A Look at Japanese Game Sales on Steam - Summer sale 2017 edition [Steamspy figures]

Dragoon En Regalia said:
This number fits the percentage of players who have beaten Trails SC on Steam so far, however, and it makes sense that a direct follow-up to SC wouldn't appeal to anyone locked out of the story until they beat FC and SC. Let's sit on this one for a bit and wait to see numbers for more accessible XSEED releases coming soon.

It's not well-advertised yet, but XSEED's been working on a Trails bundle since at least the start of this year according to the Trails 3rd preview stream. A complete-the-series bundle would be perfect for the trilogy.
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I also feel like the naming convention doesnt help.
Trails SC doesnt necessarily talk to people.
 
MoonFrog said:
It was more like when you watch a TV show and give up after the first episode, tbh.

I played about a hour of the game and the character/settings just were really underwhelming to me in that initial period. I guess I expected too much too quickly from Estelle hype in the GAF threads that convinced me to try it.

I also got the feeling that the battle system would require a little more to figure out than I had time/attention to devote when I picked the game up.

And that's a general background fact...I was fairly busy when I picked it up so for it to get its teeth in me, it would have to bite pretty hard at the beginning instead of me devoting myself to getting into it.

And that's why it is something I think might do better with me on a new attempt, because now (sadly) I have all the time in the world for a bit.

We'll see. I've got a lot of JRPG in my to-play list, but I really want to like Trails because it sounds like if I do there is a wealth of great content to add to that to-play list (my favorite to-play list.)

...

Hmmm considering that the intersection of Zelda/Metroid is my favorite gameplay in the industry, that is definitely very intriguing.
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You should buy Xanadu Next if you have any love for action RPGs. It's a fantastic game.
 
MoonFrog said:
It was more like when you watch a TV show and give up after the first episode, tbh.

I played about a hour of the game and the character/settings just were really underwhelming to me in that initial period. I guess I expected too much too quickly from Estelle hype in the GAF threads that convinced me to try it.

I also got the feeling that the battle system would require a little more to figure out than I had time/attention to devote when I picked the game up.

And that's a general background fact...I was fairly busy when I picked it up so for it to get its teeth in me, it would have to bite pretty hard at the beginning instead of me devoting myself to getting into it.

And that's why it is something I think might do better with me on a new attempt, because now (sadly) I have all the time in the world for a bit.

We'll see. I've got a lot of JRPG in my to-play list, but I really want to like Trails because it sounds like if I do there is a wealth of great content to add to that to-play list (my favorite to-play list.)

...

Hmmm considering that the intersection of Zelda/Metroid is my favorite gameplay in the industry, that is definitely very intriguing.
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Trails is a timesink and one that might be hard to get that click, but when you do oh boy.

With Ys you have instant satisfaction. You do the thing, thing feels great, repeat the thing.

Anyway I hope thise Ys VI numbers keep improving. It ain't the best of the bunch, but it's still a great game more people should play.
 
Pranay_ said:
No it isnt.

Nier Automata is 343 k Japan Only without Digital Sales on PS vs 472k WW PC sales ?
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These sales are close to being western sales (or at least non-Japanese sales). Japan contributed about 6% of the Nier Automata total on PC, and that is higher than typical. If you include Japanese console sales for games that sold a lot in Japan, then yes, console will usually win handily.


Console sales are more front loaded than PC, so it takes awhile for the ratios to settle. Nier was just over 200k on PC when we got the 1M worldwide announcement, giving it around a 20% share. When we got the 1.5M announcement, the PC version was around 360k, giving it a 24% share overall, and a 32% share of the additional 500k sales. When we get the 2M announcement, I am sure that the PC share will have increased even further.

Nier Automata will eventually approach or pass 1M on Steam.
 
Nothing too surprising here, some sad but entirely expected numbers.

Nier continues to do good in spite of Square's self sabotage.


Thanks for compiling this data again kswiston.
 
Parsnip said:
Nothing too surprising here, some sad but entirely expected numbers.

