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Media Create Sales: Week 20, 2014 (May 12 - May 18)

Type-Zero

Member
No, there was alot of great new rpg on psp/ds, alot stayed in japan i'll give you that at least.

Hey, I am not doubting there is alot of RPG's on PSP and DS. What I am stating is the quality of the JRPG's. When was the last time we got an actual good final fantasy? You can look at Atlus and its cool they made SMT IV, but looking at Nocturne to me its a step back. Nothing like Digital Devil Saga or any of the usual stuff they used to make. The quality in RPG's are average or slightly above average and I think the Japanese gamers see this as well. No one is going to go out of there way to get an average or "great" game all the time. People want quality.
 

pixelbox

Member
Not to get into this again, but like the guy who allegedly ignore-listed me, are you also contending that Wii U related thread shitting is/was somehow justifiable, but that PS4 related thread shitting is a no-no?

ItIt's not justifiable anywhere. Both situations are not the same so it's not comparable. The Wii U was release holiday season, PS4 was not. Wii U had games that catered to the Japanese (Nintendo titles as well), PS4 has little to none. PS4 costs more than the Wii U. You simply can't compare situations other than both being next Gen hardware.
 
The japanese consoles market officially dead. Not that it would hinder the success of the PS4, but man! those exciting and nervous games we had been accustomed to will become less and less frequent...The old gamer in me is weeping...
 

Architect

Neo Member
Japan April 2014: 0.84 consoles per 1000 people sold

U.S. April 2014: 1.5 consoles per 1000 people sold

Next Gen Consoles Only, LTD

Japan: 18 consoles per 1000 people

U.S: 25.5 consoles per 1000 people

Some quick U.S./Japan console sales figures in comparison to total population. Unsurprisingly, the gap is increasing in favor of the U.S.
 

prag16

Banned
ItIt's not justifiable anywhere. Both situations are not the same so it's not comparable. The Wii U was release holiday season, PS4 was not. Wii U had games that catered to the Japanese (Nintendo titles as well), PS4 has little to none. PS4 costs more than the Wii U. You simply can't compare situations other than both being next Gen hardware.

It sounds like you're still trying to justify WiiU thread shitting as more appropriate than PS4 thread shitting.

This isn't about which console is more fucked. I made no statement here on which one I feel is more fucked. This is about driveby thread shitting (e.g. the "PS4 am cry" or "lol WiiU" type posts) being stupid and annoying in ANY case.
 

Chris1964

Sales-Age Genius
ItIt's not justifiable anywhere. Both situations are not the same so it's not comparable. The Wii U was release holiday season, PS4 was not. Wii U had games that catered to the Japanese (Nintendo titles as well), PS4 has little to none. PS4 costs more than the Wii U. You simply can't compare situations other than both being next Gen hardware.

You know, things will get worse for PS4 the following months, not better. Launch hype has died. You can find excuses all the time for the bad performance of a system but the reality is PS4 is selling worse even than Wii U.
 

Ty4on

Member
I never understood why the XB1 is bigger and has a power brick while the Ps4 remains smaller, has more power and no brick. Puzzles me. Maybe MS were extra cautious to ensure no RROD.

Bigger cooler and a lot more air inside. The fan inside the PS4 acts as the PSU cooler as well which is why they managed to make it so compact. The Xbox One has a desktop sized optical drive while the PS4 used a slim laptop drive. If you put a slim one inside the Xbox One and put the HDD under it then there is easily enough room for a custom PSU and a fan to cool it.

Edit: I have no idea either, but I think they wanted to use regular parts and probably had a big size budget for whatever reason. The 360 internal design also had some oddities like a desktop disc drive which used a SATA cable as if it was a desktop PC. I love efficient designs, but longevity wise I think it should be more resilient to dust accumulation than the PS4.
 

Days like these...

