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[Pellegri Testament]

Now this is what I call seeing the glass half full.

Unless the PSN numbers are much bigger (which I certainly doubt) with those sales the series isn't worth it for XSeed at all, especially considering the ordeal SC has been for them.

It seems one of these series with a very vocal, but really small fanbase.

Every single one of Falcom's games on Steam have had a long tail though (other than Ys 6). If the only thing that mattered was the first few weeks of sales, then they may as well have not even bothered to release anything on it in the first place.

The game was appealing to a niche to begin with, not to mention the fact that roughly only 10% of the owners on Steam have finished the first one. There's no way they couldn't have known the audience this game was going to appeal to. Honestly the numbers for something like this mean next to nothing when compared to all the other games they've released, all of which have had multiple sales at this point, the timing also didn't exactly help things. If numbers are still low after their first sale or 2 then that may be something to worry about (assuming they will actually have a Winter sale for it), for now though, it means nothing as to the continuation of this series.

 

[Hamster Plugin]

Syndicate numbers will be interesting to see on PC

Steam numbers will not be the full PC numbers though, because non-Steam copies of AC Syndicate activate on Uplay only. The Euro price is horrible on Steam (€60!), so keys and retail copies may get many sales in European territories.

 

[wrowa]

It's actually more? Wow.

Discussing specific numbers is completely useless in this case. That goes for all of the low-selling games in the OP. When talking about numbers that small, Steamspy is just not reliable enough.

Like, Steamspy had Trails SC at 9k units sold (11/08), then at 6k a couple days later (11/10) and now it's back to 7k. It's okay enough in order to talk about the general ballpark (aka it's not selling good), but using the number for direct comparisons? Eh.

 

[Durante]

Discussing specific numbers is completely useless in this case. That goes for all of the low-selling games in the OP. When talking about numbers that small, Steamspy is just not reliable enough.

Like, Steamspy had Trails SC at 9k units sold (11/08), then at 6k a couple days later (11/10) and now it's back to 7k. It's okay enough in order to talk about the general ballpark (aka it's not selling good), but using the number for direct comparisons? Eh.

That wasn't really the point of my post. The point of my post was sheer disbelief at the fact that FC sold fewer than 7.3k copies on PSP back when that was its initial and only English-language release.

 

[Pellegri Testament]

That wasn't really the point of my post. The point of my post was sheer disbelief at the fact that FC sold fewer than 7.3k copies on PSP back when that was its initial and only English-language release.

It's pretty safe to assume that the numbers were trash, considering the original release was one of the major reasons why Xseed almost kicked the bucket back then. The series really was not very well known here at all until FC released on Steam and people started talking it up.

The problem we're seeing now with SC is that it's running into the issue of most people not finishing the games they buy. So all these people who own FC on Steam, mean nothing when it comes to potential SC sales if 90% of them can't even finish what they started. The other issue is that Steam is turning into how PSP was when FC released, there's just too many jrpgs constantly being released on the platform for people to keep up with them all. It doesn't matter how good TiTS is compared to many of the others either, doing research is another thing that most consumers don't care to actually do.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

I'm waiting to see how well XSEED's release of Xanadu Next, which should be cheap to produce compared with SC, performs on Steam/GOG before assuming their spate of low-selling PC releases in 2015 is becoming a pattern. Until then SC has an uphill battle (and XSEED legitimately screwed up by not having even a minor launch discount like they used for FC), but it can Get Over The Barrier. FC didn't need huge marketing pushes and attention from YouTubers to sell as well as it did, but now FC needs to sell even better given that you can't (and shouldn't) force people to ram through it just so they can get to SC. Both games are made to be played deliberately, and that requires moderation on some level.

 

[danthefan]

I'm still paying Trails FC so you've at least one more copy of SC to be sold here at some point in the future.

 

[Nyoro SF]

Regarding Trails SC, it has to fight on three fronts; that it's a sequel that requires you to play FC first, that it's a clean $30 with no preorder discount, and that it had to compete with other big titles around the same time.

I anticipate a slow burn of sales for SC that will eventually propel it up to a sizable number until then. I'm surprised XSEED didn't offer a bundle of the two games together at a small discount to encourage series investment but I'm not a businessman.

I guess the real crime is that the games in question are high quality titles which are composed of the classic themes JRPG fans love so much, yet people don't know the games exist

 

[FGMPR]

Regarding Trails SC, it has to fight on three fronts; that it's a sequel that requires you to play FC first, that it's a clean $30 with no preorder discount, and that it had to compete with other big titles around the same time.

