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Media Create Sales: Week 3, 2015 (Jan 12 - Jan 18)

random25

Member
Pretty interesting stuff there ZhugeEX. Thanks for the info!

At one point some may have laughed at the idea of Tecmo Koei that they would like it to reach a million worldwide. It may end up happening after all lol. Still too far off with more or less 300k more sales needed, but man more than 500k in NA/JP plus whatever numbers they got in EU region is pretty huge for a Musou type of game.

Regardless, congrats to them!

And also, holy shit at that Xenoblade cover! Hope they'll use it as a final cover for every region.
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
One thing: month 5 doesn't exist yet for Hyrule Warriors, it came out in September, so 4 months. Also, I think we don't have digital sales, except for the first month (around 20,000, given the difference between retail and retail + digital), which still brings it pretty near to 400,000, and it surely sold a bit more digitally between October and December, so 400,000 is realistic.

Another thing: the Warriors franchise surely was selling much more than what I thought during the PS2 era.
 

ZhugeEX

Banned
Pretty interesting stuff there ZhugeEX. Thanks for the info!

At one point some may have laughed at the idea of Tecmo Koei that they would like it to reach a million worldwide. It may end up happening after all lol. Still too far off with more or less 300k more sales needed, but man more than 500k in NA/JP plus whatever numbers they got in EU region is pretty huge for a Musou type of game.

Regardless, congrats to them!

I wouldn't be surprised if EU sales were over 200k at this point based on trends I've been seeing. It opened better than Dynasty Warriors 7 and Koei sold in more than >120k in the EU in it's first few months.

1 million is certainly achievable but would be a lot more achievable if Japan actually bought this game.

Yes, it's the fastest selling Musou game in the USA of all time that is published by Koei.

One thing: month 5 doesn't exist yet for Hyrule Warriors, it came out in September, so 4 months. Also, I think we don't have digital sales, except for the first month (around 20,000, given the difference between retail and retail + digital), which still brings it pretty near to 400,000, and it surely sold a bit more digitally between October and December, so 400,000 is realistic.

Another thing: the Warriors franchise surely was selling much more than what I thought during the PS2 era.

Hence why I said it'd be over 400k inc Digital Download by month 5. Sorry, I cut out the part on the image where I said that so that's why it's not clear. The 400k is just to show that sales will exceed that number once DD is factored in to the 370k.

Just to give this some more data.(USA)

It took 4 months for Hyrule Warriors to get to 370k + DD (20k+)
It took 25 months for Dynasty Warriors 3 to exceed 390k+ (on PS2)
It took 13 months for Dynasty Warriors 4 to exceed 390k+ (on PS2)

No other mainline Dynasty Warriors game (in the USA) has sold more than that LTD. (as far as I'm aware)
 

Eolz

Member
Nice to know!
Well, even if Nintendo isn't too keen for a Hyrule Warriors sequel, KT will have some numbers to push for one. It's a good point for both in terms of 3rd party support.
 
I don't really see why people are so surprised about HW sales. The game sold well, sure, but I'm pretty sure 90% of its buyers saw it more as a Zelda game than a Musou game; of course it would have sold better than a Japan-centric IP that has always been hammered by Western reviewers, and had much more competition (PS2 had a lot of action games).
 
I wouldn't be surprised if EU sales were over 200k at this point based on trends I've been seeing. It opened better than Dynasty Warriors 7 and Koei sold in more than >120k in the EU in it's first few months.

1 million is certainly achievable but would be a lot more achievable if Japan actually bought this game.

Yes, it's the fastest selling Musou game in the USA of all time that is published by Koei.



Hence why I said it'd be over 400k inc Digital Download by month 5. Sorry, I cut out the part on the image where I said that so that's why it's not clear. The 400k is just to show that sales will exceed that number once DD is factored in to the 370k.

Just to give this some more data.(USA)

It took 4 months for Hyrule Warriors to get to 370k + DD (20k+)
It took 25 months for Dynasty Warriors 3 to exceed 390k+ (on PS2)
It took 13 months for Dynasty Warriors 4 to exceed 390k+ (on PS2)

No other mainline Dynasty Warriors game (in the USA) has sold more than that LTD. (as far as I'm aware)
I'm pretty sure it will hit 1 million, it just might take a little while. It will probably be over 1 million by the end of the year.
Nice to know!
Well, even if Nintendo isn't too keen for a Hyrule Warriors sequel, KT will have some numbers to push for one. It's a good point for both in terms of 3rd party support.
I dunno, based on the sales I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo has already approached Koei about a sequel. I could totally see this being a "one entry every system" franchise with the next one being an early title for the next handheld.
 

Kid Ying

Member
I dont know if its credible, but famitsu a year ago, put digital numbers of Wii party u as 9k and Zelda musou has since passes it a while ago, hence, its digital sales would be ~10k.

But i dont think we can trust famitsu that much. Also, hyrule warriors is in the all time top 20 digital sales for the console, so that would put everyone on that list above 10k digital.
 

ZhugeEX

Banned
Nice to know!
Well, even if Nintendo isn't too keen for a Hyrule Warriors sequel, KT will have some numbers to push for one. It's a good point for both in terms of 3rd party support.

Koei announced that their strategy for the future is through strengthening the current IP's they have through tie ups with various companies. For example Toukiden and Samurai Warriors 4 have their own anime and Fatal Frame had comics and stuff for that.

They also want to create new IP's and flesh them out like we've seen with Toukiden.

Another big area Koei want to focus on is collaborations and they teased Hyrule Warriors and Dragon Quest Heroes very early on and now said that they will be focusing on a collaboration with a big western IP. They haven't said what exactly but said it could take a couple of years for an announcement and release most likely.

Koei at the moment are focusing on
1. Make a big hit smartphone game
2. Focus on online/browser games for Asian market
3. Continue collaboration with other IP and reboot old IP + focus on expansion of current IP.
4. Promote multi platform development (PS3/PSV/PS4) (3DS/PSV) etc...
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
Famitsu No. 1634, for week 1, ending Jan 4:

[PS4] Yakuza: Ishin! - 229 / 129,536
[PS3] Yakuza: Ishin! - 130 / 255,601

[PS4] Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - 540 / 145,338
[PS3] Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - 462 / 261,314
[360] Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - - / 4,693

[PSV] Super Robot Wars Z III: Jigoku Hen - 138 / 164,989
[PS3] Super Robot Wars Z III: Jigoku Hen - 135 / 210,027

[PSV] Freedom Wars - 542 / 287,554

[WIU] Hyrule Warriors - 1,278 / 126,700

Thanks to BriBi.

