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Media Create Sales: Week 10, 2013 (Mar 04 - Mar 10)

Nekki

Member
Also, we don't really know what the norm is and seeing as SS has everything in its favour for being a digital purchase except for being completely supply-constrained (thankfully, nice to see Sony having quite a lot of faith in their titles, also so sales happen) as well as being possibly Sony's biggest push on the platform, it is more likely that it does break into the higher digital sales in Japan, given the relative infancy of the dedicated handhelds' digital stores. Not to mention the differences between the Vita and the PSP and their stores. Not entirely sure why digital sales wouldn't be even higher for Nintendo in Japan if the demographics are similar there though, maybe the 3DS just gets so much shelf space that the lure is strong :p or their digital policy/store functions sucks - maybe nothing though as well of course.

He does have a point. And yes, we do know what the norm is. If SS can break it then that's great news, but there's just not enough information to tell otherwise.

For now it's safer to either go with the history we know of or just say "we don't know" until we're given any sort of information regarding digital sales.

I wonder, how has Vita shelf space fared these last two weeks?? Anybody get info on that :D
 

saichi

Member
Still though, it's logical to see an increase with SS.

That's the whole problem with your claim. A game is hyped and well marketed doesn't automatically mean the rate for digital purchase is automatically higher. It is NOT logical to see an increase with SS. What makes it more logical that the digital purchase for SS is over 20% of retail than 10%?
 

L Thammy

Member
The explanations for why Soul Sacrifice should sell well digitally are all well and good, but do we actually have any evidence that reality works that way?

If memory serves me (and there's no guarantee it does) there were similar statements about Brain Age 3DS. "It's exam time, students are going to want to download the game so they can study in short bursts!" But the information we had suggested that the game did not sell notably well on the eShop.

I also don't remember anyone saying that Monster Hunter was selling particularly well on the eShop. That should be the most similar to Soul Sacrifice for most the reasons you've stated.

Since I don't have the information myself I can't make a definite statement, but what I'm suggesting is that the Japanese audience might not care all that much how suited a game is to digital. We know that they're willing to go digital if they can't find retail copies. But it might be possible that, having the option of digital or retail, the majority of the audience prefers retail.
 

Scum

Junior Member
30./23. [3DS] Tousouchuu: Shijou Saikyou no Hunter-Tachi Kara Nigekire! <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games) {2012.07.05} (¥5.040) - 3.265 / 437.080 (-15%)

Is this the same Namco title that's been lurking in the charts for what seems like an eternity?
 
The explanations for why Soul Sacrifice should sell well digitally are all well and good, but do we actually have any evidence that reality works that way?

If memory serves me (and there's no guarantee it does) there were similar statements about Brain Age 3DS. "It's exam time, students are going to want to download the game so they can study in short bursts!" But the information we had suggested that the game did not sell notably well on the eShop.

The only information we had was that it sold 20% on eShop during the launch period.
 

Afrit

Member
Another anecdotal evidence for you Skyzard! from the vita Japanese psn store.

VITA TOP 10 JAPAN

1. Soul Sacrifice
2. Senran Kagura SHINOVI VERSUS
3. Tales of Hearts R
4. Jet Set Radio
5. Hatsune Miku Project Diva f
6. Smart As...
7. Demon Gaze
8. Open Me (Complete version)
9. MALICIOUS REBIRTH
10. When Vikings Attack!

So, can we assume that SS got higher downloads than boobs?!
 

Skyzard

Banned
In Japan, quite a lot. There is no rental system in Japan, and if they buy it and sell it back in a week or two, they can get back 75% or more of the purchase price usually. It's not like GameStop for trade-ins in the U.S.



It's not a "play a few minutes at a time" game, and big-seller/important game has shown no correlation to higher download %s, to my knowledge (outside of sellouts). Therefore, there's no logical reason to expect an a large % of downloads with SS that I can see.

Good point about the not play a few minutes at a time but it is still a play lots and lots and lots of each day, which it makes it more likely they'll want the cart empty for other games.

