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Media Create Sales: Week 3, 2017 (Jan 16 - Jan 22)

Nibel

Member
Very good results for Gravity Rush 2, expected much less

This better do good in the west as well since this has been in development for some time
 

BriBri

Member
Just a few more digital estimates from 28 November - 25 December:-

Pokémon Sun Moon - 18,029
Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS - 12,106
Momotaro Dentetsu 2017: Tachiagare Nippon!! - 7,176
Yokai Watch 3: Sukiyaki - 5,318
Miitopia - 3,888
 

Nyoro SF

Member
Lots of posts about Valkyria as expected. :p
Most people already covered the bases. There's a few things I wanted to mention.

A lot of people assume that the success of the PC version of VC1 led to Sega choosing to develop VAR. But that is not true. They started development of VAR in 08/2014, and the PC version's release is 11/2014. Decisions regarding this series are always made with the Japanese in mind first. The development interview of VAR said "we wanted to make a game that appealed to the typical Japanese (as in person) RPG player". The only thing the PC release of VC1 inspired was the release of VC1 Remaster on consoles.

Many people like to cite the 1 million sales number. But sadly, this incorporates the PC version. Despite an enthusiastic (and sometimes accusatory) fanbase, Valkyria games don't sell at full price. Even in Japan in 2008 on the PS3, VC1 sold a paltry 77k copies at launch. In North America it did far worse (33-40k), only moving units once the price was very heavily slashed, and only managed to double its initial NPD result one year later, silently and slowly eking forward.

I think the idea behind VAR and creating the Valkyria Project was a smart one (as mentioned in the interview). You don't have the fanbase size to properly develop a true HD sequel to Chronicles, and you also want to remake VC2 and VC3 but there's no way that's affordable, so what are the options? Expand the fanbase overall by creating a franchise with different genres utilizing different games. If the overall fanbase increases, then perhaps you can rely on a more stable sales foundation to sell future games. It's definitely a longshot and idealistic, so I have to admire them for trying in this risk-adverse market.

But they made way too many mistakes. While I understand that they didn't want people to be confused into thinking they were developing another Chronicles, they didn't include enough gameplay and visual callbacks to the Valkyria series, not really making VAR connect enough to the Valkyria "themes", thus making it look like just another random fantasy RPG. Their messaging on the English side of things was nonexistent, so foreign fans thought they were abandoning the Chronicles games entirely or creating a hacked up Chronicles sequel (you know how fans of JRPGs act when there's no English info around, imagination just runs wild). Japanese fans were unimpressed and as dev went on the quality wasn't there at all. If you've played FFXV or Tales recently then took a look at VAR then what on earth would inspire you to drop the day one cash for it unless you're a hardcore fanboy like me?

Sega had noble goals but their corporate efficiency, marketing execution and understanding of appeal is pretty awful. If you have a signature niche series, is it really worth announcing a spinoff that has almost zero callbacks to its source material and can't match basic ARPG standards? Is it worth having zero English information even if a localization isn't announced, thus letting fan imagination rather than facts dictate the flow of information before you even get a chance to market your game to Western fans that you reference in interviews as being an important reason to continue developing Valkyria games? While releasing playable demos of the game is smart and likely saved Sega from a financial disaster, is it really smart to put out a demo which is so barebones functional that people write off your whole game?

Regarding the sales, those numbers are actually higher than I expected. Vita fans aren't going to be satisfied with a home console game that just turned the graphic sliders down by 75%, but I thought the PS4 version was going to open at 20k because of all the mistakes. Not sure what Sega will do next honestly, either go for the mid-budget or lower Chronicles sequel or do a mobile game.
 

Fisico

Member
None of the Japanese series with multiple game entries on Steam sold as many as Valkyria Chronicles did. Price isn't the factor alone that have carried it to 1 million mark on PC. Many of those games with "first to be there" syndrome suffered from being old title where people much less enthusiastic. If those second entry was something more recent, something newer rather than a continuation of an old games, I predict people will be more likely to buy it.

Also we have to take account that most of these sales numbers we seen on PC are LTD. Directly comparing the sales between first and second entry isn't enough to gauge interest of the Steam audience whether or not they have genuine following on that series because legs play huge factor on PC.

