Support NeoGAF

[DeaconKnowledge]

Has the 360 been receptive to Japanese games worldwide?

Nope. In comes the vacuum again:

360 games success only goes so far. Not to bring other markets into this too much, but in America the 360 has proved to be an American flavoured console. Selling Japanese style games on it isn`t easy, period. This is all forgetting the Wii being number one or close to it in other territories as well.

so what are developers to do? Are they to settle for the super red hot but focused on American games US market, guaranteeing little to no success in Japan, or take the risk with the Wii as a serious console and potentially reap far more benefit?

Too much of the `just develop for the 360`argument is short term and looked at in a bubble.

 

[JJConrad]

I can't help but feel that stumpokapow is being highly selective in the games he's comparing. He named Victorious Boxer for the PS2 as an example, giving its lifetime total not its LTD total. He also didn't mention that in this week in 2001 that that game was one of only 3 PS2 games to even chart... and that the #19 game of that week is lower than the #30 game of this week. There were more than 3 games released for the PS2 in that time period, so exactly how many other PS2 games bomb?

We're looking back at more complete data and trying to compare it to today's data. Back then, if a game sold only 15k we could see it entire LTD (or only 8.5k for the week before it). Today, the DS hogs so many spots so that if a game can't crack 21k we'll never get an update. The data is just not comparible.


Did we have a similar fight over REUC a month ago and FF4 for the last 3 weeks?

 

[ccbfan]

Has the 360 been receptive to Japanese games worldwide?

Are Red Steel, Guitar Hero and Rayman Japanese Games?

Also I do know 2 Capcom games sold over a million on the 360. I'm not sure if DOA 4 did but if I had to guess I'd say it did. I don't know the entire WW million seller 3rd party list on the 360 since its so plentiful so there might be other 3rd party games from Japanese companies I missed.

 

[Pureauthor]

I can't help but feel that stumpokapow is being highly selective in the games he's comparing. He named Victorious Boxer for the PS2 as an example, giving its lifetime total not its LTD total.

Wait, what.

Did we have a similar fight over REUC a month ago and FF4 for the last 3 weeks?

RE:UC has always been said to be performing decently, especially given Capcom's public expectations of 620K lifetime WW.

And FF4's argument is a whole different beast about it struggling against the shadow of FF3's amazing legs and platinum status.

 

[papelnabangka]

I want to ask those having this argument in here a question,


Does it even matter that third-party games bomb on the Wii?

From sales age POV, it doesn't.

Little if any effect at all.

 

[FordStang]

I was looking in the graph on the 1st page and I was like, "where's the 360?" Then I realized it was that teeny tiny green section.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

RE:UC has always been said to be performing decently, especially given Capcom's public expectations of 620K lifetime WW.

And FF4's argument is a whole different beast about it struggling against the shadow of FF3's amazing legs and platinum status.

I would argue that had Capcom not set that public expectation, we`d be hearing tons of `Re: UC am bomba`right now.

 

[schuelma]

I would argue that had Capcom not set that public expectation, we`d be hearing tons of `Re: UC am bomba`right now.

Really? Just going by the GC RE series numbers and other spinoffs, it looks like a success no matter what context you give it.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

Really? Just going by the GC RE series numbers and other spinoffs, it looks like a success no matter what context you give it.

Logic doesn't seem to stop people from making idiot claims. Not naming any names here you understand....

 

[JJConrad]

Wait, what.

At this point in 2001 VB had only sold about 180k not 300k. It would later reach 300k, but then REUC will also end up being a lot higher than the 230k that it is at right now.

RE:UC has always been said to be performing decently, especially given Capcom's public expectations of 620K lifetime WW.

And FF4's argument is a whole different beast about it struggling against the shadow of FF3's amazing legs and platinum status.

That didn't stop us from fighting about it.

Even FF4 fights have a similar undertone. People are expecting everything to play out exactly like it did in the past and making a big stink about even when the end results aren't too different from before.

 

[schuelma]

Logic doesn't seem to stop people from making idiot claims. Not naming any names here you understand....

Completely misread the tone of your post. Got it now.

