Support NeoGAF

[Mpl90]

To be honest, Bayonetta was released in 2009 in Japan, while Bayo 2 is a 2014 game. 5 years have passed, and lots of things happened to COMG: the ratio between actual sales and pts has increased quite a bit compared to the past for all consoles. Major examples are titles like Ace Attorney 5 and MH4, but they're not the only ones, absolutely.

Not that it's impossible for Bayonetta 2 to sell less than the 1st one, both at debut and LTD, even quite a bit, but these kind of comparisons are not as reliable as others with games only from...2011 to today, I'd say.

 

[mclem]

Uugghh we meed a chalkboard for the PS4 in Japan... This is crazy.

but what would we even put on it?

[b]WAIT FOR...[/b]

[b]Chalk de[/b]live

 

[duckroll]

Who is? What are they doing?

EDIT: so Mojang doesn't have one.......yeah I'm putting this on SCEJ since SCE was the pub for the western release right? I doubt other pubs are going to look into it but they should because there is money to be made.

http://www.jp.playstation.com/software/title/jp0127npjb00549_00fullgame00000000.html

Mojang publishes it themselves. Nothing to do with SCEJ.

 

[metalslimer]

To be honest, Bayonetta was released in 2009 in Japan, while Bayo 2 is a 2014 game. 5 years have passed, and lots of things happened to COMG: the ratio between actual sales and pts has increased quite a bit compared to the past for all consoles. Major examples are titles like Ace Attorney 5 and MH4, but they're not the only ones, absolutely.

Not that it's impossible for Bayonetta 2 to sell less than the 1st one, both at debut and LTD, even quite a bit, but these kind of comparisons are not as reliable as others with games only from...2011 to today, I'd say.

Well if it doesn't even show up in the charts, we'll have a certified bomba for sure.

 

[hiska-kun]

Comgnet stores pre-orders 24 days before the launch:

[PS3] Bayonetta - 85
[WIU] Bayonetta 2 - less than 20


Next month is gonna be filled with bombas:

WIU Fatal Frame V
WIU Bayonetta 2
PS3+360 Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2
PS4 Omega Quintet

Good thing the Xbox One is looking to sell greatly and breathe life into the console market.

Omega Quintet was delayed, right?

 

[mclem]

Bayonetta 1 shipped 1.1 million on two very popular systems that were a good match for its target audience and the sell-through there wasn't exactly phenomenal.

PS3, I'd give you - God of War, DMC - but I've never really felt the 360 audience to be particularly closely associated with character action games. That said, I may well be doing them a disservice.

 

[Mpl90]

Well if it doesn't even show up in the charts, we'll have a certified bomba for sure.

That's obvious: if it never shows up, it'll be a certified Platinum bomba.

 

[duckroll]

To be honest, Bayonetta was released in 2009 in Japan, while Bayo 2 is a 2014 game. 5 years have passed, and lots of things happened to COMG: the ratio between actual sales and pts has increased quite a bit compared to the past for all consoles. Major examples are titles like Ace Attorney 5 and MH4, but they're not the only ones, absolutely.

Not that it's impossible for Bayonetta 2 to sell less than the 1st one, both at debut and LTD, even quite a bit, but these kind of comparisons are not as reliable as others with games only from...2011 to today, I'd say.

It's funny how you're always racing to post COMG and Amazon Ranking stuff whenever it looks remotely favorable to a Nintendo title, regardless of how relevant or indicative they are all, and now that someone has done the same thing to make a negative point about a Nintendo title, you're jumping at it like you actually give a shit about logic and statistics. What a joke.

 

[hiska-kun]

Was this posted?
New Etrian Odyssey II (3DS) will be released the 27th of November.

 

[Sammy Samusu]

Comgnet stores pre-orders 24 days before the launch:

[PS3] Bayonetta - 85
[WIU] Bayonetta 2 - less than 20


Next month is gonna be filled with bombas:

WIU Fatal Frame V
WIU Bayonetta 2
PS3+360 Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2
PS4 Omega Quintet

Good thing the Xbox One is looking to sell greatly and breathe life into the console market.

Bookmarked.