Have a Blessed Day
ItIt's not justifiable anywhere. Both situations are not the same so it's not comparable. The Wii U was release holiday season, PS4 was not. Wii U had games that catered to the Japanese (Nintendo titles as well), PS4 has little to none. PS4 costs more than the Wii U. You simply can't compare situations other than both being next Gen hardware.

I really don't buy into this line of thought. Last gen was how long? People were anxiously awaiting the launch of the ps 4 for how long? Now the reason Japan didn't buy the ps4 is because it didn't release during the holiday season?
Regarding games which cater to the Japanese Sony has no one to blame but themselves. Maybe they didn't get the memo that the ps 4 was launching? Maybe everyone is busy working on The Last Guardian and that's why Sony launched without any meaningful content (lol knack)?
 

Foshy

Member
There's no attractive software for the Japanese.

Except for the big ones (FF, KH MGS, MH, DQ, RE) and Nintendo exclusives, what even is attractive software for the Japanese?

  • MGS, FF and KH are on the way, but they won't come out until next year at the very earliest. Ground Zeroes did nothing either.
  • MH and DQ are handheld bound.
  • I guess a next-gen RE isn't out of possibility for the next year, but that's still far off too.

Sony's first party studios are very western focused, which makes perfect sense when you look at the market. Their JP output isn't big, and it doesn't consist of system sellers except maybe GT, which is declining too. And even if TLG came out this holiday, I'm pretty sure it'd have more success in EU/US territory than Japan.

Fighting games such as Tekken, SF and DOA? Not huge system sellers. The only other existent series I could see helping sell systems is the Souls and Tales of series, and again, these are not coming before next year.

All the big stuff which can possibly arrive is set to come to PS4 at some point. Sure, it'll take time but it's coming. Still, the japanese console market seems so fucking stale right now. They desperately need new IPs.

What we're seeing in the western world is that games are splitting into AAA, huge budget retail games and smaller, fresh, experimental, digital-only games. I believe it could help the JP industry if they caught on to that.
 

pixelbox

Member
It sounds like you're still trying to justify WiiU thread shitting as more appropriate than PS4 thread shitting.

This isn't about which console is more fucked. I made no statement here on which one I feel is more fucked. This is about driveby thread shitting (e.g. the "PS4 am cry" or "lol WiiU" type posts) being stupid and annoying in ANY case.

No I'm really not. It's stupid on both ends to wish failure on competing hardware just to be right or to justify purchase. At the end of the day this is hurting the industry (chasing money). They (Japanese Devs) need to focus on full on RPGs and quality titles.


You know, things will get worse for PS4 the following months, not better. Launch hype has died. You can find excuses all the time for the bad performance of a system but the reality is PS4 is selling worse even than Wii U.

This isn't about excuses at all. This is about perspective, there are very good reasons as to why PS4's numbers are failing. And to be frank, I don't think they were really that hyped anyway. As I said before they need to focus on what the demographic wants and make it quality.
 

Kagoshima_Luke

Gold Member
I wonder about Sony's decision to launch outside of Japan first. Japan's losing interest in the console space and instead of trying to drum up some excitement, they treat their home territory like a red-headed stepchild. If I was a Japanese gamer, I'd be pissed.
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
Looking at Comgnet preorders and Amazon combined, I suppose we're going to see a very little difference at debut between PS3 and 3DS SKU of WE 2014.

Situation on Comgnet, as of May 21st

[PS3] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010: Challenge of the Blue Samurai - 47pt
[PSP] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2010: Challenge of the Blue Samurai - 19pt
[PS3] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2014 - 67pt
[3DS] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2014: Samurai Blue Challenge - 16pt
[PS3] World Soccer Winning Eleven 2014: Samurai Blue Challenge - 14pt

Current situation on Amazon (as of 22:00 GMT)

PS3 - 4th
3DS - 21st

I remember something similar happened with Sen no Kiseki: for Comgnet, PS3 > Vita, while for Amazon Vita > PS3, and in the end Vita SKU had a better debut, with the PS3 one not that behind, though.

