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Media Create Sales: Aug 3 - 9, 2009

I don't see anything wrong in Kotaku's article.

I don't think that MH3 will sell, in the next weeks, up to 1M. So if the shipment is of 1M, even if the sales are good, the game will be underperforming the expectations of Capcom.

Less than expected != low or bad.
 
schuelma said:
Holy Shit..is that the lowest PS3 week ever? The effing streams nearly crossed!!

I think so, although if there is one lower it won't be by much.

For all the wringing of hands about slumping Wii hardware sales, there doesn't seem to have been as much comment on the parlous state of PS3 hardware. Is it just accepted now?
 

Kunan

Member
Acosta said:
As expected, MH3 won't touch the popularity of the series in portables, but it has got a nice push of popularity since PS2 days. I pretty much expect a new MH for PSP announcement in this TGS.
This is likely the cause. Everyone's expecting a psp version, which is hurting its sales potential. Plus the two systems cater to different audiences (not every fan is going to buy a wii for the game, good impressions and word of mouth from fellow players is necessary to convince people to take the $300 plunge for tri), not to mention that it has lost its multiplayer-on-the-go mechanic which is what made it so popular.
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
Kosma said:
Well theyve crossed before right?


Yeah, but IIRC that usually happened when their was a big 360 release or price drop or something..this is just a regular week.
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
Spiegel said:
PS3 80 GB is being discounted in Japan. I'm expecting their numbers to go even lower until the slim (rumored to be launched at the end of the month).

http://kotaku.com/5329352/80gb-playstation-3-to-be-discontinued-in-japan


Has there been nearly the chatter in Japan or N.A about the September price drop amongst retailers? I'm just trying to figure out if its realistic for a price drop in Japan in what, 2-3 weeks if we haven't heard much prior to that.
 
schuelma said:
Yeah, but IIRC that usually happened when their was a big 360 release or price drop or something..this is just a regular week.

Magna Carta II boosted the 360 sales a bit. 360 has settled to around 2500 a week, so this is a bump for it. Even though the last two weeks have been 3500 and 3000 respectively.
 

Jonnyram

Member
Hate to continue the wonderful topic we started in the previous thread, but cvxfreak, this one's for you ;)

4d74a724.jpg
 

Spiegel

Member
schuelma said:
Has there been nearly the chatter in Japan or N.A about the September price drop amongst retailers?

I don't think so.

What we know for sure thanks to Gamewave (very reliable magazine which has leaked many announcements) is that the slim will be launched at the end of the month.

http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2009/08/12/ps3_slim/

Jonnyram said:
Hate to continue the wonderful topic we started in the previous thread, but cvxfreak, this one's for you ;)

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b180/jrgaf/4d74a724.jpg[`IMG][/QUOTE]


Holy fucking crap [/cvxfreak]
 

Grampasso

Member
What made Capcom think it was right to ship 1 milion copies btw? They should have had some signals from preorders that they wouldn't have sold all of them in the short term, shouldn't they? Or did they shipped blindly thinking that given the success of the series on PSP that would reflect Wii sales as well, regardless of demand?
 
It's not really underperforming. I am sure Capcom knew what they were getting into. They are fully aware of the previous sales in similar circumstances. Most publishers hope their shipment will sell through, just enough to leave a few thousand floating around for years to come. They never want to have a second batch unless they know a good amount is going to sell through. I know Nintendo haven't run any more copies of any GC games or GBA games from around 2004-05 in PAL land, especially UK. I had to order from the internet. And games like SSBM which have sold 5m or so, haven't seen a re-print. I am sure they could've sold through another 50k between Europe from 05-07, but I never found one. Nowadays they go for silly prices, new, in PAL. My point is, even when a game is successful, they are wary of a re-print. The 1st batch must be enough to profit from.

My prediction initially was 450k 1st week, and a reprint won't be warranted. So it should eventually sell through about 95% in a few years time. So it has already exceeded half my expectations. Capcom have been relying on hope for the international market. They are hoping to sell another 1m everywhere else. I unfortunately don't have the guts to say that will happen. If it manages a few 100k I'd be happy.
 

kay

Member
September 3rd, the slim should be out then, seems obvious.