 

[ohlawd]

Was this posted?
New Etrian Odyssey II (3DS) will be released the 27th of November.

yeah

http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=882410

 

[Kresnik258]

Didn't Fatal Frame 4 became the best selling in the franchise at 75k sales? For the WiiU 50k sounds nice and would probably reach TK expectations.

I actually wonder if it would be. It looks like they've put more effort into it than they did with Deception IV, and iirc that sold ~ 50k first week.

 

[Road]

Omega Quintet was delayed, right?

You're right. I forgot. Oct 2nd.

It can join driveclub in the October PS4 bomba group.

 

[shinra-bansho]

The time gap between now and Bayonetta 1 is supposed to overcome all the negative factors that will impact Bayonetta 2's sales potential, because something in the interim has transformed the Bayonetta brand into a megafranchise or something?

Call of Duty, a franchise that does like 20M annually, barely does 200K on the Wii U if that.

 

[Mpl90]

It's funny how you're always racing to post COMG and Amazon Ranking stuff whenever it looks remotely favorable to a Nintendo title, regardless of how relevant or indicative they are all, and now that someone has done the same thing to make a negative point about a Nintendo title, you're jumping at it like you actually give a shit about logic and statistics. What a joke.

Err, nope. The COMG comparisons I post include positive news for Sony / negative news for Nintendo, otherwise I wouldn't have started including Neptunia U numbers or, despite what I said earlier, I wouldn't have put Brawl's COMG numbers. It's true though that, in the past, I posted about Amazon rankings in cases when they were more favourable to Nintendo, I admit it (last case in point: Hyrule Warriors), and I'm sorry for that. I think I've even stopped posting about Amazon charts since then

But COMG charts are something I make with as low "personal" involvment as possible, in order to give the best representation of what's happening over there, with comparisons and all. Heck, I was starting being pretty negative about Hyrule Warriors sales, because it had yet to appear over there; its result surprised me as well, I was more in the 40-50,000 camp seeing COMG.

 

[Nirolak]

PS3, I'd give you - God of War, DMC - but I've never really felt the 360 audience to be particularly closely associated with character action games. That said, I may well be doing them a disservice.

In NPD they did pretty well on 360, though they weren't notable outperformers like WRPGs or FPS games certainly.

I think abroad they never had the same success, but the genre isn't especially popular in Europe either.

 

[vinnygambini]

For those interested, Nintendo's year-end report was just released:

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2014/annual1403e.pdf

On page 7, interesting info mentioning that the Nintendo of America subsidiary booked losses of 360 million out of the 460 million loss Nintendo recorded for FY14.

Insane.

 

[Nirolak]

For those interested, Nintendo's year-end report was just released:

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2014/annual1403e.pdf

On page 7, interesting info mentioning that the Nintendo of America subsidiary booked losses of 360 million out of the 460 million loss Nintendo recorded for FY14.

Insane.

I wonder how much they're paying retailers to keep the channel open. In some countries like the UK they actually just got dumped by some stores so I imagine the expenses are less there.

I don't go to retail electronics departments much anymore, but they still have a surprising amount of shelf space here for how they're selling, and that's almost assuredly not coming for free.

 

[shinra-bansho]

Random aside: those reports are usually much prettier.

 

[metalslimer]

Btw Mpl I'm still very skeptical that a 3DS revision is coming out this year, but I just checked and realized that the DSiXL announcement to release was only a matter of weeks, so I guess we'll see.

I don't go to retail electronics departments much anymore, but they still have a surprising amount of shelf space here for how they're selling, and that's almost assuredly not coming for free.

The stores I've been too still haven't filled up a Wii U section completely yet. You are right though, Nintendo managed to keep the Wii U from even coming close to becoming the next Vita, which honestly I'm even surprised they still give shelf space too.

 

[sörine]

There's no "tipping point" for everything honestly. FF, RE, and MGS will remain unaffected by Japan's decline for the most part because the series does better outside of Japan than in Japan. If they decline outside of Japan to a point where it's not longer worth making them, the franchises will more likely just fade away. Monster Hunter and Dragon Quest are what they are because they are insanely popular in Japan and not as popular anywhere else, so it makes sense to go all in on Japan, and follow whatever trends would keep them popular in Japan.

It presumably depends on their Western sales, no?

