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Media Create Sales: Week 3, 2017 (Jan 16 - Jan 22)

Garraboa

Member
For reference, Gravity Rush 2 may have sold less than 2000 or even 1000 units in UK. Probable bomba in the US too.

Japan completely saved the day here, that number is better than Gravity Rush and Gravity Rush Remastered combined.

I think I was the most optimistic in the prediction game with 80K for 11 days, but it will be higher actually :)

I wanted a PS4 bundle. Such a missed opportunity :(
 

Takao

Banned
I don't think it's stupid, obviously. Even if VC was not initially a huge success everywhere, when you launch a new franchise you should also think about the critical reception of the franchise as well as word of mouth, and how that will develop as long term potential.

The decisions made for VC2 were directly responsible for killing off that successful global franchise potential.

Sega wasn't (and really isn't) in a position to fund expensive vanity/fan fulfillment projects. That's something console manufacturers do to make their hardware stand out. Do remember that Bayonetta sold and reviewed better than VC did. Sega cancelled that game's sequel. Instead of doing the same with Valkyria Chronicles, they tried to play with the hand they were dealt. The game did well in Japan, but Japanese sales clearly wouldn't be enough to justify another sequel on the same level of production. So they shifted focus to a platform that would deliver them a lower budget and the potential for higher relevance in Japan. It didn't work out fantastically, but the reality is, it was likely VC2 made for a Japanese audience, or VC2 doesn't get made (for a decade).

The only really comparable same-date release is Tales of Zestiria. It didn't have the advantage of a game in the same franchise being extremely well received on Steam, but it reached 100k sales rather rapidly at full price, seemingly without affecting the sales of the console SKU in the west at all compared to previous entries in the franchise. It now sits at ~300k owners.

Bandai Namco is one of the publishers that doesn't view Steam as solely a library platform. Sega, on the other hand, hasn't launched a same day Japanese game on the dedicated machines and PC. Zestiria was also the franchise's debut on PC (which is usually a big plus for lower budgeted Japanese games) and will probably wind up better received than Azure.

Does it matter for the future of the series (which I wasn't discussing)? Probably not though it doesn't really matter since they said this is the last game in the series before it came out. Does it matter when we are discussing how it has performed in Japan relative to the trends in the Japanese market (which I am doing)? Yes.

Fair enough.
 

Branduil

Member
I still can't believe xb360 made it to a million!

Well, they actually tried to appeal to the Japanese market with the 360, at least at first, with exclusive Japanese-developed games and such. Sony shooting themselves in the foot with PS3 pricing helped too.

And then with the Xbone they just kind of completely gave up on Japan.
 

patapuf

Member
As for Azure's platforms, I don't know why that's really an issue. It's pretty clear some Japanese publishers view PC as a platform for library sales. That's understandable. PC is the second most price sensitive market in the industry. Launch Valkyria: Revolution at $50-$60 alongside the console/handheld SKUs and you're guaranteed to see stagnant five digit numbers on Steamspy for months. Launch the PC version at a lower price once the other SKUs stop selling and you might move more volume. Well, assuming the game isn't completely eviscerated in reviews and people don't just shun the game in general. Sega made a Vita SKU for Asia and a XB1 SKU for the west. I have no doubt there will be a PC one eventually.

I actually think a Valkyria SRPG, with a historical setting and of similar quality as the first, is a perfect fit for the PC. Much more so than any home console (in the West). Even at 60$ (This would probably hurt it's potential in Japan though, so i doubt it'll ever happen).

Azure was a regular JRPG though, so that point is moot.


Generally though, i don't see the point of reviving old franchises and not giving old fans what they want. I can't think of a franchise where that worked.
 

AniHawk

Member
I still can't believe xb360 made it to a million!

1.6 million. it's also where the science adventure series (chaos;head, steins;gate) got its start, and did well there.

microsoft went in hard on ignoring japan this gen after making serious inroads last gen. i guess return on investment was poor, but the degree they regressed is insane. although to be fair, going to sub-gen 6 levels seems to be what gen 8 is all about.
 

