Sales Bore | Media Create And Other Sale Numbers |OT|

[Great Rumbler]

Because nobody likes sales talk in non-sales talk threads.

Notes from Japan for Jan. 2-8:

-3DS has 3 million sellers [Mario Kart 7, Super Mario 3D Land, and Monster Hunter 3 G]
-All 3 titles are the top sellers for the week
-Vita seems to be stabilizing at 42k per week
-3DS sold another 250k units
-No Vita titles in the top 20 [top-selling game sold less than 15k]

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-01-11/monster-hunter-3-g-is-japan-latest-3ds-million-seller

[Momo]

Does Vita have any killer apps coming for Japan soon?

[Eel O'Brian]

Hmmm, I am thinking Vita bundle around August with game + 4GB card for the same $250. I no longer think they'll drop the base unit price (maybe next holiday), but they'll certainly drop a mid-selling (lol) title and the lowest capacity card in the box.

[Eel O'Brian]

Hell, a 4GB card plus a download code card for your choice of 1-2 games (from a list of everything but something you'd really want, of course) seems the more likely scenario. That way you'd fill the card up right off the bat and have to buy  another.

[T-Short]

Famitsu 2011 Top 100 stats was nice

Top 100 Stats (Famitsu)

Total Software/# of games

PSP - 7,959,421 - 31
PS3 - 6,674,346 - 24
WII - 6,386,085 - 21
3DS - 5,206,558 - 11
NDS - 3,183,597 - 13


Total 3rd-party software/# of games

PSP - 7,689,160 - 29
PS3 - 6,510,080 - 23
3DS - 1,895,218 - 6
NDS - 1,517,658 - 6
WII - 1,198,197 - 6


Total 1st-party software/# of games

WII - 5,187,888 - 15
3DS - 3,311,340 - 5
NDS - 1,665,939 - 7
PSP - 270,261 - 2
PS3 - 164,266 - 1


Publisher Breakdown

1. Nintendo - 9,031,126 - 23
2. Namco Bandai Games - 4,264,346 - 16
3. Square Enix - 3,358,444 - 8
4. Capcom - 3,287,315 - 9
5. Level 5 - 1,653,550 - 7
6. SEGA - 1,507,957 - 6
7. Konami - 1,463,271 - 7
8. Koei-Tecmo - 1,292,169 - 5
9. Nintendo/Pokemon Co. - 1,134,041 - 4
10. SCEI - 434,527 - 3

Others - 1,983,261 - 12

PSP beastin' in the top 100. Also. wow @ Nintendo firstparty sales. talk about domination

[Great Rumbler]

PSP's software sales probably get a big bump from Monster Hunter and a combination of the death of the DS and the slow start of the 3DS.

[pilonv1]

Today will be fun...

[Damian79]

I was thinking, in terms of sales there is a greater divide among gamers than ever before(aside from the atari crash).  Making it less of a good thing to cater to the niche market.  Heck even JRPG's are like FF are niche now.  Devs talk about the iphone as the renaissance of gaming.  Do you think thats true.  Should as gamers we be supporting the iphone?

[Stoney Mason]

There is no "we" as in gamers. And even if there was it wouldn't matter if "we" "supported" the iphone or not. Hardcore gamers are certainly a decent and money spending part of the market but they don't determine the market. So its best not to talk about these terms in group actions as if we are all one monolithic group in solidarity. The problem with sales talk (and this isn't necessarily aimed at you) is when people mix their desires with their analysis. What is going to happen is going to happen. And it doesn't matter if a certain segment is pro or against that action.

But the point you are really getting at is probably whether tablet/ios gaming/facebook gaming/motion control gaming, etc hurts the hardcore market. I can only speak personally. I like ios gaming. Not too big a fan of the others, but obviously they are filling a need in the market that exists. I don't think its an either or situation. I think the overall market of people defined as playing games increases. Alot of the people who like those kind of games were never going to play hardcore games anyway. The problem isn't necessarily the people who play those things. It's that the people who play certain genres find themselves in a dwindling market for those specific kind of games. The people who use to play certain genres have either lessened in numbers (and this is for lots of reasons. Not just those other forms of gaming) or the rising budgets have made the small amount of people who use to play those games not able to cover the higher production costs that it now takes to make those games.