 

[Stumpokapow]

I can't help but feel that stumpokapow is being highly selective in the games he's comparing. He named Victorious Boxer for the PS2 as an example, giving its lifetime total not its LTD total. He also didn't mention that in this week in 2001 that that game was one of only 3 PS2 games to even chart... and that the #19 game of that week is lower than the #30 game of this week. There were more than 3 games released for the PS2 in that time period, so exactly how many other PS2 games bomb?

Okay, instead of listing its lifetime total (300k+), I'll list its total after one year of sales: 300k+. The game did 88k week one, 210k month one, 290k after three months, 320k after six months, and 342 after the last time we saw it; one full year of sales.

It might be the case that the DS is crowding out Wii games in a way that the PS2 was not crowded out. If that's the case, then the top 500 will reveal a lot of off-chart growth for Wii titles. I hope that's the case, and I already conceded that it may be the case in this thread.

As it relates to other PS2 games that week and within one week in either direction...
FIFA 2001 - 30k+
Result 3rdMix and drummania 2nd Mix - 22k+
Sidewinder Max - 30k+
Dark Cloud - 60k+
DOA2 Harcore - 65k+
Swordsmen - 25k+
7 - The Cavalry of Molmorth - 65k+
Blood the Last Vampire - 46k+
Mobile Suit Gundam - 399k+

Most of those games ONLY have data for week one or week one + week two...

(As it relates to RE: UC, I honestly believe it's a smash success. It'll easily make Capcom's expectations which I personally believe were pretty lofty already. Mega kudos to Capcom about it. It's one of the only Wii games I haven't picked up yet that I'd really like to.)

I'm not trying to be selective, have an agenda, or anything. Any opinion I'm expressing is based on my honest evaluation even if I end up wrong. I'm not trying to spin or anything

 

[Big Chief Crazy Cone]

I think it all has to do with marketing. If not for GAF, I wouldn't know the joy that is Geometry Wars and Zack & Wiki. Geometry Wars may have holograms on the box, but that doesn't make it seem like an interesting game. (Damn is it addictive btw). Same goes for Z&W.

I'll tell you something interesting. Every time I'm in a place that carries Zack & Wiki, (granted, not many places) I pick a copy up and carry it with me as if I'm going to buy it while I browse the other games. Four times now I've seen people browsing next to me who try to catch a glance of what's in my hand, and then they go look for themselves. Three people bought the game. To the casual market, if they're spending $50 on something they need to know its good or at least looks fun. Mario, RE, and even Rayman are established franchises, which to a casual = "they are good." Red Steel was an FPS, so that makes it look like fun (given the current state of the market.)

I think if 3rd parties simply advertised more, and Nintendo got off their ass and put some worthwhile demo stations in stores(not just videos and WiiSports, I mean cmon, one PS3 unit has like 8 demos in there!), 3rd party sales would be higher.

 

[Stumpokapow]

IN OTHHHHHER NEWS... Want to see a Taito PR rep fuck up sales information by more than 500%?

Today I noticed an interview on Gamasutra with a representative of Taito US. It's a pretty awesome interview, and there's a boat-load of good information in it.

Unfortunately, I don't know how much of it is real and how much of it is fake. Here's a portion from the interview:

How important are franchises like Cooking Mama to Taito? It seems like the biggest hit Taito has had in a while, even though it's a very small game.
KF: Exactly. Actually, Cooking Mama was awarded as IGN's Best of E3 last year, and 700,000 copies have been sold already in the U.S. market, with another 500,000 copies in Europe.

How much in Japan?

KF: Almost a million, actually. It's kind of a blockbuster game for us, after more than ten years of silence.

Cooking Mama is currently at somewhere between 62,000 and 75,000 in Japan. Cooking Mama Wii is somewhere between 25,000 and 50,000 in Japan. Cooking Mama 2 has not yet charted in Japan, so it's confirmably below 50,000. We'll know more exact numbers when we get the Top 500 for 2007. These numbers are all from Famitsu, who are considered to be accurate sales trackers.

So we know the series total is somewhere around 100,000-180,000 in Japan.