Well I think we both agree, it's just that with one post it's hard to cover the whole situation and it doesn't make for an easy read (when in MC threads many occasional posters just don't bother reading 1 line posts)


A topic to bookmark on the subject


We have an interesting case in a few days with Tales of Berseria coming after Zestiria, the first simultaneous console PC release on western markets for the series, it's currently sitting at ~300k after reaching 100k in a matter of days/hours.

Though we're getting kinda off topic my point was just to say we can't compare as is PC sales to console sales, for example Sega as a whole barely made more gross sales with the PC release than they did with the PS3 release in Japan only (with a much lower investment in the product that is)

The question is if they were to release Valkyria Chronicles 4 in let's say Fall 2017 worldwide PS4/PC at 60$ what could they realistically expect for PC?

Price isn't the factor alone that have carried it to 1 million mark on PC.

That's a given that they always are multiple factors explaining the success or failure of a product in any market, but when your product enter in the "impulse purchase" price territory it's clearly a huge part of it.
 

StereoVsn

Member
Do people in the West even know GR2 released? Marketing for the game is non-existent. Sony just basically threw the game out to die in the West with just couple YouTube videos.

Considering the glut of Japanese games in Q1 in the West is anyone surprised? At least it seems with Yakuza 0 both Sony and Sega are doing a bit more promotion.
 

Chris1964

Sales-Age Genius
Famitsu Sales: Week 4, 2017 (Jan 16 - Jan 22)

