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[Pennywise83]

Today Taiko x Idolmaster PSV will also launch in Japan. Let's see how it'll sell and how much solid was the assumption that Taiko PSV sold not-so-good because another entry had been just announced to be released a few months later. In my opinion, all versions will not reach 160k units in Japan.

anyway, DQ8 sold 400k less than DQ7, that's what should have been pointed out

or using another comparison, actually DQ8 barely sold as much as DQ7 sold in the first week

in the end, DQ8 is the worst result for recent DQ remakes

DQ4 (DS) : 1,3mln
DQ5 (DS) : 1,3mln
DQ6 (DS) : 1,4mln
DQ7 (3DS) : 1,2mln
DQ8 (3DS) : 0,85mln

DQVIII was competing with the mobile porting and tech-wise wasn't an upgrade over the original version - all of the entries you listed were actual remakes with a new shiny graphic department.

Do you think SQEX will consider DQVIII as under-performing?

It's been a terrible couple of years for Marvelous in general to be honest, I think. Between the write-down on Kaoi; Senran Kagura showing the audience has shrunk on both 3DS and Vita; Net High being a sales disaster and Lord of Magna/Popolocrois/IAVT/Luminous Arc only seeing moderate sales, I think they need to go back to the drawing board.

They did very well early in the gen getting in on markets quickly (i.e. SK on 3DS and then successfully transitioning to Vita; Rune Factory/Harvest Moon early on 3DS; Valhalla Knights/Muramasa on Vita) but really seem to have hit somewhat of a brick wall lately. I'm not expecting much from Uppers and I don't know what else they have in the pipeline.

At least they have XSEED committing to the Steam market for the west.

HM sold well on 3DS last year.

Btw, Marvelous should release a new RF as soon as possible.

 

[Hero of Legend]

HM sold well on 3DS last year.

Btw, Marvelous should release a new RF as soon as possible.

Yep, but obviously Neverland's closure caused them to hit a brick all, and who knows if the Lord of Magna team is still together or they just stayed to finish the game and then left.

Marvelous honestly dropped the ball on 3DS, they had great success with Rune Factory 4 and the HM games, and even Kagura did alright on 3DS, I think SV would've done really well on 3DS IMO, Marvelous just basically abandoned the 3DS at this point, they have NOTHING announced for it so far for 2016.

 

[Kresnik258]

HM sold well on 3DS last year.

It sold alright. Hence "moderate" sales.

Let's see how it'll sell and how much solid was the assumption that Taiko PSV sold not-so-good because another entry had been just announced to be released a few months later. In my opinion, all versions will not reach 160k units in Japan.

Yeah, I'm not expecting great things from this either to be honest.

 

[crinale]

The way the "fanservice" market is approached always seemed odd to me.

For the most part, the general Japanese audience seems notably uninterested in games where the selling point is "fanservice!!!", but the fundamental game itself isn't very appealing.

On the other hand, we see series where there's a strong fundamental game (Fire Emblem, Persona), and then there's "fanservice" poured on top perform very strongly and see notable sales growth.

To me, the takeaway here would be "Well, if we're making fanservice games, for each sequel and/or successor, we should really double on game quality." Instead, we tend to see games that double down on the amount of "fanserivce" present, and the series end up going nowhere or even steadily declining.

Fanservice thing do sell the game, to certain extent, and ROI is quite good. Of course game with bigger sales caliber must be cautious to avoid backlash though.

Even with VNs it took looooong time that devs realized they don't have to make VNs disguised as Eroge, until 21st century. Before then they're afraid they'll lose sales potential so there were many PC VNs that perv scenes are just attached to ensure the minimum sales.

 

[Prelude.]

Point taken, but isn't SAO a ridiculously popular anime and Gundam a historically popular series, which is a bit different to what's going on here?

