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Media Create Sales: Week 36, 2017 (Sep 04 - Sep 10)

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
January is crazy.

What's Switch's first notable game of 2018? (or game period I guess)

I know Kirby is Spring....
When is Mario + Rabbids?

Mario + Rabbids is the only Switch game dated so far for 2018?
It will be curious to see its performances.
 

WestEgg

Member
Did Stardew release in Japan? I could see that being HUGE there, especially on Switch.

Edit: I remembered that Google exists and answered my own question.
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
I think one difference between Tri and World is IIRC Tri had a separate online sub just for Monster Hunter.

World will of course require PSN, but I assume most PS4 owners utilize the service.
 

Laplasakos

Member
Kind of seems like it is?

"Sooooo we don't have anything to sell your for Christmas/Holidays... but how about you buy this to prepare you to play MHW in two months?"

Heck I would buy ask for it for Christmas if I were a huge MH fan lol.

How is it even comparable? From one hand you immediatly get a limited PS4 Pro, along with a digital copy of the game which releases after a month and a half and from the other you get an empty box with a voucher (that Star Wars thing you mentioned).
 

Fiendcode

Member
My guess for MHW is 800k fw, 1.5m lifetime. It's going to do relatively well in Japan for a PS4 game, it's the west where it'll disappoint (little growth from MH4U).
 

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
My guess for MHW is 800k fw, 1.5m lifetime. It's going to do relatively well in Japan for a PS4 game, it's the west where it'll disappoint (little growth from MH4U).

those numbers aren't just "relatively well in Japan for a PS4 game", imho.
are very good numbers for a PS4 game.
 
I think one difference between Tri and World is IIRC Tri had a separate online sub just for Monster Hunter.

World will of course require PSN, but I assume most PS4 owners utilize the service.

I guess that could help it, though tri had the advantage of releasing when monhun was hitting it's peak popularity and I'd say things are down at least just a notch from then
 

L~A

Member
Was expecting a January release for MHW, guess my intuition was right for once.

Oh, and was it hiska-kun who joked about Sony pushing for a MHW bundle in December? It was pretty likely they'd try and do a DQH-like bundle, especially with how relatively weak the holiday line-up is.

Q1 is indeed packed, but that's been standard for PS platforms for a few years now iirc... at least it's a bit more spread out than a few years ago, with the Week of Death in March.

Q1 is generally weak on Nintendo side, with exceptions, so Switch will be interesting (especially since line-up is really barren right now). Which is why I'm definitely expecting Nintendo to announce something, for March or something.
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
Yeah, that's almost as good as PS4 Dragon Quest. Granted, it won't have to deal with more than half its sales on another system, but still that's a tall order. I'm curious about the overall hype for this game in Japan.

Should get first sense when preorders open shortly.
 

Fiendcode

Member
Was expecting a January release for MHW, guess my intuition was right for once.

Oh, and was it hiska-kun who joked about Sony pushing for a MHW bundle in December? It was pretty likely they'd try and do a DQH-like bundle, especially with how relatively weak the holiday line-up is.

Q1 is indeed packed, but that's been standard for PS platforms for a few years now iirc... at least it's a bit more spread out than a few years ago, with the Week of Death in March.

Q1 is generally weak on Nintendo side, with exceptions, so Switch will be interesting (especially since line-up is really barren right now). Which is why I'm definitely expecting Nintendo to announce something, for March or something.
Smash March. Believe.
 

Laplasakos

Member
In isolation it does. In reality though it only exists because it became clear PS4 can't pull it's own weight. And SE was right, it can't.

I don't know what this has to do with what we were talking about and why you are bringing it up but it isn't true at all. Where did you get this anyway?
 

Fiendcode

Member
With the western launch, worldwide.
Yes.

DQ Builders Switch: Spring 2018
DQXI PSwitch4: Summer/Fall 2018
DQB2 PSwitch4: Early 2019

Sprinkle in DQ1-3 PSN/eShop, maybe some Steam ports, possibly DQHI&II Switch and Fortune Street PS4, and if the stars align maybe Nintendo publishes DQXI 3DS too.
 

fortunato

Banned
That's a more cynical approach to it, but you could also see it as: "Hey, MH's coming out in just a month or so, and you'll be able to play it best on this PS4 Pro!"

After all, Pro adoption rates still aren't amazing anywhere (not that you would expect them to be), and this is even more true in Japan, so the more that are out there, the better.

Why cynical. There is no need to launch a limited edition hardware before the game comes out if the hardware can sell well by itself. This happened another time, and it was a desperate move as well: Dragon Quest Heroes, when PS4 was barely selling 15k units per week. Sony has been missing the holiday seasons for years now, it's nothing new.

So we know the details for MH World launch- updated guesses at FW/LTD?

