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[Pureauthor]

Wow. Great sales for RE:UC, MKDS, and... well, I could go on for a while.

Concerning FFIVDS - that SE released into an oversaturated market is no one's fault but their own. At least it's displaying some staying power. But the amount of work they poured into FFIVDS tells me that they expected a bit more than this.

It's not a sales disaster or anywhere close, but I believe the execs at Square would have wanted quite a bit more than what they're getting.

 

[Dash Kappei]

>5. Final Fantasy IV　80000（527000）


Wow, Ethelred am cry.

Let's hear what you have to say now buddy, after all that blabbering about how poor FFIV sales were, and in the same month where DQ hits a million.

And it's not like it's all said and done, we'll probably see it @ >700k LTD, maybe more.

 

[donny2112]

Ps3 went back up again , i wonder why?

Because it's the week that includes the after New Year's shopping. I expected to see the highest sales the week before Christmas, drop a bit the week of Christmas, and then rise again the week of New Year's (and post-New Year's shopping). I didn't expect the PS3 to be higher than the week before Christmas, but going up this week should have been expected.

>5. Final Fantasy IV　80000（527000）


Wow, Ethelred am cry.

Let's hear what you have to say now buddy, after all that blabbering about how poor FFIV sales were, and in the same month where DQ hits a million.

And it's not like it's all said and done, we'll probably see it @ >700k LTD, maybe more.

Probably something like

FFIV, in its third week, has now passed FFIII's first week sales.

He's consistently expected FFIV to outperform FFIII, so by his measuring stick, it still isn't performing up-to-snuff. Unless, his measuring stick has changed in the last week.

I've been expecting 750-800K for FFIV (i.e. ~same as CC:FFVII), so it's still on-track for my expectations.

 

[donny2112]

Edit:
Bah. I meant to edit my previous post. :/

Starting with the Super Famicom / GB:
Pokemon RB(G)
Pokemon GS
Pokemon RuSa
Pokemon DP
NSMB

Famicom numbers are not reliably tracked and are not useful for most comparisons, but SMB1 also passed 5m. SMB3 did not.

In other words, no single SKU had broke 5 million since 1996 before NSMB. BTW, no single SKU had broke 4 million since 1996 before NSMB, either.

 

[Stumpokapow]

>5. Final Fantasy IV　80000（527000）

Wow, Ethelred am cry.

Let's hear what you have to say now buddy, after all that blabbering about how poor FFIV sales were, and in the same month where DQ hits a million.

And it's not like it's all said and done, we'll probably see it @ >700k LTD, maybe more.

Uh, it won't change anything he said, which was that FF4 is tracking behind FF3 despite the appearance of a higher budget and ethel's assumed expectation that SE would want it to beat FF3.

After 3 weeks, FF4 is now on par with 1 week of FF3.

Even your last sentence concedes that it will "probably" be more than 30% down from FF3, which was ethelred's point. He never said "SALES ARE AWFUL SQUARE FAILING"; every single time he mentioned it he prefaced or suffixed his comments with the assumption that due to budget and other issues, SE would expect FF4 to outsell FF3.

Now, whether or not that assumption is a good one, I think, is debatable.

Reasons why FFIV should sell more:
- Larger userbase
- Higher production values
- FFIV more popular than FFIII conceptually.
- FFIII had a supply issue due to the cart manufacturing problems. Less severe them DQMJ, but still pretty bad. It also took a very long time to sort out.

Reasons it should sell less:
- Comes on the heel of a year of tons of FF releases, and the immediate heels of DQIVr
- FFIII was "more fresh" due to no remakes. FFIV remade very recently.
- Lack of million sellers this year (MHP2, MP8, MPDS, Pokemon MD if combined; compare with 2006's literal flood of million sellers) reflects a general trend towards more mid-level sales titles and fewer megablockbuster titles.

 

[HK-47]

I agree with MH but not FF7, a prequel to the most popular FF would have sold well anywhere.

no

 

[ksamedi]

I think that people are not in a rush for FF 4 because they already had there oldschool FF fix with FF3 and the PSP remakes (or re releases?). I think that a proper remake of 6 would sell a million though.

