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[t3nmilez]

The 360 has a new Id@lmaster and Deathsmilies within the next couple months.
Oh and a bunch of adventure games I guess. *shrug*

Not exactly sustaining momentum but uh at least the otaku are satisfied(plus Namco gets to make another couple million off DLC).

Huh, iDOLM@STER Twins? That's just a plat collection rerelease of the first two games bundled together, no new content. Considering that imas PSP just released, it'll probably be awhile before they even announce the next project.

 

[jeremy1456]

From the look of things Frank won't be covering any more wars on the Wii.

Though I do suspect the game will be a hit in the rest of the world.

 

[donny2112]

I'm willing to bet SF4 will outsell SF3 and RE5 will outsell RE4 (the original release, anyway).

You mean the original GameCube release that was hamstrung by Capcom's announcement of a PS2 version with extras before the GameCube version could even be released? If so, that's not a very high bar to set. If you mean the original GameCube + PS2 release, that's a 676K total. I very much doubt that the PS3+360 combo will be able to reach that level. The 360 might be good for 100K. That would leave over 550K for the PS3 version to reach on its own. I cannot see RE5 selling that much on the PS3 alone in Japan. Maybe 300-350K?

Now if you're going way out into the realm of speculation and are including a possible Wii version somewhere down the line, then I think the three would surpass what the PS2+GCN were able to sell.

 

[Paracelsus]

Maybe 300-350K?

o.0

So basically, RE = DMC? I'm sorry, that seems hard to believe, DMC4 did 310k on PS3 alone.

 

[Y2Kev]

You mean the original GameCube release that was hamstrung by Capcom's announcement of a PS2 version with extras before the GameCube version could even be released? If so, that's not a very high bar to set. If you mean the original GameCube + PS2 release, that's a 676K total. I very much doubt that the PS3+360 combo will be able to reach that level. The 360 might be good for 100K. That would leave over 550K for the PS3 version to reach on its own. I cannot see RE5 selling that much on the PS3 alone in Japan. Maybe 300-350K?

Now if you're going way out into the realm of speculation and are including a possible Wii version somewhere down the line, then I think the three would surpass what the PS2+GCN were able to sell.

I was trying to be specific and say worldwide there. I pretty much agreed that Japan is down consistently for third parties. At least I can't think of any upticking series.

 

[markatisu]

From the look of things Frank won't be covering any more wars on the Wii.

Though I do suspect the game will be a hit in the rest of the world.

Well he no longer can use his camera so he is pretty much sight seeing when he visits Wii World :lol

 

[Rolf NB]

I will be absolutely shocked if SO4 is not the last of the exclusive JRPGs on 360 in Japan.

I've been saying this for a while. They've sent their brands to die, and world-wide at that. The grandiose plan to let the western sales compensate for tanking at home didn't work out for any of the publishers who tried. The whole thing even only helped Microsoft indirectly by slowing down PS3 software support/adoption rate.

It'll be interesting to see how many of the surviving developers will buy into the same bullshit all over again whenever the next generation rolls around.

 

[Y2Kev]

I've been saying this for a while. They've sent their brands to die, and world-wide at that. The grandiose plan to let the western sales compensate for tanking at home didn't work out for any of the publishers who tried. The whole thing even only helped Microsoft indirectly by slowing down PS3 software support/adoption rate.

It'll be interesting to see how many of the surviving developers will buy into the same bullshit all over again whenever the next generation rolls around.

If it's not, god bless Namco, for they are a wonderful company :lol

edit: I forgot Mistwalker games. Those could be 360 exclusive if Microsoft wants to dump another 20 mil into the superfund.

 

[harSon]

I will be absolutely shocked if SO4 is not the last of the exclusive JRPGs on 360 in Japan.

That's a pretty unrealistic position to make, it's not like Japanese studios are completely, Nippon Ichi and Atlus wouldn't pledge developmental support if the Xbox 360 were such a money sink.