I think catering to a niche market is fine. Lots of people are making lots of money catering to certain niche markets. The issue is you have to budget your game correctly and really hit the specific needs that target market actually wants.

[Damian79]

Good post i agree with that.  And just for clarification i was asking whether iphone is such a good thing that we should be supporting it or not.

[EmCeeGrammar]

You didn't read what he posted.  I'd suggest finding a hobby that doesn't require someone else to make your toys for you.  Or accept jrpgs outside of japan will only live on through Pokemon.

So, uh, Oscar... not asking for specifics, but I have been kind of curious how Kinect performed throughout the year considering its second wave of software came out a year later.  Again, I know numbers is a nono, but did it maintain momentum?  I guess it may be hard to gauge with the bundles MS has going on, I'll admit my bias has diverted my attention if the topic ever came up.

[Damian79]

Kinect has continued to do very, very well.  It has made fools of most sales hounds, including myself. 

Damian, support games you like.  If they're on the iPhone, then go nuts.  It's not the customer's responsibility to steward the industry to the safest economic paths.  If iPhone's pricing model ends up being bad for the industry, that'll be their problem to solve, not ours.

I am looking to buy an ios device for a game called "the shadow sun" but i have big hands.  I've had a horrendous experience with the ipod touch.  Clearly it wasnt designed for people above the age of 15.  So i dotn knwo if i should get an Ipad or an Iphone.

[tiesto]

You didn't read what he posted.  I'd suggest finding a hobby that doesn't require someone else to make your toys for you.  Or accept jrpgs outside of japan will only live on through Pokemon.

That's bullshit and you know it.

Personally, I'm looking forward to the day the IOS/social gaming/casual gaming bubble busts. It's gonna happen eventually...

[Stoney Mason]

Personally, I'm looking forward to the day the IOS/social gaming/casual gaming bubble busts. It's gonna happen eventually...

Some of those absolutely will not burst. Although they won't keep expanding at the same current high rate. Gaming is going to be more stratified across multiple platforms for the near future until cloud shit can really take off. All the signs point to it. More people will game across lots of different outlets. And alot of those people aren't likely to be hardcore gamers.

I'm fine with that. Things change. Things don't remain the same. That's the lesson of life. There will also always be a hardcore market although some people may not like what may define "hardcore".

[Stoney Mason]

Kinect has continued to do very, very well.  It has made fools of most sales hounds, including myself. 

Damian, support games you like.  If they're on the iPhone, then go nuts.  It's not the customer's responsibility to steward the industry to the safest economic paths.  If iPhone's pricing model ends up being bad for the industry, that'll be their problem to solve, not ours.

I am looking to buy an ios device for a game called "the shadow sun" but i have big hands.  I've had a horrendous experience with the ipod touch.  Clearly it wasnt designed for people above the age of 15.  So i dotn knwo if i should get an Ipad or an Iphone.

I don't know if I would buy a device for one game but yeah my problem with touches and iphones is that it really does become a problem if you have largish sized hands. I always had an issue with that on my iphone because my fingers obscured the screen so much. That problem is completely eliminated with ipad games. Although like I said, I wouldn't buy an ipad for just one game. (or even a couple of games). You really have to have some actual use for the device along with the gaming to justify it and I consider myself a real fan of ios gaming but I'm also not delusional.

[Tasty]

I still wanna know MH3's US LTD. 

[Trent Dole]

The xxxperts at vgchartzzz say Sonic did .8mil so Mh3's done lower than that-ish I guess? (Google is your friend)

[Damian79]

I don't know if I would buy a device for one game but yeah my problem with touches and iphones is that it really does become a problem if you have largish sized hands. I always had an issue with that on my iphone because my fingers obscured the screen so much. That problem is completely eliminated with ipad games. Although like I said, I wouldn't buy an ipad for just one game. (or even a couple of games). You really have to have some actual use for the device along with the gaming to justify it and I consider myself a real fan of ios gaming but I'm also not delusional.

Nice.  Ipad it is.  Anyone know of any other good crpgs coming out for the ipad?