 

[Phife Dawg]

Holy shit, MK :lol . Will be interesting to see how MK:Wii performs. It's a different scenario to NSMB and SMG, since both MKs are the same genre. This could mean that more fo the fanbase transfers. Then again it doesn't really bring a lot of new stuff to the table. Online battle mode and bikes. I don't know if Japan will care a whole lot for those.

Definetly something to look out for.

Seeing those RE:UC sales it'll be interesting to see what Capcom will do with the series on Wii. Too bad we won't be hearing about it for a while - let alone see anything.

It's amazing. who would have thought Sega would make such a comeback

Published by Nintendo in Japan.

People buy WiiFit...I cant believe it.
Seriously, who the hell wants to play on this crap?

I will never get those Wii owners buying every non game crap thats coming out. WAKE UP!!!

Sorry, just had to quote it again.

WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! :lol

 

[Pureauthor]

I think that people are not in a rush for FF 4 because they already had there oldschool FF fix with FF3 and the PSP remakes (or re releases?). I think that a proper remake of 6 would sell a million though.

How in the blue blazes is FF4 considered more 'oldschool' than FF6?

 

[ethelred]

>5. Final Fantasy IV　80000（527000）


Wow, Ethelred am cry.

Let's hear what you have to say now buddy, after all that blabbering about how poor FFIV sales were, and in the same month where DQ hits a million.

And it's not like it's all said and done, we'll probably see it @ >700k LTD, maybe more.

lol nice try

 

[donny2112]

I think the only time sales are down W1Jan from W4Dec is generally when W4Dec is the peak instead of W3Dec, which is pretty rare although it has happened to certain consoles at certain points.

There's also the issue of Famitsu hardware being a 2-week combined period for the end of December, thus artificially inflating its sales. You really need to look at just Media-Create hardware sales to see the individual weeks' performances.

 

[Rolf NB]

Uh, it won't change anything he said, which was that FF4 is tracking behind FF3 despite the appearance of a higher budget and ethel's assumed expectation that SE would want it to beat FF3.

After 3 weeks, FF4 is now on par with 1 week of FF3.

Even your last sentence concedes that it will "probably" be more than 30% down from FF3, which was ethelred's point. He never said "SALES ARE AWFUL SQUARE FAILING"; every single time he mentioned it he prefaced or suffixed his comments with the assumption that due to budget and other issues, SE would expect FF4 to outsell FF3.

Now, whether or not that assumption is a good one, I think, is debatable.

Reasons why FFIV should sell more:
- Larger userbase
- Higher production values
- FFIV more popular than FFIII conceptually.
- FFIII had a supply issue due to the cart manufacturing problems. Less severe them DQMJ, but still pretty bad. It also took a very long time to sort out.

Reasons it should sell less:
- Comes on the heel of a year of tons of FF releases, and the immediate heels of DQIVr
- FFIII was "more fresh" due to no remakes. FFIV remade very recently.
- Lack of million sellers this year (MHP2, MP8, MPDS, Pokemon MD if combined; compare with 2006's literal flood of million sellers) reflects a general trend towards more mid-level sales titles and fewer megablockbuster titles.

You might want to consider "It's the followup to FFIIIr" as another reason for its weak sales.

 

[donny2112]

You might want to consider "It's the followup to FFIIIr" as another reason for its weak sales.

Its sales aren't weak. It's miles away better than every other Final Fantasy remake not named FFIII.

 

[Stumpokapow]

You might want to consider "It's the followup to FFIIIr" as another reason for its weak sales.

I don't buy that. If you assume that consumers are not smart enough to draw a distinction, wouldn't they be similarly duped by FFXII:RW, FFTA2, and FFCC:RoF all of which came out between FFIIIr and FFIVr?