 

[schuelma]

That's a pretty unrealistic position to make, it's not like Japanese studios are completely, Nippon Ichi and Atlus wouldn't pledge developmental support if the Xbox 360 were such a money sink.

Multi-platform???

 

[Kagari]

Multi-platform???

More ports from NIS! (Don't hurt me, I love them but they need to stop porting stuff...)

 

[icecream]

Now that SO4 has been released what does the 360 have for near future (within the next 3mths) releases for Japan?

-Shmups
-ADVs

Go otaku niche market 360 go.

The 360 has a new Id@lmaster

It's only a Platinum Collection bundle:

 

[Rolf NB]

If it's not, god bless Namco, for they are a wonderful company :lol

edit: I forgot Mistwalker games. Those could be 360 exclusive if Microsoft wants to dump another 20 mil into the superfund.

Microsoft let Bizarre walk away, dissolved FASA, let Bungie buy back their independence, let Bioware be bought by EA and shut down Ensemble and the Flight Simulator team.

Yeah, let's think for a while about how far they'd go to keep Mistwalker exclusive.

I guess if Mistwalker doesn't have the means to finance a project, any project, on their own, they'd of course accept another deal. When/if they have money on hand though (and maybe they never will, that's definitely possible), they'll do HD multiplat and/or Wii projects. Going by sales figures from their projects so far, that's their best shot at doing healthy business.

 

[harSon]

Multi-platform???

Possibly but it's a pretty odd stance to believe that Microsoft wont be able to acquire an exclusive JRPG from now until the end of the generation. They're not just going to abandon all of their new found momentum :lol

 

[icecream]

Yeah, let's think for a while about how far they'd go to keep Mistwalker exclusive.

Though considering how Mistwalker is a Japanese company and how MS has been shoring up the money for Japanese companies, as opposed to shafting their Western divisions, it seems a lot more possible than you'd think.

Possibly but it's a pretty odd stance to believe that Microsoft wont be able to acquire an exclusive JRPG from now until the end of the generation.

At this point, only Namco still seems crazy enough to try something like that. Or else Mistwalker. Would a new Ideaf RPG count? :lol

 

[harSon]

Microsoft let Bizarre walk away, dissolved FASA, let Bungie buy back their independence, let Bioware be bought by EA and shut down Ensemble and the Flight Simulator team.

Yeah, let's think for a while about how far they'd go to keep Mistwalker exclusive.

I guess if Mistwalker doesn't have the means to finance a project, any project, on their own, they'd of course accept another deal. When/if they have money on hand though (and maybe they never will, that's definitely possible), they'll do HD multiplat and/or Wii projects. Going by sales figures from their projects so far, that's their best shot at doing healthy business.

FASA wasn't anywhere near profitable, they already had a racing team under their wing, decided against a deteriorating relationship through a forced ownership with Bungie, and have been dissolving everything not having to do with console development. Microsoft has shown they're willing to expand but I'd imagine the near billion dollar price tag was not economically feasible for them.

As for Mistwalker, they're contractually obligated to do another game for exclusively for the Xbox 360 and the relationship between the two isn't exactly what you'd call sour. Mistwalker has already shown that they're not marketable outside of the 360, failing to sell on one of the biggest installed bases is proof enough. Sakaguchi has already said that he's working on a big project, I believe the words were one of (or the?) biggest things he's worked on, considering his contractual obligations and his words, I think it's safe to say that his next project is with the Xbox 360. I guess multi platform is a possibility but his past words for the competitor haven't been all that nice...

Not to mention the fact that Mistwalker consists of a handful of dedicated employees, the acquisition wouldn't be bank breaking, it'd probably take more money to completely staff the endeavor then to acquire the studio :lol

 

[Rolf NB]

As for Mistwalker, they're contractually obligated to do another game for exclusively for the Xbox 360 and the relationship between the two isn't exactly what you'd call sour. Mistwalker has already shown that they're not marketable outside of the 360, failing to sell on one of the biggest installed bases is proof enough. Sakaguchi has already said that he's working on a big project, I believe the words were one of (or the?) biggest things he's worked on, considering his contractual obligations and his words, I think it's safe to say that his next project is with the Xbox 360. I guess multi platform is a possibility but his past words for the competitor haven't been all that nice...

