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[dolemite]

Last year they released a 2008 Top 30 through week 51 and 2008 market data through week 52.

Dengeki.com has now published a full 2009 Top 30 through week 51.

12 DS titles
7 Wii titles
5 PS3 titles
5 PSP titles
1 PS2 title
0 360 titles

The PS2 is essentially done

for comparison, last year we had:
15 DS titles
6 Wii titles
5 PSP titles
3 PS2 titles
1 PS3 title
0 360 titles

 

[grandjedi6]

As long as FFXIII tops 2 million without any re-releases I will be satisfied.

umm... http://garaph.info/softwaregroup.php?grid=193

It's going to be a close one?

 

[sphinx]

no Spirit tracks' numbers... >_<.. are we getting any info about it?

 

[Chris1964]

thanks for that data. do you also have data for biggest ltd after 2 weeks, 3 weeks, and so on till 10th week ? If so, could you please post it ?

After 1st week
[PS1] Final Fantasy VIII (Square) - 2.504.044

After 2nd week
[NDS] Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (Square Enix) - 2.946.296

After 3rd week
[PS1] Dragon Quest VII (Enix) - 3.263.668

After 4th week
[PS1] Dragon Quest VII (Enix) - 3.418.465

After 5th week
[NDS] Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (Square Enix) - 3.517.169

After 6th week
[NGB] Pokemon Gold / Silver (Nintendo) - 3.628.627

After 7th week
[NGB] Pokemon Gold / Silver (Nintendo) - 4.106.134

After 8th week
[NGB] Pokemon Gold / Silver (Nintendo) - 4.364.868

After 9th week
[NGB] Pokemon Gold / Silver (Nintendo) - 4.510.646

After 10th week
[NGB] Pokemon Gold / Silver (Nintendo) - 4.655.379

no Spirit tracks' numbers... >_<.. are we getting any info about it?

No

 

[Road]

Chris, the biggest first week is FFVIII with 2,504,044.

And thanks for the explanation, bttb.

 

[Chris1964]

Chris, the biggest first week is FFVIII with 2,504,044.

Yes you are right. Somehow I didn't see it.

 

[Chris1964]

I'll expand a little at the 3rd party resurrection for PS3. If anyone thinks that last year PS3 was dead from releases and suddenly this year every Japanese publisher wants to develop for it he is very wrong.

2009 Q1 (every game that was at the famitsu leak)
[PS3] Naruto: Narutimate Storm (Namco Bandai) - 15/01/09
[PS3] Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks) - 15/01/09
[PS3] Race Driver: Grid (Codemasters) - 15/01/09
[PS3] Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice (Playstation 3 the Best) (Nippon Ichi Software) - 15/01/09
[PS3] Prince of Persia (Ubisoft) - 22/01/09
[PS3] WWE Smackdown Vs. RAW 2009 (THQ) - 22/01/09
[PS3] Tomb Raider: Underworld (Spike) - 29/01/09
[PS3] Demon's Souls (SCE) - 05/02/09
[PS3] Midnight Club: Los Angeles (Spike) - 05/02/09
[PS3] Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box (Electronic Arts Victor) - 05/02/09
[PS3] Shaun White Snowboarding (Ubisoft) - 05/02/09
[PS3] Street Fighter IV (Capcom) - 12/02/09
[PS3] Skate 2 (Electronic Arts Victor) - 12/02/09
[PS3] Sonic Unleashed (Sega) - 19/02/09
[PS3] Yakuza 3 (Sega) - 26/02/09
[PS3] Tom Clancy's End War (Ubisoft) - 26/02/09
[PS3] Resident Evil 5 (Capcom) - 05/03/09
[PS3] Valkyria Chronicles (Playstation 3 the Best) (Sega) - 05/03/09
[PS3] Warriors Orochi Z (Koei) - 12/03/09
[PS3] 007: Quantum of Solace (Square Enix) - 26/03/09
[PS3] NBA 2K9 (Spike) - 26/03/09
[PS3] Mahjong Fight Club: Zenkoku Taisen Ban (Konami the Best) (Konami) - 26/03/09

2010 Q1 (confirmed games so far)
[PS3] James Cameron's Avatar: The Game (Ubisoft) - 07/01/10
[PS3] Batman: Arkham Asylum (Square Enix) - 14/01/10
[PS3] Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising (Codemasters) - 14/01/10
[PS3] Bioshock (Spike the Best) (Spike) - 14/01/10
[PS3] End of Eternity (Sega) - 28/01/10
[PS3] Ar tonelico III: Sekai Shuuen no Hikigane wa Shoujo no Uta ga Hajiku (Namco Bandai) - 28/01/10
[PS3] MAG: Massive Action Game (SCE) - 28/01/10
[PS3] Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard (D3 Publisher) - 28/01/10
[PS3] WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2010 (THQ) - 28/01/10
[PS3] Last Rebellion (Nippon Ichi Software) - 28/01/10
[PS3] Fight Night Round 4 (Eigoban) (Electronic Arts Victor) - 28/01/10
[PS3] Need for Speed Undercover (EA Best Hits) (Electronic Arts Victor) - 28/01/10
[PS3] Star Ocean: The Last Hope - International (Square Enix) - 04/02/10
[PS3] Lair (PlayStation 3 the Best) (SCE) - 04/02/10
[PS3] Sacred 2: Fallen Angel (Spike) - 10/02/10
[PS3] Winter Sports 2010: The Great Tournament (Arc System Works) - 10/02/10
[PS3] Resident Evil 5: Alternative Edition (Capcom) - 18/02/10
[PS3] Heavy Rain (SCE) - 18/02/10
[PS3] Dynasty Warriors Online: Kamishou Ranbu (Koei) - 18/02/10
[PS3] Dante's Inferno (Electronic Arts Victor) - 18/02/10
[PS3] Skate 2 (EA Best Hits) (Electronic Arts Victor) - 18/02/10
[PS3] No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise (Marvelous Entertainment) - 25/02/10
[PS3] No Fate! Only the Power of Will (Alchemist) - 25/02/10
[PS3] Bioshock 2 (D3 Publisher) - 04/03/10
[PS3] Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (Electronic Arts Victor) - 11/03/10
[PS3] Yakuza 4: Densetsu o Tsugumono (Sega) - 18/03/10
[PS3] Virtua Tennis: Live Match! (Sega) - 25/03/10
[PS3] Army of Two: The 40th Day (Electronic Arts Victor) - 25/03/10
[PS3] Quantum Theory (Tecmo) - 25/03/10
[PS3] Gran Turismo 5 (SCE) - Q1
[PS3] Hokuto Musou (Koei) - Q1

