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Media Create Sales: Week 29, 2017 (Jul 17 - Jul 23)

Asd202

Member
Modern action rpg and modern anime style jrpg compared to classic turn based jrpg with old anime style. I wouldn't be surprised if DQ XI didn't outsell either in the west.

Well that could be one of the game selling point. There aren't many of those type of game left especially in AAA spectrum. Of course a lot will depend on marketing and on how good the game really is.
 

Chauzu

Member
I just wanted to clarify I think DQXI will do quite well on PS4 in the west, I just wonder if it can reach the WW sales of older titles in the series with declining sales in Japan and only the PS4 in the west. As said, some Japan centric games have sold well on PS4 earlier!
 

KtSlime

Member
I wonder when we'll first see actual real footage from the Switch version of Dragon Quest.

3 weeks the soonest, my guess September. They won't announce anything until sales slow down.

It doesn't sound like they even started porting it so probably 2018(and after its released in the west).

There is no reason to wait that long. They already announced no DLC, so the development team can start on porting after PS4 and 3DS went gold. And there is no reason to wait till released in the west because the developers do not do the translations.
 

Tratorn

Member
Don't think it was posted earlier and its just for one store but Famitsu's report from Bic Ikebukuro main store says that the DQXI sales ratio at that store this morning was roughly 40% PS4, 60% 3DS.

That's more in line of what I'd expect than the 1:1 sales of the YSO prediction.

This prediction also suggests that the game won't sell 1m first week on PS4:

The usual blogger also changed his mind.
He says that the PS4 version will definitely pass 1 million LTD (easy task). And the 3DS has high chances to reach 2 million LTD.

But it shouldn't be too far if that is correct (850-900k?) since he says it'll reach the 1m LTD easiliy.
 

Oregano

Member
3 weeks the soonest, my guess September. They won't announce anything until sales slow down.



There is no reason to wait that long. They already announced no DLC, so the development team can start on porting after PS4 and 3DS went gold. And there is no reason to wait till released in the west because the developers do not do the translations.

I don't think they will wait specifically, just that it won't be ready to show, porting takes time especially if they are downporting a PS4 game.
 

Fiendcode

Member
If the Switch version isn't ready there is no reason to delay the PS4 version for a simultaneous release in the west.
Western release is likely a year+ away anyway, there probably won't be any need to delay for a simultaneous PS4/Switch release.

Although if there were it might be worthwhile given how Switch games are selling in the west. Switch version might even outsell PS4 overseas, like Disgaea 5 or Puyo Puyo Tetris.
 

Datschge

Member
Can someone remind me why people are using the "western sales" line of reasoning for assessing the sales potential of heavily Japan-centric games that have historically done between nothing and maybe a bit more than nothing in the west?
It's a cop out explanation as to why so many publishers in Japan are this apathetic to the state of dedicated gaming device market there, doing nothing to improve it, but still releasing games for it as if there's no problem and sales potential were still the same.
 
Western release is likely a year+ away anyway, there probably won't be any need to delay for a simultaneous PS4/Switch release.

Although if there were it might be worthwhile given how Switch games are selling in the west. Switch version might even outsell PS4 overseas, like Disgaea 5 or Puyo Puyo Tetris.

Well, sure why not I guess.
 

duckroll

Member
It's a cop out explanation as to why so many publishers in Japan are this apathetic to the state of dedicated gaming device market there, doing nothing to improve it, but still releasing games for it as if there's no problem and sales potential were still the same.

Is it really a cop out when the publishers say so themselves?
 
Can someone remind me why people are using the "western sales" line of reasoning for assessing the sales potential of heavily Japan-centric games that have historically done between nothing and maybe a bit more than nothing in the west?

Because games like Nier and Persona that have done between nothing and maybe a bit more in the west historically are million sellers over there now?
 

KtSlime

Member
I don't care for the practice, but I don't think it is a cop out, there is a very long practice of industries in Japan making products to export so that their companies can accrue dollars. That said, I think it can be a dangerous practice because stifling their own media consumption can decrease future production of that media.
 

duckroll

Member
Considering their overall track record? I'd say yes.