If anyone is interested

First week / sales up to Week 1, 2015 [% of first week sales' incidence on total sales up to Week 1, 2015]

[PS3] Yakuza: Ishin! <ADV> (Sega) {2014.02.22} (¥8.600) - 142,811 / 255,601 [55.87%]
[PS4] Yakuza: Ishin! <ADV> (Sega) {2014.02.22} (¥8.600) - 73,086 / 129,536 [56.42%]

[PS3] 3rd Super Robot Wars Z: Jigoku-Hen <SLG> (Bandai Namco Games) {2014.04.10} (¥8.715) - 142,433 / 210,027 [67.82%]
[PSV] 3rd Super Robot Wars Z: Jigoku-Hen <SLG> (Bandai Namco Games) {2014.04.10} (¥7.689) - 128,236 / 164,289 [78.1%]

[PS3] Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes <ADV> (Konami) {2014.03.20} (¥2.980) - 151,300 / 261,314 [57.9%]
[PS4] Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes <ADV> (Konami) {2014.03.20} (¥2.980) - 100,278 / 145,338 [69%]

[PSV] Freedom Wars <ACT> (Sony Computer Entertainment) {2014.06.26} (¥6.264) - 187,890 / 287,554 [65.34%]

[WIU] Hyrule Warriors # <ACT> (Koei Tecmo) {2014.08.14} (¥7.980) - 78.773 / 126,700 [62.14%]


Latest known sales / sales up to Week 1, 2015 [% of latest known sales' incidence on total sales up to Week 1, 2015]

[PS3] Yakuza: Ishin! <ADV> (Sega) {2014.02.22} (¥8.600) - 229,879 / 255,601 [89.93%] (Week 11, 2014 - 4th Week in Charts)
[PS4] Yakuza: Ishin! <ADV> (Sega) {2014.02.22} (¥8.600) - 109,709 / 129,536 [84.69%] (Week 11, 2014 - 4th Week in Charts)

[PS3] 3rd Super Robot Wars Z: Jigoku-Hen <SLG> (Bandai Namco Games) {2014.04.10} (¥8.715) - 200,495 / 210,027 [95.46%] (Week 20, 2014 - 6th Week in Charts)
[PSV] 3rd Super Robot Wars Z: Jigoku-Hen <SLG> (Bandai Namco Games) {2014.04.10} (¥7.689) - 151,117 / 164,289 [91.98%] (Week 18, 2014 - 4th Week in Charts)

[PS3] Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes <ADV> (Konami) {2014.03.20} (¥2.980) - 241,202 / 261,314 [92.3%] (Week 21, 2014 - 10th Week in Charts)
[PS4] Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes <ADV> (Konami) {2014.03.20} (¥2.980) - 120,808 / 145,338 [83.12%] (Week 14, 2014 - 3rd Week in Charts)

[PSV] Freedom Wars <ACT> (Sony Computer Entertainment) {2014.06.26} (¥6.264) - 280,361 / 287,554 [97.5%] (Week 34, 2014 - 9th Week in Charts)

[WIU] Hyrule Warriors # <ACT> (Koei Tecmo) {2014.08.14} (¥7.980) - 114,252 / 126,700 [90.17%] (Week 38, 2014 - 6th Week in Charts)

Data source: Famitsu Top 30 Charts, no digital included
 

ZhugeEX

Banned
I don't really see why people are so surprised about HW sales. The game sold well, sure, but I'm pretty sure 90% of its buyers saw it more as a Zelda game than a Musou game; of course it would have sold better than a Japan-centric IP that has always been hammered by Western reviewers, and had much more competition (PS2 had a lot of action games).

I think it's a few factors, Wii U install base being one, third party games not doing well on Wii U. Musou isn't popular outside of Japan so much anymore and even in Japan the Musou fan base is not on Nintendo but on PlayStation and Zelda is not too popular anyway there.

So People weren't expecting to see massive sales say compared to games like One Piece Musou or Gundam Musou or even Shin Sangoku Musou where the fanbases in Japan are massive and even in the west there are enough people to bump sales over 1m worldwide for each instalment.

It's pretty obvious that if this was "another" Dynasty Warriors game but on Wii U it would have done terribly. The fact that it was based on Zelda, had good advertising, was actually a good fun game with loads of additional content, meant that it flew off the shelves.
 

Eolz

Member
Koei at the moment are focusing on
1. Make a big hit smartphone game
2. Focus on online/browser games for Asian market
3. Continue collaboration with other IP and reboot old IP + focus on expansion of current IP.
4. Promote multi platform development (PS3/PSV/PS4) (3DS/PSV) etc...

I know it isn't necessarily about that, but I really hope they aren't rebooting once again Ninja Gaiden after the bad reception of vanilla 3. Yaiba was trying to expand the IP and we've seen what it did (the fans know that it wasn't really part of the series, but still, horrible stuff).
I'm a bit worried we still haven't heard anything about NG4 when it was teased a bit in the past that this was their big project for this gen. Expected it at the Playstation conference in September, will really be surprised if we don't hear about it near E3.
 

Kid Ying

Member
I think Zelda musou did well in Japan for what its worth. Theres like fifteen games that did over 100k in Japan on wiiu and Zelda musou is one of them. It did better than games like donkey Kong, a much bigger franchise.

Not that those numbers are great for the series, but on the wiiu they are.
 

ZhugeEX

Banned
I know it isn't necessarily about that, but I really hope they aren't rebooting once again Ninja Gaiden after the bad reception of vanilla 3. Yaiba was trying to expand the IP and we've seen what it did (the fans know that it wasn't really part of the series, but still, horrible stuff).
I'm a bit worried we still haven't heard anything about NG4 when it was teased a bit in the past that this was their big project for this gen. Expected it at the Playstation conference in September, will really be surprised if we don't hear about it near E3.

In terms of reboots we've seen Bladestorm from Koei and Deception from Tecmo.

I honestly don't think we'll see a re-release of original Ninja Gaiden games but it may happen.

In regards to next gen, Koei are being very cautious with next gen at the moment as they know the majority of the games they develop cater to Japan where next gen consoles haven't exactly taken off.

It's a very different approach to last gen where Koei had 3+ exclusive PS3 games in development before the PS3 even launched. This gen all we've seen is ports from PS3 and cross gen games onto PS4. And the reason is that Koei don't want to invest heavily in next gen is because they don't want a repeat of PS3 launch (where sales on their next gen games were lower than expected) and because install base on PS4 is low. Koei are doing everything they can to extend the life of their current games before moving onto next gen version. SW4-II being a good example to use.

In fact I predicted a very long time ago that we wouldn't see a next gen only title from Koei until at least 2016 (in terms of release date). I can accept we might see one at the end of this year but I'm fully expecting more PS4/PS3 titles such as Dragon Quest Heroes, Samurai Warriors 4-II and Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires before we see a true next gen title.

Koei's strategy is clear to me on this.
 
If the PS3 to PS4 ratio is still the same for Japanese software by the time MGSV is released, then the PS4 will be in horrible shape. It's possible, but it'll also be a clear sign that many Japanese gamers are not interested in upgrading consoles anymore.

At the very least then, MGSV should do 350k on PS4. I do expect the ratio to increase towards PS4......due to the bundles lol

I think it's a few factors, Wii U install base being one, third party games not doing well on Wii U. Musou isn't popular outside of Japan so much anymore and even in Japan the Musou fan base is not on Nintendo but on PlayStation and Zelda is not too popular anyway there.

So People weren't expecting to see massive sales say compared to games like One Piece Musou or Gundam Musou or even Shin Sangoku Musou where the fanbases in Japan are massive and even in the west there are enough people to bump sales over 1m worldwide for each instalment.