I don't see any significant difference. PS3 3rd party was strong and remains strong

Now for Wii...

2009 Q1 (every game that was at the famitsu leak)
[WII] New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis (Nintendo) - 15/01/09
[WII] Castlevania: Judgment (Konami) - 15/01/09
[WII] Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon (Namco Bandai) - 22/01/09
[WII] Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekidou (Kadokawa Shoten) - 22/01/09
[WII] Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (Square Enix) - 29/01/09
[WII] Another Code: R - A Journey into Lost Memories (Nintendo) - 05/02/09
[WII] Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop (Capcom) - 19/02/09
[WII] New Play Control! Metroid Prime (Nintendo) - 19/02/09
[WII] One Piece: Unlimited Cruise 2 - Awakening of the Hero (Namco Bandai) - 26/02/09
[WII] High School Musical 3: Senior Year Dance! (Disney Interactive) - 26/02/09
[WII] Relaxuma: Minna de Goyururi Seikatsu (MTO) - 05/03/09
[WII] New Play Control! Pikmin 2 (Nintendo) - 12/03/09
[WII] Sonic and the Black Knight (Sega) - 12/03/09
[WII] Phantom Brave: We Meet Again (Nippon Ichi Software) - 12/03/09
[WII] We Cheer (Namco Bandai) - 12/03/09
[WII] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball Next (Konami) - 19/03/09
[WII] Monopoly (Electronic Arts Victor) - 19/03/09
[WII] Suzumiya Haruhi no Heiretsu (Sega) - 26/03/09
[WII] Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Wheelie Breakers (Konami) - 26/03/09
[WII] 007: Quantum of Solace (Square Enix) - 26/03/09

2010 Q1 (confirmed games so far)
[WII] Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (Capcom) - 14/01/10
[WII] Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (Capcom) - 28/01/10
[WII] Dance Dance Revolution: Music Fit (Konami) - 28/01/10
[WII] Zangeki no Reginkleiv (Nintendo) - 11/02/10
[WII] Madworld (Sega) - 10/02/10
[WII] Radirgy Noa Wii (Milestone) - 10/02/10
[WII] Super Monkey Ball: Athletic (Sega) - 25/02/10
[WII] Daikaijuu Battle: Ultra Coliseum DX - Ultra Senshi Daishuuketsu (Namco Bandai) - 25/02/10
[WII] GTI Club World: City Race (Konami) - 25/02/10
[WII] Oyako de Asobo: Miffy no Omocha Bako (Square Enix) - 18/03/10

I don't see any difference. Wii 3rd party was weak and remains weak. The only difference is that Nintendo managed the impossible. To have a weaker 1st party release schedule from 2009 (unless we have any surprise, which I doubt).

 

[[Nintex]]

The only difference is that Nintendo managed the impossible. To have a weaker 1st party release schedule from 2009 (unless we have any surprise, which I doubt).

I can't believe they actually managed to do that. :lol

Makes me wonder if they have some sort of conference or more surprises early next year. It looks like they really bet everything on New Super Mario Bros. Wii for about 6 months.:lol

 

[Shiggy]

I don't see any difference. Wii 3rd party was weak and remains weak. The only difference is that Nintendo managed the impossible. To have a weaker 1st party release schedule from 2009 (unless we have any surprise, which I doubt).

What about games like Span Smasher, Cosmic Walker, Kensakusu or Line Attack Heroes. Weren't they actually planned for 2009?

 

[Chris1964]

What about games like Span Smasher, Cosmic Walker, Kensakusu or Line Attack Heroes. Weren't they actually planned for 2009?

I'm talking for Q1. There isn't any other confirmed title from Nintendo. They will unveal possibly some other games at their retailer meetings but as of now that's all we know.

 

[[Nintex]]

What about games like Span Smasher, Cosmic Walker, Kensakusu or Line Attack Heroes. Weren't they actually planned for 2009?

I think those two got released, Span Smasher and Cosmic Walker are MIA but hardly important releases.

 

[gerg]

I can't believe they actually managed to do that. :lol

Makes me wonder if they have some sort of conference or more surprises early next year. It looks like they really bet everything on New Super Mario Bros. Wii for about 6 months.:lol

Why are we talking about "six months" here? Are we disregarding, completely, SMG 2? Are we honestly believing that Nintendo will only have SMG 2 and Reginkleiv between now and June?