There's absolutely no reason for Taito to lie about this stuff. Cooking Mama's European and American success stands on its own. Cooking Mama for the DS is one of the top 3rd party US DS releases. It's pretty much single-handedly responsible for Majesco's recent revitalization.

So I'm assuming it's not a lie... it's just Taito having no clue about their own series sales. I was dumbfounded though, because it's not often you hear someone getting something quite that wrong.

I mean, that's almost order of magnitude of error. What the fuck?

 

[Xeke]

My God. Sony needs to use this momentum and drop the price just a tad on the PSP and it'll surely begin selling side-by-side and perhaps even outsell the DS here and there. Seriously, for a unit with mediocre software performance, this thing is selling absurdly well in Japan.

Why would they drop the price and make less money on each unit when games sales aren't going to make up for it?

 

[ziran]

Oh, there were some things I was assuming since this is a sales thread, which often analyses the tastes of the wider market, especially with regards to this Wii discussion, i.e. at least attempting to understand their needs realising the following:

1. Mario Party 8 has been a huge success because it addresses the needs of the mass market and offers something new and great for them, even if you (the hardcore) dislike the game, because hardcore gamers have different criteria for what constitutes 'good'.

2. After 10 mins play, Zak and Wiki would obviously sell poorly because it's a niche-hardcore game, a potentially devastating combination for sales, and the title is in no way mainstream.

3. Wii Sports Golf has taken the mass market, say for maybe Mario Golf Wii, because it encapsulates exactly what they desire from a Golf game, and this is why other Golf games are struggling.

IN OTHHHHHER NEWS... Want to see a Taito PR rep fuck up sales information by more than 500%?

Today I noticed an interview on Gamasutra with a representative of Taito US. It's a pretty awesome interview, and there's a boat-load of good information in it.

Unfortunately, I don't know how much of it is real and how much of it is fake. Here's a portion from the interview:



Cooking Mama is currently at somewhere between 62,000 and 75,000 in Japan. Cooking Mama Wii is somewhere between 25,000 and 50,000 in Japan. Cooking Mama 2 has not yet charted in Japan, so it's confirmably below 50,000. We'll know more exact numbers when we get the Top 500 for 2007. These numbers are all from Famitsu, who are considered to be accurate sales trackers.

So we know the series total is somewhere around 100,000-180,000 in Japan.

There's absolutely no reason for Taito to lie about this stuff. Cooking Mama's European and American success stands on its own. Cooking Mama for the DS is one of the top 3rd party US DS releases. It's pretty much single-handedly responsible for Majesco's recent revitalization.

So I'm assuming it's not a lie... it's just Taito having no clue about their own series sales. I was dumbfounded though, because it's not often you hear someone getting something quite that wrong.

I mean, that's almost order of magnitude of error. What the fuck?

I read that article and, from the previous reply, assumed:
http://www.taito.co.jp/mob/i/cooking_mam/index.html

Wii and DS are not the only avenue for sw sales.

 

[Stumpokapow]

I read that article and, from the previous reply assumed:
http://www.taito.co.jp/mob/i/cooking_mam/index.html

Wii and DS are not the only avenue for sw sales.

I guess mobile is the only way to account for it, but I don't buy that one bit. 80%+ sales from mobile? Alternatively, if it's so wildly popular on mobile, why does no one like the concept on the DS?

 

[ziran]

I guess mobile is the only way to account for it, but I don't buy that one bit. 80%+ sales from mobile? Alternatively, if it's so wildly popular on mobile, why does no one like the concept on the DS?

Well, it's either a source of sales other than DS and Wii, Taito really doesn't have a clue about their sw sales, they lied big time or something lost in translation...


EDIT-
Still, the ww sales of the DS and Wii versions of the franchise really are excellent!

 

[SunkisTim535]

PSP - 218,234

Software - 3

I still don't get it.

 

[Xisiqomelir]

I read that article and, from the previous reply, assumed:
http://www.taito.co.jp/mob/i/cooking_mam/index.html

Wii and DS are not the only avenue for sw sales.