Like MGS4 shipped 6 million copies worldwide, but only 1 million in Japan.

Even if Japan became zero sales, or even negative 1 million sales due to a rogue black hole, it would still make sense to make the game for consoles.

Similarly Resident Evil 6 has shipped 5.9 million copies, yet only 900K in Japan. Same situation applies.

Final Fantasy is a bit less cut and dry as the series is declining quite a bit in the West, though that also true locally, and generally only has 2/3rds of its sales abroad.

Right, western sales are what kept those franchises from dumping consoles last gen and some weathered it pretty well (RE espcially). I don't think that necessairily means there won't be a tipping point though, with or without a comparable western sales collapse for Japanese console games. For some franchises even a small decline or maybe even a lack of growth in the west might be enough combined with the meteoric rise of mobile and Japan's further console decline.

I also wouldn't rule out any of these companies making Japan centric decisions for their games either. If companies like Square Enix, Bandai Namco and Konami were always keeping an eye on the west for franchises that perform better there then we never would've seen full Kingdom Hearts, Metal Gear or Tekken games on PSP late term. It's short sighted sometimes but Japanese companies often still consider their home market first.

 

[Mpl90]

Btw Mpl I'm still very skeptical that a 3DS revision is coming out this year, but I just checked and realized that the DSiXL announcement to release was only a matter of weeks, so I guess we'll see.

Yeah. It was announced on October 2nd, and then released on November 1st. One month between announcement and release.

EDIT: Oh, you meant the XL. Sorry, I've read DSi. DSi XL was announced on October 29th and released on November 21st in Japan.

 

[Atram]

Btw Mpl I'm still very skeptical that a 3DS revision is coming out this year, but I just checked and realized that the DSiXL announcement to release was only a matter of weeks, so I guess we'll see.



The stores I've been too still haven't filled up a Wii U section completely yet. You are right though, Nintendo managed to keep the Wii U from even coming close to becoming the next Vita, which honestly I'm even surprised they still give shelf space too.

maybe they release the 2DS in Japan before MH4G and pkmn will happen.

 

[vinnygambini]

I wonder how much they're paying retailers to keep the channel open. In some countries like the UK they actually just got dumped by some stores so I imagine the expenses are less there.

I don't go to retail electronics departments much anymore, but they still have a surprising amount of shelf space here for how they're selling, and that's almost assuredly not coming for free.

I don't know; comparatively though, the Nintendo Europe subsidiary only booked a 36 million loss - one would of thought Nintendo Europe losses would of been much more steep.

I don't get how NOA could book such heavy losses, maybe like you mentioned they are paying retailers to keep their stock visible.

 

[ambientmystic]

The time gap between now and Bayonetta 1 is supposed to overcome all the negative factors that will impact Bayonetta 2's sales potential, because something in the interim has transformed the Bayonetta brand into a megafranchise or something?

Call of Duty, a franchise that does like 20M annually, barely does 200K on the Wii U if that.

This. The platform is going to sink the game even further than it should (as compared to when it was released on the PS360), being a Platinum title and all that.

The overall sales for this week is pretty dismal, but I guess that is to be expected post-Obon. I've also never seen lower PS3 numbers before in the couple of years that I've been lurking in the MC thread.

 

[Nirolak]

Right, western sales are what kept those franchises from dumping consoles last gen and some weathered it pretty well (RE espcially). I don't think that necessairily means there won't be a tipping point though, with or without a comparable western sales collapse for Japanese console games. For some franchises even a small decline or maybe even a lack of growth in the west might be enough combined with the meteoric rise of mobile and Japan's further console decline.

I also wouldn't rule out any of these companies making Japan centric decisions for their games either. If companies like Square Enix, Bandai Namco and Konami were always keeping an eye on the west for franchises that perform better there then we never would've seen full Kingdom Hearts, Metal Gear or Tekken games on PSP late term. It's short sighted sometimes but Japanese companies often still consider their home market first.

Well, let's take Konami and Metal Gear for example.

