD would be the one "scared" by the lines, or who was in the line but was unable to get the game (if there were shortages), or the ones not allowed to lineup (in those stores that decided to give the game just to the customers that pre-ordered it, because of stock)
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
StreetsAhead
Member
Damn you're a rather unpleasant fellow. Anyway I guess we'll see, I predict that the DL sales will be unremarkable.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
well, I think that it is normal for people lining up in the stores to not be interested in the DD version of the game, isn't it?
I think that the ones interested in DD would be the one "scared" by the lines, or who was in the line but was unable to get the game (if there were shortages), or the ones not allowed to lineup (in those stores that decided to give the game just to the customers that pre-ordered it, because of stock)
folks who didnt want to wait around in line am sure would have gone into a 7-11 and gotten the digital version then waited for their physical copy to arrive of the other version. Then trade with themselves using their OG 3DS while playing on the LL as the main. Its funny how many people I know that have 2 3DSes thanks to the LL replacing their OG for playing on.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Oh god, this seems overcomplicated! thanks for the insight view on these things!
Lots of people did that with Pokemon X Y since depending on the stores only let customers buy one or the other and not both.
Youkai Watch 2 seemed to generally be the same where folks had to pick one or the other and not buy 2 copies at once. To make sure as many "loose" copies got to the hands of customers and not folks buying 2 copies at once.
A few days ago I still saw signs at some of the larger retailers saying that they were taking pre-orders again for the next shipment. Seems like the Ganso version isnt as popular as the Honkei one. Dont blame folks too seeing what a shitty selection comes with the Ganso version. The digital version of Ganso you get Robonyan and Sailornyan for Honkei.
Not sure what they did about people with 2 reservations though.
The wonder flick Wondernyan I want too but the game is pretty much unplayable on an android device as it keeps freezing at random. Folks say that basically the game is made for iOS and pretty much useless on Android. Considering you have to get to lv 22 I think its too much of a pain in the ass to keep messing with the freezes and on top of that data deletion corruption can occur from the freezes that doesnt help either...
Let's hope Level 5 don't milk it to death and ultimately kill the IP >.<
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Its called making money, no other choice otherwise.
You need to make as much as you can while you can since you never know when the audience is going to turn their attention to something else.
At least if you have ever seen the game know Level 5 puts love and care into the products that they create. Since it is beautifully crafted. So its not just a blatant money grab, but something that took some serious effort to create.
Pretty much a good portion of their games fall into that category, a fuckton of folks here at GAF love to give them shit constantly.
Psycho_Mantis
Banned
MH, Pokemon and some others didn't stop the huge contraction of both the handheld and console sector in terms of hardware and software sooo
Japanese game market is not dead. Just no where near how big it was in the past. Still one of the biggest countries that buys video games.
I agree (see my post at page 2), especially for cross-media franchises.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
It plays different than pokemon thats for sure. So its amusing in its own way and gives the player a different experience from what they get with Pokemon.
It's really crazy when you think about it.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
GAF is gonna GAF again over L5, despite them being one of the most successfull companies in the recent history of Japanese videogame market (should we compare their "killing & milking" treatment with other Japanese companies? really? because I think it would be ingenerous...for other comanies), despite them being constant in proposing new IPs, despite them being able to find good/strong/huge commercial results with a good amount of their projects, despite them being able to not fail (so far) any of their multimedia projects
For the sake of discussion, let's post this once again, just to see it ignore, once again
I continue seeing GAFfers hating on L5...
I can understand if Gundam fans would hate them, but for the others...
It is clear that they are an entertaining company that often tries to go for cross-media projects (partnering with other companies sometime, like Bandai-Namco for the toy-aspect of their projects for example), at least from their Nintendo DS days.
They have a particular approach to their series: it is different from many other companies, but I don't see it as the "evil within" as others do.
There are companies that milk their franchises in a similar way, without the same "new IP" direction that L5 has.
There are companies that don't milk their IPS in the same way of course, but usually those are also just videogame IPs or just videogames companies.
There are companies that defend their IPs better, but that don't present big brand new IPs with the same pace of L5 too.
