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Media Create Sales: Week 16, 2013 (Apr 15 - Apr 21)

Principate

Saint Titanfall
I think the issue with 15k a week is that from a hardware point of view is that even making sony much more money than it was before, it's a 50k yen drop per unit and an increse in sales of 5k per week increase and that's assuming it'll stay in that range and there's a decent chance it won't.

As far as price cuts go it's pretty much a failure. This is pretty much worse case scenario for Sony. It's very far from good news for the Vita. I mean were you honestly expecting Sony to make less money from the Vita than it already was, because that's what sub 10k sales would mean.
 

Thorgal

Member
05./03. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf # <ETC> (Nintendo) {2012.11.08} (¥4.800) - 34.482 / 3.096.559 (-6%)


So much for cannibalism, I guess!



I've been trying to figure that out. Does anyone know why the PS3 was so much more successful (weekly sales past launch I mean) at the same point? It's not like it had any software. Was it just the PlayStation name? Were there big enough games announced to coerce people into buying? I've heard that Torne's a PS3 seller, but it wasn't out in 2007.

ps3 had Metal gear solid 4 and FFxlll coming + third partys didnt drop it out of hand .
 
"Hey, look over there."
If that's the lesson they learned, they went to the wrong class. And if that's the lesson they learned then it's no wonder the Wii U is floundering.Presumably, you're talking about Japan and perhaps what you're saying would have improved sales (although given the lackluster performance of G&W, and that Monster Hunter is already on the system, I don't see by much), premised on some people actually still wanting to buy a system on a Wii Fit upgrade.

But it would still be performing terribly globally.

From a business perspective, launching a platform with an IP that sold 30mln units worldwide with last two entries didn't seem a bad idea. Of course, there were other factors, such as the price, but Nintendo did think the idea of GamePad would have attracted more people.
 
Vita post price drop is crazy and proof that games are everything.

Nintendos delayed games give me hope that they are planning to have a release every month in japan post a price drop until christmas or something close to that. Sustain that momentum they harp about so much.
 
From a business perspective, launching a platform with an IP that sold 30mln units worldwide with last two entries didn't seem a bad idea.
Well, they mistook high sales due to a base established by an expanded audience, brought in by a novel lightning-in-a-bottle hook, for actual brand growth and seem to still be banking on it.
Of course, there were other factors, such as the price, but Nintendo did think the idea of GamePad would have attracted more people.
Which means the 3DS taught them no lesson, or the completely wrong lesson. The 3DS should have been a lesson in market validation, in creating and testing a value proposition targeted towards a particular audience, rather than expecting to attract all audiences by relying on some quirk of design. It showed overconfidence and complacency in releasing over-priced hardware expecting the mass market to pay a premium for Nintennovation.

Except the mass market didn't care for 3D.

As the mass market now don't particularly care about having a second screen on their controller.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Yes, that's why I said earlier that I'm while I'm not saying vita is doomed it's sad to see that the price cut didn't do great things when it comes to hardware sales.
Sony is doing whatever they can do slow down the momentum from declining though. There will be many titles on budget re-release today , in line with golden week next week (where most if not all consoles will have improved sales), and also super nico nico event 2 days later where they will showcase soul sacrifice and senran kagura. I think the sales will improve for next or two, follow by a drop and that's when the baseline will be. Just like how 60k, 30k and 20k are not the baseline at all.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
I know what you mean but Soul Sacrifice was launched near that price cut. But yes you are right Sony should have waited for a bettter numbers of games to be released in the same month to have a price cut.

The problem is, there isn't any other "better" month. Soul sacrifice is the biggest title until final fantasy port, and everyone know not to trust SE regarding the release timing. Also, senra kagura and phantasy star online 2 were launched close to soul sacrifice.
 

Wynnebeck

Banned
I think the issue with 15k a week is that from a hardware point of view is that even making sony much more money than it was before, it's a 50k yen drop per unit and an increse in sales of 5k per week increase and that's assuming it'll stay in that range and there's a decent chance it won't.