Recently, KojiPro has:
- Started hiring 20-30% foreign staff at their Tokyo office. They even let you speak only English there judging by job postings.
- Started KojiPro Los Angeles to help co-develop their games, and even hire senior staff including Creative Directors there.
- Made the newest MGS game star Keifer Sutherlund, who is also doing performance capture for the game.
- Debuted the game at the Spike VGAs, gave it a Game Informer cover, showed it at both the Microsoft and Sony E3 press conferences, and showed up at Gamescom with the game for PC.
- Hired Julien Merceron to help oversee Fox Engine. At Square Enix, he was in charge of bridging technology between Western and Eastern divisions of the company.
- Are making a Silent Hill game with Guillermo del Toro starring Norman Reedus, and debuted it at Gamescom.

Additionally, Konami has opened a UK studio for PES and a California studio for social games, along with partnering with Mercury Steam in Spain for Castlevania and now seemingly Contra.

This strikes me as a developer and publisher who have, in the face of Japanese decline, decided to become globally minded instead of Japanese centric.

Capcom admittedly has turned their eyes more locally focused, but Resident Evil still feels like a series they've very significantly targeted at the West, perhaps including dropping 3DS support for Resident Evil: Revelations 2 judging by retailer leaks, despite it being the flagship platform in Japan.

I don't know; comparatively though, the Nintendo Europe subsidiary only booked a 36 million loss - one would of thought Nintendo Europe losses would of been much more steep.

I don't get how NOA could book such heavy losses, maybe like you mentioned they are paying retailers to keep their stock visible.

Right that's what confuses me. If it was solely marketing versus sales you'd expect a more even division of losses.

 

[duckroll]

Err, nope. The COMG comparisons I post include positive news for Sony / negative news for Nintendo, otherwise I wouldn't have started including Neptunia U numbers or, despite what I said earlier, I wouldn't have put Brawl's COMG numbers. It's true though that, in the past, I posted about Amazon rankings in cases when they were more favourable to Nintendo, I admit it (last case in point: Hyrule Warriors), and I'm sorry for that. I think I've even stopped posting about Amazon charts since then

But COMG charts are something I make with as low "personal" involvment as possible, in order to give the best representation of what's happening over there, with comparisons and all. Heck, I was starting being pretty negative about Hyrule Warriors sales, because it had yet to appear over there; its result surprised me as well, I was more in the 40-50,000 camp seeing COMG.

The thing that probably frustrates me the most is that I honestly think that COMG comparisons are almost completely useless outside of seeing a very tiny slice of what hardcore gamers are preordering. If we sit down and really consider what COMG actually is, I'm not sure there's really much to extrapolate at all. It can represent a vibe - like how there's less interest in a sequel, but it doesn't really tell us any specifics. Sometimes that vibe isn't even accurate, since for whatever other factors, people might simply be preordering at another chain, or some games don't really have strong preorders but do very well at release.

 

[Aostia]

The thing that probably frustrates me the most is that I honestly think that COMG comparisons are almost completely useless outside of seeing a very tiny slice of what hardcore gamers are preordering. If we sit down and really consider what COMG actually is, I'm not sure there's really much to extrapolate at all. It can represent a vibe - like how there's less interest in a sequel, but it doesn't really tell us any specifics. Sometimes that vibe isn't even accurate, since for whatever other factors, people might simply be preordering at another chain, or some games don't really have strong preorders but do very well at release.

I agree with you, but I think that those pre-orders points are just for fun. If I have to discuss the sales, I always wait for MC/Famitus actual numbers.
Btw, Bayonetta2 preorders are hugely lower than Bayonetta1 PS3 preorders. And I firmly believe that the debut and LTD numbers will have the similar balance

 

[Zekra Dezivad]

Second week sales and drops for latest Warriors releases (Famitsu)

05./01. [PS3] Dynasty Warriors 8 # <ACT> (Koei Tecmo) {2013.02.28} (¥7.560) - 48.587 / 261.925 (-77%)

04./02. [PS3] One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 # <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games) {2013.03.20} (¥8.190) - 55.830 / 324.865 (-79%)
12./06. [PSV] One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games) {2013.03.20} (¥7.140) - 15.696 / 70.205 (-71%)

02./03. [PS3] Warriors Orochi 3: Ultimate # <ACT> (Koei Tecmo) {2013.09.26} (¥6.615) - 25.624 / 108.610 <80-100%> (-69%)
06./08. [PSV] Warriors Orochi 3: Ultimate <ACT> (Koei Tecmo) {2013.09.26} (¥6.090) - 7.862 / 32.687 <60-80%> (-68%)