I'll take a guess at 750K FW/1.25M LTD.

If Dragon Quest can debut close to one million, I cannot see why Monster Hunter could not do as well. I think around 1m FW and 1.8m LTD is a reasonable target in Japan.

those numbers aren't just "relatively well in Japan for a PS4 game", imho.
are very good numbers for a PS4 game.

Unfortunately, shareholders do not care about relative terms.
 
I don't know what this has to do with what we were talking about and why you are bringing it up but it isn't true at all. Where did you get this anyway?

It is true, the game was intended for the PS4 only, but they ended up making a 3DS version because they didn't think the PS4 would do well enough, and they were right. We've known this for a while, and if I weren't in class, I'd look for and link proof, so I'll apologize for temporarily leaving you hanging.

I don't agree with looking at the games individually, though, we don't know how profitable this will be for SE, but regardless, both versions are still DQ XI, not "DQ XI for 3DS" or whatever, so yeah, it's a useless point to make, imo.
 
Whether DQ11 was supposr to be PS4 only or was always in sinulataneous development is not well known. They have released conflicting information. Of that conflicting info none of it read "PS4 can't pull good enough numbers". That's just speculation.

Granted we know it's true but even so. Game wasn't exclusive, we dunno how it would perform if it was. The West is the real test. Will it sell more than the 1 million DQ9 did? Possibility is there.
 
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giphy.gif
 

fortunato

Banned
Whether DQ11 was supposr to be PS4 only or was always in sinulataneous development is not well known. They have released conflicting information. Of that conflicting info none of it read "PS4 can't pull good enough numbers". That's just speculation.

Granted we know it's true but even so. Game wasn't exclusive, we dunno how it would perform if it was. The West is the real test. Will it sell more than the 1 million DQ9 did? Possibility is there.

I do believe a 3DS-bound version could have sold as well as how the two versions combined are selling, maybe even better if released a year ago or so. The opposite is much harder to believe: a PS4-bound DQXI would have not been able to sell more than 2m units.
 

Laplasakos

Member
Because 3DS wasn't the original target, it was a shift based off real world market forces. And yes it's true.

No it's not. This is just speculation from your part. We already have an official insight for this. After they announced the game, Hori was asked why they made 2 versions.

http://gematsu.com/2015/07/dragon-quest-xi-first-interview-yuji-horii-translated

They wanted a home console version but they also thought a portable version was something logical after DQIX. You really want us to believe that after the nunerous DQ games that 3DS got, DQXI would be PS4 exclusive? Do you have an official source for what you're claiming?
 
I do believe a 3DS-bound version could have sold as well as how the two versions combined are selling, maybe even better if released a year ago or so. The opposite is much harder to believe: a PS4-bound DQXI would have not been able to sell more than 2m units.

A lot of 3DS games would be selling better if they released a year ago. Reality is they didn't know. Game wasn't ready. This is pointless speculation really.

A PS4 only DQ11 may get over 2m. Maybe it doesn't. Who knows? 2m for a DQ mainline game is bad though so even if it sqeaked to 2.2 or something it wouldn't change anything. PS4 can't support an ecosystem of multi million selling Japanese titles. Hence the focus on making the games bigger globally
 

D.Lo

Member
A lot of 3DS games would be selling better if they released a year ago. Reality is they didn't know. Game wasn't ready. This is pointless speculation really.
Not really? The point is from a ROI perspective, DQ on PS4 was likely a huge mistake. A 3DS version would also have easily been ready a year earlier so would have hit when it was still peaking.

PS4 is by far the least successful console in history to receive a mainline Dragon Quest game at launch. Every other entry on the series has only ever appeared on market leading platforms in (or after) their market maturity phase.
 

Fiendcode

Member
No it's not. This is just speculation from your part. We already have an official insight for this. After they announced the game, Hori was asked why they made 2 versions.

http://gematsu.com/2015/07/dragon-quest-xi-first-interview-yuji-horii-translated

They wanted a home console version but they also thought a portable version was something logical after DQIX. You really want us to believe that after the nunerous DQ games that 3DS got, DQXI would be PS4 exclusive? Do you have an official source for what you're claiming?
The official source would be Square Enix themselves.


And Horii's been inconsistent on this too:

 
Not really? The point is from a ROI perspective, DQ on PS4 was likely a huge mistake. A 3DS version would also have easily been ready a year earlier so would have hit when it was still peaking.

How do you actually know this? More speculation?

PS4 is by far the least successful console in history to receive a mainline Dragon Quest game at launch. Every other entry on the series has only ever appeared on market leading platforms in (or after) their market maturity phase.