I agree though who knows, but it does swing in SS's favour to do well.

I don't buy the whole return a system after one game through that's still a substantial hit at 75% of Vita + Soul Sacrifice - considering how many games they could buy and return instead of just soul sacrifice due to the console price. Not to mention how condition left in, time it takes to play and complete etc, I can only imagine a few people planning to do this but you may be right, it's the first I heard of it.

The explanations for why Soul Sacrifice should sell well digitally are all well and good, but do we actually have any evidence that reality works that way?

If memory serves me (and there's no guarantee it does) there were similar statements about Brain Age 3DS. "It's exam time, students are going to want to download the game so they can study in short bursts!" But the information we had suggested that the game did not sell notably well on the eShop.

I also don't remember anyone saying that Monster Hunter was selling particularly well on the eShop. That should be the most similar to Soul Sacrifice for most the reasons you've stated.

Since I don't have the information myself I can't make a definite statement, but what I'm suggesting is that the Japanese audience might not care all that much how suited a game is to digital. We know that they're willing to go digital if they can't find retail copies. But it might be possible that, having the option of digital or retail, the majority of the audience prefers retail.

That's the problem, not much evidence, especially from Sony. As 81 also mentioned there is more of a collection aspect with 3DS titles in general, not so much with Sony for a few reasons, one of which I think is key is how Sony focusses on digital with the Vita, the store has been really successful in general though, it sold more than PS3's store although not many were too surprised when the statements were announced.

A lot of older people especially have doubts about using their bank info online, even with Nintendo. I also imagine a lot of people who were interested in brain age bought the DS for it, likely buying the game at the same time in store/online. Other people may not have liked the digital policy, or wanted to increase their collection. I guess it seems only a few bought it in comparison, but that may just come down to how huge it was with the slighter older folks.
I'm impressed Monster Hunter did 20% digitally at launch according to a previous post here but that goes to show how even this genre, with Nintendo's download policy, still did well which donny2112 seemed to doubt was possible, although I don't know if MH sold out for a considerable amount of time, as he said it would cause exceptions.

I can accept it's likely many will prefer to get retail copies with the game, especially since a lot are buying the Vita for it, but I have a feeling a considerable amount of the rest of the userbase who is accustomed to how useful it is to have a digital title and have been anticipating Soul Sacrifice for a while now will likely go digital. If they like to collect as people do with the 3DS here then I wouldn't be a surprised if they bought both.

Of course there are quite a few reasons why it may not work out this way but I am quite positive about it.

Another anecdotal evidence for you Skyzard! from the vita Japanese psn.



So, can we assume that SS got higher downloads than boobs?!

Instant victory. :p


Btw how often do Sony put game cards for the digital copy in retail stores for other games?
 

Chris1964

Sales-Age Genius
New releases

{2013.03.20}

[3DS] Nintendo 3DS Light Blue <H-W> (Nintendo) (¥15.000)
[3DS] Nintendo 3DS Gloss Pink <H-W> (Nintendo) (¥15.000)
[3DS] Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon <ACT> (Nintendo) (¥4.800)
[3DS] Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate <ACT> (Konami) (¥4.980)

[PSV] One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games) (¥7.140)
[PSV] Atelier Meruru Plus: The Alchemist of Arland 3 # <RPG> (Gust) (¥6.090)
[PSV] Atelier Meruru Plus: The Alchemist of Arland 3 [Premium Box] <RPG> (Gust) (¥8.190)
[PSV] Dead or Alive 5+ # <FTG> (Koei Tecmo) (¥6.090)
[PSV] Dead or Alive 5+ [Collector's Edition] <FTG> (Koei Tecmo) (¥9.240)
[PSV] Dead or Alive 5+ [Cross Play Pack] <FTG> (Koei Tecmo) (¥12.390)
[PSV] Pro Baseball Spirits 2013 <SPT> (Konami) (¥7.980)

