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[Khrno]

How popular is ffxiv right now userbase wise ? I heard ffix had 600k at its peak (mostly pc) and dqx with 400k seems pretty strong

FFXI had 2M accounts at its peak circa 2007, 75-90% of them were probably PC of course.

FFXIV shipped around 650k copies. In 2012 when the game went under paid subscription (it was free since launch), people assumed, using third party tools that there were around 45-50k active (paid) players.

Since November 2012, FFXIV is not active anymore, the previous version 1.x and old servers were closed, the Alpha version for FFXIV 2.0 or A Real Reborn (ARR) started in late november and finished by the end of december. The Beta will start in a couple of weeks.

With those facts aside, FFXIV has very big stigma to overcome, but the current development team starting by Producer/Director Naoki Yoshida who took over the project on December 2010 after the previous Producer stepped down, did a great job fixing (under very hard circumstances due to the horrible game engine) and adding content to the old version for those still around, while developing a 90% new game (new engine, new servers, new gameplay systems, new ui) for the relaunch, and so far he has received mostly good press.

Anyway, my point is, that judging the success of FFXIV ARR is very hard to predict and will mostly come down to the reception of the betas for both the PC and PS3 versions. However, I do not see the game selling on PS3 as much as DQX on Wii did, will it sell more than the Wii U version (this year alone)? for the sake of the game, I would hope so.

 

[farnham]

FFXI had 2M accounts at its peak circa 2007, 75-90% of them were probably PC of course.

FFXIV shipped around 650k copies. In 2012 when the game went under paid subscription (it was free since launch), people assumed, using third party tools that there were around 45-50k active (paid) players.

Since November 2012, FFXIV is not active anymore, the previous version 1.x and old servers were closed, the Alpha version for FFXIV 2.0 or A Real Reborn (ARR) started in late november and finished by the end of december. The Beta will start in a couple of weeks.

With those facts aside, FFXIV has very big stigma to overcome, but the current development team starting by Producer/Director Naoki Yoshida who took over the project on December 2010 after the previous Producer stepped down, did a great job fixing (under very hard circumstances due to the horrible game engine) and adding content to the old version for those still around, while developing a 90% new game (new engine, new servers, new gameplay systems, new ui) for the relaunch, and so far he has received mostly good press.

Anyway, my point is, that judging the success of FFXIV ARR is very hard to predict and will mostly come down to the reception of the betas for both the PC and PS3 versions. However, I do not see the game selling on PS3 as much as DQX on Wii did, will it sell more than the Wii U version (this year alone)? for the sake of the game, I would hope so.

Ff 11 had 500k active users and 2 million characters from what ive read..


im still baffled that they are thinking that people will come back after the universal panning of the game. I dont know if the japanese audience will be willing to give it a second chance. Maybe japanese players are unaware of the pc version.

For the wiiu version of dqx.. Well dqx was universally praised and if expansions are going to come they wikl probably be on wiiu. I do think the current loyal subscriber base will immigrate to wiiu eventually.

 

[Bruno MB]

200k seems a tad high.. Wiifitu will reach that over time (and probably will end up selling quite a lot) but not within the first few month.

And if A 200k selling game on a 700k system will not move some units what will?

We have two PS Vita games that sold that amount and we know what it happened.

Persona 4 Golden (hardware - 34.459 / next week 13.589)

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva f (hardware - 50.070 / next week 14.106)

Wii U needs much more than a boost that only lasts for one week.

By the way, I'm not saying Dragon Quest X will sell that much, my comment was simply a conditional.

Anyway, we will probably agree that one more time, Wii U fate will depend entirely on Nintendo's first-party output.

 

[schuelma]

I was looking back at last years Vita 2011 to get a sense of how horrible Wii U's Q1 lineup is and the first game at launch or after to break 100k was P4 Golden in June.

I don't know what my point is other than I don't *think* things will be quite that bad for Wii U first half of 2013.

 

[AntMurda]

Nintendo of America is just a sales organization not an R&D organization. They have no relation to the american development communities.

I'm not sure about that at all. Nintendo of America has two locations, California is all sales and marketing, and in Washington their headquarters has a network business department (Nintendo TVii and Nintendo Zone developers), localizaton department (all the translations), and a big programming and sdk engineering department (aka WarioWorld). On top of that they also have Nintendo Software Technology Corp. and Nintendo Technology Development Inc. on the same campus. Looking at their job want ads, they also have a "production department", and produced the Case Mystery games with Big Fish.

But decades ago, during the N64-GC era, Nintendo had a lot more first-party publishings from a bunch of Western developers like RARE, DMI Design, Angel Studios, Mass Media, Bits Studios, Left Field Productions, Silicon Knights, N-Space, Factor 5, Software Creations, and others.

 

[farnham]

We have two PS Vita games that sold that amount and we know what it happened.

Persona 4 Golden (hardware - 34.459 / next week 13.589)

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva f (hardware - 50.070 / next week 14.106)

Wii U needs much more than a boost that only lasts for one week.