That doesn't make any sense. A bad business decision isn't a cop out. It's just a bad business decision. The question was why people talk about western sales as being important for such series. The reason is simply that people talk about that because that is where the business is going. Publishers are focusing more on the west because of larger sales potential and they are starting to de-emphasize Japan because even Asia is more appealing to some publisher now than the domestic Japanese market. Is that a good decision? Who cares, that's where their business direction is headed and hence that's where the sales analysis will go. If they fail and have to close shop, well, so sad too bad.
 
There is no need for what? Release on 3DS, PS4, or Switch?

Simultaneous release. I reckon they can get a higher total by staggering the Switch release (which would likely happen anyway due to starting dev later, unless localisation is far away).

Nothing matters apart ps4
Didn't you get the note?

He means to say "I don't want that to happen".

That's just it, he does not care about these games, all he cares about is adding another game to the PS4 exclusive list.

Calm down lads
 

Oregano

Member
That doesn't make any sense. A bad business decision isn't a cop out. It's just a bad business decision. The question was why people talk about western sales as being important for such series. The reason is simply that people talk about that because that is where the business is going. Publishers are focusing more on the west because of larger sales potential and they are starting to de-emphasize Japan because even Asia is more appealing to some publisher now than the domestic Japanese market. Is that a good decision? Who cares, that's where their business direction is headed and hence that's where the sales analysis will go. If they fail and have to close shop, well, so sad too bad.

I do think it's interesting to note that Nier: Automata and Persona 5 are two of the most notable examples of western success but neither are specifically designed to cater to the west(Nier is less western focused than the first game) and both of them outperformed their predecessors in Japan and some of the more successful console games of this generation.
 

duckroll

Member
I do think it's interesting to note that Nier: Automata and Persona 5 are two of the most notable examples of western success but neither are specifically designed to cater to the west(Nier is less western focused than the first game) and both of them outperformed their predecessors in Japan and some of the more successful console games of this generation.

It has nothing to do with design and everything to do with awareness and marketing. Nier Automata got more solid targeted marketing outside of Japan than Nier, or any of the B-tier Square Enix Japanese RPGs in the past years, ever got.

You don't have to make a "western" type game to sell well in the west. You need to make a game people are interested in playing and something that stands out in a competitive market. That's the mistake a lot of people make.
 

Datschge

Member
I don't care for the practice, but I don't think it is a cop out, there is a very long practice of industries in Japan making products to export so that their companies can accrue dollars. That said, I think it can be a dangerous practice because stifling their own media consumption can decrease future production of that media.
It's a cop out since they are not methodical about it, like at at all. Aside trying to enter the mobile market to vastly different degrees of success they mostly don't try adapt to the market changes, neither in Japan nor abroad. Their biggest successes abroad are those that are handled by competent local subsidiaries/localization publishers.

That doesn't make any sense. A bad business decision isn't a cop out. It's just a bad business decision. The question was why people talk about western sales as being important for such series. The reason is simply that people talk about that because that is where the business is going. Publishers are focusing more on the west because of larger sales potential and they are starting to de-emphasize Japan because even Asia is more appealing to some publisher now than the domestic Japanese market. Is that a good decision? Who cares, that's where their business direction is headed and hence that's where the sales analysis will go. If they fail and have to close shop, well, so sad too bad.
It's barely an active decision, it's what happens anyway and they can't be bothered to see the problem in that. It's the easy way out slow businesses are prone to take. That's why I call it cop out. "Capitalism is the law of nature and we can't do anything about it. *handwaving*"

Not that I care tbc. =D
 

Alrus

Member
I dont understand what this means.

DQ is a very traditional style rpg with a traditional medieval setting and combat gameplay that hasn't changed that much between main installment. The Toriyama style hasn't changed much either and isn't really in line with modern anime aesthetics.

I don't think looking at Nier or Persona and saying "these games sold very well for what they are so DQ will do the same" is a valid point. They're not really comparable in terms of what the current jrpg audience in the west seems to buy.

It's also completely ignoring the fact that the Persona franchise has been steadily growing in the west for a while with even Spin-off being successful, or that the original Nier was a cult hit that a lot of people talked about for years after it came out. Things that didn't really happen with the DQ series recently (spin-off pretty much all bombed in the west and nobody really talks about DQIX the way people talked about Nier). Context matters.
 
I do think it's interesting to note that Nier: Automata and Persona 5 are two of the most notable examples of western success but neither are specifically designed to cater to the west(Nier is less western focused than the first game) and both of them outperformed their predecessors in Japan and some of the more successful console games of this generation.