And Span Smasher isn't MIA, either - it was demoed at E3.

 

[[Nintex]]

Why are we talking about "six months" here? Are we disregarding, completely, SMG 2? Are we honestly believing that Nintendo will only have SMG 2 and Reginkleiv between now and June?

They've done it before so add Wii Relax to that list and you've got their line-up I think.

 

[Road]

http://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/091225/gnj0912251237020-n1.htm
http://www.news.dengeki.com/elem/000/000/225/225179/
ASCII Media Works/Dengeki
From 2008/12/29~2009/12/20

2009 Top Software
...
Top 30: NDS=12 / Wii=7 / PS3=5 / PSP=5 / PS2=1

I'm bored:

02. [NDS] Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver - 3,301,873
20. [NDS] Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky - 383,226
26. [NDS] Pokemon Platinum - 325,911 (2,536,712)

04. [WII] New Super Mario Bros. Wii - 1,897,089
11. [NDS] Mario & Luigi RPG 3!!! - 708,311
18. [WII] Mario Kart Wii - 404,751 (2,447,964)

05. [WII] Wii Sports Resort - 1,499,058
07. [WII] Wii Fit Plus - 1,205,424
15. [WII] Wii Fit - 499,251 (3,470,325)

08. [WII] Monster Hunter 3 - 949,095
09. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (Best) - 878,880 (1,080,715)

24. [PS3] Tales of Vesperia - 352,961
25. [PSP] Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 - 339,523

27. [PSP] Kidou Senshi Gundam: Gundam vs. Gundam Plus - 323,531
30. [PS2] SD Gundam G Generation Wars - 306,985

01. [NDS] Dragon Quest IX - 4,089,136

06. [PS3] Final Fantasy XIII - 1,455,505

03. [NDS] Tomodachi Collection - 2,059,236
10. [NDS] Inazuma Eleven 2 - 851,175
12. [NDS] Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days - 571,981
13. [PS3] Resident Evil 5 - 552,553
14. [PS3] Ryu ga Gotoku 3 - 525,826
16. [NDS] Layton Kyouju to Majin no Fue - 481,311
17. [PSP] Phantasy Star Portable 2 - 415,522
19. [PSP] Shin Sangoku Musou: Multi Raid - 397,080
21. [WII] Taiko no Tatsujin Wii - 375,895 (625,391)
22. [PS3] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010 - 370,831
23. [NDS] Rhythm Tengoku Gold - 361,292 (1,763,270)
28. [NDS] Wagamama Fashion: Girl's Mode - 314,832 (861,393)
29. [NDS] Gyakuten Kenji - 313,891

Yes you are right. Somehow I didn't see it.

It happens. It even took you posting it twice for anyone to even notice it. haha Thanks for the data. Pokemon Gold / Silver was a beast. No wonder the remake is doing to great.

 

[gerg]

They've done it before so add Wii Relax to that list and you've got their line-up I think.

In which case Nintendo doesn't believe that NSMB will carry them for six months. It seems contradictory to make that statement and then reference another piece of software/hardware that Nintendo is looking towards and will release in the same period of time.

 

[Chris1964]

They've done it before so add Wii Relax to that list and you've got their line-up I think.

I think Galaxy 2 and Wii Relax are a lock for Q2.

 

[duckroll]

I think those two got released, Span Smasher and Cosmic Walker are MIA but hardly important releases.

No, none of them are out.

 

[sphinx]

There is something I don't quite understand in this business.

Reading what the higher-ups at nintendo said in the last months, they admitted they screwed it up and couldn't provide content and forsee the market and whatnot. Even after they admit the inconsistencies, nothing changes and goes in the very same direction with less software releases, less first party efforts. Do they just like failing or is there something I don't understand?

Is it that the big business decisions are taken way too much in advance before they take place that you can not do anything but see how everything goes downhill for months (years) if it was a bad decision??

It happened with sony and the PS3, it took FOREVER to get the damn console into the right track, even though it was clear the PS3 slim and its price were needed at least a year before it was introduced in the market.

Is it a common japanese company practice?

I have the impression that microsoft has done what it could to make the 360 attractive with all sort of bundles, price points right away (Worldwide, I'll admit). Yet Sony and nintendo just like taking the damage.

what gives?

 

[gerg]

There is something I don't quite understand in this business.

Reading what the higher-ups at nintendo said in the last months, they admitted they screwed it up and couldn't provide content and forsee the market and whatnot. Even after they admit the inconsistencies, nothing changes and goes in the very same direction with less software releases, less first party efforts. Do they just like failing or is there something I don't understand?

Corporate decisions take time. We can only view Nintendo from their external presence, and the brief glimpses they give us into their internal workings, and so, in reality, we know very little about what they are doing at any moment. That there is less software releasing in Q1 2009 is most likely a consequence of their new policies taking time, the result of their old policies, and spacing and planning around NSMB Wii and other unknown strategies in place or decisions they may make.

The reality is that we are trying to solve an equation with very many unknown variable.

Is it that the big business decisions are taken way too much in advance before they take place that you can not do anything but see how everything goes downhill for months (years) if it was a bad decision??

Essentially, yes.

Opiate has already posted, to some length, about how Nintendo has, for the most, run its first-party output very well. Yes, there have been periods where it has not released a lot of content, but this should be expected; it is, in essence, unreasonable to expect a single company to produce a big-hitting game every three months.

Of course, this is where third-party support becomes important, but that is a different matter.

