And even more importantly, we don't get DLC figures. We found out Fire Emblem had great DLC success from a Nintendo financial presentation, and it obviously had a tremendous impact on the business strategy for Fire Emblem If. However, simply looking at Media Create would have never told us this.
In a market increasingly dominated by microtransactions, with even a non-trivial number of free 2 play games coming to dedicated devices, we're losing out on a lot of revenue information that could notably change the perception of a product's success.
Also, remember t he latest Capcom fiscal year results? When they announced their forecast for the "title-related to Mh"? At this point, I believe they weren't talking about Stories.
Please take a look at this graph. This graph shows the total cumulative downloads for Puzzle & Dragons in each geographic region. Please note that only sales on iOS and Android are counted. The total cumulative number of downloads now exceeds 48 million worldwide with 36 million from Japan, 7 million from North America and an estimated 5 million from other markets.
There are a total of 65 million smartphone users in Japan, Puzzle & Dragons has captured a 55% of that total.
In fact, Puzzle & Dragons has sold more units than the number of new smartphones shipped in Japan over the last 12 months (30m)
The game has continued to perform well over the year.
Please see a breakdown of annual estimated sales since 2012 (Calendar Year)-
2012 - 6.5m
2013 - 20.0m
2014 - 16.0m
2015 - 5.0m (as of May 2015)
What's there to understand? The game is 4000yen for retail and download. Retail copies come with 1 random Animal Crossing Amiibo card. Download copies come with an Animal Crossing theme. The 5000yen retail package comes with 1 random Animal Crossing Amiibo card and the NFC reader/writer. Animal Crossing Amiibo cards are sold in packs of 3 random cards per pack, 300yen for a pack. The first set of Animal Crossing Amiibo cards have 100 cards in total.
I don't see how any of this is confusing. It's a big publisher taking a popular brand and wanting to make $$$ from it. Seems normal to me?
What's there to understand? The game is 4000yen for retail and download. Retail copies come with 1 random Animal Crossing Amiibo card. Download copies come with an Animal Crossing theme. The 5000yen retail package comes with 1 random Animal Crossing Amiibo card and the NFC reader/writer. Animal Crossing Amiibo cards are sold in packs of 3 random cards per pack, 300yen for a pack. The first set of Animal Crossing Amiibo cards have 100 cards in total.
I don't see how any of this is confusing. It's a big publisher taking a popular brand and wanting to make $$$ from it. Seems normal to me?
Lower price on the game is lower bar to entry to getting people buying the cheap-to-produce cards. This is why I expected the game to be cheaper and/or F2P, following the Pokemon Shuffle method of getting it out in a few million hands and then let the profitability come from card sales.
Of course, I may have understood what is actually IN the game. I thought the game didn't do anything without the cards... but that doesn't actually seem to be the case, and it seems to be an actual full game in and of itself with the cards adding things.
I suspect Monster Hunter 5 actually isn't coming until 4DS at this point and they're just going to fill the space with 5000 spin-offs on mobile, 3DS, and for the MMOs, PC and maybe consoles.
They likely only have to stall until 2017 for a decent install base.
I suspect Monster Hunter 5 actually isn't coming until 4DS at this point and they're just going to fill the space with 5000 spin-offs on mobile, 3DS, and for the MMOs, PC and maybe consoles.
They likely only have to stall until 2017 for a decent install base.
Said it in MonHun threads already, but I actually don't think they'll make a G version for X, unless it's a launch title for NX to start building the userbase. Probably just another cheap spinoff, or as said above, Stories G, before NX comes out.
I don't think we really know anything about Stories. It's hard to say where it stands without knowing what it is. I mean, Monster Hunter Diary got a G version on PSP too, and now it's getting a DX version on 3DS, and there are the Monster Hunter Frontier games, but I don't really feel these wider spinoffs really matter that much to the main pipeline of the games. They're about expanding the mindshare of the IP, but none of them are replacements for the annual traditional MH experience.
I don't think we really know anything about Stories. It's hard to say where it stands without knowing what it is. I mean, Monster Hunter Diary got a G version on PSP too, and now it's getting a DX version on 3DS, and there are the Monster Hunter Frontier games, but I don't really feel these wider spinoffs really matter that much to the main pipeline of the games. They're about expanding the mindshare of the IP, but none of them are replacements for the annual traditional MH experience.