If we look at their recent series we have:
Professor Layton: it was a well-studied "Brain Training" epigon, developed with a cartoonish style trying to attract a variety of target ages following the enigma-fever and the touch-generation fever of the DS. It debuted slowly, but continued to grow. They decided to almost annualize the series (wasnt' exactly 1 each year) also because they understood that those fevers (enigma and touch) wasn't going to last forever (they understood it even better then Nintendo probably
The games suffered a decline after some incredible peak. I'd say that it's normal, and that other "touch generation" games suffered even more. With a very similar stucture and the recycle of engines, I'd say that also the 300k (in Japan) of the recent 6th game are enought financially for them. Without counting also western sales (stilll very positive). Don't know how many Japanese games sell as much as the Layton series even after the decline. Postponing the releases of the games would have benefit the series? I highly doubt it.
Inazuma Eleven: planned as a cross-media IP, the game debuted slowly, and started to sell after the cartoon release. Then they started to annualize it following the annual TV cartoon series. Each new season saw a new game. And they continued with the GO series. Similarly to Layton, these games saw a peak and then a decline. Still able to sell 350K (in Japan)? Once again: not that bad. We could count the games able to sell those quantities. Without counting European sales (always good in Italy, Spain and maybe even France/Ger, but I'm not sure). This is a videogame based on an Anime (TV cartoon): cartoons popularity lasts (with exceptions, of course) some years, usually. They chose the right path in annualizing a videogame series based on a TV Cartoon.
Little Battlers: very similar to Inazuma, with in addition the toy side of things. So, videogame, tv cartoon and toys. I can really confirm you (I work in the toy market) that the most common thing for kids products (especially for TV cartoon based lines) is to present a novelty every year. This help you in selling-in your products, because you can present the "new" aspect as part of your promotional push to the line. The games sold well, than faded. But I think that the most negative part wasn't the annualization of the series, while the wrong choice in terms of platform (in terms of target age): they created consufion among the consumers about this line presenting too many version of the same game with small additions on a variety of different platforms. Probably, they shuold have chosen the 3DS right after the initial PSP debut, in the transition from last gen into this gen.
Yokai Watch: we all are seeing the success of this line, once again based on anime-manga-game. The game sold well from the beginning, then theanime aired and the sales went up, to stay stable so far. They now present the new game that will be probably followed by the new TV Cartoon later in the year.
A lot of those IPs were strictly bonded to cross-media projects: cartoons and toys for kids are normally treated as temporary successes: the popularity of bands among kids in the entertainment segment lasts some years (later they can be re-launched as well, of course, when a new generation of kids born and grows). They create the "phenomena" and then support it with big "PR" investments (the cartoons) trying to create turnover on the products (videogame or game).
Financially, it is a good direction.
You have also to consider the profit linked to the licenses rights.
You are in trouble if you see your benefit decreasing from the decline of popularity of your franchises, of course.
But if you launch new brands (with the money made on those successfull IPs) looking for the new "good one" as they did so far, everything is ok.
They created Layton, and benefit a lot from that.
Then they decided to try the cross-media strategy with IE. Great success.
They invested in Little Battlers: good results but the comrpomised it with costumer confusion.
They tried with Yokai and they succeded (it is already obvious that this IP is a good one for them)
In between, they also launched several new IPs: most of them failed to attract the right target (Cinderella RPG for example), while other performed well (considering that it was "just" a videogame without huge investment for cartoon/toy development, Fantasy Life perfomed really well: it sold around 300k I think, and if we compared 3DS development costs with the actual Japanese sales, I'd say that this was positive)
So:
financially it worked for them
quality of their games among the same brand weren't impacted by the annualization (at least for Layton and Inazuma until the ones I've been allowed to try)
IPs new proposals continued with a good pace
At least, those are my two cents
Very, very good post here and more people should read this. More like MUST read this.
GAF is gonna GAF again over L5, despite them being one of the most successfull companies in the recent history of Japanese videogame market (should we compare their "killing & milking" treatment with other Japanese companies? really? because I think it would be ingenerous...for other comanies), despite them being constant in proposing new IPs, despite them being able to find good/strong/huge commercial results with a good amount of their projects, despite them being able to not fail (so far) any of their multimedia projects
For the sake of discussion, let's post this once again, just to see it ignore, once again
I continue seeing GAFfers hating on L5...
I can understand if Gundam fans would hate them, but for the others...
It is clear that they are an entertaining company that often tries to go for cross-media projects (partnering with other companies sometime, like Bandai-Namco for the toy-aspect of their projects for example), at least from their Nintendo DS days.
