IMHO, this was one of the best games I've ever played. I got it on release day and even though it's only single player, I'm still playing it. The two Hurricane packs are awesome. Yet this game has only sold about 500k so far. With this being one of the best games this generation plus has a mature theme and got great reviews everywhere, why aren't the sales better? In comparision Fable sold 600k it's first month. What are you guys opinions?
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
What's up w/ Ninja Gaiden's lackluster sales???
- Thread starter MrparisSM
- Start date
SolidSnakex
Member
It sold 500k dude. Games that don't even break a 100k get sequels. Itagaki's already talked about there being a sequel to NG.
I'd say Fable and Ninja Gaiden had similar levels of hype. Ninja Gaiden was, frankly, "too hard" for too many people. Which I didn't mind at all, but it was enough to turn away a lot of casuals.
If this happens, I hope they gradually "ramp up" the difficulty rather than making it extremely difficult in the beginning, then levelling off later in the game. I think this was the biggest problem to the game selling - I know far too many people who played until the two horsemen on the second (first?) level and / or the horseback samurai boss - and then just gave up.
If this happens, I hope they gradually "ramp up" the difficulty rather than making it extremely difficult in the beginning, then levelling off later in the game. I think this was the biggest problem to the game selling - I know far too many people who played until the two horsemen on the second (first?) level and / or the horseback samurai boss - and then just gave up.
Date of Lies
Banned
Those are pretty good numbers for a hard as nails japanese ninja game action title on a mainly westernized gaming console, it sold about as much as Brute Force, which is what I predicted.
sonycowboy
Member
SolidSnakex said:
Ok, I didn't know he said that. So that's cool. But the big question is, will it be Xenon or Xbox exclusive? You may say 500k is a lot, but if you've played the game and see the production values and how much money they put into the game, I hardly see them having made a nice profit off of it. And I'm sure they expected much higher sales. Not to mention the millions they spent on marketing and commercials and such.... But like someone else stated, it may have just been the difficulty that turned gamers away, the difficulty was perfect in my eyes though. I love a challenge!
Die Squirrel Die
Member
LakeEarth said:
Have you played the first boss? And the black Ninjas?
The game really doesn't take long to hit the above casual gamer level of difficulty. Plus a lot of its not people actually playing the game but word of mouth.
Frankly any game that gets a reputation for being difficult (sort of insanely so) I just don't see ever really having legs. It's the choice the developer makes (and I have to say a rather odd one), if you make the standard default difficulty challenging then it'll cripple long term sales. Why developers do it I don't know. Ego? Hopes of tapping into a hardcore userbase that they overestimate the size of?
Go Go Ackman!
Banned
it sucked.
Mega Man's Electric Sheep
Member
LakeEarth said:
There's a guy who works at my eb who I have overheard several times telling customers that it was the hardest game ever. I'm sure there was word of mouth like that out there.
Schafer said:
for some strange reason, I don't think Itagaki particularly likes Sony.... And they already have a fanbase with Xbox, it would make more since to transfer over to the Xenon platform... especially since the next systems will all have very negligable graphical differences, unlike the PS2 and the Xbox that we have now...
SolidSnakex
Member
MrparisSM said:
He simply likes the strongest system. He developed for the DC because it was the strongest at that time, then he moved to the PS2 and then to the Xbox. If the PS3 is the strongest platform, that'll be his platform of choice.
I'm sure the difficulty hurt the sales of the game, but to claim it was a major factor of it not selling tons more doesn't stick with me. But like others have said, 500000 is not a dissapointment.
And if 500000 wasn't enough to recoup their loses, they spent too much money on it.
Fixed.
And if 500000 wasn't enough to recoup their loses, they spent too much money on it.
Pellham said:
Fixed.
They had 9 months to port dead or alive 2 from dreamcast to the american PS2 and for a launch title it looked pretty good but really showcased alot of the problems with the PS2. I'm sure if they tried to make it right now it'd look a bit better but not much.
As for a Ninja gaiden 2 ? I'd like an honest training stage that explains how moves and such work , sure I stuck with the game and figured things out , but alot of people out there didn't and got sick of the game becuase of that. I thought the camera worked 90% of the time as well, what the game needs almost is levels designed with the end perspective thought out and how effectively the user can play the game from this perspective. The first person look was a useless feature for the most part and if I really had to dig , some of the feats required to gain those last few life of 1000 gods items were a bit ludicrous(killing 50 dino fiends... ). I'd kind of like the next game to not be hub based, a stage to stage progression would work better I think , lastly - bonus content , having new difficulty modes and eventual tournament based competitions with new enemies and costumes is cool but what I think most people really wanted was a boss rush type mode , every boss fight in the game back to back with perhaps a special hidden boss waiting at the very end if you can get through it all.
