• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Media Create Sales: Week 2, 2016 (Jan 11 - Jan 17)

Really? All the impressions I've read in the thread which became people talking about the demo give the impression it's primarily a Minecraft game (check Parakeetman's posts on the 3rd page, for example).

What I said (and I have always said, but of course it's my opinion) is that SQEX primarily target the game towards DQ fans - at least in Japan. It's a new spin-off in the DQ franchise to try something new and follow a popular genre nowadays. But it's still a DQ game - and it must sell first to the DQ fanbase (this also justifies the price point).
 

duckroll

Member
Is this game from the director of that Witch and Hundred Knights shit? That was delayed a bunch of times too. Embarrassing really.
 

HGH

Banned
Witch and Hundred Knight had horrible scope creep. They wanted to make an open-world, "do the plot in whatever order you want" game with an emphasis on "good" graphics. It was ridiculously outside of NIS' league as a project and it's kind amazing how much time, money and workforce they wasted on it.
The new Makai Shin Trillion. Delayed twice already, and we still haven't seen any actual footage of it.

(I suppose that makes it the new KanColle Kai too).

Yeah but Makai ultimately did rather well for what it was and seemed well received by reviewers. Which is a rarity for these repeatedly delayed games.
The more apt comparison here is the new MeiQ. DRPG made by super niche devs, no real footage, bunch of delays, etc...
 

Tizoc

Member
Currentlty on the Chinese Appstore grossing charts:

#2 King of Fighters 98
#5 Naruto
#18 One Piece

This market could actually prove to be a significant revenue generator for JP publishers. According to Appannie China is currently the #3 biggest mobile market by revenue and #1 by growth (2015 revenue was 2x 2014).

http://appleinsider.com/articles/16...-now-earns-75-more-than-androids-google-play-
18 years later and kof 98 still rockin'
Edit: mind linking to where i can see kof 98!listed as #2 and whether it is for the current week or month/4 weeks?
 

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
man, mobile gaming is really huge.
and even if the "download" doesn't mean necessarily money spent, I bet that many app really are very profitable.
the only question I'd have is about the % of successfull app compared to the total amount ot "developments".
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Mother of God, Grimms Notes already achieved more than 2 million downloads (it was only released four days ago in Japan).

It seems the team is very pleased and surprised with those results. A new hit is born?

http://www.jp.square-enix.com/company/ja/news/2016/html/fa3b666e48222836bd0eb834f67ea4e9.html

https://twitter.com/ishryot/status/691516772772491264

man, mobile gaming is really huge.
and even if the "download" doesn't mean necessarily money spent, I bet that many app really are very profitable.
the only question I'd have is about the % of successfull app compared to the total amount ot "developments".
The grossing ranks are going very well as well, yes:

grimms0sraj.png
I think one other really significant thing about mobile is that we actually see new IP succeeding quite frequently, which is something that hasn't really been true in the dedicated space for a while.

the only question I'd have is about the % of successfull app compared to the total amount ot "developments".
Toward this note though, it's a hard market, but the market leaders are getting progressively better at repeated hits, like Square Enix in this example.
 

horuhe

Member
When I was talking about 65% - 35% I was referring in favour of PS4.
I don't think the PS3 version will be on par or even higher than the PS4's one.

We have other reliable sources (GamesMaya, Tsutaya, the blog...) that all of them are pointing the opposite.
I supposed that, but wasn't sure. Yeah, and I'm quite sure PS4 will be the highest-selling version (maybe not by that percentage, though).

There's something I didn't explain. Charts are net sales, and pre-orders are counted as sales. Some weeks ago the PS4 version outsold the PS3, even they hadn't been released, what drives me to think PS4 users, at least with this sort of games, tend to pre-order more in advance than PS3 active users (something that it's not strange at all). The chart of this week counts only this week sales and not the pre-orders for other weeks, thus other stores in the Ichiba for the past week had the PS4 version ahead of the PS3.

