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Media Create Sales: Week 2, 2013 (Jan 07 - Jan 13)
- Thread starter Chris1964
- Start date
electroplankton
Banned
Well, who expected all the games outside the first three to sell a reasonable amount of units? It's also the Vita syndrome, there were too many games for the launch.
I don´t know if they changed their plans but the PSV bundle with Inafunes game was priced 29.980yen.
your guess is as good as ours, but I think it depends on whether Sony is giving up on Vita or not. Giving up = no price drop until it gets discontinued, after PS4 launches. Not giving up = price drop at the most opportune time.
Sony is sending mixed signals. Their PR indicates they are going to let Vita die, but their robust advertising campaign indicates the opposite. In NA I see it advertised far more than any other console.
DmC Devil May Cry (this week biggest release)
http://www.true-gaming.net/home/125427/
Digimon Adventure hits Japan
http://www.true-gaming.net/home/125418/
http://www.true-gaming.net/home/125427/
Digimon Adventure hits Japan
http://www.true-gaming.net/home/125418/
frankie_baby
Member
For a western game on such a small user base that's not bad for zombiu
I'm not sure how much more other games could reasonably have been expected to do though.
Wii / Wii U syndrome isn't the big amount of launch titles bur the grand canyon between top and low sellers. Vita didn't have that problem at launch, sales were more balanced.
Since no one expects games for the system to sell outside the heavy hitters no one must blame third parties for abandoning Wii U.
What were reasonable expectations for the other 3rd party games in your opinion?
I see 2 examples of Japanese developed games that you can argue should have sold more- Tekken and Orochi. But if you look at what the other versions of those games did, how much more could they realistically sell? Tekken isn't even above 100k on PS3 according to the last update- how much could the Wii U version realistically be expected to sell given the cap on a much larger userbase is 100k?
electroplankton
Banned
Abandoning Wii U? When did they join?
Well, SF on 3DS did over 100K, almost as the PS3 version... Wait, price cut, nothing at launch, etc. You can always find excuses why a title not performed well.
That's a fair point, absolutely, but in the end you are only going to get so many sales at a launch, and Wii U launched with a title a lot more high profile IMO than anything released for the 3DS or Vita launch which is going to take away sales from lower profile titles that might have benefited from being available at launch.
I dunno- this seems like a damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario for Nintendo.
Where did you get these 25k units for ZombieU from? Or is this just a guess?
ZombiU launched on 8.Dec with 13k in 2 days. Your "updated" number just isn´t credible without any proof.
15./00. [WIU] ZombiU <ACT> (Ubisoft) {2012.12.08} (¥6.980) - 13.000 / NEW
michaelius
Banned
I don't know honestly
price dropping now would mean that most of the effect would be lost over dead period of june- august, but also it would boost this fiscal year result.
Price dropping in september-october-november would be much better for end of year sales as it would minimize loses on hardware (or maximize profits if they are selling at small plus). But Vita would suffer another 8-9 months of around 10k weekly sales.
But late pice drop could be conflicting with PS4 launch...
So at the moment impossile to predict (too much informations missing) unless you have sources in Sony with knowledge of ps4 plans, vita lineup for second half od year and profit margins/loses on hardware.
Snowden's Secret
Banned
Late to the party here, but every console dropped about 60% this week. Doesn't that mean the Wii U's numbers this week are completely normal, as it doesn't fall below standard market performance? Or is it bad that it isn't over performing the market?
Most launch titles had a sellthrough close to 20%, these numbers are some of the lowest for a new system. The titles that followed later the same. The expectations were low but reality was even lower, they still try to sell the initial shipment. Wii software for all the crap it received had better sales. Dragonball for Wii in 2007 did numbers for a late port that Wii U will only dream.
You should back up your claims and not making up numbers. Your ZombieU number likely just is a guess until you can proof it with evidence.
Your big problem with ZombiU number is something no one cares. Stick to first week number if it's so important to you.
grimshawish
Banned
This is why I've not really taken anything away from these numbers.
We'll see what happens in future weeks; this time of year just isn't a good place to take away anything about a consoles sales ability.
Next week we'll get a good idea of things.
Baki
Member
I really do think Sony should do a spring price cut in Japan to coincide with a big software push or in the very least, offer value added bundles such as Vita + Game + 4gb for 24,498 yen. Otherwise all this great software such as God Eater 2, Phantasy Portable etc... Will fall to the wayside and won't even come close to the sales potential these titles could have if coupled with an effective hardware relaunch. This would be discouraging for 3rd parties which have taken a big risk with the Vita. Plus spring time is a large sales period in Japan.
But those titles have kept selling and I suspect that much like the Wii launch games when we get their LTD's in a year they will look a lot less awful.
I see your point and I do not entirely disagree, but I still think you are overdoing it a bit.
You mention Dragonball- yes, it did well, but it was a 2 month old port of a game that initially sold over 450K. That isn't Tekken Tag 2 (100K on PS3 3 months before) and that isn't Orochi 2 (3rd release in a year where the port to a huge userbase hasn't broken 50K).
I guess I don't see where either of those games were likely to do that much better than they are doing.