 

[Cheesemeister]

31./15. [NDS] Fast Card Battle: Card Hero (Nintendo)
32./17. [NDS] Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon: Shadow Expedition Party (Pokémon)
33./08. [NDS] Doraemon Baseball: Dramatic Stadium (Bandai-Namco)
34./20. [NDS] Tamagotchi no Puchi-Puchi Omisecchi: Thanks Everybody! (Bandai-Namco)
35./22. [NDS] Kirarin Revolution: Make and Show at the Kime-Kira Stage (Konami)
36./40. [NDS] My Housekeeping Diary (Nintendo)
37./43. [NDS] Kanji Brain Test 2.5M (IE Institute)
38./45. [PS3] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2008 (Konami)
39./00. [NDS] More Brain Age (Nintendo)
40./19. [PS2] Powerful Pro Baseball 14, Definitive Edition (Konami)
41./42. [NDS] Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day (Nintendo)
42./00. [PS2] SD Gundam G Generation Spirits (Bandai-Namco)
43./29. [NDS] Mega Man Star Force 2: Berserk × Dinosaur (Capcom)
44./35. [NDS] Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters World Championship 2008 (Konami)
45./00. [PSP] Hot Shots Golf Portable 2 (Sony)
46./41. [NDS] Survival Kids 3 (Konami)
47./30. [NDS] Mega Man Star Force 2: Berserk × Shinobi (Capcom)
48./00. [PS3] Shin Sangoku Musou 5 (Koei)
49./26. [NDS] Dinosaur King: The Seven Fragments (Sega)
50./00. [WII] Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon: the Labyrinth of Forgotten Time (Square-Enix)

NDS - 27
WII - 9
PS2 - 5
PSP - 4
PS3 - 4
360 - 1

Hardware - This Week | Last Week |       YTD |        LTD
1. NDS   -   218,894 |   279,563 | 7,167,372 | 21,173,051
2. PSP   -   161,370 |   171,804 | 3,069,465 |  7,601,594
3. WII   -   152,209 |   232,907 | 3,696,517 |  4,616,160
4. PS3   -    52,706 |    58,167 | 1,184,118 |  1,641,676
5. PS2   -    25,569 |    20,391 |   772,178 | 20,927,037
6. 360   -     8,304 |     7,908 |   242,639 |    507,341
7. GBA   -       136 |       100 |    50,770 | 15,348,849
8. NGC   -        67 |        31 |    10,593 |  4,180,061

GBA = 17 GBA + 61 SP + 58 Micro
NDS = 18 DS + 218,876 Lite

 

[Pureauthor]

31./15. [NDS] Fast Card Battle: Card Hero (Nintendo)

Also, how many versions of MMSF2 were there? 3 again?

 

[Wii-za]

Hardware - This Week | Last Week | YTD | LTD
1. NDS - 218,894 | 222,144 | 6,887,809 | 20,893,488

5. PS2 - 25,569 | 18,025 | 751,787 | 20,906,646

Huh?

What?

50./00. [WII] Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon: the Labyrinth of Forgotten Time (Square-Enix)

 

[Saitou]

Also, how many versions of MMSF2 were there? 3 again?

Only two, I believe.

 

[donny2112]

Also, how many versions of MMSF2 were there? 3 again?

2.

 

[Cheesemeister]

Also, how many versions of MMSF2 were there? 3 again?

Only two, ranked at 43 and 47.

 

[Pureauthor]

Only two, I believe.

2

Ok, so Capcom's learning a bit. Next we just need to get them back down to 1 version.

 

[Stumpokapow]

RE: Card Hero

Don't worry, Card Hero will break 100k. It debuted around 45-50k... (50k Famitsu anyway). Realistically we can expect

Nintendo b-level (75k-249k) DS software (First week) lifetime:
Chou Soujuu Mecha MG (14k) 77k
Project Hacker (33k) 83k
Metroid Prime Hunters (32k) 90k
Star Fox Command (27k) 93k
Polarium (20k) 95k
ASH (58k) 101k
Trace Memory (48k) 105k
Custom Robo Arena (39k) 109k
Eyeshield 21 (39k) 109k
Planet Puzzle League (33k) 117k
DK Jungle Climber (38k) 131k
Chibi-Robo (50k) 134k
Daigasso Band Bros (32k) 164k
Stafi 4 (53k) 167k
Ouendan 2 (62k) 180k
Super Princess Peach (29k) 196k
Yoshi Touch and Go (52k) 197k
Hotel Dusk (61k) 206k
Tingle (45k) 234k

If Card Hero has legs in the dead middle of this pack, it'll do 182k lifetime. If it has legs like Super Princess Peach, which it won't, it'll do 338k lifetime. If it has legs like ASH, which it won't, it'll do 87k lifetime.