01./00. [PS4] Gravity Rush 2 <ADV> (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2017.01.19} (¥6.900) - 69.092 / NEW <40-60%>
02./00. [3DS] Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World # <ACT> (Nintendo) {2017.01.19} (¥4.700) - 52.758 / NEW <60-80%>
03./00. [PS4] Valkyria Revolution <SLG> (Sega) {2017.01.19} (¥7.990) - 40.470 / NEW <60-80%>
04./04. [3DS] Pokemon Sun / Moon # <RPG> (Pokemon Co.) {2016.11.18} (¥4.980) - 25.516 / 3.576.934 <80-100%> (-39%)
05./01. [PS4] Kingdom Hearts HD II.8 Final Chapter Prologue <Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance HD \ Kingdom Hearts &#967;: Back Cover \ Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep - A Fragmentary Passage> <RPG> (Square Enix) {2017.01.12} (¥6.800) - 22.743 / 156.185 <80-100%> (-83%)
06./07. [3DS] Yo-Kai Watch 3: Sukiyaki <RPG> (Level 5) {2016.12.15} (¥4.800) - 21.215 / 619.294 <80-100%> (+11%)
07./00. [PSV] Valkyria Revolution <SLG> (Sega) {2017.01.19} (¥6.990) - 20.439 / NEW <60-80%>
08./05. [3DS] Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS <ACT> (Nintendo) {2016.12.01} (¥4.700) - 16.523 / 1.030.798 <80-100%> (-45%)
09./06. [3DS] Momotaro Dentetsu 2017: Tachiagare Nippon!! <TBL> (Nintendo) {2016.12.22} (¥4.980) - 11.391 / 357.790 <80-100%> (-53%)
10./02. [PSV] Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony # <ADV> (Spike Chunsoft) {2017.01.12} (¥6.400) - 11.001 / 96.044 <80-100%> (-87%)
11./03. [PS4] Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony # <ADV> (Spike Chunsoft) {2017.01.12} (¥7.400) - 6.893 / 54.402 <80-100%> (-85%)
12./08. [3DS] Miitopia <SLG> (Nintendo) {2016.12.08} (¥4.700) - 6.059 / 182.762 <80-100%> (-39%)
13./09. [PS4] Final Fantasy XV # <RPG> (Square Enix) {2016.11.29} (¥8.800) - 6.036 / 928.815 <80-100%> (-37%)
14./13. [PS4] Grand Theft Auto V [New Price Edition] <ACT> (Take-Two Interactive Japan) {2015.10.08} (¥4.990) - 5.541 / 193.765 <80-100%> (-26%)
15./14. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Welcome amiibo <ETC> (Nintendo) {2016.11.23} (¥2.700) - 5.453 / 119.301 <80-100%> (-26%)
16./15. [PSV] Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition # <ADV> (Sony Computer Entertainment) {2015.03.19} (¥2.400) - 5.176 / 930.915 <80-100%> (-25%)
17./11. [3DS] Yo-Kai Watch 3: Sushi / Tempura # <RPG> (Level 5) {2016.07.16} (¥4.800) - 4.848 / 1.448.376 <80-100%> (-39%)
18./17. [WIU] Minecraft: Wii U Edition <ADV> (Microsoft Game Studios) {2016.06.23} (¥3.600) - 3.994 / 278.575 <80-100%> (-25%)
19./00. [PSV] Hana Oboro: Sengoku Denranki # <ADV> (Idea Factory) {2017.01.19} (¥6.300) - 3.768 / NEW <60-80%>
20./19. [3DS] Mario Kart 7 <RCE> (Nintendo) {2011.12.01} (¥4.571) - 3.713 / 2.659.182 <80-100%> (-17%)
21./24. [PS4] Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege <ACT> (Ubisoft) {2015.12.10} (¥8.400) - 3.351 / 164.425 <80-100%> (-6%)
22./20. [PS4] Minecraft: PlayStation 4 Edition <ADV> (Sony Computer Entertainment) {2015.12.03} (¥2.400) - 3.189 / 172.404 <80-100%> (-28%)
23./18. [3DS] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball Heroes <SLG> (Konami) {2016.12.15} (¥4.500) - 3.152 / 98.988 <60-80%> (-40%)
24./21. [3DS] Puzzle & Dragons X: God Chapter / Dragon Chapter <RPG> (GungHo Online Entertainment) {2016.07.28} (¥4.800) - 2.926 / 295.807 <80-100%> (-22%)
25./25. [PS4] Battlefield 1 <ACT> (Electronic Arts) {2016.10.21} (¥7.800) - 2.709 / 251.228 <80-100%> (-20%)
26./16. [PS4] Yakuza 6: The Song of Life # <ADV> (Sega) {2016.12.08} (¥8.190) - 2.588 / 336.397 <80-100%> (-54%)
27./27. [PS4] Resident Evil 6 <ADV> (Capcom) {2016.12.01} (¥2.800) - 2.555 / 29.779 <80-100%> (-23%)
28./28. [WIU] Splatoon # <ACT> (Nintendo) {2015.05.28} (¥5.700) - 2.523 / 1.480.261 <80-100%> (-16%)
29./22. [PS4] Watch Dogs 2 <ADV> (Ubisoft) {2016.12.01} (¥8.400) - 2.482 / 101.298 <80-100%> (-33%)
30./23. [3DS] Mario Party: Star Rush <ETC> (Nintendo) {2016.10.20} (¥4.700) - 2.374 / 165.130 <80-100%> (-34%)

Top 30

3DS - 12
PS4 - 12
PSV - 4
WIU - 2

HARDWARE
Code:
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
|System |  This Week |  Last Week |  Last Year |     YTD    |  Last YTD  |     LTD     |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
| PS4 # |     36.413 |     49.274 |     24.825 |    268.177 |    160.365 |   4.189.793 |
| 3DS # |     34.278 |     46.381 |     29.966 |    321.926 |    235.306 |  22.233.339 |
| PSV # |     12.286 |     16.689 |     15.462 |    105.551 |    146.342 |   5.352.970 |
|  WIU  |      1.070 |      1.332 |      9.086 |      9.199 |    105.412 |   3.288.937 |
|  PS3  |        388 |        465 |      1.377 |      2.273 |      9.543 |  10.259.992 |
| XB1 # |        350 |        306 |        115 |      1.802 |        775 |      74.750 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
|  ALL  |     84.785 |    114.447 |     80.831 |    708.928 |    657.743 |  45.399.781 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
| XB1 S |        237 |        244 |            |      1.311 |            |       3.029 |
|  XB1  |        113 |         62 |        115 |        491 |        775 |      71.721 |
|PS4 Pro|      8.852 |      7.048 |            |     28.887 |            |     145.937 |
|  PS4  |     27.561 |     42.226 |     24.825 |    239.290 |    160.365 |   4.043.856 |
|  PSV  |     12.286 |     16.689 |     15.462 |    105.551 |    146.342 |   5.352.970 |
|  2DS  |      8.904 |     13.452 |            |    102.139 |            |     399.286 |
| n-3DS |     25.374 |     32.929 |     28.696 |    219.787 |    210.772 |   4.913.776 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
 
Do people in the West even know GR2 released? Marketing for the game is non-existent. Sony just basically threw the game out to die in the West with just couple YouTube videos.