I anticipate a slow burn of sales for SC that will eventually propel it up to a sizable number until then. I'm surprised XSEED didn't offer a bundle of the two games together at a small discount to encourage series investment but I'm not a businessman.

I guess the real crime is that the games in question are high quality titles which are composed of the classic themes JRPG fans love so much, yet people don't know the games exist

I'm not so sure the $30 price tag is working against it. That its a sequel to a long RPG which demands to be finished before SC can be started, is, however, a real showstopper for most people. However, I doubt those people are the type to buy a sequel in such a circumstance at release, anyhow, even with a day one 20% discount or what have you.

You need the deep discounts to encourage the 'steam backlog collection' types to start buying copies. Meanwhile, those who have managed to dedicate themselves to finishing FC are likely to be willing to pay a premium for the experience. Personally, I think the $30 price tag is this releases saving grace thus far, though I'm sure in time, with discounts and FC/SC packages things will get a lot better.

 

[Saty]

Aped Knurek's style and did a list for the October month. Please let me know if i left something out or missed something that was also given for free etc. After that maybe we can move it to its own thread.

Overall:

Total copies sold: 33,257,831
Average price: $9.21
Average discount: 26.37%

Steam ownership changes between 01.10.2015 and 01.11.2015:

 1.) Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (469,533, LTD: 16,418,998, price $14.99, lowest price $14.99)
 2.) ARK: Survival Evolved (254,146, LTD: 1,995,007, price $29.99, lowest price $20.09)
 3.) Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide (242,642, LTD: 251,476, price $29.99, lowest price $26.99)
 4.) PAYDAY 2 (208,081, LTD: 5,423,629, price $19.99, lowest price $4.99)
 5.) Tomb Raider (196,844, LTD: 3,530,345, price $19.99, lowest price $3.99)
 6.) Undertale (190,871, LTD: 247,640, price $9.99, lowest price $9.99)
 7.) Grand Theft Auto V (174,957, LTD: 3,205,635, price $59.99, lowest price $40.19)
 8.) Rocket League (171,730, LTD: 1,580,811, price $19.99, lowest price $19.99)
 9.) Fallout: New Vegas (163,329, LTD: 4,110,000, price $9.99, lowest price $3.39)
10.) Garry's Mod (150,578, LTD: 9,926,459, price $9.99, lowest price $9.99)
11.) Metro: Last Light Redux (142,981, LTD: 714,433, price $19.99, lowest price $4.99)
12.) Metro 2033 Redux (141,033, LTD: 725,573, price $19.99, lowest price $4.99)
13.) Fallout 3 - Game of the Year Edition (139,554, LTD: 1,975,466, price $19.99, lowest price $9.99)
14.) The Binding of Isaac (138,155, LTD: 2,839,835, price $4.99, lowest price $0.49)
15.) South Park: The Stick of Truth (131,237, LTD: 1,363,303, price $29.99, lowest price $7.49)

Excluded titles: Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition (free to owners of original version), Wasteland 2: Director's Cut (free to owners of original version), Vertiginous Golf (free to keep deal), Resident Evil Revelations 2, Lost Planet 3, Bionic Commando Rearmed, Strider, Resident Evil Revelations, DmC, Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil 4 (Capcom Humble Bundle), Bionic Dues ( i believe it was free on one of the bundle sites).

Steam ownership changes between 01.10.2015 and 01.11.2015 for games released in October:

Note: some of these titles left Early Access in October.

 1) Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide (242,642, price $29.99)
 2) Undertale (190,871, price $9.99)
 3) Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (90,034, price $14.99)
 4) Prison Architect (82,452, price $29.99)
 5) Planetbase (69,763, price $19.99)
 6) Rebel Galaxy (68,484, price $19.99)
 7) The Beginner's Guide (63,736, price $9.99)
 8) Tales of Zestiria (59,369, price $49.99)
 9) Kingdom (54,422, price $9.99)
 10) Broforce (40,451, price $14.99)
 11) Dracula's Legacy (33,237, price $2.99)
 12) Sword Coast Legends (30,184, price $39.99)
 13) Legends of Dawn Reborn (29,037, price $29.99)
 14) Downwell (24,106, price $2.99)

Note: something weird is going on with Minecraft: Story Mode (http://steamspy.com/app/376870). Was released last month but Steamspy data only starts on Nov. 6.

 

[Tizoc]

I've updated the first post with your data.

 

[galyonkin]

Note: something weird is going on with Minecraft: Story Mode (http://steamspy.com/app/376870). Was released last month but Steamspy data only starts on Nov. 6.

They forgot to change the game's state to Released on Steam Happened before.