It happened with sony and the PS3, it took FOREVER to get the damn console into the right track, even though it was clear the PS3 slim and its price were needed at least a year before it was introduced in the market.

This wasn't, however, because Sony was stuck with its fingers in its ears shouting "La la la! I'm not listening!" Unless Sony is much more incompetent than I had ever considered, I'm sure that they were aware of the situation; rather, their ability to take command of it was most likely limited by either their desire to change the situation, and practical limitations on their choice of action, such as how much it cost to produce a PS3 and how much more they would have lost upon enforcing a price cut (although the distinction between the two may be somewhat arbitrary).

I imagine that the situation was similar with Nintendo in 2007, 2008 and 2009; they weren't ignoring the situation. Rather, I imagine that the events in those years were a consequence of some incorrect belief regarding what was most profitable for the company, their current actions taking time to fully complete, and practical limitations (delays of key games, for example) on their action.

Deciding not to do something (which is something Sony and Nintendo, and probably Microsoft too, have all done at some point in time) is not the same as doing nothing.

Yet Sony and nintendo just like taking the damage.

This is a simplistic understanding of the situation, as I have highlighted above.

Edit: If there is a reason as to why Microsoft is often more pro-active than Nintendo (and, arguably, Sony), it is because Microsoft is not as immediately concerned with profit than Nintendo. Rather, Microsoft is more directly interested in marketshare; as a result, it is in many ways more risk-taking than Nintendo may ever be.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Opiate has already posted, to some length, about how Nintendo has, for the most, run its first-party output very well. Yes, there have been periods where it has not released a lot of content, but this should be expected; it is, in essence, unreasonable to expect a single company to produce a big-hitting game every three months.

Of course, this is where third-party support becomes important, but that is a different matter.

I'm not sure that I buy that it is unreasonable to expect a single company to produce software on a steady clip. Certainly, yes, they can't pump out multi-gajillion selling titles every three months, but there's really no reason why they can't be pumping out 30+ titles per year.

Nintendo dev studios:
EAD - Six separate studios, each of which has at least one huge team.
Intelligent Systems - At least two full-size console game teams.
MonolithSoft - At least two teams, bought by Nintendo specifically to... uh... make games for Namco?
Sora - At least one full team.
Retro Studios - At least one huge team. Verrrry productive.
Brownie Brown - Part-owned by Nintendo, stuck working on shit for AQ Interactive, Level 5, Marvelous, etc.
AlphaDream - At least one handheld sized team.
NST - At least one full team, hasn't produced anything substantial in three years.
SPD - At least three teams, generally liaise with outside teams.
Noise - One full team, inexplicably making a game for Namco.
HAL - One or two full teams, not particularly productive.
GameFreak - barf
Creatures - Not sure on the team structure here.
Skip - Three teams (but they're all small). I think the challenge with Skip is how do you spin their obvious talent into retail-ready products.

This is excluding all of the frequent collaborator studios--Mitchell, RED, Vanpool, TOSE, etc etc etc. It's also excluding Hudson, who were producing Mario Party annually but Nintendo but now aren't in the ballgame anymore. This is also excluding the possibility of Nintendo financing outside studios the way that Microsoft did with, say, Mistwalker. It's also excluding opening new studios wholesale the way they did with Sora, although I don't think Nintendo trusts outside producers much and so lacking a Sakurai figure I can't imagine they'd finance a new studio that way.

They have separate teams for hardware R&D, QA, localization, etc. Some of these teams periodically release software--Slide Adventure MagKid and Personal Trainer Walking were at least partially done by Nintendo's hardware R&D guys.

Looking at 2006 and 2007, Nintendo published SUBSTANTIALLY more games than they did in 2008 and 2009, despite the fact that they're bigger now in terms of manpower. Some of this is explained by manpower being diverted to downloadable only games. Some of this is explained by franchise fatigue on the DS for certain franchises. Some of it is explained by, in my opinion, a calculated strategy by Nintendo to double down by releasing fewer games and sticking with safe mega hits. Whether the strategy worked or not is fair game and there's definitely a mixed body of evidence, but it's definitely an intentional thing as opposed to just "running out of development teams".

I've posted previously about my perception of the productivity of various Nintendo studios. I feel like some have excellent productivity, some poor, and some disastrous. This is something Nintendo could learn from Sony which, excluding Polyphony Digital, has gotten excellent productivity out of their studios pretty much since the beginning.

 

[gerg]

I'm not sure that I buy that it is unreasonable to expect a single company to produce software on a steady clip. Certainly, yes, they can't pump out multi-gajillion selling titles every three months, but there's really no reason why they can't be pumping out 30+ titles per year.

I was vague with my words. Of course, it might be expected that Nintendo releases games at a steady clip; rather, what I find unreasonable is that nearly all of these games be a big release that makes a large impact (both by itself and on hardware), and that these games come out consistently without delay (such as Nintendo might have one of these games in every quarter, as was being discussed earlier).

 

[[Nintex]]

I've posted previously about my perception of the productivity of various Nintendo studios. I feel like some have excellent productivity, some poor, and some disastrous. This is something Nintendo could learn from Sony which, excluding Polyphony Digital, has gotten excellent productivity out of their studios pretty much since the beginning.

I think NST is a typical case of bad management and when pretty much all the important developers who worked on Metroid Prime walk out at the same time Retro Studios doesn't seem to be in a much better position. So that renders NOA useless. In the case of NCL it is just bad planning I think. Nintendo also needs to communicate more but the titles they had last E3 seems to be their line-up for 2010 with or without the next Zelda which is probably eating up most of their resources like Zelda Twilight Princess did.