Okay. And? What does that have to do with the fact that we don't live in a world where it was a 3DS only game ready 7+ months earlier?
 

fortunato

Banned
A lot of 3DS games would be selling better if they released a year ago. Reality is they didn't know. Game wasn't ready. This is pointless speculation really.

A PS4 only DQ11 may get over 2m. Maybe it doesn't. Who knows? 2m for a DQ mainline game is bad though so even if it sqeaked to 2.2 or something it wouldn't change anything. PS4 can't support an ecosystem of multi million selling Japanese titles. Hence the focus on making the games bigger globally

Of course it is speculation. All we are doing here is speculation, after all.

What I was saying is that 3DS could support a 4m+ game (this is quite proven, in fact). PS4 cannot... simply because of installed base issues. The fact that the game wasn't ready is because the aim was to release both versions simultaneously (and PS4 development took longer), or because the 3DS version was an aftermath, and therefore its development started later. That's why I think this wasn't a smart choice in short-term (remember that we should add the Switch version, which could have existed in this scenario as well). If Horii wanted to release its last DQ on a home console, a late PS4 version could have still existed, à la Ni no Kuni; at the same time, they could have maximized 3DS sales in 2015 or 2016 (I think if this would have been the plan, Square Enix had been able to release a 3DS game earlier).

Right now, DQXI is selling around 3.1-3.2m units, 1m behind DQIX. The latter sold more than 5m units worldwide. Unless they have a different business model in mind for the Western release, or they are expecting the Switch version to blow out, DQXI PS4 will have a hard time to make up for the lost Japanese sales. I'm sure there are plenty of other factors to take into account, su perhaps we can discuss about them ;)
 

Vena

Member
What an empty press conference...

*drum roll*

Just like the bundle.

----

More seriously, MHW isn't delayed but Pro bundle seems stupid. I was expecting Slim. I can't see this doing anything close to DQH just on price point disparity.

Holiday is otherwise barren, and they lined up a lot for January with World and Hokuto.
 

D.Lo

Member
How do you actually know this? More speculation?

Okay. And? What does that have to do with the fact that we don't live in a world where it was a 3DS only game ready 7+ months earlier?
This started because you said DQXI 3DS sold badly for a DQ game.

But if you break the versions up, looking at the perspective of 3DS as the 'main' version (in sales), it was 'sabotaged' by having a PS4 version. It being on PS4 without doubt sent the overall budget and development time way up, (hence delay of the 3DS version past that console's peak sales time) and since they apparently had to launch together the 3DS version got to launch alongside the 'better' version, cannibalising it.

Reality is it's a bizarre, unprecedented release. Literally the equivalent of releasing a game and a complete overhaul remake of the same game together, yet pretending it's a 'multiplatform' game.
 
Of course it is speculation. All we are doing here is speculation, after all.

What I was saying is that 3DS could support a 4m+ game (this is quite proven, in fact). PS4 cannot... simply because of installed base issues. The fact that the game wasn't ready is because the aim was to release both versions simultaneously (and PS4 development took longer), or because the 3DS version was an aftermath, and therefore its development started later. That's why I think this wasn't a smart choice in short-term (remember that we should add the Switch version, which could have existed in this scenario as well). If Horii wanted to release its last DQ on a home console, a late PS4 version could have still existed, à la Ni no Kuni; at the same time, they could have maximized 3DS sales in 2015 or 2016 (I think if this would have been the plan, Square Enix had been able to release a 3DS game earlier).

Right now, DQXI is selling around 3.1-3.2m units, 1m behind DQIX. The latter sold more than 5m units worldwide. Unless they have a different business model in mind for the Western release, or they are expecting the Switch version to blow out, DQXI PS4 will have a hard time to make up for the lost Japanese sales. I'm sure there are plenty of other factors to take into account, su perhaps we can discuss about them ;)

If you just wanted to say the PS4 can't support a 4m+ selling game that's pretty easy. If you want to say the game would sell more than 4m if it released last year on 3DS that assumes a lot of things but sure, lets say it's possible.

Someone posted a link saying they started the 3DS version mid production to expand the userbase so knowing that I can agree that they probably could have had it ready last year. If the argument is just that from a profit perspective they would probably do better just releasing it as a 3DS only title then yeah probably. But I feel like we have this discussion every week where major Japanese publishers are trying to expand their global market and they can't ride the 3DS to do that since it's not a particularly strong console in the West.

I assume that there are reasons for going PS4 beyond just profit. I assume they added 3DS for Japan because they saw some easy money there. With a Swtich release they may still actually pull numbers close to DQ9. But even if they don't the DS is still the best (or second best by a hair) selling console in history. The bar being DQ9 sales is unreasonable. By any metric.

This started because you said DQXI 3DS sold badly for a DQ game

Eh, no I didn't. I certainly agree they release strategy is weird though.
 
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