Fisico

Member
Sega Japan: "Hey, we have this new SRPG with innovative mechanics and a neat setting. It's the best thing we made in ages, and it's doing pretty well both nationally and globally! The critical reception and word of mouth are fantastic. How should we follow that up?"

Sega Japan: "Ok, here's what we do: let's put a compromised sequel on a handheld that is struggling globally with tacked-on forced replay and multiplayer mechanics, and change the well-received setting to a generic anime high-school! We might catch lightning in a bottle and get some of that Monster Hunter dosh."

Sega Japan: "Hmm, for some completely unpredictable reason this didn't go so well. Failed hard outside Japan, and didn't really make more money here either. Let's try again with a slightly better setting, but still on the same platform and without a global release."

Sega Japan: "That didn't work either."

[... nothing ...]

Sega Europe: "Hey we put that original well-received innovative SRPG on PC with a decent port by paying 3 people for a few months and sold like hot cakes! Insane profit margin."

Sega Japan: "Wait, I think I got it. What we need is a JRPG which does away with the USPs that made the first Valkyria a global success, and we need to release it on PS3 and PS4."


It's funny but oversimplifying things a lot.

Back then most of their strategic choices for their japanese IP were dictated by the japanese market, and Valkyria Chronicles didn't sell well at all, for all purpose it was mostly using the core gameplay mechanics used by Sakura Taisen since the third entry on Dreamcast, with the latest entry on PS2 being a huge disappointment in sales (at its peak the IP was a 500k seller, third entry was >300k, Sakura Taisen V is <200k) they probably decided to move forward with a new IP for a fresh start on PS3 instead.

The development costs for Valkyria were without a doubt notably higher and guess what?

The game had the exact same sales than Sakura Taisen V, which is the last entry this series ever got, on a financial basis Sega Japan probably took a hit there

In order to salvage the IP, Japan then got a budget version released one year later that started decently (because of good word of mouth likely) but really had a spike when the anime adaptation started on TV, anime adaptation which changed a few details in the story and clearly prefigured what was to come for the IP later on (a character design trying to appeal moe anime fans, some dumb love triangle with Welking Alicia Faldio etc.)
In the end it made the game go from 150k to 250k, that's better but still nowhere near enough to make it a relevant IP on the home console market considering the costs involved, PSP was also booming at that time in Japan so in that context it was not so stupid to make the jump which they did and... while it didn't sell wonder Valkyria Chronicles 2 ended up at 150k, yep the exact same sales the first one got on PS3 originally but for a lower cost.
It was still not enough, but with the investments done so far they decided to do a third entry one year later that went back to its roots, the game was made from a lot of rehash and done by an external team Media Vision (which kinda become the team developing RPG for Sega afterwards with two Shining and Valkyria Azure) it was fine for what it was and a good product and sold... 150k once again.
They tried a cheaper extended rerelease 10 months later which didn't do much (20k maybe ?) unlike the original VC.

What happened for Valkyria Azure is that after two Shining games made by Mediavision (the IP they decided to go with the next few years instead of Valkyria), the latest being an action RPG, it was probably decided that when pitching their next project late 2014, instead of doing a new Shining it was maybe better to go with the Valkyria IP instead, domestic sales would probably be rather similar (Shining are 100-150k seller) but the worldwide appeal of Valkyria will make it worthwhile to localize the game for western markets (the two Shining aforementionned never got there, although being on PSP and PS3 probably didn't help), at that time VC wasn't/was barely released on Steam, it was also a side project Sega Japan had nothing to do with.

As for western sales, it's still worth mentioning that the original VC didn't sold gangbusters at launch either, it was rather quickly discounted (I remember having a discussion on Gaf on that topic one or two years ago, I'll try to dig up what it was about in details later on), as for the PC release while its raw sales number is incredible (it's around 1M) it should never be forgotten that the game was released at the 20$ pricepoint and most of its sales happened when the game was heavily discounted (5$)
Overall 1M sales for an average 10$ makes the same money than 200k sales at 50$.