I agree that Mistwalker should stay away from the DS, based on shockingly bad past performance. I don't agree that this proves what you think it proves. They haven't tried the PS3 nor Wii audiences yet.

White Knight Chrabonicles sold about as much as Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey combined. Now the Wii remains a gamble, but it's not much of a stretch to think that PS3 owners would buy enough copies of another decent RPGs to make it worthwhile to go multiplat.
At some point, the Gooch will want people in his own country playing his games.

 

[AdventureRacing]

MS should just stop wasting money on Japan. US and Europe are both far bigger markets and are actually growing. Japans market is shrinking.

Japan is even falling behind the UK and that's including handhelds (consoles only paints an even worse picture). Uk only makes up around 33% of the European market which means that japan is 1/3 the size of the European market. NA is most likely even larger than the European market (don't know for sure but it must be close).

At this point Japan probably makes up for less than 15% (quite possibly considerably less) of the WW home console market.

MS should of took the money they wasted getting Japanese exclusives and spent it trying to get exclusives for the western market.

As a side note i do realise i haven't posted any links in this post. It's more of just a general observation. The weekly hardware/software numbers for home consoles show just how small a market Japan is right now.

 

[AdventureRacing]

DP

 

[donny2112]

So basically, RE = DMC? I'm sorry, that seems hard to believe, DMC4 did 310k on PS3 alone.

I believe that DMC4 is also still the only series to see an increase over its previous PS2 numbers after transitioning to the PS3. RE4 on the PS2 sold 455K.

US and Europe are both far bigger markets and are actually growing. Japans market is shrinking.

Yes, it's terrible. It's shrinking from historical highs to near-historical highs. Just terrible.

Japan is even falling behind the UK and that's including handhelds

1) Why should it not include handhelds?
2) It took constant growth for the last several years in the U.K. and decline for the last two years in Japan to have the streams cross.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Whoo that would suck.
The Japanese games are the only reason I still own a 360.

 

[Stormbringer]

Some of you might remember that I posted here the total sales of a few Wii games, which were posted on 2ch, and which were originating supposedly from Dengeki. Well, here are some more up-to-date numbers, still from 2ch, and still supposedly from Dengeki :

Taiko no Tatsujin - 380k
Karaoke Joysound - 204k
Mario Tennis - 108k
FFCC - 20k
Haruhi - 29k
Pikmin - 145k
FRAGILE - 26k
Family Ski 2 - 85k
Biohazard 1 - 48k
Naruto EX 3 - 65k
Decasporta - 303k
Shape Boxing - 66k
Momotaro Dentetsu 16 - 94k
One Piece Ep.1 - 129k
Bleach Versus - 44k
Happy Dance Collection- 42k
Biohazard 0 - 79k
Jinsei Game Wii Ex - 17k
428 - 67k
Tatsunoko Capcom - 43k
Castlevania Judgment - 5k
Let's Tap - 24k
Harvest Moon Animal March - 28k


According to the original post, these are from Dengeki/Ascii's February 5th report, which I could partially verify by checking the online report, and seeing that some the LTD available in this report matched these one.
It should be noted that this report covers the week ending February 1st, which means that these numbers have a period of 2 additional weeks over the ones I previously reported. Feel free to compare these ones with the previous ones, as most of the listed games appear in both lists.

Additionally, there are a few more LTD of DS and Wii games, still from 2ch, and this time mentioned as being from Dengeki DS & Wii :

DS :

Suikoden Tierkreis - 141k
Tongari Boshi - 370k
Soccer Tsuku - 168k
Band Brothers DX - 488k
Beautiful Letters Training - 498k
Tamagochi (the latest one I presume) - 200k
Layton 2 - 910k

Wii :

428 - 67k
Shape Boxing - 66k
Family Ski 2 - 85k

(You'll have noticed that the numbers for the Wii games are exactly the same in this list as in the one above.)

