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Media Create Sales: Week 51, 2011 (Dec 19 - Dec 25)

Truth101

Banned
No investor wants to see a Brand New Console sell lower than every other console on the market in the biggest week of the year, minus the 360, especially since its only its second week on the market.
 

Boney

Banned
It needs to come from SCE so Nintendo never has access to it.
This last part I don't necesarily agree. While Nintendo has a lot of pull, especially as more and more software support starts piling up, there's still good reasons to develop exclusively for Vita and finding unprecedented success. And if it establishes on Vita it'll be hard for it to be swayed back until next generation.

Of course this is pretty vague and purely hypothetical.
 

sphinx

the piano man
o.k, this thread has imploded with the strength of Vita's bombing but I think we need some context.

there are bombas like the Gamecube and there are bombas like the Xbox, Wonderswan and Ngage. I am sure many people here have the exact info to compare Vita to these consoles.

if someone could provide 2nd week numbers for these consoles, then maybe we could see a trend.
 

Yagharek

Member
o.k, this thread has imploded with the strength of Vita's bombing but I think we need some context.

there are bombas like the Gamecube and there are bombas like the Xbox, Wonderswan and Ngage. I am sure many people here have the exact info to compare Vita to these consoles.

if someone could provide 2nd week numbers for these consoles, then maybe we could see a trend.

Two weeks doesnt make a trend. Gamecube launched at a cheap price the same week as 9/11. And had strong competition of course all generation. But the bad start wasn't the pattern setter.

Vita launched against 3DS in the biggest month of the year, against three of the biggest franchises in gaming in Japan.

I'd say the next 6 months is probably going to be a pattern, and even then things can change very quickly. Cases in point: 3DS pricedrop, Kinect launch in USA, Monster Hunter debut on PSP.
 

Pistolero

Member
A little too early to be making predictions on Vita's futur, but it seems to me that the japanese handheld market's got a pocket of titles that drive sales, most of them being Nintendo franchises (that + Monster Hunter, Dragon Quest...). In spite of the great technology it features, it seems to me that the very concept of the Vita makes it almost impossible for it to reach a big N device numbers.
I'd have preferred Sony to concentrate on what it does best : Providing great home system's experiences, and avoid too much dilution of its resources. But let's see how things unfold going forward!
 

thefro

Member
This last part I don't necesarily agree. While Nintendo has a lot of pull, especially as more and more software support starts piling up, there's still good reasons to develop exclusively for Vita and finding unprecedented success. And if it establishes on Vita it'll be hard for it to be swayed back until next generation.

Of course this is pretty vague and purely hypothetical.

The big problem is most publishers will make PS3/360/Wii U/PC/Vita games at this point, not Vita exclusive.

It's possible Vita could thrive from getting good ports in the West, but that doesn't seem to be a recipe for success in Japan.
 
agreed - and i'm not saying that the Vita is going to have an easy time of this, far from it. Dealing with absolutes - 3DS -has- got a strong line up -now- , it's got sales on the board, it's at least 50% cheaper, and it IS getting MH4.

However, i'm sure a whole load of titles are already well into development on the PSV and , as i say, there's possibly stuff that -could- game change (MH ending up on Vita at some point certainly isn't out of the realms of possibility, Gran Turismo might unexpectedly show up (pre-space year 2051) , etc etc)



there's definitely an amusing angle to it, but i don't understand why any gamer (not saying you, but certainly seen the sentiment on GAF) would want to see a powerful handheld just out and out fail. Somewhat baffling to me.

I'm an investor, and seeing Sony fail benefits me financially.

To be frank, it's hard to see the Vita seeing the success that the PSP had. The PSP's success was something I don't know will ever be recreated again. It's a freak system. To stumble out of the gate like it did, only to roar back years later. Why the Vita is different is because the 3DS has the game series' that propelled the PSP. I don't see history repeating, but I could be wrong. The Vita is more Western oriented, which I don't think was the right move for Sony to make.
 

Penguin

Member
I got to say, I didn't know that Wii Party ended up doing so well in Japan.

Based on NPDs, thought it fell flat on its face.

Curious to see how Mario Party 9 does.
 

BurntPork

Banned
I'm an investor, and seeing Sony fail benefits me financially.

To be frank, it's hard to see the Vita seeing the success that the PSP had. The PSP's success was something I don't know will ever be recreated again. It's a freak system. To stumble out of the gate like it did, only to roar back years later. Why the Vita is different is because the 3DS has the game series' that propelled the PSP. I don't see history repeating, but I could be wrong. The Vita is more Western oriented, which I don't think was the right move for Sony to make.