I would think that to be FFXV. Its NPD debut was iirc 1.8- 2 million with digital. Western focus is the wrong wording. It just needs to appeal to the West and something does not need to be based on Western ways to do that.
 

Oregano

Member
It has nothing to do with design and everything to do with awareness and marketing. Nier Automata got more solid targeted marketing outside of Japan than Nier, or any of the B-tier Square Enix Japanese RPGs in the past years, ever got.

You don't have to make a "western" type game to sell well in the west. You need to make a game people are interested in playing and something that stands out in a competitive market. That's the mistake a lot of people make.

Agreed.

I would think that to be FFXV. Its NPD debut was iirc 1.8- 2 million with digital. Western focus is the wrong wording. It just needs to appeal to the West and something does not need to be based on Western ways to do that.

I'm hesitant to really include FFXV because although it had the best debut for an FF game it also had by far the longest sales period for its opening month and as far as I know its legs haven't been anything special. Plus FF was already a brand with a lot of popularity in the west.
 

Fiendcode

Member
I would think that to be FFXV. Its NPD debut was iirc 1.8- 2 million with digital. Western focus is the wrong wording. It just needs to appeal to the West and something does not need to be based on Western ways to do that.
That's not really too far off from FFXIII's 1.4-1.5m NPD retail only debut outside the holiday season though. FF is a huge established series, XV's sales aren't exactly operating far outside the norm for it.
 
That's not really too far off from FFXIII's 1.4-1.5m NPD retail only debut outside the holiday season though. FF is a huge established series, XV's sales aren't exactly operating far outside the norm for it.

FF XIII didn't open with 1.4-1.5M, more like 1.3M.

FINAL FANTASY XIII PS3 SQUARE ENIX Mar-10 828.2K
FINAL FANTASY XIII 360 SQUARE ENIX Mar-10 493.9K
 
I dont think many PS4 gamers are going to be breaking down the differences between anime art styles and turn based battles. If someone likes Persona's combat they are likely going to be interested in DQ11s.


Nioh, Nier, Persona, these games have nothing in common mechanically and aesthetically. The only link between these games are high review scores. . DQ11s sales depend on reviews and word of mouth. Thats how smaller games succeed in this current market.
 

LordKano

Member
Nioh, Nier, Persona, these games have nothing in common mechanically and aesthetically. The only link between these games are high review scores. . DQ11s sales depend on reviews and word of mouth. Thats how smaller games succeed in this current market.

I agree, I think positive word of mouth is more important these days than it has ever been. Fortunately it shouldn't be a problem for DQXI.
 
That's not really too far off from FFXIII's 1.4-1.5m NPD retail only debut outside the holiday season though. FF is a huge established series, XV's sales aren't exactly operating far outside the norm for it.

1.3 million. Not too far lol Thats a near 40% increase from the best selling debut of all time in the franchise.

Can't believe there are still some trying to downplay FFXV's sales xD

Agreed.



I'm hesitant to really include FFXV because although it had the best debut for an FF game it also had by far the longest sales period for its opening month and as far as I know its legs haven't been anything special. Plus FF was already a brand with a lot of popularity in the west.

FF legs have never been anything special in NPD and I'm not sure what you mean by longest sale period. Its a monthly debut.

Are we going to back pedal the last 5 years were people have been saying the FF brand is in massive decline, its not going to get near how it was back in last gen etc etc. Heck, I even remember in Type-0 sales thread some saying FFXV was not going to do well because the demo did not sell as well as they would of liked.
 

Fiendcode

Member
FF XIII didn't open with 1.4-1.5M, more like 1.3M.

FINAL FANTASY XIII PS3 SQUARE ENIX Mar-10 828.2K
FINAL FANTASY XIII 360 SQUARE ENIX Mar-10 493.9K
Oh right. Point still stands though given it released outside the holidays and had 1.5 weeks less tracking for the month. Physical units were only up 19% for FFV too so it's not going to be 1.8-2m either unless we had any indication of digital being ~250-450k?
 

Oregano

Member
1.3 million. Not too far lol Thats a near 40% increase from the best selling debut of all time in the franchise.

Can't believe there are still some trying to downplay FFXV's sales xD



FF legs have never been anything special and I'm not sure what you mean by longest sale period. Its a monthly debut.

