It also had less competition. Nintendo needs 3rd party games to perform well. This is why they won't release long time announced games in Q1, or why they didn't release many 1st party games at 3DS launch. If you're not Monster Hunter, it's hard to compete with big Nintendo franchises.
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Media Create Sales: Week 51, 2011 (Dec 19 - Dec 25)
- Thread starter Road
- Start date
Lord_Byron28
Member
I think perhaps the most interesting debate/showing will be if 3DS can capture the casual market again. Todomachi collection(SP) and Animal Crossing will be tests to see but I wonder if they will be able to recapture the Brain Training/Wii Sports audience again. I think there is plenty of potential but Nintendo needs to be smart about it. If they made a Brain Training 3DS that advanced things and perhaps brain teasers and image puzzles utilizing 3D I think it could still have appeal. Especially building and emphasizing the social aspects with streetpass and Online. Considering Nintendo's laziness with the Animal Crossing series I have my doubts but I think Animal Crossing could become Nintendo's Farmville so to speak depending on the amount of effort they put into it. If they were to make some big advancements with the 3DS version, capitalize on streetpass and online communication with other users and offer DLC then they could have a big hit with lots of $$$ rolling in but like I said that probably is expecting too much. I also suspect that Nintendo is unsure of Animal Crossing's appeal and why it is as popular as it is/was which is why they are reluctant in making big changes. I don't think the majority of GAF could explain what exactly makes it so appealing and popular, tbh.
Another big audience that is somewhat missing/lacking on the 3DS is the puzzle aspect. The Puzzle genre used to be pretty big on handhelds and games such as Tetris DS and Clubhouse games. It may be that they are waiting a little bit later in the system's lifetime to try and market towards that audience or perhaps they are going to ignore it completely.
Yeah but the money lost on US sales is (and has been with every console released after the introduction of the strong Euro) always more. In fact, I think they are making money on the European sales and only losing out on the US and Japanese ones (we'll never know).
Your option of delaying the EU launch instead of the US one does not sound logical to me.
I think you have a lot of valid points.
Nintendo has clearly repositioned themselves in the market compared to the DS/Wii generation. With the surge of smartphone and tablet gaming they have taken a step back in their casual gaming revolution and give more attention to more hardcore oriented games.
That leaves Vita in an odd position since Nintendo has taken bold steps in securing franchises like Monster Hunter and Dragon Quest. Both consoles are after the same customers and that makes it a very different situation compared to last gen.
Mother of god
I kind of expected the Vita to sell over a 100k with Everybody's Golf still in the top 20. But man, I didn't think this would happen. Does anyone have sales figures for PS2/PSP/PS3 itterations of Everybody's Golf?
3DS having a good week though. Super Mario 3D Land is performing better than I expected, MK 7 as expected. I do wonder if MH Tri G will reach the one million mark next week. 1.2 million sold should be manageable by the end of March.
I kind of expected the Vita to sell over a 100k with Everybody's Golf still in the top 20. But man, I didn't think this would happen. Does anyone have sales figures for PS2/PSP/PS3 itterations of Everybody's Golf?
3DS having a good week though. Super Mario 3D Land is performing better than I expected, MK 7 as expected. I do wonder if MH Tri G will reach the one million mark next week. 1.2 million sold should be manageable by the end of March.
frankie_baby
Member
It should be manageable by the end of January
GameplayWhore
Member
Yeah, Sony's been eating something like a quarter billion dollars for each fiscal quarter of the PS3's life (~428b¥ in operating losses for the division since 06Q3). They have billions more in debt than they have cash, and it doesn't look like they're going to pull a profit for this fiscal year.
It would be incredibly self-destructive for them to drop the price on the Vita. They're already losing money (so it is said here) on each unit, so a drop to 3DS level would equate to $80,000,000 in losses beyond what they're already losing per million units sold. Sony would need to sell a lot of software per Vita sold, likely a software:hardware ratio unprecedentedly high, to overcome those losses and enter even normal money-losing mode.