 

[ZoddGutts]

24. [PS3] Tales of Vesperia - 352,961
25. [PSP] Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 - 339,523

Good too see ToV make it past 350k also good sales for ToW:RM2. Anyone know how much Tales VS sold?

 

[ksamedi]

I'm not sure that I buy that it is unreasonable to expect a single company to produce software on a steady clip. Certainly, yes, they can't pump out multi-gajillion selling titles every three months, but there's really no reason why they can't be pumping out 30+ titles per year.

Nintendo dev studios:
EAD - Six separate studios, each of which has at least one huge team.
Intelligent Systems - At least two full-size console game teams.
MonolithSoft - At least two teams, bought by Nintendo specifically to... uh... make games for Namco?
Sora - At least one full team.
Retro Studios - At least one huge team. Verrrry productive.
Brownie Brown - Part-owned by Nintendo, stuck working on shit for AQ Interactive, Level 5, Marvelous, etc.
AlphaDream - At least one handheld sized team.
NST - At least one full team, hasn't produced anything substantial in three years.
SPD - At least three teams, generally liaise with outside teams.
Noise - One full team, inexplicably making a game for Namco.
HAL - One or two full teams, not particularly productive.
GameFreak - barf
Creatures - Not sure on the team structure here.
Skip - Three teams (but they're all small). I think the challenge with Skip is how do you spin their obvious talent into retail-ready products.

This is excluding all of the frequent collaborator studios--Mitchell, RED, Vanpool, TOSE, etc etc etc. It's also excluding Hudson, who were producing Mario Party annually but Nintendo but now aren't in the ballgame anymore. This is also excluding the possibility of Nintendo financing outside studios the way that Microsoft did with, say, Mistwalker. It's also excluding opening new studios wholesale the way they did with Sora, although I don't think Nintendo trusts outside producers much and so lacking a Sakurai figure I can't imagine they'd finance a new studio that way.

They have separate teams for hardware R&D, QA, localization, etc. Some of these teams periodically release software--Slide Adventure MagKid and Personal Trainer Walking were at least partially done by Nintendo's hardware R&D guys.

Looking at 2006 and 2007, Nintendo published SUBSTANTIALLY more games than they did in 2008 and 2009, despite the fact that they're bigger now in terms of manpower. Some of this is explained by manpower being diverted to downloadable only games. Some of this is explained by franchise fatigue on the DS for certain franchises. Some of it is explained by, in my opinion, a calculated strategy by Nintendo to double down by releasing fewer games and sticking with safe mega hits. Whether the strategy worked or not is fair game and there's definitely a mixed body of evidence, but it's definitely an intentional thing as opposed to just "running out of development teams".

I've posted previously about my perception of the productivity of various Nintendo studios. I feel like some have excellent productivity, some poor, and some disastrous. This is something Nintendo could learn from Sony which, excluding Polyphony Digital, has gotten excellent productivity out of their studios pretty much since the beginning.

Whats your measure for productivity though. Amount of titles a year?

 

[Chris1964]

Wii Nintendo releases

2006
[WII] Wii Sports (Nintendo) - 02/12/06
[WII] Wii Play (Nintendo) - 02/12/06
[WII] The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo) - 02/12/06
[WII] WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Nintendo) - 02/12/06
[WII] Pokemon Battle Revolution (Pokemon Co.) - 14/12/06

2007
[WII] Excite Truck (Nintendo) - 18/01/07
[WII] Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (Nintendo) - 22/02/07
[WII] Eyeshield 21: The Gridiron's Strongest (Nintendo) - 08/03/07
[WII] Super Paper Mario (Nintendo) - 19/04/07
[WII] Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree (Nintendo) - 26/04/07
[WII] Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast (Nintendo) - 28/06/07
[WII] Mario Party 8 (Nintendo) - 26/07/07
[WII] Endless Ocean (Nintendo) - 02/08/07
[WII] Mario Strikers: Charged (Nintendo) - 20/09/07
[WII] Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo) - 01/11/07
[WII] Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Nintendo) - 22/11/07
[WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) - 01/12/07

2008
[WII] Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo) - 31/01/08
[WII] Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Nintendo) - 06/03/08
[WII] General Knowledge Training TV (Nintendo) - 06/03/08
[WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) - 10/04/08
[WII] Link's Crossbow Training (Nintendo) - 01/05/08
[WII] Battalion Wars 2 (Nintendo) - 15/05/08
[WII] Super Mario Stadium: Family Baseball (Nintendo) - 19/06/08
[WII] Wario Land: Shake It! (Nintendo) - 24/07/08
[WII] Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse (Nintendo) - 31/07/08
[WII] Captain Rainbow (Nintendo) - 28/08/08
[WII] Disaster: Day of Crisis (Nintendo) - 25/09/08
[WII] Wii Music (Nintendo) - 16/10/08
[WII] Animal Crossing: City Folk (Nintendo) - 20/11/08
[WII] New Play Control! Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat (Nintendo) - 11/12/08
[WII] New Play Control! Pikmin (Nintendo) - 25/12/08