In WE 2014 case, I suppose it'll be PS3 > 3DS, but again, not by that much.

Also because both of them won't sell that much to begin with
 

Foshy

Member
I wonder about Sony's decision to launch outside of Japan first. Japan's losing interest in the console space and instead of trying to drum up some excitement, they treat their home territory like a red-headed stepchild. If I was a Japanese gamer, I'd be pissed.
Well yeah that's exactly why they neglected the japanese launch. There's very little money to be made here compared to the rest of the world. Japan is just one single country with a rapidly declining market. Makes no sense to focus on it.

Anyway, japanese gamers need to be angry at the 3rd parties, not Nintendo and Sony. Nintendo is doing whatever they can, all alone, and Sony has always mainly relied on third parties to sell systems. Other than GT (which admittedly, should've come out on PS4 instead) and maybe Everybody's Golf, their first party output is very western-focused anyway.
 

randomkid

Member
There are no systems with more rpgs than the DS and the PSP, not even the SFC or the PSOne.

I'd uh, like to see the source for this. Even if ports are included (personally I think that's odd when evaluating system libraries against each other) I'm still doubtful. There were a whole lotta unlocalized obscurities on each winner console each generation that people forget about.
 

Principate

Saint Titanfall
Except for the big ones (FF, KH MGS, MH, DQ, RE) and Nintendo exclusives, what even is attractive software for the Japanese?

  • MGS, FF and KH are on the way, but they won't come out until next year at the very earliest. Ground Zeroes did nothing either.
  • MH and DQ are handheld bound.
  • I guess a next-gen RE isn't out of possibility for the next year, but that's still far off too.

Sony's first party studios are very western focused, which makes perfect sense when you look at the market. Their JP output isn't big, and it doesn't consist of system sellers except maybe GT, which is declining too. And even if TLG came out this holiday, I'm pretty sure it'd have more success in EU/US territory than Japan.

Fighting games such as Tekken, SF and DOA? Not huge system sellers. The only other existent series I could see helping sell systems is the Souls and Tales of series, and again, these are not coming before next year.

All the big stuff which can possibly arrive is set to come to PS4 at some point. Sure, it'll take time but it's coming. Still, the japanese console market seems so fucking stale right now. They desperately need new IPs.

What we're seeing in the western world is that games are splitting into AAA, huge budget retail games and smaller, fresh, experimental, digital-only games. I believe it could help the JP industry if they caught on to that.

Mid tier support, Japan hasn't cared for AAA games on consoles for many years. There was pretty much 1 (maybe two I forget) million seller on the PS3 and that was Final Fantasy. everything else was lower than that much lower than that. What will save the PS4 isn't the final fantasy's or MGS. It's when or if the mid tiers bother to support it. Even if that's just a lot of ports.

If they don't the MGS and FF will be just like the Mario's and smash bro's on the wii u short term boost but no long standing effects.
 

ZSaberLink

Media Create Maven
I disagree. Hype is selling systems, and the cross gen content is selling because there's not much else to play. I think your prediction that this Fall's titles outsell their last gen counterparts is beyond absurd.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree, though, since I feel we're going in circles on the matter.

I think Titanfall selling more on XB1 (in the US) is telling though. It easily sold twice as much including the bundles, and more than 1.5 times as much unbundled. Sure the XB1 version was released earlier, but there's definitely a crowd sick of the 360/PS3 that buys shooters and other games like that.
 

Foshy

Member
Mid tier support, Japan hasn't cared for AAA games on consoles for many years. There was pretty much 1 (maybe two I forget) million seller on the PS3 and that was Final Fantasy. everything else was lower than that much lower than that. What will save the PS4 isn't the final fantasy's or MGS. It's when or if the mid tiers bother to support it. Even if that's just a lot of ports.