If you're a Nintendo investor, this didn't benefit you at all. :p
 

Luigiv

Member
Vita might be in for a rough stretch. Wonder what Sony will do. Will they sit on the device and do nothing like they did with the PSP and the PS3?

Also, are those MH sales good or bad? I mean going towards a million is always good, but it is the only one of a few games in the top 20 (other than fading franchises like FF and Inazuma) that went down week over week on the biggest shopping week of the season.

That's pretty normal for MH. Sales for MH games tend to follow your typical exponential decay curve. Rapid decay at the start but that quickly evens out and makes way for a tail.

For what it's worth, the previous weeks drop was 62%, this week it's only 26%.
 

DCharlie

And even i am moderately surprised
'flocking to the 3DS' is a very vague term.

well, you'll after ask prediction meister CVX for what he meant when he stated the MH fanbase was flocking to 3DS. ;)

I'm an investor, and seeing Sony fail benefits me financially.

so you shorted Sony? to what extent?

if you're investing you're surely going to change your outlook over and over though right?
 
I'm an investor, and seeing Sony fail benefits me financially.

To be frank, it's hard to see the Vita seeing the success that the PSP had. The PSP's success was something I don't know will ever be recreated again. It's a freak system. To stumble out of the gate like it did, only to roar back years later. Why the Vita is different is because the 3DS has the game series' that propelled the PSP. I don't see history repeating, but I could be wrong. The Vita is more Western oriented, which I don't think was the right move for Sony to make.

See I disagree. It's the same logic with Nintendo as well. People say they can't recreate the PSP situation but the PS3 mirrored it pretty well. People also say mirroring the DS is impossible but Wii did the same thing. It's certainly possible to do so and I don't think it would be that hard for it to happen a few years from now. However, it is hard to judge. I don't get what Sony's strategy is/was with the Vita. Unlike Nintendo which saw it's mistakes with the Wii/DS and tried to fix it by securing better 3rd party support and granting more powerful hardware. Sony looked at the PSP/PS3 model saw what they did wrong and stuck their heads in the sand and did the same mistake over again. I guess they may figure that competing head to head with Nintendo for the same market won't work out and instead try to carve out their own niche for higher end electronics that will get popular later in the life cycle but this time they don't seem to be as aggresive about it and seem to be losing ground right now.
 
As a consumer, I have no issue with the Vita struggling for every inch it gets for the first six months.

Maybe it will make Sony rethink the price and launch buyers can get, like, Ape Escape 1 on it.
 
As a consumer, I have no issue with the Vita struggling for every inch it gets for the first six months.

Maybe it will make Sony rethink the price and launch buyers can get, like, Ape Escape 1 on it.

I'm doubting Sony has really any leeway at all on the price though. This isn't the same BOM as 3DS, it should be a lot more. 250 is already pushing it. 250 it's gonna be for the forseeable future imo.

I dunno, the whole thing continues to play out about like PSP vs DS did, bottom line. Which will mean Vita will do ok but never smashingly great as time goes on.

As I've stated many times, Vita even slots right where PSP did graphically. About one gen behind for most of it's life, as soon as PS4/Xb720 come out, it will be one gen behind for the next 6+ years. Right where PSP was compared to PS3/360.

If anything the only slight difference is 3DS is probably relatively closer in power to Vita than DS was to PSP, if anything. PSP: DS RAM was 32:4=8. Vita to 3DS is 640:128=5
 
Did anyone catch this:
Famitsu just updated
NEW ファイナルファンタジーXIII-2【スクウェア・エニックス】PS3 RPG 2011年12月15日7980円[税込](LIGHTNING EDITION Ver.2 37960円[税込])605,660 / 605,660
Not as bad. lol
I assume m-c included the bundle also.
 

neptunes

Member
I'm doubting Sony has really any leeway at all on the price though. This isn't the same BOM as 3DS, it should be a lot more. 250 is already pushing it. 250 it's gonna be for the forseeable future imo.

I dunno, the whole thing continues to play out about like PSP vs DS did, bottom line. Which will mean Vita will do ok but never smashingly great as time goes on.

Not saying that Sony will drop the price, but they would have a little leeway 6 months from now. (as opposed to now). The type of parts used in the Vita will be used in most cell phones released this year. I think that was one of the reasons they chose the kind of parts they ended up using. To benefit from the economies of scale when most cell phone manufactures will be using that CPU and GPU.
 