29./06. [PS3] Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends # <ACT> (Koei Tecmo) {2013.11.28} (¥5.040) - 7.667 / 44.255 <60-80%> (-79%)

08./03. [PS3] New Dynasty Warriors: Gundam <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games) {2013.12.19} (¥7.980) - 37.626 / 163.645 (-70%)
16./06. [PSV] New Dynasty Warriors: Gundam <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games) {2013.12.19} (¥6.980) - 21.543 / 74.210 (-59%)

26./11. [PS4] Dynasty Warriors 8 with Xtreme Legends <ACT> (Koei Tecmo) {2014.02.22} (¥8.190) - 6.954 / 20.530 <60-80%> (-49%)

05./02. [PS3] Samurai Warriors 4 # <ACT> (Koei Tecmo) {2014.03.20} (¥7.560) - 46.490 / 166.942 (-61%)
11./09. [PSV] Samurai Warriors 4 <ACT> (Koei Tecmo) {2014.03.20} (¥7.140) - 19.596 / 59.193 (-51%)

05./02. [WIU] Hyrule Warriors # <ACT> (Koei Tecmo) {2014.08.14} (¥7.980) - 17.343 / 96.116 <60-80%> (-78%)

It's in the high-end for second week's Musou drops, but it was also a week right after an Holiday, which probably had an effect, seeing how everything dropped. Can we say it had a decent second week?

In percentages, sure. But it's one of worst second week by numbers among those you reported, even counting re-releases/expansions (WO3:Ultimate still doing better in comparison, despite being multiplatform and being an ultimate version of a 2011 game, already ported over psp and wiiu) and psvita versions of multiplatform releases.

 

[dolemite]

The Bayonetta fanbase is not on a Nintendo console, why the surprise at the low presales for Bayo 2 now?

 

[theprodigy]

The Last of Us/Bullet Girls splits among tracker lines too.

Media Create superior tracker confirmed

 

[ArtHands]

15./14. [3DS] Monster Hunter 4 # <ACT> (Capcom) {2013.09.14} (¥5.990) - 4.525 / 3.517.297 <80-100%> (-13%)

I am wondering why didn't they ship more MH4. I know MH4G is around the corner, but I don't think there's any harm to double the shipment to improve the sales of MH4 in the meantime.

 

[sörine]

Well, let's take Konami and Metal Gear for example.

Recently, KojiPro has:
- Started hiring 20-30% foreign staff at their Tokyo office. They even let you speak only English there judging by job postings.
- Started KojiPro Los Angeles to help co-develop their games, and even hire senior staff including Creative Directors there.
- Made the newest MGS game star Keifer Sutherlund, who is also doing performance capture for the game.
- Debuted the game at the Spike VGAs, gave it a Game Informer cover, showed it at both the Microsoft and Sony E3 press conferences, and showed up at Gamescom with the game for PC.
- Hired Julien Merceron to help oversee Fox Engine. At Square Enix, he was in charge of bridging technology between Western and Eastern divisions of the company.
- Are making a Silent Hill game with Guillermo del Toro starring Norman Reedus, and debuted it at Gamescom.

Additionally, Konami has opened a UK studio for PES and a California studio for social games, along with partnering with Mercury Steam in Spain for Castlevania and now seemingly Contra.

This strikes me as a developer and publisher who have, in the face of Japanese decline, decided to become globally minded instead of Japanese centric.

Capcom admittedly has turned their eyes more locally focused, but Resident Evil still feels like a series they've very significantly targeted at the West, perhaps including dropping 3DS support for Resident Evil: Revelations 2 judging by retailer leaks, despite it being the flagship platform in Japan.

I feel like a lot of Konami's console future hinges on how well their FOX Engine titles perform but this isn't really the first time we've seen them expand their global r&d (they used to have sizable dev studios in Chicago, Shanghai and Honolulu putting out multiple releases annually) and it's also not the first time we've seen core franchises like Contra or Castlevania in the hands of western developers. I'm not entirely convinced it's a direct response to the state of the Japanese industry and not Kojima's western fetishism driving decisions now that he heads up all Konami's development.