Grampasso said:
What made Capcom think it was right to ship 1 milion copies btw? They should have had some signals from preorders that they wouldn't have sold all of them in the short term, shouldn't they? Or did they shipped blindly thinking that given the success of the series on PSP that would reflect Wii sales as well, regardless of demand?
Retailers control shipments numbers almost always. Capcom can't just ship whatever they want, retailers have to order them. Shipment numbers are retailer expectations unless the publisher undershipped the game, then that is only what they thought it would sell. Retailers look at preorders, who the developer/publisher is, their sales history with them, etc. to determine what they want to order.

edit: Example. Nintendo knew Tomodachi Collection would sell way past its first shipment, but retailers didn't order that many because obviously preorders weren't too high and it isn't part of any franchise. Playing it safe is number one priority but you need product to sell, it's all about balance.
 

Vinnk

Member
Grampasso said:
What made Capcom think it was right to ship 1 milion copies btw? They should have had some signals from preorders that they wouldn't have sold all of them in the short term, shouldn't they? Or did they shipped blindly thinking that given the success of the series on PSP that would reflect Wii sales as well, regardless of demand?

Capcom is fine. Its the retailer who will be screwed. Seems like way too many game-only SKUs shipped.
 

cvxfreak

Member
Jonnyram said:
Hate to continue the wonderful topic we started in the previous thread, but cvxfreak, this one's for you ;)

4d74a724.jpg

OH SNAP! They finally extended it to the actual shops (which I suspected could happen). Too bad I'm not in Japan right now to take advantage.

Now I know this game will hit 1 Million for sure. :lol
 

D.Lo

Member
Vinnk said:
Capcom is fine. Its the retailer who will be screwed. Seems like way too many game-only SKUs shipped.
I don't understand why Japanese gamers can't just buy a Classic Controller Pro and the game separately - wouldn't that be cheaper now? Or retailers could bundle them.
 
D.Lo said:
I don't understand why Japanese gamers can't just buy a Classic Controller Pro and the game separately - wouldn't that be cheaper now? Or retailers could bundle them.

Capcom's boxart was too sexy so their game is going to bomb.

:lol
 
D.Lo said:
I don't understand why Japanese gamers can't just buy a Classic Controller Pro and the game separately - wouldn't that be cheaper now? Or retailers could bundle them.

Maybe that's what they will do no there's such a saving to be made buying the reduced-price standalone plus controller, rather than waiting for a restock of the bundle.

Or perhaps the CCPro bundles and CCPro standalones are all sold out? I am surprised there aren't any reports of unofficial bundles, as it would seem so far that the combination of game/controller is popular, and retailers must have some excess stock of the CCPro floating about.

Fascinating, if frustrating that it's so hard to get a picture of what's happening.
 

cvxfreak

Member
D.Lo said:
I don't understand why Japanese gamers can't just buy a Classic Controller Pro and the game separately - wouldn't that be cheaper now? Or retailers could bundle them.

Anyone privy to this deal is going to do so now until Bic runs out of these, which could be very soon. The online store sold out within a day, and we're in the middle of a Japanese holiday sales week. We also know that making MHP2G cheaper helped with that game as well. Now it's up to other retailers to price match this. It'll probably happen with Yodobashi soon enough, and then Amazon JP.

We can just conclude that the game-only SKU was overshipped (this wasn't in doubt). This is a pretty bold step to take for Bic, especially if the game was destined for long legs. This can essentially cripple any momentum the controller bundles had. But it should also in theory get the game off shelves already, meaning it sells around 1 Million units.

Or we can see this game/SKU in the ¥1980 bin in a few weeks and the ¥980 bin after that. :O
 

Tideas

Banned
why does everyone get their panties in a twad when publishers ship an egarious amount of copies that remains unsold?

