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Media Create Sales: Week 8, 2013 (Feb 18 - Feb 24)

deviljho

Member
But that's exactly the point. You don't build up momentum by releasing two games in the span of three to four months. That way you are just throwing the games into the garbage bin, since everyone will already have moved on again as soon as the next game releases. You build up momentum by having a constant stream of software -- however, Nintendo just doesn't have that for the first half of this year. You can look at it from whatever angle you want, there's just no way to change that. It doesn't make sense to hope for a surprise announcement of games that will come out in Q2, it's time to face the reality that Nintendo has nothing ready that would make any difference.

Well, we're in complete agreement about this. I was actually referring to March with respect to Lego City and the other games - but those schedules don't match up for Japan.
 

NeonZ

Member
Whether or not Iwata is still CEO I would hope that Nintendo has learned from their mistakes but they said the same thing after the 3DS fumbled so who knows. Maybe HD development really bit them in the ass.

Even if everything had followed their initial schedule, their only titles for this part of the year would have been Pikmin and WiiFit U. I don't think the state of the Wii U would have changed much with those two by themselves. In fact, it doesn't surprise me that Nintendo seems to be in no rush to get them out.
 

serplux

Member
As a Wii U owner, it's really looking to me as if there was no reason that Nintendo should've even released the Wii U when they did. Sure, they'd be going up against the other consoles if they delayed, but at least then they could've had games ready. Maybe the hardware could've been cheaper or they could've gone for a bigger bump in specs.

And that's just considering if they still went with the largely unappealing GamePad as their main selling point. I'm not even thinking about if they totally revamped their console. What a mess...

See, Nintendo had games they planned to release during these first few months. They just all got delayed. :p I like the GamePad a lot, and I can think of a lot of uses that simply haven't been explored yet. I would've liked for it to have triggers (or at least the Pro Controller should've), but it's a good controller.
 

udivision

Member
As a Wii U owner, it's really looking to me as if there was no reason that Nintendo should've even released the Wii U when they did. Sure, they'd be going up against the other consoles if they delayed, but at least then they could've had games ready. Maybe the hardware could've been cheaper or they could've gone for a bigger bump in specs.

And that's just considering if they still went with the largely unappealing GamePad as their main selling point. I'm not even thinking about if they totally revamped their console. What a mess...
But how long without a Wii release would they have gone? I don't think their shareholders would've liked an extra year of relying on just Wii/3DS/DS.
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
Well, considering Road showed me the light in the last thread, saying to me "Please, wait for the brand new thread for doing that =P" too, it's that time again.

Comgnet comparisons! As of February, 27th

[PS3] Shin Sangoku Musou 6 - 305+23(collector)=328pt
[PS3] Shin Sangoku Musou 7 - 179pt

[PSP] Shining Blade - 457pt
[PSP] Shining Arc - 173pt

[NDS] Dragon Ball Origins - 64pt
[NDS] Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Sayans - 47pt
[PS3] Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2 - 70pt
[PS3] Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi - 51pt
[3DS] Toriko Gourmet Monsters! - 89pt
[3DS] Magi: The Labyrinth of Beginning - 86pt
[3DS] Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission - 149pt

[PSP] Phantasy Star Portable 2 - 518pt
[PSP] Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity - 549pt
[PSP] Phantasy Star Online 2 - 105pt

[3DS] Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance - 152pt
[PS3] Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix - 96pt

[PS3] One Piece: Pirate Warriors - 252+37(collector)=289pt
[PS3] One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 - 96pt

[NDS] Super Robot Wars W - 104pt
[NDS] Super Robot Wars K - 11pt
[NDS] Super Robot Wars L - 125pt
[3DS] SD Gundam G Generation 3D - less than 36pt
[3DS] Super Robot Wars UX - 79pt

It is to note that, actually, the SRT with the biggest amount of preorders at 15 days from release (SRT L) is the one with the worst debut on DS, while the one with the worst amount of preorders at this point (SRT W) is the one that debuted better on the platform.

[3DS] Senran Kagura Burst - 45pt
[PSV] Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus - 50+50=100pt

[NDS] Professor Layton and the Spectre's Call - 255pt
[3DS] Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracles - 189pt
[3DS] Professor Layton v.s. Ace Attorney - 72pt
[3DS] Professor Layton and the Aztalian Civilitation - 76pt
 

Laguna

Banned
Ummmm....ever heard of the console called Gamecube. Plenty of Nintendo's "million sellers" were on that console and look at its hardware sales. I personally think Nintendo is heading down the same road but nots to late to change.