 

[*Guaraná]

50./00. [WII] Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon: the Labyrinth of Forgotten Time (Square-Enix)

Wow legs better than Mario confirmed !

 

[Cheesemeister]

Huh?

What?

Ah, crap. I had to update the local table with last week's HW numbers. That's what happens when I go home for Christmas.

 

[Rolf NB]

Its sales aren't weak. It's miles away better than every other Final Fantasy remake not named FFIII.

Didn't we just spend half a page on explaining how Square made a bigger investment and should have expected it to do at least the same? Yes, FF IIIr is the benchmark for FF IVr, and it didn't quite meet that, even though it's a good game by all accounts.
It has good legs, which is an indication for positive word of mouth and a high-quality game, but it also has a weaker opening, which is an indication for lowered expectations.

I don't buy that. If you assume that consumers are not smart enough to draw a distinction, wouldn't they be similarly duped by FFXII:RW, FFTA2, and FFCC:RoF all of which came out between FFIIIr and FFIVr?

That wasn't about dumb customers. FF IIIr just wasn't all that good and well might have made those who bought it skeptic of its direct sequel. I know FF IV is a good game, because I've already played the GBA version, but if I only knew FF IIIr? There's no way I'd spend money for FF IVr then. Maybe someone in Japan is a little like me.

 

[Stumpokapow]

That wasn't about dumb customers. FF IIIr just wasn't all that good and well might have made those who bought it skeptic of its direct sequel. I know FF IV is a good game, because I've already played the GBA version, but if I only knew FF IIIr? There's no way I'd spend money for FF IVr then. Maybe someone in Japan is a little like me.

But if customers aren't doorknobs, they'll know that FFIVr is not a direct sequel. If they are doorknobs, why would they not be just as confused by the other 3 FF products released since FFIIIr on the DS?

 

[Culex]

Also worth noting is that the Wii has now surpassed the PS3's LTD by over 3 million units.

 

[Lightning]

Damn the PS3 sucking frustrates me...

 

[SovanJedi]

FF IIIr just wasn't all that good and well might have made those who bought it skeptic of its direct sequel. I know FF IV is a good game, because I've already played the GBA version, but if I only knew FF IIIr? There's no way I'd spend money for FF IVr then. Maybe someone in Japan is a little like me.

I call poppycock on this bit - I enjoyed Final Fantasy 3 very much considering it's the very first Final Fantasy main game I've ever bought and finished, and I'm sure lots and lots of other people would agree.

The clear reason for the less-than-probably-expected opening sales is the series is saturated to death in Japan - something we have also discussed to death these last few months in Media Create topics.

 

[Jokeropia]

Yeah but there's years where the week starts on the 1st and end on the 6th and sales are still down compared to the last week of December. Or am I missing something where Otoshidama can be given earlier?

The dates listed on Joshua's console comparisons are the starting dates of the weeks in question, and the weeks containing the New Years holiday is pretty much always bigger than the preceding week. This is sometimes hard to see in old Famitsu numbers however, since they often release a combined sales total for those two weeks instead of each week separately. (In these cases, Joshua's database splits the sales evenly.)

 

[Eteric Rice]

Damn the PS3 sucking frustrates me...

It's doing better than it was a few months ago. You should be happy. : /

 

[TTP]

Damn the PS3 sucking frustrates me...

Why. Japan is probably the only market where it is far ahead of the 360. There war is over there.

That is keeping the Wii out of the "next gen" equation.

 

[Wii-za]

1. NDS - 218,894 | 279,563 | 7,167,372 | 21,173,051

5. PS2 - 25,569 | 20,391 | 772,178 | 20,927,037

Great!