[PSP] Tiger & Bunny: Hero's Day # <ACT> (D3 Publisher) (¥6.090)
[PSP] Tiger & Bunny: Hero's Day [Limited Edition] <ACT> (D3 Publisher) (¥8.800)
[PSP] Natsuzora no Monologue Portable # <ADV> (Idea Factory) (¥5.040)
[PSP] Natsuzora no Monologue Portable [Limited Edition] <ADV> (Idea Factory) (¥7.140)
[PSP] World Neverland: Kukuria Oukoku Monogatari <SLG> (Althi) (¥3.990)
[PSP] Pro Baseball Spirits 2013 <SPT> (Konami) (¥3.980)

[WIU] Need for Speed: Most Wanted - A Criterion Game <RCE> (Electronic Arts) (¥6.615)

[PS3] One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 # <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games) (¥8.190)
[PS3] One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 [Treasure Box] <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games) (¥12.390)
[PS3] Disgaea D2 # <SLG> (Nippon Ichi Software) (¥7.140)
[PS3] Disgaea D2 [Limited Edition] <SLG> (Nippon Ichi Software) (¥11.340)
[PS3] Pro Baseball Spirits 2013 <SPT> (Konami) (¥7.980)
[PS3] Little Busters! Converted Edition <ADV> (Prototype) (¥6.510)

{2013.03.21}

[360] Gears of War: Judgment # <ACT> (Microsoft Game Studios) (¥7.140)
[360] Gears of War: Judgment [Xbox Live Gold Membership Bundle] <ACT> (Microsoft Game Studios) (¥7.980)

{2013.03.22}

[3DS] Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D & Resident Evil: Revelations - Value Pack <ETC> (Capcom) (¥6.990)

[PS3] Resident Evil: Anniversary Package <ETC> (Capcom) (¥8.990)
 

SmokyDave

Member
Discussing unknown %s or hard numbers for digital sales for a game is just dancing on the head of a pin.

Or 0%. There is no baseline.
We know it's higher than 0% because of the #1 placement on the PSN store.

My takeaway is that we don't know 100% accurate sales figures for any Vita or Wii-U (or to a lesser extent 3DS, PS3 & 360) games any more, in any region. Hopefully that will change in the future, but that's entirely dependent on the platform holders.

There's no sensible way to proceed other than ignoring digital sales, whilst acknowledging that digital sales are ignored.
 

hongcha

Member
We know it's higher than 0% because of the #1 placement on the PSN store.

My takeaway is that we don't know 100% accurate sales figures for any Vita or Wii-U (or to a lesser extent 3DS, PS3 & 360) games any more, in any region. Hopefully that will change in the future, but that's entirely dependent on the platform holders.

There's no sensible way to proceed other than ignoring digital sales, whilst acknowledging that digital sales are ignored.

Same deal for all the thousands of copies most games sell through online sites like Amazon Japan, which aren't counted in M-Create or Famitsu rankings. For some X360 titles, publishers have said 50% of their sales were from online stores (so, for a game that sold 10k total, only 5k show up on M-Create). We only get bits and pieces of info from random publishers when they choose to talk about that data. There really needs to be a new tracking system that at the very least counts both Online and regular retail sales in one.
 

saichi

Member
Another anecdotal evidence for you Skyzard! from the vita Japanese psn store.

So, can we assume that SS got higher downloads than boobs?!

Instant victory. :p

not sure if serious

I hope that Luigis Mansion 2 sells over 500k but I guess it will be closer to 300k

not sure why you were so bullish on SS but this down on Luigi :(

I think it would end up closer to 500K than 300K.
 
Something I just thought about.

We know Nintendo shipped 3 million consoles at launch, correct? I think we determined that sell-through was around 2.3 million?

In North America WiiU sales are 57k in January and 66k in February for a total of 123k.

In Japan it's 183k YTD.

No firm Euro numbers for 2013.

