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Media Create Sales: 12/08 - 12/14

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Tiktaalik said:
So apparently Let's Tap comes out next week? Should be an interesting sales age next week if that's true.

and dissidia and suikoden and tales of hearts and some gundam game
 
Earlier I meant didn't a gundam game come out last week, but I think someone already answered that saying it was this week.
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
I believe Taiko Wii had a better first week than the DS titles.

Let's Tap is going to bomba bomba
 

donny2112

Member
Cellbomber said:
True, but what was anything released last year at this time to cause the difference?

The same thing that was released this year at this time. A new PES game. This year was even more advantageous for the PS3, though, as there was no PS2 version released simultaneously.

Any idea what the YOY is looking at so far for the series?
 
schuelma said:
Let's Tap is going to bomba bomba

Actually, I'm not so sure. It's quirky in tone but straightforward to play and I think it has a chance to do reasonably well (sub-100k obviously, but a bit higher than the craters of games like Sky Crawlers).
 

Perdew

Member
schuelma said:
I believe Taiko Wii had a better first week than the DS titles.

Let's Tap is going to bomba bomba


I expect sales comparisons to be drawn between NiGHTS awful Wii version and Let's Tap!

I kinda feel like Naka was screwed either way, to be honest.
 

jts

...hate me...
But Let's Tap comes in a bundle with a cardbox of sorts right? Remember guys, peripheral bundles and big boxes sell.

It will chart :D
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
markatisu said:
If Tatsunoko vs. Capcom shipped 35k then it sold almost 70% of its stock...that is bad thing how?


I don't know if we ever found out what the shipment was- 35K or 70K.
 

Scrubking

Member
Cosmonaut X said:
I don't think that tells the whole story, to be honest. There are issues with the Wii as a platform for traditional games (in Japan at least) at the moment that are playing a part in the low sales of titles like TvsC or Tenchu IV.

Uh, NO.

Yeah. It's also a traditional fighter, which are all but dead.

This is the correct answer. (Plus whatever Capcom did/didn't do to advertise the game. I know they don't like spending money on Wii ads.)

Also their decision to pick a license that couldn't be easily exported boggles the mind.
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
Scrubking said:
This is the correct answer. (Plus whatever Capcom did/didn't do to advertise the game. I know they don't like spending money on Wii ads.)


Sometimes games just bomb :shrug:
 

swerve

Member
Tomorrow is also the launch of Karaoke Joysound Wii. :)

Whilst 'Karaoke Revolution' (Konami JP Version) allowed access to CyberDAM karaoke network through the PS2, this is the first karaoke soft release since then to link up to a national karaoke network and without the need for additional hardware (PS2 BB Pack).

Joysound's network of 30,000 songs is accessible via Wii Points Subscription, which is a pretty nifty trick, and they're adding new songs all the time.

All commercial-song-using music games should work this way. I don't want to own a song on Rock Band, I want to rent access to ALL SONGS.
 

markatisu

Member
schuelma said:
I don't know if we ever found out what the shipment was- 35K or 70K.

Well then nobody should be claiming bomba yet, if it was 35k then I think it did pretty well only needing 11k to sell out the shipment. If it was 70k then yeah that is pretty ugly :lol
 

Opiate

Member
markatisu said:
If Tatsunoko vs. Capcom shipped 35k then it sold almost 70% of its stock...that is bad thing how?

Shipment figures are one measurement of a game's sales, and likely the most important, but even this statistic has its breaking point.

If a company is conervative or already knows a game is a bomb, they won't ship very much, and then one could argue the game is doing well because it sold a high percentage of its shipped figure, when in reality the shipped figure was already low because the game's sales were expected to be disappointing from the start.

If I produce a mega budget PC game aimed exclusively at Japan, then only ship 3 thousand copies because preorders were nonexistant and PC games don't sell well in Japan, does it make my game a success if I sell 2 thousand copies? Of course not.
 

swerve

Member
Bombs all depend on budget. Konami are releasing BeatMania DX 15 this week, and though it'll sell well into five figures, it's not going to set the charts on fire. That hasn't stopped Konami from releasing 15 of them.