IT IS NOT THE PUBLISHER THAT IS SCREWED. they make money from shipping it to retailers. IT IS THE RETAILERS THAT ARE SCREWED when there are unsold amounts.

so to capcom, they've sold a million copies.
 
Tideas said:
why does everyone get their panties in a twad when publishers ship an egarious amount of copies that remains unsold?

IT IS NOT THE PUBLISHER THAT IS SCREWED. they make money from shipping it to retailers. IT IS THE RETAILERS THAT ARE SCREWED when there are unsold amounts.

so to capcom, they've sold a million copies.
oh man why didn't anyone think of this? clearly this type of situation is completely consequence-free for Capcom!
 

cvxfreak

Member
Segata Sanshiro said:
oh man why didn't anyone think of this? clearly this type of situation is completely consequence-free for Capcom!

But you have to admit. There had to have been at least 50 Gundam games since One Year War.
 

Grampasso

Member
Segata Sanshiro said:
oh man why didn't anyone think of this? clearly this type of situation is completely consequence-free for Capcom!
Indeed. Retailers will magically forget about this loss and it will happen the same thing again on their next supposed hit.
 
Segata Sanshiro said:
oh man why didn't anyone think of this? clearly this type of situation is completely consequence-free for Capcom!

:lol

...and to expand on Segata's concise reply, how happy would you be as a retailer if you'd bought a pile of stock from a publisher that you were then unable to shift? And how do you think that might impact on your future purchases from that publisher for other big releases?

Overships - as seems to be the case with the standalone SKU here - hit the retailers first, but the effects of that will be felt by the publishers eventually, even if not directly.
 

jett

D-Member
01./00. [PS2] SD Gundam G Generation Wars (Bandai Namco) – 175,000
08./00. [WII] SD Gundam G Generation Wars (Bandai Namco) – 33,000

lulwut
 
jett said:
01./00. [PS2] SD Gundam G Generation Wars (Bandai Namco) – 175,000
08./00. [WII] SD Gundam G Generation Wars (Bandai Namco) – 33,000

lulwut

It's been like that pretty much since the start of the gen for PS2/Wii releases. The Wii releases offer little or nothing over the PS2 release, the userbases are still on the PS2 and so there's no real incentive for them to move over.
 

birdchili

Member
curious: why would Bic discount so heavily so as to sell out in a few days? even if you've got a pile of extra stock, wouldn't a more moderate discount have been saner?
 
birdchili said:
curious: why would Bic discount so heavily so as to sell out in a few days? even if you've got a pile of extra stock, wouldn't a more moderate discount have been saner?

Dunno, unless they bought a hell of a lot of the standalone? Perhaps other retailers struck a better balance between SKUs and are able to weather the apparently weak demand for the standalone?
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
Cosmonaut X said:
Dunno, unless they bought a hell of a lot of the standalone? Perhaps other retailers struck a better balance between SKUs and are able to weather the apparently weak demand for the standalone?


That makes some sense to me. We'll see!
 
Cosmonaut X said:
:lol

...and to expand on Segata's concise reply, how happy would you be as a retailer if you'd bought a pile of stock from a publisher that you were then unable to shift? And how do you think that might impact on your future purchases from that publisher for other big releases?

Overships - as seems to be the case with the standalone SKU here - hit the retailers first, but the effects of that will be felt by the publishers eventually, even if not directly.

I wonder how far and large the effect would be. I imagine that if retailers are a little more unsure about the next Wii core game releases that we might see unusually low initial shipments for the likes of SW3, SB3 and FFCCtCB.
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
Die Squirrel Die said:
I wonder how far and large the effect would be. I imagine that if retailers are a little more unsure about the next Wii core game releases that we might see unusually low initial shipments for the likes of SW3, SB3 and FFCCtCB.


Possibly, but its not like a dramatically lower shipment was needed- If they had shipped 800K and had more CC Pro bundles, the game might be nearly sold out by now. Capcom and retailers definitely screwed up because of the massive scale of the shipment, but I don't see that much correlation to shipment of what are surely going to be smaller titles.
 
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