[Trent Dole]

Yeaaah I didn't think their #s were particularly accurate but they were the first seemingly useful result!

[Tasty]

Lol vgchartz

Only overestimated by about 400k this time, good for them!

Chartz put Tri US at 482k so that's pretty bad if it's 400k less than that. :'(

Edit- Trolling Capcom financial PDFs is a lot less revealing than going through Nintendo's. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

[Tasty]

So what's the big secret about sales data.

[Stoney Mason]

So what's the big secret about sales data.

Individuals can get into trouble through their companies for leaking NPD data since its a paid service.

[Tasty]

But most of it comes out in financials and PR anyways. It's sort of pathetic that this forum which is completely OK with piracy and all kinds of other things is still beholden to NPD and are deathly afraid of releasing any numbers.

[Stoney Mason]

But most of it comes out in financials and PR anyways. It's sort of pathetic that this forum which is completely OK with piracy and all kinds of other things is still beholden to NPD and are deathly afraid of releasing any numbers.

That was dumb. Just saying.

No one is gonna risk their job so you can satisfy your curiosity about Monster Hunter.

[pilonv1]

But most of it comes out in financials and PR anyways. It's sort of pathetic that this forum which is completely OK with piracy and all kinds of other things is still beholden to NPD and are deathly afraid of releasing any numbers.

Most of what? You get some basic unit sales and value figures. The people who actually need and use the numbers get infinitely more than what you see.

[Tasty]

Whatever. It's a broken system and I don't support it.

[Tasty]

Oh no, I got the hints. But yes, I'm frustrated us normal plebs can't ever know any kind of specifics regarding sales.

There should be a Wikileaks for NPD.

[cool breeze]

sales talk is a nintendo system's killer app.  are you so surprised?

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

sales leaks is what drew me to GAF in the first place.  For about a year it was awesome, you got full publisher breakdowns month by month and were readily able to gauge any title's success or lack thereof.  It did make for better and more informed video game disscussion, but its not anything that we should have or ever felt entitled to.

[Trent Dole]

I honestly think the amount of secrecy surrounding sales in the industry is fuckin' weird but if it's what they wanna do we just have to deal basically.

[iconoclast]

I honestly think the amount of secrecy surrounding sales in the industry is fuckin' weird but if it's what they wanna do we just have to deal basically.

nobody must know how badly our games sold!

[Joe Molotov]

I honestly think the amount of secrecy surrounding sales in the industry is fuckin' weird but if it's what they wanna do we just have to deal basically.

I think the attention paid to Metacritic ratings is even more weird; you don't see Michael Bay writing angry rants about Rotten Tomatoes and how Transformers 3 should have gotten all 8's and 9's because the fans enjoyed it.

[Great Rumbler]

It's always sad to see a game you really like get low scores, but there are people on GAF that flip their lid when a game with near-perfect scores gets a single score that isn't in line with the others.

[Stoney Mason]

The over secrecy on game sales and just general game info is a bit weird especially when you compare it to something like the movie industry which lives a lot of its life out in public. The review thing is a holdover to times when reviews actually did matter in the game industry. Since nobody actually cares about the industry awards for games, the only real way to display pride about your craft is either through sales or review scores.

[Joe Molotov]

It's always sad to see a game you really like get low scores, but there are people on GAF that flip their lid when a game with near-perfect scores gets a single score that isn't in line with the others.

Well, gamers are distinguished mentally-challenged fellows obviously, but I mainly meant industry people.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

the movie industry is actually pretty secretive about lots of things.  Box office grosses are comprehensivley known, but DVD/Blu-Ray, VOD, and any other revenue stream is a damn mystery.  If you want to know exactly how a movie makes money being on Netflix's streaming service, or how much it makes, you'd be as well off going to a movie equivlent of VG Chartz for all the info that's out there.

[AdmiralViscen]

I wish e-heroes like Andrex could focus on the real NPD - the Nougat and Peanuts Delegation. They have been withholding data on the sales of kit kats, snickers, and hundred grand for decades. I need to know what impact Hershey's bliss has had on cookies and cream. Is milky way dark a dying market? Should I preorder a case to contribute to future development of the brand?