Are we going to back pedal the last 5 years were people have been saying the FF brand is in massive decline, its not going to get near how it was back in last gen etc etc. Heck, I even remember in Type-0 sales thread some saying FFXV was not going to do well because the demo did not sell as well as they would of liked.

FFXV launched on the first day of the tracking period for that month, it had literally the longest amount of time possible in the tracking period.
 

Fiendcode

Member
1.3 million. Not too far lol Thats a near 40% increase from the best selling debut of all time in the franchise.

Can't believe there are still some trying to downplay FFXV's sales xD.
NPD said it was up 19% so I'm not sure where you're getting 40%?

And this isn't downplaying, it's just not really comparable to the jump P5 or Nier Auto had. Or even MH really going from Tri to 4U, which nearly doubled in western sales. FFXV did a bit better but not to any surprising degree given the release timing or franchise history.
 
Oh right. Point still stands though given it released outside the holidays and had 1.5 weeks less tracking for the month. Physical units were only up 19% for FFV too so it's not going to be 1.8-2m either unless we had any indication of digital being ~250-450k?

I don't think your point still stands though. Even if we consider that FF XV sold just 1.8M and XIII sold 1.4M that's still 400K difference (and that's a minimum, we could be looking at a 600k difference or more when everything is said and done). And both XV and XIII left the top 10 in it's second NPD charts.
 

ethomaz

Banned
1.3 million. Not too far lol Thats a near 40% increase from the best selling debut of all time in the franchise.

Can't believe there are still some trying to downplay FFXV's sales xD
It is not downplay... it opened 19% better than the previous best entry being the first game to have a full month tracked (literally it got tracked every day of the month).
 
It is not downplay... it opened 19% better than the previous best entry being the first game to have a full month tracked (literally it got tracked every day of the month).

19% is just for the physical units though:

- “Final Fantasy XV was the second best-selling title for December 2016, and was the top-selling title on the PS4,” NPD analyst Sam Naji explained in a statement. “Final Fantasy XV experienced the best console launch month in the history of the franchise (since tracking began in 1995) selling 19 percent more new physical units than Final Fantasy XIII in its launch month and 54 percent more in total dollar revenue including digital full game sales.”
 

Fiendcode

Member
I don't think your point still stands though. Even if we consider that FF XV sold just 1.8M and XIII sold 1.4M that's still 400K difference (and that's a minimum, we could be looking at a 600k difference or more when everything is said and done). And both XV and XIII left the top 10 in it's second NPD charts.
A 19% increase doesn't seem too outrageous given the time of release and difference in tracking period, that's all I'm saying. FF has been a western multimillion seller for decades now, I just don't think it makes a better case for capitalizing on global sales than Persona or Neir really despite being a bigger game. Especially considering those other titles also grew in Japan while FFXV faced a 50% decline locally.
 
NPD said it was up 19% so I'm not sure where you're getting 40%?

And this isn't downplaying, it's just not really comparable to the jump P5 or Nier Auto had. Or even MH really going from Tri to 4U, which nearly doubled in western sales. FFXV did a bit better but not to any surprising degree given the release timing or franchise history.

NPD don't count digital. Norm for digital is 20-30%. Its revenue was 50% increased incl. digital. I'm pretty sure if I sad FFXv would sell 1.8-2million in its NPD debut before launch, the vast majority would be in disbelief.

FFXV launched on the first day of the tracking period for that month, it had literally the longest amount of time possible in the tracking period.

Wait....you think an extra 8 days led to a increase of 500k+.....come on dude.
 

Fiendcode

Member
19% is just for the physical units though:

- “Final Fantasy XV was the second best-selling title for December 2016, and was the top-selling title on the PS4,” NPD analyst Sam Naji explained in a statement. “Final Fantasy XV experienced the best console launch month in the history of the franchise (since tracking began in 1995) selling 19 percent more new physical units than Final Fantasy XIII in its launch month and 54 percent more in total dollar revenue including digital full game sales.”
That's all we can compare though. Trying to use the revenue figure is skewed since FFXIII didn't have paid DLC or $90-270 CEs.
 
That's all we can compare though. Trying to use the revenue figure is skewed since FFXIII didn't have paid DLC or $90-270 CEs.

Sure, let's just ignore potentially 300-400k then.

Anyway, I don't think FF XV is relevant to DQ XI performance, unlike Nier, Nioh and PErsona, FF isn't a niche franchise.
 
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