-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Media Create Sales 12/31 - 1/6 2008
- Thread starter Cheesemeister
- Start date
perfectchaos007
Member
2 weeks in a row now PSP has outsold Wii in sales. The Wii needs to do a little better than that if it wants to ever catch the PSP's LTD. It's taking one step foward and two steps back. Won't get very far like that.
DeaconKnowledge said:
This is what I've been thinking as well. It's either compete with Nintendo on thier platform or compete with Western publishers on the 360 and PS3. And if you ask me competing with the Western Publishers seems the more daunting of the two. Right now, more than 90% of the million-selling HD games are Western made.
I think Wii owners should just give up with regards to Western publishers giving primary support to Wii and focus more on the Japanese support. That's thier best chance for good software.
Eteric Rice
Member
beef3483 said:
Thats all I actually wanted was Japanese support. Rarely do western games catch my interest.
:|
"Vinnk's Village" Anecdotal Report
Here is my first report for the New Year.
I was asked to look for Wii, WiiFit, QDIV, FFIV and I was to look at the local advertising for Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Devil May Cry 4. I visited the stores on Thursday, January 10th, 2008.
Jusco
Wii: 3
WiiFit: Sold Out
DQIV: 5
FFIV: 4
Youme Town
Wii: 5
WiiFit: Sold Out
DQIV: 3
FFIV: 5
Mr. Max
Wii: 1
WiiFit: Sold out
DQIV: 2
FFIV: 1
Book-Net
Wii: 2
WiiFit: Sold Out
DQIV: Sold Out
FFIV: 1
Goody
Wii: Sold out
WiiFit: Sold Out
DQIV: 3
FFIV: 1
Best Denki
Wii: 6
WiiFit: Sold Out
DQIV: 6
FFIV: 8
Wanpaku
Wii: 3
WiiFit: Sold Out
DQIV: 11
FFIV: 6
Famicom Dojo
Wii: Sold out
WiiFit: Sold Out
DQIV: 2
FFIV: Sold Out
Yamada Denki
Wii: 4
WiiFit: Sold Out
DQIV: 7
FFIV: 3
TOTALS:
Wii: 23
Wii Fit: Sold Out
DQIV: 39
FFIV: 29
NOTES:
1. I wasnt here for Christmas or New Years day but according to my game store friends the Wii never sold out in my town. 2 stores told me they also received larger shipment of Wii hardware before the big sales weeks.
2. The PS3 is still moving its 40GB SKU but I can see why Sony is discontinuing the 20 and 60 gig ones. There are still tons of brand new 20 and 60 gig Minna No Golf bundles waiting to be sold. I believe that, even with production ending, for several months, no one in will have a hard time finding a 60GB PS3 if they wanted one.
3. DS and PSP are everywhere. Both used and new in every color of the rainbow. Very low number of used PSP slim systems but TONS of the original model. For DS its about 50/50 with lite and phat models.
4. Used 360s once again in abundance. Seems people beat Lost Odyssey. Also Lost Odyssey had a price collapse. Can be found for 3000yen.
5. WiiFit is once again sold out. Most stores have taken down their advertisements for it. Seems that they know the thing is going to sell regardless and they dont want to waste any space for it.
6. Dragon Quest is still getting priority placement at game stores. Usually right next to FFIV. And I have indeed seen people pick up both games at the same time.
7. I think I figured out why WarioWare is selling so well. At Yamada Denki its going price (for a brand new copy) is 1683 yen and at Best Denki the price is 2500 yen. Both of these are chain stores so they might reflect prices Japan-wide (sorry, I cant confirm) I didnt check the prices from other stores but I will try to next week.
8. Biohazard: Umbrella Chronicles is back in stock, but still no gun bundles. Ghost Squad (w/ Gun) is also sold out. So in my town at least, if you want a Zapper, you are out of luck.
9. Around New Years a lot of games price collapsed. New years is traditionally a time when Japanese people do their yearly cleaning (like spring cleaning in the West). Stores also try to get rid of unsold products at this time. Some prices I observed: Deweys Adventure 1500yen, Super Mario Strikers 2200 yen, Eye of Judgment 2000 yen, Uncharted 2400 yen, Lost Odyssey 3000 yen, Tales of Tempest (yup brand new copies not sold since it came out) 500 yen. Im sure there were more but I didnt check every game.