But why would you think that when it looks nothing like what Monster Hunter traditionally looks? The artstyle is much closer to MH Diary, and it is a different genre. isn't that telling enough? I've been saying since it was announced that it looks clearly like an expansion of the IP, rather than a replacement for anything.
But why would you think that when it looks nothing like what Monster Hunter traditionally looks? The artstyle is much closer to MH Diary, and it is a different genre. isn't that telling enough? I've been saying since it was announced that it looks clearly like an expansion of the IP, rather than a replacement for anything.
I figured that DQStories was looking to touch on the kid's demographic of Yokai/Pokemon with, effectively, monster collection/training. Its the same sort of design archetype just replace Charizard with Rathalos, and Jibanyan with Tigrex.
So I would agree with you in seeing it as an expansion play, not a replacement. Its a game aimed at kids, MHX is a game aimed at augmenting the main-line with some more action-y elements and more freedom to experiment.
But why would you think that when it looks nothing like what Monster Hunter traditionally looks? The artstyle is much closer to MH Diary, and it is a different genre. isn't that telling enough? I've been saying since it was announced that it looks clearly like an expansion of the IP, rather than a replacement for anything.
But why would you think that when it looks nothing like what Monster Hunter traditionally looks? The artstyle is much closer to MH Diary, and it is a different genre. isn't that telling enough? I've been saying since it was announced that it looks clearly like an expansion of the IP, rather than a replacement for anything.
Well I was looking at in the sense of two distinct revenue streams in the series, in which case the replacement for Portable didn't have really have to be traditional Monster Hunter in any sense.
Even MHX is looking to differentiate more than the Portable series did because it would be redundant otherwise.
I think it's a splendid line-up; however it seems as though titles released in 2015 sell less than their predecessors and I think the trend will continue.
Rhythm Heaven will most likely be the one to be most impacted - I don't see it having the same success as its previous entries.
I thought Style Saavy would of sold 250k+ at the beginning of the year, but it seems it might have trouble reaching 200k, disappointing.
Fire Emblem If has a huge question mark over it. Fire Emblem: Awakening had a great multiple, among the best in JRPG's, but I don't think it's going to reach the same heights for its sequel.
Same opening as Awakening, but finishes with a LTD of 350-400k; though the loss of revenue will be covered through TCG & DLC.
That's how I see it anyway.
As usual, Nintendo's holiday line-up for third-party seems well covered with almost two Monster Hunter titles, Youkai Watch 3 and surely more to come.
Looking forward to see what Nintendo's holiday titles are.
As said other times, I think we're due for another Mario & Luigi: the last one came out in Summer 2013. I don't think we'll see Paper Mario 3DS because Intelligent System seems way too busy already. So far, after Setember (when Pokemon comes out), 3DS has Mario & Sonic (first party title in Japan) and Chibi Robo. Yeah, we haven't seen all Nintendo titles yet.
I think it's a splendid line-up; however it seems as though titles released in 2015 sell less than their predecessors and I think the trend will continue.
Rhythm Heaven will most likely be the one to be most impacted - I don't see it having the same success as its previous entries.
I thought Style Saavy would of sold 250k+ at the beginning of the year, but it seems it might have trouble reaching 200k, disappointing.
Fire Emblem If has a huge question mark over it. Fire Emblem: Awakening had a great multiple, among the best in JRPG's, but I don't think it's going to reach the same heights for its sequel.
Same opening as Awakening, but finishes with a LTD of 350-400k; though the loss of revenue will be covered through TCG & DLC.
That's how I see it anyway.
As usual, Nintendo's holiday line-up for third-party seems well covered with almost two Monster Hunter titles, Youkai Watch 3 and surely more to come.
Looking forward to see what Nintendo's holiday titles are.
No real incentive for a third party publisher to make a N3DS exclusive, so you're only really going to see that from Nintendo. And it wouldn't make a lot of financial sense for them to do that for a brand new game, either, given the smaller install base. Making Fire Emblem N3DS exclusive would cut the possible sales by a lot.
I have a hard time imagining them doing a N3DS exclusive that isn't a port ala Xenoblade.
Every year we start with a dry 3DS lineup, talking how it's dead, then the big hitters get announced through the year. It's happened the past 3 years.
The hardware sales downward trend will continue, but with these games it won't be that massive. I think it's still going to sell a well next year, too.