It'll be interesting to see how Metal Gear goes. MGSV is targeting 5 times as many platforms as MGS4, it's production budget looks to have similarly ballooned and I'm guessing it'll be the same for it's promotional budget (especially without Sony's exclusive backing). So what happens if MGSV releases and only matches MGS4 sales? What if it actually sells less?

I'll agree franchises like MGS and RE have more breathing before a transition is forced, smaller scale games that rely little on the west like Tales, Musou or Persona will jump earlier and some of those have already started taking small steps. But I'm not so sure it's really as far off as some assume either.

 

[vinnygambini]

Right that's what confuses me. If it was solely marketing versus sales you'd expect a more even division of losses.

I think I found our answer:

On the other hand, mainly due to the balance of deferred tax assets reduced in relation to the losses carried over in the United States, there is a net loss of 23.2 billion yen (FY14)

 

[test_account]

I am wondering why didn't they ship more MH4. I know MH4G is around the corner, but I don't think there's any harm to double the shipment to improve the sales of MH4 in the meantime.

I dont think there are any supply problems for MH4. The game has also been discounted for quite a while on Amazon from what i know, its currently going for 1780 yen there. I'm not sure how the prices are in Japan in general though, but going by Amazon's prices, it doesnt seem to be a huge demand for the game at this point in time.

 

[hiska-kun]

I am wondering why didn't they ship more MH4. I know MH4G is around the corner, but I don't think there's any harm to double the shipment to improve the sales of MH4 in the meantime.

There're still a lot of copies in stores of MH4.
I checked the price in different stores, Yamada Denki and Bic Camera still have the game at 5.000 yen. But in Yodabashi they're selling the game at 2.400 yen. That's a big discount.

 

[duckroll]

It'll be interesting to see how Metal Gear goes. MGSV is targeting 5 times as many platforms as MGS4, it's production budget looks to have similarly ballooned and I'm guessing it'll be the same for it's promotional budget (especially without Sony's exclusive backing). So what happens if MGSV releases and only matches MGS4 sales? What if it actually sells less?

I'll agree franchises like MGS and RE have more breathing before a transition is forced, smaller scale games that rely little on the west like Tales, Musou or Persona will jump earlier and some of those have already started taking small steps. But I'm not so sure it's really as far off as some assume either.

If MGS5 matches the sales of MGS4 worldwide, I think Konami will be pretty happy. It doesn't really matter so much that they're spending a lot more on it, because they pretty much have to. In order for companies to compete in the AAA market they have to spend big or go home. That's why a lot of Japanese franchises and developers have totally tanked out this generation. They can't compete. Being willing to spend big does not indicate that Konami expects a better performance than MGS4, it indicates that Konami wants to remain in competition for that level of sales. 4-5 million worldwide is not easy, you have to invest a lot into resources and marketing these days to not look like a janky sack of shit next to western games.

 

[Nirolak]

I feel like a lot of Konami's console future hinges on how well their FOX Engine titles perform but this isn't really the first time we've seen them expand their global r&d (they used to have sizable dev studios in Chicago, Shanghai and Honolulu putting out multiple releases annually) and it's also not the first time we've seen core franchises like Contra or Castlevania in the hands of western developers. I'm not entirely convinced it's a direct response to the state of the Japanese industry and not Kojima's western fetishism driving decisions now that he heads up all Konami's development.

It'll be interesting to see how Metal Gear goes. MGSV is targeting 5 times as many platforms as MGS4, it's production budget looks to have similarly ballooned and I'm guessing it'll be the same for it's promotional budget (especially without Sony's exclusive backing). So what happens if MGSV releases and only matches MGS4 sales? What if it actually sells less?

I'll agree franchises like MGS and RE have more breathing before a transition is forced, smaller scale games that rely little on the west like Tales, Musou or Persona will jump earlier and some of those have already started taking small steps. But I'm not so sure it's really as far off as some assume either.

We're talking about sales volumes on these series that are so large that even if they go down they're still making large profits on gigantic budgets.

I mean sure, if the game tanks down to 2-3 million it's a huge problem for them, but even if it declines to 4 million I don't think this is an issue because they've established they still have a relevant brand and can make games much faster in the future given the base they've established.

