Support NeoGAF

[jimbo]

But it wasn't, which is why developer interest was as stagnant as it was.

I see where you're going with that example, but the 360 LTD has been eclipsed by two competitors in less than a month. In fact, the Wii sold more than the 360's LTD in Japan THIS WEEK.

Why is anyone even discussing the same old tired argument about Japanese developers and 360 support? Do you guys HONESTLY believe they were not aware of what the 360 situation was, is and would be in Japan? The 360 was a bomb at launch, and has been a complete failure ever since, yet in 2006 we've had more Japanese developers announce Xbox 360 support than anyone ever imagined.

Most of them are not putting these games on there just for Japan. They're doing it for world-wide sales. So both sides of the argument are correct. Japanese developers will continue to support the 360 if they are making the game for a world-wide audience, which most of them do. While the Japanese centric games will most likely be developed for PS3 and Wii and may never even get ported to the 360.

 

[bud]

So, you figure they'll just be multiplatform? I still don't think that if Blue Dragon performs well in NA, developers will ignore 360 is a viable JRPG platform.

How on earth can Blue Dragon go multiplatform!?

 

[sphinx]

I'd hate to derail the thread but I'd like someone with good sense of the industry to discuss with me the following points. First I state my main concern:

High definition gaming in Japan has been, so far, a disaster. That includes mainly, PS3 and 360 but i'd include PSP as well, because no matter how much of a solid 2nd place it will have when all is said and done, we shouldn't forget it was supposed to be the success in sales the DS has turned out to be.

I won't state that Japan hates HD gaming because it would be idiotic but maybe there is something fundamentally flawed in this whole HD gaming proposal. I have a 360 and like it but I can't help to admit that there should be a far more steady stream of released games by know. The sections of 360 games in stores are either small or with far too many copies of the same game. This bring me to me main question:

Is HD gaming software too hard to develop? Why are developers lazy/unable to produce software in a timely manner? Maybe sony and microsoft got into the HD era not taking into account the issues that would arise for developers?

To sustain my argument I could point the massive amounts of software the PS2 pulled throughout its life. Capcom, for example, brought something around 15 games for the PS2 by the time the system's 2nd xmas arrived. (Click here for capcom's published games per year). No matter how much they state how much in love they are with 360, they have brought 2 (TWO) games to the system. PS3 announcements are scarce and Wii is kind of meh for them:

WHAT is going on?? don't they want to produce games??

getting back to the japanese MC topic.

if the 360 could sustain a steady flow of releases in Japan, the system could have faired better. That is why NES, PS, PS2 and DS have succeded, they BOMBARDED they market with premier titles both 1st and 3rd party but the thing is so far the big developers are like stunned and not announcing producing anything, for any console!!.

Konami, Square, Namco, all in comma, numbed, stunned

why does it seem they are in " stand by" mode??

No wonder console gaming is a dying breed in japan...

 

[justchris]

http://www.m-create.com/jpn/s_ranking.html

Media Create officially updated!

Software:
TotW PSP did 122,889. Will translate #31-50 soon.

Hardware:
DSL 485,584
Wii 279,277
PSP 138,588
PS3 76,882
PS2 46,209
Xbox360 17,213
GBM 2,394
GBASP 1,858
GC 1,250
DS 380
GBA 57
Xbox 11

Has anyone else noticed that (not counting the Wii's release week) this is the first week in a long time that the DS hasn't outsold all other console combined? The Wii may not be cutting into the DS' sales, but it's definitely affecting it's overall domination. Of course, the 138k PSP's didn't help, either.

On other things, if the Wii can ship/sell consistently this week (next week's chart) that will put them at ~ 1 million in Japan. They had 600k in NA at the end of November, and assuming with the full month of December they could ship about twice that, that'd put them at 2.8 million total for Japan and NA, meaning they'd only need 1.2 million for all PAL regions in December to reach their goal of 4 million by year's end.

Of course, that's a lot of speculation.

Good job on the X360 maintaining 5 figures in sales. I didn't think it could keep it up, even with the holiday.

 

[KINGMOKU]

Has anyone else noticed that (not counting the Wii's release week) this is the first week in a long time that the DS hasn't outsold all other console combined? The Wii may not be cutting into the DS' sales, but it's definitely affecting it's overall domination. Of course, the 138k PSP's didn't help, either.

On other things, if the Wii can ship/sell consistently this week (next week's chart) that will put them at ~ 1 million in Japan. They had 600k in NA at the end of November, and assuming with the full month of December they could ship about twice that, that'd put them at 2.8 million total for Japan and NA, meaning they'd only need 1.2 million for all PAL regions in December to reach their goal of 4 million by year's end.

Of course, that's a lot of speculation.

Good job on the X360 maintaining 5 figures in sales. I didn't think it could keep it up, even with the holiday.