As far as price cuts go it's pretty much a failure. This is pretty much worse case scenario for Sony. It's very far from good news for the Vita. I mean were you honestly expecting Sony to make less money from the Vita than it already was, because that's what sub 10k sales would mean.

What? I'm trying to understand your logic. Help me please.
 
Seems like the "early adopter" phase for new consoles are coming to an end. Much to the dismay of Sony and Nintendo, more and more consumers are willing to wait until the first major pricedrop before jumping in to a new console. It happened with the 3DS, Vita, and now WiiU.
 

big youth

Member
With the price drop Sony is now losing more money pure unit sold, and not making it back with software sales. Vita is doomed etc but for real
 

L Thammy

Member
What? I'm trying to understand your logic. Help me please.

When you drop the price of a product, you're earning less revenue on each product. You need to sell a larger amount of the product or a larger amount of complementary products (i.e. games) in order to get the same amount of profit.

Wouldn't we need to see cost data to say whether or not the Vita's achieving a higher profit now?

1. It was 100% BC to the most successful gaming console on the planet with upscaler for HDTV (connecting PS2 to HDTV directly looked ugly at that time).
2. Economy was better back then (IMO this is the far biggest reason than anything else).
3. Japanese gamer had a little interest in console games.

ps3 had Metal gear solid 4 and FFxlll coming + third partys didnt drop it out of hand .

I think Crinale's explanation makes more sense. In that case, the few people who were buying the PS3 were doing so to play PS2 games. Otherwise they would be intentionally buying a paperweight until games started to hit.
 
Seems like the "early adopter" phase for new consoles are coming to an end. Much to the dismay of Sony and Nintendo, more and more consumers are willing to wait until the first major pricedrop before jumping in to a new console. It happened with the 3DS, Vita, and now WiiU.
Unless the platform gets good games at a proper pace early on, and considering the low install base, that won't happen any time soon for any platform.
 

zroid

Banned
Interesting: two thirds of Animal Crossing downloads are from retailers

26l.jpg
 

hongcha

Member
Vita sales should at least double next week, mainly due to Photokano Kiss releasing on 25 April. The game scored 37/40 from Famitsu and will appeal greatly to the Senran Kagura and visual novel crowds. Meikyuu Cross Blood, a vita JRPG, also releases on the same day, and should sell similar to the well-received Demon Gaze as it is a similar game from the same developer.
 

Sandfox

Member
Vita sales should at least double next week, mainly due to Photokano Kiss releasing on 25 April. The game scored 37/40 from Famitsu and will appeal greatly to the Senran Kagura and visual novel crowds. Meikyuu Cross Blood, a vita JRPG, also releases on the same day, and should sell similar to the well-received Demon Gaze as it is a similar game from the same developer.

Its a enhanced port and if the anime is anything to go by it probably won't be popular enough to double sales.
 
And three more months of it right? Until Nintendo start putting out games.
It will be interesting to see what Pikmin can do. Bolded is the week of release. NPC Pikmin was released at Christmas so it's hard to discern an effect.

Pikmin
Code:
2001-10-01 	14,302
2001-10-08 	8,538
2001-10-15 	10,100
[B]2001-10-22 	25,224[/B]
2001-10-29 	19,891
2001-11-05 	18,073
2001-11-12 	19,019
After this week SSBM released I believe.

Pikmin 2
Code:
2004-04-05 	5,978
2004-04-12 	4,353
2004-04-19 	5,490
[B]2004-04-26 	8,703[/B]
2004-05-03 	8,703
2004-05-10 	4,135
2004-05-17 	5,080

New Play Control Pikmin 2
Code:
2009-02-16 	19,189
2009-02-23 	22,051
2009-03-02 	19,588
[B]2009-03-09 	19,283[/B]
2009-03-16 	19,629
2009-03-23 	18,784
2009-03-30 	17,047
 
Yeah I don't get it. Iwata said they "learned a painful lesson" with the 3DS and the price cut.