10. The 2nd Layton game still has a dedicated kiosk for it at Wanpaku and both it and the first game are nicely positioned in the stores. Neither game is sold out but seem to be selling well. No used copies of the second game at any store. A few used copies of the first.
11. DMC4 has a huge HD kiosk at Wanpaku and posters up all around. It looks amazing. Lots of people were staring at it. Then again they did the same thing last month when that TV was being used for the GT4P kiosk. It will be interesting to see how many of them actually buy the game. As for the 360, from an advertising point of view, there was nothing in the store to even indicate that the game was even being released for the 360.
12. Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Its a good thing I read internet forums and game magazines, because it I didnt I would have no idea SSBB was even coming out. Not one kiosk. Not one flyer. Not one poster. A few months back I seem to remember a mini-poster at one of the stores, but it seems even that is gone. Its weird. NiGHTS got far more in-store advertising and that started appearing 2 months before the game came out. I know Nintendo made some great TV ads for SSBB but I have been too busy to watch TV so I dont know how frequent they are aired. What I do know is that in my town SSBB has zero in-store presence. And I cant think of how to explain that. Im dumbstruck.
13. The Otaku in my town however, know a lot about Smash Bros. When the Panzer Dragoon ship got added in the updates this one girl talked to me for like 20 minutes about it. Even I am not that geeky. All the otaku who have a Wii (about half) are buying the game day one. It might even inspire a few to re-buy the Wii (several sold it after Zelda and Fire Emblem).
15. Tales of Innocence is sold out at 2 of the shops in my town. But these stores might just have never ordered another shipment so it is hard to say for sure if it is a good thing. I wasnt here for Christmas and they might have lowered their prices.
Previous Reports:
December 6th, 2007
November 29th,2007
November 22nd, 2007
November 15th, 2007
October 15th, 2007
September 6th, 2007
August 30th, 2007
August 11th,2007
July 26th, 2007
July 19th, 2007
July 12th, 2007
July 5th, 2007
June 28th, 2007
June 21st, 2007
June 14th, 2007
June 7th, 2007
May 30th, 2007
May 24th, 2007
May 17th, 2007
May 10th, 2007
jesusraz said:
Both new and used copies of Chocobo MD can be found. Not many new copies left, but the stores in my area never got that many to begin with.
_Alkaline_
Member
Thanks Viink!
Very surprising (and quite worrying) report about the lack of Brawl advertising.
Very surprising (and quite worrying) report about the lack of Brawl advertising.
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
dolemite said:
i'd be surprised if SSBB outsold WiiFit.
vanguardian1
poor, homeless and tasteless
Eteric Rice said:
Same here, 90% of my console collection is japanese games. And even then Metal Gear Solid, Grand Turismo, and Devil May Cry have no place in my collection either.
Although I admit I'd love to see the Armored Core series, as well as Nippon Icchi's games, make some appearances on the Wii.
PantherLotus
Professional Schmuck
Quick everyone change their predictions for SSBB so you can say "we knew it wasn't going to sell well, it was a niche product with little advertising."
PantherLotus said:
Though SSBB is one of those games you definitely don't worry about being frontloaded and flooding the used-games market. With the amount of features (stage builder, online co-op, etc.) and depth it's got built into it, I don't think Nintendo's worried about people playing it for 10 hours and then selling their copies.
It'll probably still be selling for full price in 2010, so maybe Nintendo doesn't see a need to do a blitzkrieg of advertising before its release, given that it's been hyped among "core gamers" in any case.
(Though you'd think they'd want to take the opportunity to help push the hardware a bit more - January is probably going to be slow otherwise).
PantherLotus
Professional Schmuck
I don't think Nintendo is expecting big things from Smash in Japan. It's accessible for a fighter, but it doesn't really integrate the Wiimote's functionality at all, which makes it a tough sell for the families that bought the Wii for Wii Sports and Wii Fit. On the other hand, they did manage it with Super Mario Galaxy after I thought they wouldn't, so I suppose anything is possible...