It's pretty obvious that if this was "another" Dynasty Warriors game but on Wii U it would have done terribly. The fact that it was based on Zelda, had good advertising, was actually a good fun game with loads of additional content, meant that it flew off the shelves.

It seems though that its the Zelda audience that has bought into this game hence it doing well in the West.

Koei's strategy of making musou games using other franchises is a clever way of going around their problems of sales decline in Japan and lack of sales in the West.

I'm curious on what their best selling game is though. DW4 did around 1.2 million in Japan at 400k+ in US, so I'm guessing thats probably their best selling title, sitting around 2 million.

One thing they need to be careful of is their IP decline. One Piece pirate warriors sold 1.2 million WW and yet the sequel has probably sold about half of that.

I do have to say I was surprised that they managed to get SE on board to make DQH. That must of been a big get for them. If DQH is successful its possible SE may give Koei the thumbs up on other franchises such as Final Fantasy or KH.
 

ZhugeEX

Banned
At the very least then, MGSV should do 350k on PS4. I do expect the ratio to increase towards PS4......due to the bundles lol



It seems though that its the Zelda audience that has bought into this game hence it doing well in the West.

Koei's strategy of making musou games using other franchises is a clever way of going around their problems of sales decline in Japan and lack of sales in the West.

I'm curious on what their best selling game is though. DW4 did around 1.2 million in Japan at 400k+ in US, so I'm guessing thats probably their best selling title, sitting around 2 million.

One thing they need to be careful of is their IP decline. One Piece pirate warriors sold 1.2 million WW and yet the sequel has probably sold about half of that.

I do have to say I was surprised that they managed to get SE on board to make DQH. That must of been a big get for them. If DQH is successful its possible SE may give Koei the thumbs up on other franchises such as Final Fantasy or KH.

Agreed. DW4 did around 1.21m across PS2/Xbox in Japan and sold over 550k+ in USA. It's their best selling Dynasty Warriors mainline game to date with more than 2m sold in worldwide.

One Piece Pirate Warriors sold 860k in Japan and the sequel has sold 565k in Japan. Worldwide the first game sold well over 1.2m but no idea about the second one as it's mostly digital sales that will need to be counted. I do agree that DW is on a decline but sales are being made up through additional musou games rather than just relying on one big title like they did in the past. Ofc development costs will go up so it's a bit of a catch 22.

If you are interested I did write this report maybe a couple of years ago now. It's history of Dynasty Warriors series in Japan in terms of sales. Data taken from Koei, Famitsu, Media Create, Dengeki as well as data from Koei's American office I was able to obtain from Amos Ip.

Dynasty Warriors sales in Japan

Dynasty Warriors (Shin Sangoku Musou) is a series of Hack-n-slash action games started by Koei and created by Omega Force. It draws inspiration from the historical novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, entailing the epic struggle of power between three kingdoms in ancient China. The series originally started as a 3D fighting game adaptation of the Romance of the Three Kingdom strategy series. When the developers wanted to port the fighting game to the PlayStation 2, they had second thoughts due to the fighting game boom at the time. To make themselves stand out, they envisioned a battlefield scenario and focused on the prospect of the player working with a team to fight against several opponents at once. After they decided to incorporate more elements from the Three Kingdoms era, it eventually became the hack-and-slash hit that it's known for today. To establish a distinct difference between the first release of the series, the word "true" (shin) was inserted for the second title. Hence, the Japanese title for Dynasty Warriors 3 is actually Shin Sangoku Musou 2 and so on.

As mentioned above, the first Dynasty Warriors game for PS1 was a 3D one on one fighting game. The game contained 10 playable characters with an additional 6 bonus characters that could be unlocked using various methods. The first game wasn't quite seen as a success for KOEI and this prompted them to work on a better sequel which led to the 1 vs 1000 type game we all know and love today. Dynasty Warriors for the PlayStation 1 shipped 110,000 units in Japan.

1_zpsc5e20c4f.jpg


Koei released Dynasty Warriors 2 in Japan as one of the first PS2 games on August 8th 2000. The game was also a launch game for the North American and European PS2 launch. It departed from the VS fighter style of the previous game and started the dynamic battlefield gameplay that is the series staple to this day. To represent this change in focus, the game was named differently in Japan adding the Shin, making the title Shin Sangoku Musou, literally meaning "Real - Unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms". The Dynasty Warriors name was kept in the west, leading to the number discrepancies between the international releases and Asian titles.

Dynasty Warriors 2 opened with fairly good sales and maintained a steady selling pace in Japan as the PS2 userbase grew. KOEI shipped 340,000 units of Dynasty Warriors 2 (a BEST version was released with 10k additional sales) and under 500,000 units overseas. The success of Dynasty Warriors 2 and it's hack and slash style gameplay led to the release of many sequels and spin off games.

2_zps0ccb36e2.jpg


After the success of Dynasty Warriors 2 worldwide, KOEI set their sights on a sequel and released Dynasty Warriors 3 in Japan on September 20th 2001 for PS2 and Xbox. Dynasty Warriors 3 is widely regarded as one of the best Dynasty Warriors games of all time and is known to have one of the hardest AI enemies. Dynasty Warriors 3 introduced new elements such as players being able to collect and equip various items and weapons. The game also introduced many other new features.

Dynasty Warriors 3 shot to the top of the sales charts in Japan during it's first week on sale by selling through over 250,000 units in it's first week. Sales of the game kept up over the year. In just under four months, over 1 million copies of Dynasty Warriors 3 had been sold in North America and Japan combined and made it the first of KOEI's games to pass one million sales on a single platform and making it a platinum title. Not only that but it topped the sales charts for five consecutive weeks and, according to Famitsu Weekly, it was ranked the 9th best selling game of 2001 in Japan. Dynasty Warriors 3 eventually went on to sell over 2 million units worldwide with 1,100,000 of those units being sold in Japan. On March 6, 2003, Dynasty Warriors 3 received Animation Magazine's "Best Overall Game Animation" award. This was Koei's first award for a Dynasty Warriors game.

DW3_zps18f3a879.jpg


After the success of Dynasty Warriors 3, KOEI released their first expansion to the game under the title "Dynasty Warriors 3: Xtreme Legends". The game launched as a PS2 exclusive in Japan and expanded on the original game. Xtreme Legends added several new features to Dynasty Warriors 3, including new items and the ability to fully customize bodyguards. Xtreme Legends also included a Musou Mode for the playable characters who did not belong to either Wu, Wei, or Shu (Diao Chan, Lu Bu, Zhang Jiao, Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao, Zhu Rong and Meng Huo). Xtreme Legends also allowed players to obtain a fifth-level weapon for each character and added two new difficulty levels: Beginner and Expert. The game sold through over 280,000 units during it's first week on sale in Japan and shipped 760,000 units lifetime.

In addition to the huge succes of Dynasty Warriors 3 and Dynasty Warriors 3 XL on PS2, Koei has published over 400,000 copies (as of 15th January 2002) of its strategy guide for this title - "Dynasty Warriors 3 Complete Guide, Vols 1 & 2". This is the highest figure ever for a book published by Koei.