By the way, I'm not saying Dragon Quest X will sell that much, my comment was simply a conditional.

Anyway, we will probably agree that one more time, Wii U fate will depend entirely on Nintendo's first-party output.

Hatsune miku and persona both cater to the traditional japanese otaku gamer.

Wiifitu (non gamers) and dragon quext x (mmorpg fans, dq fans are all games catered to very different audiences. Those audiences also quite differ from those people that bought the wiiu at launch (nintendo fan).

I was looking back at last years Vita 2011 to get a sense of how horrible Wii U's Q1 lineup is and the first game at launch or after to break 100k was P4 Golden in June.

I don't know what my point is other than I don't *think* things will be quite that bad for Wii U first half of 2013.

Wario, wiifit, dqx all will do okay and reasonably expand the userbase

 

[Nirolak]

I was looking back at last years Vita 2011 to get a sense of how horrible Wii U's Q1 lineup is and the first game at launch or after to break 100k was P4 Golden in June.

I don't know what my point is other than I don't *think* things will be quite that bad for Wii U first half of 2013.

Oh I certainly think the Wii U will do better than the Vita.

Let's face it. There are serious discussions about whether Sony will discontinue the Vita relatively early in its life cycle.

I don't feel these discussions exist among reasonable people for Wii U.

I think any discussions tying the Wii U to the Vita are doing so on the high level of "this could have pretty disappointing third party support and/or sales" instead of "this thing will probably be effectively dead within two years".

 

[BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO]

Panic Mode SCE.

I thought Sony had tools specially designed for porting ps3 engines/games to vita?

 

[farnham]

Oh I certainly think the Wii U will do better than the Vita.

Let's face it. There are serious discussions about whether Sony will discontinue the Vita relatively early in its life cycle.

I don't feel these discussions exist among reasonable people for Wii U.

I think any discussions tying the Wii U to the Vita are doing so on the high level of "this could have pretty disappointing third party support and/or sales" instead of "this thing will probably be effectively dead within two years".

In japan hd never really took off (until recently) and ds was dominating while psp and wii were both respectable platforms saleswise with equivalent power. In that scenario psp won over third parties by a landslide while wii had much higher selling first party software

Nexgt gen japan, as it looks like at the moment, will be dominated by 3ds, the successor to ds, vita seems to be out of the picture already and wiiu will probably have a certain guaranteed userbase due to nintends own games. So the question is. Will those psp devs go 720,ps4 or 3ds or maybe wiiu/ps3?

 

[Khrno]

Ff 11 had 500k active users and 2 million characters from what ive read..


im still baffled that they are thinking that people will come back after the universal panning of the game. I dont know if the japanese audience will be willing to give it a second chance. Maybe japanese players are unaware of the pc version.

For the wiiu version of dqx.. Well dqx was universally praised and if expansions are going to come they wikl probably be on wiiu. I do think the current loyal subscriber base will immigrate to wiiu eventually.

The game kept in average 500k players during most years. And the 2 million bit, I'm not really sure how to take it, this is the source:
"It is our distinct pleasure to announce that during the third week of April, the total number of active characters across all worlds in FINAL FANTASY XI has exceeded the two million mark for the first time!" and it was from 2009, my mistake with 2007.

Do active characters include mule characters using solely for storage purposes? Because, if you don't know how the FF mmo games work, you don't need a second character like most other mmos to play all the classes, in single character you can be all jobs. For the census they used to exclude all characters with jobs lower than lv10, so I don't think they would be counting most mules there. Even crafting mules at lv100, they weren't at a ratio 3:1, so yeah, there were definitively more than 1 million players at a single point in time, probably not 2 millions, and that's not even mentioning the people that stopped playing (i.e not active players anymore) before 2009, for example I played from 2004 until fall 2008, so my 2 characters aren't even included there, same as thousands (or hundred of thousands) more players.

About 14 once again, this is a totally new game, yes, the game was rightfully criticized not just by how awful it was at launch, but for the required specs, however I see this as a plus, since not really that many people actually got to play the game because it wouldn't even play in their mid/low range PCs back in 2010 and couldn't afford a PC just to play it, yes they most likely read or heard how bad it was, but in the same way, this is a new game way more accessible than the original, that more people will be able to experience at least on the open beta, due to the game being optimized, obviously for PS3 and for low range PCs unlike the original launch.

New developing team, new game, new marketing, new press coverage, new opinions. People will have a look even if it's just see if it's still the same pile of crap it was in 2010.

 

[lunchwithyuzo]

Vita has gotten more PS3 ports announced than WiiU in the last few months.
If I recall correctly, people were and still are expecting WiiU to be a companion for most PS3 games.