If Taito sold 300k Cooking Mama on DoCoMos, GAF would have to shut up forever about Parasite Eve 3.

 

[Jokeropia]

Because no New games are really being relased for the system with any consistancy

There's a reason for this you know. PSP has had poor software sales for a while now and this invariably leads to less support.

Ninty developed the Wii to be basic and intuitive for non-gamers. Think about what they could have done if they actually made it for gamers. The types of games we are going to see on Wii are so limited and it's not the power of the system that's causing it but the lack of control options for developers to use. Maybe next time around the Wii will be able to offer experiences for all genres and then you'll see gamers flock to it. And when I say gamers, I mean actual gamers - not these new newjack gamers who don't know shiat.

I have played (and still own) hundreds of games on like 15 different systems over a period of 20+ years. Are you saying that I'm not an "actual gamer" because I like the Wii?

No - I'm talking about motion controls. It was a conscious decision to make it basic so they could release at a lower price point (It's win-win for Nintendo). Think about if we could have had 1:1 controls. Don't you think we'd be seeing some interesting and intuitive games?

There is relative 1:1 in for example Wii Sports baseball (the bat follows the remote directly), and I think there's some stuff to explore in this area since it's not really necessary for the remote to know the position of the sensor bar when using it as a sword or a bat or whatever.

Edit: The GCN came out at a lower price point than other systems ($50? less than Xbox/PS2), while the PS3 launched at $500/$600 - much higher than the other systems. Also - the PS3 itself just has more technology behind it than the GCN did and it's going to drive sales once blu-ray becomes more important and once all of these features Sony is promising release (or don't). I mean, with the GCN - it came out and that's all you got. With The PS3, Sony is expanding on features, improvement performance and really turning the system into a fully fledged media system. Soon we will see larger HDDs and hopefully DVR functionality.

Saying that PS3 would've done better if it wasn't so expensive is like saying that GC would've done better if it had more third party support and didn't have purple as the default color. While quite likely, it's ultimately a pointless discussion since the facts are what they are.

I also don't really believe added multimedia functions will increase demand in any significant manner (as if it doesn't have enough of them already), but even if it did it wouldn't really help software sales, would it?

Edit 2: To answer the question directly, I see the GCN as a failure compared to the other systems.

What then is the PS3, which is selling less hardware, much less software and (unlike the GC) is losing billions of dollars?

 

[SpongeBob NoPants]

Whilst we're having a go at Core407, I couldn't let this one slip by:

The Wii was sold on promises and so far, very few things have really validated those expectations.

Should have typed PS3, dude. The Wii's selling on word of mouth, combined with people playing and enjoying Wii Sports at friends / relatives houses and then buying their own. On the other hand, it's the Sony execs that have basically been saying "Sure it's a bit crap now, but think of the potential..."

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Goodbye, Media Create tracking of GCN, GBA, GBASP, GBM, and DS. You will be missed. However, your absence will also make pie charts a hell of a lot less cluttered, and bar charts appear less barren. With six systems charting, this is the fewest there's been since the first week I started keeping track; with DS's launch there was GCN/GBA/GBASP/DS/PS2/Xbox, and PSP made it seven.

DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 55.0 / 45.0, bringing total shares to 73.3 / 26.7. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 62.4 weeks (March 18, 2009).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 23.6 / 76.4, Wii's best percentage week since August. Thsi brings total shares to 26.1 / 73.9. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 48.6 weeks (December 12, 2008).

This is a pretty pointless comparison, but I notice that Wii's LTD is now slightly closer to PSP's than to PS3's.
PSP LTD - Wii LTD: 2,995,871
Wii LTD - PS3 LTD: 3,118,098

Compared to their starts last year, PS3 is slightly down (70K to 64K), Wii is slightly up (195K to 208K).

These next two I haven't done in a while what with the odd timing of the numbers. But since things are about caught up to where we should be and back to normal, let's join this program already in progress. These comparisons use the leaked Famitsu numbers for the week of 12/31...