If we're looking at Harvest Moon then sure, maybe someone crunches the numbers and goes "Well it's not like we're getting enough sales that it wouldn't be more worthwhile to put a bunch of effort into a mobile game." or "Well Dragon's Dogma was a major loss. Just make an f2p game and put the rest into various mobile projects.", but these are flagship titles that have notable buffers due to their gigantic sales volume.

Like I feel you could have picked a really wide breadth of games to disappear here, and we've certainly seen most of the Japanese console industry evaporate, but at least two of the three you listed in particular are two of the ones most shielded against this issue due to their giant Western fanbases.

 

[Sammy Samusu]

I dont think there are any supply problems for MH4. The game has also been discounted for quite a while on Amazon from what i know, its currently going for 1780 yen there. I'm not sure how the prices are in Japan in general though, but going by Amazon's prices, it doesnt seem to be a huge demand for the game at this point in time.

LOL? Demand is high enough for it to chart weekly in the Top 30.

I am wondering why didn't they ship more MH4. I know MH4G is around the corner, but I don't think there's any harm to double the shipment to improve the sales of MH4 in the meantime.

That percentage (80-100%) represents the launch shipment sell through, once it hits 100% they stop updating it. You guys correct me if I am wrong.

And they ARE shipping more copies, every now and then MH4 sells out on Amazon and Yodobashi (selected stores) but is quickly restocked after a couple days, so basically, those stores received a new shipment.

 

[Kikujiro]

I feel like a lot of Konami's console future hinges on how well their FOX Engine titles perform but this isn't really the first time we've seen them expand their global r&d (they used to have sizable dev studios in Chicago, Shanghai and Honolulu putting out multiple releases annually) and it's also not the first time we've seen core franchises like Contra or Castlevania in the hands of western developers. I'm not entirely convinced it's a direct response to the state of the Japanese industry and not Kojima's western fetishism driving decisions now that he heads up all Konami's development.

It'll be interesting to see how Metal Gear goes. MGSV is targeting 5 times as many platforms as MGS4, it's production budget looks to have similarly ballooned and I'm guessing it'll be the same for it's promotional budget (especially without Sony's exclusive backing). So what happens if MGSV releases and only matches MGS4 sales? What if it actually sells less?

I'll agree franchises like MGS and RE have more breathing before a transition is forced, smaller scale games that rely little on the west like Tales, Musou or Persona will jump earlier and some of those have already started taking small steps. But I'm not so sure it's really as far off as some assume either.

The problem is why do you think MGS would actually sell better being portable only? It makes zero sense. The game sells because it's an AAA production targeted to the Western market, Konami wants Assassin's Creed's numbers and AC sells like shit in Japan. And using your logic they should ignore portables (which is a declining market) and just go for mobile since mobile is the true king.

If those AAA games shift to portables or mobiles they won't be the same, they will completely change their identity. The most succesful games on portables/mobile are not AAA games, they are f2p puzzle games or Monster Hunters/Pokemon clones, publishers know it, this is why they make those kind of games for that market.

Even smaller Japanese series like Dark Souls found a big success thanks to the Western maket, especially on PC.

Your argument completely ignores the differences between franchises.

 

[Shaanyboi]

 

[Bruno MB]

LOL? Demand is high enough for it to chart weekly in the Top 20.


That percentage (80-100%) represents the launch shipment sell through, it's not a weekly update. You guys correct me if I am wrong.

And they ARE shipping more copies, every now and then MH4 sells out on Amazon and Yodobashi (selected stores) but is quickly restocked after a couple days, so basically, those stores received a new shipment.

That percentage is the current sell-through, not the initial shipment. By the way, Famitsu has constantly been undertracking Monster Hunter 4 shipment sales data.

 

[Mpl90]

I don't think I've ever talked about these kind of games being exclusive to the handheld. I've always said that, if PS4 continues to sell badly + Vita's the last traditional handheld effort + 4DS's successor is powerful enough to get ports from home consoles as well/has the right tools for making it economically viable (and that's why I'm saying it's an extreme scenario: because it implies many things happening)I can see Japanese focused titles, but also 1-2 "international" series going to handhelds WITHOUT leaving home consoles. Just like we see PS3/Vita, if not even PS3/PS4/Vita releases, we could see PS4/Vita/4DS, or PS4/4DS releases in the future, in order to possibly increase sales in Japan without holding back sales in US and Europe.