If Nintendo does top 1million in Japan by the end of the year, it means that they sold 25% of the Gamecubes total install base in less then a month.

Wow is the only term that pops to mind.

 

[Grampa Simpson]

Maybe sony and microsoft got into the HD era not taking into account the issues that would arise for developers?

Bingo!

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

How on earth can Blue Dragon go multiplatform!?

What? I thought we were talking about Japanese developers of RPGs. Obviously not Mistwalker's MGS published games.

 

[DefectiveReject]

Japan had almost as many Wii's in a Week as Europe did at launch! :lol :lol :lol

 

[GreenNight]

Japan had almost as many Wii's in a Week as Europe did at launch! :lol :lol :lol

Nintendo hates Europe confirmed.

 

[Companion Cube]

If Nintendo does top 1million in Japan by the end of the year, it means that they sold 25% of the Gamecubes total install base in less then a month.

Wow is the only term that pops to mind.

I guess that's good. I'm holding my wows for later when it reaches GC's total base or more in less time.

 

[jesusraz]

Hardware - This Week | Last Week | Total 2006 Sales | Lifetime Sales

1.) Nintendo DS Lite - 485,584 | 319,708 | 7,247,105 | 7,247,105
2.) Nintendo Wii - 279,277 | 108,237 | 823,311 | 823,311
3.) PlayStation Portable - 138,588 | 48,962 | 1,780,498 | 4,463,454
4.) PlayStation 3 - 76,882 | 70,942 | 385,831 | 385,831
5.) PlayStation 2 - 46,209 | 37,730 | 1,412,066 | 20,116,690
6.) Xbox 360 - 17,213 | 17,168 | 177,227 | 247,793
7.) Game Boy micro - 2,394 | 1,491 | 142,159 | 557,848
8.) Game Boy Advance SP - 1,858 | 1,867 | 219,003 | 5,913,297
9.) GameCube - 1,250 | 1,152 | 75,031 | 4,168,621
10.) Nintendo DS - 380 | 158 | 935,304 | 6,582,253
11.) Game Boy Advance - 57 | 42 | 3,408 | 8,823,058
12.) Xbox - 11 | 3 | 1,766 | 475,609

 

[cvxfreak]

* Dawn of Mana... ugh. Sigh. Well, I theorized in last week's thread about the possibility of Seiken Densetsu 4 getting outsold by Children of Mana, and unfortunately, it looks like that's what's going to happen. :/

For what it's worth, Dawn of Mana went from 7140 yen to a discounted price of 4284 yen on Amazon.

Japan had almost as many Wii's in a Week as Europe did at launch! :lol :lol :lol

Japan's traditionally been a bigger market for Nintendo than Europe, right?

I'm guessing European DSL sales/shipments may overtake Japan in 2007.

 

[Master_x]

Wii > Psp + Ps3 + Ps2

 

[RaijinFY]

Wii > Psp + Ps3 + Ps2

 

[belvedere]

So if nearly 400,000 PS3's have been sold in Japan, can we assume about the same amount (if not more) have been sold in the U.S.? So with this week left to be counted, is that million mark for Sony that out of reach?

 

[castle007]

DS + Wii domination!!!

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

Has anyone else noticed that (not counting the Wii's release week) this is the first week in a long time that the DS hasn't outsold all other console combined? The Wii may not be cutting into the DS' sales, but it's definitely affecting it's overall domination. Of course, the 138k PSP's didn't help, either.

I guess that's one way to downplay DS sales. Haha, it still sold almost half a million units in a week. In Japan. I'll continue to say wow.

 

[ethelred]

All of this Wii demand/buzz/sales makes me hope some Japanese developers get some sense knocked into them and make some damn RPGs for the system. DQSwords looks great, FFCC: The Crystal Bearers should be great if it's online, and Sword of Legendia hopefully is a worthy part of the Tales series, but there should be so much more for a system getting these types of sales.

I don't know... going just by the unveiled stuff (as in, projects that have actually received titles, not vague "random RPG from X company"), I think it's set to do quite well with RPGs in its first year. Crystal Chronicles 2, Dragon Quest Swords, Sword of Legendia, and Fire Emblem all in year 1 -- that's got to be considered strong. When does any system have potentially four strong RPGs from top developers in its first year?

If they do well, and if the system itself does well (which kinda seems like a given at this point), more announcements will follow for the system's second year, which is when most RPGs traditionally arrive anyway.

Plus, I wouldn't be shocked if some of Akitoshi Kawazu's "lots of unrevealed titles" turned out to be Wii RPGs.

 

[justchris]

So if nearly 400,000 PS3's have been sold in Japan, can we assume about the same amount (if not more) have been sold in the U.S.? So with this week left to be counted, is that million mark for Sony that out of reach?