It has, though they're not too far off launch alinged for ports (and 3DS isn't that far behind either). For the first 4 months:

Nintendo 3DS
02.26.11 Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition (Capcom) PS3/360
03.31.11 Blazblue Continuum Shift II (Arc System Works) AC/PS3/360/PSP
04.14.11 Pro Baseball Spirits 2011 (Konami) PS3/PSP
05.26.11 One Piece Unlimited Cruise SP (Bandai) Wii
06.30.11 Tales of the Abyss (Namco) PS2

PS Vita
12.17.11 Blazblue Continuum Shift Extend (Arc System Works) AC/PS3/360
12.17.11 Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention (Nippon Ichi Soft) PS3
12.17.11 Dream Club Zero Portable (D3 Publisher) 360/PS3
12.17.11 Lord of Apocalypse (Square Enix) PSP
12.17.11 Shin Kamaitachi no Yoru: 11ninme no Suspect (Chunsoft) PS3
12.17.11 Shinobo 2: Way of the Ninja (Spike) PS3
12.17.11 Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 (Capcom) PS3/360
12.17.11 Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition (Sega) AC/PS3/360/Wii
02.23.12 Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus (Tecmo) PS3
03.22.12 Little Busters! Converted Edition (Prototype) PC/360/PSP

Wii U
12.08.12 Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Capcom) 3DS
12.08.12 Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge (Tecmo) 360/PS3
12.08.12 Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition (Namco) AC/PS3/360
12.08.12 Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper (Koei) PS3/360/PSP
12.13.12 Romance of the Three Kingdoms XII (Koei) PC/PS3
01.31.12 Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage 2 (Koei) PS3/360
02.21.12 Tank! Tank! Tank! (Namco) AC
03.xx.12 Dragon Quest X Online (Square Enix) Wii

 

[schuelma]

Do we know DQX is March? I thought it was just confirmed for Spring.

 

[farnham]

The game kept in average 500k players during most years. And the 2 million bit, I'm not really sure how to take it, this is the source:
"It is our distinct pleasure to announce that during the third week of April, the total number of active characters across all worlds in FINAL FANTASY XI has exceeded the two million mark for the first time!" and it was from 2009, my mistake with 2007.

Do active characters include mule characters using solely for storage purposes? Because, if you don't know how the FF mmo games work, you don't need a second character like most other mmos to play all the classes, in single character you can be all jobs. For the census they used to exclude all characters with jobs lower than lv10, so I don't think they would be counting most mules there. Even crafting mules at lv100, they weren't at a ratio 3:1, so yeah, there were definitively more than 1 million players at a single point in time, probably not 2 millions, and that's not even mentioning the people that stopped playing (i.e not active players anymore) before 2009, for example I played from 2004 until fall 2008, so my 2 characters aren't even included there, same as thousands (or hundred of thousands) more players.

About 14 once again, this is a totally new game, yes, the game was rightfully criticized not just by how awful it was at launch, but for the required specs, however I see this as a plus, since not really that many people actually got to play the game because it wouldn't even play in their mid/low range PCs back in 2010 and couldn't afford a PC just to play it, yes they most likely read or heard how bad it was, but in the same way, this is a new game way more accessible than the original, that more people will be able to experience at least on the open beta, due to the game being optimized, obviously for PS3 and for low range PCs unlike the original launch.

New developing team, new game, new marketing, new press coverage, new opinions. People will have a look even if it's just see if it's still the same pile of crap it was in 2010.

What i would be concerned is just the existing review scores. Those were published and will not go away. Someone considering to buy ff xiv and seeing the 4s and 5s it got will be more reluctant to get it.

 

[lunchwithyuzo]

From Software seems to have been omitted from those listwars with regard to Sony and Microsoft.

Last 3 years.

I think both sentences work better if you replace "third party" with "independent" in the context of the message. Unfortunately, the sentiment should also be noted that Nintendo funds a considerably less amount publishings from Western based developers than SONY or Microsoft.

This is true, with a western list Sony and (especially) MS would both dwarf Nintendo.

Do we know DQX is March? I thought it was just confirmed for Spring.

It says March on Gamefaqs & Wikipedia. I know the beta is Feb.

 

[Darryl]

What i would be concerned is just the existing review scores. Those were published and will not go away. Someone considering to buy ff xiv and seeing the 4s and 5s it got will be more reluctant to get it.

I don't think those scores are gonna be as visible as you think they are. They won't be in new magazines and information sources, and it'll probably have its own section on these review aggregates. I really think this entire thing is going to play to SE's advantage.

 

[Khrno]

What i would be concerned is just the existing review scores. Those were published and will not go away. Someone considering to buy ff xiv and seeing the 4s and 5s it got will be more reluctant to get it.

The game is called FFXIV A Real Reborn, this is a completely new game, it's not too hard to understand. It would be like looking for a review of a previous version instead of a sequel, which ARR basically is, and there was never a FFXIV on PS3.

Marketing will have to make that clear enough, that ARR isn't 1.0, so there won't be any confusion, which of course is expected going by 3DS and WiiU names confusion with casual people at the beginning.