If they don't the MGS and FF will be just like the Mario's and smash bro's on the wii u short term boost but no long standing effects.
Vita has been getting lots of mid-tier support too. Alone, without mainline FF/KH/MGS/RE to back it up, it doesn't mean much. Sure, it's necessary for a healthy platforms and helps to make people stay, but the big games pull the people in.

And I wouldn't say that they don't care for AAA, it's that there are next to no japanese AAA games releasing to begin with.
 

Principate

Saint Titanfall
I think Titanfall selling more on XB1 (in the US) is telling though. It easily sold twice as much including the bundles, and more than 1.5 times as much unbundled. Sure the XB1 version was released earlier, but there's definitely a crowd sick of the 360/PS3 that buys shooters and other games like that.

That's not really a great comparison, Microsoft did exactly zero marketing for 360 version delayed it twice and did their damnest to make people forget it even existed. Even then it seems like the X360 version did a greater 500k opening month and outsold Infamous: SS during it's NPD launch month (unless that npd leak was update to include all versions that I was unaware of).

Vita has been getting lots of mid-tier support too. Alone, without mainline AAA games to back it up, it doesn't mean much.

That's the only reason the Vita is surviving. I think your forgetting that fact that even during it's hay day PS3 never sold particularly well in Japan. It never sold 2 million or greater in a single year. The only reason the PS3 had the LTD it has is because of the generations length.
 

Foshy

Member
That's the only reason the Vita is surviving. I think your forgetting that fact that even during it's hay day PS3 never sold particularly well in Japan. It never sold 2 million or greater in a single year.
Surviving != selling well

I edited my post to make it clearer what I meant.

Also Sonic sold terribly (as I expected I guess), but it sold fairly similarly on PS3 & Wii U (at least according to Famitsu).
Sonic might as well not exist in Japan. It'd make more sense to rebrand the game as "SEGA Racing" and put everyone else except him on the cover and watch sales multiply tenfold.
 

ZSaberLink

Media Create Maven
Also Sonic sold terribly (as I expected I guess), but it sold fairly similarly on PS3 & Wii U (at least according to Famitsu). Also what's up with 3D World being on the Media Create chart and not showing up on Famitsu (this has happened before)? Did Famitsu have it selling less than 2K as opposed to MC's 2.6K? I guess that's possible.
 
Japan, what are you doing?

Rejecting poorly supported consoles.

Wii U is not supported much by third partys

And Sony did not have a Japan oriented software lineup ready.

There will not be a software lineup available that will appeal to Japan probably till mid 2015 potentially. Sony will need to do some serious lineup hyping at TGS 2014 to get people talking about the future. That may get them to buy the console prematurely and wait it out till the bombs drop.

Like, TGS 2014 needs to have playable FFXV looking amazing on the PS4 and then playable Last Guardian if it is only shown in unplayable form at E3. Then showcase indie games like Mighty No 9 and Project Pheonix on stage at TGS. Then be smart and pay Capcom for Monster Hunter on PS4 and Gung Ho for a version of Puzzle and Dragons on the Vita.
 

Principate

Saint Titanfall
And I wouldn't say that they don't care for AAA, it's that there are next to no japanese AAA games releasing to begin with.

But there's numerous million sellers on Nintendo consoles, even on the 3DS even while it has a lower install base. If the PS3 console despite it's lifetime and the fact large franchises have in fact been released on it many times has barely any million sellers isn't it that about as indicative as physically possible that they really don't care. If They did care there would more million sellers on the PS3.

Surviving != selling well

I edited my post to make it clearer what I meant.

Precisely what context are you using for selling well and precisely why are they remotely in the discussion of the PS4. If remotely approaching PS3 sales is simply surviving then PS4 had no chance what so ever in it's wildest dreams of selling well.

The PS Vita is roughly posting PS3 ytd numbers currently (give or take). PS4 never had a chance under that criteria.
 

heidern

Junior Member
Also, for one of the biggest launches ever in scope of sales, 3 is kinda disheartening. flipping Wii U has a 5 attach rate and that system's all but dead.