Sometimes you just make a low-earning game. And that's cool. Especially if it earns you good will and franchise recognition.
 

markatisu

Member
Opiate said:
Shipment figures are one measurement of a game's sales, and likely the most important, but even this statistic has its breaking point.

If a company is conervative or already knows a game is a bomb, they won't ship very much, and then one could argue the game is doing well because it sold a high percentage of its shipped figure, when in reality the shipped figure was already low because the game's sales were expected to be disappointing from the start.

If I produce a mega budget PC game aimed exclusively at Japan, then only ship 3 thousand copies because preorders were nonexistant and PC games don't sell well in Japan, does it make my game a success if I sell 2 thousand copies? Of course not.

But if you sold what you shipped, you met your estimate which means you sold what you thought you would.

Whats better selling what you set your goal to be or underselling that? Nobody is saying Capcom should be dancing in the streets throwing money in the air, but if they expected to sell 35k and they sold 70% of that in the first week its probably in the range of "OK we did what we expected now lets move on elsewhere"
 

PantherLotus

Professional Schmuck
swerve said:
Bombs all depend on budget. Konami are releasing BeatMania DX 15 this week, and though it'll sell well into five figures, it's not going to set the charts on fire. That hasn't stopped Konami from releasing 15 of them.

Sometimes you just make a low-earning game. And that's cool. Especially if it earns you good will and franchise recognition.

Bombs are dependent upon expectation.
 
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is very niche though, not surprised that it didn't take off. Outside of Smash Bros and to a lesser extent Soul Calibur and Tekken (We'll see about Street Fighter 4 though I reckon it won't do that well) the fighting game genre is all but dead.
 

goompapa

Member
markatisu said:
But if you sold what you shipped, you met your estimate which means you sold what you thought you would.

Whats better selling what you set your goal to be or underselling that? Nobody is saying Capcom should be dancing in the streets throwing money in the air, but if they expected to sell 35k and they sold 70% of that in the first week its probably in the range of "OK we did what we expected now lets move on elsewhere"

Except it's not only up to Capcom to decide how many they ship. Retailers have no faith in the title, which means: the title has already bombed before it hit the store.
 

Opiate

Member
markatisu said:
But if you sold what you shipped, you met your estimate which means you sold what you thought you would.

And if I expected a game to bomb, based on preorders and general consumer sentiment, and planned accordingly? Then the game bombed, as expected.

Whats better selling what you set your goal to be or underselling that?

Those aren't the only options, are they? Selling up to your apparent expectations is not automatically a good thing, as your expectations might be low (and thus underselling is terrible). It usually is a good thing, but again, this concept has its breaking point. If I expect to sell two thousand copies of a mega budget PC game in Japan, that's still a bomb even if I meet those expectations because I unquestionably lost a great deal of money on the venture.

I'm not saying we know with certainty that this game fits that criteria (it certainly doesn't appear to be "mega budget," as that exampe was only to clarify my point), but it's possible. In this case, however, the shipment figures are low enough that simply meeting an already low bar isn't necessarily "good," it's just "not as terrible."
 

Link

The Autumn Wind
I'm curious if Tatsunoko vs. Capcom will pick up steam as people try it out in arcades and then decide to buy it. Usually a fighter is out in arcades for a while first, so by the time it comes to a home console, people are familiar with it.

I suppose this depends on how receptive people are to it in arcades as well.
 

Scrubking

Member
schuelma said:
Sometimes games just bomb :shrug:

Not on Wii they don't. If a game bombs on Wii it's because only casuals own Wii's and they don't buy traditional games.

Haven't you heard?

Anyway, I can't stress how bad the decision was to pick a license they couldn't easily export. They could have easily had triple that number.

And I really want to know how this game was advertised. If any of you in Japan know please tell me.
 
Scrubking said:

What?

Listen, I love the system and I think it has huge potential - both in terms of gameplay and in terms of reaching a huge, varied audience - but in Japan it is not managing to sell software - esp. traditional software - predictably or consistently at the moment despite its dominance of the home console market, unlike a platform like the DS or PS2

That isn't because Wii=LOLZ CASUAL! and it isn't necessarily because third parties and Nintendo aren't making an effort with what they put out there - it just seems that the market that allows second- or third-tier franchises to flourish hasn't developed on the system yet.