Wii comparisons: At week 58, Wii is where GBA was at 49.8 weeks (March 1, 2002), where DS was at 55.7 weeks (December 23, 2005), where PS2 was at 76.6 weeks (August 16, 2001), and where PSP was at 115.1 weeks (February 18, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: At 61 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 13.4 weeks (May 30, 2000), where PSP was at 40.3 weeks (September 13, 2005), where GCN was at 63.8 weeks (November 29, 2002), and where Wii was at 13.8 weeks (March 2, 2007).

Note that as of last week, PS3 passed up GCN at the same time. Also note that the GCN comparison is just hitting December, so a slow Q1 for PS3 could see it fall behind again.

But yeah, I remember a few years ago GCN sold like 250K first week, but then the system didn't even get 750K the rest of the year, quite sad. Expect things to drop.

Nope. In the combined two weeks including the end of 2001 and the beginning of 2002, Famitsu had GCN at 269,250. Those same two combined weeks for the end of 2003 and the beginning of 2004 came to 273,201.

Guys, can we get a rundown of all third parties that have seen a significant success on the Wii of any kind in Japan?

Define "significant" and "of any kind".

It's not that third parties make worse games than Nintendo. It's that the truly hardcore Nintendo fans are braindead cultists.

Combine this with sales reality, and should we believe that half of the Japanese populace are Nintendo cultists?

Does anyone have the Famitsu LTDs for these systems? (Including this week.) I'd like to see how they compare to the Media-Create LTDs.

Including the leaked rounded numbers for the week of 12/31...
Wii: 4,861,959
DS: 21,417,431
PS2: 20,357,266
PS3: 1,742,671
PSP: 7,724,329
X360: 561,343

The PSp games do not show up in the charts, because no new games have been released. it not Piracy It's not media. The best PSP games were relased a while ago and people who are buying are buying USED GAMES. These game do not show up in the charts. Why can no one here figure that out?

Someone has to buy the game the first time around for it to become available as a used copy.

Can someone explain why media create track Wii & DS sales much lower than Famitsu but PSP sales are tracked much higher????

These things tend to go back and forth. They're generally pretty even over a long period.

Josh!!! You are needed!!

I've already done a bit of stuff like that; shouldn't be much effort to tweak some SQL queries and link to the results.

Wii third party
Wii first party

PS2 first party
PS2 third party

All of these are through 52 weeks. If you want to check a different number of weeks, find the (52-1)*7 near the top of the query, and change the 52 to something else. Usual caveats apply about there being different sources available at different times and years, so comparisons at arbitrary week Z are rarely equally fair to both systems.

If he turns up I want to know what on earth his interesting new tag is about too. :S

Noone specifically said anything to me about it, but best theory I've heard from fellow GAFfers is that it has to do with my personal site's section with notes on GAFfers. I hadn't updated in a while, but this inspired me to start adding in some more prominent Sales-Agers.

His 'point' is that B/C level games on the PS2 put up (Gasp! Shock!) B/C level performance on the PS2.

Which is largely unlike B/C level games on the Wii that put up F level perfomances on the Wii.

It's a very different competitive market, though. If you look at the top A/B/C third party PS2 games from the first year... that's pretty much all the A/B/C games on the system, since Sony's output didn't get much beyond Fantavision and TVDJ. Third party A/B/C software on Wii isn't existing in a vaccuum, but is competing with the most successful game software company the world has ever seen.

Relative to the precursor? Sure looks like a bomb to me.

Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon 2 was also a big step down from Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon 1. Had that slope continued over 10 years, Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon Wii might have been expected to sell negative 3 million copies.

 

[the thoroughbred]

I am really surprised to see MK DS that high, and Animal Crossing that low. Does anyone remember that 18 months when Animal Crossing was constantly in the top 10. I thought for sure it would be back this holiday, just to show the new timers who's boss. But it isn't. It still charted but not like MKDS, but MKDS has sold half the amount Animal Crossing has. I really do hopw SMG can make up for the lack of sales for other good games TP looking at you and Phantom Hourglass too. We'll see. I reckon it will be long gone in a few weeks.