I'm struggling to find tie-ins based on non-juggernaut anime that are also good games, there aren't many examples.
SK is also a proper game and sells pretty well compared to the many shovelware tie-ins based on more popular anime. Attack on Titan is immensely more popular but the sales of the shitty 3DS game don't really reflect that gap.
SAO isn't "ridiculously" popular per se, it's popular but it's no Naruto/One Piece/Bleach. I think it can be in the same category of mid to high popularity. It's also a bit different for VD since they put the trash-tier characters in the anime and saved the good designs for the game so it's not just a game based on that anime, it's not a really common scenario.

Net High being a sales disaster

We'll take care of that, probably.

 

[Pennywise83]

It sold alright. Hence "moderate" sales.

Wut? The second 3DS Harvest Moon sold 243.000 units in 2014 alone - the third best result in the series.

Yep, but obviously Neverland's closure caused them to hit a brick all, and who knows if the Lord of Magna team is still together or they just stayed to finish the game and then left.

Marvelous honestly dropped the ball on 3DS, they had great success with Rune Factory 4 and the HM games, and even Kagura did alright on 3DS, I think SV would've done really well on 3DS IMO, Marvelous just basically abandoned the 3DS at this point, they have NOTHING announced for it so far for 2016.

I know but RF is just a too big IP for them to be left in the closet. RF4 sold 200k+ units in Japan and it had incredibly good word-of-mouth, both in Japan and overseas.

 

[Kresnik258]

Wut? The second 3DS Harvest Moon sold 243.000 units in 2014 alone - the third best result in the series..

Took me a while to get there, but I understand what's going on now. I said Popolocrois sold average; you were talking about Story of Seasons right? Could've thrown me a bone in there by not just saying "HM" in response to a post about that game

You're right, it did sell well in Japan. Released quite some time ago though - I know it was in 2014, but I was more listing examples of difficulties they've run into since then, though.

 

[Chris1964]

It really is, but I was expecting the million mark. Maybe VII was getting more love than VIII, since iirc was one of the best selling PS games.

After first week sales I estimated DQVIII at 800-900k LTD but in the end it will sell 900-950k. The game has showed better legs than I expected. Shipment won't be very far from 1 million.

 

[Chris1964]

https://twitter.com/chiyomaru5pb/status/674969666545168384

Stein's Gate Zero shipped 100K copies for 1day. Doing OK it seems.
Actually he says sold but I don't think he has first day sales yet.

This is definetely the shipment.

 

[horuhe]

After first week sales I estimated DQVIII at 800-900k LTD but in the end it will sell 900-950k. The game has showed better legs than I expected. Shipment won't be very far from 1 million.

Yeah, it won't be that far. It was something personal, I just wanted to see that seven digit on it. If I'm not mistaken even Terry's Wonderland did one million or was almost near by a very short distance.

 

[horuhe]

Rakuten Daily Chart (2015.12.10)

01./03. [3DS] Monster Hunter X
02./01. [3DS] Disney Magic World 2
03./04. [3DS] Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam
04./05. [WiiU] Splatoon #
05./06. [WiiU] Splatoon
06./02. [3DS] Sumikko Gurashi: Omise Hajimerundesu
07./09. [3DS] PriPara Mezase! Idol Grand Prix No.1!
08./07. [WiiU] Super Mario Maker
09./08. [3DS] Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer
10./11. [WiiU] Super Maio Maker #

--

Neither of the releases charted even on Top 20, however at least Steins;Gate had strong pre-orders last week, so first day sales must be good.

01./06. [PSV] Steins;Gate 0
02./04. [PS4] Steins;Gate 0
03./03. [3DS] Monster Strike
04./02. [PS4] Fallout 4
05./05. [PS3] Steins;Gate 0

 

[Mory Dunz]

Stay strong paper jam.


Or maybe I want it do badly, so they'll re-separate PM and M&L


but not so bad as to affect the franchise's future.

 

[Ōkami]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taSAqr6rbWY

New PS4 TV ads, one video, shows two variations of the same add.

Rather weird choice of games they show there.

 

[Sage00]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taSAqr6rbWY

New PS4 TV ads, one video, shows two variations of the same add.

Rather weird choice of games they show there.

Not really that weird? Winning Eleven, Disney, Lego, Dragonball and One Piece is like a perfect selection for a young boy.