Anyway, same thing as the last time : until we're able to verify these...grain of salt, etc.

 

[Error]

So, bundles included? For the SO4 numbers, I mean.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Yeah, that was more what I was thinking actually. It WAS sent to die but somehow managed to survive

Random indeed.

Great numbers for SOIV! I expected less. How front-loaded are SO games? Are they less front-loaded compared to Tales of games for instance?

They seem pretty similar; it's an RPG thing. Star Ocean III and the most recent Tales seem like they do about 2/3 their business the first week. That it sold to something like 1/7 of the userbase in one day also simply gives it less room to grow than the average game, as well.

I'm totally baffled to as of why Final Fantasy isn't coming to the 360 in Japan. I mean Square-Enix releases this as an exclusive (for now) and The Last Remnant as a timed exclusive (I think that's the case at least) to built a steady JRPG fanbase for the console yet they won't release the biggest JRPG for it in Japan?

I've wondered the same. From what I gather of responses, best guess is that development of the X360 version isn't as far along as the PS3 version. Since the international version will be released at a later time they can release simultaneously, but it'd be more trouble than it's worth to make for a simultaneous release in Japan. But probably it will see an eventual release, or release alongside the eventual PS3 version of "Final Fantasy XIII International" or whatever.

It was already pretty dumb for SCE to lose FF13 worldwide. It would be the dumbest thing in this generation if SCE couldn't even secure the exclusivity (even if just timed) of FF13 in Japan alone.

I dunno; seems it'd be the dumbest thing to put the biggest focus on securing exclusivity to PS3's smallest market, and the single one where it already dominates the HD portion. That's where it needs exclusivity's advantages least.

So this means no Dead Rising 2 for the Wii and no Dead Rising clones either.

Well, maybe we'll get lucky and someone will make a Dead Rising clone, rather than a Chop Til You Drop clone.

 

[cvxfreak]

Looking at Storm's report and comparing:

Taiko no Tatsujin: +44K
Karaoke Joysound: +14K
Pikmin: +10K
Family Ski 2: +5k
Biohazard 1: +4K
Naruto EX 3: +3K
One Piece Ep.1: +1K
Bleach Versus: +1K
Happy Dance Collection: +1K
Biohazard 0: +1K
428: +1K
Tatsunoko Capcom: +0K (WTF)
Castlevania Judgment - 5k
Let's Tap: +2K
Harvest Moon Animal March: +1K

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom didn't get even the slightest rise in LTD? Uh oh.

 

[Liabe Brave]

I think it's hard to argue that, although when we look at this generation, what franchises don't fall under that qualification? Nintendo first-party stuff, and... what? The fragmented console base seems to have resulted in a situation where third-party games simply cannot meet their previous-generation milestones.

Agreed. It's quite obvious that there is no home console that is "the next PS2" in terms of selling software in Japan. What makes it so intriguing is that Wii is absolutely the next PS2 in terms of hardware--better even! But no one besides Nintendo has been able to really cash in on that, and even hardware is faltering now.

I don't know what factors were most important in causing this pattern (self-fulfilling prophecy in lackluster third-party efforts, a sea change to handheld dominance, etc.), but it sure is interesting. The transition from last gen in the U.S. has seemed much more intelligible: just flip-flop Sony and Nintendo.

 

[Rock_Man]

So I've updated these graphs again.

First, portable consoles vs home consoles:

All consoles by company:

Finally, DS vs PSP where Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 managed to put PSP software over 50% for the first time since MHP2G:

 

[DogWelder]

So, bundles included? For the SO4 numbers, I mean.

I'm about 95% sure they are not.

 

[AdventureRacing]

Yes, it's terrible. It's shrinking from historical highs to near-historical highs. Just terrible.

Even at the highs of the PS2 era the Japanese market only made up 20% or less of the WW market. Also i think at this point it's quite obvious MS won't see near that level of success certainly not in the near future.