I don't think those scores are gonna be as visible as you think they are. They won't be in new magazines and information sources, and it'll probably have its own section on these review aggregates. I really think this entire thing is going to play to SE's advantage.

I agree with you, and I'm sure there will be many people in the so called press, waiting to jump at SE thinking that the game will be a disaster like the previous version, expectations for the game are high even if it's not in a positive-thinking kind of way.

 

[farnham]

I don't think those scores are gonna be as visible as you think they are. They won't be in new magazines and information sources, and it'll probably have its own section on these review aggregates. I really think this entire thing is going to play to SE's advantage.

The game is still named ffxiv. Even with a new subtitle.

I think the impact for japanese people will be lower though as they dont have such aggregate sites and dint care about those (rightly so)

The game is called FFXIV A Real Reborn, this is a completely new game, it's not too hard to understand. It would be like looking for a review of a previous version instead of a sequel, which ARR basically is, and there was never a FFXIV on PS3.

Marketing will have to make that clear enough, that ARR isn't 1.0, so there won't be any confusion, which of course is expected going by 3DS and WiiU names confusion with casual people at the beginning.




I agree with you, and I'm sure there will be many people in the so called press, waiting to jump at SE thinking that the game will be a disaster like the previous version, expectations for the game are high even if it's not in a positive-thinking kind of way.

One problem is that mmorpgs in general dont succeed if they dont launch strongly. Look at pretty much every mmorpg outside of wow.

Dunno bout the ps3 version though.. Japan probably does not even know that the pc version was out .

Anyways i would have called it ffxv or ff online 2 and not ffxiv realm reborn after the ffxiv disaster

 

[Khrno]

The game is still named ffxiv. Even with a new subtitle.

And so are New Super Mario Bros, NSMB Wii, NSMB 2, NSMB U.

And contrary to FFXIII, XIII-2 and LR, I believe this game will increase its players count compared to the decrease from 13 to 13-2.

Also,

The emphasis is far from being the XIV.

One problem is that mmorpgs in general dont succeed if they dont launch strongly. Look at pretty much every mmorpg outside of wow.

Dunno bout the ps3 version though.. Japan probably does not even know that the pc version was out .

Anyways i would have called it ffxv or ff online 2 and not ffxiv realm reborn after the ffxiv disaster

FFXI succeeded without launching strongly, its Japanese launch was weak for example.

Japan might not have known that FXIV was out, but the Japanese FFXI players certainly knew, the backlash wasn't only from the western community, it was from the Japanese community and just as vocal if not even more from being the local players.

 

[farnham]

I don't think those scores are gonna be as visible as you think they are. They won't be in new magazines and information sources, and it'll probably have its own section on these review aggregates. I really think this entire thing is going to play to SE's advantage.

And so are New Super Mario Bros, NSMB Wii, NSMB 2, NSMB U.

And contrary to FFXIII, XIII-2 and LR, I believe this game will increase its players count compared to the decrease from 13 to 13-2.

Also,


The emphasis is far from being the XIV.




FFXI succeeded without launching strongly, its Japanese launch was weak for example.

Japan might not have known that FXIV was out, but the Japanese FFXI players certainly knew, the backlash wasn't only from the western community, it was from the Japanese community and just as vocal if not even more from being the local players.

It was also preWoW. Now mmorpgs need to compete with wow and thats why without a big success at the beginning its hard

 

[saichi]

the bar for Wii Fit U is 200K now? that's pretty low...

 

[Erethian]

I haven't really been paying much attention to the Wii U discussion, so forgive me if this has already been covered, but it seems odd that people should be discussing Sony and Microsoft consoles (especially the latter so far as Japan goes) when 3DS is arguably the biggest competitor the Wii U has.

Part of the whole reason for the off-screen play design decision was research Nintendo had done into why handhelds had become so popular compared to consoles. So ideally Nintendo wanted to cut into that audience that had transitioned away from consoles.

Personally I see the PS4 as a non-entity so far as competing with the 3DS is concerned (I doubt it will even do as well as the PS3 due to the changing market). And with the failure of the Vita and the dwindling sales of the PSP it just seems like the Japanese industry is going to be dominated by a single dedicated gaming platform to the exclusion of all else. You could say that that'd represent a hardware decline because in the past you had Nintendo handhelds doing really well during the PS2 era, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a lot of ownership crossover back then. And the difference now is that you can get most of the gaming experiences you want on a single device.

Which will further enhance the segmented nature of the global hardware landscape that started this (or last, technically) generation. With Japan focused on handhelds and the west focused on consoles.

 

[donny2112]

If I recall correctly, people were and still are expecting WiiU to be a companion for most PS3 games.

I don't understand why it's not. Wii U isn't head and shoulders above PS3 currently, but it should be able to run everything PS3 can. Do not understand why it is not getting announced as multi-plat for most/all PS3 games in Japan. Yes, Nintendo could still be asking third-parties to hold back info, but if that's the case, why are they still doing that?

