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Famitsu Japan 2012 Top 100 Games

donny2112

Member
download card sales is already counted.

Did they ever put out download cards? When the initial shortages happened and it was added quickly to the eShop, didn't think there were download cards, at that time. Might've been added later, though.

Even if Japan had a sizeable PC enclave I don't think the Famitsu chart would be the place to find it.

Famitsu tracks PC sales, but it's in a separate listing.
 

Toth

Member
No it didn't. Under million for numbered FF title is still abysmal. For reference X-2 did over 2 million in Japan.

Waaaaaaaaay different market back then. It is very faulty thinking. FFXIII-2 is still the highest selling PS3 game since 2011 AND it has the benefit of selling 1M plus outside the country, something very few games can do...

Edit: oops, just saw Shinto making the same points. People refuse to acknowledge that the JP market is shrinking for console games....
 
I know Japanese gaming is utterly dominated by consoles and handhelds and such, but as actual game reviewers, after the year PC gaming has had, how can they honestly be taken seriously as gamers when they don't have a single PC game in their top 100?

Different tastes?
 

Codeblue

Member
I know Japanese gaming is utterly dominated by consoles and handhelds and such, but as actual game reviewers, after the year PC gaming has had, how can they honestly be taken seriously as gamers when they don't have a single PC game in their top 100?

I would wager that almost no one on Earth is concerned with being taken seriously as a gamer.

Edit: your post makes way more sense now.
 
Waaaaaaaaay different market back then. It is very faulty thinking. FFXIII-2 is still the highest selling PS3 game since 2011 AND it has the benefit of selling 1M plus outside the country, something very few games can do...

Edit: oops, just saw Shinto making the same points. People refuse to acknowledge that the JP market is shrinking for console games....

XIII-2 bombing has nothing to do with shrinking of console market. It's just that even in japan XIII brand is shit and people don't want XIII games anymore. You remember that XIII still sold about 2 million in Japan? Going from 2 million to 850k indicates that demand is not there for XIII games. Not to mention that XIII-2 managed to sell even that amount only because retailers greatly overestimated demand like it has been said many times in this thread. Lightning returns will be lucky to break 500k.
 

Datschge

Member
There are numerous Japanese games that sell millions upon millions in the West and even the most niche of niche Japanese games get a lot of attention from certain groups of gamers yet the reverse rarely happens.

You put it down to the West not making games that appeal to Japan.

How long can that apply for? Seems to me that your excuse suggests that Japanese people are quite picky making it very hard to tailor something to their taste rather than the case being that Western devs suck at making things that interest Japanese gamers (read broad taste vs narrow taste).

What an odd discussion. First of all one can't compare the Japanese market with the "Western" market, they are of totally different sizes and histories, and the "Western" market is not really consistent either. Secondly I wouldn't call the "Western" market "Japanese games friendly" or whatever, a considerable chunk of it are sales by Nintendo, which is the very unique case of a game developer having a truly universal appeal (a consistent image few of their games manage to disturb). I honestly can't name another significant video game developer or publisher with that kind of universal reach, be it "Western" or Japanese.
 

Takao

Banned
How come you didn't mention anything about Medarot 7? xD

[3DS] Medarot 7: Kabuto / Kuwagata (Rocket Company) {2012.09.13} - 107.751 / 107.751

Well, at least it seems that it will manage to sell its first shipment (around 120k).

Because they're "Meh" sales. Not bad, not particularly strong either. I'd post the Medarot DS total at the end of 2010 but that's not really fair given that launched in May, and Medarot 7 was a September release. Rocket Company/Imagineer reported that they had shipped over 150k of Medarot DS in Japan, and while & has received a much larger push pre, and post launch than DS did I guess the lower sales are slightly expected given the smaller userbase and the lack of similar genre titles on the 3DS.
 

Violet_0

Banned
afaik they don't really use PCs much in Japan, nearly their entire net traffic is through mobiles. Wouldn't surprise me if PC gaming was almost non-existent there.
 
...why are there so many western gaming cheerleaders in a thread about Japanese games being sold to a Japanese market? This is like complaining that Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3 and Chantelise aren't topping NPD's top ten
 

DGRE

Banned
Being the best selling game doesn't mean anything? That's a ridiculous position to take. I honestly don't know how anyone could possibly back that up.