So we really agree, but it's more in terms of how to give this info properly. Rakuten is not a bad metric. C'mon, they are good guys. ;D
 

vareon

Member
Does anyone know the popularity of Fate/Grand Order? It's very huge on my anime circle with people tweeting fanart and their progress everyday, but I'm curious whether it's really big in Japan or just modest (but well loved by its fans and profitable enough).

Edit: I do hope this is the right thread to ask.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Does anyone know the popularity of Fate/Grand Order? It's very huge on my anime circle with people tweeting fanart and their progress everyday, but I'm curious whether it's really big in Japan or just modest (but well loved by its fans and profitable enough).

Edit: I do hope this is the right thread to ask.

A few days ago it was #1 on the top grossing chart, which is the $$$$$$$$ level.
 
The grossing ranks are going very well as well, yes:


I think one other really significant thing about mobile is that we actually see new IP succeeding quite frequently, which is something that hasn't really been true in the dedicated space for a while.

Not surprising at all given how the entry fee is zero and everyone can download anything. New IPs are also those where developers are more willing to experiment something new and akin to the market instead of be conservative so to ruin the experience of the IP in other markets. This can also be witnessed in the dedicated space on digital channels; we had plenty of new IPs that succeeded in the eShop for example.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Not surprising at all given how the entry fee is zero and everyone can download anything. New IPs are also those where developers are more willing to experiment something new and akin to the market instead of be conservative so to ruin the experience of the IP in other markets. This can also be witnessed in the dedicated space on digital channels; we had plenty of new IPs that succeeded in the eShop for example.

Digital is also a good note. I suspect as that gets progressively more successful in Japan, we'll see new IPs continue to pick up on dedicated devices.

Probably the biggest factor on that front is that there's a lot less pain associated with failure when you're not spending three years and a bunch of money.

If I'm reading the producer's twitter right for example, Grimms Notes is from the Bravely Archive team, which didn't do abjectly horribly, but fell out of the "this is successful" category for Square Enix by the time their last report rolled around. If that was a $40 million game, much more painful.
 

L~A

Member
Nah.

Keep it expensive.
Launch NX for less than WiiU at retail.
????
Profit.

That's not really a good idea (actually, I'd say that's a pretty bad one). If a new console is priced too long, it's going to send the wrong signal to players.
 
The grossing ranks are going very well as well, yes:


Toward this note though, it's a hard market, but the market leaders are getting progressively better at repeated hits, like Square Enix in this example.

Grimms Notes could be their next "big" new IP on mobile since School Girl Strikers (RLR was a huge flop, so it's good they could find a new success not named DQ or FF, at least for now).

Next one to watch will be Alice Order (finally coming next thursday) and I think Fortune Tellers Academy is also releasing this month.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Grimms Notes could be their next "big" new IP on mobile since School Girl Strikers (RLR was a huge flop, so it's good they could find a new success not named DQ or FF, at least for now).

Next one to watch will be Alice Order (finally coming next thursday) and I think Fortune Tellers Academy is also releasing this month.

On a somewhat related note, they had a VR demo of Million Arthur, which made me think that VR might find some use in arcades: https://youtu.be/5Zli57a5wrY?t=287

I'm notably less optimistic on its success on consoles, but this strikes me as something that fits in with the type of stuff you see in arcades already.
 

Sterok

Member
On a somewhat related note, they had a VR demo of Million Arthur, which made me think that VR might find some use in arcades: https://youtu.be/5Zli57a5wrY?t=287

I'm notably less optimistic on its success on consoles, but this strikes me as something that fits in with the type of stuff you see in arcades already.

How has Japan taken to VR so far? Is there notable interest from the wider populace, or do only the enthusiasts care at the moment?
 