 

[ccbfan]

Goodbye, Media Create tracking of GCN, GBA, GBASP, GBM, and DS. You will be missed. However, your absence will also make pie charts a hell of a lot less cluttered, and bar charts appear less barren. With six systems charting, this is the fewest there's been since the first week I started keeping track; with DS's launch there was GCN/GBA/GBASP/DS/PS2/Xbox, and PSP made it seven.

DS vs PSP: Weekly shares of 55.0 / 45.0, bringing total shares to 73.3 / 26.7. If DS stopped selling and PSP continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 62.4 weeks (March 18, 2009).

PS3 vs Wii: Weekly shares of 23.6 / 76.4, Wii's best percentage week since August. Thsi brings total shares to 26.1 / 73.9. If Wii stopped selling and PS3 continued at this week's rate, it would catch up in 48.6 weeks (December 12, 2008).

This is a pretty pointless comparison, but I notice that Wii's LTD is now slightly closer to PSP's than to PS3's.
PSP LTD - Wii LTD: 2,995,871
Wii LTD - PS3 LTD: 3,118,098

Compared to their starts last year, PS3 is slightly down (70K to 64K), Wii is slightly up (195K to 208K).

These next two I haven't done in a while what with the odd timing of the numbers. But since things are about caught up to where we should be and back to normal, let's join this program already in progress. These comparisons use the leaked Famitsu numbers for the week of 12/31...

Wii comparisons: At week 58, Wii is where GBA was at 49.8 weeks (March 1, 2002), where DS was at 55.7 weeks (December 23, 2005), where PS2 was at 76.6 weeks (August 16, 2001), and where PSP was at 115.1 weeks (February 18, 2007).

PS3 comparisons: At 61 weeks, PS3 is where PS2 was at 13.4 weeks (May 30, 2000), where PSP was at 40.3 weeks (September 13, 2005), where GCN was at 63.8 weeks (November 29, 2002), and where Wii was at 13.8 weeks (March 2, 2007).

Note that as of last week, PS3 passed up GCN at the same time. Also note that the GCN comparison is just hitting December, so a slow Q1 for PS3 could see it fall behind again.


Nope. In the combined two weeks including the end of 2001 and the beginning of 2002, Famitsu had GCN at 269,250. Those same two combined weeks for the end of 2003 and the beginning of 2004 came to 273,201.

Define "significant" and "of any kind".

Combine this with sales reality, and should we believe that half of the Japanese populace are Nintendo cultists?

Including the leaked rounded numbers for the week of 12/31...
Wii: 4,861,959
DS: 21,417,431
PS2: 20,357,266
PS3: 1,742,671
PSP: 7,724,329
X360: 561,343

Someone has to buy the game the first time around for it to become available as a used copy.

These things tend to go back and forth. They're generally pretty even over a long period.


I've already done a bit of stuff like that; shouldn't be much effort to tweak some SQL queries and link to the results.

Wii third party
Wii first party

PS2 first party
PS2 third party

All of these are through 52 weeks. If you want to check a different number of weeks, find the (52-1)*7 near the top of the query, and change the 52 to something else. Usual caveats apply about there being different sources available at different times and years, so comparisons at arbitrary week Z are rarely equally fair to both systems.


Noone specifically said anything to me about it, but best theory I've heard from fellow GAFfers is that it has to do with my personal site's section with notes on GAFfers. I hadn't updated in a while, but this inspired me to start adding in some more prominent Sales-Agers.


It's a very different competitive market, though. If you look at the top A/B/C third party PS2 games from the first year... that's pretty much all the A/B/C games on the system, since Sony's output didn't get much beyond Fantavision and TVDJ. Third party A/B/C software on Wii isn't existing in a vaccuum, but is competing with the most successful game software company the world has ever seen.

Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon 2 was also a big step down from Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon 1. Had that slope continued over 10 years, Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon Wii might have been expected to sell negative 3 million copies.

Whoa your website is awesome.

I thought it was just charts but you actually have a sql query analyzer in there so we can make our own queries. This is so awesome. (Proceed to spend hours playing with this)

Do you happen to have an ER diagram or just database specs you're willing to share so we can know all the tables and fields.