Nier continues to do good in spite of Square's self sabotage.


Thanks for compiling this data again kswiston.
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And you just know the lesson they learn will be "As long as we use Denuvo our games will sell anyway." instead of "Wow, we handled this release really terribly, and it still sold that much? Maybe we can make even more money if we try a little harder next time."

Sigh. Sh*t Square Enix.
 
Parsnip said:
Nothing too surprising here, some sad but entirely expected numbers.

Nier continues to do good in spite of Square's self sabotage.


Thanks for compiling this data again kswiston.
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It doesn't just do "good".

Nier:A clearly already made more money than any other Japanese non-MMO game on PC for S-E ever, despite their repeated and enduring self-sabotage.

Of course, probably they won't learn the relevant lesson from it (which is to do timely releases on PC, and they could make even more money with just a little less self-sabotage).
 
I remember Ys VI was like sub 10k a few weeks when it launched and it's slowly gaining more sales as people clear their backlog?

This is probably the reason why I haven't bought trails in the sky sc/tc or Xanadu Next. I mean I just started playing my Vita after owning it for 2-3 years.
 
I've said many times that Nier's success brings a smile to my face, so I'll also say I'm happy to see Danganronpa continue to grow here.

Hope some of the releases coming later this year do well, like the simultaneous release of Danganronpa v3 and the PC port of Trails of Cold Steel.
 
Mass Effect said:
You say this as games like Nier, Bayonetta (you know, a 7 year-old game), and Tekken are all doing very well.
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O Canada Our Home and Native Land said:
A lot of steam users are vocal, engaged, and informed consumers. They write reviews, look at the score, read the reviews, post messages on forums. They also have a standard of expectations for pc releases and will mark games down if they are missing features. Koei-Tecmo have a terrible reputation for their pc releases. I wouldn't be surprised if their sales are taking a hit on every title. SquareEnix is making the same mistake with Nier. Japanese publishers are making stupid mistakes they should be fixing.
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Yeah that's kind of my point. In my original post, I said Steam users are 'picky' and this kind of shows it. There's kind of no middle ground. There are some very successful games like Nier, Bayonetta, the ones that receive good ports. And then anything that gets a 'Mixed' review is pretty much avoided. Which is totally fair. But Japanese devs need to realise that PC is not a place to dump a throwaway port and treat PC users are second class citizens, because everyone there is expecting to fly business class so to speak.

Dragoon En Regalia said:
Debatable. The game's designed for KB/M controls and would need more than your usual port job to run well on Vita, given the source code's age, and it still would suffer from physical release costs with or without a CE or anything to guarantee pre-orders. I think it's made XSEED a profit, just like Brandish: The Dark Revenant which was basically all done by Tom @ XSEED + programming by Falcom at the last minute.
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I see.

Well I kind of meant that sort of audience would be interested in a 'niche' game like that and it would be successful on the Vita because the Vita fans software:hardware ratio is pretty high.

Even if its not Xanadu Next, SW:Spirit of Sanada would do more than 2k on Vita as an example.
 
arbok26 said:
Yeah that's kind of my point. In my original post, I said Steam users are 'picky' and this kind of shows it. There's kind of no middle ground. There are some very successful games like Nier, Bayonetta, the ones that receive good ports. And then anything that gets a 'Mixed' review is pretty much avoided. Which is totally fair. But Japanese devs need to realise that PC is not a place to dump a throwaway port and treat PC users are second class citizens, because everyone there is expecting to fly business class so to speak.



I see.

Well I kind of meant that sort of audience would be interested in a 'niche' game like that and it would be successful on the Vita because the Vita fans software:hardware ratio is pretty high.

Even if its not Xanadu Next, SW:Spirit of Sanada would do more than 2k on Vita as an example.
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I'd say it's a combination of pricing, marketing and port quality.
Xseeds problem is, that (as much as I like them as a company and their games) they suck ass at marketing anything on PC.
Xanadu Next is a fucking fantastic game, but barely anyone outside of GAF (and that's mostly because SteamGAF has been shilling hard since its release) has even heard of the game.
No matter how good a game is, it doesn't mean jackshit if no one knows it exists.