Actually, we can expect more for the US sales, as based on the launch shipments, Sony has favored the US 2 to 1 over Japan (~88k in japan, ~297k in the US). I'm figuring their final totals will be 1.5-1.7 million worldwide. Of course, Sony's stated goal was 2 million by the end of the year, so it looks like they will still fall short.

Now, get this, Sony's stated goals are 2 million by the end of the calendar year, and 6 million by the end of the fiscal year (ends March 31, 2007). Nintendo's stated goal is 4 million by the end of the calendar year, and 6 million by the end of the fiscal year.

So between January 1, 2007 & March 31, 2007, Nintendo expects to sell half as many consoles as they sold in a month and a half. Sony expects to sell twice as many.

I guess that's one way to downplay DS sales. Haha, it still sold almost half a million units in a week. In Japan. I'll continue to say wow.

I wasn't trying to downplay the DS sales, I just thought it was interesting, since the DS has been so consistent at it.

 

[Galactic Fork]

I don't know... going just by the unveiled stuff (as in, projects that have actually received titles, not vague "random RPG from X company"), I think it's set to do quite well with RPGs in its first year. Crystal Chronicles 2, Dragon Quest Swords, Sword of Legendia, and Fire Emblem all in year 1 -- that's got to be considered strong. When does any system have potentially four strong RPGs from top developers in its first year?

If they do well, and if the system itself does well (which kinda seems like a given at this point), more announcements will follow for the system's second year, which is when most RPGs traditionally arrive anyway.

Plus, I wouldn't be shocked if some of Akitoshi Kawazu's "lots of unrevealed titles" turned out to be Wii RPGs.

I also really wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the console SRPGs eventually move to Wii from PS2. They've never been exactly pushing the graphics envelope. I could see Nippon Ichi opting for the cheaper of the three.

 

[GreenNight]

I also really wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the console SRPGs eventually move to Wii from PS2. They've never been exactly pushing the graphics envelope. I could see Nippon Ichi opting for the cheaper of the three.

Not to mention an SRPG with the mouse-like movements of the wiimote would kickass.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Nintendo's current LTD among all hardware is 9,447,178. If DS and Wii supply holds next week, they'll pass 10 million. I'm assuming that's a record, though I can't back that up. If any time is close, I imagine it would be an early 90s period where Famicom, Super Famicom, and Game Boy were all doing well.

If Nintendo does top 1million in Japan by the end of the year, it means that they sold 25% of the Gamecubes total install base in less then a month.

Wow is the only term that pops to mind.

I don't think that's such a major deal. To say "25% of the GameCube's total in less than a month!" makes it sound big, but to say "Matched GameCube's slow slow first 3 months and decent 1 month of its launch year!" is just as accurate. It will be more notable how Wii matches up with the GameCube's 2nd and 3rd millions, which each took another full year.

Japan had almost as many Wii's in a Week as Europe did at launch!

Well, it's not very far from how many Japan had at launch either.

So if nearly 400,000 PS3's have been sold in Japan, can we assume about the same amount (if not more) have been sold in the U.S.? So with this week left to be counted, is that million mark for Sony that out of reach?

A million? Easy. The four million they were originally claiming? No way. The two million more recently claimed? Still seems a bit of a stretch.

 

[PantherLotus]

Updated Next-Gen Hardware Charts

Weekly Sales Dec 18 - 24:

LTDs Through Dec 24:

It should be noted that the Wii has already doubled PS3 sales (2.13x) and more than tripled the total 360 sales (3.3x).

 

[davepoobond]

138k psps is a lot more than i expected...

how is that YOY?

 

[cvxfreak]

More than 8 Million DS/DSL total this year, holy shit.

 

[OokieSpookie]

Updated Next-Gen Hardware Charts

Weekly Sales Dec 18 - 24:

LTDs Through Dec 24:

It should be noted that the Wii has already doubled PS3 sales (2.13x) and more than tripled the total 360 sales (3.3x).

Only difference there is that 360s have been available readily on shelves.....not so much with the PS3.

 

[Mike Works]

i'm still waiting for the weight to give out on nintendo's success... it's got to come to an end at some point, right?

there's no way i ever envisioned the ds and wii outselling the psp and ps3

 

[Frankfurter]

Wow, DS and Wii perform absolutely amazing. After the 279k in Japan it now seems a bit more plausible that the 4m shipped Wiis will be more or less completely sold through at the end of the year.

 

[AniHawk]

i'm still waiting for the weight to give out on nintendo's success... it's got to come to an end at some point, right?

It usually takes about 10 years per market leader.

With next week's sales, I can see the Wii over 1,000,000 in Japan alone (if they can ship that much). The Wii is already over what the GC sold in its first calendar year according to Media-Create (and the Wii was out for two months less).

 

[davepoobond]

It usually takes about 10 years per market leader.

but what about "repeat market leaders"? is there a more specific rule for that one?

