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[Oregano]

Sure, but my point was more that Western games are doing well in the West and have seen better sales in Japan recently.

But Japanese developed games have seen lower sales in Japan and whilst sales in the West may have increased slightly it's not been significant. If titles on console aren't doing well in Japan then they sure as hell need to be doing amazing overseas, especially when you consider how small the profit is from overseas anyway + rising dev costs + exchange rates impact etc...

Of course there are some Japanese developed games that sell significantly better in the West (global appeal/developed specifically for west) compared to Japan, but not many.

The big issue with the dedicated console market in Japan is the schism between the system of choice for developers and the system of choice for consumers. There are a number of reasons and I don't see it being reconciled any time soon.

Mobius got up to #5, which is either in or pretty close to the million a day mark, so I made a thread about it hitting #5 here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1058655

The image for posterity:

Posted in the other thread but it's probably a good thing SE investment didn't go to waste. I'll be willing to give the game a shot if my phone can run it.

 

[Xenoboy]

Do they really expect Rhythm Heaven to open that high? I thought, judging from other posts, that it had little marketing and it was going to under perform.

 

[ZSaberLink]

Maybe, but honestly I don't see it doing anything other than boosting a few weeks of sales then dropping back down to what we've seen before.

I think paired with the right titles could at least provide a good holiday boost. I'm not as sure for Japan, but the Wii U still remains more expensive than any Nintendo console right? It could turn out that lower income families might at least consider buying one around the world if it got the equivalent of a $100 price drop around the world. At least $200 and its equivalent worldwide is getting there... I guess the used market is pretty strong in Japan, so folks just could be going there, whereas Nintendo would want them to buy new stuff.

 

[Nirolak]

Posted in the other thread but it's probably a good thing SE investment didn't go to waste. I'll be willing to give the game a shot if my phone can run it.

The biggest thing for them is that, to my knowledge, this would be their second internally developed mobile game by traditional console/handheld staff that has had success.

The other is School Girl Strikers.

If they're able to have more fluid staffing resources, it gives them a lot more flexibility to react to the market and take learnings to various platforms.

 

[Oregano]

The biggest thing for them is that, to my knowledge, this would be their second internally developed mobile game by traditional console/handheld staff that has had success.

The other is School Girl Strikers.

If they're able to have more fluid staffing resources, it gives them a lot more flexibility to react to the market and take learnings to various platforms.

Did we ever find out who the staff behind SGS are/were? I think Mobius is probably bigger because it's a/the main FF team making an FF game, one that's pretty in line with modern FF too.

It'll be interesting to see if Mobius makes it way back to consoles in some form. They seemed keen on Vita but Rise of Mana struggles to run and Agito is MIA.

 

[Vena]

I think paired with the right titles could at least provide a good holiday boost. I'm not as sure for Japan, but the Wii U still remains more expensive than any Nintendo console right? It could turn out that lower income families might at least consider buying one around the world if it got the equivalent of a $100 price drop around the world. At least $200 and its equivalent worldwide is getting there... I guess the used market is pretty strong in Japan, so folks just could be going there, whereas Nintendo would want them to buy new stuff.

The 200$ refurbished WiiU market is strong everywhere lol, that's why its never in stock any more.

 

[Nirolak]

Did we ever find out who the staff behind SGS are/were? I think Mobius is probably bigger because it's a/the main FF team making an FF game, one that's pretty in line with modern FF too.

Yes:

As far as I can tell, this is the main staff for the game. I've known about Sugimoto's involvement previously because I was looking at something else months ago related to that, but the rest I just pulled from JP Wikipedia.

Producer: Toshinori Mizumachi (FFXI PlayOnline Programmer, FFXIV Planner)
Director/Script: Takanari Ishiyama (FFXIIRW Co-Director, Blood of Bahamut Director)
Character Design: Gen Kobayashi (The World Ends with You, SaGa2 DS, SaGa3 DS)
Client Programmer: Koji Sugimoto (Threads of Fate Director/Programmer, FFX Main Programmer, Crisis Core/The 3rd Birthday/FF Type-0 3D Engine Programmer)

 

[Refreshment.01]

The 200$ refurbished WiiU market is strong everywhere lol, that's why its never in stock any more.