And let's not even talk about the "first to be there" syndrome where every japanese IP releasing games on Steam had a dramatic drop in sales for its second entry.

Valkyria Chronicles 4 may/will/is happen(ing), but if it does it was always a project that had nothing to do with VA to begin with, which is also what Sega always said when they were asked the question.
 
Bring back Tokyo Jungle, that's the true winner among SCEJ IPs.

Freedom Wars was the biggest new IP launch for them since WKC.

Didn't even get an expanded release!

And yeah, ignoring Tokyo Jungle seems odd considering how well it did relative to budget.

SCEJ just aren't the same people that made lots of small games that appeal to the Japanese market anymore, though.
 
Freedom Wars was the biggest new IP launch for them since WKC.

Didn't even get an expanded release!

And yeah, ignoring Tokyo Jungle seems odd considering how well it did relative to budget.

SCEJ just aren't the same people that made lots of small games that appeal to the Japanese market anymore, though.

Imagine a PS4 freedom wars game that looks and plays like that opening CGI scene.

It would probably sell less than the original game in japan, but it would be cool!
 

Takao

Banned
Well, they actually tried to appeal to the Japanese market with the 360, at least at first, with exclusive Japanese-developed games and such. Sony shooting themselves in the foot with PS3 pricing helped too.

And then with the Xbone they just kind of completely gave up on Japan.

Microsoft gave up on Japan in 2010. From that point on, they focused on what little worked financially, which almost exclusively consisted of visual novels and shmups. With XB1, that was the strategy from the get go. There were four key problems, though: the vast majority of 360s sold in Japan were off the back of the more mainstream games, the dedicated Japanese games industry has seen a huge decline, 360 was first to market that gen, plus it also had a sizeable price advantage over its nearest competition.
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
And for REVII. Maybe 250k?

Yep, that as well.
Actually, I've decided to take a look at more recent Comgnet charts (it's been months since the last time I tried to analyse correctly Comgnet pre-order rankings), and I've noticed that there have been several cases where Comgnet underestimated, especially in significant ways, different games for different consoles (Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS, The Last Guardian as biggest cases; Final Fantasy XV would fit too, but probably its Tuesday's release played a role). I'd dare to say that the new general rule is that, in 99.9% of the cases, the pre-order points / thousands of sales is at least a bit lower than one. IIRC, several Comgnet stores have been closed in the recent past, so that must be why this general index is increasingly becoming a representation of generally basic level of interest instead of a representation of mid-upward interest.

This means that the Nintendo Switch is going to be the first console launch in this different Comgnet environment, which makes me even more curious to see how high/low Switch games that aren't Zelda and 1,2 Switch will perform at launch. And even Zelda/1,2 Switch, despite what said by crinale in the former discussion, could be seen under this different analytical eye, given the circumstances.
 

Shikamaru Ninja

任天堂 の 忍者
16./12. [3DS] Miitopia <SLG> (Nintendo) {2016.12.08} (¥4.700) - 4.775 / 156.947 (-35%)]

Not looking too good for Miitopia. I was hoping it would hit the 300-400k mark. Seems like a fun innovative product, but it seems like the 3DS audience is all about the staple franchises now.
 
Nice numbers for GR2, not that great but it's more than the first title.

Wow...
Those Valkyria sales, didn't known that the game wasn't that good.
 
Pokemon Sun and moon is the biggest bomba.


From the looks of it, we can say Sun and moon will be lowest selling gen in Japan. Seems will also have a hard time reaching 4m.


I was right from the beginning.
 

noshten

Member
Pokemon Sun and moon is the biggest bomba.


From the looks of it, we can say Sun and moon will be lowest selling gen in Japan. Seems will also have a hard time reaching 4m.


I was right from the beginning.

I mean it was pretty expected around these parts. People might be in denial about the 3DS but announcing a new portable devices has decreased the desirability of the 3DS beyond the holidays in Japan.
It's still very impressive what Pokemon was able to do in the holidays coupled with SMM for 3DS hardware but this was the last multi million year for the hardware.
PokemonGO effect was not as substantial as in the West because of the high adoption of 3DS in general and the market being completely saturated. After all Pokemon didn't see substantial growth in Japan despite keeping up with prior titles - while in the West we saw the biggest 3DS launch this gen. It will have a hard time reaching 4 million because the Switch was announced in Japan and this will stifle new adoption and legs of newly released 3DS titles.