 

[Kintaro]

Trails SC is weird. No promotion. No discount. No hype for the title. XSEED really did nothing for it and really stilll hasnt. Not only that, but there seems to be no future for the rest of the franchise on PC either. No Cold Steel PC version or word of others. If there are customers armed with the knowledge that the IP seems to have no future on the platform, those precious few could just say "fuck it" and never buy it.

I think some assurance that the IP may have a future on PC would be helpful.

 

[Pellegri Testament]

Trails SC is weird. No promotion. No discount. No hype for the title. XSEED really did nothing for it and really stilll hasnt. Not only that, but there seems to be no future for the rest of the franchise on PC either. No Cold Steel PC version or word of others. If there are customers armed with the knowledge that the IP seems to have no future on the platform, those precious few could just say "fuck it" and never buy it.

I think some assurance that the IP may have a future on PC would be helpful.

Were you really expecting them to have any of the others announced already? It's been "hinted" (as in they just don't want to outright confirm it even if it's true) at for months that the future of the series on PC is reliant on the sales of SC and CS, one of which we haven't even had for a month and the other doesn't even have a firm release date (although let's be honest, it's either Dec 15th or bust for this year). They've been saying this since at least August on their own forums and even in some of the blog posts they've done. You also seem to think that they even need the others to attract some large influx of new customers. If those customers were even remotely "knowledgable" then they'd see that the current story on PC is wrapped up other than a few loose ends. If they need the rest of the series to enjoy an already finished story arc, then I have my doubts that they would even care about it in the first place.

"If" we even get any more of the series on PC, do not expect any form of confirmation until their e3 announcements next year at the earliest. They have too many other games to work on currently (with the newest Falcom titles being very text heavy) and the last thing they need to do is announce that they're working on any more of the past games at the moment.

 

[YianGaruga]

Let's do some numbers for SC. At the current price, without discount, the potential audience for this game is people who have played and FINISHED FC. That's the bane of a direct sequel. Steamspy lists 150k owners for FC, achievement stats say 10% have gotten the achievement for finishing the game. That gives us 15k people.

Steamspy numbers for SC seem to fluctuate around 7-9k, so 50-70% of the potential audience have bought the game so far, at full price. That doesn't seem terrible for a release that came between Tales of Zestiria and Fallout 4. What kind of marketing do people expect to lure in the other people who have finished FC but are too busy with other things? There were localization blogs, trailers, a very good Kotaku article, and reviews are slowly rolling in. A launch discount would have helped a bit, but would it have changed much in terms of revenue? i'd say probably not. And these are only Steam numbers. PSN and GOG won't be huge, but I'm expecting at least half again as many sales coming from there which are obviously not tracked by Steamspy.

Another interesting thing. Between the release of SC (Oct 29th) and now, FC has sold another 10-20k copies on Steam alone. The game was also on sale on NA PSN (and GOG?) during that time.

What I think needs to happen is a FC + SC bundle that sells and markets both games as a single product and then a small discunt during the winter sale. Keep awarness up for the Trails series through social media and with the release of Cold Steel. There really isn't more that can be done right now.

For the future of the series, I think TC will be a unlikely unless SC numbers (and the number of people who finished it) go up significantly. I see no such problem for the Crossbell games though, personally.

 

[holysan]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=185621882&postcount=5636

Seems like the PC port of Zestiria paid off. While 90k are alright on its own, the number sounds even better compared to the console sales, even if the NPD only covers the retail US market.

 

[MutonCommander]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=185621882&postcount=5636

Seems like the PC port of Zestiria paid off. While 90k are alright on its own, the number sounds even better compared to the console sales, even if the NPD only covers the retail US market.

How did this happen? When did PC become a good home for japanese games?

 

[Sinatar]

In regards to TITS2, I can't speak to the general population, but for me I bought the first one but thought it was pretty awful so I have no interest in the sequel.

I'm probably not alone in that opinion.

 

[Bass260]

Good numbers for Tales.

More people should give Sonic Lost World a shot. It's a flawed but fun title - on par with Generations.

 

[Tizoc]

Good numbers for Tales.

More people should give Sonic Lost World a shot. It's a flawed but fun title - on par with Generations.

IMHO once more interesting mods show up I think more people would be inclined to get it.

 

[Hazaro]

Aren't the numbers for Trails even worse given how much TL work there was for the game?

I bought the first on PSP, but never came close to finishing, gaming habits and time changed too much.

 

[kiunchbb]

No surprise about TITS, as much as I like jrpg, I am not buying anyone of those games unless the whole trilogy is committed. Same thing for cold steel, I won't buy the first game unless the sequel had a firm release date.