Sharp said:
I think Smash Melee was the GCN's only million-seller - as in, the best-selling GCN game in Japan. Wii already has like 5/6 million sellers in Japan, with SMG being another on the way, and in general Wii games have outsold their GCN counterparts. So I'm pretty sure Nintendo expects Brawl to outsell Melee and join the million club (maybe not first week or anything), probably at least 2M lifetime given the hype...
Eteric Rice
Member
jgwhiteus said:
I think Smash almost matched Halo 1 worldwide. >_>
Not positive, though.
There is absolutely no chance in hell that Brawl will "underperform" in Japan, at least in lifetime sales. People who worry about the lack of advertising seem to forget the demographic that this game is aiming for, the super hardcore Nintendo fans, who are well aware of the game's upcoming release date. The Dojo site being updated daily is the best sort of "free" advertising that Nintendo could ever do for the game, because it keeps people talking about it EVERY SINGLE WEEK since it was first unveiled. The fact that the NeoGAF topic about the website is the largest this forum has ever had should be evidence of that. And with that kind of word of mouth going on it's hard for people outside of that audience not to at least pick up on it. Even though I'm the only person in my office who reads the Dojo daily, everybody has at least heard of it and picked up on the occasional megaton news about it (such as Sonic, the level editor and so on)
People worrying about no adverts in the shops somehow affecting its ability to outsell Melee are borderline schizophrenic.
People worrying about no adverts in the shops somehow affecting its ability to outsell Melee are borderline schizophrenic.
Oblivion said:+1
I thought I would be mentioned at least for some douchebaggery, but I guess not.
If it makes you feel any better, I've always appreciated how you stood up for me that one time on that other forum when Christopher made that really vile accusation about me. Thumbs up, man.
papelnabangka
Member
I'm not really worried about SSBB. Everyone knows about it, the hardcores know about it and Nintendo knows it's one of their mega thunder leg products. No need to advertise. Like someone said, most of Nintendo's franchises and ips have easilly outsold thier GCN counterparts. SSBB should be no exception.
It should easily outsell Melee in Japan and should be one of the Wii's 10M+ sellers, worldwide, when all is said and done.
It should easily outsell Melee in Japan and should be one of the Wii's 10M+ sellers, worldwide, when all is said and done.
Oh wait, I just remembered something...didn't someone mention that a lot of stores had stopped taking preorders on SSBB because their quotas were full? Maybe there aren't any in-store displays for the same reason there aren't any more WiiFit advertisements...why bother advertising what you won't be able to supply and will sell anyway?
Gekkonidae
Member
jgwhiteus said:
Same thing happened this holiday season, when Nintendo shifted advertising dollars from Wii to DS.
thats what I was thinking.jgwhiteus said:
SSBB is sold out as it is, and an advertisement can be put up at a moments notice if needed.
But the advantage SSBB has in Japan is that used copies will be rare, much as they are still hard to find even today for SSB/SSBM. This will definitely help sales to remain stable and probably why it was the only million seller for the Gamecube. There are already more people who own a Wii than ever owned a Gamecube. That should definitely help things along.
Kurosaki Ichigo
Member
2. Thats surprising but hey, maybe they should sell them in amazon. Right now there aren't 60GB units up from either amazon or resellers, and new/used units from users start at 66000Y. Profit! :lolVinnk said:
3. Sounds like many PSP users are trading up their old one for the slim. Might serve as an excuse to the amount of hardware/software sold weekly.
8. I wonder if REUC and Ghost Squad main selling point is the Zapper...I guess they could keep selling until Link arrives, which is quite soon.
9. pricecolapse.gif :lol
Doesn't surprise me though, we got sell through for many of those titles and it was very poor, and that always leads to this unless some miracle happens. Tempest is just awesome, tracked at 200k but 300k shipped. Namco did really good with Innocence though.
andthebeatgoeson
Junior Member
Panther,
You gave up on your comments w/the charts? I miss those.
You gave up on your comments w/the charts? I miss those.
Vinnk said:
Nice report Vinnk.
TOT price is very tempting. LO is only recently released, right ? To be 3K Yen in such a short time.
. Any Fire Emblem game ?I am a little bit surprised that Wii Fit is sold out in your town. I thought that since your town is small, there is possibility that Wii Fit is not sold out. Did your fiance or her mother have that game yet ?