What I said (and I have always said, but of course it's my opinion) is that SQEX primarily target the game towards DQ fans - at least in Japan. It's a new spin-off in the DQ franchise to try something new and follow a popular genre nowadays. But it's still a DQ game - and it must sell first to the DQ fanbase (this also justifies the price point).

so Dragon Quest Heroes, Dragon Quest Monster Joker and Slime Mori Mori Dragon Quest are all DQ games and not spin-off ?

it's like saying Zelda Musou is a Zelda game cause there are Zelda characters and it's targeted to Zelda fans, not Musou one, whom obviously don't care so much about Zelda

DQB is just a tentative to make a Minecraft clone using Dragon Quest characters and adding the "Squeenix tax"
 
so Dragon Quest Heroes, Dragon Quest Monster Joker and Slime Mori Mori Dragon Quest are all DQ games and not spin-off ?

it's like saying Zelda Musou is a Zelda game cause there are Zelda characters and it's targeted to Zelda fans, not Musou one, whom obviously don't care so much about Zelda

DQB is just a tentative to make a Minecraft clone using Dragon Quest characters and adding the "Squeenix tax"

Of course they are spin-offs, but in the case of DQ Builders I can totally see SQEX targeting the game first towards DQ fans (which explains the price) and then towards MC aficionados. The same goes for DQ Heroes (since it's not even a proper Musou game) and Slime Mori Mori (otherwise who should have DQ targeted?). DQ Monsters was clearly a way to pander the Pokémon audience but even in this case we can see Enix looking at younger fans within the DQ franchise (the series indeed also appeared on Sony platforms and mobile). Since DQ Builders development likely started before MC was a huge phenomenon in Japan I do believe that SQEX thought the game would have been a good fit for the Western audience (here Mc has been a thing for 4-5 years) and could target towards the usual massive userbase of the DQ franchise in the domestic market.

As for Hyrule Warriors it was quite clear it was targeted towards Zelda fans and numbers - especially those overseas - very much shown that.
 

Chris1964

Sales-Age Genius
For this I kind of mentally separate the "active users" from the "hit buyers".

Active users I view as the people who are buying 8-10+ titles a year because they're using their PS3 all the time as a primary gaming platform.

Hit buyers I view as people who are buying maybe 1-3 titles a year, but primarily game on other devices, and only dip into the PS3 when it has something they really want to play that isn't on another system they own. A lot of these people are former active users, but they've migrated into this type of category. The 3DS in the West is pretty similar to this now.

Hit buyers will presumably migrate when the biggest titles go exclusive, assuming they still have enough interest in the series to spend $300+.

The other trick is trying to upsell the Vita buyers instead of losing them to a competitor or the ether, but it's a less obvious upgrade route than PS3 -> PS4.

There is also another factor to count. Vita userbase remains very active and it will need a long time before its owners move on.

With releases at multiple Sony systems there is big overlap between PS3/PS4/PSV users that's why we rarely see total sales going up comparing to previous single platform releases. But there is even bigger overlap between PS3/PSV users and with PS3 age and since handheld is the way to go in Japan PS3 versions tend to lose steam rapidly as time passes.

When Vita is absent, those who haven't upgraded to PS4 are forced to stick with PS3 leading to higher share of sales. Yakuza is an example and Persona will be another.
 
Dat Kancolle movement on COMG. DQB still moving as well.

if the game is as bad as it is supposed to be, I expect a final tie-ratio about 90% :D


DQB also is moving but this is the week release so it's normal (and ,if I can say, it's not increasing so much considering it will be released in a few days), but there are still 3 weeks for Kan Colle and at this rate it could open at 150k, which surprises me : strong numbers for an upgraded version of a mobile game (or am I wrong about the gameplay?)
 

crinale

Member
I don't think Kancolle buyers would care how bad the game would be, as long as it is playable.
What's more important is that Vita version has all characters available (that's the reason it took so long) than actual gameplay.
 
So, again, what are your expectations for Builders? Previously I thought 600k would be an achievable numbers - not it seems the PS3 version will not be that relevant, but 250k on PSV and 200k on PS4 should be totally doable.