You are ignoring some important things. GameCube was a system that came to late to the party, I think about 1,5 years after PS2 that already had the benefit of DVD-playback something that was a big thing in the beginning of that console gen and games like Final Fantasy X already on the market before GCN debuted. Some years later Dragon Quest series followed with a DQ5 remake and DQ8. Sony actually had more and also successful 1st part/2nd party titles besides GT in Japan and 3rd party games like Ridge Racer, Tekken etc were still successful and important "Playstation" games. Now the picture is quite different, Playstation isn´t as important as back then anymore in Japan, a lot of games that helped to built the userbase back then are either less popular or moved to other systems (consoles and handhelds) and they won´t have the advantage of a headstart. The interesting thing is that around the supposed PS4 launch in late 2013 or early 2014 it will be the period Nintendo likely will release their heavy hitters. The question now is what will PS4s launch period lineup look like? Because I don´t think another round of Musou or Yakuza games will be enough and that it´s unlikely SQEX will release an exclusive FF game early.
 
See, Nintendo had games they planned to release during these first few months. They just all got delayed. :p I like the GamePad a lot, and I can think of a lot of uses that simply haven't been explored yet. I would've liked for it to have triggers (or at least the Pro Controller should've), but it's a good controller.

Well, they said they delayed some games because of their robust launch line-up, but I'm not seeing it. I feel bad for Pikmin because the Wii U is going to kill that amazing series, but even that didn't make launch, and it's an up-port from Wii.

I have no idea what they're doing over there. As for the GamePad, Miiverse works great, but until Nintendo shows an actual gameplay concept that uses it and necessitates it, I remain doubtful.

udivision said:
But how long without a Wii release would they have gone? I don't think their shareholders would've liked an extra year of relying on just Wii/3DS/DS.

You're right, of course. That would've only hurt the Wii brand even more. Nintendo really fucked themselves with the death of software on Wii. But in hindsight (which is never possible), we'd have to say that shareholders would've preferred any alternative to Nintendo's new console being a 5 year albatross around their neck.
 

saichi

Member
I am very, very curious about how DQX will perform. What would be considered a disappointment for the launch sales? Sub-100k? It's the last substantial third party release that we firmly know about, it bombing could lead to a lot of the unannounced games people are counting on to be quietly cancelled/moved to other hardware.

Going by the release calendar it should easily premiere at number 1 with no major releases that week or the week before on any other platform.

I would be surprised if DQX sells over 100K LT. DQX on Wii sold around 650K and I think 50K first week would be a good start.

Will Soul Sacrifice outsell Animal Crossing next week?

I'm guessing no.
 
Can someone explain to me what kind of game Animal Crossing is? Is it like The sims but more charming, or what is it? I have never played it.
A decade ago I heard Sims comparisons, but that's mostly because there's not a whole lot like either of them. What I'm saying applies to older ACs, so won't 100% apply to 3DS game: You create your character and move into a new town. You're given a dinky empty house, and find yourself in debt for it. From there, you can do various tasks to pay off and improve your house, make friends with the neighbors, redecorate your house or the town, collect insects/fish/fossils for the town museum. Participate in special events which might happen based on time of day, the season, day of the year. Very freeform.
 

Bruno MB

Member
I don't need am expert to tell me that Metal Gear and Animal Crossing did well this week and Wii U did poor but I do need to be updated on Dragon Quest, is it far off course in reaching DQ 4 & 5 remake levels?

Dragon Quest (main titles) remakes:

3rd week

[PS2] Dragon Quest V (Square Enix) {2004.03.25} - 96.985 / 1.394.252 (-61%)
[NDS] Dragon Quest IV (Square Enix) {2007.11.22} - 42.498 / 776.136 (-68%)
[NDS] Dragon Quest V (Square Enix) {2008.07.17} - 104.910 / 969.413 (-43%)
[NDS] Dragon Quest VI (Square Enix) {2010.01.28} - 86.780 / 1.178.740 (-52%)
[3DS] Dragon Quest VII: Fighters of Eden (Square Enix) {2013.02.07} - 80.478 / 1.088.077 (-53%)

LTD

[SFC] Dragon Quest I & II (Enix) {1993.12.18} - ? / 1.200.000
[SFC] Dragon Quest III Soshite Densetsu e… (Enix) {1996.12.02} - 409.082 / 1.010.989
[GBC] Dragon Quest I & II (Enix) {1999.09.20} - 269.937 / 763.760
[GBC] Dragon Quest III (Enix) {2000.12.04} - 154.143 / 637.749
[PSX] Dragon Quest IV Michibikareshi Monotachi (Enix) {2001.11.19} - 620.802 / 1.173.671
[PS2] Dragon Quest V (Square Enix) {2004.03.25} - 1.048.925 / 1.611.974
[NDS] Dragon Quest IV (Square Enix) {2007.11.22} - 601.737 / 1.214.610
[NDS] Dragon Quest V (Square Enix) {2008.07.17} - 679.442 / 1.190.404
[NDS] Dragon Quest VI (Square Enix) {2010.01.28} - 909.981 / 1.297.344
[3DS] Dragon Quest VII: Fighters of Eden (Square Enix) {2013.02.07} - 836.654 / 1.088.077
 

donny2112

Member
I think Iwata as CEO is not long for this world.