 

[Ōkami]

Not really that weird? Winning Eleven, Disney, Lego, Dragonball and One Piece is like a perfect selection for a young boy.

They're not trying to sell to kids with that ad.

It's difficult for Disney Infinity to be any more irrelevant in Japan, LEGO games barely do anything and One Piece and Dragon Ball are 9 and 11 months old respectively.

 

[Sage00]

They're not trying to sell to kids with that ad.

It's difficult for Disney Infinity to be any more irrelevant in Japan, LEGO games barely do anything and One Piece and Dragon Ball are 9 and 11 months old respectively.

?
The whole point of the ad is that it has those games he can play with his son is his justification for getting a PS4. "Get your dad to play with you."

I don't see how the age of the games is really relevant at all. I also don't think there are any more appropriate co-op games aimed at kids than those on PS4.

 

[Tagg9]

https://twitter.com/chiyomaru5pb/status/674969666545168384

Stein's Gate Zero shipped 100K copies for 1day. Doing OK it seems.
Actually he says sold but I don't think he has first day sales yet.

Anyone have numbers on the other Steins;Gate titles?

 

[Pancake Mix]

DQVIII was competing with the mobile porting and tech-wise wasn't an upgrade over the original version - all of the entries you listed were actual remakes with a new shiny graphic department.

Do you think SQEX will consider DQVIII as under-performing?

This is a really good question. This one was a port rather than a remake this time, and it had been ported to Japanese smartphones relatively recently too, sure. Then again, it's arguably the pinnacle of the entire series, hugely upgraded over the orginal, and a great Level-5 game.

Did they know when starting the project it would get a Western release too? I seriously doubt it.

Between NA/EU, one of them was lucky enough to reach around 150k. The others were lower.

Smaller than it should be, but still a boost. Hopefully VII and VIII both do better.

 

[sörine]

Smaller than it should be, but still a boost. Hopefully VII and VIII both do better.

Those numbers can't be right? DQIV shipped 150k in Europe alone, and in the US it sold though over 100k per npd.

 

[hiska-kun]

Steins;Gate saved the day

First Day Sell-Through {2015.12.10}

[PS4] [PS3] [PSV] Steins;Gate 0 <ADV> (5pb.) - 100k shipped 70-80% sell-through well done

[PSV] Valkyrie Drive: Bhikkhuni # <ACT> (Marvelous) (¥7.538) - 40-50%

[PS4] Gravity Rush Remastered # <ADV> (Sony Computer Entertainment) (¥6.372) - 30-40%

[PSV] The Idolm@ster: Must Songs - Red Board / Blue Board <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games) (¥6.156) - 40-50%

[PSV] The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC Evolution # <RPG> (Kadokawa Games) (¥6.264) - There was the feeling that these games are always bought by the same people, but this time is selling less

[PS4] Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege <ADV> (Ubisoft) (¥9.072) - 40%

[PS4] [PS3] Nitro+ Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel # <ACT> (Marvelous) (¥7.549) - 20%

Rabbids Land

[3DS] My Melody: Negai ga Kanau Fushigi na Hako <ACT> (Nippon Columbia) (¥5.184)
[3DS] Disney Big Hero 6: Battle in the Bay <ACT> (Bergsala-Lightweight) (¥4.104)

 

[Pancake Mix]

Those numbers can't be right? DQIV shipped 150k in Europe alone, and in the US it sold though over 100k per npd.

Ideally they wouldn't be. I just assumed Aeana would know, I can't confirm. Either way, you can see why Nintendo started helping out.