Edit: OPs just noriced the link table descriptions

 

[Stumpokapow]

Do you happen to have an ER diagram or just database specs you're willing to share so we can know all the tables and fields.

SHOW TABLES;
DESCRIBE TABLE tablename;

what up

 

[lochnesssnowman]

Noone specifically said anything to me about it, but best theory I've heard from fellow GAFfers is that it has to do with my personal site's section with notes on GAFfers. I hadn't updated in a while, but this inspired me to start adding in some more prominent Sales-Agers.

Needs more Crazy Buttocks on a Train / bunkum love

 

[Rolf NB]

I was looking in the graph on the 1st page and I was like, "where's the 360?" Then I realized it was that teeny tiny green section.

Welcome to every week in the past year.

 

[Sir Alemeth]

k wtf...200+k PSP sales and only 3 PSP games on top 30?!?!

Somebody tell me something here... :\

 

[schuelma]

Noone specifically said anything to me about it, but best theory I've heard from fellow GAFfers is that it has to do with my personal site's section with notes on GAFfers. I hadn't updated in a while, but this inspired me to start adding in some more prominent Sales-Agers.

.

My new goal in life is to make this list.

 

[Lobster]

k wtf...200+k PSP sales and only 3 PSP games on top 30?!?!

Somebody tell me something here... :\

Apparently its used game sales..

lol.

 

[Grecco]

Apparently its used game sales..

lol.

Thats a good one. As a Wii Apologist i plan on plagarazing it.

 

[dolemite]

k wtf...200+k PSP sales and only 3 PSP games on top 30?!?!

Somebody tell me something here... :\

It could've been worse:

PS3 - 64,183
0 games on top 30

 

[HK-47]

My new goal in life is to make this list.

Same :lol

 

[apujanata]

IN OTHHHHHER NEWS... Want to see a Taito PR rep fuck up sales information by more than 500%?

Today I noticed an interview on Gamasutra with a representative of Taito US. It's a pretty awesome interview, and there's a boat-load of good information in it.

Unfortunately, I don't know how much of it is real and how much of it is fake. Here's a portion from the interview:



Cooking Mama is currently at somewhere between 62,000 and 75,000 in Japan. Cooking Mama Wii is somewhere between 25,000 and 50,000 in Japan. Cooking Mama 2 has not yet charted in Japan, so it's confirmably below 50,000. We'll know more exact numbers when we get the Top 500 for 2007. These numbers are all from Famitsu, who are considered to be accurate sales trackers.

So we know the series total is somewhere around 100,000-180,000 in Japan.

There's absolutely no reason for Taito to lie about this stuff. Cooking Mama's European and American success stands on its own. Cooking Mama for the DS is one of the top 3rd party US DS releases. It's pretty much single-handedly responsible for Majesco's recent revitalization.

So I'm assuming it's not a lie... it's just Taito having no clue about their own series sales. I was dumbfounded though, because it's not often you hear someone getting something quite that wrong.

I mean, that's almost order of magnitude of error. What the fuck?

Is Cooking Mama same as Cooking Navi DS (Shaberu! Oryouri Nabi) ? If yes, the last data on it is 691,007 as of Dec 06.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Is Cooking Mama same as Cooking Navi DS (Shaberu! Oryouri Nabi) ? If yes, the last data on it is 691,007 as of Dec 06.

Nope.

Former is a cooking game released in US as well. Fun, mini-games, uses stylus bigtime. Latter is a recipe book that talks to you. No US release yet.

 

[Cheesemeister]

Is Cooking Mama same as Cooking Navi DS (Shaberu! Oryouri Nabi) ?

No.

Cooking Mama 2
Cooking Navi

 

[AdventureRacing]

Nope. In comes the vacuum again:

360 games success only goes so far. Not to bring other markets into this too much, but in America the 360 has proved to be an American flavoured console. Selling Japanese style games on it isn`t easy, period. This is all forgetting the Wii being number one or close to it in other territories as well.

so what are developers to do? Are they to settle for the super red hot but focused on American games US market, guaranteeing little to no success in Japan, or take the risk with the Wii as a serious console and potentially reap far more benefit?