If he's going out, anyways, do the $100 price drop, take the heat, leave the Wii U in a better position than the FY started. Sort of like a lame duck president taking unpopular, but necessary, actions, since he's not up for reelection, anyways.

Edit:
Even if he does step down as CEO, I hope they make a position for him to still be an advisor and "face" of the company in some fashion. Love his frankness and enjoy his self-deprecating humor in the Nintendo Directs, too.
 
I really don't think so. People need to temper their expectations for this game's sales.

Yeah, up front sales probably won't be anything spectacular, most likely somewhere between 50-100k FW (Closer to 100k though IMO, similar to the first Monster Hunter Portable). How it does in weeks 2 and 3 will tell the real story of it's prospects.
 
P4G and Hatsune Miku both managed 100k+ FW sales...so if SS can't manage to top that on the back of a price drop then wow...bomba.

I'm guessing DQVII will end up somewhere around IV/V/VI DS LTDs, I was hoping for more since it's a far bigger effort than those :\
 

Yawnier

Banned
Wow good numbers for MGR despite it basically being a spin off, it kinda goes to show the power that the Metal Gear brand still has, especially in Japan too.

Very poor numbers for both the Vita and Wii U though, damn. I think the absence of a steady flow of good games for both of those consoles is why they are both selling so bad right now.

Vita may have a bump this week with it's price drop though but will go back to it's 10K-ish afterwards for a while.

Speaking of which, price is obviously a factor too why they are both doing so bad. Among other smaller things.
 
P4G and Hatsune Miku both managed 100k+ FW sales...so if SS can't manage to top that on the back of a price drop then wow...bomba.

I'm guessing DQVII will end up somewhere around IV/V/VI DS LTDs, I was hoping for more since it's a far bigger effort than those :\

Those games have established fanbases, sequels are an entirely different beast from new franchises. 100k for a game like this first week would definitely be on the high-end of expectations.
 

AzaK

Member
Very poor numbers for both the Vita and Wii U though, damn. I think the absence of a steady flow of good games for both of those consoles is why they are both selling so bad right now.

Yeah, but the worry is then devs don't want to make games for it, and therefore sales continue to slump and it's hard to get out of that. Nintendo are lucky to have very strong first party games but by the time that comes, third parties might have essentially given up. I don't think a first party machine only is sustainable nor particularly healthy.
 

Yawnier

Banned
Yeah, but the worry is then devs don't want to make games for it, and therefore sales continue to slump and it's hard to get out of that. Nintendo are lucky to have very strong first party games but by the time that comes, third parties might have essentially given up. I don't think a first party machine only is sustainable nor particularly healthy.

Yep, I completely agree with you.

Some people underestimate the power of third party support, but if you look at what are regarded the greatest/best systems or consoles of all time they all for the most part had at least relatively stable and good third party support throughout their lifespan.
 
Those games have established fanbases, sequels are an entirely different beast from new franchises. 100k for a game like this first week would definitely be on the high-end of expectations.

Good point, but it does feel like SS is positioned as a big momentum driver for the Vita and relative to that, I think Sony would be hoping for more than a 100k start. Though I guess it's whether it has sustainable legs or not that is the more important factor here. MHP started very slowly on the PSP iirc.
 

Nekofrog

Banned
Yeah, every new week of the Wii U taking a nosedive in the charts just serves to further seal Iwata's fate. Have to wonder what the dude is thinking right about now.
 

Laguna

Banned
Yeah, every new week of the Wii U taking a nosedive in the charts just serves to further seal Iwata's fate. Have to wonder what the dude is thinking right about now.

What fate? I think with the announced software-lineup and strongly hinted WiiU titles like Mario Kart Wiiu they´ll reach their profit forecast for the upcoming fiscal year quite easily.
 

Cheebo

Banned
Iwata can stay president of NoJ but a non Japanese CEO needs to be appointed overseeing all of the different regions.