They have a particular approach to their series: it is different from many other companies, but I don't see it as the "evil within" as others do.
There are companies that milk their franchises in a similar way, without the same "new IP" direction that L5 has.
There are companies that don't milk their IPS in the same way of course, but usually those are also just videogame IPs or just videogames companies.
There are companies that defend their IPs better, but that don't present big brand new IPs with the same pace of L5 too.
If we look at their recent series we have:
Professor Layton: it was a well-studied "Brain Training" epigon, developed with a cartoonish style trying to attract a variety of target ages following the enigma-fever and the touch-generation fever of the DS. It debuted slowly, but continued to grow. They decided to almost annualize the series (wasnt' exactly 1 each year) also because they understood that those fevers (enigma and touch) wasn't going to last forever (they understood it even better then Nintendo probably
The games suffered a decline after some incredible peak. I'd say that it's normal, and that other "touch generation" games suffered even more. With a very similar stucture and the recycle of engines, I'd say that also the 300k (in Japan) of the recent 6th game are enought financially for them. Without counting also western sales (stilll very positive). Don't know how many Japanese games sell as much as the Layton series even after the decline. Postponing the releases of the games would have benefit the series? I highly doubt it.
Inazuma Eleven: planned as a cross-media IP, the game debuted slowly, and started to sell after the cartoon release. Then they started to annualize it following the annual TV cartoon series. Each new season saw a new game. And they continued with the GO series. Similarly to Layton, these games saw a peak and then a decline. Still able to sell 350K (in Japan)? Once again: not that bad. We could count the games able to sell those quantities. Without counting European sales (always good in Italy, Spain and maybe even France/Ger, but I'm not sure). This is a videogame based on an Anime (TV cartoon): cartoons popularity lasts (with exceptions, of course) some years, usually. They chose the right path in annualizing a videogame series based on a TV Cartoon.
Little Battlers: very similar to Inazuma, with in addition the toy side of things. So, videogame, tv cartoon and toys. I can really confirm you (I work in the toy market) that the most common thing for kids products (especially for TV cartoon based lines) is to present a novelty every year. This help you in selling-in your products, because you can present the "new" aspect as part of your promotional push to the line. The games sold well, than faded. But I think that the most negative part wasn't the annualization of the series, while the wrong choice in terms of platform (in terms of target age): they created consufion among the consumers about this line presenting too many version of the same game with small additions on a variety of different platforms. Probably, they shuold have chosen the 3DS right after the initial PSP debut, in the transition from last gen into this gen.
Yokai Watch: we all are seeing the success of this line, once again based on anime-manga-game. The game sold well from the beginning, then theanime aired and the sales went up, to stay stable so far. They now present the new game that will be probably followed by the new TV Cartoon later in the year.
A lot of those IPs were strictly bonded to cross-media projects: cartoons and toys for kids are normally treated as temporary successes: the popularity of bands among kids in the entertainment segment lasts some years (later they can be re-launched as well, of course, when a new generation of kids born and grows). They create the "phenomena" and then support it with big "PR" investments (the cartoons) trying to create turnover on the products (videogame or game).
Financially, it is a good direction.
You have also to consider the profit linked to the licenses rights.
You are in trouble if you see your benefit decreasing from the decline of popularity of your franchises, of course.
But if you launch new brands (with the money made on those successfull IPs) looking for the new "good one" as they did so far, everything is ok.
They created Layton, and benefit a lot from that.
Then they decided to try the cross-media strategy with IE. Great success.
They invested in Little Battlers: good results but the comrpomised it with costumer confusion.
They tried with Yokai and they succeded (it is already obvious that this IP is a good one for them)
In between, they also launched several new IPs: most of them failed to attract the right target (Cinderella RPG for example), while other performed well (considering that it was "just" a videogame without huge investment for cartoon/toy development, Fantasy Life perfomed really well: it sold around 300k I think, and if we compared 3DS development costs with the actual Japanese sales, I'd say that this was positive)
So:
financially it worked for them
quality of their games among the same brand weren't impacted by the annualization (at least for Layton and Inazuma until the ones I've been allowed to try)
IPs new proposals continued with a good pace
At least, those are my two cents
well said thank you
He's been c/ping that post in what feels like every Level-5 thread in the past few months.