Or another possibility is that we are talking about refurbished units of a system with very low sales. So obviously it's easy to run out of units, thus not necessarily indicating the device is in high demand for that price.

The alternative to the above would be to sell new units as refurbished versions in a way to inrease sales while avoiding an official and widespread price drop.

A price drop will be useful for the usual Nintendo base, it won't do much beyond that. Maybe it's makes more sense profit wise for Nintendo to just strenghten the catalogue in hopes to grab the audince withouth a significant price drop.

 

[Oregano]

Yes:

Well just judging from those credits the Mobius team is definitely higher profile.

 

[Nirolak]

Well just judging from those credits the Mobius team is definitely higher profile.

Right, Mobius is made by Kitase's team, so it's a Division 1 game.

You probably actually don't get higher profile than that.

 

[frankie_baby]

Or another possibility is that we are talking about refurbished units of a system with very low sales. So obviously it's easy to run out of units, thus not necessarily indicating the device is in high demand for that price.

The alternative to the above would be to sell new units as refurbished versions in a way to inrease sales while avoiding an official and widespread price drop.

A price drop will be useful for the usual Nintendo base, it won't do much beyond that. Maybe it's makes more sense profit wise for Nintendo to just strenghten the catalogue in hopes to grab the audince withouth a significant price drop.

Wasn't it pretty likely the American "refurbs" were just unsold new units?

 

[Oregano]

Right, Mobius is made by Kitase's team, so it's a Division 1 game.

You probably actually don't get higher profile than that.

Yup, although there's the notable example of them going with Itahana instead of Nomura as character designer.

 

[ZhugeEX]

Mobius got up to #5, which is either in or pretty close to the million a day mark, so I made a thread about it hitting #5 here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1058655

The image for posterity:

Do you have a paid subscription to App Annie?

I think paired with the right titles could at least provide a good holiday boost. I'm not as sure for Japan, but the Wii U still remains more expensive than any Nintendo console right? It could turn out that lower income families might at least consider buying one around the world if it got the equivalent of a $100 price drop around the world. At least $200 and its equivalent worldwide is getting there... I guess the used market is pretty strong in Japan, so folks just could be going there, whereas Nintendo would want them to buy new stuff.

Personally, I think we are too far in to the gen for the Wii U price drop to have a meaningful impact on actual Wii U hardware sales. Especially if the price drop doesn't even happen until 2016. The Wii U has been a failure in terms of hardware sell in and the console has only just become profitable, a price drop won't boost sales imo so I don't think Nintendo need to do one as they can continue with a profit on Wii U hardware at the current price. Although I do agree that a price drop needs to happen and probably will happen, if it's this year then I would say that we may see a boost in sales followed by slightly above average sales up to the holiday season before it drops back down to low levels. If the price drop isn't this year but next year then the impact will just last 1 month and it won't do anything worth mentioning to the overall install base number.

Anyone who wants a Wii U has one. Even Nintendo are forecasting a further 3.3 million units to be shipped worldwide for FY15/16. The PlayStation 2 sold more than 3.3 million units in FY11/12, more than 11 years after release.

 

[Nirolak]

Do you have a paid subscription to App Annie?

No, to access rank charts, you just need a free login.

 

[Vena]

Anyone who wants a Wii U has one.

Well this is obviously not true, a few thousand still buy one every week.

 

[ZhugeEX]

No, to access rank charts, you just need a free login.

I'll see if I can get one at work.

Well this is obviously not true, a few thousand still buy one every week.

You know what I mean haha. In terms of there being a large demand for Wii U for continued growth in the future.

 

[Refreshment.01]

They have access to a wider array of preorder numbers and insider info I believe.

Glad to have your explanation.

By insider info, you mean early data? How many days in advance to the published numbers YSO release their predictions?

Besides that what are they exactly?

Wasn't it pretty likely the American "refurbs" were just unsold new units?

That would fall in one of the cases i posted then. Would be a clever way to mask a price drop. But i don't have any knowledge if that is actually the case.

Well this is obviously not true, a few thousand still buy one every week.