2009
[WII] New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis (Nintendo) - 15/01/09
[WII] Another Code: R - A Journey into Lost Memories (Nintendo) - 05/02/09
[WII] New Play Control! Metroid Prime (Nintendo) - 19/02/09
[WII] New Play Control! Pikmin 2 (Nintendo) - 12/03/09
[WII] Takt of Magic (Nintendo) - 21/05/09
[WII] New Play Control! Chibi-Robo (Nintendo) - 11/06/09
[WII] New Play Control! Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Nintendo) - 11/06/09
[WII] Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo) - 25/06/09
[WII] Punch-Out!! (Nintendo) - 23/07/09
[WII] Endless Ocean 2: Call of the Sea (Nintendo) - 17/09/09
[WII] Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo) - 01/10/09
[WII] Sin and Punishment 2: Successor to the Sky (Nintendo) - 29/10/09
[WII] Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Nintendo) - 05/11/09
[WII] New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Nintendo) - 03/12/09
[WII] PokePark Wii: Picachu's Great Adventure (Pokemon Co.) - 05/12/09
[WII] Minna ga Shuyaku no NHK Kouhaku Quiz Kassen (Nintendo) - 17/12/09

2010
[WII] Zangeki no Reginkleiv (Nintendo) - 11/02/10
[WII] Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo) - 2010
[WII] Monado: Beginning of the World (Nintendo) - 2010
[WII] Wii Relax (Nintendo) - 2010
[WII] Metroid: Other M (Nintendo) - 2010
[WII] Span Smasher (Nintendo) - 2010
[WII] Cosmic Walker (Nintendo) - 2010
[WII] Line Attach Heroes (Nintendo) - 2010
[WII] The Legend of Zelda (Nintendo) - 2010?
[WII] Pikmin 3 (Nintendo) - 2010?

Their output for 2010 looks good as long as they manage to publish Pikmin or Zelda, and there can always be some other unannounced titles like Mario Party Wii. There was a lack of high profile games for more than a year after Mario Kart Wii and until Wii Sports Resort (with Wii Music and City Folk failing to meet expectations), that had big impact on hardware.

 

[Chris1964]

Good too see ToV make it past 350k also good sales for ToW:RM2. Anyone know how much Tales VS sold?

Famitsu
[PSP] Tales of Vs. (Namco Bandai) - 153.366 / 216.178

 

[velvet_nitemare]

2010
[WII] Zangeki no Reginkleiv (Nintendo) - 11/02/10
[WII] Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo) - 2010
[WII] Monado: Beginning of the World (Nintendo) - 2010
[WII] Wii Relax (Nintendo) - 2010
[WII] Metroid: Other M (Nintendo) - 2010
[WII] Span Smasher (Nintendo) - 2010
[WII] Cosmic Walker (Nintendo) - 2010
[WII] Line Attach Heroes (Nintendo) - 2010
[WII] The Legend of Zelda (Nintendo) - 2010?
[WII] Pikmin 3 (Nintendo) - 2010?

Their output for 2010 looks good as long as they manage to publish Pikmin or Zelda

Correct me if i'm wrong, but some of these aren't confirmed for 2010, and i don't just mean Zelda and Pikmin.

 

[Chris1964]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but some of these aren't confirmed for 2010.

No, but I don't think any of these

[WII] Monado: Beginning of the World (Nintendo) - 2010
[WII] Wii Relax (Nintendo) - 2010
[WII] Span Smasher (Nintendo) - 2010
[WII] Cosmic Walker (Nintendo) - 2010
[WII] Line Attach Heroes (Nintendo) - 2010

will come out later than 2010

 

[ReyBrujo]

I'm not sure that I buy that it is unreasonable to expect a single company to produce software on a steady clip. Certainly, yes, they can't pump out multi-gajillion selling titles every three months, but there's really no reason why they can't be pumping out 30+ titles per year.

So, over one first/second party title every two weeks? I bet third parties would love that!

 

[Chris1964]

So, over one first/second party title every two weeks? I bet third parties would love that!

If third parties wanted to jump in they would have done it long time ago. What stops them isn't Nintendo output.

 

[Onesimos]

Some of us are going off-topic here and making it a Nintendo discussion thread instead of a Japanese software/hardware sales thread.

To be on-topic, it would be interesting in the week before New Year's Day what software/hardware sales in Japan be like. New Super Mario Bros. Wii is quickly approaching the two million mark and next week if it has sales like those found last week, it will pass Super Mario All-Stars. The next few weeks, it will pass Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario Land 2, making it closer to Super Maro World.

The chances that the game will reach four million mark is stronger if it continues to post strong and consistant sales for the next few weeks.

 

[gerg]

Actually, how many games did Nintendo release this year, for both the Wii and the DS?

Some of us are going off-topic here and making it a Nintendo discussion thread instead of a Japanese software/hardware sales thread.

I don't see why this is too irrelevant.

We are discussing Nintendo's strategy and the effect this will have on its Japanese hardware and software sales.

 

[Chris1964]

Some of us are going off-topic here and making it a Nintendo discussion thread instead of a Japanese software/hardware sales thread.

Nintendo and Japanese software/hardware sales aren't very far from each other. What Nintendo does has a big impact on Japanese sales with a positive or negative way.

 

[ReyBrujo]

Nevermind.

 

[Chris1964]

Actually, how many games did Nintendo release this year, for both the Wii and the DS?

For Wii look above. For DS: 12 (pretty bad result)

 

[velvet_nitemare]

No, but I don't think any of these

[WII] Monado: Beginning of the World (Nintendo) - 2010
[WII] Wii Relax (Nintendo) - 2010
[WII] Span Smasher (Nintendo) - 2010
[WII] Cosmic Walker (Nintendo) - 2010
[WII] Line Attach Heroes (Nintendo) - 2010

will come out later than 2010

So, an optimistic view of Ninteno's output.