Tie ratios increase over time. This time next year PS4 should have a tie ratio of 4 or 5 which would be comparable to other consoles.
 

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
What I read here, and In going to it call out, is the same few people drooling to see the PS4 fail because their favorite console is.

Speaking of calling out.

Im referring to members putting vita in the hot seat for selling so poorly when the wii u is selling much worse, and after the wii at that. Then have the nerve to complain at my goal post comment when if this were last gen, the 3ds would've been the a "failure". The 3ds would be luck to get psp's numbers after all is said and done. As smokey said, vita is not doing great but it's not going anywhere either. The revisions and vita tv are indicators.

Truth is handhelds are doing poorly in general and if sony or Nintendo wants it to prevail, they need to do something drastic. Pokemon and Mon Hun are not enough to stop or even slow the plunge but atleast what sony is doing with making the vita a companion and stream box could breath new life in the way handhelds are viewed.
 

Foshy

Member
But there's numerous million sellers on Nintendo consoles, even on the 3DS even while it has a lower install base. If the PS3 console despite it's lifetime and the fact large franchises have in fact been released on it many times has barely any million sellers isn't it that about as indicative as physically possible that they really don't care. If They did care there would more million sellers on the PS3.
All million sellers on Wii are Nintendo first-party, except for Monster Hunter. Same for 3DS, + Dragon Quest. Nintendo games always sell systems, sure, but you can't expect them to come to PS platforms :)

Precisely what context are you using for selling well and precisely why are they remotely in the discussion of the PS4. If remotely approach PS3 sales is simply surviving then PS4 had no chance what so ever in it's wildest dreams of selling well.

The PS Vita is roughly posting PS3 ytd numbers currently (give or take). PS4 never had a chance under that criteria.
It's great for the Vita that it's up YoY and it'll probably stick around for a while, but I'd expect it to post similar numbers to the heavily declining 3DS now at least (25-30k weekly) for it to be considered "ok".
 

Longsword

Member
Then be smart and pay Capcom for Monster Hunter on PS4 and Gung Ho for a version of Puzzle and Dragons on the Vita.

+1.

Bring the super-popular mobile IPs to console in general. Puzzle & Dragons Z did incredibly well on 3DS (almost 1.5M copies already in Japan alone), and I am sure Monster Strike for example could do very well too. Creative reverse thinking: if a mobile game has millions of fans, why not capture it in console space too.
 

ohlawd

Member
LaGP1Q3.png

Awesome job on this.
 

Principate

Saint Titanfall
All million sellers on Wii are Nintendo first-party, except for Monster Hunter. Same for 3DS, + Dragon Quest. Nintendo games always sell systems, sure, but you can't expect them to come to PS platforms :)


It's great for the Vita that it's up YoY and it'll probably stick around for a while, but I'd expect it to post similar numbers to the heavily declining 3DS now at least (25-30k weekly) for it to be considered "ok".

Not an handhelds they're not, there's more of a spread. Even games like yokai watch are creeping their way. When was the last time that happened on a Playstation console. The audience simply doesn't consolidate that way.

All million sellers on Wii are Nintendo first-party, except for Monster Hunter. Same for 3DS, + Dragon Quest. Nintendo games always sell systems, sure, but you can't expect them to come to PS platforms :)


It's great for the Vita that it's up YoY and it'll probably stick around for a while, but I'd expect it to post similar numbers to the heavily declining 3DS now at least (25-30k weekly) for it to be considered "ok".


Well you'd be crazy because that wasn't happening. I'm not even sure the PS3 remained in that ball park consistent.
 

Foshy

Member
Not an handhelds they're not, there's more of a spread. Even games like yokai watch are creeping their way. When was the last time that happened on a Playstation console. The audience simply doesn't consolidate that way.
Yokai Watch is a special kind of success story, new IP which is on the way of becoming a million seller. Which is why I also said that the japanese industry needs a kick in the ass and should try new things.