I don't think you can blame TvsC's apparent flop on this entirely - trad fighters are a niche, as you say - but it was a game that had a lot going for it in terms of launch window, appeal to domestic audience, solid reviews & good word-of-mouth.
 

Opiate

Member
PantherLotus said:
Bombs are dependent upon expectation.

As I just told Mark, I think this metric has to have a breaking point, Panther. It's certainly the most important metric, but not the only one.

For instance, four weeks before I release a game my company has developed, if I notice that preorders are very low and consumer interest seems to be nonexistant, I may end up shipping a very small amount because I expect it to sell poorly. And if it does end up selling, say, 70% of my shipped total, then the game has matched my expectations -- specifically, I expected it to do poorly, and it did.

In reality, I think "bomb" should be defined by a complex combination of expectations, profits, and perhaps even revenue, with the first being the most important. That's a very tricky scale to balance, however, and particularly so without real profit/revenue breakdowns for each game.

So I'm usually content to use shipped/sold breakdowns as a reasonable and pragmatic compromise, lacking more detailed information. But it's still a compromise, and I think we have to acknowledge that there is a breaking point where our estimation model breaks down.
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
Cosmonaut X said:
That isn't because Wii=LOLZ CASUAL! and it isn't necessarily because third parties and Nintendo aren't making an effort with what they put out there - it just seems that the market that allows second- or third-tier franchises to flourish hasn't developed on the system.

I don't think you can blame TvsC's apparent flop on this entirely - trad fighters are a niche, as you say - but it was a game that had a lot going for it in terms of launch window, appeal to domestic audience, solid reviews & good word-of-mouth.


I've said this many times, but I think generally its as simple as 3rd parties not bringing the big franchises to the Wii yet, instead releasing a lot of mid tier stuff that isn't compelling enough for those PS2 owners to pick up a Wii. They kind of skipped the step where they grow the userbase with big games and then sprinkle in the niche stuff.
 

Linkup

Member
If Let's Tap bombs wii owners fail. No doubt regardless of what it does first day various posters will be screaming "bomba". I expect it to have some legs and do well as SEGA seems to be getting a handle on the wii audience and this game should have wide spread appeal along with good word of month(if it's fun of course). Naka is treading ground no one has tread before and he shall pick the best of fruits. A new awesome music game from SEGA has arrived and like Samba, Space Channel 5, other sega music game, it will surprise and excite the public.

Make sure to quote this next week and laugh. Just don't forget to do that for the next six months or so though.
 
schuelma said:
I've said this many times, but I think generally its as simple as 3rd parties not bringing the big franchises to the Wii yet, instead releasing a lot of mid tier stuff that isn't compelling enough for those PS2 owners to pick up a Wii. They kind of skipped the step where they grow the userbase with big games and then sprinkle in the niche stuff.

It could well be the case, but at the moment it seems no-one wants to be the first to risk it. Monster Hunter 3 is going to be an interesting case - will it bring across a section of the gaming audience Wii doesn't command the attention of yet? If so, will they stay for other, smaller releases?

I think the system has to reach a tipping point where the number of quality second- or third-tier releases, combined with a couple of larger first- and third-party blockbusters pulls in the audience that it needs to sell software consistently, but it's getting painful waiting for it to happen.
 

botticus

Member
If I'm not mistaken, Taiko is the third biggest third-party opening on the Wii, behind DQ Swords and Tales, and ahead of RE: UC.
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
Cosmonaut X said:
It could well be the case, but at the moment it seems no-one wants to be the first to risk it. Monster Hunter 3 is going to be an interesting case - will it bring across a section of the gaming audience Wii doesn't command the attention of yet? If so, will they stay for other, smaller releases?

I think the system has to reach a tipping point where the number of quality second- or third-tier releases, combined with a couple of larger first- and third-party blockbusters pulls in the audience that it needs to sell software consistently, but it's getting painful waiting for it to happen.


I think next year will help- MH3, Samurai Warriors 3, even the mothership Tales title are all bigger than probably every prior 3rd party release aside from DQ:Swords.
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
acm2000 said:
PES09 launched, and umm, thats it

It is also the true start of the holiday season. It should be much higher, honestly.
 

Askia47

Member
Seems like TvC didnt do so well as expected. People expected the game to do better than this, thats for sure. I know people will say its "niche", but still people wanted more than 100K+ for this game.