Big surprise that SSBB has no ads. As others have mentioned, since there is a ton of gameplay element in it, there is no wory that there will be used game floating around 2 months after launch. Can you tell me if that belief is correct or not, based on your recollection of what happened during SSBM launch year.
SpongeBob NoPants
Member
Thanks for the report Vinnk. One thing though:
In the UK at least, PS3 hardware sales seemed to pick up when the 40 gig model was released. This is purely subjective, but a lot of people I know, including myself, ignored the 40 gig model and picked up a 60 gig one at that time because we realised that we had to act quickly if we wanted to play PS2 titles (or SACDs) on PS3 hardware.
I wouldn't be surprised if the 60 gig models in your country are also snapped up quickly for the same reason, possibly causing a bit of a sales spike.
Oh, and Josh, if you're looking for nominations for your hall of fame, there aren't many who contribute as much to these discussions as Vinnk. I'm sure he'd be a popular addition.
In the UK at least, PS3 hardware sales seemed to pick up when the 40 gig model was released. This is purely subjective, but a lot of people I know, including myself, ignored the 40 gig model and picked up a 60 gig one at that time because we realised that we had to act quickly if we wanted to play PS2 titles (or SACDs) on PS3 hardware.
I wouldn't be surprised if the 60 gig models in your country are also snapped up quickly for the same reason, possibly causing a bit of a sales spike.
Oh, and Josh, if you're looking for nominations for your hall of fame, there aren't many who contribute as much to these discussions as Vinnk. I'm sure he'd be a popular addition.
BishopLamont
Banned
I think because its clearly Wii>PS3>360 now that he basically sees no point.skinnyrattler said:
Okay, hear me out on this. Let's assume, just for the sake of argument, that a large portion of Wii sales (maybe 50%) are made up of new markets, people who either were previously not gamers, were lapsed gamers, or were gamers on a different console. This isn't too much of a stretch since the Wii has cleared the GC's userbase and hasn't slowed down significantly.
When looking at why games do/don't sell on the Wii, you have to look at why games do/don't sell in general. So let's go over the reasons people buy games.
Hype: Hype sales games. I'm not talking about one guy going nuts and telling everyone how awesome they think Zack & Wiki is. I'm talking about Hlao level hype, where everywhere you look in the media you see it, or Wii Sports level hype where every single person you talk to is talking about it. These mega-hype games are guaranteed sellers on any platform.
Pedigree: Pedigree sales games. A fan of Devil May Cry will buy Devil May Cry 2. The Final Fantasy name, the Mario name, these pedigrees sell games.
Genre: We're all fans of different genres. Some people like fighters, some people like platformers, some people like sports games. If a game is in a genre you like, you're more likely to pick that game up.
-------------------------------------
Now, let's look at the Wii, and some of the games that bombed. The thing about the Wii is, if half, or even the majority of it's gamers are new market gamers, you've cut out 2/3s of the reasons games sell.
I mean, most of these games don't have any kind of pedigree to sell on, because they're either new franchises, or they didn't previously appear on a Nintendo system. So even if the other half of your Wii owners were GC owners as well, there's no incentive for them to buy games in a series they know nothing about. And the games that do have a good pedigree from the GC...I can pretty much only think of Biohazard, and both it's iterations on the console are doing well. Soul Calibur Legends is trickier, since at least one Soul Calibur appeared on the GC, but I don't remember how it sold in Japan, and then the next installment only appeared on the PS2, so there's not much for Wii owners to base a purchase on. Nights 2 is even further back, so it really doesn't have a pedigree to draw on either.
Next is genre. The problem with this is, if a large part of your userbase are fairly new to games, they're not going to know what genres they like. The only way for them to choose what to play, is based on games they have played. So look at what those are: Wii Sports & Wii Play. The first because it is the game to get with a Wii (sold on hype) the second because it's an easy way to get a free controller. Both minigame collections, which people have bought, and know they like, so is it any surprise that minigame collections sell well on Wii?