Also I wouldn't say that everyone on PC expects to 'fly business class'.
If we follow that analogy, I would say most are just fine with economy class, but many japanese ports don't even reach that - it's like being a stowaway in the cargo bay while having to pay first class price. (looking at you Koei).
...Well that reads kind of weird, but you get the gist, haha.
 
pretty done said:
Also lol @ Tekken 7 vs. KoFXIV. SNK stay losing, but I guess that's what happens when you try to release a niche game a year later than console at $60 around the same time a competitor is releasing (cheaper).
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The biggest loss is on the fans. Investing time and energy on a dead end offline/online scene. All I know is that some people bet on the wrong horse.

If you also look at the YoY numbers for entrants at evo it doesn't look good for next year. Might be downgraded to side tourney status.
 
Ascheroth said:
I'd say it's a combination of pricing, marketing and port quality.
Xseeds problem is, that (as much as I like them as a company and their games) they suck ass at marketing anything on PC.
Xanadu Next is a fucking fantastic game, but barely anyone outside of GAF (and that's mostly because SteamGAF has been shilling hard since its release) has even heard of the game.
No matter how good a game is, it doesn't mean jackshit if no one knows it exists.

Also I wouldn't say that everyone on PC expects to 'fly business class'.
If we follow that analogy, I would say most are just fine with economy class, but many japanese ports don't even reach that - it's like being a stowaway in the cargo bay while having to pay first class price. (looking at you Koei).
...Well that reads kind of weird, but you get the gist, haha.
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I don't know if XSeed tried to, but they should at least throw a bunch of streamers keys for Xanadu Next. That's what most of the other western publishers have worked out, it costs nothing to for streamers to market the game.

And as for the business class comment, well I guess I meant that most Western PC users have great hardware and then end up getting shitty ports. What a waste of their hardware and some games don't even have arbitrary resolutions as a bare minimum.
 
arbok26 said:
Yeah that's kind of my point. In my original post, I said Steam users are 'picky' and this kind of shows it. There's kind of no middle ground. There are some very successful games like Nier, Bayonetta, the ones that receive good ports. And then anything that gets a 'Mixed' review is pretty much avoided. Which is totally fair. But Japanese devs need to realise that PC is not a place to dump a throwaway port and treat PC users are second class citizens, because everyone there is expecting to fly business class so to speak.
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I wouldn't call Nier a good port...


arbok26 said:
SW:Spirit of Sanada would do more than 2k on Vita as an example.
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Koei seem to think otherwise since they didn't bother localizing the Vita version and they know the Vita sales of SW4, SW4-II, SW4 Empire and SWC3.
 
Dead Rising 54k
Dead Rising 4 44k
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tumblr_mw6uhseicu1s0hc41o1_250.gif


Truly and utterly get fucked, Capcom.

Yeshua said:
I wouldn't call Nier a good port...
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Neir was fine for a launch game with launch game problems. The problem was everyone kept waiting on a patch that never came.
 
Glad to see Zero Escape picking up after the first two games came. I still haven't picked up the third game since I just bought the first two in the sale.
 
arbok26 said:
Well I kind of meant that sort of audience would be interested in a 'niche' game like that and it would be successful on the Vita because the Vita fans software:hardware ratio is pretty high.

Even if its not Xanadu Next, SW:Spirit of Sanada would do more than 2k on Vita as an example.
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We dont know about that though. Xanadu Next isnt the average niche Vita title which means:
-It's not really anime
-Production values are rather old

We have no way to tell though, but Ys Origin would be somehow a decent metric of how it'd perform on Vita. Although, we have no numbers.