This means that if Wii sold 100k in NA during March for a total of 223k and saw a big boost from Dragon Quest in Japan for a total of 250k for the full quarter, that would place sales at 473k for the year in those territories, meaning that it would need to sell 227k copies in the rest of the world to sell through the equivalent of the existing stock from last year. Obviously some units were shipped as we've seen new bundles, but I am very, very curious as to what those numbers are going to look like in their annual report. Either way their revised estimate of 4 million is a pipe dream at this point.
 
Something I just thought about.

We know Nintendo shipped 3 million consoles at launch, correct? I think we determined that sell-through was around 2.3 million?

In North America WiiU sales are 57k in January and 66k in February for a total of 123k.

In Japan it's 183k YTD.

No firm Euro numbers for 2013.

This means that if Wii sold 100k in NA during March for a total of 223k and saw a big boost from Dragon Quest in Japan for a total of 250k for the full quarter, that would place sales at 473k for the year in those territories, meaning that it would need to sell 227k copies in the rest of the world to sell through the equivalent of the existing stock from last year. Obviously some units were shipped as we've seen new bundles, but I am very, very curious as to what those numbers are going to look like in their annual report. Either way their revised estimate of 4 million is a pipe dream at this point.


Sell through was at 2.03 million at dec end, it's incredibly likely Jan-Feb WiiU sales are lower in EU than in US based on the much lower opening there.

there is 0% chance that they will be even remotely close to selling through those 3 million by march end.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Overall, everything did well this week. I am especially glad at how well the PS Vita and Soul Sacrifice did (and it looks like once you add all the digital and double pack numbers, my initial prediction of 150k units wasn't far of). What's next on the horizon for PSV? Dead or Alive 5+? Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2+?

The 3DS is doing well, but the last few weeks have gone by without a major software release, and this is reflected in both the hardware charts (where it conceded first place to the Vita for the first time ever) and the software charts (where it's mostly just Animal Crossing). Thankfully, the stream of releases picks up again soon, and I'm not too worried about the 3DS.

Wii U... damn, Nintendo. This is clearly a console that, from the in house software perspective, was released too early, rushed to the market to gain a potential year head start which you've only squandered, and from a third party software perspective, released at least a couple of years too late. I think the system itself as well as its value proposition, is flawed, although I do see it doing well in the end largely because of Nintendo's full software backing. I think. I hope.

Its because everyone wants to avoid being crushed by Dragon Quest 7 (and Monster Hunter 4 before it got delayed). There's the residual momentum of Animal Crossing and the upcoming momentum of Luigi's Mansion 2 too.
 

donny2112

Member
We know it's higher than 0% because of the #1 placement on the PSN store.

In the case of Soul Sacrifice, granted. I was mainly trying to keep some grounding by pointing that there is no "baseline %" that you can defaultly add to all PSP/Vita/3DS/Wii U/whatever games to account for digital.

Hopefully that will change in the future, but that's entirely dependent on the platform holders.

Yeah, and none of them (Valve, Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft) seem willing (contractually able?) to change that anytime soon. NPD is trying something with doing gross digital sales based on surveying their typical consumer groups (~30-35K people, I think), but that low a coverage prevents tracking individual game sales with much of any accuracy. Would love to have more openness from them all about the sales, but something's going to have to change where they start to see some value in sharing the sales. Not sure what that something might end up being, though.

There's no sensible way to proceed other than ignoring digital sales, whilst acknowledging that digital sales are ignored.

Yep, that's the way I see it, too. Any talk of digital sales with specificity (except for someone who actually has access to the specific numbers for that game) is basically just a dog chasing its tail.
 
The explanations for why Soul Sacrifice should sell well digitally are all well and good, but do we actually have any evidence that reality works that way?

If memory serves me (and there's no guarantee it does) there were similar statements about Brain Age 3DS. "It's exam time, students are going to want to download the game so they can study in short bursts!" But the information we had suggested that the game did not sell notably well on the eShop.

I also don't remember anyone saying that Monster Hunter was selling particularly well on the eShop. That should be the most similar to Soul Sacrifice for most the reasons you've stated.