DW3XL_zps94f31c0d.jpg


Due to the huge success of Dynasty Warriors 3 and XL, Omega Force began development on the sequel, Dynasty Warriors 4, and its expansions. Dynasty Warriors 4 for PS2 launched on February 27th 2003 in Japan to a huge launch week of over 720,000 sales. The game went on to sell over 1 million units in just it's first 9 days on sale becoming the best selling Dynasty Warriors games in Japan and one of the best selling PS2 games of all time in Japan. According to Famitsu, Dynasty Warriors 4 shipped 1,250,000 units in Japan making it the 7th best selling PS2 game of all time.

Sales overseas were great as well and just like Dynasty Warriors 3, the game ended up selling over 2 million units worldwide with the game getting a Greatest Hits release in the USA due to the popularity and great sales figures. Koei followed up Dynasty Warriors 4 with two spin offs on consoles, Xtreme Legends and Empires. Dynasty Warriors 4 Xtreme Legends shipped 580,000 units in Japan and Dynasty Warriors 4 Empires shipped 320,000 units in Japan. The Dynasty Warriors 4 series of games in Japan shipped over 2 million units combined.

DW4_zps21b53d72.jpg


Dynasty Warriors 5 was released on the 24th of February 2005 on PS2 and Xbox. The game once again shot to the top of the charts selling over 560,000 units during it's first week on sale in Japan. Dynasty Warriors 5 was another successful game developed by KOEI's Omega Force development studio shipping over 1.1m units worldwide in it's first month. The game eventually shipped 950,000 units in Japan and over 1.5m units worldwide as of March 31st 2006. The game saw 2 spin offs in the form of Xtreme Legends and Empires. Due to the number of years that Dynasty Warriors 5 was out and sold for, the game's characters, visuals, and fighting style are also the most publicized versions to date. KOEI published a lot of related media incuding a trading card pack, mini replica weapons and characters, an eight volume fanbook publication, official guide books and a comic series.

Dynasty Warriors 5 Xtreme Legends released exclusively on PS2 in Japan on the 15th of September 2005. The game had a fairly good opening and was able to ship 400,000 units in Japan lifetime. KOEI also released a version of DW5XL for Xbox 360 under the name Dynasty Warriors 5: Special which combined the original game and Xtreme Legends spin off into one package. The game did not sell well with around 10,000 units sold through. Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires sold through 150,000 units in Japan lifetime.

DW5_zps8c7772b1.jpg


Dynasty Warriors 6 was the true next gen Dynasty Warriors game releasing on November 11th 2007 in Japan for PS3 and Xbox. Dynasty Warriors 6 is a total revamp from previous games and has been rebuilt from the ground up. Koei planned to make this game feel like an old kung-fu action movie as the attacks are motion-captured by real life martial artists. The game was met with a mixed reception and failed to sell well with reviewers or consumers. Though the game was designed to be released exclusively for next-gen consoles, the company decided to release a PlayStation 2 version of the title.

Dynasty Warriors 6 opened to fairly mediocre sales of 210,000 units across PS3 and Xbox 360. The PS3 version was bundled with the 40GB PS3 variant at the time. Dynasty Warriors 6 went on to sell 480,000 units across PS3 and Xbox 360 in Japan. Dynasty Warriors 6 Special was released in Japan on the PS2 as a way to cater for fans of the series who had yet to upgrade to next gen. The game sold a fairly solid 250,000 units in Japan giving Dynasty Warriors 6 a total of ~730,000 units sold across PS3/PS2 and Xbox 360. The game shipped over 830,000 units in the first 5 months and over 1 million units worldwide in the first year.

Dynasty Warriors 6 only saw one spin off which was Empires. The game was released on PS3 and Xbox 360 only and did not see a PS2 release. In Japan the game did not sell too well with an attach rate of under 40% compared to the original game. KOEI shipped 190,000 units of the game in Japan and over 500,000 units worldwide. A PSP version of the game was released which shipped 50,000 units.

DW6_zps35dd5a3c.jpg


Dynasty Warriors 7 was released on March 11th 2011 in Japan to celebrate the 10th anniversary since the start of the Shin Sangoku Musou series. Everything has been stated to be revamped, from characters, stories, and weapon system. The theme for this title is to present a "seamless, cinematic one-versus-thousand" game. The producer replied he wants to continue making a focused, dramatic narrative with character stories in the series. He is also stringent on stating the game is not a complete abolishment of the sixth title nor the complete return of the fifth title. This game was devised to be an "entirely new system", and that the final product is their end result of several experiments and repeated trials for their product.

Dynasty Warriors 7 was a PS3 exclusive in Japan and sold 260,000 units during it's first week on sale (Compared to 180,000 for DW6 on PS3). The game went on to sell through 495,000 units in Japan and over 1 million worldwide across PS3 and Xbox 360. KOEI released a number of spin off games, the first one was Dynasty Warriors 7: Special for the PSP which sold 85,000 units in Japan. Dynasty Warriors 7: Xtreme Legends sold 160,000 units in Japan and Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires sold 140,000 units in Japan. In total, the Dynasty Warriors 7 series and spin offs shipped over 880,000 units in Japan.

DW7_zpsd1a82140.jpg


Dynasty Warriors 8, which was released on February 28 2013 in Japan, has been dubbed the ultimate Dynasty Warriors experience by KOEI as it builds on the base of Dynasty Warriors 7 and includes over 80 playable characters, an all new lighting system, upgraded graphics and unique movesets for everyone. Just like Dynasty Warriors 7, the game was launched as a PS3 exclusive in Japan. The game recieved fairly good reviews and has been said to be a true return to form for the series.

Sales for the game were not as good as previous games, KOEI sold through 210,000 units in it's first week and shipped 400,000 units lifetime to date. So far KOEI have shipped over 650,000 units worldwide. November 28th 2013 saw the release of Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends for PS3 and PS Vita. So far the game has sold through over 100,000 units combined. I would expect KOEI to sell through around 140,000 units on PS3 and Vita. The game will also release overseas this spring on PS3/PSV and PS4. Japan will also get the PS4 version on February 2014.

DW8_zpsaccfb234.jpg


So there you have it. Dynasty Warriors sales in Japan. Phew.

Portable Releases

The Dynasty Warriors series had proved very popular on home consoles shipping over 7 million units worldwide as of October 2004. KOEI decided to branch out and release the multi-million selling series on portable console. Dynasty Warriors Vol 1 was released for PSP on the 16th of December 2004 and shipped 300,000 units lifetime. A sequel was released on 23rd of March 2006 which did not fare as well just shipping 60,000 units in Japan. KOEI also released Dynasty Warriors Advance for the GBA which shipped 50,000 units. Dynasty Warriors DS shipped 30,000 units in Japan.