I hate to say it, but Sony's best bet seems to be trying to treat Vita like a luxury-level device and pouring some more resources into the now-profitable (it is, right?) PSP, keeping it alive for a couple more years until the Vita can hit what the market seems to see a normal dedicated gaming portable price point to be, but at a profit. I think Sony's in a painful position.
Upcoming releases in Japan (does not look good)
(shamelessly stolen from Gamefaqs)
Code:
01/19 WipEout 2048
01/26 Tales of Innocence R
02/02 Ragnarok Odyssey
02/09 Gravity Daze
Sumioni
02/16 Kyoukugen Dasshutsu ADV: Zennin...
02/23 @Field
Little Busters! Converted Edition
Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus
Reality FightersLord_Byron28
Member
We're in the middle of week 52 now. I would expect us to hear results around this time next week.
4Gamer will post Media Create numbers at least 15 hours later than the usual.
Famitsu might do some special report with some figures before that.
Eh, Tales of Innocence has good possibility of doing 100k.
Gravity Daze could do 100k to, I think it could surprise most of us.
Ragnarok...not so much, even if the game looks very good (THE COLORS! THE ACTION! *__* )
All the other, even if NG stlightly less, have bomba written all over their faces
It's not right that Vita has to survive against the 3DS Q1 lineup. Absolutely not right. Really.
Opus Angelorum
Member
Makes you wonder why Sony were so determined to release the PSVita in Japan first, it has certainly not been warranted (based on these launch numbers).
AceBandage
Banned
Oh my...
djplaeskool
Member
Yeah, it's got some shadow to walk through before the library picks up, but I think Sony will be content on letting it tread water (which it's done in the past) while more releases become available. I'm just hoping it doesn't sink. I'm not expecting a rash maneuver from them a la price-cut.
Admittedly, I plan on buying 5 of those titles myself, so I can't argue that it's a bad list.
Those launch numbers will look amazing compared to the rest of the world.
No, its not that, Ill tell you why. Because the market has rejected it. Period. We can talk all day with sparkles in our eyes about the majestic hardware, the increased capabilities and the like, but that doesnt mean SHIT when consumers vote 'No' with their wallets. $200+ is bad bad bad territory for handhelds. Period.
Really? I think Vita's launch lineup is good enough to get strong sales in US for a little while. It may have a drought from April to E3 but I don't think US/EU sales will be lower than these figures.
Paracelsus
Member
If Japan refuses a portable console you can pretty much skip the western launch.
AceBandage
Banned
Listen... I love Uncharted. I really do.
But it is not a system seller, man.
The Vita is not going to fly off shelves because of an Uncharted game that isn't even from Naughty Dog.
And outside of that, they really have nothing else on the horizon that will appeal to the Western audience.
Agree.
PSV hardware sales in the the first 2 or 3 weeks in Japan will result bigger compared to NPD launch report.
It also doesn't match up with the available software at all.
nextgeneration
Member
Yup, Uncharted has never been a huge seller. It's not going to drive Vita sales. Call of Duty, however, is a system seller and if that were a launch title, I wonder how that would affect sales for US?
Everything on that list is going to bomb badly just like those post launch/pre-pricedrop 3DS games did in spring/summer. The cheaper competition and lack of big name games combined with the high price are going to make impossible for the Vita to create a good ecosystem for <200k sellers.
AceBandage
Banned
If it were a good version.
And if it had cross play with the PS3, including sinking of trophies and stats.
And if it was reasonably priced.
It would probably sell a good number of copies.
However, that is neither here nor there.
There is no Call of Duty planned for launch, and one likely won't come until late next year.
Opus Angelorum
Member
[Nintex];33812026 said:
Quite bizarre really, brand loyalty?
electroplankton
Banned
There's just a logo of Call of Duty for Vita, how could it be a launch title?
darkside31337
Tomodachi wa Mahou
Beta run. Testing out the kinks on the system before the real launches in the US and EU.