Jokes aside, what would be the point to have a temporal spike in sales if it could end up meaning less profits in the long run? The Wii U also doesn't have much in the way of 3rd party support, if the company was gathering important profits from 3rd party licensing a contraction in gains by unit sold would make more sense. That's one less reason to make harsh sacrifices to increase the user base.

It seems Nintendo has deviced an strategy to make the Wii U profitable despite it's low user base. With each subsequent quality release they make the device more desirable to the videogame segment that are interested in Nintendo games, which are mostly the only people that are holding of a purchase until a price drop.

Nintendo also seems to be slowing down they first party developed catalogue on the 3DS, so this could mean until the succesor of the device is released, the Nintendo base would be forced to seek their fix on the Wii U. So it would basically work like a relay race.

 

[horuhe]

Do they really expect Rhythm Heaven to open that high? I thought, judging from other posts, that it had little marketing and it was going to under perform.

As far as I'm aware the game is getting well promoted, and if I'm not mistaken the DS game sold over a million and a half. Pre-orders also have been very high during this weekend, at some stores. So I expect, at least, the fanbase to buy the game. 120k in its first week would be awesome despite the decrease, though.

 

[small44]

Comg comparison

Persona 4 dancing:75pts
Persona 4 arena: 91pts
Persona 4 golden: 144pts
Persona Q: 119pts

 

[Vena]

For whatever its worth, my friend's little brother now wants Splatoon. =P

Seems he caught the bug from friends, and has been pestering her over the weekend to buy it for him. (He's six.)

 

[Xbro]

For whatever its worth, my friend's little brother now wants Splatoon. =P

Seems he caught the bug from friends, and has been pestering her over the weekend to buy it for him. (He's six.)

It begins...

 

[Vena]

It begins...

Not really lol.

 

[Astral Dog]

For whatever its worth, my friend's little brother now wants Splatoon. =P

Seems he caught the bug from friends, and has been pestering her over the weekend to buy it for him. (He's six.)

And they said the commercial about the squid kid was not going to work.

 

[hiska-kun]

Tsutaya's Ranking Week 23 2015

01./01. [WIU] Splatoon <ACT> (Nintendo)
02./00. [3DS] Stella Glow <RPG> (Sega)
03./00. [PSV] Shiren the Wanderer 5 Plus: Fortune Tower and the Dice of Fate <RPG> (Spike Chunsoft)
04./03. [PS4] The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt <RPG> (Spike Chunsoft)
05./04. [PSV] Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition (Mojang AB)
06./00. [PS3] Natsuiro High School: Seishun Hakusho <ADV> (D3 Publisher)
07./00. [PS4] Natsuiro High School: Seishun Hakusho <ADV> (D3 Publisher)
08./02. [3DS] Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai Deluxe <ACT> (Sega)
09./05. [3DS] Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition <RPG> (GungHo Online Entertainment)
10./00. [3DS] New Atelier Rorona: Hajimari no Monogatari - The Alchemist of Arland <RPG> (Koei Tecmo)
11./07. [3DS] Assassination Classroom: Korosensei Daihouimou!! <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games)
12./10. [3DS] Style Savvy 3: Kira Kira Code <ETC> (Nintendo)
13./06. [PSV] Cross Ange: Tenshi to Ryuu no Rondo tr. <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games)
14./12. [PS4] Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster <Final Fantasy X Final Fantasy X-2> <RPG> (Square Enix)
15./11. [3DS] Bravely Second: End Layer <RPG> (Square Enix)
16./00. [PS4] Wolfenstein: The Old Blood <ACT> (Bethesda Softworks)
17./09. [3DS] Downtown Nekketsu Jidaigeki <ACT> (Arc System Works)
18./13. [PSV] Sword Art Online: Lost Song (Bandai Namco Games)
19./08. [PSV] Nobunaga's Ambition: Creation with Power-Up Kit <SLG> (Koei Tecmo)
20./27. [3DS] Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS <FTG> (Nintendo)

 

[Vena]

And they said the commercial about the squid kid was not going to work.

Did that commercial air in Japan?

 

[Jamix012]

Comg comparison

Persona 4 dancing:75pts
Persona 4 arena: 91pts
Persona 4 golden: 144pts
Persona Q: 119pts

What about Arena Ultimax?