Due to the drop in sales on portable consoles, KOEI developed a new type of game for PSP under the name "Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce. The game shipped 395,000 units in Japan proving to be a huge succces, The HD re-release also shipped around 120,000 units in Japan and this prompted the release of Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce 2 which did not perform as successfully shipping under 150,000 units across PSP and PS3. KOEI took advantage of the new PSV and N3DS and released Dynasty Warriors Next for PSV which shipped 110,000 units in Japan. Dynasty Warriors VS sold through around 50,000+ units on 3DS.

table_zps29a643a7.jpg
 

antibolo

Banned
I wish KT would fix the numbering discrepancy between the Japanese and English names already, it's pretty silly.

Thank god Square fixed that stupid mistake back then with Final Fantasy VII.
 
I think Zelda musou did well in Japan for what its worth. Theres like fifteen games that did over 100k in Japan on wiiu and Zelda musou is one of them. It did better than games like donkey Kong, a much bigger franchise.

Not that those numbers are great for the series, but on the wiiu they are.

There's interesting implication from Zelda Musou for 3rd parties on Nintendo consoles.

Basically if you slap Nintendo IP on your game sales will skyrocket.
 

ZhugeEX

Banned
I wish KT would fix the numbering discrepancy between the Japanese and English names already, it's pretty silly.

Thank god Square fixed that stupid mistake back then with Final Fantasy VII.

They did the same with Warriors Orochi 3 as well.

It's Musou Orochi 2 in Japan but 3 here.

Tbh i'm not too fussed. It doesn't really make a difference.
 

Kid Ying

Member
There's interesting implication from Zelda Musou for 3rd parties on Nintendo consoles.

Basically if you slap Nintendo IP on your game sales will skyrocket.
I believe so. I actually dont think no third parties game can sell on the wiiu, but i think the audience is much more inclined to buy the games they know so thats why taiko can do good, its a franchise firmly rooted on nintendo consoles by now, where other games cant.

When Zelda musou was released, i remember gamesmaya saying that there were a lot of people buying because was Zelda and a lot of people because it was a musou title. I believe there is an audience for a musou game on the system, its just not as big as in other consoles. Being an exclusive game and having the Zelda name helped it. Maybe an exclusive musou game on the wiiu could sell an 50, 60k Ltd. Having a know character is what brings the rest of the sales.

So, to prevent the time and money loss and try to bring an audience that may never come, its better to just slap a know IP on a game to guarantee it will sell a little better.
 
There's no mystery to HW sales. It's basically a zelda game with more focus on action, appealing to the nintendo fanbase obviously has an effect on sales if you succeed.

No other mainline Dynasty Warriors game (in the USA) has sold more than that LTD. (as far as I'm aware)
in your previous post you said dw4 eventually doubled its numbers, which means nearly 600k sold? (doubled 298k) am i mistaken?

Agreed. DW4 did around 1.21m across PS2/Xbox in Japan and sold over 550k+ in USA. It's their best selling Dynasty Warriors mainline game to date with more than 2m sold in worldwide.
ok nevermind
 

Oregano

Member
I believe so. I actually dont think no third parties game can sell on the wiiu, but i think the audience is much more inclined to buy the games they know so thats why taiko can do good, its a franchise firmly rooted on nintendo consoles by now, where other games cant.

When Zelda musou was released, i remember gamesmaya saying that there were a lot of people buying because was Zelda and a lot of people because it was a musou title. I believe there is an audience for a musou game on the system, its just not as big as in other consoles. Being an exclusive game and having the Zelda name helped it. Maybe an exclusive musou game on the wiiu could sell an 50, 60k Ltd. Having a know character is what brings the rest of the sales.

So, to prevent the time and money loss and try to bring an audience that may never come, its better to just slap a know IP on a game to guarantee it will sell a little better.

Yeah. Having the Zelda IP attached is certainly massive but there are other beneficial factors as a result of that. If we compare it to Warriors Orochi 2 Hyper for instance(the first Musou on Wii U) it's an exclusive with much more marketing.

The marketing factor is a big one. If the Dynasty Warriors/Samurai Warriors got the same push as Hyrule Warriors did in the west they would sell a lot better.

I think Tekken Tag Tournament 2's Nintendo content shows that slapping the IP on an existing game isn't a panacea.
 

vinnygambini

Why are strippers at the U.N. bad when they're great at strip clubs???
Ahahahahaha oh man joke of the year and it's only January.

It's got to be in FY16. Either December or March.

I mean, the traditional pattern has been Final Fantasy in Nov-Dec & Dragon Quest Feb-March for the last 3 fiscal years.

I doubt they are going to change that routine ;.;
 
It's got to be in FY16. Either December or March.

I mean, the traditional pattern has been Final Fantasy in Nov-Dec & Dragon Quest Feb-March for the last 3 fiscal years.

I doubt they are going to change that routine ;.;

I don't know about routine but I'm guessing it will be Feb-March 2016.
 

Spiegel

Member
I think Tekken Tag Tournament 2's Nintendo content shows that slapping the IP on an existing game isn't a panacea.

It shows that using a Nintendo IP is much more valuable than porting a game with added elements from another Nintendo IP.

Those two approaches are not comparable in any way.

Hyrule Warriors without Hyrule would have been lucky to sell 20% of what it has sold. Not only because of the audience on Nintendo consoles, but the actual number of people who buys warriors games outside of Japan
 

Oregano

Member
It shows that using a Nintendo IP is much more valuable than porting a game with added elements from another Nintendo IP.

Those two approaches are not comparable in any way.

Hyrule Warriors without Hyrule would have been lucky to sell 20% of what it has sold. Not only because of the audience on Nintendo consoles, but the actual number of people who buys warriors games outside of Japan

You revised it up from 10% but I still think 20% is underestimating how an exclusive game with an equal amount of advertisement would have sold. Hell Hyrule Warriors' sales aren't that much higher than Bayonetta 2's at the moment.
 
You revised it up from 10% but I still think 20% is underestimating how an exclusive game with an equal amount of advertisement would have sold. Hell Hyrule Warriors' sales aren't that much higher than Bayonetta 2's at the moment.
so hw sold well only because of ads?

look at dw sales, it's been on decline with every installment, hw completely reversed it, many games bomb despite ads, it's clear zelda and the zelda fanbase on wii u is the reason for the game's success.
 

ZhugeEX

Banned
There's no mystery to HW sales. It's basically a zelda game with more focus on action, appealing to the nintendo fanbase obviously has an effect on sales if you succeed.


in your previous post you said dw4 eventually doubled its numbers, which means nearly 600k sold? (doubled 298k) am i mistaken?


ok nevermind

Sorry, when I said "Other" I meant other than DW3 and DW4.
 

ZhugeEX

Banned
You revised it up from 10% but I still think 20% is underestimating how an exclusive game with an equal amount of advertisement would have sold. Hell Hyrule Warriors' sales aren't that much higher than Bayonetta 2's at the moment.

ummmm yes it is?

Bayonetta 2 is at 135k in the USA and less than ~60k in Japan.

Hyrule Warriors is around ~400k in the USA and ~130k in Japan.

look at dw sales, it's been on decline with every installment, hw completely reversed it, many games bomb despite ads, it's clear zelda and the zelda fanbase on wii u is the reason for the game's success.