 

[cw_sasuke]

I don't understand why it's not. Wii U isn't head and shoulders above PS3 currently, but it should be able to run everything PS3 can. Do not understand why it is not getting announced as multi-plat for most/all PS3 games in Japan. Yes, Nintendo could still be asking third-parties to hold back info, but if that's the case, why are they still doing that?

Technically every 3DS Game could also be on Vita, but that's not the case. Japan is the only territory where dev teams still go for Plattform exclusives and many won't consider a port until it's done.

Though this should change once the user base gets bigger and can show active purchase habits. So Fall 2013 toll Spring 2014 is the important Window for WiiU.

 

[Laguna]

The Vita had one year head start on the WiiU, but that didnt help much.

Vitas direct competitor is 3DS which had a headstart of 10 months that was fundamental to 3DSs success in my opinion. Also PSV had no big systemsellers so far while WiiU launched with two potential millionsellers (NSMBU and Nland) and a decent selling MHTrihd therefore it´s no surprise WiiU already sold 70% of PSVs lifetime sales. By the time PS4 even gets released there´ll be potential 300k-500k sellers like WiiFitU and Pikmin3 available and likely 1-2 further million sellers ready to launch (candidates: 3d Mario, Smash Bros or Mario Kart). In other words, it´s likely they´ll take advantage of their headstart in Japan, the complete opposite what Sony managed to do with PSV that had 200k+ sellers as highlights in a complete year and didn´t even had any relevant software in its second holiday season last month.

The question now is what can Sony possibly launch their PS4 with to rival those system-sellers? I also doubt that especially Japanese centric console developer will abandone the PS3 immediately, which means less PS4 3rd party exclusives and a similar situation to the PSP and PSV multiplatform situation in its first 1-2 years.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Another thing that really makes the Wii U different from Vita is the one year advantage. One might say that if Nintendo will screw up everything, it won't be useful to be released before the other platforms; in fact, Nintendo will have a year to see what's working and what's not, and to prepare a counter-offensive for the holiday season.

I've long thought this is kind of a big deal. I thought MS was blowing the X360's year headstart worldwide, but it ended up having quite an impact. Even Vita would've lead 3DS for some months in Japan if they'd traded release dates, and would have more than a 10% market share after that.

That is possible, but will this change though? Will there be any clear advantage to chose WiiU instead of Vita?

Wii U isn't doing very good, but it's definitely performing stronger relative to PSV than Wii was relative to PSP.

 

[L Thammy]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the Wii U have a western-focused lineup so far?

Monster Hunter HD is a console port, and we know that the game is more popular online over here. Some online-focused features are going to be available for the US launch that aren't in the Japanese version (voice chat, etc.). Warriors Orochi is a year-old port and the series has declined quite a bit since the PS2 days.

Mind you, a western-focused lineup at launch is a lot better than a nothing-focused lineup like the Wii U has this month. But I think the system still has room to recover with Japanese-focused titles and better marketing.



As for how the Wii U it compares to the Vita. Didn't the Wii have a greater number and variety of titles with extremely high than the PSP? I don't meant "variety" as in first party versus third party. I mean that where Wii had Mario, the PSP had Monster Hunter and similar ad-hoc co-op games (God Eater, Phantasy Star Portable).

Both the Vita and the Wii U and missing their predecessor's major titles (Monster Hunter / Wii series), but the Wii U is better poised to recover its position simply because there are more big first-party titles Nintendo can eventually throw at it.

 

[michaelius]

Same titles that saved Gamecube ?

 

[extralite]

Both the Vita and the Wii U and missing their predecessor's major titles (Monster Hunter / Wii series), but the Wii U is better poised to recover its position simply because there are more big first-party titles Nintendo can eventually throw at it.

Wii Fit U is announced, Wii Sports U was shown at the Wii U's debut E3 and again at the next one. It will arrive sooner or later, with baseball using the gamepad for catching balls. Wii U is not missing any of its vital fanchises.

 

[farnham]

the bar for Wii Fit U is 200K now? that's pretty low...

Early sales
Not lifetime

Wii Fit U is announced, Wii Sports U was shown at the Wii U's debut E3 and again at the next one. It will arrive sooner or later, with baseball using the gamepad for catching balls. Wii U is not missing any of its vital fanchises.

Indeed thats one of nintendos advantages. As their success is not dependent on third parties they are immune to third parties deciding to switch alliances. Psp was pretty much build around monster hunter in japan and with that franchise gone the very existence is being in question

 

[Gianni Merryman]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the Wii U have a western-focused lineup so far?


Monster Hunter HD is a console port, and we know that the game is more popular online over there. Some online-focused features are going to be available for the US launch that aren't in the Japanese version (voice chat, etc.). Warriors Orochi is a year-old port and the series has declined quite a bit since the PS2 days.

Mind you, a western-focused lineup at launch is a lot better than a nothing-focused lineup like the Wii U has this month. But I think the system still has room to recover with Japanese-focused titles and better marketing.