Only thing I can think of really.
I thought it was really hard to replicate PSP sales even before Monster Hunter was announced.
1)One of PSPs strongpoints was that it got alot of "classics" or compilations, ports and remakes of popular franchises btw. games with a certain cult-status. Be it the Parodius Collection, quite a lot mainline Tales of ports, Suikoden 1+2 or Star Ocean 1+2 etc.pp., MegaMan PowerUp/X, Ape Escape, Valkyrie Profile, Steet Fighter Alpha, all the Falcom ports those weren´t huge sellers by any means but the sheer number of those games with quite a reputation.
2)One other relatively big part were Gundam and Dynasty Warriors games. It´s unbelievable in what frequencies those games were released on PSP but almost all of them belong to the best selling PSP games.
3)The next category would be the Anime licenced (especially "dating sims") games btw. Otaku specific demographic. They didn´t sell that well in the beginning but they pulled off really decent numbers the last years and there are an incredible amount of those games on PSP. Similar to 3D games like MH also these kind of games had a big advantage on PSP (anime squences, synchronisations).
4)Big SQEX support, especially Crisis Core but also their other projects.
5) original software and games that rode the MHwave like Phantasy Star and GodEater.
Right now it doesn´t look like they can bank this much on 1) the portfolio is pretty much dried up in this department, so it will lack the same quantity. Atleast there still are Persona4, Ys4, FFX and so on. 2) Dynasty Warrion Next didn´t sell well so far on Vita and I think these franchises are losing their pull. 3) Right now there aren´t many announced,obviously it will change in future but this time there is no problem with cartridge capcity on other platform for Anime sequences, synchronzations.
1)One of PSPs strongpoints was that it got alot of "classics" or compilations, ports and remakes of popular franchises btw. games with a certain cult-status. Be it the Parodius Collection, quite a lot mainline Tales of ports, Suikoden 1+2 or Star Ocean 1+2 etc.pp., MegaMan PowerUp/X, Ape Escape, Valkyrie Profile, Steet Fighter Alpha, all the Falcom ports those weren´t huge sellers by any means but the sheer number of those games with quite a reputation.
2)One other relatively big part were Gundam and Dynasty Warriors games. It´s unbelievable in what frequencies those games were released on PSP but almost all of them belong to the best selling PSP games.
3)The next category would be the Anime licenced (especially "dating sims") games btw. Otaku specific demographic. They didn´t sell that well in the beginning but they pulled off really decent numbers the last years and there are an incredible amount of those games on PSP. Similar to 3D games like MH also these kind of games had a big advantage on PSP (anime squences, synchronisations).
4)Big SQEX support, especially Crisis Core but also their other projects.
5) original software and games that rode the MHwave like Phantasy Star and GodEater.
Right now it doesn´t look like they can bank this much on 1) the portfolio is pretty much dried up in this department, so it will lack the same quantity. Atleast there still are Persona4, Ys4, FFX and so on. 2) Dynasty Warrion Next didn´t sell well so far on Vita and I think these franchises are losing their pull. 3) Right now there aren´t many announced,obviously it will change in future but this time there is no problem with cartridge capcity on other platform for Anime sequences, synchronzations.
Some corporate infighting most likely or Sony expected a stronger showing from Japanese third party partners when they planned all this. They seemed quite surprised and pissed when Nintendo got in bed with Capcom.
Paracelsus
Member
They can't do much about it but they know the most important software comes from Japan, if they want the crumbles of that pie they need an userbase, as small as it's shaping up to be.
AceBandage
Banned
It'll happen.
But Call of Duty Vita was nothing more than Sony saying that Activision has promised a CoD title for the Vita.
Nothing exclusive.
No launch title.
Just a CoD down the line...
Yeah...
linko9
Member
Blops2 port.