Obviously not. I am predicting an equally painfully WiiU price cut.

Ugh. Maybe I will be getting some more free VC games out of it.

Yeah if there were any lessons learned they were either:

a) not applied --meaning Nintendo is just incompetent and/or stupid
b) applied too late -- meaning Nintendo is incapable of adjusting in time

I'd say it's b) and it's Iwatas biggest failure. They had a window to transition the company into a more modern and homogenized culture that is better at adapting and incorporating new trends, but they completely botched that by being 4 to 5 years to late. It might be too late now.
 
Interesting: two thirds of Animal Crossing downloads are from retailers

26l.jpg

I'm surprised too to see this having so much success, but then again, it allows kids to buy it without credit card, it's convenient and just removes another barrier for people to download games. In fact it is pretty much in store advertisement for the e-Shop. It's rather clever as it's not just a Pre-Paid card with an abstract monetary value, but a digital game that's on display for bypassers to see.
 
I'm surprised too to see this having so much success, but then again, it allows kids to buy it without credit card, it's convenient and just removes another barrier for people to download games. In fact it is pretty much in store advertisement for the e-Shop. It's rather clever as it's not just a Pre-Paid card with an abstract monetary value, but a digital game that's on display for bypassers to see.

"via Retailers" is not just the download cards, it also includes the bundle.
Plus, the only reason it sold so much is because the cartridge version was in short supply for a while.
 

ksamedi

Member
Iwata was stating that they wish to offer download codes for download only titles as well. I think it will be fun to see download only stuff charting in the Famitsu charts.
 

Chris1964

Sales-Age Genius
I'm surprised too to see this having so much success, but then again, it allows kids to buy it without credit card, it's convenient and just removes another barrier for people to download games. In fact it is pretty much in store advertisement for the e-Shop. It's rather clever as it's not just a Pre-Paid card with an abstract monetary value, but a digital game that's on display for bypassers to see.

I don't see the success story. People couldn't find a copy at stores and were forced to buy a download card. When there aren't supply problems almost everyone who wants to but didgital buys directly from eshop. Animal Crossing is the best example misunderstand the online market in Japan , but again we knew that long time ago.

Vita sales should at least double next week, mainly due to Photokano Kiss releasing on 25 April.

Photokano Kiss will be the main reason if Vita doubles its sales next week? Sure, who cares for Golden Week anyway, no one will shop in preparation of it.
 

ksamedi

Member
I don't see the success story. People couldn't find a copy at stores and were forced to buy a download card. When there aren't supply problems almost everyone who wants to but didgital buys directly from eshop. Animal Crossing is the best example misunderstand the online market in Japan , but again we knew that long time ago.
Your missing the fact that most of the digital buyers for animal crossing also chose to download tomodachi collection digitally. I think that's a sign that people like the digital download format for certain types of games.
 

Chris1964

Sales-Age Genius
Your missing the fact that most of the digital buyers for animal crossing also chose to download tomodachi collection digitally. I think that's a sign that people like the digital download format for certain types of games.

Why, do you know how many downloaded it?
 

ksamedi

Member
What exactly was I suppsed to find?

From Iwata:
Unsurprisingly, people who have chosen the download version of "Animal Crossing: New Leaf" tend to buy the download version of "Tomodachi Collection." It is also easy to understand that those who have paid download experience are more likely to select the download version.
 

Chris1964

Sales-Age Genius
From Iwata:
Unsurprisingly, people who have chosen the download version of "Animal Crossing: New Leaf" tend to buy the download version of "Tomodachi Collection." It is also easy to understand that those who have paid download experience are more likely to select the download version.

Still don't see any number for online sales.
 

Oemenia

Banned
I dont know why people are bashing the Vita for settling at 15k, it wasnt going to start selling 25k all of a sudden but this is an important step towards that goal. The attach rates are pretty good so far and if they can keep getting the titles out the baseline will only increase along with the already relatively strong software sales.