Since I don't have the information myself I can't make a definite statement, but what I'm suggesting is that the Japanese audience might not care all that much how suited a game is to digital. We know that they're willing to go digital if they can't find retail copies. But it might be possible that, having the option of digital or retail, the majority of the audience prefers retail.

I also see what you're saying.

I do wonder what age group demographic, makes up the majority of each system userbase?

If the Vita audience skews predominantly older: Said demographic may have easier access to disposable income (or readily available bank cards), which could lead to proportionately higher PSN purchase habits.

If the 3DS audience, skews majority younger: Said demographic (generally), wouldn't have the ease of access to money, bank/credit card(s) of their own. Retail or DL cards would be more necessary (and proportionately higher), in contrast with the Vita base.

I'm not wording this as eloquently as I'd like, because I can't quite frame this as easily, or as apparent as it seems to me. However, this is anecdotal anyhow.
 

Afrit

Member
not sure if serious

- Well, psn store ranking tracks the "best sellers". I mean it tracks sales not free downloads since you don't see free games like phantasy star online 2 ranking there, although it's the highest downloaded vita game so far (IIRC 300k).
- Marvelous AQL reported that total sales for kagura, including downloads, were 120,000. MC reported 94,324 for retailers. That makes it more than 25k digital downloads.
- The only issue is that we don't know when psn store rest the tracker, is it weekly or monthly? but based on the way ps blog report ranking in monthly basis, I can guess monthly is more correct.

SS achieving more than 25k digital sales or 20-25% of the total sales is highly likely.
 

extralite

Member
Another anecdotal evidence for you Skyzard! from the vita Japanese psn store.



So, can we assume that SS got higher downloads than boobs?!

In that particular week yes. But SK made most of its sales previously and it's perfectly normal for new titles to rank high on release. It doesn't tell us much about what the actual amount of sales are. Except in the week where we had a Monster MonPiece digital number and Demon Gaze was charting one place higher at the top spot. We need at least one number to get an idea of other games charting higher (or lower) than it.

And on 8 that is the digest version (100 yen) of Open me, not the complete one (800 yen).

- Well, psn store ranking tracks the "best sellers". I mean it tracks sales not free downloads since you don't see free games like phantasy star online 2 ranking there, although it's the highest downloaded vita game so far (IIRC 300k).
- Marvelous AQL reported that total sales for kagura, including downloads, were 120,000. MC reported 94,324 for retailers. That makes it more than 25k digital downloads.
- The only issue is that we don't know when psn store rest the tracker, is it weekly or monthly? but based on the way ps blog report ranking in monthly basis, I can guess monthly is more correct.

SS achieving more than 25k digital sales or 20-25% of the total sales is highly likely.

Those numbers are for the week before SS's release. The number it needed to beat this week should be nowhere near 25k.

And the charts are weekly, aligned with MC and Famitsu. The dates are given in the PS3 version of the store.

Btw how often do Sony put game cards for the digital copy in retail stores for other games?

http://www.jp.playstation.com/software/dlcard/

Like I said, it was introduced for SS. More will likely follow but for now it should just be SS?
 

Road

Member
People need to stop saying Senran Kagura Sinovi Versus sold 20k digital copies.

Marvelous reported 120k shipped Monday. It is possible it includes more copies shipped than the 100k Media Create estimated until Sunday (not to mention the 100k shipment we know is an estimate, not a certainty).
 
People need to stop saying Senran Kagura Sinovi Versus sold 20k digital copies.

Marvelous reported 120k shipped Monday. It is possible it includes more copies shipped than the 100k Media Create estimated until Sunday (not to mention the 100k shipment we know is an estimate, not a certainty).

ah good point
 
What are the expectations for it, based on buzz and preorders(?).

based on nothing, especially when Nintendo still pushes Animal Crossing (today i saw a commercial on Yamanote line, followed a couple of minutes later by Soul Sacrifice)

current preorders suggests it will debut around 150k, but after a couple of weeks probably all the attention will be focused on Tomodachi Collection 2...
 