 

[SarusGray]

Steins;Gate saved the day

First Day Sell-Through {2015.12.10}

[PS4] [PS3] [PSV] Steins;Gate 0 <ADV> (5pb.) - 100k shipped 70-80% sell-through well done

[PSV] Valkyrie Drive: Bhikkhuni # <ACT> (Marvelous) (¥7.538) - 40-50%

[PS4] Gravity Rush Remastered # <ADV> (Sony Computer Entertainment) (¥6.372) - 30-40%

[PSV] The Idolm@ster: Must Songs - Red Board / Blue Board <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games) (¥6.156) - 40-50%

[PSV] The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC Evolution # <RPG> (Kadokawa Games) (¥6.264) - There was the feeling that these games are always bought by the same people, but this time is selling less

[PS4] Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege <ADV> (Ubisoft) (¥9.072) - 40%

[PS4] [PS3] Nitro+ Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel # <ACT> (Marvelous) (¥7.549) - 20%

Rabbids Land

[3DS] My Melody: Negai ga Kanau Fushigi na Hako <ACT> (Nippon Columbia) (¥5.184)
[3DS] Disney Big Hero 6: Battle in the Bay <ACT> (Bergsala-Lightweight) (¥4.104)

Gravity rush and Legend of Heroes make me sad. How bad are those two selling?

 

[Vena]

Gravity rush and Legend of Heroes make me sad. How bad are those two selling?

Their shipments can't have been large, so not very well at all. S;G is about the only good result on there.

 

[hiska-kun]

Media Create Sell-Through

02./00. [3DS] Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam <RPG> (Nintendo) {2015.12.03} (¥5.076) - 49.266 / NEW <17,97%> [Units shipped => 274.157]

Good luck

 

[SarusGray]

Their shipments can't have been large, so not very well at all. S;G is about the only good result on there.

Nooo, oh gosh I hope for Gravity Rush WW eats it up

 

[horuhe]

I've seen Dream Team at 1,296yen for weeks. So it will surely have a great companion during the next weeks. Paper Jam is almost as disastrous as Bravely Second.

 

[Vena]

Media Create Sell-Through

02./00. [3DS] Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam <RPG> (Nintendo) {2015.12.03} (¥5.076) - 49.266 / NEW <17,97%> [Units shipped => 274.157]

Good luck

Its been a terrible time for Nintendo spin-offs. Some of them really, really deserve it.

Nooo, oh gosh I hope for Gravity Rush WW eats it up

I don't see the audience for it, nor a precedent for these non-shootbang/sports re-releases doing well in whatever package they are shipped in WW.

 

[SarusGray]

Its been a terrible time for Nintendo spin-offs. Some of them really, really deserve it.



I don't see the audience for it, nor a precedent for these non-shootbang/sports re-releases doing well in whatever package they are shipped in WW.

it just scares me because it sets a bad precedent for new ips and gaming when these new ips don't do well and I LOVE gravity rush. Hope it gets most of its sales from digital.

 

[Infernal Monkey]

[PS4] [PS3] Nitro+ Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel # <ACT> (Marvelous) (¥7.549) - 20%

lol

What a stupid move not putting this on Vita.

 

[Jigorath]

What is going on with Mario & Luigi? It's a total bomb in UK too.

Also, Sony should probably stop remastering these uber niche Vita games. It's a waste of resources.

 

[Kyoufu]

What is going on with Mario & Luigi? It's a total bomb in UK too.

Also, Sony should probably stop remastering these uber niche Vita games. It's a waste of resources.

They probably wouldn't have bothered if a sequel wasn't coming for PS4.

 

[SarusGray]

What is going on with Mario & Luigi? It's a total bomb in UK too.

Also, Sony should probably stop remastering these uber niche Vita games. It's a waste of resources.

it has a very loyal following that makes up the sales and its a really amazing game. I always felt it was held back by the vita unfortunately. Crossing fingers it does better world wide.

 

[DangerMouse]

it has a very loyal following that makes up the sales and its a really amazing game. I always felt it was held back by the vita unfortunately. Crossing fingers it does better world wide.

Yeah, it's such an awesome game and I can't wait for GR2 also. Really want to see it do well.

 

[Kresnik258]

First Day Sell-Through {2015.12.10}

[PS4] [PS3] [PSV] Steins;Gate 0 <ADV> (5pb.) - 100k shipped 70-80% sell-through well done

Hooray!

[PSV] The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC Evolution # <RPG> (Kadokawa Games) (¥6.264) - There was the feeling that these games are always bought by the same people, but this time is selling less

Well, they've only got one left to do after this one, lol. Still, they've been on a downward trajectory since the first one really. With the games all being on PSN, it's not a massive surprise.