On top of Attack on Titan, also Project Setsuna is missing from preorder charts; apparently, Square Enix overrated the presence of old-school jRPG aficionados on PS4 & PSV.
 

duckroll

Member
But Idea Factory International already exists.
I don't know why they're differentiating this as IDEA FACTORY INTERNATIONAL (note the all caps). Are they making a western dev team or something? Or is it more "Idea Factory except for stuff that's not offensive internationally"?

This isn't a new company or anything. It's a new branding that emcompasses Idea Factory, Compile Heart, and Idea Factory International releases or something. Sounds to me like they want to use it to push titles worldwide under one brand but it's not super clear.
 

hiska-kun

Member
According to Tsutaya, Hyrule Warriors Legends sold better than the Wii U version and even had some supply issues.

(I find it pretty strange, not confident about the rest of the country being the same)

Just Cause 3 also sold well.

For next week they predict Dragon Quest Builders PSV > PS4 >>> PS3.
There are two profiles of people who are pre-ordering the game. Mature people that are fans of DQ, and young people fans of Minecraft.
Mario Tennis Ultra Smash have good pre-orders and expected third place.

http://mantan-web.jp/2016/01/26/20160126dog00m200022000c.html
 

hiska-kun

Member
Additionaly, Tsutaya is reporting overall low sales (except the new releases) due to a cold wave.

We can start the joke now.
Even Pokemon Centers were empty
 

Fisico

Member
Additionaly, Tsutaya is reporting overall low sales (except the new releases) due to a cold wave.

We can start the joke now.
Even Pokemon Centers were empty

Man DQ Builders had a 500FW locked, I mean it targeted the DQ fanbase was on 3 platforms and definitely was going to ride on the Minecraft wave, every planet were aligned for a smashing success.

But in Japan cold waves are no joke, I swear people are currently staying at home and some workers usually standing in front of Sofmap/Tsutaya/Bic Camera had to be on sick leave because it is THAT cold, yet you all know how japanese have that heavy sense of duty towards their work so it's showing how serious the situation really is...
 

sense

Member
So, again, what are your expectations for Builders? Previously I thought 600k would be an achievable numbers - not it seems the PS3 version will not be that relevant, but 250k on PSV and 200k on PS4 should be totally doable.

On top of Attack on Titan, also Project Setsuna is missing from preorder charts; apparently, Square Enix overrated the presence of old-school jRPG aficionados on PS4 & PSV.

for a game announced in the west, i am positive the primary target market of old school jrpg fans that square enix is looking for isn't only in japan. I know you have some lofty expectations for this game probably more than square so I can already see the future where you say the game did terrible(actually you like to exaggerate if it is ps so maybe something like absolutely terrible and awful), not sure what square was thinking, should have been on 3ds etc....

I am sure someone is going to point out low first month dqh, tales, disgaea etc...npd numbers as well. until japanese publishers stop localizing future games in any series it is hard to predict if they flopped or not. there is digital, games have long tails with constant sales, additional revenue through pc/steam etc... so it is crazy to jump to conclusions just based on sales and preorders in japan, or first month sales in npd!!

I am spending too much time in these threads that I am starting to predict comments as well!!!
Gonna take a shot of whiskey each time I see aficionados used in this thread.

do quotes count? :)
 

L~A

Member
According to Tsutaya, Hyrule Warriors Legends sold better than the Wii U version and even had some supply issues.

(I find it pretty strange, not confident about the rest of the country being the same)

Why do you find that pretty strange (serious question)? Do you have the data for the original on Wii U? (I'll check it out myself later when I have a bit more time).

Gonna take a shot of whiskey each time I see aficionados used in this thread.

Didn't take you for a whiskey aficionado!

