It was likely that, yeah.
I dont know why Capcom didnt bothered with the PSP game. Not sure if i've seen any mentioning of that from Capcom themself. I guess maybe the previous games didnt sell THAT much, so MHP3rd wasnt a priority for the west.
[PS2] Taiko no Tatsujin: Taiko Drum Master (Namco) {2005.03.17} - 3.203 / NEW <12,5%> [25.604 units shipped]
This game was first released in the US market with songs that appeal to western audiences, the localized Japanese version basically shares the same tracks. I guess this is the reason why it was so poorly received. Expectations were pretty low going by initial shipment data.
That makes sense, thanks.
Wasn't there also some policy that PSP remasters had to be part of a bundle, not standalone? I'm struggling to think of another PSP remaster that didn't come with another game...
I've heard some talk about that as well, but i'm not sure if it was just rumor/speculation or anything to it.
Franchise fatigue on the system most probably. Namco released a lot of those back then.
Anyway, Taiko selling 12k is great, since its better than last year. Hope it has better legs too. It looks retailers learned their lesson from tokumori and ordered a lot less copies. It might sell its shipment this time. Hell, it might even sell better than animal bombing.
That might also be a factor, but the PS2 game went from ~195k to ~16k, so its probably mainly because of the selection of the songs as Bruno mentioned.
Well, it was sure marketed as much as the others. I know its not a G, but G's are practically expansions instead of sequels yet do incredibly well. The 3ds series is not the portable series but does just as well etc. Its the next 'big thing' for the series that I think turned a lot of heads due to the evolution of the gameplay
This is also the impression i get, as MHX seems to be the next big title for the serie. Capcom also expects 2.5 million copies sold within March 2016 (which i believe they had the same for MH4G as well?), so its being seen as a big project. So not that big of a surprise that its selling great, but perhaps some less sales were expected by many, like 1.1m or 1.2m instead for example. Great sales regardless though, it shows how popular the serie is.