1) Why should it not include handhelds?

Perhaps i didn't make it clear that i was specifically talking about MS. They don't have a handheld so the only market really relevant to them is the home console market. If the Japanese market continues to skew towards handhelds that doesn't bode well for any of MS's future endeavors.

2) It took constant growth for the last several years in the U.K. and decline for the last two years in Japan to have the streams cross.

But it did happen, and the UK is continuing to grow so far whilst the Japanese market continues to decline.

The point is why spend so much money appealing to such a small fraction of the WW market, a market which so far has seen little interest in the xbox brand.

The Japanese market also has tends to have a taste in games different to most of the rest of the world (not that this is a bad thing). So the games MS gets for the Japanese market will have little impact anywhere else. Whereas if they made games for the western market they would be appealing to a much wider audience.

On a completely different note this weeks software sales on the wii were atrocious. Less than the PS2 not even double the 360. Wiifit alone in the US is pretty much selling more than all the software on wii combined in Japan.

Edit: i realise that 'a small fraction' is probably an overstatement.

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

Right. I'm not saying it was advertised well (TV commercials are a very small part of an overall marketing campaign for a game here), but it's not as though they did *no* advertising, like with Dead Rising. The commercials definitely pushed the Tatsunoko angle, too, with the voice actor of one of the Dorombo gang narrating the ad.

Hmm. Normally I'd go with the "blame Wii" bank but the game didn't fair well in the arcades either. I mean it premiered at the #8 spot.

 

[Kurosaki Ichigo]

Not much I don't believe. Same with PS3 (outside of the FF13 demo). Going to be very interesting in the months ahead IMO to see what if any big Japanese games are announced for PS360. After RE5 there is nothing left besides the FF13 duo.

Announced and set to release so soon would be quite unlikely, but there should be a few known titles getting a release date. For example, X360 just got Mass Effect set to release on May 21, X360 and PS3 got Shin Sengoku Musou 5 Empires releasing on May 28 (this was delayed from January if you remember). I suppose we'll also hear about Bionic Commando soon, yearly baseball game on PS3...of course I wouldn't count on anything big name getting announced and released within 3 months, if that's what you mean.

Both will have a pretty poor April though, and that covers one of the most important weeks in Japan, the Golden Week. PS3 will have Killzone 2 and 360 will have Death Smiles and HAWX for that week. Its a bit shameful. I know PS3 will have the FF movie+demo but that won't even be tracked.

 

[gconsole]

Japan is even falling behind the UK and that's including handhelds (consoles only paints an even worse picture). Uk only makes up around 33% of the European market which means that japan is 1/3 the size of the European market. NA is most likely even larger than the European market (don't know for sure but it must be close).

Hmm, no. UK might beat japan in console yearly revenue as I can also see how much UK people spend more on videogame than Japanese people now. But UK does not reach japan in overall industry size yet. And maybe never.

 

[schuelma]

Announced and set to release so soon would be quite unlikely, but there should be a few known titles getting a release date. For example, X360 just got Mass Effect set to release on May 21, X360 and PS3 got Shin Sengoku Musou 5 Empires releasing on May 28 (this was delayed from January if you remember). I suppose we'll also hear about Bionic Commando soon, yearly baseball game on PS3...of course I wouldn't count on anything big name getting announced and released within 3 months, if that's what you mean.

Both will have a pretty poor April though, and that covers one of the most important weeks in Japan, the Golden Week. PS3 will have Killzone 2 and 360 will have Death Smiles and HAWX for that week. Its a bit shameful. I know PS3 will have the FF movie+demo but that won't even be tracked.

Yeah, I was talking more about big big franchises that can have momentary impacts on hardware sales like we're about to see the next couple of weeks. I'm not sure if anything you listed would have that effect.

I also think its going to be interesting to see announcements coming up because outside of FF13, the big 3rd party HD projects announced prior to Wii/handheld domination will have basically all released after RE5. Are 3rd parties still working on the same number of big projects for the HD systems? Have they shifted to Wii a bit? Are they focusing on handhelds? I'm guessing a bit of all of the above, but should be interesting.