Well you'd be crazy because that wasn't happening. I'm not even sure the PS3 remained in that ball park consistent.
I'm talking now, after the revival it had. It's slowly creeping back to pre Vita 2K/GE2/FFX numbers, when many had hoped that all these efforts + the 3rd party mid-tier influx would help it stay on a steady 25k baseline, especially with the declining 3DS.
 

Principate

Saint Titanfall
Yokai Watch is a special kind of success story, new IP which is on the way of becoming a million seller. Which is why I also said that the japanese industry needs a kick in the ass and should try new things.

Again such things happen on hand helds, there were numerous during the DS. It's not an isolated incident (not even to level 5).

The question is why that never happened on the PS3. It's not as if the ps3 had any lack of quirky small budget titles.
 

Type-Zero

Member
About 3 months ago. Bravely Default is basically another take on Final Fantasy V in everything but name.

Yes and I applaud Squenix for doing that. Bravely Default is final fantasy without being final fantasy. If they nurture it properly it can possibly do things that Final Fantasy could not. However, like you said as of right now its another take on Final Fantasy V so until it grows past that its just Final Fantasy Lite.

I feel Atlus had more potential to make what Japan wants. But they mess up at times too. When they announced Catherine I thought it was an RPG, instead it is a puzzle game for who knows what reason. The fact that you could have played as a middle-aged man dealing with life problems and nightmares could have made a for a unique RPG instead of saving the world you try not to end up another lonely dead single male. Instead as happy as I am we are getting Persona 5 at the end of the PS3s life. Persona 4 will be tough to match, but it would be nice have a different universe and atmosphere.
 

Foshy

Member
Again such things happen on hand helds, there were numerous during the DS. It's not an isolated incident (not even to level 5).

The question is why that never happened on the PS3. It's not as if the ps3 had any lack of quirky small budget titles.
Sorry, what are we arguing now exactly? ^^ Obviously handhelds generally do better in this region, but AAA games are usually what sell home consoles.

Anyway, Yokai Watch isn't really small budget. It has a lot of promotion, a TV show and all kinds of merchandise behind it, Level 5 wanted to build an insta-brand and succeded.

A reason why you don't see experimental, quirky games on consoles doing great here is because they are often digital, and I feel they especially lack exposure in Japan. Something that comes to mind for PS3 that did well is Tokyo Jungle, Terraria also had nice legs. They got retail releases in this region though.

Look at western countries and you hear indies being very happy with their PS4 and Vita sales. Sucks this isn't happening in Japan yet.
 

Type-Zero

Member
BS.

There were many great jrpgs from Japan this gen. Their output has declined but they still making some of the best games.

I am not saying there was not any great jrpgs. But to call them the best games is okay for this generation at this moment in time, yes they are the best. But if this is the best, what do you call the games back from snes, ps1 and ps2 days? Great is exactly that good no more no less. The people in Japan feel that way too, which is probably way the output is declining. The people have spoken they are not getting what they want over there software-wise.
 

Principate

Saint Titanfall
Sorry, what are we arguing now exactly? ^^ Obviously handhelds generally do better in this region, but AAA games are usually what sell home consoles.

Anyway, Yokai Watch isn't really small budget. It has a lot of promotion, a TV show and all kinds of merchandise behind it, Level 5 wanted to build an insta-brand and succeded.

A reason why you don't see experimental, quirky games on consoles doing great here is because they are often digital, and I feel they especially lack exposure in Japan. Something that comes to mind for PS3 that did well is Tokyo Jungle, Terraria also had nice legs. They got retail releases in this region though.

Look at western countries and you hear indies being very happy with their PS4 and Vita sales. Sucks this isn't happening in Japan yet.

You asserted that AAA games are still popular on sony consoles. I'm arguing that they're not because if they were we would have seen more million sellers on the ps3. Where as a console like the 3DS can still produce third party million sellers even those that are new IP's.
 
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