I wouldn't be so sure. I mean, MH Tri was released on Wii in 2009, so any theoretical contract would have expired last year. Yet, we know MH 4 is coming to 3DS. Plus, weren't there some minor MH spinoffs released for the 360 during that timeframe? Not sure Nintendo would allow that if there was a contract.
We have Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed III (in Japan too). What's the excuse for these? Sangokushi 12 had a simultaneous release.
The big judge is pathetic sellthrough for almost every Wii U title at and after launch. Who guarantees there isn't price collapse for these titles already.
Frankly I wasn't looking at Western 3rd party stuff because I think it's sort of irrelevant to a discussion of Japanese 3rd party sales, but sure, those were disappointing results.
electroplankton
Banned
1. Does this really mean something having a low sell-through in the first day or week when it's a launch title in the holiday season?
2. How was the sell-through of the Wii titles other than Nintendo ones in the first week?
3. How was the sell-through of 3DS, Vita, PS3, etc. launch titles? I'm asking because I remember quite low sell-throughs.
4. Dragon Ball Z debuted with 42k units and many people screamed flop as usual. It went to sell over 150k over time, with incredible legs, also thanks to good sales of the hardware: http://garaph.info/softwareindividual.php//gid/43
Did someone expect great numbers from Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty in Japan? I understand they're medium profile games, but on PS3, where they build an audience over time, entry after entry.
Also: weren't there price collapses after Wii launch, 3DS launch, Vita launch? Because I remember retailers slashed the price of SSFIV3D, Eledees, Trauma Center... And a lot of Wii titles debuted with abysmal numbers, all below 10k except Nintendo games. eventually, some of them sol well because the hardware sold well, but outside Ennichi no Tatsujin, no one crossed the 100k mark.
geimin is that way for first week info. Wii U has the record for lowest sellthrough results at an in and outside holidays system launch.
It's becoming boring saying the same thing again and again. Those who want to believe third parties got what they deserved believe it, those who don't the same.
It's becoming boring saying the same thing again and again. Those who want to believe third parties got what they deserved believe it, those who don't the same.
PSV
Name - FW shipment (FW sellthrough)
Lord of Apocalypse - 39k (71.42%)
Dream Club - 19k (58.51%)
Disgaea 3 - 40k (56.32%)
Dynasty Warriors - 55k (52.33%)
Uncharted - 108k (44.59%)
Kamataichi - 43k (38.93%)
Ridge Racer - 50k (35.74%)
Minna no Golf 6 - 192k (31.82%)
Shinobido 2 - 34k (27.23%)
3DS
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=36581044&postcount=643
Screamapillar
Member
What was announced? The Mario Land 3D wasn't announced until April 2011 after 3DS had already been out for two months in Japan
Screamapillar
Member
I think that contract has expired. I remember an article from 2008 with Iwata about MH3 being a Wii exclusive and how "core games" are essential to maintaining steady sales. So it's been at least four years, if we're talking about the same thing.
Screamapillar
Member
I love how you're calling it "Wii" syndrome when it's been a problem with Nintendo platforms ever since the early days of Nintendo 64
Yeah, that's what I talked about. Do you have a source for that?
MikeE21286
Member
Hoes does the Devil May Cry series traditionally sell in JP?
like 300-500K?
More?
like 300-500K?
More?
DS and 3DS must not be Nintendo platforms.
Road had posted it somewhere in these threads some months ago.
ShockingAlberto
Member
Were we expecting particularly great WO3 numbers?
I could understand if there were extra content (no idea why they didn't add Link or something as one of the characters), but it's literally the same game with baffling PvP for what must be four times the price of the game on PS3 from 2011.
I could understand if there were extra content (no idea why they didn't add Link or something as one of the characters), but it's literally the same game with baffling PvP for what must be four times the price of the game on PS3 from 2011.
Graphics Horse
Member
So are Sony going to keep the Vita alive for 2 more years in the hope it's chosen for MH5?
Screamapillar
Member
Except for rare cases like Monster Hunter or Dragon Quest it's generally a big problem for 3DS as well, but I was mostly referring to home consoles. DS is the only one that didn't fall prey to the syndrome. An install base of 150 million will tend to do that.
michaelius
Banned
They can't kill it before PS4 second year at least because it would be PR disaster.
Baki
Member
So MH Vita is possible once the Vita is dead. Lol
I think you may want to look at the top 50 in this thread. And the DS didn't have an install base of 150 million throughout it's whole lifespan. Though the 3DS is suffering a bit in the west in software sales, however, this is a Japanese sales thread, so looking just at the top 50 here, it can be determined Japan buys lots of games for 3DS.
Not really, outside of Kingdom Hearts, most third party software on the 3DS performed well or even overperformed compared to previous entries.
Edit: Oh you're talking worldwide?
Or if we add them up:
DMC: 632,065
DMC2: 456,824
DMC3: 442,614
DMC4: 417,400
DMC4 (first run): 365,271
DMC HD Collection: 72,897
It's been a very long time since DMC4 though and this is clearly not targeted at Japan, so I would be surprised if it maintains especially close to DMC4's first run.
test_account
XP-39C²
electroplankton
Banned
As expected, quite low sell-through all around. Not as low as for Wii U, but when you ship in the range 15k-60k it's not that matter so much.