As for Spirit of Sanada doing more than 2k, while it's possible, there's nothing to show it would. But even then, there's more to it than just sale volume.
And cost is one important factor. Releasing/localizing a game on Vita is de facto more expensive than a PC sku for KT. Optimisation work is higher, but it also comes down to Sony QA and retail presence, while dumping a game on Steam is basically nothing and will produce enough revenue at launch + additionnal revenue streams on the long run.
 
I see I'm missing a few titles ;/



But I did get at least DB Xenoverse 1 and One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 Gold.


FF9 sales deserve more though!
 
dragonlife said:
Dead Rising at 54k... come on! That's criminal.
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Agreed....but it outselling DR4 is almost thread worthy in how comical it is considering the PR shit Capcom pulled in the lead up to DR4's release.

I think DR1 suffered from being a comically late port. There's no reason they couldn't have done it 8 years ago other than intransigence.
 
pa22word said:
Neir was fine for a launch game with launch game problems. The problem was everyone kept waiting on a patch that never came.
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I will have to disagree with you, shipping a game with the white screen issue + other crash at random is bad, 4 months and no fix later it's disgusting in my opinion.
 
GhostTrick said:
We dont know about that though. Xanadu Next isnt the average niche Vita title which means:
-It's not really anime
-Production values are rather old

We have no way to tell though, but Ys Origin would be somehow a decent metric of how it'd perform on Vita. Although, we have no numbers.

As for Spirit of Sanada doing more than 2k, while it's possible, there's nothing to show it would. But even then, there's more to it than just sale volume.
And cost is one important factor. Releasing/localizing a game on Vita is de facto more expensive than a PC sku for KT. Optimisation work is higher, but it also comes down to Sony QA and retail presence, while dumping a game on Steam is basically nothing and will produce enough revenue at launch + additionnal revenue streams on the long run.
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2k is a bad number all round. You wouldn't survive on any platform with a day 1 release like that. I hope that triggers some action between the higher ups at KT to make better ports.

OniBaka said:
Man the house in Fata morgana only at 5K really hurts.
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5k is really low even for Fata Morgana, there's gotta be more VN fans on Steam than that. Though it has already had a release on Mangagamer.
 
OniBaka said:
Man the house in Fata morgana only at 5K really hurts.
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arbok26 said:
5k is really low even for Fata Morgana, there's gotta be more VN fans on Steam than that. Though it has already had a release on Mangagamer.
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For a VN 5k is usually actually quite good. The average VN sales are usually, depending on the VN of course, lower than 10k.
Clannad was a great success at 10k for Key/SekaiProject.

Its just that for some reason stuff like Nekopara sells like hotcakes.
 
arbok26 said:
2k is a bad number all round. You wouldn't survive on any platform with a day 1 release like that. I hope that triggers some action between the higher ups at KT to make better ports.



5k is really low even for Fata Morgana, there's gotta be more VN fans on Steam than that. Though it has already had a release on Mangagamer.
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KT PC ports are really just atrocious. The state of Berserk port was what ultimately pushed me to finally buy Nioh on PS4 even though I thought waiting out a potential PC Ultimate Edition once all the DLC was out was the safer bet long term. It was plainly shameful when I had to describe to a fellow gaffer that stable 60FPS was impossible in that port no matter what he did, plus the rando annoying crashes.

As to the VN thing, I think it's a matter of perspective of buyers. I don't think a lot of people logging onto steam are looking for VNs. I know I'm not. I typically want a mobile port, and traditionally in the Western PC scene VNs have taken on this "weird browser game fit for like 10 people" role that attract a large following in some instances but have no large continuous following. I think point'n click existing in such a strong fashion in the PC community has eaten a lot of VN's traditional audiences. Like, when I want that type of game on PC I'm not thinking of buying a VN I'm more thinking of buying a Wadjet Eye game.
 
Dragoon En Regalia said:
Most people don't even know Durante worked on this, and that's because XSEED tucked his comments into their blog which a lot of people don't even read. So it's really on them to do more and better free/easy marketing than they usually do, or else they're in deep shit as the market becomes more crowded. I really wonder if this reluctance stems from their president rather than recent hires and some veterans.