It's always funny to me how finding the game cheap at retail is supposed to be insulting, but Steam sales pushing games for 80% off is just progressive, forward-thinking retail.

It probably had one of the biggest budgets of any 2011 as well. Revenue =/= profit. And, as has already been mentioned, revenue for the title was deeply affected by bargain bin prices almost immediately after release.
 
There are numerous Japanese games that sell millions upon millions in the West and even the most niche of niche Japanese games get a lot of attention from certain groups of gamers yet the reverse rarely happens.

How many western games are released, properly translated and marketed in Japan? Square takes the time to release a subbed-only version, because they determined that the fans that are going to buy it prefer that over a dubbed version. duckroll posted an article on how much care went into Modern Warfare 3's translation in Japan. As a result you have CoD games selling around 300k in Japan, even though it's a FPS which is supposed to be a genre that Japanese gamers hate. Then you have something like Just Dance. Nintendo and UBI took the time to change the songs to something that would appeal to Japanese gamers more. Those games have also sold well there. But then you have plenty of games where the publisher doesn't seem to give a shit. From what i've read Dance Central was released in Japan with the same track list as the western versions. So, if the publisher doesn't give a shit then why should the gamers?
 

extralite

Member
How many western games are released, properly translated and marketed in Japan? Square takes the time to release a subbed-only version, because they determined that the fans that are going to buy it prefer that over a dubbed version. duckroll posted an article on how much care went into Modern Warfare 3's translation in Japan. As a result you have CoD games selling around 300k in Japan, even though it's a FPS which is supposed to be a genre that Japanese gamers hate. Then you have something like Just Dance. Nintendo and UBI took the time to change the songs to something that would appeal to Japanese gamers more. Those games have also sold well there. But then you have plenty of games where the publisher doesn't seem to give a shit. From what i've read Dance Central was released in Japan with the same track list as the western versions. So, if the publisher doesn't give a shit then why should the gamers?

300k is still a far cry from 6 million+ for FFXIII. Square had formed an alliance with EA during the PS days to mutually publish their partner's games in their respective markets and since then Square efforts have always sold better in the West than whoever they were pushing in Japan.

But the thing is, for over a decade video games were heavily dominated by Japanese output. All the notable consoles came from there and the wealth of the software output as well. This changed with the PS2 and Xbox with more and more PC genres gaining ground on consoles and while Japanese games (well, mostly Nintendo nowadays) still do quite well here going by trends Japanese games are now hurting badly in the West and Western ones see improving sales trendwise. So the situation is still skewed in favor of Japanese games WW but the trends are in favor of Western games overall, even in Japan. In the West they now are dwarving all but the most prestigious Japanese IPs.

Of course, 360 was pushed strongly in Japan by many with SE leading the supporting publishers and Sony has relied strongly on Western output in the same time frame. Which hurt them but benefitted that Western software.
 

Hero

Member
It sold about as much, or more than Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I think it sold more than Witcher 2 as well. I just don't think it bombed. It picked up sales in the rest of Asia that were stronger than before, and continue to grow. And again, Lightning Returns is coming out in the west too. SQEX has no problem not bringing over things they think won't make money, but LR is still coming over.

I see your points, but I think it's clear the game is still profitable for them. You guys are exaggerating how poorly it did.

No one said (or should have said) that FFXIII-2 wasn't profitable because it was considering they could reuse assets and what not. However it's quite clear it still didn't sell to expectations and it does matter to retailers the sell through and at what price because they don't want to lose money stocking on a title. So when time comes around for them to take orders to stock Lightning Returns you can be your ass the numbers are going to be effected. Not to mention there's the point on if it was damage to the Final Fantasy brand seeing as how XIII as a series isn't living up to their expectations in addition to XIV being a failure and XIII Versus being vaporware for all we know.

How many western games are released, properly translated and marketed in Japan? Square takes the time to release a subbed-only version, because they determined that the fans that are going to buy it prefer that over a dubbed version. duckroll posted an article on how much care went into Modern Warfare 3's translation in Japan. As a result you have CoD games selling around 300k in Japan, even though it's a FPS which is supposed to be a genre that Japanese gamers hate. Then you have something like Just Dance. Nintendo and UBI took the time to change the songs to something that would appeal to Japanese gamers more. Those games have also sold well there. But then you have plenty of games where the publisher doesn't seem to give a shit. From what i've read Dance Central was released in Japan with the same track list as the western versions. So, if the publisher doesn't give a shit then why should the gamers?