As for how the Wii U it compares to the Vita. Didn't the Wii have a greater number and variety of titles with extremely high than the PSP? I don't meant "variety" as in first party versus third party. I mean that where Wii had Mario, the PSP had Monster Hunter and similar ad-hoc co-op games (God Eater, Phantasy Star Portable).

Both the Vita and the Wii U and missing their predecessor's major titles (Monster Hunter / Wii series), but the Wii U is better poised to recover its position simply because there are more big first-party titles Nintendo can eventually throw at it.

Yes, it is atm, if we look at retail first-party and third-parties support thus far, aside from Ninja gaiden, Warriors Orochi, Hokuto no Ken, Tank tank tank and little else unless I'm forgetting something big.

 

[Meikiyou]

It has, though they're not too far off launch alinged for ports (and 3DS isn't that far behind either). For the first 4 months:

Nintendo 3DS
02.26.11 Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition (Capcom) PS3/360
03.31.11 Blazblue Continuum Shift II (Arc System Works) AC/PS3/360/PSP
04.14.11 Pro Baseball Spirits 2011 (Konami) PS3/PSP
05.26.11 One Piece Unlimited Cruise SP (Bandai) Wii
06.30.11 Tales of the Abyss (Namco) PS2

PS Vita
12.17.11 Blazblue Continuum Shift Extend (Arc System Works) AC/PS3/360
12.17.11 Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention (Nippon Ichi Soft) PS3
12.17.11 Dream Club Zero Portable (D3 Publisher) 360/PS3
12.17.11 Lord of Apocalypse (Square Enix) PSP
12.17.11 Shin Kamaitachi no Yoru: 11ninme no Suspect (Chunsoft) PS3
12.17.11 Shinobo 2: Way of the Ninja (Spike) PS3
12.17.11 Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 (Capcom) PS3/360
12.17.11 Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition (Sega) AC/PS3/360/Wii
02.23.12 Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus (Tecmo) PS3
03.22.12 Little Busters! Converted Edition (Prototype) PC/360/PSP

Wii U
12.08.12 Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Capcom) 3DS
12.08.12 Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge (Tecmo) 360/PS3
12.08.12 Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition (Namco) AC/PS3/360
12.08.12 Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper (Koei) PS3/360/PSP
12.13.12 Romance of the Three Kingdoms XII (Koei) PC/PS3
01.31.12 Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage 2 (Koei) PS3/360
02.21.12 Tank! Tank! Tank! (Namco) AC
03.xx.12 Dragon Quest X Online (Square Enix) Wii

You forgot Metal Gear 3, Zelda Ocarina of Time, Star Fox 64, Ace Combat on the port/remake thing for 3ds

 

[extralite]

Yes, it is atm, if we look at retail first-party and third-parties support thus far, aside from Ninja gaiden, Warriors Orochi, Hokuto no Ken, Tank tank tank and little else unless I'm forgetting something big.

DQX. Even in its worst case scenario it should be bigger than the other titles you listed.

 

[Gianni Merryman]

DQX. Even in its worst case scenario it should be bigger than the other titles you listed.

Right.

Another Japanese game I failed to mention is Bayonetta 2, but rigtly so, since we know nothing atm.

 

[L Thammy]

Wii Fit U is announced, Wii Sports U was shown at the Wii U's debut E3 and again at the next one. It will arrive sooner or later, with baseball using the gamepad for catching balls. Wii U is not missing any of its vital fanchises.

I had forgot about that. But with Wii Play Motion bombing and the series' loss of presence in the last two years, I wonder if the Wii series won't be missing in sales.

Yes, it is atm, if we look at retail first-party and third-parties support thus far, aside from Ninja gaiden, Warriors Orochi, Hokuto no Ken, Tank tank tank and little else unless I'm forgetting something big.

I don't think Ninja Gaiden has much of a presence in Japan itself. Ken's Rage 2 better fits the bill, but I've heard that the first had a bad reputation.

 

[farnham]

I had forgot about that. But with Wii Play Motion bombing and the series' loss of presence in the last two years, I wonder if the Wii series won't be missing in sales.



I don't think Ninja Gaiden has much of a presence in Japan itself. Ken's Rage 2 better fits the bill, but I've heard that the first had a bad reputation.

Wii play motion wasnt really promoted much and was not marketed as a wii... Title in japan. Wii sports resort sold over 20 million units ww.. Wii party, the last wii title when wii was still relevant, sold very well (over 2 million in japan)

Also saying that series x will not sell because one entry did not sell well is quite a stretch.