Xananext counts as a bomba, but I think it's done okay for them at the end of the day, just not good or great. Corpse Party PC at least seems to done much better despite way more delays than usual for a newer XSEED release.
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I really think this is a point that Xseed have to improve. Of course i'm no specialist but...

I have all Xseed/Falcom games on my library excluding their ecchi games

I didnt know of Xanadu Next until a random thread of GAF told me.

I was only aware of Tokyo Xanadu having an PC version when i visited the OT

I discovered about Zwei on this thread

So, my point is that if i'm having trouble to know the games that Xseed is releasing even though i love them, maybe its time to step up their game?

Addendum:

With so much competition the pricing really matters nowadays too

Shovel Knight was $20 (I think) for a long time, was beung supported by the devs with great expansions and we had a lot of threads talking about the price.
 
arbok26 said:
2k is a bad number all round. You wouldn't survive on any platform with a day 1 release like that. I hope that triggers some action between the higher ups at KT to make better ports.



5k is really low even for Fata Morgana, there's gotta be more VN fans on Steam than that. Though it has already had a release on Mangagamer.
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2k is 7-80.000 dollars of revenue minus Steam's cut. Sure, you wont break the bank with that. But you surely cover the porting process of KT by a wide margin. Any other platforms wouldnt cut it, because you'd have a higher entry cost, namely the 1st party QA process and the printing of physical copies. But in the case of Steam ? It's a one button press thing for KT.
 
I didn't even know Spirit of Sanada came out.
As far as KT's games though, I don't remember them advertising it.

I'm kind of horrified for the future of NISA games on PC though. Their recent announcements were all console only, and the games were similar to titles they've already released on PC (Demon Gaze II being similar to Operation Abyss/Babel, and Money Punching Princess being comparable to things like Cladun and the upcoming Longest Five Minutes). I'm getting worried that they're losing faith in the PC market, seeing as most of their titles don't seem to be getting anything close to high numbers save for Disgaea 1 and 2.
 
Battlechili1 said:
I didn't even know Spirit of Sanada came out.
As far as KT's games though, I don't remember them advertising it.

I'm kind of horrified for the future of NISA games on PC though. Their recent announcements were all console only, and the games were similar to titles they've already released on PC (Demon Gaze II being similar to Operation Abyss/Babel, and Money Punching Princess being comparable to things like Cladun and the upcoming Longest Five Minutes). I'm getting worried that they're losing faith in the PC market, seeing as most of their titles don't seem to be getting anything close to high numbers save for Disgaea 1 and 2.
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Which announcements ?
Keep in mind that some games arent up to them, namely Demon Gaze II for exemple.
 
GhostTrick said:
Which announcements ?
Keep in mind that some games arent up to them, namely Demon Gaze II for exemple.
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http://gematsu.com/2017/07/demon-gaze-ii-coming-west-ps4-ps-vita-fall
http://gematsu.com/2017/07/penny-pu...s-vita-march-20-north-america-march-23-europe
Are you sure? I realize that they NISA doesn't have complete control over these games, but NISA does have the ability to port games that aren't their own as Ys VIII for example would imply. Plus Experience is traditionally very PC friendly as a company; it'd be strange if they actively didn't want a PC version of Demon Gaze 1/2. When Operation Babel was announced for a Western release, they quickly ported Abyss and had Babel planned for soon after. I had honestly expected them to do the same with Demon Gaze.
 
Durante said:
It doesn't just do "good".

Nier:A clearly already made more money than any other Japanese non-MMO game on PC for S-E ever, despite their repeated and enduring self-sabotage.

Of course, probably they won't learn the relevant lesson from it (which is to do timely releases on PC, and they could make even more money with just a little less self-sabotage).
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You really think Square-Enix will become like Koei-Tecmo and their blatant disregard for simple PC features.
I really hope not but I wouldn't be surprised. Is this all primarily from lack of PC as a gaming platform in Japan?
 
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