As for a Ninja gaiden 2 ? I'd like an honest training stage that explains how moves and such work , sure I stuck with the game and figured things out , but alot of people out there didn't and got sick of the game becuase of that. I thought the camera worked 90% of the time as well, what the game needs almost is levels designed with the end perspective thought out and how effectively the user can play the game from this perspective. The first person look was a useless feature for the most part and if I really had to dig , some of the feats required to gain those last few life of 1000 gods items were a bit ludicrous(killing 50 dino fiends... ). I'd kind of like the next game to not be hub based, a stage to stage progression would work better I think , lastly - bonus content , having new difficulty modes and eventual tournament based competitions with new enemies and costumes is cool but what I think most people really wanted was a boss rush type mode , every boss fight in the game back to back with perhaps a special hidden boss waiting at the very end if you can get through it all.
Kanbee-san
Member
Society said:
So its still a bad game then...
Late Stage Marxist
Member
I wouldn't pay $69.99 CAD for Ninja Gaiden, but when it's Platinum Hits, I'll definitely consider it. A drop in price could give it a boost in sales.
CrimsonSkies
Member
I thought it was around 600K to date in America. With Europe, Asia, and the other markets all put together I'm sure it's over a million. That's damn good. It should still be selling well though, but Tecmo hasn't dropped the price. Blame Tecmo.
"it's a bad game, with lousy character design and too many damn specular highlights on everything, it isnt even as hard as its made out to be, after the first couple levels it's a breeze. though the boss fights would be cool if it wasnt for the horrible camera."
Ahaha.
"Itagaki hasn't chosen his next gen system yet"
Well he's an advisor for Microsoft on the Xbox 2, and mentioned Xbox 2 in the G4TechTV tour of his studio for the DoA special.
"it's a bad game, with lousy character design and too many damn specular highlights on everything, it isnt even as hard as its made out to be, after the first couple levels it's a breeze. though the boss fights would be cool if it wasnt for the horrible camera."
Ahaha.
"Itagaki hasn't chosen his next gen system yet"
Well he's an advisor for Microsoft on the Xbox 2, and mentioned Xbox 2 in the G4TechTV tour of his studio for the DoA special.
Error Macro
Member
I paid 37 bucks for it like a month after it came out. Thank you Target and your three day sales!
MrparisSM said:
I wish people would stop saying this until we actual get some tech demos or something. Right now we have no clue how wide the gap is going to be between systems next-gen and seriously it could be an even bigger visual rift than the current PS2-Xbox. We just don't know, and probably won't for another year.
And to be on topic I think NG2 will be on Xenon just because PS3 won't be out by the time NG2 comes out most likely and thus Xenon will be the most powerful system at that time.
NG3 however..;P
Project Midway
Member
Yeah, Ninja Gaiden has sold amazingly well considering its a "hardcore japanese game" on a Xbox. Xbox has lots of casual gamers like me who only play sport, fps and racing games =) Ninja Gaiden is probably a great game, just not my cup of tea.CrimsonSkies said:
Mega Man's Electric Sheep
Member
at "Hard to Beat!!" next to Tecmo logo on NG 2 box.Kanbee-san
Member
Society said:
Yeah you are right, MP is a bad game.
Kanbee-san
Member
Society said:
Can we be friends ?
I still can't believe some of you think Ninja Gaiden has disappointing sales on Xbox.
The game has cleared 500K in NA and over 70K in Japan. I'd love to know what the European sales are for this game. That may be another 150-200K right there. So you are looking at 750K and growing for a difficult, hardcore action game. Sure, it has style, but how many pure action games sell 500K? Yeah you can mention has Fable sold 600K in its first month and that's great. But Fable is also a much more casual game. As much as I would hate to see it, perhaps Team Ninja does need to add an easier difficulty for Gaiden 2. But keep an option there to keep the challenge strong for those of us who want a tougher fight.
The game will get a nice spike when it drops to 20 bucks. I think there are a ton of people interesed in this game, but afraid to plunk down 50 as they are worried it'll be too tough. At 20 dollars it'll be easier to take the plunge. They have recouped their money on this game already so might as well make it Platinum Hits and get more sales. Selling 60-70K per month at 20 bucks is going to make them more money then selling 10k per month at 50 bucks. Especially when the Christmas season is right around the corner you would figure mid November would be a perfect time to go Platinum Hits. Unless Tecmo wants to ride out the holiday season at full price and make the game Platinum Hits early next year?
The game has cleared 500K in NA and over 70K in Japan. I'd love to know what the European sales are for this game. That may be another 150-200K right there. So you are looking at 750K and growing for a difficult, hardcore action game. Sure, it has style, but how many pure action games sell 500K? Yeah you can mention has Fable sold 600K in its first month and that's great. But Fable is also a much more casual game. As much as I would hate to see it, perhaps Team Ninja does need to add an easier difficulty for Gaiden 2. But keep an option there to keep the challenge strong for those of us who want a tougher fight.
The game will get a nice spike when it drops to 20 bucks. I think there are a ton of people interesed in this game, but afraid to plunk down 50 as they are worried it'll be too tough. At 20 dollars it'll be easier to take the plunge. They have recouped their money on this game already so might as well make it Platinum Hits and get more sales. Selling 60-70K per month at 20 bucks is going to make them more money then selling 10k per month at 50 bucks. Especially when the Christmas season is right around the corner you would figure mid November would be a perfect time to go Platinum Hits. Unless Tecmo wants to ride out the holiday season at full price and make the game Platinum Hits early next year?