[Flannel Boy]

I wish e-heroes like Andrex could focus on the real NPD - the Nougat and Peanuts Delegation. They have been withholding data on the sales of kit kats, snickers, and hundred grand for decades. I need to know what impact Hershey's bliss has had on cookies and cream. Is milky way dark a dying market? Should I preorder a case to contribute to future development of the brand?

re-uploaded (only one I have left on my HDD).

[EmCeeGrammar]

I would say I find it amusing that the usual suspects crop up in the npd threads/elsewhere claiming to not give a shit, but its honestly perplexing and irritating.

I like sales because it gives perspective.  Perspective means I don't act like an ass because one of my pet franchises isn't performing and gets shitbinned.  RIP Viewtiful Joe.

[demi]

Viewtiful Joe died after the first game anyway. The rest shouldnt exist.

[Bebpo]

2 was still pretty good even if forgettable compared to the original.

Kamiya

[maxy]

this thread is a bit yucky but

http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/bestsellers/2011/videogames/ref=zg_bsar_cal_ye

 

[maxy]

interesting,not surprising considering 360 retail (non)popularity

[pilonv1]

amazon best seller lists? one step away from chartzzzzzzzzzzz data

[chronovore]

I'm fine with that. Things change. Things don't remain the same. That's the lesson of life. There will also always be a hardcore market although some people may not like what may define "hardcore".

This just made me remember when, to be the best possible experience, multiplayer gaming required that all the players physically move their desktop PCs and monitors (heavy CRT jobbies at that) to a single location, wired everything up on the LAN, and one of the players usually had to be an IT guy to get the network up and running.

To me, that was hardcore. Just to play the game, we'd do all that. And now we bitch and whine if some minor feature of the game was not included in the hand-holding tutorial portion of the game. And we bitch if the tutorial is too long as well.

"Hardcore" --

[AdmiralViscen]

I would say I find it amusing that the usual suspects crop up in the npd threads/elsewhere claiming to not give a shit, but its honestly perplexing and irritating.

I like sales because it gives perspective.  Perspective means I don't act like an ass because one of my pet franchises isn't performing and gets shitbinned.  RIP Viewtiful Joe.

I'm not against sales talk, just andrex's sense of blind entitlement

[Stoney Mason]

I'm fine with that. Things change. Things don't remain the same. That's the lesson of life. There will also always be a hardcore market although some people may not like what may define "hardcore".

This just made me remember when, to be the best possible experience, multiplayer gaming required that all the players physically move their desktop PCs and monitors (heavy CRT jobbies at that) to a single location, wired everything up on the LAN, and one of the players usually had to be an IT guy to get the network up and running.

To me, that was hardcore. Just to play the game, we'd do all that. And now we bitch and whine if some minor feature of the game was not included in the hand-holding tutorial portion of the game. And we bitch if the tutorial is too long as well.

"Hardcore" --

My first example of pulling the "hardcore" card was as a kid when graphic adventures came around and displaced text adventures. I felt they were dumbing down the genre. 


Also

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I have to LOL at the chart because I hear occasional rumblings from Sfags that insist the PS3 is second place worldwide.  Even if 360 is deader than dead in Japan, that 2.8 million hardware difference certainly closes the gap.

[Great Rumbler]

That chart really shows how badly the Wii is dying off, dropped nearly 3 million while the PS3 and the Xbox360 actually increased. Also shows that the 3DS is making a big push, taking the DS's place.

[Tasty]

I would say I find it amusing that the usual suspects crop up in the npd threads/elsewhere claiming to not give a shit, but its honestly perplexing and irritating.

I like sales because it gives perspective.  Perspective means I don't act like an ass because one of my pet franchises isn't performing and gets shitbinned.  RIP Viewtiful Joe.

I'm not against sales talk, just andrex's sense of blind entitlement

I don't understand.

[AdmiralViscen]

But most of it comes out in financials and PR anyways. It's sort of pathetic that this forum which is completely OK with piracy and all kinds of other things is still beholden to NPD and are deathly afraid of releasing any numbers.

.

[Tasty]

Not really entitlement, just amusement and frustration things aren't more open.

[pilonv1]

Like it matters anyway, the difference of a few million either side isn't going to have an impact on anything.