If vita fails then I wonder what the ramifications will be for Sony?
Make an affordable, less hardware ambitious, creative, and singularly game-centric handheld; Unfortunately Sony fails to grasp this.
I still find it hard to believe how a console like the 360 with the hardware failures it had could beat the PS3.
You completed skirted the angry T-Rex in the room, how does a system with near 10 year old hardware out sell them both.
I really do hope Sony has learnt all of it's mistakes this gen and comes out with a PS4 that will be a worthwhile competitor to the nextbox.
Sony and learning from mistakes do not go hand-in-hand it seems. If Sony is only concerned with competing with the next Xbox, Sony has larger, more far reaching issues. Same with Microsoft.
I dread to think of what MS could and would do without worthwhile competition but I am sure MS know only to well that they could put Sony out of the console business next gen with the right choices in hardware and they have the funds to do it.
Large corporations fail to put other corporations out of business in general. Corporations take themselves out of a market because they react slowly to more smaller, agile, and aggressive companies that are laser focused on a singular aspect (Nintendo and Apple for example).

You have nothing to worry should Sony exit the console market; MS will still have Nintendo to go against. The problem for MS is again, Nintendo is smaller, agile, and singularly focused. That and they will probably be in full-on beast mode.
 
The massive price cut was pretty much 100% just to propel the system for the holidays.
They needed third parties to see the system doing amazingly so that they could start getting on board right away.
It was a bold move, but well worth it, I'd say.
Sitting on the ejection seat makes you do crazy things, or so I hear.
 

Yagharek

Member
I bought a 3DS on launch day. It got off to a slow start. As a result, I have something like 25 free games from Nintendo.

It's in the interest of early Vita adopters for a similar trend.
 

DCharlie

And even i am moderately surprised
Make an affordable, less hardware ambitious, creative, and singularly game-centric handheld; Unfortunately Sony fails to grasp this.

but there's probably even less traction in this right? What do they then offer above Nintendo if they are in the same performance class and with no extras?

I for one am thankful that there's a different options and more powerful machines. Ultimately at some point the Vita -will- be affordable and will have lost a bit of it's hardware ambition (vs. phones, but not against 3DS) and games are -still- going to be the main focus

You have nothing to worry should Sony exit the console market; MS will still have Nintendo to go against. The problem for MS is again, Nintendo is smaller, agile, and singularly focused. That and they will probably be in full-on beast mode.

if BOTH are in full on beast mode, i only see one company winning unfortunately. But no one wants that - the competition is good for consumers and all parties (N, S, MS) have pros/cons.
 

AniHawk

Member
man, was this ever a last hurrah for the wii. can't believe kirby's return to dreamland suddenly did very respectable numbers. looks like monster hunter 3g will taper off rather quickly after next week (unless these are supply issues. i've been at work all day and i'm not about to read through 1000 posts).

vita sales will pick up, but probably after sony kills the psp and some better software comes out for it. final fantasy x is probably the first big non-launch title (that's somewhat around the corner?)

also, what happened so that 3ds sales are 100k lower than famitsu? famitsu count wrong or somethin'?
 
if BOTH are in full on beast mode, i only see one company winning unfortunately. But no one wants that - the competition is good for consumers and all parties (N, S, MS) have pros/cons.

Discussion would be a lot better if people could get it out of their head that companies are winning and losing some mythical battle. Nobody has to lose, all of them can continue to exist and make money without the other ones having to lose.

Industry is way too large for one company to win and have no competition.
 

BurntPork

Banned
man, was this ever a last hurrah for the wii. can't believe kirby's return to dreamland suddenly did very respectable numbers. looks like monster hunter 3g will taper off rather quickly after next week (unless these are supply issues. i've been at work all day and i'm not about to read through 1000 posts).

vita sales will pick up, but probably after sony kills the psp and some better software comes out for it. final fantasy x is probably the first big non-launch title (that's somewhat around the corner?)

also, what happened so that 3ds sales are 100k lower than famitsu? famitsu count wrong or somethin'?

30k, not 100k
 

Busaiku

Member
can't believe kirby's return to dreamland suddenly did very respectable numbers.

This is very typical for mainline Kirby games.
It happened with Squeak Squad and Super Star Ultra.
Obviously Kirby's Return To Dreamland is bouncing back after a slower start, but Kirby games always have great legs.
 

Patapwn

Member
Holy shit man... I mean... duuuuuuuuuude

Those numbers just gave me a fucking heart attack. The irony? I'm still in better condition than the vita
 
but there's probably even less traction in this right? What do they then offer above Nintendo if they are in the same performance class and with no extras?
Less traction? Possibly but clearly their current form of differentiation is 1) Financially unsustainable and 2) Clearly not working. So why not attempt to attack Nintendo head-on in the same market. Sony can clearly leverage such things as PSN and a more unified online structure over Nintendo's lasissez-faire approach. If all that Sony can hold over their opponents is money losing technology. Well, then Sony clearly has issues from the top to the bottom

if BOTH are in full on beast mode, i only see one company winning unfortunately. But no one wants that - the competition is good for consumers and all parties (N, S, MS) have pros/cons.
I agree competition is good for everyone.
 