Considering the glut of Japanese games in Q1 in the West is anyone surprised? At least it seems with Yakuza 0 both Sony and Sega are doing a bit more promotion.

The game is apparently a limited release in Canada. A bunch of people in the game deals thread have reported stock issues, and a few places actually ran out in the first few days. This on top of the remaster's Amazon exclusitivity (which was a US-only thing, so we didn't get that either) is so frustrating.
 

jonno394

Member
Pokemon Sun and moon is the biggest bomba.


From the looks of it, we can say Sun and moon will be lowest selling gen in Japan. Seems will also have a hard time reaching 4m.


I was right from the beginning.

Does Pokemon Stars/3rd version sales count towards this "gen"?
 

horuhe

Member
Media Create counts 35 One units sold and Famitsu counts 350 units. 1000% of difference and the worst is that Media Create counts 0 units for One S and Famitsu counts 237, lol.
 

jroc74

Phone reception is more important to me than human rights
I remember a thread where someone asked that ppl buy Gravity Rush 2.

Looks like they are in Japan. Might have helped that the game started on the Vita.
 

StereoVsn

Member
The game is apparently a limited release in Canada. A bunch of people in the game deals thread have reported stock issues, and a few places actually ran out in the first few days. This on top of the remaster's Amazon exclusitivity (which was a US-only thing, so we didn't get that either) is so frustrating.
Huh, so both GR2 and Yakuza Zero have that? Retailers must be very conservative with their estimates. That kind of goes back though to the whole marketing or lack thereof for the game and low preorders.
 

StereoVsn

Member
Well, 3 million in Japan is a more significant total than 4 million in the US.
What does this mean? How is selling 3 million more significant then selling 4 million?! What is clear though is that Nintendo is not capitalizing on the game popularity by promoting mercy sales which is weird. If this was say Disney you would have merch everywhere.
 

Chris1964

Sales-Age Genius
Does Pokemon Stars/3rd version sales count towards this "gen"?

It doesn't matter. The following weeks, with Golden Week being the ultimate proof, will show what legs Sun / Moon will have. X / Y had continued drops after December, showing zero legs. So far Sun / Moon holds a little better but soon it will be crystal clear if it will have the same fate with X / Y or not.
 

Bruno MB

Member
PREDICTION LEAGUE FEBRUARY 2017

Predict how much these titles will sell in the month (from Jan 30 to Feb 26):

[3DS] Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3 - Professional (18 days) -
[PS4] Nioh (18 days) -
[PS4] Super Robot Wars V (4 days) -
[PSV] Super Robot Wars V (4 days) -
[PS4] NieR: Automata (4 days) -

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deadline: February 01 2017 09:00 am (EST)

Attention:
  • Remember for some games it's not only the 1st week.
  • Multiplatform entries are the combined available sales of each platform described.

Rules:
  • Do not edit your post after the deadline. If you do, you'll be disqualified.
  • The official monthly hardware sales will be the sum of weekly numbers for all versions of the system available from Famitsu.
  • The official monthly software sales will be the latest total or the sum of the weekly numbers if the title is release before the period available from the Famitsu Top 30.
  • The official monthly sales for multi-platform releases will be the combined available sales of each platform shown in the title entry.
  • The official monthly sales for games with multiple versions will be the combined available sales of each version shown in the title entry.
  • Any game missing in the Famitsu top 30 will be taken out of the predictions.
 

Oregano

Member
What does this mean? How is selling 3 million more significant then selling 4 million?! What is clear though is that Nintendo is not capitalizing on the game popularity by promoting mercy sales which is weird. If this was say Disney you would have merch everywhere.

It's much easier to produce and distribute the merchandise in Japan than the US and stuff like Pokemon Centres make much more sense when there is a much higher density of customers.
 