One thing to keep in mind is Koei used to have DW as the ONLY musou game.

Now they have others like One Piece, Gundam, Samurai, FOTNS etc.... and sales are spread out across each game with cumulative sales = much more than PS2 singular game sales.
 

Oregano

Member
so hw sold well only because of ads?

look at dw sales, it's been on decline with every installment, hw completely reversed it, many games bomb despite ads, it's clear zelda and the zelda fanbase on wii u is the reason for the game's success.

That is not remotely what I have said. At any point. Whatsoever.

EDIT:
ummmm yes it is?

Bayonetta 2 is at 135k in the USA and less than ~60k in Japan.

Hyrule Warriors is around ~400k in the USA and ~130k in Japan.



One thing to keep in mind is Koei used to have DW as the ONLY musou game.

Now they have others like One Piece, Gundam, Samurai, FOTNS etc.... and sales are spread out across each game with cumulative sales = much more than PS2 singular game sales.

That's a lot more than 20% though(which is my point). It's 36% if I worked it out correctly.
 
ummmm yes it is?

Bayonetta 2 is at 135k in the USA and less than ~60k in Japan.

Hyrule Warriors is around ~400k in the USA and ~130k in Japan.
yeah i felt something off about that...lol

That is not remotely what I have said. At any point. Whatsoever.
ok

One thing to keep in mind is Koei used to have DW as the ONLY musou game.

Now they have others like One Piece, Gundam, Samurai, FOTNS etc.... and sales are spread out across each game with cumulative sales = much more than PS2 singular game sales.
yeah but don't forget dev cost would increase also, they also have to keep branching out to other IPs to find sales, not sure how sustainable that is, i guess there's always a chance of a particular IP that blows up and koei would be able to milk it.
 

ZhugeEX

Banned
yeah but don't forget dev cost would increase also, they also have to keep branching out to other IPs to find sales, not sure how sustainable that is, i guess there's always a chance of a particular IP that blows up and koei would be able to milk it.

Yeah I mentioned this on the previous pages If you want to have a read through some of my posts. Don't know if you'll find it interesting but my posts on last two pages cover DW series and Musou in a lot of detail.

That's a lot more than 20% though(which is my point). It's 36% if I worked it out correctly.

Ah right, didn't realise you meant more than 20%. I thought you meant the two had very similar sales.

But seriously, a Musou game on Wii U would have bombed without the Zelda branding. Just look how horrible Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper did... or hey, go look back at SW3 sales for the Wii which had like 60m+ more install base than Wii U at time of release.
 
Yeah I mentioned this on the previous pages If you want to have a read through some of my posts. Don't know if you'll find it interesting but my posts on last two pages cover DW series and Musou in a lot of detail.
yep i read em all, very good post

u should add spin off sales if you have them, eg. orochi warriors

Yeah I mentioned this on the previous pages If you want to have a read through some of my posts. Don't know if you'll find it interesting but my posts on last two pages cover DW series and Musou in a lot of detail.



Ah right, didn't realise you meant more than 20%. I thought you meant the two had very similar sales.

But seriously, a Musou game on Wii U would have bombed without the Zelda branding. Just look how horrible Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper did... or hey, go look back at SW3 sales for the Wii which had like 60m+ more install base than Wii U at time of release.
and without the zelda branding, the game wouldn't have received the marketing it did, not sure why that needs to be brought up
 

Oregano

Member
Yeah I mentioned this on the previous pages If you want to have a read through some of my posts. Don't know if you'll find it interesting but my posts on last two pages cover DW series and Musou in a lot of detail.



Ah right, didn't realise you meant more than 20%. I thought you meant the two had very similar sales.

But seriously, a Musou game on Wii U would have bombed without the Zelda branding. Just look how horrible Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper did... or hey, go look back at SW3 sales for the Wii which had like 60m+ more install base than Wii U at time of release.

As I said though Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper was a late (but enhanced) port and received a lot less promotion. I believe that the Musous released on PS4 so far have sold in similar amounts as well.

EDIT:
and without the zelda branding, the game wouldn't have received the marketing it did, not sure why that needs to be brought up

I wonder if anyone thought to mention that. Oh wait...

Yeah. Having the Zelda IP attached is certainly massive but there are other beneficial factors as a result of that. If we compare it to Warriors Orochi 2 Hyper for instance(the first Musou on Wii U) it's an exclusive with much more marketing.
 

ZhugeEX

Banned
yep i read em all, very good post

u should add spin off sales if you have them, eg. orochi warriors

See below-

Orochi 3/ultimate sales may be slightly off as I wrote this report a long time ago.


Warriors Orochi sales in Japan

Warriors Orochi (Musou Orochi) is a crossover series fusing the worlds of Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors. Originally, the game Warriors Orochi was supposed to be a parting game for the PS2 after PS3 was released. It was also meant to be a "wish fulfillment" production for both fans and developers alike.

However, due to the success and fan reaction of the first game, Koei made a series out of the concept. They also broadened their range of characters by adding historical and mythical figures from time periods predating the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors series. The Warriors Orochi series has added twenty five characters to the general Warriors series and redesigned two other warriors. Most of these characters are based on various books and legends, such as Journey to the West, Fengshen Yanyi and The Tale of the Heike. The series allows several cross-era relationships that previously had no chance of happening.

Warriors Orochi launched in Japan on March 21st 2007 for the PlayStation 2. The game also came out on PSP, PC and Xbox 360 in Japan and overseas. As mentioned above, the main draw of Warriors Orochi was it's large cast made up of Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors and other new characters. The game also added many new gameplay mechanics and features. The game allowed the player to choose 3 character teams, you played as one character at a time but could switch between characters at any time and even mid combo. Warriors Orochi opened with 380,000 units during it's first week on PS2. The PS2 and Xbox 360 version of the game went on to sell 670,000 units in Japan. The game was also released on PSP and PC. The PSP version of the game opened with 50,000 units and went on to sell 180,00 units in Japan. Overall, Warriors Orochi sold 850,000 units across PS2, Xbox 360 and PSP in Japan.

Warriors Orochi had shipped 1.0m units worldwide fairly quickly. And by May 31st 2008, Warriors Orochi had shipped over 1.5m units worldwide across all platforms (PS2, 360, PSP, PC).

WO1_zps9aad0902.jpg


Warriors Orochi was a huge succes for KOEI, the game shipped as many units worldwide as Dynasty Warriors 5 and the first Samurai Warriors game. For a spin off game to sell this many units was monumental. KOEI started work on Warriors Orochi 2 (Known as Musou Orochi: MaÃ&#402;Æ&#8217;ââ&#8218;¬Â¦Ã&#402;â&#8364;&#353;Ã&#8218; Sairin in Japan). Warriors Orochi 2 was released on April 3rd 2008 for PS2 in Japan. The game also saw a release on Xbox 360 and PSP. The PS2 version sold 220,000 units during it's first week and 460,000 units in total across PS2 and Xbox 360. The game was once again seen as a success, especially on such an aging console. The PSP version was released on November 7th 2008 and sold through 250,000 units lifetime in Japan. In total, Warriors Orochi 2 sold through 710,000 units in Japan lifetime across PS2, PSP and Xbox 360. What is surprising here is how the PSP version of Warriors Orochi 2 sold much better than the first game on PSP. What was expected was to see PS2 sales declining, especially after PS3 had been released. Despite being a spin off in Japan, Warriors orochi 2 still managed to sell ~85% of the units that the first game did across PS2, 360 and PSP. Impressive. Warriors Orochi 2 is estimated to have sold over 1m units worldwide across all platforms.