I don't think I can take the pain if the story left unfinished.

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

Undertale really hit the jackpot. If I'm not mistaken, the game was entirely done by one person. Couple months out and he's already a multi-millionaire (minus taxes).

 

[Cyrano]

That wasn't really the point of my post. The point of my post was sheer disbelief at the fact that FC sold fewer than 7.3k copies on PSP back when that was its initial and only English-language release.

Problem with Trails has almost assuredly been lack of marketing. Or maybe the problem with XSeed? I am amazed at how many games they are involved in, yet have heard almost nothing about.

Good to see Undertale getting love, it deserves it probably more than any of the other games on the list.

Undertale really hit the jackpot. If I'm not mistaken, the game was entirely done by one person. Couple months out and he's already a multi-millionaire (minus taxes).

The multitude of Youtube channels doing let's plays of it likely helped this. Wasn't entirely done by one person, though most of it was. Still, I'm surprised the Earthbound-ish core is still as large as this online. Genuinely hope Cosmic Star Heroine sees the same amount of love. The world needs more Grandia-likes.

 

[Sulik2]

I really need to buy rebel galaxy and undertale.

 

[Real_Madrid]

Steam ownership changes between 01.10.2015 and 01.11.2015:

 1.) Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (469,533, LTD: 16,418,998, price $14.99, lowest price $14.99)
 2.) ARK: Survival Evolved (254,146, LTD: 1,995,007, price $29.99, lowest price $20.09)
 3.) Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide (242,642, LTD: 251,476, price $29.99, lowest price $26.99)
 4.) PAYDAY 2 (208,081, LTD: 5,423,629, price $19.99, lowest price $4.99)
 5.) Tomb Raider (196,844, LTD: 3,530,345, price $19.99, lowest price $3.99)
 6.) Undertale (190,871, LTD: 247,640, price $9.99, lowest price $9.99)
 7.) Grand Theft Auto V (174,957, LTD: 3,205,635, price $59.99, lowest price $40.19)
 8.) Rocket League (171,730, LTD: 1,580,811, price $19.99, lowest price $19.99)
 9.) Fallout: New Vegas (163,329, LTD: 4,110,000, price $9.99, lowest price $3.39)
10.) Garry's Mod (150,578, LTD: 9,926,459, price $9.99, lowest price $9.99)
11.) Metro: Last Light Redux (142,981, LTD: 714,433, price $19.99, lowest price $4.99)
12.) Metro 2033 Redux (141,033, LTD: 725,573, price $19.99, lowest price $4.99)
13.) Fallout 3 - Game of the Year Edition (139,554, LTD: 1,975,466, price $19.99, lowest price $9.99)
14.) The Binding of Isaac (138,155, LTD: 2,839,835, price $4.99, lowest price $0.49)
15.) South Park: The Stick of Truth (131,237, LTD: 1,363,303, price $29.99, lowest price $7.49)

Nice to see that Tomb Raider did massive numbers on PC. Hopefully the new one will also sell well.

I just finished The Talos Principle and the Steamspy page shows it got 300.000 owners, isn't that a little bit underwhelming? I don't know how big Croteam is, but I hope they made a profit on the title, because it really was a AAA-quality title and I'm hoping for a sequel.

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

I just finished The Talos Principle and the Steamspy page shows it got 300.000 owners, isn't that a little bit underwhelming? I don't know how big Croteam is, but I hope they made a profit on the title, because it really was a AAA-quality title and I'm hoping for a sequel.

I'm under the impression that Croteam is pretty small. The default price is $40 so I imagine they made a decent penny off the game, even with sales.

 

[fhqwhgads]

Undertale is an absolute monster, the game is getting sales on positive word of mouth alone. Deserved too, really glad it's getting so much recognition.

 

[Orayn]

Undertale really hit the jackpot. If I'm not mistaken, the game was entirely done by one person. Couple months out and he's already a multi-millionaire (minus taxes).

Toby did all the story, music, and programming AFAIK, but some art and character designs came from a few other people.

 

[Durante]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=185621882&postcount=5636

Seems like the PC port of Zestiria paid off. While 90k are alright on its own, the number sounds even better compared to the console sales, even if the NPD only covers the retail US market.

Looks pretty good for the total sales of Tales in the west, it doesn't seem like the day-and-date PC release hurt console numbers much/any (compared to the previous sales posted in that NPD thread).

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

Yeah, looks like Tales of Zestiria did pretty average numbers for the series on PS3/PS4 but with the PC release added in, it's probably the most successful Tales game outside of Japan since Symphonia.