 

[Dalthien]

For Wii look above. For DS: 12 (pretty bad result)

So 16 Wii games and 12 DS games this year.

28 games this year. Granted, some of those are with 2nd parties, etc., but Nintendo still does managerial/supervisor work on those titles, and it still takes up manpower from Nintendo's end.

Seriously, I'm not sure how much more production people want. Do folks really want Nintendo to start pumping out 40 or 50 titles a year? Which would basically mean that Nintendo would be going down the path of EA or Activision and pumping out annual rehashes of their titles with just minor tweaks every year.

NSMB 2009
NSMB 2010
NSMB 2011

Smash Bros. 2009
Smash Bros. 2010
Smash Bros. 2011

Mario Kart 2009
Mario Kart 2010
Mario Kart 2011

Is that what people really want?

 

[Chris1964]

So, an optimistic view of Nintento's output.

I don't see that as optimistic.

[WII] Span Smasher (Nintendo)
[WII] Cosmic Walker (Nintendo)
[WII] Line Attach Heroes (Nintendo)

are low profile and budget titles, shown long time ago. Unless they are cancelled they should come out.

[WII] Wii Relax (Nintendo)

will be Nintendo's Wii_ summer title

[WII] Monado: Beginning of the World (Nintendo)

is maybe the title that has a chance to loose 2010 if it has production problems.

 

[velvet_nitemare]

Do you think a Wii_ title will get the short timespan between announce and release treatment? I was of the impression they like to build hype on those.

 

[Chris1964]

So 16 Wii games and 12 DS games this year.

28 games this year. Granted, some of those are with 2nd parties, etc., but Nintendo still does managerial/supervisor work on those titles, and it still takes up manpower from Nintendo's end.

16 Wii games with 5 of them belonging to New Play Control! series.
12 DS games is a bad result comparing to previous years.

The problem with 2009 Wii was 2009 H1, not the whole 2009.

 

[Chris1964]

Do you think a Wii_ title will get the short timespan between announce and release treatment? I was of the impression they like to build hype on those.

Wii Fit Plus was announced almost 3 months before it was released. We know for Vitality sensor since E3. Wii Relax is coming this summer and even if it doesn't make it this summer there is no way to come out later than 2010.

 

[Cygnus X-1]

No Zelda numbers until next week?

 

[Dalthien]

16 Wii games with 5 of them belonging to New Play Control! series.
12 DS games is a bad result comparing to previous years.

The problem with 2009 Wii was 2009 H1, not the whole 2009.

No argument there.

Yeah, the 5 New Play Control games was a bit much, but every publisher puts out some quick and cheap collections/director's cuts/ports etc every year. Let's say they only released two New Play Control titles this year, that still leaves them with ~25 titles for the year. Would another few middling lower-tier titles have mattered much?

Even in this year with new Monster Hunter, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest titles released, Nintendo will still own the lion's share of the gaming market in Japan all to themselves this year.

There are reasonable and valid arguments to be had about 3rd-party support on the Wii. But going after their 1st-party support when Nintendo has already sold a good deal more software on the Wii than Square Enix sold total software on the PS2 - well, that just seems like people have too much time on their hands and have run out of issues to discuss.

Now if 2010 turns out as weak as it currently looks, then there may something worthwhile to talk about, but I suspect that there will be several more titles released in 2010 that we don't really know about yet. But that's something where we really have to wait and see how it pans out.

 

[Shiggy]

Nintendo dev studios:
EAD - Six separate studios, each of which has at least one huge team.
Intelligent Systems - At least two full-size console game teams.
MonolithSoft - At least two teams, bought by Nintendo specifically to... uh... make games for Namco?
Sora - At least one full team.
Retro Studios - At least one huge team. Verrrry productive.
Brownie Brown - Part-owned by Nintendo, stuck working on shit for AQ Interactive, Level 5, Marvelous, etc.
AlphaDream - At least one handheld sized team.
NST - At least one full team, hasn't produced anything substantial in three years.
SPD - At least three teams, generally liaise with outside teams.
Noise - One full team, inexplicably making a game for Namco.
HAL - One or two full teams, not particularly productive.
GameFreak - barf
Creatures - Not sure on the team structure here.
Skip - Three teams (but they're all small). I think the challenge with Skip is how do you spin their obvious talent into retail-ready products.

AlphaDream, Noise and Skip Ltd. are third party developers
But you could add Genius Sonority and NDCube.

I think NST is a typical case of bad management

Two large and now cancelled Wii projects (and almost three years of work) can probably only be the result of bad management.

 

[Chris1964]

There are reasonable and valid arguments to be had about 3rd-party support on the Wii. But going after their 1st-party support when Nintendo has already sold a good deal more software on the Wii than Square Enix sold total software on the PS2 - well, that just seems like people have too much time on their hands and have run out of issues to discuss.

Now if 2010 turns out as weak as it currently looks, then there may something worthwhile to talk about, but I suspect that there will be several more titles released in 2010 that we don't really know about yet.

I go after Nintendo for 1st party support because I see they are repeating the same mistakes. 2009 H1 had 8 releases. 5 of them were New Play Control, 2 mid profile titles and the big one (Wii Sports Resort) came out the last week of H1.

I don't believe 2010 Q2 will be again so bad but so far 2010 Q1 looks the same or even worse comparing to 2009 Q1. At least NSMBW has exceeded expectations and will drive them for a long time unlike Wii Music and City Folk.

