Bebpo said:
Actually no, I don't think FFVIII -> FFIX's sales drop was due to FFVIII being panned. Most people loved it in Japan.
I blame the economy getting a lot worse after FFVIII and before FFIX came out. Same reason why during the PS days games were selling much much much better than they do now. FFVII and FFVIII came out when times were very good and overall game sales were high. FFIX hit after that bubble burst so the drop was to be expected along with most other games at the time.
So what about DQ VII, released about 3 months after FF IX and selling 4.12m, the biggest ever for a DQ game? And DQ VIII selling 3.60m, again a good million more than FFX-2 / FFXII? Edit- damn you CVX!
FF VII created about a million extra FF fans, all of which carried over to FF VIII because of the hype and made it (still is) the fastest selling game ever. When word got around that it wasn't all that good, sales have been returning back to the 2.5m mark of the SNES games which is about right. FF VII and VIII were exceptional circumstances, they had a lot of hype in themselves and you are right to an extent that they were released during a massively successful time for the PS.
About some other comments, yes DS sales went up across all software this week and Mana seemed to put in another 15-16k which is actually pretty good, and this is obviously down to Rangers + increased hardware sales this week.
I think Contact may do well, I wouldn't expect much but maybe 30-40k first week? Who knows?
And yes, Koei must be worrying but then they have bought it on themselves. I think Winning Eleven will go a similar way (although the world cup this year might defer that for another 12 months) as each title has been selling less than the last and the endless final editions / international / j-league versions in much the same way as 3-4 DW titles / spin-offs per year will mean that gamers are going to be starting to lose interest.