[Cheebo]

You didn't read what he posted.  I'd suggest finding a hobby that doesn't require someone else to make your toys for you.  Or accept jrpgs outside of japan will only live on through Pokemon.

That's bullshit and you know it.

Personally, I'm looking forward to the day the IOS/social gaming/casual gaming bubble busts. It's gonna happen eventually...

There is no such thing as the casual gaming bubble that is somehow going to burst. There have always been casual gamers. Do you think it was just hardcore gamers buying up Tetris for Gameboy in 1989? They played casual games on NES, GameBoy, PSX, etc... The type of simple little puzzle games and brain age sort of software. It's just previously they HAD to buy a game system for those little simple fixes.

Now they don't. They are already buying smart phones and tablets because well, everyone is. They are devices that became a part of regular life and they just happen to play the simple Tetris, Angry Birds, etc. sort of casual games they have always liked. They have no reason to buy a game console for those anymore. Devices they are already buying for other reasons meet their needs.

There is no such thing as a casual gaming bubble. They have always been here and always been part of the industry. It is just they no longer need to buy game systems to meet their needs for simple addictive well made casual games. They can get them on their iPhones and iPads.

115 million iPhones and 55 million iPad's are projected to sell in 2012 alone. And nearly all of them will probably be buying some games. The market isn't going away just because you may not like it. It's always been here. It is just they are buying their Tetris/Brain Age equivalents that they have been buying for decades on devices they already want for non-gaming reasons.

I don't get why some people see this market as some kind of threat. It's always been there, it's just that they used to have to use the same hardware as "us". Dudebro games are doing just fine. iOS is never going to kill off the CoD's, Halo's, GTA's, etc... It's not the same market. It's like thinking because some kiddie Disney movies does great that's bad news for big action sci-fi blockbusters. It's nonsense.

The only thing you could argue is going away is the western japafag market. JRPG's and the like are dying off here. Who knows what happened to them, the anime obsessed teenagers of the 90's/00's grew up and play Skyrim and Saints Row now I guess.

[EmCeeGrammar]

Right, except for pokemon.  Final Fantasy is surely and slowly losing it institution status.

[Cheebo]

Right, except for pokemon.  Final Fantasy is surely and slowly losing it institution status.

Yeah it's really the exception. Really in general outside of Nintendo Japanese games have lost the interest of gamers in the west.

[tiesto]

Right, except for pokemon.  Final Fantasy is surely and slowly losing it institution status.

Yeah it's really the exception. Really in general outside of Nintendo Japanese games have lost the interest of gamers in the west.

And that's a shame, since mechanically, many Japanese games are much better than western ones...

[Phoenix Dark]

Right, except for pokemon.  Final Fantasy is surely and slowly losing it institution status.

Yeah it's really the exception. Really in general outside of Nintendo Japanese games have lost the interest of gamers in the west.

And that's a shame, since mechanically, many Japanese games are much better than western ones...

Ahahahahahahahahahshahahshshshsa

[Steve Youngblood]

I don't get why some people see this market as some kind of threat. It's always been there, it's just that they used to have to use the same hardware as "us". Dudebro games are doing just fine. iOS is never going to kill off the CoD's, Halo's, GTA's, etc... It's not the same market. It's like thinking because some kiddie Disney movies does great that's bad news for big action sci-fi blockbusters. It's nonsense.

I think it's reactionary based on market analysis that investment needed to concentrate on the casual market. Big Studio X announces another quarterly loss, meanwhile Zynga would announce massive profits. You'd see an announcement that EA was closing Pandemic Studios a week after purchasing Play Fish. Shaky starts for the new handhelds had analysts suggesting that the end is near as smartphones and tablets are the one-stop shop for portable gaming. You see this stuff, and people start to erroneously think that Farmville presents a threat to their favorite AAA franchise.

[tiesto]

Right, except for pokemon.  Final Fantasy is surely and slowly losing it institution status.

Yeah it's really the exception. Really in general outside of Nintendo Japanese games have lost the interest of gamers in the west.

And that's a shame, since mechanically, many Japanese games are much better than western ones...

Ahahahahahahahahahshahahshshshsa

What do you know, you don't even play games anymore