WO2_zpsca825fc1.jpg


KOEI noticed that PS2 sales had dropped (and that PSP sales had increased), the reason was due to the age of PS2 and the fact that PS3 was now the current gen console at the time. KOEI had seen a similar drop on Gundam Musou 2 for PS2. KOEI released Warriors Orochi Z exclusively in Japan for the PS3. The game contained the first and second game on the same disc with some bonus elements. The game released on the 12th of March 2009 in Japan and sold 275,000 units. Very good sales for a PS2 port of two games to PS3.

WOZ_zps0e975137.jpg


KOEI moved the main series into the PS3 era with Warriors Orochi 3. The game was marketed as the biggest and best Orochi game yet. The game released on PS3 and Xbox 360 on the 22nd of November 2011. It was the first numbered Orochi game to not see a release on PS2. Warriors orochi 3 sold through 210,000 units during it's first week on sale and over 430,000 units across PS3 and Xbox 360. This pretty much matched Warriors Orochi 2 sales across PS2 and Xbox 360 (Before BEST re-releases). A huge success for KOEI who had recently started to see declining sales for their other Musou franchises. The PSP version did not fare as well as it only sold 100,000 units. KOEI took advantage of the Wii U launch by porting an enhanced version of the game to the newly released console. Warriors Orochi 3: Hyper underperformed and only shipped 35,000 units. KOEI started to work on a spin off for Warriors Orochi 3 and released Warriors Orochi 3: Ultimate on PS3 and PS Vita in Japan on the 26th of September 2013. So far the game has sold 200,000 units and is still selling in Japan. The Warriors Orochi 3 series of games (3, Special, Hyper, Ultimate) have sold over 760,000 units in Japan.

WO3_zps24761cba.jpg


The Warriors orochi series started off as a bit of fanservice but is now one of KOEI's best selling Musou franchises in Japan. The game allows fans of KOEI's Musou games to play as their favourite characters against orochi. The Warriors Orochi series has now sold over 2.5m units in Japan. I have no doubt that we will see another Warriors Orochi game in the future.

combined_zps317b936e.jpg



WOsales_zps07fd85e5.jpg
 

Kid Ying

Member
Of course the Zelda part of the game helps a lot. That's also why the one piece and hokuto versions did so well.

But i also dont think that's the only thing that made the game sell. At least in Japan. The musou name helps to bring some sales and we can only guess how being an exclusive title(which hyper wasnt) helped its sales. Im surge bayo 2 would sell less on the wiiu if it was also on the ps3, just because of the overlap. There is an audience that plays action games on the system, its just not a big one.
 

Chris1964

Sales-Age Genius
I wish KT would fix the numbering discrepancy between the Japanese and English names already, it's pretty silly.

Thank god Square fixed that stupid mistake back then with Final Fantasy VII.

The problem with Dynasty Warriors is western naming. Sangoku Musou is a completely different game from Shin Sangoku Musou.
 

ZhugeEX

Banned
For those interested in Samurai Warriors series-

(Yes I know I'm obsessed with Musou)

Samurai Warriors 4 sales in Japan

Samurai Warriors (Sengoku Musou) is the second franchise of Warriors games created by Omega Force set in the Japanese Warring States period. The first Warriors series, Dynasty Warriors, crosses over with this one in the Warriors Orochi universe. After Hisashi Koinuma worked on Dynasty Warriors 3: Xtreme Legends, he sought to create a Warriors title that represented one of his original interests in Koei. He thought that if Dynasty Warriors is the action version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it would be natural to create a version based on the Nobunaga's Ambition franchise. When he pitched the title, Koinuma directed his concern to "refresh" the one versus a thousand theme.

Changing the setting alone created more leeway for focusing on the characters and their future, he argued. Compared to the Three Kingdoms' giant battlefields, the Warring States could become more concentrated on smaller incidents and sieges. He has also wanted to create a game where the player could witness each characters' different fates within a united story, one that doesn't completely follow history or common portrayals found within fiction. Doing so was his belief of making historical figures within this game unique and interesting. With these ideas in mind, Koinuma supported the creation of this series. He actively listens to the responses from fans in Japan and works to make their biggest requests possible.

The first Samurai Warriors game launched in Japan on the 11th of February 2004. At a time when musou games was popular this new title rocketed to the top of the charts in Japan selling over 600,000 units in it's first week and over 1 million units during it's first month on sale. The game was a huge success for KOEI as they eventually managed to ship over 1.5 million units of Samurai Warriors for PS2 and Xbox worldwide. Whilst not as popular as Dynasty Warriors, the Samurai Warriors showed it was here to stay and this led to the release of a sequel and many more spin offs.

SW1_zps9fe3fdc6.jpg


After the success of Samurai Warriors, KOEI released Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends for the PS2 in Japan on the 16th of September 2004. The game sold around 200,000 during it's first week on sale and shipped 390,000 units in Japan during it's lifetime. Compared to the original game the spin off did not and would not match it in terms of sales figures. This is due to the close proximity between SW1 and SW1XL. However, a 40% attach rate to a spin off game is fairly good. Dynasty Warriors 4 - XL had an under 50% attach rate.

SWXL_zpsf39f52e3.jpg


In 2005, KOEI decided to release a portable version of the Samurai Warriors series and so released "Samurai Warriors: State of War" for PSP on the 18th of December 2005. However, it is not a straight conversion. It is more like Dynasty Warriors for the PlayStation Portable, giving it an "Empires" style of playing.The portable version of the game failed to take off and only shipped 110,000 units lifetime in Japan. It is because of this and low rated reviews that we don't see any more Samurai Warriors PSP games until 7 years later.

KOEI started to work on the highly anticipated sequel to Samurai Warriors after this and released Samurai Warriors 2 for PS2 and Xbox 360 on the 24th of February 2006. The game sold fairly well in Japan opening with over 300,000 units sold through during it's first week. KOEI shipped 550,000 units during the first month on sale and eventually over 600,000 units were shipped in Japan due to the "BEST" re release one year later. Samurai Warriors once again was seen as a huge success for KOEI in Japan. Samurai Warriors eventually shipped around 800,000 units worldwide by the end of 2006.

SW2_zpsa98769ae.jpg


KOEI decided to cash in on the success of the Samurai Warriors series and introduced the Empires spin off which launched on the 16th of November 2006 in Japan for PS2. Samurai Warriors 2: Empires sold through around 90,000 units during it's first week and shipped around 210,000 units lifetime. Samurai Warriors 2: Xtreme Legends was also released as a spin off title on 23/08/2007 and saw sales of 175,000 units during it's first week and over 320,000 units shipped lifetime. Overall KOEI shipped over 1.1m units of the Samurai Warriors 2 series (Inc spin offs) in Japan .