Now, look at the other spectrum: has there been a single instance of a golf game selling well on Wii in Japan? Both Super Swing Golf's bombed, and I don't remember seeing Tiger Woods do well, and of course Wii Love Golf bombed. You can say Wii Sports, but Wii Sports is a pretty varied game, and if a new gamer goes into a store and sees a golf game, and bases their purchases on Wii Sports, it's unlikely they're going to think it's enough of a game by itself to buy standalone.
You could even see the same thing in Mario Galaxy. It didn't do too hot out of the gate, even though it had the Mario pedigree going for it. Then Nintendo did those brilliant commercials showcasing the similarities between NSMB and SMG, and sales exploded (of course, that could have been because the holidays, or because of Wiifit). I'm willing to bet future platformers will do well on the Wii because you know have a userbase for that type of game on the Wii. I think Nintendo, and even third parties, could benefit greatly from doing similar marketing with other titles, comparing them to popular DS titles Wii owners might have played.
The idea of building a userbase is a valid one, but you don't necessarily build it for your company (only the hardest of hardcore gamers buy a game because it's by the same company) you build it for a series, or a genre. The fact is, the greater majority of A+ games on the Wii are by Nintendo, and they are the most hyped games on the system. Those B/C level games aren't going to sell unless there's an A-level game that a potential buyer can compare them to. A game doesn't have to be good to sell, but it does need to convince a potential buyer they'll like it. More casual gamers are less likely to take a chance on a game than a hardcore gamer, which is why experimental games like Katamari Damacy are so niche. If a person has no frame of reference on which to base your game, they have no reason to purchase it.
When looking at why games do/don't sell on the Wii, you have to look at why games do/don't sell in general. So let's go over the reasons people buy games.
Hype: Hype sales games. I'm not talking about one guy going nuts and telling everyone how awesome they think Zack & Wiki is. I'm talking about Hlao level hype, where everywhere you look in the media you see it, or Wii Sports level hype where every single person you talk to is talking about it. These mega-hype games are guaranteed sellers on any platform.
Pedigree: Pedigree sales games. A fan of Devil May Cry will buy Devil May Cry 2. The Final Fantasy name, the Mario name, these pedigrees sell games.
Genre: We're all fans of different genres. Some people like fighters, some people like platformers, some people like sports games. If a game is in a genre you like, you're more likely to pick that game up.
-------------------------------------
Now, let's look at the Wii, and some of the games that bombed. The thing about the Wii is, if half, or even the majority of it's gamers are new market gamers, you've cut out 2/3s of the reasons games sell.
I mean, most of these games don't have any kind of pedigree to sell on, because they're either new franchises, or they didn't previously appear on a Nintendo system. So even if the other half of your Wii owners were GC owners as well, there's no incentive for them to buy games in a series they know nothing about. And the games that do have a good pedigree from the GC...I can pretty much only think of Biohazard, and both it's iterations on the console are doing well. Soul Calibur Legends is trickier, since at least one Soul Calibur appeared on the GC, but I don't remember how it sold in Japan, and then the next installment only appeared on the PS2, so there's not much for Wii owners to base a purchase on. Nights 2 is even further back, so it really doesn't have a pedigree to draw on either.
Next is genre. The problem with this is, if a large part of your userbase are fairly new to games, they're not going to know what genres they like. The only way for them to choose what to play, is based on games they have played. So look at what those are: Wii Sports & Wii Play. The first because it is the game to get with a Wii (sold on hype) the second because it's an easy way to get a free controller. Both minigame collections, which people have bought, and know they like, so is it any surprise that minigame collections sell well on Wii?
Now, look at the other spectrum: has there been a single instance of a golf game selling well on Wii in Japan? Both Super Swing Golf's bombed, and I don't remember seeing Tiger Woods do well, and of course Wii Love Golf bombed. You can say Wii Sports, but Wii Sports is a pretty varied game, and if a new gamer goes into a store and sees a golf game, and bases their purchases on Wii Sports, it's unlikely they're going to think it's enough of a game by itself to buy standalone.
You could even see the same thing in Mario Galaxy. It didn't do too hot out of the gate, even though it had the Mario pedigree going for it. Then Nintendo did those brilliant commercials showcasing the similarities between NSMB and SMG, and sales exploded (of course, that could have been because the holidays, or because of Wiifit). I'm willing to bet future platformers will do well on the Wii because you know have a userbase for that type of game on the Wii. I think Nintendo, and even third parties, could benefit greatly from doing similar marketing with other titles, comparing them to popular DS titles Wii owners might have played.