StereoVsn

Member
It's much easier to produce and distribute the merchandise in Japan than the US and stuff like Pokemon Centres make much more sense when there is a much higher density of customers.
Yes because GameStop or Amazon do not exist. I am fairly certain that those two wouldn't have minded helping to distribute. Or hell, Walmart is around too.

This is just a result of the usual inward facing nature of a lot of Japanese gaming companies, IMO. Nintendo, Sega, Altus, etc... and then everyone wonders how come profits are not higher in the West.
 

Shengar

Member
Well I think we both agree, it's just that with one post it's hard to cover the whole situation and it doesn't make for an easy read (when in MC threads many occasional posters just don't bother reading 1 line posts)


A topic to bookmark on the subject


We have an interesting case in a few days with Tales of Berseria coming after Zestiria, the first simultaneous console PC release on western markets for the series, it's currently sitting at ~300k after reaching 100k in a matter of days/hours.

Though we're getting kinda off topic my point was just to say we can't compare as is PC sales to console sales, for example Sega as a whole barely made more gross sales with the PC release than they did with the PS3 release in Japan only (with a much lower investment in the product that is)

The question is if they were to release Valkyria Chronicles 4 in let's say Fall 2017 worldwide PS4/PC at 60$ what could they realistically expect for PC?



That's a given that they always are multiple factors explaining the success or failure of a product in any market, but when your product enter in the "impulse purchase" price territory it's clearly a huge part of it.

Fair points. However I'm still believe that 1 million sales on PC still show significant interest on the series, especially when we further considering that 67% of the owner have played the game (according to SteamSpy at least). That still account a number between 500k-600k. As we've discussed very recently on this thread, all of this depends on whether or not Sega able to deliver the right game that able to capture the attention of at least the fracture of those numbers. But it is just down right considering their track record with JRPGs, and not to mention that Valkyria: Azure Chronicle might have tarnished the reputation of Valkyria game instead.
 
I do wonder if the type of ps4 owner that Gravity Rush appeals to is also the type of gamer that doesnt need games marketed to them because they follow gaming closely online.
 

LotusHD

Banned
I do wonder if the type of ps4 owner that Gravity Rush appeals to is also the type of gamer that doesnt need games marketed to them because they follow gaming closely online.

ohhh.png
 

Shengar

Member
Yes because GameStop or Amazon do not exist. I am fairly certain that those two wouldn't have minded helping to distribute. Or hell, Walmart is around too.

This is just a result of the usual inward facing nature of a lot of Japanese gaming companies, IMO. Nintendo, Sega, Altus, etc... and then everyone wonders how come profits are not higher in the West.

Games in Japan are relatively more expensive than in the West. For example, Pokemon SunMoon was sold at 4980 yen which roughly equal to $43 with the current exchange rate. That $3 extra can really added up when we talking on number of millions.

On the retail stuffs,, retailer in Japan must have different policy than the likes of GameStop or Walmar that might have affect on the difficulty for (merchandising) companies to stock them with their merchandise. So yeah, probably it's not wrong to say that Japanese gaming companies are inward looking for this thing when the other market retailer posed prohibitive entry to sell their merchandise :p
 

Nyoro SF

Member
I do wonder if the type of ps4 owner that Gravity Rush appeals to is also the type of gamer that doesnt need games marketed to them because they follow gaming closely online.

That's been mentioned before by some industry guys.
Guess it comes down to perception. Some people firmly believe that games with more marketing would do better, while others think that a game is capped by its potential fanbase and extra marketing dollars are a waste of money.

Persona 5's western marketing probably being the biggest flash point in the debate.
 

Eolz

Member
It rather showing from their choice of artist tbh. Raita with his fetish go wild? Tony Taka and his acute syndrome of same face? Really now Sega? There's a better artist for the picking and either you pick the wrong guy or you direct them to the wrong way.

I thought Raita wasn't working on it this time and they were just reusing sole of his original designs as a base?

I do wonder if the type of ps4 owner that Gravity Rush appeals to is also the type of gamer that doesnt need games marketed to them because they follow gaming closely online.

Well... Yeah. That's a niche game, Sony won't waste marketing money on it if even the hardcore fringe is not buying it...
 

