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[RurouniZel]

NSMBWii keeps trucking along. Looks like all those ads with Arashi are paying off.

 

[Brazil]

Not that the list lacks for Pokémon (Gold/Silver in the Top 10 twice), but no original Red/Green?

Maybe they didn't get a high score? I remember a lot of people were giving the original Pokémon games really low scores in the US. :lol

 

[Baki]

Don't know if this has been posted but...

Yakuza series director Toshihiro Nagoshi said during launch day interviews that Yakuza 4 had seen the highest initial shipment in series history. He's since followed up on this with a similar message of success at his blog.

On Friday, one day after the game's release, Nagoshi wrote: "It's flying off shelves. It's to the point that we feel it may break records in Yakuza series history."

The Yakuza team's official blog confirmed the game's initial success, writing on the 19th: "Yakuza 4 was released on 3/18. It's selling well. First day sales are number one for the series."

Yakuza 4 had record day one sales.

Source

 

[bttb]

.

 

[Loudninja]

Don't know if this has been posted but...



Yakuza 4 had record day one sales.

Source

Yakuza 3 did 232,000 first day,do any of you know how much the other versions did?

 

[FINALFANTASYDOG]

Yakuza 3 did 232,000 first day,do any of you know how much the other versions did?

First day accurate sales are hard to get, here's first week sales

Yakuza 2: 281,836
Yakuza: 129,863

So yeah, above 240,000 looks to be the spot. not surprising considering the shipment numbers.

 

[duckroll]

Yakuza 2 did about 200k on the first day in Japan.

 

[FINALFANTASYDOG]

Woohoo, finally we've got the data to refute Ducky's claims that everyone in the Japanese gaming industry is living in poverty.

all is from a Digital content association of Japan survey.
"according to the survey the average game maker age in japan is 33.79 and the average salary is 5,184,995Yen(about $57,300) 89,000 yen more then the average salary in Japan, Average Job length is 6.59 years"

Breakdown of jobs:
Producer - 6,925,000Yen($76,528)
Director - 5,636,279Yen ($62,286)
Sound - 5,559,625yen ($61,439)
Network - 5,225,000Yen ($57,741)
Programmer - 4,641,390Yen (51,292)
Graphics - 4,238,588Yen ($46 840)
Planner - 4,096,360yen ($45,268)
Debuger - 2,583,333yen ($28,548)

 

[Datschge]

Surprising seeing sound so high and planning so low on that list.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Platinum Score: 35-40 points
Gold Score: 32-34 points
Silver Score: 30-31 points

Famitsu gave 29 points to the original Pokemon Red/Green, and 30 points to Pokemon Yellow. (GDM's GB Page)

Interesting. This makes me wonder about opposites to that list. Like, million sellers that got the lowest Famitsu scores.

 

[cvxfreak]

Imagine if Famitsu reviews actually gauged a game's popularity. 29/40? lol.

 

[Moor-Angol]

Now here's a challenge; what are the top 30 worst selling titles with a gold score or higher?

(Wii) 428 :lol
(360) Bayonetta >_<
(PS2) Okami :'(

 

[Nirolak]

Woohoo, finally we've got the data to refute Ducky's claims that everyone in the Japanese gaming industry is living in poverty.

all is from a Digital content association of Japan survey.
"according to the survey the average game maker age in japan is 33.79 and the average salary is 5,184,995Yen(about $57,300) 89,000 yen more then the average salary in Japan, Average Job length is 6.59 years"

Breakdown of jobs:
Producer - 6,925,000Yen($76,528)
Director - 5,636,279Yen ($62,286)
Sound - 5,559,625yen ($61,439)
Network - 5,225,000Yen ($57,741)
Programmer - 4,641,390Yen (51,292)
Graphics - 4,238,588Yen ($46 840)
Planner - 4,096,360yen ($45,268)
Debuger - 2,583,333yen ($28,548)

For the heck of it I decided to look up the most recently published American survey.

Obviously these aren't adjusted for anything like cost of living, but I thought it still might be interesting. These are what people made during 2008, since 2009's won't be published until the end of April.

Business/Marketing - $102,143
Programmer - $85,024
Production - $82,905
Audio - $78,167
Art/Animation - $69,532
Designer - $67,379
Quality Assurance - $39,571

Industry - $79,000 (up 7% from the previous year)
Mean U.S. - $43,362 (2005, as it was the last official count) [Median was $32,140, but I think the Japanese one is a mean]

The article itself lists a lot of extra interesting information actually, like programmers with 6+ years of experience making $107,000 a year and whether the jobs were increasing in salary or not.

Did they happen to share information like that in the Japanese survey actually? I'm kind of curious if the switch to handheld development has lead to rising, lowering, or flat salaries for Japanese developers.