SW2XL_zps84ff9416.jpg


Up until 2007, Samurai Warriors had been exclusively on Playstation consoles with some ports to Xbox and Xbox 360 for the major games. In 2007, KOEI tried a new approach with Samurai Warriors porting the engine to the Nintendo Wii and releasing "Samurai Warriors Katana" for Wii in Japan on the 20th of September 2007. The game performed disastrously with only 35,000 units being shipped in Japan lifetime. Despite this setback, KOEI partnered with Nintendo for the release of Samurai Warriors 3 which gave Nintendo publishing rights for the game. Samurai Warriors 3 was a Wii exclusive title which launched in December 2009 to fairly low sales of just 125,000 units during it's first week on sale. Eventually, KOEI were able to ship 270,000 units in Japan and thanks to the re release in 2011 this number went up to 320,000 units. It can be seen that the publishing deal between Nintendo and KOEI was not a great one as SW3 did not sell as well as expected seeing a 45% drop in sales from the second game and a 70% drop in sales from the first game. Samurai Warriors 3 also performed pretty poorly in the west and this is one of the reasons why the spin offs were not localised. During FY2009, KOEI saw their game sales decrease by 14% and their operating profit decrease by 91%. KOEI could only ship a total of 5.77m units compared to the 7m of the previous year.

SW3_zps0546bf82.jpg


After the publishing deal with Nintendo ran out, KOEI announced Samurai Warriors 3: Xtreme Legends for Nintendo Wii and Samurai Warriors 3Z for PS3 in Japan. Both games were released in Japan on the 10th of February 2011. There was a huge demand for a Samurai Warriors game on PS3 and the game surged to the top of the sales charts with 220,000 units sold during the first week and 350,000 units lifetime. Despite being a spin off, the game comfortably exceeded the orignal games sales on the Wii. SW3XL for Wii did not fare so well and only sold 25,000 units during it's first week and under 80,000 units lifetime. This prompted KOEI to release Samurai Warriors 3: Empires as a PS3 exclusive which sold around 140,000 lifetime. KOEI also released a version of Samurai Warriors 3 for the PSP in Japan which sold around 50,000 units.

SW3Z_zps46aeec7c.jpg


Samurai Warriors 4 was released in March 2014 on PS3 and PS Vita. It was the first mainline Samurai Warriors game exclusively on Sony consoles since 2006. During the first week, Samurai Warriors 4 sold 138,600 units on PS3 and 44,300 units on PS Vita taking the combined sales for the first week to around ~183,000 units.

Koei shipped a total of 340,000 units in the first month and released a PS4 version later in the year. Total cumulative sales for the PS3/PSV/PS4 version stand at 400,000 units+

SW34_zps329cfcbf.jpg


Please take a look below for a list of all Samurai Warriors titles released in Japan with lifetime sales. (LT sales include re releases and treasure box etc...)

sw4sales_zps59fbccfc.jpg


Graph format-

SWG_zps82cb44eb.jpg
 

hiska-kun

Member
Let's talk a little about japanese shops. First take a look at this picture.

69CB9653-CBC8-42E9-84ED-DCEA63182D6F_zpsbf6xm1er.jpg


Nothing strange at first glance. But, what if I tell you that until last week that looked like this?

52847A8E-D8D3-413A-87B4-3BB81E2C4D25_zpsfkfokfjw.jpg


Yes, XB One stand has been relocated to a different and smaller place. It's normal if the system is selling just 300 units, right?
This happened in Yamada Denki in Ikebukuro.
I think it's a matter of months that shops start removing it definetly.

Second.
I'm going to pay more attention from now to the situation regarding Amiibos.
That's the stand in Yamada Denki.
2E1C1787-ECCE-41BB-9071-3FC725C74DAF_zpsrfhsyudp.jpg


It's pretty big, and it seems fully available. But the truth is that not all the characters are in the stand, probably they don't have all of them.

If I go to Bic Camera Ikebukuro, I can see how the sold out letters are present (&#21697;&#20999;&#12428;&#20013;)
66A68499-7BE3-4440-8E0A-BD48100D4350_zps9iea2loj.jpg

Murabito, Marth, Estela and Cp Falcon are sold out.

The truth is that the time I was in the shop I saw at least 3 people buying 3 different Amiibos. Making 9 in total. Obviously that's just anecdotal evidence and we can't extrapolate. But I had the impression that Amiibos weren't selling that well in Japan compared to the west. But it seems there's some succes here too.

Anyway, Nintendo might provide us some numbers per region next week.
 

BriBri

Member
Not just amiibo figures but it'll be interesting to see numbers/profits from kisekae plates, themes and badges where the profit margin has to be enormous.
 

L~A

Member
Yes, XB One stand has been relocated to a different and smaller place. It's normal if the system is selling just 300 units, right?
This happened in Yamada Denki in Ikebukuro.
I think it's a matter of months that shops start removing it definetly.

Pretty sure lots of shops have already started removing it a while ago... For it to sell 300 in a week...

But yeah, future looks pretty bleak for Microsoft in Japan... then again, I doubt they care much anymore. All the "X1 will have Japanese games!" comments were aimed at western players anyway.
 

Darius

Banned
Let's talk a little about japanese shops. First take a look at this picture.

69CB9653-CBC8-42E9-84ED-DCEA63182D6F_zpsbf6xm1er.jpg


Nothing strange at first glance. But, what if I tell you that until last week that looked like this?

52847A8E-D8D3-413A-87B4-3BB81E2C4D25_zpsfkfokfjw.jpg


Yes, XB One stand has been relocated to a different and smaller place. It's normal if the system is selling just 300 units, right?
This happened in Yamada Denki in Ikebukuro.
I think it's a matter of months that shops start removing it definetly.

Second.
I'm going to pay more attention from now to the situation regarding Amiibos.
That's the stand in Yamada Denki.
2E1C1787-ECCE-41BB-9071-3FC725C74DAF_zpsrfhsyudp.jpg


It's pretty big, and it seems fully available. But the truth is that not all the characters are in the stand, probably they don't have all of them.

If I go to Bic Camera Ikebukuro, I can see how the sold out letters are present (&#21697;&#20999;&#12428;&#20013;)
66A68499-7BE3-4440-8E0A-BD48100D4350_zps9iea2loj.jpg

Murabito, Marth, Estela and Cp Falcon are sold out.

The truth is that the time I was in the shop I saw at least 3 people buying 3 different Amiibos. Making 9 in total. Obviously that's just anecdotal evidence and we can't extrapolate. But I had the impression that Amiibos weren't selling that well in Japan compared to the west. But it seems there's some succes here too.

Anyway, Nintendo might provide us some numbers per region next week.

This kind of abrupt change of allocated shelf space, suggests that MS Japan is cutting down marketing spenditures (including retail space).
In your example it seems that it´s mostly Nintendo systems/software that benefits from this development, how does it look like in other retailers, is Nintendo getting the lion share of this now "free" space or is it more evenly shared?
 
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