StereoVsn

Member
I do wonder if the type of ps4 owner that Gravity Rush appeals to is also the type of gamer that doesnt need games marketed to them because they follow gaming closely online.
If you want to sell 30-50K in he West and 70K in Japan, sure. If you actually want the game to succeed then no, it needs marketing.

GR2 is somewhat open world, has a very cool "flight" mechanic, great art and works design that go back to French comic book and animation designs, has interesting combat and a strong and fun female lead. Remind me why this would such an anathema to most Western gamers?

The vast majority of the West doesn't know the game exists. Sony couldn't even bother to sub the fairly awesome live action Gravity cat video.
 
That's been mentioned before by some industry guys.
Guess it comes down to perception. Some people firmly believe that games with more marketing would do better, while others think that a game is capped by its potential fanbase and extra marketing dollars are a waste of money.

Persona 5's western marketing probably being the biggest flash point in the debate.
I think the potential is there for certain franchises to benefit from expanded marketing but I do think selling to a crowd applies as well. Some series are going to stay capped regardless.
 

LotusHD

Banned
If you want to sell 30-50K in he West and 70K in Japan, sure. If you actually want the game to succeed then no, it needs marketing.

GR2 is somewhat open world, has a very cool "flight" mechanic, great art and works design that go back to French comic book and animation designs, has interesting combat and a strong and fun female lead. Remind me why this would such an anathema to most Western gamers?

The vast majority of the West doesn't know the game exists. Sony couldn't even bother to sub the fairly awesome live action Gravity cat video.

Yup. Like they just barely tried at all outside of Japan. Like if you can't even be bothered to sub a video, or post some artwork or something, I just dunno lol

I'm surprised we even got that Gravity Cat video to begin with, that shit was perfect in terms of giving it additional exposure.
 
That's been mentioned before by some industry guys.
Guess it comes down to perception. Some people firmly believe that games with more marketing would do better, while others think that a game is capped by its potential fanbase and extra marketing dollars are a waste of money.

Persona 5's western marketing probably being the biggest flash point in the debate.

I think a game like Persona 5 shouldnt fall into this category, if you have a 90 metacritic game on your hands you market it hard and see what happens.
 
If you want to sell 30-50K in he West and 70K in Japan, sure. If you actually want the game to succeed then no, it needs marketing.

GR2 is somewhat open world, has a very cool "flight" mechanic, great art and works design that go back to French comic book and animation designs, has interesting combat and a strong and fun female lead. Remind me why this would such an anathema to most Western gamers?

The vast majority of the West doesn't know the game exists. Sony couldn't even bother to sub the fairly awesome live action Gravity cat video.
I don't know, I just wonder how much of a bump would come from it. It would obviously help but would it really cause significant change?
 

StereoVsn

Member
Games in Japan are relatively more expensive than in the West. For example, Pokemon SunMoon was sold at 4980 yen which roughly equal to $43 with the current exchange rate. That $3 extra can really added up when we talking on number of millions.

On the retail stuffs,, retailer in Japan must have different policy than the likes of GameStop or Walmar that might have affect on the difficulty for (merchandising) companies to stock them with their merchandise. So yeah, probably it's not wrong to say that Japanese gaming companies are inward looking for this thing when the other market retailer posed prohibitive entry to sell their merchandise :p
If you sell 1 million or more copies (4 mil is just NA I think) it means that he revenue from them (plus likely higher digital revenue too) will outweigh the price differential.

For merchandise, I don't believe Amazon is quite particular considering the amount of crap they ship through Prime. GameStop would most likely jump at the opportunity to have some "exclusive merch". I will give you Walmart.

Again, it's Nintendo and other Japanese companies being very risk averse. It's understandable but they go so far onto that track that they lose profit, revenue and PR. Look at Nintendo missing that Christmas period with NES Mini or 2 million Switch units for the whole month of March or for various other backward looming decisions Japanese publishers take.

P5 is certainly a perfect example with Altus killing the hype around the game due to multiple delays and then not starting localization till Japanese game was complete, resulting in a long delay compared to Japan. Throw in terrible marketing for the game and you have the situation where only the usual crowd will pick it up.