 

[PantherLotus]

Only difference there is that 360s have been available readily on shelves.....not so much with the PS3.

That's not the only difference.


One thing that is quite telling --I think its about production issues and availability rather than demand-- is that since the Wii launched, the PS3 hasn't gone above 80k sales once, while the Wii hasn't gone below it.

 

[OokieSpookie]

That's not the only difference.


One thing that is quite telling --I think its about production issues and availability rather than demand-- is that since the Wii launched, the PS3 hasn't gone above 80k sales once, while the Wii hasn't gone below it.

I think for at least another few months the public will eat up as many as both companies (wii and PS3) get out to them.
I will say that this time there were more PS3s out there ( about 80k) than I expected , though I personally hoped they would get 100k out there to soak up some of the xmas craziness.

 

[PantherLotus]

Updated Next-Gen Sales History:

Updated Next-Gen Market Share History:

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

138k psps is a lot more than i expected...

how is that YOY?

Without doing an exact calculation, still down ~15%.

Here's a line graph comparing PSP in 2005 and 2006.

but what about "repeat market leaders"? is there a more specific rule for that one?

*Calls Atari*
0 months?

 

[Fuzzy]

Updated Next-Gen Sales History:

It's like watching Pac-Man chew. :lol

 

[AniHawk]

but what about "repeat market leaders"? is there a more specific rule for that one?

Oh. I think once they start making nongames they're suddenly irrelevant and you have to lower your standards to play their games.

 

[PantherLotus]

It's like watching Pac-Man chew. :lol

Kinda hypnotic, huh?

 

[LOCK]

I welcome our new Nintendo Overlords

 

[davepoobond]

Oh. I think once they start making nongames they're suddenly irrelevant and you have to lower your standards to play their games.

lowered standards?!?!?!!? NNNNNNNUUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH

 

[Xavien]

but what about "repeat market leaders"? is there a more specific rule for that one?

Sure, its called the '3 console curse'.

We have seen the 3 console curse applied to both Nintendo and Sony (and there are some rather strange parallels between N64-era Nintendo and PS3-era Sony), but since it seems Nintendo has risen from the ashes over the past 1 1/2 years, I'd say we are in new territory here as far as precedents are concerned.

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

Oh. I think once they start making nongames they're suddenly irrelevant and you have to lower your standards to play their games.

:lol

 

[Fuzzy]

Sure, its called the '3 console curse'.

We have seen the 3 console curse applied to both Nintendo and Sony (and there are some rather strange parallels between N64-era Nintendo and PS3-era Sony), but since it seems Nintendo has risen from the ashes over the past 1 1/2 years, I'd say we are in new territory here as far as precedents are concerned.

Just wait until the next Xbox bucks the trend of its predecessors and becomes the leader in Japan.

 

[Leonsito]

Almost 500k DS this week in Japan, and reports of 500k and 400k weekly in USA and Europe, holy shit, indeed.

 

[deadhorse32]

It usually takes about 10 years per market leader.

With next week's sales, I can see the Wii over 1,000,000 in Japan alone (if they can ship that much). The Wii is already over what the GC sold in its first calendar year according to Media-Create (and the Wii was out for two months less).

And the GC had Luigi/Waverace/Pikmin & SSBM (aka the highest selling GC game in japan) during that period

 

[Meier]

Almost 500k DS this week in Japan, and reports of 500k and 400k weekly in USA and Europe, holy shit, indeed.

Pretty insane. My dad and brother got DS' for Christmas (never imagined my dad would have a system.. my mom got him Brain Age and he picked up Clubhouse Games today as well). My girlfriend's mom and boyfriend had a blast with Wii Sports and were joking about picking one up this weekend (I told them good luck with that one hah). Nintendo are blowing my mind right about now.

 

[Oblivion]

Holy shit @ PSP numbers.

And what is the LTD for Wii over there?

 

[AniHawk]

Holy shit @ PSP numbers.

And what is the LTD for Wii over there?

423,311

 

[Oblivion]

423,311

I meant REAL LTDs!

Edit: NM. My fault for not reading the last page.


That's pretty damn impressive that Nintendo will reach a million in one month WITHOUT SSBB!

 

[MrSardonic]

Needs about -45 degrees rotation, but well played

that's my chart, ****er

Has anyone else noticed that (not counting the Wii's release week) this is the first week in a long time that the DS hasn't outsold all other console combined?

if you exclude Wii, then it easily outsells everything else combined despite the PSP's best week in 12 months, despite the release of the PS3, and despite DSL shortages.

 

[swerve]

Only difference there is that 360s have been available readily on shelves.....not so much with the PS3.

Seriously. PS3s. Readily available on shelves in Kyoto for the last ten days. There's no PS3 drought here. It may be a trickling stream, but it's not a drought.