People at that level don't get demoted and stick around. If he is removed as CEO he won't be at Nintendo at all. And the board is Japanese, the CEO is going to be Japanese I'd imagine.
 
What fate? I think with the announced software-lineup and strongly hinted WiiU titles like Mario Kart Wiiu they´ll reach their profit forecast for the upcoming fiscal year quite easily.

3DS suffering in the West. Wii U dead everywhere. Sales estimates for Wii U dropped from 5.5 million units to 4.0 million. And now the 4.0 million number appears impossible to hit given that Wii U isn't selling anywhere. If that's running a successful company, sign me up. Would be hard to do worse.
 

BriBri

Member
Thanks Bruno, seems Dragon Quest VII is faring better than I expected. Guess it means 3DS will probably see XI and maybe VIII at some point.
 

Nekofrog

Banned
What fate? I think with the announced software-lineup and strongly hinted WiiU titles like Mario Kart Wiiu they´ll reach their profit forecast for the upcoming fiscal year quite easily.

Resignation/forced retirement for running the Wii brand - Nintendo's strongest branding of all time - into the graveyard.
 

Baki

Member
Not to say that the Wii U situation exactly parallels the 3DS's, but the combination of a price drop plus quality software drops resulted in much better sales for the system.

I'm kind of baffled at why saying that the sales should pick up when software that normally moves Nintendo units arrive is an overly optimistic assessment.

Because Nintendo couldn't save the GameCube with the sane type of software. You will probably only see hardware spikes. I think this is Chris' point.
 
I'm surprised vita sales are this high since the price cut is next week. But I'm glad for it since I expected sub 5k this week. And those MGR sales- good god. And people think action games are dead.
 

AzaK

Member
Because Nintendo couldn't save the GameCube with the sane type of software. You will probably only see hardware spikes. I think this is Chris' point.

Exactly. Sure when MK comes out, consoles will sell, and even when titles like Lego or Bayonetta come then Wii U units will too. However that's not necessarily enough to hit the snowball effect, which is required to make a console healthy.

If you're a train at the station and every now and then you chuff hard and move 100 metres down the track that's not going to get you to the same place as chuffing mildly but continuously.
 

Gummb

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about Rayman Legends Wii U.
Resignation/forced retirement for running the Wii brand - Nintendo's strongest branding of all time - into the graveyard.

hahaha, who are you?

Obviously the Wii U is tanking and Nintendo deserves poor sales right now, but do you honestly believe a bad launch = "ruining the brand"?
 

Laguna

Banned
3DS suffering in the West. Wii U dead everywhere. Sales estimates for Wii U dropped from 5.5 million units to 4.0 million. And now the 4.0 million number appears impossible to hit given that Wii U isn't selling anywhere. If that's running a successful company, sign me up. Would be hard to do worse.

3DS right now is sold at a decent profit margin and already has a userbase that sustains good sales for their 1st party software. The release of Pokemon and Animal Crossing in US/Europe will lead to to more hardware sales and they´ll profit alot from these software sales. Especially thanks to Pkm that definately will sell hardware, they´ll also sell more of their evergreen titles. There recently announced 3DS games like M&L and DKC will also be a profitable source.

WiiU. Most of their titles have been delayed to the next fiscal year and that´s no coincidence. Among them those titles million-sellers like Mario Kart and 3D Mario have been heavily hinted. While the first half will be rather weak due to their delays, the second half of the year looks very promising and they´ll make a nice profit not only from their new releases but also NSMBWiiU, which right now isn´t selling up to its potential due to beeing the only systemseller right now, but will be an important holiday 2013 title again.
 

Branduil

Member
hahaha, who are you?

Obviously the Wii U is tanking and Nintendo deserves poor sales right now, but do you honestly believe a bad launch = "ruining the brand"?

He might be talking about how Nintendo prematurely killed the Wii for no apparent reason.
 
I think some people are underestimating Vita sales potential got next week. I mean, 25k? Don't forget that tomorrow there's two games from popular series along with bundles and a new color, on top of the official price cut. The combination of these things will get Vita higher than what most think, me thinks. People also underestimated 3DS sales before the price drop hit, and with the way Vita is, it's completely understandable to have low predictions.

That said, I'm expecting 70k-80k sold next week.
 

popeutlal

Member
What a mystery...the lack of games that is.

So this company stops releasing games for Wii about three years into its life. Makes terrible launch games for 3DS.
Does the same on Wii U...and hasn't released another Wii U game yet.

Since the Wii U was announced E3 2011, what has this company been doing? Have they focused on 3DS instead? The results don't show that.

Maybe Iwata and others have lost interest in gaming...they should put their money into whore houses.
 
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