 

[Nirolak]

I don't think I've ever talked about these kind of games being exclusive to the handheld. I've always said that, if PS4 continues to sell badly + Vita's the last traditional handheld effort + 4DS's successor is powerful enough to get ports from home consoles as well/has the right tools for making it economically viable (and that's why I'm saying it's an extreme scenario: because it implies many things happening)I can see Japanese focused titles, but also 1-2 "international" series going to handhelds WITHOUT leaving home consoles. Just like we see PS3/Vita, if not even PS3/PS4/Vita releases, we could see PS4/Vita/4DS, or PS4/4DS releases in the future, in order to possibly increase sales in Japan without holding back sales in US and Europe.

Out of curiosity which titles would you actually see doing that?

There's a lot of computational requirements in action games so a lot of those would be really hard ports if even remotely feasible at all.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

wtf how does PS4 drop with two new games charting

 

[test_account]

LOL? Demand is high enough for it to chart weekly in the Top 30.

My reply is of course related to what i quoted He talked about doubling the shipment to sell more, and i'm just saying that i dont think there is a supply/demand problem now. Or in other words, increasing the shipment of MH4 now probably wont increase the weekly sales that much, if anything at all. I dont think there is a high enough demand for the game now to warrant higher shipments.

 

[Nirolak]

wtf how does PS4 drop with two new games charting

Presumably they primarily only appeal to people who already own the platform.

 

[Sammy Samusu]

That percentage is the current sell-through, not the initial shipment. By the way, Famitsu has constantly been undertracking Monster Hunter 4 shipment sales data.

Care to elaborate? I have never seen the sell through percentage decrease (say, from 80-100 to 60-80) as a result of a new shipment.

Look at Dragon's Crown: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=651623 (can't remember of others)

You could argue it sold through 80-100% of the new shipment, I guess.

My reply is of course related to what i quoted He talked about doubling the shipment to sell more, and i'm just saying that i dont think there is a supply/demand problem now. Or in other words, increasing the shipment of MH4 now probably wont increase the weekly sales that much, if anything at all. I dont think there is a high enough demand for the game now to warrant higher shipments.

Oh I see, I agree!

 

[test_account]

Oh I see, I agree!

Do we have any updated number on how much MH4 has sold in total by the way? Retail + download sales.

 

[Mpl90]

Out of curiosity which titles would you actually see doing that?

There's a lot of computational requirements in action games so a lot of those would be really hard ports if even remotely feasible at all.

I think Yakuza could be a good canditate: franchise with a big focus on Japan, not relying that much on overseas sales (actually, not at all ;__; ). I'd say Persona and Tales of as well, but we've already had remakes of more on handhelds for quite some time, so I don't think it could count that much...unless there's a simultaneous home/handheld release. Fighting games made just for consoles like Dragon Ball (Battle of Z was a Vita release as well), Naruto, JoJo; later versions like BlazBlue or Dead or Alive.

But, now that I think about it, so many "home" franchises in Japan are already on handhelds, even in their main forms, so it wouldn't be something completely unexpected. Main example: this gen, thanks to Sony tools, the Warriors franchise has seen a big expansion on handhelds, with simultaneous releases of main titles /expansions on PS3 and Vita. Heck, Final Fantasy X / X-2 HD Remaster was on Vita as well. So, maybe I'd better be talking about franchises which are already on Sony portable devices that, due to its successor possibly not happening, could come also to next Nintendo handheld (like Warriors main games, Dragon Ball fighting games, Nobunaga's Ambition main titles, etc.etc.).

Talking about Japanese franchises with an international focus that could be released on 4DS too, I think there could be a possibility for Kingdom Hearts, given also it's a Disney title as well, not just SE.

EDIT: Also, making this post made me seriously think about how, between 3DS and Vita (and DS and PSP back then), there are so many "home" franchises already on handhelds, even with their main releases, and also about how many "handheld" franchises aren't that much on "home" consoles. XD