Soul Calibur IV did much better despite being on more expensive systems. It sold at least 109,000 copies on PS3 alone.
 
botticus said:
If I'm not mistaken, Taiko is the third biggest third-party opening on the Wii, behind DQ Swords and Tales, and ahead of RE: UC.
You're mistaken. :p

Famitsu:
Top10: First Week 3rd Party Wii:
01.) Dragon Quest Swords - 302.066
02.) Tales of Symphonia 2: Dawn of the New World - 151.138
03.) Taiko no Tatsujin Wii - 114.000
04.) Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles - 104.960
05.) Deca Sporta: Wii de Sports 10 Shumoku! - 66.790
06.) Fushigi no Dungeon - Furai no Shiren 3 - 58.507
07.) One Piece Unlimited Cruise: Episode 1 - Nami ni Yureru Hihou - 57.158
08.) Resident Evil 4 - Wii Edition - 46.813
09.) Jikkyou Power Pro Baseball Wii - 46.280
10.) Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon - 43.756
.
.
.
19.) Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes - 26.000
 

ksamedi

Member
markatisu said:
If Tatsunoko vs. Capcom shipped 35k then it sold almost 70% of its stock...that is bad thing how?

The shipment s low because of low demand obviously.

markatisu said:
But if you sold what you shipped, you met your estimate which means you sold what you thought you would.

Whats better selling what you set your goal to be or underselling that? Nobody is saying Capcom should be dancing in the streets throwing money in the air, but if they expected to sell 35k and they sold 70% of that in the first week its probably in the range of "OK we did what we expected now lets move on elsewhere"

No, you ship what retailers order from you. That's why retailers are free to slash prices
 

markatisu

Member
Askia47 said:
Seems like TvC didnt do so well as expected. People expected the game to do better than this, thats for sure. I know people will say its "niche", but still people wanted more than 100K+ for this game.

Soul Calibur IV did much better despite being on more expensive systems. It sold at least 109,000 copies on PS3 alone.

SC4 sales would have made the game the 4th biggest Wii 3rd party game so far. I do not think anyone here thought it would do that well

Yeah, but not our expectations, surely? Or is it just a GAFBomb?

We probably wont know for sure unless Capcom says something we wait till their financial reports come out and gauge the impact from that
 

AFreak

Banned
WKS drops next week over there right? Tha should give PS3 a boost, and Dissidia should give PSP a boost as well.
 
If it is true that Capcom only shipped 35k then that pretty much says how much they pushed the game. Which I'm honestly not really suprised then (about the sales or why they didn't push the game).


Cosmonaut X said:
I don't think that tells the whole story, to be honest. There are issues with the Wii as a platform for traditional games (in Japan at least) at the moment that are playing a part in the low sales of titles like TvsC or Tenchu IV.

Not really 100% true. Tales of Symphonia 2, One Piece, and 428 have all done well in Japan. Quite honestly I don't think there is a problem with any of the platforms because third party traditional games sell poorly on almost all of them (at least the consoles). I think the problem lies within the developers themselves.

Cosmonaut X said:
It could well be the case, but at the moment it seems no-one wants to be the first to risk it. Monster Hunter 3 is going to be an interesting case - will it bring across a section of the gaming audience Wii doesn't command the attention of yet? If so, will they stay for other, smaller releases?

I think the system has to reach a tipping point where the number of quality second- or third-tier releases, combined with a couple of larger first- and third-party blockbusters pulls in the audience that it needs to sell software consistently, but it's getting painful waiting for it to happen.

True. I think Tales of Symphonia 2 was the closest to a "blockbuster" the Wii has had and it did well. Monster Hunter 3 or Tales of Mothership, whatever comes first will be the start.
 

Askia47

Member
markatisu said:
SC4 sales would have made the game the 4th biggest Wii 3rd party game so far. I do not think anyone here thought it would do that well



We probably wont know for sure unless Capcom says something we wait till their financial reports come out and gauge the impact from that

People did expect better, I remember in the TvC thread someone said they wouldn't be surprised if it got 100K, but I cant find the post. I know many can spin it alot, but it didn't do well starting out. Of course it being in arcades could be a big reason sales have not been good.
 
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