Like I said in another thread about Sun and Moon in Japan/World. Legs are probably going to be affected long term by the Switch verision but shouldn't be much of an issue for these Holidays specifically.

I fully expect this to be the biggest Pokemon launch on the 3DS ecosystem
 

Busaiku

Member
Sun and Moon already broke 4 million in the US in December.
Yet Japan gets all the merchandise and in-game distributions.
 

BriBri

Member
No time to read this thread so apologies if posted already but Final Fantasy XV digital estimates up to 25 December is 88,553.
 

Kazuo Hirai

I really want everyone to know how much more Titanfall 2 sold than Nioh. It was a staggering amount.
No time to read this thread so apologies if posted already but Final Fantasy XV digital estimates up to 25 December is 88,553.

How do they estimate? SE said their Japan market digital count 20% in their last financial report
 

Kyoufu

Member
I bet Sega thought they could use the Valkyria IP to sell more copies of their shit JRPGs that normally come under the Shining IP... oh wait

[PS3] Shining Resonance (Sega, 12/11/14) – 67,282 (New)
 

Shengar

Member
Sega just can't nail their JRPG IP right. Either it bombed hard because lack of interest at first or it bombed due to lack of quality in gameplay. They seem unable to find the right balance between character (or waifus in the case of some games like VC2) and gameplay, both which important factor for making successful JRPGs.

It rather showing from their choice of artist tbh. Raita with his fetish go wild? Tony Taka and his acute syndrome of same face? Really now Sega? There's a better artist for the picking and either you pick the wrong guy or you direct them to the wrong way.
 

ZSaberLink

Media Create Maven
So Media Create has 35 XB1s sold, but Famitsu has 350?.... xD. Still within the margin of error but 10 times the amount lol. Famitsu almost has the XB1 outselling the PS3 (388).
 

Shengar

Member
As for western sales, it's still worth mentioning that the original VC didn't sold gangbusters at launch either, it was rather quickly discounted (I remember having a discussion on Gaf on that topic one or two years ago, I'll try to dig up what it was about in details later on), as for the PC release while its raw sales number is incredible (it's around 1M) it should never be forgotten that the game was released at the 20$ pricepoint and most of its sales happened when the game was heavily discounted (5$)
Overall 1M sales for an average 10$ makes the same money than 200k sales at 50$.

And let's not even talk about the "first to be there" syndrome where every japanese IP releasing games on Steam had a dramatic drop in sales for its second entry.

None of the Japanese series with multiple game entries on Steam sold as many as Valkyria Chronicles did. Price isn't the factor alone that have carried it to 1 million mark on PC. Many of those games with "first to be there" syndrome suffered from being old title where people much less enthusiastic. If those second entry was something more recent, something newer rather than a continuation of an old games, I predict people will be more likely to buy it.

Also we have to take account that most of these sales numbers we seen on PC are LTD. Directly comparing the sales between first and second entry isn't enough to gauge interest of the Steam audience whether or not they have genuine following on that series because legs play huge factor on PC.
 

Kazuo Hirai

I really want everyone to know how much more Titanfall 2 sold than Nioh. It was a staggering amount.
None of the Japanese series with multiple game entries on Steam sold as many as Valkyria Chronicles did. Price isn't the factor alone that have carried it to 1 million mark on PC. Many of those games with "first to be there" syndrome suffered from being old title where people much less enthusiastic. If those second entry was something more recent, something newer rather than a continuation of an old games, I predict people will be more likely to buy it.

Also we have to take account that most of these sales numbers we seen on PC are LTD. Directly comparing the sales between first and second entry isn't enough to gauge interest of the Steam audience whether or not they have genuine following on that series because legs play huge factor on PC.

Nah,capcom has several millions title in steam because of humble bundle
 
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