Too much of the `just develop for the 360`argument is short term and looked at in a bubble.

You seem to be completely overlooking the DS. If a japanese developer wants sell games in Japan that should be their choice. As far as im concerned third party developers should be making multiplatform games for 360/PS3 or games on DS if they plan on selling anywhere outside of Japan. If they want to target the Japanese market than they should go to the DS.

 

[Kiriku]

There's a reason for this you know. PSP has had poor software sales for a while now and this invariably leads to less support.

Now, this is true...and quite interesting. Because pre-slim/FFVII CC PSP hardware was doing OK but not even close to what we're seeing now, week after week. And maybe a big userbase and good hardware sales could be incentive enough for developers to give PSP another chance with games marketed properly that will appeal to the PSP crowd.
It IS possible to get really good software sales on PSP (as proven by the Monster Hunter Portable games, for example), the question is what kind of game will stick? And do devs have the guts give it another go?
How many hyped and popular games have been released for PSP recently anyway? Only one I can recall is MnG Portable 2...which didn't do very good at all (unless it has some good legs, made the top 50 this week at least), so I guess that's one down. :/

 

[Nosferatubeast]

Isn't this the first time PSP has sold 200K+ (non-launch week) since it's release?

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

You seem to be completely overlooking the DS. If a japanese developer wants sell games in Japan that should be their choice. As far as im concerned third party developers should be making multiplatform games for 360/PS3 or games on DS if they plan on selling anywhere outside of Japan. If they want to target the Japanese market than they should go to the DS.

Read two pages back then get back to me.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Isn't this the first time PSP has sold 200K+ (non-launch week) since it's release?

No, for two reasons.

1) It didn't reach 200K on launch week.
2) It did reach over 250K the first proper week of Slim release.

 

[ComputerNerd]

Well, that's it for the holiday I suppose. Next interesting things are DMC 4 and SSB:B.

 

[Nosferatubeast]

No, for two reasons.

1) It didn't reach 200K on launch week.
2) It did reach over 250K the first proper week of Slim release.

Thanks!!!

 

[CTLance]

Same :lol

Oh gawd.
JoshuaJSlone, what have you done? I'm more of a Sales-age reader than I am a poster, and I want my nick on that list too. This stuff is akin to custom tags or (for some people) gamerscore! :lol

Nothing I could contribute on-topic that hasn't been said already, though. As usual, strong discrepancy between PSP HW and SW sales, SMG having some kind of legs, Wii-branded "nongames" selling like mad, lol Nintendomination/Japan am Nintendoland hurr hurr, and so on...

I for one approve of the Mario Party DS sales, it's a good game, and leaps and bounds beyond any Mario Party title I know of (kinda small list though: 4,6,7,8). I bought it for a friend as a Christmas present and played it quite a few times with him. Very enjoyable, rather fast-paced for a MP title, and very laudable decision to incorporate 1-cart multiplayer. More of this, please.

I kind of doubt SSBB will be able to do much for Wii hardware sales numbers, though (unless Nintendo was seriously hoarding stock). My impression is they'll sell whatever they throw out there anyway, and it's not gonna be that much more than normal. I'll be happy to be proven wrong though.

As a subscriber to OnkelCs delicious OT thread of hunger and why-can't-I-cook-like-that I hereby officially wish for a localized version of Cooking Navi.

 

[Pureauthor]

I made the list, but with no notes whatsoever. :lol

 

[HK-47]

I made the list, but with no notes whatsoever. :lol

Seems you are a new addition

 

[Mr. Pointy]

RE:UC has always been said to be performing decently, especially given Capcom's public expectations of 620K lifetime WW.

UC has outdone RE4 GC's LTD in Japan.

I think it has about 1m WW in it.

 

[Vinnk]

Writing my report right now. Sorry for the delay guys.

 

[Pureauthor]

Noone specifically said anything to me about it, but best theory I've heard from fellow GAFfers is that it has to do with my personal site's section with notes on GAFfers. I hadn't updated in a while, but this inspired me to start adding in some more prominent Sales-Agers.

Man, some of the writeups on that list are hilarious.