 

[test_account]

Vitas direct competitor is 3DS which had a headstart of 10 months that was fundamental to 3DSs success in my opinion. Also PSV had no big systemsellers so far while WiiU launched with two potential millionsellers (NSMBU and Nland) and a decent selling MHTrihd therefore it´s no surprise WiiU already sold 70% of PSVs lifetime sales. By the time PS4 even gets released there´ll be potential 300k-500k sellers like WiiFitU and Pikmin3 available and likely 1-2 further million sellers ready to launch (candidates: 3d Mario, Smash Bros or Mario Kart). In other words, it´s likely they´ll take advantage of their headstart in Japan, the complete opposite what Sony managed to do with PSV that had 200k+ sellers as highlights in a complete year and didn´t even had any relevant software in its second holiday season last month.

The question now is what can Sony possibly launch their PS4 with to rival those system-sellers? I also doubt that especially Japanese centric console developer will abandone the PS3 immediately, which means less PS4 3rd party exclusives and a similar situation to the PSP and PSV multiplatform situation in its first 1-2 years.

The 3DS is the direct competitor to the Vita indeed, but they are all competing against eachother in one way or another however. The one year headstart for the Vita over the WiiU did not help much for the Vita. The one year head start for the Dreamcast over the PS2 didnt help much either. But i'm not arguing that a head start wont have any affect at all, i'm just wondering if it necessarily means much if the system isnt very popular in the first year.

Wii U isn't doing very good, but it's definitely performing stronger relative to PSV than Wii was relative to PSP.

That is true, but i'm wondering if a publisher should start making a game next week for example, what advantage would the WiiU have over the Vita?

 

[L Thammy]

You're right, I don't have a lot of evidence to say that the Wii series will decline. I could very well be wrong. But it's been two years since a successful Wii ____ game, the Wii is no longer "relevant" as you have said, and Wii Fit U is a direct sequel.

Wii Fit Plus had already shed a million sales, two years after the original.

 

[Gianni Merryman]

That is true, but i'm wondering if a publisher should start making a game next week for example, what advantage would the WiiU have over the PS3?

Fixed, PS3 has a much bigger userbase and is Wii u's main competitor in Japan atm.

 

[test_account]

Fixed, PS3 has a much bigger userbase and is Wii u's main competitor in Japan atm.

Sure, but i mean if the choice is only between Vita and WiiU They have the PS3 as another choice indeed, also the 3DS too and even the PSP as well.

 

[Gianni Merryman]

Sure, but i mean if the choice is only between Vita and WiiU

If we're assuming someone should choose to develop games on either Wi U or Vita, then no doubt Wi U has a way better outlook at the moment.

By the way, I wouldn't exclude a "Wii/PSP situation" could happen again with Wii U/Vita, with games developed on Vita and then up-ported to Wii U.

 

[Bruno MB]

How many PSP/Wii games were there?

 

[Gianni Merryman]

How many PSP/Wii games were there?

I may be mistaking myself, but I somehow recall talking of how multi-platforms were PS3/XBox360 and Wi/PSP and how Wii ports were hindered because of said reason.

 

[electroplankton]

Same titles that saved Gamecube ?

Nintendo IP are at the height of the popularity right now; just look at how many Nintendo published titles are in the chart, and compare with how many there were before the GC-era.

The 3DS is the direct competitor to the Vita indeed, but they are all competing against eachother in one way or another however. The one year headstart for the Vita over the WiiU did not help much for the Vita. The one year head start for the Dreamcast over the PS2 didnt help much either. But i'm not arguing that a head start wont have any affect at all, i'm just wondering if it necessarily means much if the system isnt very popular in the first year.

How could Sony exploit the one year headstart of Vita over Wii U, when its direct competitor were PSP and 3DS that were receiving all the support? Here we have a Wii U which is not performing good at all, but Nintendo has one year to see what's working and what's not to prepare the big guns next holiday seasons, when PS4 and Nextbox likely will be launched; price cuts, bundles, games, etc. It's not that Nintendo is not able to do that, NSMB2 was developed in 9 months.

 

[saichi]

The 3DS is the direct competitor to the Vita indeed, but they are all competing against eachother in one way or another however. The one year headstart for the Vita over the WiiU did not help much for the Vita.

I'm not sure why you keep clinging on the point of VITA has one year head start over Wii U.... what's the point?

 

[test_account]

If we're assuming someone should choose to develop games on either Wi U or Vita, then no doubt Wi U has a way better outlook at the moment.

By the way, I wouldn't exclude a "Wii/PSP situation" could happen again with Wii U/Vita, with games developed on Vita and then up-ported to Wii U.

You mean a bigger installbase?

How could Sony exploit the one year headstart of Vita over Wii U, when its direct competitor were PSP and 3DS that were receiving all the support? Here we have a Wii U which is not performing good at all, but Nintendo has one year to see what's working and what's not to prepare the big guns next holiday seasons, when PS4 and Nextbox likely will be launched; price cuts, bundles, games, etc. It's not that Nintendo is not able to do that, NSMB2 was developed in 9 months.

I dont know what Sony could have done more with the Vita, but isnt the WiiU in the same boat as the Vita regarding that? Hardly any 3rd party support is announced for the WiiU, while the PS3 is getting support (similar to that the 3DS was getting more support than the Vita in the first year). Nintendo will see how the system will sell within the first year, but can they learn anything other than just dropping the price? The big guns are being released regardless if the WiiU is selling good or bad.