People need to stop saying Senran Kagura Sinovi Versus sold 20k digital copies.

Marvelous reported 120k shipped Monday. It is possible it includes more copies shipped than the 100k Media Create estimated until Sunday (not to mention the 100k shipment we know is an estimate, not a certainty).
Add to the fact that games that sell out or have a high sell-through like SK always end up shipping more anyway, 20k on top of the reported 100k shipped isn't farfetched.

based on nothing, especially when Nintendo still pushes Animal Crossing (today i saw a commercial on Yamanote line, followed a couple of minutes later by Soul Sacrifice)

current preorders suggests it will debut around 150k, but after a couple of weeks probably all the attention will be focused on Tomodachi Collection 2...
1 game selling well doesn't forbid another doing decently either.
 

Rolf NB

Member
To get it straight. I´m not calling everyone who disagrees with me fanboys, only the trolling users with an obvious bias like Dave.
=>
But obviously this didn´t save me from the fanboy rage from fanboys that felt hurt anyway by my honest opinion.
And =>
It surely can´t be my fault that some fanboys can´t handle an honest opinion.
Is this the old mind trick where if you direct an insult to "someone", it's no longer an insult? Where do people pick up this shit?
 

hiska-kun

Member
based on nothing, especially when Nintendo still pushes Animal Crossing (today i saw a commercial on Yamanote line, followed a couple of minutes later by Soul Sacrifice)

current preorders suggests it will debut around 150k, but after a couple of weeks probably all the attention will be focused on Tomodachi Collection 2...

I remember reading sinobi saying that preorders were strong. Also on Amazon.jp Luigi is higher than One Piece. On Comgnet is close to beat it, and other retailers blogs reported that expect a better opening than Paper Mario.

>200K First week is a lock.
 

darkside31337

Tomodachi wa Mahou
I remember reading sinobi saying that preorders were strong. Also on Amazon.jp Luigi is higher than One Piece. On Comgnet is close to beat it, and other retailers blogs reported that expect a better opening than Paper Mario.

>200K First week is a lock.

Wouldn't 150k be a much better opening than Paper Mario? Not saying 200k isn't possible but I'm not sure how any of that would lead one to believe 200k is a lock.
 

Thorgal

Member
Anybody know if Soul sacrifice is still selling well
or has it fallen of the list already?


Also off topic for a sec but could someone tell me how to put gifs and pictures on GAF?
I can't seem to get it to work.
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
Since we're talking so much about Luigi's Mansion 2 and its preorders here's what Comgnet is telling us right now.

Comgnet Direct: Luigi Special as of March 17

[Wii] Super Mario Galaxy - 157pt
[Wii] Super Mario Galaxy 2 - 213pt
[3DS] Super Mario 3D Land - 193pt
[3DS] Kid Icarus Uprising - 84pt
[3DS] Paper Mario: Sticker Star - 72pt
[3DS] Luigi's Mansion 2 - 186pt
 

Skyzard

Banned
Anybody know if Soul sacrifice is still selling well
or has it fallen of the list already?


Also off topic for a sec but could someone tell me how to put gifs and pictures on GAF?
I can't seem to get it to work
.

Click the icon 3rd from the right after copying the url where the image is hosted. Get the direct link with the image file extension at the end (.jpg/.gif)

or
 
Since we're talking so much about Luigi's Mansion 2 and its preorders here's what Comgnet is telling us right now.

Comgnet Direct: Luigi Special as of March 17

[Wii] Super Mario Galaxy - 157pt
[Wii] Super Mario Galaxy 2 - 213pt
[3DS] Super Mario 3D Land - 193pt
[3DS] Kid Icarus Uprising - 84pt
[3DS] Luigi's Mansion 2 - 186pt
How bout Paper Mario?
 
I see Veemon in the scans! I remember someone was sad about Veemon not bring in the PSP game, will it looks like he's in! :D

Anyone want to translate the scans?
 
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