Now take SE and FF XV. For all the game's faults and delays, SE ran a good marketing campaign which paid off. Game sold over 6 million and will be certainly toward the top selling FF games. Even Xbone version sold. Throw in DLCs, upcoming PC release in 2018, likely Complete edition in 2018, and you actually will have a profitable game for SE that raises visibility for FF against all odds (despite issues with the story, prolonged development and so on).

Or contrast with Last Guardian by Sony which was actually .. wait for it.... marketed and sold better then expected.
 

StereoVsn

Member
To expand on Gravity Rush. I don't actually think GR2 game is overall that particularly niche. It's open world (to an extent), it has an interesting cast of characters and great MC. World and character design is quite good and if anything recalls Gibli or French animation. There are no weird sexual innuendos. It has pretty good combat and cool enemy designs.

Again, there is nothing inherently niche here. Ni no Kuni sold over 1 mil on Gibli motive alone. With right marketing why couldn't GR2 sell as well as say Last Guardian?

But you have 0 marketing, exclusive physical in Amazon, no GR1 sales before GR2 (hell throw in that for free for GR2 pre-orders like Namco has done). And here we are with terrible Western sales and most likely death of the IP.
 

StereoVsn

Member
In what context?, that I was right from the beginning?


There is no way that Sun & moon will have better legs than X/Y especially that Nintendo Switch is coming and also Pokemon Stars is expected to come out this year.
Because 20 million people will buy Switch in 2017/2018 in Japan? Sure it will have legs. Nobody is going to be buying kids Switch till price drops.
 

ZSaberLink

Media Create Maven
Gravity Rush 2 needed TLG type marketing and exposure.

Um... Am I missing something? They had very similar first week sales in Japan. Or were the worldwide numbers for the Last Guardian decent?

The Last Guardian 68.368 107.940 107.940 0 SIE 08/12/2016

01./00. [PS4] Gravity Rush 2 <ADV> (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2017.01.19} (¥6.900) - 69.092 / NEW <40-60%>
 

Korigama

Member
To expand on Gravity Rush. I don't actually think GR2 game is overall that particularly niche. It's open world (to an extent), it has an interesting cast of characters and great MC. World and character design is quite good and if anything recalls Gibli or French animation. There are no weird sexual innuendos. It has pretty good combat and cool enemy designs.

Again, there is nothing inherently niche here. Ni no Kuni sold over 1 mil on Gibli motive alone. With right marketing why couldn't GR2 sell as well as say Last Guardian?

But you have 0 marketing, exclusive physical in Amazon, no GR1 sales before GR2 (hell throw in that for free for GR2 pre-orders like Namco has done). And here we are with terrible Western sales and most likely death of the IP.
Gravity Rush Remastered was the one with the Amazon-exclusive physical release, which is now out of print at this point. Sales for GR2 likely will be underwhelming in the West thanks to Sony not giving the same consideration to actually marketing the game as they did with TLG for its US release, but as mentioned by others in the thread, GR2 was going to be the last one for a while anyway.
 

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To expand on Gravity Rush. I don't actually think GR2 game is overall that particularly niche. It's open world (to an extent), it has an interesting cast of characters and great MC. World and character design is quite good and if anything recalls Gibli or French animation. There are no weird sexual innuendos. It has pretty good combat and cool enemy designs.

Again, there is nothing inherently niche here. Ni no Kuni sold over 1 mil on Gibli motive alone. With right marketing why couldn't GR2 sell as well as say Last Guardian?

But you have 0 marketing, exclusive physical in Amazon, no GR1 sales before GR2 (hell throw in that for free for GR2 pre-orders like Namco has done). And here we are with terrible Western sales and most likely death of the IP.
That's not how GR has been marketed though. It's a game that has it's roots on the Vita the Otaku black hole of consoles and is seen as some as having a "waifu" protagonist which you occasionally hear from it's fanbase. These factors alone explain why it's not treated as ghibli movie game. The fact it doesn't have panty shots etc doesn't matter too much to a more casual consumer they don't research to that depth. If you were to ask random gamers with a cursory awareness of gravity rush but have not actually played the game ghibli would not be particularly high on it's set of description.
 
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