I'm not sure why you keep clinging on the point of VITA has one year head start over Wii U.... what's the point?

Earlier there was a comparison being made between the Vita and the WiiU. It was said that what made the WiiU different from the Vita is the one year head start. I think it was relevant to point out that the Vita had one year head start over the WiiU as well. Even if there is difference between being console VS handheld, they are both gaming systems and they all compete for 3rd party support. I remember seeing several of people here saying that the PSP was a choice instead of the Wii for example.

 

[Chris1964]

I remember seeing several of people here saying that the PSP was a choice instead of the Wii for example.

Iwata said it himself that Wii lost Japanese third party support because of PSP. of course Vita, Wii U and every other gaming system is competing

 

[Laguna]

I remember seeing several of people here saying that the PSP was a choice instead of the Wii for example.

PSV isn´t even in the same position as PSP even before it got Monster Hunter, it´s objectively far worse. You could even say PSP benefitted from its 2 years long headstart . (2004/2006)

 

[saichi]

Earlier there was a comparison being made between the Vita and the WiiU. It was said that what made the WiiU different from the Vita is the one year head start. I think it was relevant to point out that the Vita had one year head start over the WiiU as well. Even if there is difference between being console VS handheld, they are both gaming systems and they all compete for 3rd party support. I remember seeing several of people here saying that the PSP was a choice instead of the Wii for example.

You seem to be the only one seem to think it's relevant and keeps bringing up again and again while everyone else is suggesting otherwise.

 

[test_account]

Iwata said it himself that Wii lost Japanese third party support because of PSP. of course Vita, Wii U and every other gaming system is competing

Exactly.

I do believe that there is some distinction between the console and the handheld market, but since handhelds are very popluar in Japan, it seems that many publishers have no big problem to develope a handheld game instead of a console game.

PSV isn´t even in the same position as PSP even before it got Monster Hunter, it´s objectively far worse. You could even say PSP benefitted from its 2 years long headstart .

I know, but the point is just that a handheld could be just as viable as a console, especially in Japan. Despite the Vita having one year head start on the WiiU, that didnt mean much. I'm not saying that it wont have no effect on the PS4/Xbox720 (that the WiiU has one year head start), but i'm just wondering how much (or little) effect it will have. To me, it seems that the arguement here is that the Vita is basically irrelevant to the WiiU because the WiiU is a console and the Vita is a handheld. That is why i commented on this, saying that in Japan, the line between a console and a handheld inst necessarily that big.

You seem to be the only one seem to think it's relevant and keeps bringing up again and again while everyone else is suggesting otherwise.

You dont think there is any relevance between consoles and handhelds? I'm definitelly not the only one who believes that. As Chris1964 mentioned above, even Iwata himself think so. I'm not saying that the Vita and WiiU 1 year headstart will be identical, or that they will have the same outcome, but i dont see any problem with doing some comparison between them because both systems do share some similarities (mostly the lack of 3rd party support, so far at least).

 

[electroplankton]

I dont know what Sony could have done more with the Vita, but isnt the WiiU in the same boat as the Vita regarding that? Hardly any 3rd party support is announced for the WiiU, while the PS3 is getting support (similar to that the 3DS was getting more support than the Vita in the first year). Nintendo will see how the system will sell within the first year, but can they learn anything other than just dropping the price? The big guns are being released regardless if the WiiU is selling good or bad.

The difference is that direct competitors of Wii U are PS3, PS4, Nextbox (unlikely); 3DS itself is a competitor, but to a less extent in my opinion, being an handheld; home console market is shrinking in Japan, but we have seen that it has still some space, in particular for Western perspectives. Hence, Wii U has, as competitors, one console that will be irrelevant in the next few years because of obsolence (PS3) and two platforms that are not in the market yet; hence, Nintendo could still take this year of advantage to do something; for example, in its first holiday season, Wii U will likely have big support from Nintendo (e.g. Yoshi's Island, new IP, sport Mario, let's say) + some games that have been released during the year and that will have an effect on sales (Wii Fit U, Wario); Nintendo could announce bundles, price cut, and even without a quite strong support from third parties, could easily perform well against the new platforms.

New platforms, indeed, will be launched and of course will have a barren line-up in the first period (as it always happened, since it's not common AAA titles are released so early in console lifetime). Hence, Wii U could take advantage of this thanks just to the fact that it's already in the market.

Vita didn't have that because it was released after its main competitor, 3DS, and with a still strong PSP (Wii U, instead, doesn't have to worry about Wii). Vita had its first year against a second year of 3DS that had everything: Monster Hunter, Dragon Quest, Animal Crossing, NSMB, new IP, old series, etc. etc. It's different.

I'm not saying Wii U will perform well, will "win" the race, etc. etc. just some possible scenario against the boring "Wii U is doomed".