I don't expect anything major from third parties, except for Monster Hunter 3G, so Nintendo is the only company that can carry Wii. Iwata has admitted Nintendo knows the situation in Japan isn't ideal, so I would expect a more aggresive tactic from them (for Q1, not the whole 2010).

 

[gerg]

I go after Nintendo for 1st party support because I see they are repeating the same mistakes. 2009 H1 had 8 releases. 5 of them were New Play Control, 2 mid profile titles and the big one (Wii Sports Resort) came out the last week of H1.

I don't believe 2010 Q2 will be again so bad but so far 2010 Q1 looks the same or even worse comparing to 2009 Q1. At least NSMBW has exceeded expectations and will drive them for a long time unlike Wii Music and City Folk.

I agree that they're repeating the same risk (in terms of hardware momentum, that is), but this risk only becomes a mistake if it fails to succeed.

 

[velvet_nitemare]

I agree that they're repeating the same risk (in terms of hardware momentum, that is), but this risk only becomes a mistake if it fails to succeed.

Jesus christ.

 

[schuelma]

I go after Nintendo for 1st party support because I see they are repeating the same mistakes. 2009 H1 had 8 releases. 5 of them were New Play Control, 2 mid profile titles and the big one (Wii Sports Resort) came out the last week of H1.

I don't believe 2010 Q2 will be again so bad but so far 2010 Q1 looks the same or even worse comparing to 2009 Q1. At least NSMBW has exceeded expectations and will drive them for a long time unlike Wii Music and City Folk.

I don't expect anything major from third parties, except for Monster Hunter 3G, so Nintendo is the only company that can carry Wii. Iwata has admitted Nintendo knows the situation in Japan isn't ideal, so I would expect a more aggresive tactic from them (for Q1, not the whole 2010).

Yeah. I still think the jan-feb lineup is very weak, but the test to me is what they have for golden week. If galaxy isn't out in late march early april I would be very surprised.

I am also very surprised we haven't heard anything about 2007 sequels- Mario
Party, Fire Emblem, and Paper Mario. I would think those would be coming this year and if we continue to hear nothing the more I wonder about some sort of hardware update for 2010 or 2011.

 

[Dalthien]

I go after Nintendo for 1st party support because I see they are repeating the same mistakes. 2009 H1 had 8 releases. 5 of them were New Play Control, 2 mid profile titles and the big one (Wii Sports Resort) came out the last week of H1.

I don't believe 2010 Q2 will be again so bad but so far 2010 Q1 looks the same or even worse comparing to 2009 Q1. At least NSMBW has exceeded expectations and will drive them for a long time unlike Wii Music and City Folk.

I don't expect anything major from third parties, except for Monster Hunter 3G, so Nintendo is the only company that can carry Wii. Iwata has admitted Nintendo knows the situation in Japan isn't ideal, so I would expect a more aggresive tactic from them (for Q1, not the whole 2010).

I absolutely agree. The start of 2010 looks like a repeat of 2009.

I'm just not sure what more Nintendo can realistically do by themselves without moving towards the EA/Activision approach of annual rehashes for all of their major brands. They released almost 30 titles last year. Even without the New Play Control titles, they still released 2 titles a month, and they even had more Wii titles than DS titles, which shows that they shifted their focus to the Wii in 2009.

They could probably play around with their release schedule a bit to spread things out more evenly throughout the year, but as Jokeropia mentioned earlier in this thread - they try to time their releases to maximize sales. Releasing stuff in February just to have something in February may give you an extra 30k Wiis sold in February, or it may give you a bigger boost at a more opportune time of year. It seems clear that Nintendo generally likes to gear up for the holidays moreso than for the slow months of the year, because they know that they will receive bigger rewards for their efforts at those times of the year.

You are absolutely right that Nintendo is carrying the Wii by themselves. But their 1st-party output (and the sales achieved from their 1st-party titles) is light-years beyond any other publisher in Japan. It's not even a competition. So it seems odd to be overly critical of them in an area where they are so far ahead of any of their competitors.

 

[gerg]

Jesus christ.

?

I fail to see why this statement is so controversial.

In terms of software, I agree that Nintendo hasn't got enough to create the momentum that is needed to encourage a healthy environment.

In terms of hardware, it all depends on how much NSMB can do for the Wii. As I said earlier in the thread, as long as new consumers continue to buy the Wii, I don't think it matters whether or not one title or five encouraged them to do so.

I am also very surprised we haven't heard anything about 2007 sequels- Mario
Party, Fire Emblem, and Paper Mario. I would think those would be coming this year and if we continue to hear nothing the more I wonder about some sort of hardware update for 2010 or 2011.

The problem with the idea of the traditional sequel is that it doesn't mesh very well with the casual consumer. I think it is safe to say that most casual gamers don't finish their games. Why, therefore, would they be interested in a title that only gives them content that is similar to the content they can already access - if they haven't exhausted their current "supply" of content, why do they need even more?

This is why I have always found donny2112's idea of an "easy" sequel to Wii Sports fundamentally flawed (unless, perhaps, it was marketed as more of a cheap upgrade, akin to Wii Fit Plus). I think it's fair to say that most casual gamers are very much satisfied with Wii Sports - they don't need nor want more of the same type of gameplay, but something different (a la Wii Sports Resort).

I agree that these types of sequels may go some way to keeping existing Wii owners as active consumers, so to speak. Nevertheless, I think people are overestimating their ability to spur hardware sales.