One thing that really sticks out at me is that U.S. game industry employees get paid well over 1.5 times the average salary while Japanese game industry employees seem to average almost exactly the salary average for the Japan. I imagine this makes the industry far less appealing to work in.

 

[Hero of Legend]

http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/03/23/tales_of_graces_fixed/

Looks like BN is labeling the fixed copies of Graces.

I'm confused about this part:

"New copies of the game hitting retail now will have an orange sticker in the upper left, as shown here:"

Does he mean "hitting retail now", or "now will..." as in, are these fixed copes shipping just now, or will the fixed copes, even though they've been available for a whole, will only NOW feature the label?

I think it's the latter, as didn't the newer copies already ship earlier and feature a different product code?

 

[Osuwari]

what's up with debuggers/quality assurance being so low?
now i see why there's so many glitchy games around.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Now not consistently posted weekly, so even sweeter when it is:

EDIT: Y'know, what the hell, how about 2007 and 2008 for further comparison.

Uhh... 2007 indicates to me that there's debugging to be done. :lol

 

[Nirolak]

I did not expect DS vs. PSP would be the most interesting battle this year.

 

[mutsu]

what's up with debuggers/quality assurance being so low?
now i see why there's so many glitchy games around.

I don't know, maybe QA in gaming is not being paid adequately?

I work in the QA industry myself, and I am really surprised how low they get paid compared to other industries.

 

[bttb]

.

 

[Takao]

what's up with debuggers/quality assurance being so low?
now i see why there's so many glitchy games around.

Considering the kind of wacky variety shows that are on Japanese TV, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of developers get their QA peeps for something like The Tester.

Spoiler

I'm not being serious.

 

[cw_sasuke]

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20100323-00000024-oric-game

Nintendo DS sales exceed 30 million after 5 years and 3 months (277 weeks).

Launch ~ 2010.03.21

DS HW Total
30,030,434

DS SW Top 3
1. New Super Mario Bros. - 5,767,262
2. Pokemon Diamond/Pearl - 5,766,571
3. Animal Crossing: Wild World - 5,133,862

Deserved - best handheld system ever.

 

[Road]

That blog estimations to pass the time (new games):

[PS3] RGG4 - 392k
[PSP] Gundam Assault Survivor - 95k
[NDS] Hakuoki DS - 16k


----

DS SW Top 3
1. New Super Mario Bros. - 5,767,262
2. Pokemon Diamond/Pearl - 5,766,571
3. Animal Crossing: Wild World - 5,133,862

Thanks.

So NSMB is officially the best selling. 6 million is the final goal. I wonder how the new Pokemon game will behave with the new DS and all.

 

[onken]

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20100323-00000024-oric-game

Nintendo DS sales exceed 30 million after 5 years and 3 months (277 weeks).

Launch ~ 2010.03.21

DS HW Total
30,030,434

DS SW Top 3
1. New Super Mario Bros. - 5,767,262
2. Pokemon Diamond/Pearl - 5,766,571
3. Animal Crossing: Wild World - 5,133,862

Wow, nuts.

 

[bttb]

.

 

[cvxfreak]

6 Million is definitely doable for NSMB. Hell, Diamond and Pearl probably would have gotten there if they hadn't released Platinum when they did (if they opted to follow the GBA Pokemon order and release HGSS before Platinum, for example).

 

[[Nintex]]

http://www.mmv.co.jp/common/images/var/ir_news/290/20100323yakuin.pdf
Marvelous Entertainment announces a change of directors.

On March 31, due to personal reasons, Yasuhiro Wada will retire from his position as director of the digital contents company.

For a second there I thought that Yoichi Wada resigned. :lol

 

[faridmon]

http://www.mmv.co.jp/common/images/var/ir_news/290/20100323yakuin.pdf
Marvelous Entertainment announces a change of directors.

On March 31, due to personal reasons, Yasuhiro Wada will retire from his position as director of the digital contents company.

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo I loved the guys and Harvest Moon and Little King Story are the best thing that comes from Japan.

I will miss this guy, i hope he still directs games.

 

[FINALFANTASYDOG]

Early first week leak by the usual source:

Yakuza 4: 392,000 (compared to 357,00 for Yakuza 3)

Gundam Battle assault: 92,000

Pokemon Ranger: Tracks of Light: 47,000

Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce 2 16,000

Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! 3D : 16,000

Hakuouki (Koei): 16,000

 

[faridmon]

I don't think we should be thinking about a FFXIII budget release so soon. First they need to do an International release in Japan, and how successful that is will depend on how much new content there is in it. FFXII International did very poorly because there was basically no real new content aside from the gameplay system tweaks. FFX International, FFX-2 International and the KH Final Mix games do very, very well because they actually have a ton of new content and extra stuff not found in the original version nor in the US versions.

aah, so that's how it works. thanks for clarifying.