The idea of building a userbase is a valid one, but you don't necessarily build it for your company (only the hardest of hardcore gamers buy a game because it's by the same company) you build it for a series, or a genre. The fact is, the greater majority of A+ games on the Wii are by Nintendo, and they are the most hyped games on the system. Those B/C level games aren't going to sell unless there's an A-level game that a potential buyer can compare them to. A game doesn't have to be good to sell, but it does need to convince a potential buyer they'll like it. More casual gamers are less likely to take a chance on a game than a hardcore gamer, which is why experimental games like Katamari Damacy are so niche. If a person has no frame of reference on which to base your game, they have no reason to purchase it.
APerfectCircle
Member
is it possible to get comparisons of Wii Fit with Wii Sports and Play when they were at the same week number? Just wondering which is the fastest selling title of the lot.
test_account
XP-39C²
APerfectCircle said:
If i did it right:
http://joshuajamesslone.name/gamech...r[6]=&gameid[7]=&abbreviation[7]=&tracker[7]=
90 = Wii Play
91 = Wii Sports
2674 = Wii Fit
Wii Fit is the one that sold the most within the same time period, no doubt about that
APerfectCircle
Member
hah thanks, although i'm not really good at reading that... meant more in the vain of... Wii Fit is at 1.1 million-ish, so what were the other two at when at the same week in their life cycle (IE, week 5 or however long its beentest_account said:
thanks!
Minsc
Gold Member
Innotech said:
What I don't understand is if rumors are true the game has been sold out for over a week.
How long can it possibly take to press more discs? Can't stores see that their entire stock is gone with just preorders, and think, gee, maybe if this game won't even be in stock on release day, I should order more copies? After all, there was still another few weeks for them to press more discs.
Seems like as smart as Japanese stores are, which is smarter than US stores, they have a big weakness of really misjudging shipments, even when huge clues like pre-orders selling out are right in front of them.
It's not like there's a limited run of the game, I just have a hard time believing that a store wouldn't press for more copies if they've sold out 2-3 weeks before the release. That's a lot of missed sales.
Also, does the store have final say in what advertising they do? I thought Nintendo or the publisher in general pays a premium for kiosks and huge displays etc, with the guarantee they go up. I'd be pretty pissed if I sent a bunch of stores promotional supplies costing me millions and they decided not to put any of it out.
test_account
XP-39C²
APerfectCircle said:hah thanks, although i'm not really good at reading that... meant more in the vain of... Wii Fit is at 1.1 million-ish, so what were the other two at when at the same week in their life cycle (IE, week 5 or however long its been
thanks!
Wii Play = 421,182 the 4th week.
Wii Sports = 456,731 the 4th week.
Wii Fit = 737,475 the 4th week.
Visited Yodobashi in West Shinjuku an hour ago. I saw 3 60GB PS3 systems sold in the span of five minutes, and even more Wiis (Wii Fit was in stock). I can only guess that the announcement of the PS2 BC discontinuation has caused people to buy sooner than expected.
The Zapper bundle for UC hasn't been available new since November. Capcom seems to have just made it a limited shipment affair, which sucks because I'm sure more users would have liked the bundle. Ghost Squad on the other hand is abundant and I'm sure it'll have long legs as a result.
Kurosaki Ichigo said:
The Zapper bundle for UC hasn't been available new since November. Capcom seems to have just made it a limited shipment affair, which sucks because I'm sure more users would have liked the bundle. Ghost Squad on the other hand is abundant and I'm sure it'll have long legs as a result.
Minsc said:
The thing is though, you can't be sure for certain that they haven't tried pressuring Nintendo into giving them more stock on the game because none of us know what goes on behind the scenes - for all we know the amount of calls NOJ get about Brawl stock has been so high they've set up their own automated phoneline dedicated to telling people to naff off and leave them alone about it.
If that's the case, then it's down to Nintendo themselves, which isn't all that surprising since they've had shortages of all sorts of Wii and DS games ever since the two machines became so wildly popular.