Thanks Cheesemeister!

 

[Eteric Rice]

Why. Japan is probably the only market where it is far ahead of the 360. There war is over there.

That is keeping the Wii out of the "next gen" equation.

Well you can't just pretend it doesn't exist. :lol

 

[Wii-za]

Also worth noting is that the Wii has now surpassed the PS3's LTD by over 3 million units.

3. WII - 152,209 | 232,907 | 3,696,517 | 4,616,160
4. PS3 - 52,706 | 58,167 | 1,184,118 | 1,641,676

Almost 3 million units...2,974,484 units to be exact.

 

[Lightning]

If anyone has the data. Is there anyway to get a comparsion graph from where the PS3 is now in Japan to where the Gamecube was at the same time?

 

[Culex]

He might be going by Famitsu units, which we have for this week.

That I am.

 

[sphinx]

It's not a sales disaster or anywhere close, but I believe the execs at Square would have wanted quite a bit more than what they're getting.

for the 4th version of a game, they get faaaaar more sales than they should have gotten.

If SE is dissapointed, at all, then they truly suck at sales expectations.

 

[Saitou]

I want some more PS3-Saturn comparisons.

STAT!

 

[Rolf NB]

But if customers aren't doorknobs, they'll know that FFIVr is not a direct sequel. If they are doorknobs, why would they not be just as confused by the other 3 FF products released since FFIIIr on the DS?

I shouldn't have used the word "sequel". It doesn't have to be a continuation of the story to be what it is: (originally) the next Final Fantasy game Square made. It's not unreasonable to expect much of the same staff, production standards, or in a word quality from the next game in the same franchise, from the same company. I'd argue it happens all the time that hype for "the next game" is affected in a big way by the quality of "the previous game", to avoid the s word. "From the creators of <...>" is a staple of media marketing for a reason.

 

[Nutter]

I fully expect the PS3 to outsell the GC in Japan.

Probably something in the range of 7 to 9 million when all said and done.

 

[Arde5643]

I fully expect the PS3 to outsell the GC in Japan.

Probably something in the range of 7 to 9 million when all said and done.

I think you're putting too much hope in the whole ten year thing.

 

[ksamedi]

I shouldn't have used the word "sequel". It doesn't have to be a continuation of the story to be what it is: (originally) the next Final Fantasy game Square made. It's not unreasonable to expect much of the same staff, production standards, or in a word quality from the next game in the same franchise, from the same company. I'd argue it happens all the time that hype for "the next game" is affected in a big way by the quality of "the previous game", to avoid the s word. "From the creators of <...>" is a staple of media marketing for a reason.

This is exactly what happened to FF 4. people that played 3 had there fix or didn't like it that much.

 

[Cheesemeister]

This is exactly what happened to FF 4. people that played 3 had there fix or didn't like it that much.

Bingo. I've got FFIII, and haven't even really gotten into it yet, let alone finish it and want more already.

 

[Xeke]

Mario Kart DS must be the most consistent seller of all time.:lol

 

[Arde5643]

Thanks. That just confirms my issue. PS3 on level with GC but GC are about to enter major bumpage section when the PS3 just finished their bump... DAMN.

PS3 tracking below the Gamecube in Japan is a disaster.

What major bump is GC getting?

And are there any big releases for PS3 in the near future that can offset GC's bump?

 

[Xeke]

What major bump is GC getting?

And are there any big releases for PS3 in the near future that can offset GC's bump?

DMC4 may last for a week or two but wont compare to the bump the GC had. I fully expect it to track below the GC all year.

 

[Jokeropia]

What major bump is GC getting?

Same bump PS3 just got; holiday.

 

[Wii-za]

That I am.

Oh ok.

Sorry then.

 

[AnimeTheme]

for the 4th version of a game, they get faaaaar more sales than they should have gotten.

If SE is dissapointed, at all, then they truly suck at sales expectations.

Some market analysts (Enterbrain) did expect it to sell over 1M, slightly better than FF3.