AniHawk

Member
This is very typical for mainline Kirby games.
It happened with Squeak Squad and Super Star Ultra.
Obviously Kirby's Return To Dreamland is bouncing back after a slower start, but Kirby games always have great legs.
well i know about the history of the series, but it's a combination of the previous game not doing nearly as well, the long absence of the series from consoles in general, and the deathlike state of the wii. the four player aspect of the game probably helped it out a lot too.
 
This sales thread more than makes up for the lackluster NPD sales threads. From a non-analyst standpoint-- the Vita be looking like its about to code.
 

DCharlie

And even i am moderately surprised
Less traction? Possibly but clearly their current form of differentiation is 1) Financially unsustainable and 2) Clearly not working. So why not attempt to attack Nintendo head-on in the same market. Sony can clearly leverage such things as PSN and a more unified online structure over Nintendo's lasissez-faire approach. If all that Sony can hold over their opponents is money losing technology. Well, then Sony clearly has issues from the top to the bottom

well, we don't know if 1) is true just yet and 2) is WAY too early to call.

I dunno - a less technical proficiant game focused handheld at this point is then not going to be that much different to the PSP.

The practice of money losing tech has been the strategy for everyone except Nintendo - there's no reason that a machine has to downgrade to be profitable when it's ultimately a 6 year project. There's no reason Sony can't have the power angle -and- leveraging PSN etc
 

Mrbob

Member
250 dollars isn't really even that much money. The Vita is "affordable" right now. Just needs more software for people to buy the system.
 
well, we don't know if 1) is true just yet and 2) is WAY too early to call.

I dunno - a less technical proficiant game focused handheld at this point is then not going to be that much different to the PSP.

The practice of money losing tech has been the strategy for everyone except Nintendo - there's no reason that a machine has to downgrade to be profitable when it's ultimately a 6 year project. There's no reason Sony can't have the power angle -and- leveraging PSN etc
and Apple. Actually, it was only a practice of MS and Sony. And probably only Sony atm.


250 dollars isn't really even that much money. The Vita is "affordable" right now. Just needs more software for people to buy the system.
With a memory, it is around 300, double the 3DS, and they exactly do the same thing, run games.
 

Tiktaalik

Member
Anyone who follows this industry has got to recognize that great software is the most important driver of sales. Mario Kart and Mario 3D are out and as a result we're seeing the 3DS doing great. Keeping software in mind, it's absolutely too early to enter freak out mode over the Vita's awful second week. Clearly the games aren't there and so we'll just have to wait and see on when the wave of post launch quality titles arrives (it is arriving right Sony?).
 

DCharlie

And even i am moderately surprised
With a memory, it is around 300, double the 3DS, and they exactly do the same thing, run games.

yup - as per other maths , basically :

cheapest vita, cheapest card, cheapest retail game = 29,800

600 yen more gets you a 3DS with the three AAA+ games that just launched this xmas

the Vita -does- cost more and whilst it's 'cheap' for what it is, it's still simply not in the mass acceptance price range _based on the content it currently has_ . Either Sony will have to wait until the price comes down or generate the content to help justify the outlay.

though this :

and they exactly do the same thing, run games.

it's kind of not as simple as that though, is it?
 

Lethality

Member
Dear lord at those Vita numbers... 0_o
XIII-2 Down 77%, SE Really needs to stop fooling around and release Versus already... I hope this allows them to see this.

Call me crazy but I think the vita will recover.

basic03_070605b-l.jpg

"You must recover!!"
Couldn't resist. XD
 

watershed

Banned
How much wiggle room does Sony have in game pricing? It looks like Vita games are fairly expensive to make, maybe more costly than the 3ds? But if they can undercut the 3ds software prices through psn and retail then maybe the vita can gain traction that way. Cheaper games would be lovely and consumers would definitely take notice.
 

DCharlie

And even i am moderately surprised
Not crazy, but nothing factual right now suggests that it will. Just a number of optimistic hypotheticals.

same can be said exactly for those playing the death march!

Vita isn't dead - FACT.

you can't honestly be serious that we're already looking at no possible recovery after -2 weeks- right? ... RIGHT?
 

Takao

Banned
Dear lord at those Vita numbers... 0_o
XIII-2 Down 77%, SE Really needs to stop fooling around and release Versus already... I hope this allows them to see this.

That's actually one of the better percentage drops for a recent Final Fantasy. The issue is that the number is low.
 
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