 

[donny2112]

It's quite obvious that there is no home console that is "the next PS2" in terms of selling software in Japan. What makes it so intriguing is that Wii is absolutely the next PS2 in terms of hardware--better even!

Huh? The Wii is tracking behind the PS2 in hardware in Japan.

But no one besides Nintendo has been able to really cash in on that, and even hardware is faltering now.

Yes, and everyone has tried so hard. Giving it the same support in breadth and depth that the PS2 had from the beginning. It's a riddle wrapped inside an enigma.

The transition from last gen in the U.S. has seemed much more intelligible: just flip-flop Sony and Nintendo.

The U.S. is more the anomaly to me. The Wii has taken over from the PS2 despite having almost none of the major support of third-parties that the PS2 had from the start. A good part of that reason has to be that the GameCube did so much better in the U.S. than anywhere else in the world last generation, though. The GameCube was still kicking around up until the Wii's launch, for example. In Japan, it had been pretty much dead for two years before the Wii's launch.

Even at the highs of the PS2 era the Japanese market only made up 20% or less of the WW market.

The historical highs were not due to the PS2's peaks, though.

Perhaps i didn't make it clear that i was specifically talking about MS.

Ah. That would be a good reason to not include handheld sales. However, you also couldn't be comparing the whole Japanese market to the whole U.K. market if you're only looking at the 360.

But it did happen, and the UK is continuing to grow so far whilst the Japanese market continues to decline.

Correct. However, it does show that the Japanese market can sell more software than it currently is, and it also shows that the U.K. hasn't shown that it can sustain its current growth trend. The U.K. may remain second to the U.S. for the next decade, but at this point, all that can be said is that it took second place worldwide in 2008.

The point is why spend so much money appealing to such a small fraction of the WW market, a market which so far has seen little interest in the xbox brand.

To try to attract the publishing companies that care about selling their games in Japan. If Microsoft pulls out of Japan, the 360 won't be an option for exclusives (and maybe even losing some multi-platform games) for publishers that want to have their games available in their own country.

The Japanese market also has tends to have a taste in games different to most of the rest of the world (not that this is a bad thing). So the games MS gets for the Japanese market will have little impact anywhere else. Whereas if they made games for the western market they would be appealing to a much wider audience.

If Microsoft didn't take a bath on some primarily Japanese titles, they wouldn't be in as good a position as they are in the Japanese market or with Japanese publishers.

On a completely different note this weeks software sales on the wii were atrocious.

Yep. The Wii needs a relaunch/reinvigoration in Japan pretty badly.

 

[Laguna]

Huh? The Wii is tracking behind the PS2 in hardware in Japan.

Do you have the PS2 numbers to compare them with Wiis LTD?

 

[donny2112]

Do you have the PS2 numbers to compare them with Wiis LTD?

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=14849439&postcount=249

Based on the latest Famitsu hardware numbers...
Wii comparisons: After 115 weeks, Wii is where GBA was at 93.7 weeks (January 3, 2003), where DS was at 75.1 weeks (May 8, 2006), where PS2 was at 111.7 weeks (April 19, 2002), and where PSP was at 162.1 weeks (January 14, 2008).

 

[Y2Kev]

That's a pretty unrealistic position to make, it's not like Japanese studios are completely, Nippon Ichi and Atlus wouldn't pledge developmental support if the Xbox 360 were such a money sink.

Neither of those companies will make an exclusive JRPG for 360. Atlus will make a 360 game because they are making a PS3 game, and I'd wager NI is doing the same (maybe a Disgaea 3 port included with or instead of new content).

As for the money sink comment, I'm not convinced it isn't just yet. Square took a huge bath on TLR obviously, Vesperia is at less than 250k worldwide (not out in Europe yet, though) and will probably get a PS3 port, and IU I am a little less clear on-- obviously a failure sales wise but Square did manage to stuff 400,000 copies in the channel, so depending on development costs they could have broken even.