 

[onken]

Early first week leak by the usual source:

Yakuza 4: 392,000 (compared to 357,00 for Yakuza 3)

Yakuza 5, releasing Dec '11, you heard it here first.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Yakuza 5, releasing Dec '11, you heard it here first.

you mean Dec '10, right?

 

[onken]

you mean Dec '10, right?

That's project K, duh.

 

[schuelma]

Yakuza 5, releasing Dec '11, you heard it here first.

Or it will release next Spring, like the last 3 releases have done.

 

[faridmon]

Yakuza 4: 392,000 (compared to 357,00 for Yakuza 3)

that's not as high as i expected. when the have said that the shipping number would be a record i thought it would go higher.

lets see about its legs.

 

[onken]

Or it will release next Spring, like the last 3 releases have done.

Well yeah I was kinda joking but whatever, you suck that fun away.

 

[duckroll]

Well yeah I was kinda joking but whatever, you suck that fun away.

What's there to joke about? There is one Ryu ga Gotoku game made every year, like clockwork. It's not funny if it's true.

 

[The_lascar]

6 Million is definitely doable for NSMB. Hell, Diamond and Pearl probably would have gotten there if they hadn't released Platinum when they did (if they opted to follow the GBA Pokemon order and release HGSS before Platinum, for example).

Pokémon R/S -> Pokémon Emerald: 1 year & 10 months
Pokémon D/P -> Pokémon Platinum: 2 years

 

[Stumpokapow]

What's there to joke about? There is one Ryu ga Gotoku game made every year, like clockwork. It's not funny if it's true.

i dunno, plenty of true things are funny

like this:

 

[Jokeropia]

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20100323-00000024-oric-game

Nintendo DS sales exceed 30 million after 5 years and 3 months (277 weeks).

Launch ~ 2010.03.21

DS HW Total
30,030,434

DS SW Top 3
1. New Super Mario Bros. - 5,767,262
2. Pokemon Diamond/Pearl - 5,766,571
3. Animal Crossing: Wild World - 5,133,862

Whooo.

 

[cvxfreak]

Pokémon R/S -> Pokémon Emerald: 1 year & 10 months
Pokémon D/P -> Pokémon Platinum: 2 years

That just proves my point even more.

By the way, with the launch of the 3DS, shall we see a bunch of weeks with 100K+ sales again?

 

[Moor-Angol]

interesting to see how the market will react after 3DS announcement, DSi and DSi LL sales will decrease ?
if so, who could take an advantage from this situation ? PSP or home systems ?

 

[Chris1964]

interesting to see how the market will react after 3DS announcement, DSi and DSi LL sales will decrease ?
if so, who could take an advantage from this situation ? PSP or home systems ?

I don't think PSP 2 will be far from 3DS so that PSP takes advantage from DS decreased sales.

 

[Zoe]

what's up with debuggers/quality assurance being so low?
now i see why there's so many glitchy games around.

QA is considered grunt work. There's only money to be made if you move into management or are developing QA tools.

Spoiler

T_T

 

[cvxfreak]

I guess now's as good a time as any to speculate about DS price drops. That should keep sales up for awhile.

 

[Chris1964]

PS3 second million seller, according to Koei, comes out this Thursday. The problem is that only Koei masterminds believe that (if they still believe it) as the game will have a very, very hard time to sell even the half of that.

 

[donny2112]

I guess now's as good a time as any to speculate about DS price drops.

Six.Years.Later.

2004 - DS is released
2010 - DS gets a price drop

Spoiler

back to the release price after several price increases

:lol

 

[Moor-Angol]

PS3 second million seller, according to Koei, comes out this Thursday. The problem is that only Koei masterminds believe that (if they still believe it) as the game will have a very, very hard time to sell even the half of that.

according to Namco Bandai there should be other 2 million sellers on PS3 :lol

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

interesting to see how the market will react after 3DS announcement, DSi and DSi LL sales will decrease ?
if so, who could take an advantage from this situation ? PSP or home systems ?

If people are actively avoiding buying Product A because they want Product B, I'm not sure Product C is going to get much benefit.

 

[Spiegel]

Famitsu Top Ten

1. [PS3] Yakuza 4 (Sega)
2. [PSP] Gundam: Assault Survive (Namco Bandai)
3. [NDS] Pokemon Ranger: Miracle of Light (Pokemon)
4. [NDS] Friend Collection (Nintendo)
5. [Wii] New Super Mario Bros Wii (Nintendo)
6. [Wii] Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo)
7. [PSP] Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce 2 (Koei)
8. [PSP] Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! 3D (SCE)
9. [NDS] Hakukoi DS (Idea Factory)
10. [PSP] God Eater (Namco Bandai)

 

[distantmantra]

PS3 second million seller, according to Koei, comes out this Thursday. The problem is that only Koei masterminds believe that (if they still believe it) as the game will have a very, very hard time to sell even the half of that.

I'm guessing it will sell somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000 copies.