***

In other news, Terraria is headed to Nintendo platforms in Japan, on April 21st on Nintendo 3DS. There will be a retail release:

- retail: 4 104 Yen
- digital: 3 000 Yen

Wii U still TBA, but it is coming too. Of course, Spike-Chunsoft is publishing both. Curious to see how it'll sell (no idea if prices are with or without taxes).
 
. Curious to see how it'll sell (no idea if prices are with or without taxes).

The Vita version did fairly well ( ~82k at the end of 2014) but this was pre-Minecraft, didn't seem to have any legs beyond the initial year (although we haven't had any updated figures for 2015).

PS4 didn't do much at all.

I could see 3DS version doing well. WiiU I don't think will do much.
 

Vena

Member
Pistachios aside, I do think there's been some level of failed strategies with some of these titles (following on the tail of #FE's... strategy). Both games are expected in ~mid to late~ February (Setsuna and AoT) and both are completely absent from pre-orders at the end of January. Of course, they may pick-up suddenly towards release but generally that's not normal behavior.

Setsuna has always been a weird one, though, especially from how it was introduced. It has, since its first introduction, felt like a game trying to be Bravely Default-again (tight scope, not-quite-as-chibi characters, smooth painterly aesthetic, old-school RPG, lack of a budget). Which struck me as weird considering Bravely Default already existed, and then SE sent out its sequel to kill the franchise. But I guess Bravely Default didn't exist on consoles. (Of course, I could be completely off-base with my thoughts here.)

And I think AoT may just be a product that on one side is marred by bad games preceding it, and on the other a media property that has an audience that doesn't carry over well to games even though the anime/manga could fit a game well.

As for DQB, I think the project was just mishandled from the onset, from platforms to price to features.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
In the final symbolic step of PlayStation's transformation, Sony's PlayStation division is now entirely headquartered in California.

Wall Street Journal said:
As part of the move, Tokyo-based Sony Computer Entertainment, the videogame unit, will merge with San Mateo, Calif.-based Sony Network Entertainment International LLC, which provides PlayStation’s network services. The change will take effect in April, and the new company will be called Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC.

As free smartphone games have proliferated, the Japanese market for videogame consoles such as the PlayStation has shrunk, while the U.S. market has continued to expand. Sony said relocating to the U.S. would enable it to respond more quickly to industry trends.

“It makes sense for us to put headquarters functions in the U.S. because we have a lot of important business partners in the U.S. and a lot of changes in the industry we need to deal with promptly tend to appear there first,” a spokeswoman for Sony Computer Entertainment said.

Andrew House, chief executive of the PlayStation unit, will retain the same position at the new company. Other executives working from Tokyo will also have offices in California, enabling them to spend more time meeting local business partners and keeping a finger on the industry’s pulse, Sony said.


...

Sony said it also hoped moving the PlayStation headquarters to the U.S. would enhance its relationship with customers there.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/sony-moves-playstation-headquarters-to-california-1453794813[
 

Fisico

Member
Setsuna has always been a weird one, though, especially from how it was introduced. It has, since its first introduction, felt like a game trying to be Bravely Default-again (tight scope, not-quite-as-chibi characters, smooth painterly aesthetic, old-school RPG, lack of a budget). Which struck me as weird considering Bravely Default already existed, and then SE sent out its sequel to kill the franchise. But I guess Bravely Default didn't exist on consoles. (Of course, I could be completely off-base with my thoughts here.)

I think Setsuna is even lower budget than Bravely Default (by itself, Tokyo RPG factory establishment probably cost a lot more than developing a new Bravely), and as they stated from the very beginning it's only the first project of a completely new team with young staffers that are trying to gain experience through a first small project with Unity.

It's weird that they somehow killed the Bravely IP, but Tokyo RPG Factory is more of a longterm plan while they didn't see (or wanted to see) any potential left for the Bravely IP in the coming years, Silicon Studio being an external dev probably didn't help the decision making in favour of Bravely too.
Nier Automata is being made by Platinum ? Well fuck it, I have no idea how all of that make sense in the end
 
Top Bottom