Mistwalker's games are a different animal pretty clearly because they are subsidized by Microsoft, and as such I left them out of my consideration.

These games are sales landmines. "It's an unrealistic position to make"-- not it's not, look at the sales of these exclusive games--"it's not like Japanese studios are completely"-- um okay. If what you mean to say is, "abandoning exclusive 360 development," then you're wrong.

I believe it was Famitsu or Dengeki's interview with the Japanese developers earlier this year...From said it would be "difficult to make another game like Ninja Blade." Well, that's the trend I see happening. You can't get the big bucks and make a game that domestically sells 50k.

Like in the commodities markets, there will be a flight to quality! I'm suspecting that will be DS in the short term and maybe Wii/Wii 2 in the long term.

 

[Error]

Square didn't pay for IU's development and managed to ship 440k copies. they shipped ~400k copies of TLR, AND that's without the PS3 and PC ports.

There's no money sinking anywhere IMO.

 

[Spiegel]

Do you have the PS2 numbers to compare them with Wiis LTD?

Garaph to the rescue. (Joshua, I couldn't link the image directly from your website :/)

Wii was ahead by 1.5 million at one point but now is losing ground pretty fast. PS2 weekly sales in 2002 were double/triple of what Wii is selling now.

 

[Y2Kev]

Square didn't pay for IU's development and managed to ship 440k copies. they shipped ~400k copies of TLR, AND that's without the PS3 and PC ports.

There's no money sinking anywhere IMO.

I don't know for sure if 400,000 copies is enough to turn a profit, and I don't know what the PC version will sell or if the PS3 version even exists anymore.

But ultimately someone paid for IU (it was Microsoft for most of the back end and Square for most of the promotion and distribution), and I'd suggest Microsoft would not do that again.

It's possible IU was profitable-- the game was an abortion and felt extremely cheap. But TLR at 400k...with UE3 licensing costs on top of things...no sir, I do not believe it. But again, that's not really an exclusive title. At least on paper. I don't really know where the PS3 version is. And Vesperia is definitely not in the black yet.

 

[Laguna]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=14849439&postcount=249

thanks,
but looking at this graph the difference isn´t that much. Actually both systems have pretty similar "LTD" sales up till now. Your post on the other hand suggests a bit more of a difference.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Garaph to the rescue. (Joshua, I couldn't link the image directly from your website :/)

take the url you get and feed it through here (linked on the front page of garaph, but i can understand why someone would have missed it) to get a forum-friendly url

 

[Y2Kev]

Stump, what do you think about the profitability of these big rpgs?

 

[schuelma]

Like in the commodities markets, there will be a flight to quality! I'm suspecting that will be DS in the short term and maybe Wii/Wii 2 in the long term.

I think you can throw PSP in there as well. With the western centric franchises staying on the HD twins (but possibly transitioning to Wii 2?)

 

[harSon]

Neither of those companies will make an exclusive JRPG for 360. Atlus will make a 360 game because they are making a PS3 game, and I'd wager NI is doing the same (maybe a Disgaea 3 port included with or instead of new content).

As for the money sink comment, I'm not convinced it isn't just yet. Square took a huge bath on TLR obviously, Vesperia is at less than 250k worldwide (not out in Europe yet, though) and will probably get a PS3 port, and IU I am a little less clear on-- obviously a failure sales wise but Square did manage to stuff 400,000 copies in the channel, so depending on development costs they could have broken even.

Mistwalker's games are a different animal pretty clearly because they are subsidized by Microsoft, and as such I left them out of my consideration.

These games are sales landmines. "It's an unrealistic position to make"-- not it's not, look at the sales of these exclusive games--"it's not like Japanese studios are completely"-- um okay. If what you mean to say is, "abandoning exclusive 360 development," then you're wrong.