I agree with the things you said here. Again. Japanese people tend to buy Japanese games made by Japanese companies with Japanese developers creating those games with Japanese tastes and preferences in mind selling well is not a surprise to anyone with a brain.
 
300k is still a far cry from 6 million+ for FFXIII. Square had formed an alliance with EA during the PS days to mutually publish their partner's games in their respective markets and since then Square efforts have always sold better in the West than whoever they were pushing in Japan.

Total X360 + PS3 sales = 140 milions
X360+PS3 in Japan = 10 milions

Are you seriously expecting western games to sell milions there ?
 

extralite

Member
Total X360 + PS3 sales = 140 milions
X360+PS3 in Japan = 10 milions

Are you seriously expecting western games to sell milions there ?

Low hardware sales and low software sales go hand in hand obviously. The 360 bombed terribly despite many exclusives, this is a fact.

FFXIII still managed to sell almost 2 million in its home country and that accounts for almost a third of WW sales. So if the effect of the partnerships were mutual in both markets, COD could be approaching multi million sales in Japan. It doesn't. Of course FFVII became big before the EA partnership so expectations shouldn't be quite that high.

My point still stands, Square has allied themselves with Western partners since the PS days and the results are comparably poor for these partners in Japan. But it isn't surprising given what I pointed out in the rest of my post. Video games only recently have become Western dominated in the Western markets, Japan historically was in the stronger position. Western games/genres became popular on consoles when they were already popular on PC, same isn't true in Japan.
 

Road

Member
ib0QEOtcmrOxrn.png


Notes:
  • World at War was not released in Japan.
  • BO first release sold less maybe because it was the first time they released first subtitled only, then re-released dubbed one month later. Overall sales still increased.
  • BO2 has lower sales than either BO or MW2, but probably due to being only 2 months old.
  • These are not the complete sales, since I don't subscribe to Famitsu, only the sales they publish for free, so the total is certainly even higher (not ridiculously higher, but maybe more 50k for Black Ops, for instance).
  • Doesn't include download sales.
  • Doesn't include PC sales.
 

Rock_Man

Member
Since NSMB release in 2006 the series has now passed 13 million in Japan (Famitsu). I believe that will make it the number 3 series in Japan behind Pokemon and Monster Hunter. MH is still almost 3 million ahead, so it looks like the order won't change for a few years (if we extend the time period to 2006-20XX). The Dragon Quest main series is at around 9.5 million for the same period.

ojLty.png
 
Yeah, Konami being behind Level 5 even is pretty lol. Guess that's what happens when you gut your internal R&D on the altar of Kojima.

Or he's the only one there not under the obsidian dagger of dipshit BoD.

ib0QEOtcmrOxrn.png


Notes:
  • World at War was not released in Japan.
  • BO first release sold less maybe because it was the first time they released first subtitled only, then re-released dubbed one month later. Overall sales still increased.
  • BO2 has lower sales than either BO or MW2, but probably due to being only 2 months old.
  • These are not the complete sales, since I don't subscribe to Famitsu, only the sales they publish for free, so the total is certainly even higher (not ridiculously higher, but maybe more 50k for Black Ops, for instance).
  • Doesn't include download sales.
  • Doesn't include PC sales.

Very consistant, I'm guessing there's a decently loyal community?
 

Road

Member
How to read the chart below:

Final Fantasy X sales (3 million) = 100%.
Final Fantasy X-2 sales (2.3 million) = 2.3/3 = 77%.
That indicates 77% of the FFX buyers came back for FFX-2.

ibd8g3gei9jmY0.png


These are the unit sales:

ibgX3fJZlkydTv.png


(ToD is Tales of Destiny; ToX is Tales of Xillia, for those who only know Final Fantasy...)
 
Yeah, XIII-2 failed in reaching a sizeable amount of XIII's players. One expected a decline, but not so much. LR won't have such a dramatic drop, but I cannot see it reaching the million mark either.
 
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