With the PSP on its way out and the PS3 still too expensive to develop for, the Vita is nicely positioning itself as the third-party system in Japan.
 

ksamedi

Member
Still don't see any number for online sales.
I never said I had numbers, just saying that people that downloaded animal crossing also tend to download friend collection. This contradicts what your saying that stock shortage was the reason of animal crossings digital success. Stock shortage probably had some effect but friend collection stats show that people like DD for certain types of software.
 
Well, they mistook high sales due to a base established by an expanded audience, brought in by a novel lightning-in-a-bottle hook, for actual brand growth and seem to still be banking on it.
I don't think it's as clear cut a delineation as you're making in terms of base driving vs base riding. At least for NSMB1, which is pretty muddy in that respect.

Besides, it's hard to argue against increased brand strength for retro 2D Mario, which we really first got an indication of with Famicom Mini on GBA. Even on Wii, if NSMB simply rode the "lightning in a bottle" established userbase, why'd it outsell the actual "lighting in a bottle" usebase driver (Wii Sports)?
 

Chris1964

Sales-Age Genius
I never said I had numbers, just saying that people that downloaded animal crossing also tend to download friend collection. This contradicts what your saying that stock shortage was the reason of animal crossings digital success. Stock shortage probably had some effect but friend collection stats show that people like DD for certain types of software.

70% of digital sales of Animal Crossing were through download cards and hardware bundles, that number has shrinked drastically will Tomodachi. You don't know the percentage of direct online sales for Tomodachi and you give a link with Iwata saying basically nothing.

Shortage was the reason for the online sales for animal Crossing, it can't be more obvious and it was obvious from the moment Nintendo gave the same ratio last quarter too.
 

ksamedi

Member
70% of digital sales of Animal Crossing were through download cards and hardware bundles, that number has shrinked drastically will Tomodachi. You don't know the percentage of direct online sales for Tomodachi and you give a link with Iwata saying basically nothing.

Shortage was the reason for the online sales for animal Crossing, it can't be more obvious and it was obvious from the moment Nintendo gave the same ratio last quarter too.
Well see. I don't agree at all. Time will tell if Friend collection will see similar results.
 
I don't think it's as clear cut a delineation as you're making in terms of base driving vs base riding. At least for NSMB1, which is pretty muddy in that respect.

Besides, it's hard to argue against increased brand strength for retro 2D Mario, which we really first got an indication of with Famicom Mini on GBA. Even on Wii, if NSMB simply rode the "lightning in a bottle" established userbase, why'd it outsell the actual "lighting in a bottle" usebase driver (Wii Sports)?
I don't know - I was referring more globally, although in a MC thread I should be more specific. But with regard to Japan, cumulative/synergistic effect of a core Nintendo fanbase and an expanded audience driven by the novelty and accessibility of the system and its killer app perhaps? I don't think you really dispute that much of NSMB's success on both the DS and the Wii was due to a receptive audience being established by other factors, as the extent of that success will not be replicated on their successors.

I also don't really dispute some brand growth and have noted as such before; but I do think both they (Nintendo's executive), and people on here, overestimated the extent and the stability of that growth.
 

Bruno MB

Member
with regard to "Animal Crossing: New Leaf" we released in Japan last November, many consumers have chosen its download version partly because the game is one that you can enjoy every day over a long period of time. The other reason is the short supply of the packaged version of the game for a long time as its sales pace was unexpectedly high, but we could not increase production due to its special memory chip.

68% digital sales purchased via retailers.
32% from Nintendo eShop.

It is clear that with enough supply, a huge amount of that 68% of download cards wouldn't have been sold.

That's simply not debatable.

Edit: Too late.
 

ksamedi

Member
68% digital sales purchased via retailers.
32% from Nintendo eShop.

It is clear that with enough supply, a huge amount of that 68% of download cards wouldn't have been sold.

That's simply not debatable.

Edit: Too late.
Why? That's just an assumption.
 
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