I believe it was Famitsu or Dengeki's interview with the Japanese developers earlier this year...From said it would be "difficult to make another game like Ninja Blade." Well, that's the trend I see happening. You can't get the big bucks and make a game that domestically sells 50k.

Like in the commodities markets, there will be a flight to quality! I'm suspecting that will be DS in the short term and maybe Wii/Wii 2 in the long term.

How is believing that MICROSOFT will be unable to gain an exclusive RPG in a market they're still trying to crack by the end of the generation realistic? It simply isn't, I'm sorry. There aren't really any successful Japanese games (Within Japan) on the 360 that aren't JRPGs, Ninja Blade isn't exactly the best of examples considering its an obscure take on a genre that hasn't sold well to begin with.

 

[freddy]

The uptick in PSP hardware sales hasn't really translated into a lot more software being sold on PSP. If it wasn't for the few heavy hitters the PSP has had since 2000 was released then the line average would have barely moved (in portable marketshare).

 

[Spiegel]

take the url you get and feed it through here (linked on the front page of garaph, but i can understand why someone would have missed it) to get a forum-friendly url

Awesome. Thanks

 

[Y2Kev]

How is believing that MICROSOFT will be unable to gain an exclusive RPG in a market they're still trying to crack by the end of the generation realistic? It simply isn't, I'm sorry. There aren't really any successful Japanese games (Within Japan) on the 360 that aren't JRPGs, Ninja Blade isn't exactly the best of examples considering its an obscure take on a genre that hasn't sold well to begin with.

What exactly do you mean by, "Microsoft will be unable to gain an exclusive"? This pretty much suggests a moneyhat. Is that what you're talking about?

(What's the genre on Ninja Blade? Action game?)

 

[Captain Smoker]

lol, the NES has actually 41 million sellers in Japan, I had always 40 in my file. ^^


The 41th million seller is Jalecos Bases Loaded, it managed 1.580.000 units according to geimin.net ( http://geimin.net/da/db/ruikei_fa/index.php ).



If you're interested, here are all NES - million sellers in Japan:

FC - Super Mario Bros. 6.810.000
FC - Super Mario 3 3.840.000
FC - Dragon Quest III 3.800.000
FC - Dragon Quest IV 3.100.000
FC - Super Mario 2 2.650.000
FC - Golf 2.460.000
FC - Dragon Quest II 2.400.000
FC - Baseball 2.350.000
FC - Mah-Jong 2.130.000
FC - R. B. I. Baseball 2.050.000
FC - Volleyball 1.980.000
FC - Tetris 1.810.000
FC - The Legend of Zelda 1.690.000
FC - Mario Bros. 1.630.000
FC - Zelda II: Link´s Adventure 1.610.000
FC - Famista Baseball 88 1.610.000
FC - Bases Loaded 1.580.000
FC - Excitebike 1.570.000
FC - Tennis 1.560.000
FC - Soccer 1.530.000
FC - Dr. Mario 1.530.000
FC - Formula One 1.520.000
FC - Dragon Quest 1.500.000
FC - Ninja Hattori-kun 1.500.000
FC - Devil World (Four beat Jong) 1.450.000
FC - Pro Wrestling 1.420.000
FC - Kung Fu Master 1.420.000
FC - Final Fantasy III 1.400.000
FC - Famista Baseball 87 1.300.000
FC - Xevious 1.270.000
FC - Ninja Kid 1.250.000
FC - Dragon Power 1.230.000
FC - Doraemon 1.150.000
FC - NES Jump Hero 1.100.000
FC - Road Runner 1.100.000
FC - Kid Icarus 1.090.000
FC - Kinniku Man: Muscle Tag Match 1.050.000
FC - Adventure Island 1.050.000
FC - Metroid 1.040.000
FC - Star Soldier 1.000.000
FC - Ice Climber 1.000.000

 

[Laguna]

I don´t want to start anything, but maybe the delay for FFXIII may have something to do with a change in mind at SQEX after seeing PS3s lukewarm sales in December they maybe want to release the X360 version also in Japan since they actually have a X360 version in the works either way.