Chris, don't get upset. I'm not saying Wii U sold well, I'm not saying Wii U games sold well, I'm no saying Wii U will sell well, I'm not saying third parties will jump on board (they never did, indeed), etc. I just want to understand better the overall situation, because if you are really so clear-cut with the platform, you must have some reasons, but I don't also excluse over-reactions. Wii U games had very low sell-throughs? True, but low sell-through are quite typical in general, as Spiegel posts showed. To me, it seems that people tend to forget how previous platforms releases went. Does Wii U have problems? YES. Was Wii U one of the worst launch ever? Hardware-wise no, of course; software-wise, so and so, in the sense that it could have done well, and it did way worser than Wii. But it did also much better than Vita, PS3, let's say.
Come on, you mentioned Dragon Ball, a game that many people thought it was a flop (indeed: it debuted with just 45k units on a fast growing userbase, and drop immediately to 5-10k levels). Then it sold over time, of course, Wii was selling well and all the games sold accordingly.
3DS is selling well both first and third parties games, of all kind of genres.
To me the real takeaway from the Wii U's launch is that it will be extremely hard from them to win the generation before all the competitors are on the field.
With the Vita, simply looking at the 3DS's line-up and the Vita's line-up a month or two before the Vita's launch would easily tell you that the 3DS would be in first place.
For the Wii U, barring a major surprise, it is unlikely that the system will solidly get out of the sales doldrums prior to at least August/September when Nintendo could feasibly release a notable unannounced Wii U game, and even then this isn't assured to skyrocket sales despite being pretty close to the PS4's rumored launch.
So to me, the longer term strategy and challenges for each company, assuming they want to sell well, would be as follows:
Sony:
Sony is probably in the most precarious situation simply by virtue that they don't have a relevant first party in Japan. The only team at SCEJ that has proven they can consistently release hit games is Polyphony, who takes forever and has sales that are good but extremely Euro-centric. This means that Sony will once again have to rely on third parties and/or first party publishing deals with independent developers. However, as of our last update, the difference between the Xbox 360 and PS3 in Japan represents less than 10% of Sony's worldwide PS3 shipments. When refocusing the company, especially after the failure of the Vita, there is an argument that Sony could decide that Japan simply isn't worth it and spend their resources on fighting Microsoft in the West instead where they are notably stronger by volume. Their actions so far though haven't suggested this is a notably likely outcome.
So, assuming they actually care about the region, this means that Sony's best bet would be the following two part strategy. The first part would be to line up a set of moderately notable titles (for Japan) and spread them across the first six months of the system. Whether this consists of notably upgraded PS3 ports, first party publishing deals, or niche titles that can deal with a smaller number of sales is up to them. The goal here is simply to make sure they have a steady line-up of games where consumers can say, "Hey, if I get this, at least I have something to play now." The second, notably more crucial part of this strategy would be to present multiple huge titles for Fall/Winter 2014 where they can sit there and say "This is why you absolutely, positively want a PlayStation 4 by Fall/Winter 2014." By offering something to do in the immediate term and a highly compelling reason to own the system by a year or so into the system, they can steadily win people over in the lead up to those games.
Of course, given the current Japanese climate, along with Sony being able to provide very little of this software on their own, this is not an easy task.
Nintendo:
Nintendo's main focus on the other hand would be to say "Hey, who cares what is coming out in Fall/Winter 2014 for the PlayStation 4, we have all the biggest hits RIGHT NOW!" Or, in other words, they want to show up to August/September 2013 - June 2014 with an incredibly strong line-up of titles that convinced Japanese consumers that this is the way to go, because hey, who wants to wait when the winner is already here? Releasing 3D Mario U, Mario Kart 8, Smash Bros 4, and Monolith's new game for the niche audience in that window would be a very strong showing, especially if they wrangle a few third party exclusives and at least a fairly healthy porting rate (~50%) from the PS3.
Of course, given the current Japanese climate, along with that being a notably large amount of high profile output for Nintendo in a relatively short window, this is also not an easy task.
If both of them execute, we could see a potentially interesting console race on our hands. If one of them executes and the other doesn't, that leaves a strong possibility of a notable victory. If neither of them execute, the 3DS will likely drive a bus over their hardware sales and pick up all the developers who were thinking of making Japanese focused titles for the systems, helping to kill off a notable portion of what remains of the Japanese console audience.
While they have until E3-TGS 2013 to present their line-ups for the future, we may at least get some insight into them in the near future. There will presumably be at least one Nintendo Direct by the end of February, and both press and GAF sources are favoring a PS4 reveal for February as well. If we start to see healthy line-ups for the future out of both of them, this is a good sign. If Nintendo focuses on their already announced Spring games and Sony's Japanese support consists of Dead Rising 3 and Thi4f, then both of them will likely get exactly the sales they deserve.
So in other words you can´t back it up and just doing the same thing the banned site is doing?
It is at 25k. Trust us.