I won't argue that. Most of the launch lineup are entries to franchises that, more or less, bombed in America on the PS3. No reason to expect them to magically become popular on Vita.
I just feel Vita will launch strongly here and then die in mid-March. If we don't get NPD Vita figures from Sony in March, April, etc. then we know it bombed.
Sony's proposition in the handheld market is nuts. The Japanese developers won't line-up to develop for what many consider to be a mini-PS3. After all the trouble Japanese developers had developing PS3/Xbox 360 games there isn't much to build on.
AceBandage
Banned
Well, it'll certainly sell to the tech heads and such that always buy new hardware as soon as it's out...
Though, that pretty much puts it in the same situation as the PSP here.
And that is not a good situation...
Good or bad Sony doesn't release NPD numbers. PS3 had its best November this year and Sony didn't release numbers. Vita could be pushing a million a month (I wish) and Sony likely wouldn't say much other than "Amazing momentum!".
Opus Angelorum
Member
[Nintex];33812108 said:
Makes you think Capcom were privy to some early PSVita information (hardware) and thought better of it.
I'm assuming Sony did approach Capcom.
Way to early to be predicting doom and gloom for the Vita in Japan but it certainly looks like the product will suffer for at least the short term. Nintendo's (and let's face it, the PSP's) competition is just way to strong at this point.
Good job to Nintendo for fixing what was wrong with their product launch. The market seems to be responding and 2012 should be a good one for the 3DS. I do wonder what holiday 2012 will look like though, especially for first party Nintendo titles. After all the big guns they have hitting through the first half of 2012 what will be left? MonHun 4 will kill of course, so I'm not at all concerned for the 3DS's future. I just wonder what software Nintendo is going to be offering for Holiday 2012.
The Vita's future is a cloudy one indeed. The software seems for the most part, very western focused. I think Sony would absolutely love to gain traction for the Vita in NA and EU because of the huge userbase potential but can they do it? I like the launch lineup and the machine certainly has great potential but it's software that drives hardware sales and we don't know what Sony has planned for the Vita after the first part of 2012.
Good job to Nintendo for fixing what was wrong with their product launch. The market seems to be responding and 2012 should be a good one for the 3DS. I do wonder what holiday 2012 will look like though, especially for first party Nintendo titles. After all the big guns they have hitting through the first half of 2012 what will be left? MonHun 4 will kill of course, so I'm not at all concerned for the 3DS's future. I just wonder what software Nintendo is going to be offering for Holiday 2012.
The Vita's future is a cloudy one indeed. The software seems for the most part, very western focused. I think Sony would absolutely love to gain traction for the Vita in NA and EU because of the huge userbase potential but can they do it? I like the launch lineup and the machine certainly has great potential but it's software that drives hardware sales and we don't know what Sony has planned for the Vita after the first part of 2012.
AceBandage
Banned
Paper Mario and Animal Crossing will probably be out still in the first half of the year. As well as Luigi's Mansion 2.
But there's still E3, so...COME ON RETRO, ANNOUNCE DONKEY KONG LAND RETURNS, COME ON!!!!
RumblingRosco
Member
I suspect a 2D Mario, maybe Animal Crossing, plus some casual stuff (Brain Training/Big Brain Academy) + whatever other surprises.
AceBandage
Banned
Paper Mario, maybe.
But they'll save AC for the holidays, or at least the fall.
And no!
Give me a new 2D Metroid, Retro!
Holiday bump.
But they'll save AC for the holidays, or at least the fall.
And no!
Give me a new 2D Metroid, Retro!
Holiday bump.
Wow, I thought about going back and finding this post, but you did it for me. :lol
Maybe New Super Mario Bros. Mii, like Super Smash Bros. is for both 3DS and Wii U but we can't be sure. In fact we don't know what Nintendo is planning for Q4 2012 untill we get a good look at the Wii U launchdate and line-up.