[PSV] The Idolm@ster: Must Songs - Red Board / Blue Board <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games) (¥6.156) - 40-50%

Now I wonder what this shipped. Pre-orders seemed very low.

 

[BriBri]

Agatsuma are dead. Real sad news.

 

[crinale]

Stein's gate kicking some ass, well deserved.

 

[Rymuth]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taSAqr6rbWY

New PS4 TV ads, one video, shows two variations of the same add.

Rather weird choice of games they show there.

So this is the source of that Gif. Pretty funny.

 

[Newtype-001]

Gravity Rush
;__;

 

[HGH]

The way the "fanservice" market is approached always seemed odd to me.

For the most part, the general Japanese audience seems notably uninterested in games where the selling point is "fanservice!!!", but the fundamental game itself isn't very appealing.

On the other hand, we see series where there's a strong fundamental game (Fire Emblem, Persona), and then there's "fanservice" poured on top perform very strongly and see notable sales growth.

To me, the takeaway here would be "Well, if we're making fanservice games, for each sequel and/or successor, we should really double on game quality." Instead, we tend to see games that double down on the amount of "fanserivce" present, and the series end up going nowhere or even steadily declining.

Wouldn't the stigma of "fanservice game/company" get in the way of sales regardless of improvements to the game's quality?
Say Marvelous make a SK derivative game twice or three times as good gameplay wise than their last one, I don't think word of mouth and advertisement could dispel the climate of "lol look at those kusoge it's the same shit as always". Heck just look at any IdeaFactory release, you could make it ten times better and people would still laugh it off the instant they see the company logo.

There's also the fact that most of these are yearly franchises. Can gameplay improvement beat franchise fatigue? Most of these companies seem reluctant to drop IPs even when faced with declining figures.
Looking at the Atelier franchise for example(I know this isn't really a fanservice game but bear with me), it has a new entry each year, and sales peaked with Atelier Meruru in 2011 debuting at 100K, but have been dropping off ever since despite each entry decreasing fanservice and improving gameplay. It took Atelier Sophie releasing on three separate console to outpace previous games and it still can't outmatch Atelier Ayesha from 2012.
Perhaps the PS lifecycle and adoption rate are factors, which I hadn't considered yet.

Agatsuma are dead. Real sad news.

This is surprising. Didn't they just start porting games to Steam?

 

[Chris1964]

lol

What a stupid move not putting this on Vita.

And it would sell 5k more copies.

 

[BriBri]

This is surprising. Didn't they just start porting games to Steam?

Yes. And they successfully localised IRONFALL -Invasion- on the eShop but it looks like too little too late.

 

[Infernal Monkey]

And it would sell 5k more copies.

Yep, which is probably more than PS3+PS4 combined.

 

[madstarr12]

Even bigger ouch for Maribomb and Weegflop: Flopper Jam with those 274K shipment numbers. Next week, it'll probably drop somewhat, and Christmas will likely not give it a significant boost.

At least the game isn't as bad as Animal Flopping: Bombmiibo festiflop.

 

[horuhe]

Stock problems for Steins;Gate have been reported. There are very few copies on stores, it seems.

 

[Chris1964]

Yep, which is probably more than PS3+PS4 combined.

Then it would sell 500 copies more.

 

[BriBri]

Animal Flopping: Bombmiibo festiflop.

Can we just cut this crap.

 

[Infernal Monkey]

Then it would sell 500 copies more.

Yes.

 

[Chris1964]

Yes.

I don't think you understood what I wrote.

 

[Infernal Monkey]

I don't think you understood what I wrote.

Oh, I know. I just wanted to end the fucking stupid loop.

 

[Moor-Angol]

Even bigger ouch for Maribomb and Weegflop: Flopper Jam with those 274K shipment numbers. Next week, it'll probably drop somewhat, and Christmas will likely not give it a significant boost.

At least the game isn't as bad as Animal Flopping: Bombmiibo festiflop.

I admit I fatigued a little to understand all the games you're talking about