 

[horuhe]

Tsutaya's Ranking Week 23 2015

04./03. [PS4] The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt <RPG> (Spike Chunsoft)
05./04. [PSV] Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition (Mojang AB)

16./00. [PS4] Wolfenstein: The Old Blood <ACT> (Bethesda Softworks)

Wonder why they decided to launch the Xbox One version first... I mean, they could perfectly release it this week.

And... Hiska, I surrender. "banderablanca.gif"

 

[HGH]

Tsutaya's Ranking Week 23 2015

01./01. [WIU] Splatoon <ACT> (Nintendo)
02./00. [3DS] Stella Glow <RPG> (Sega)

This is gonna be another of those "First spot gets 60K, second gets 20K, everyone else is sub 15K" weeks isn't it?

Did that commercial air in Japan?

There was a thread on advertising differences between regions so I don't think it did.

 

[AniHawk]

This is gonna be another of those "First spot gets 60K, second gets 20K, everyone else is sub 15K" weeks isn't it?

yeah it'll be another abnormally good week

 

[Pennywise83]

Since people were asking about the game's reception:

Reviews tend to cluster on extremely positive values most of the time (unless the game is totally broken, or because of other external factors) so that is not a surprise.

 

[Nirolak]

Reviews tend to cluster on extremely positive values most of the time (unless the game is totally broken, or because of other external factors) so that is not a surprise.

I actually find the top half more interesting, since it suggests they're playing well to whales.

Those are ranked in the order of how frequently they're bought.

 

[Pennywise83]

I actually find the top half more interesting, since it suggests they're playing well to whales.

Those are ranked in the order of how frequently they're bought.

What is the right column about?

For this kind of game, it's quite obvious that early adopters are whales, in my humble opinion.

 

[Nirolak]

I think those are the yen prices.

Apple has some kind of magic formula to determine how things should be priced so the USD is derived from that IIRC.

 

[dakkumauji]

The right column looks like how much of the premium currency you'll get for that price.

Pretty interesting to see the highest price one in the upper half. Would have expected the 36 dollars one to be up there though.

Is there any other charts for other mobile games? Would be interesting to see what other users are usually buying.

 

[KingSnake]

YSO predictions

Week 22, 2015 (May 25 - May 31)

[WIU] Splatoon < 150k
[3DS] Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai Deluxe < 50k
[PSV] Cross Ange: Tenshi to Ryuu no Rondo tr. < 15k
[WIU] Hardware 15-20k


Week 23, 2015 (June 1 - June 7)

[WIU] Splatoon < 60k
[3DS] Stella Glow < 30k
[PSV] Shiren the Wanderer 5 Plus < 15k


Week 24, 2015 (June 8 - June 14)

[3DS] Rhythm Heaven: The Best+ < 130k
[3DS] Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butouden < 60k
[WIU] Splatoon < 50k

That's quite a good hold for weeks 2 and 3 for Splatoon. Now only if NPD would match this.

 

[Pennywise83]

At this point, RT The Best + would be lucky to reach the Wii entry's numbers... which is not that bad considering it's a collection with some new tracks. It's not that good as well, since it's a portable entry and the DS one was a 2m seller.

Dragon Ball, on the other hand, might start slowly, but might have long legs thanks to the anime (also the reason why Ultimate Mission 2 reappeared in the chart).

 

[hiska-kun]

At this point, RT The Best + would be lucky to reach the Wii entry's numbers... which is not that bad considering it's a collection with some new tracks. It's not that good as well, since it's a portable entry and the DS one was a 2m seller.

Dragon Ball, on the other hand, might start slowly, but might have long legs thanks to the anime (also the reason why Ultimate Mission 2 reappeared in the chart).

Why would be so lucky to reach Wii entry's numbers when according to YSO it will debut equal or a little higher?

 

[Pennywise83]

Why would be so lucky to reach Wii entry's numbers when according to YSO it will debut equal or a little higher?

I was referring to a LTD comparison. The Wii entry went to sell 700k.

 

[hiska-kun]

I was referring to a LTD comparison. The Wii entry went to sell 700k.

And why do you expect worse legs?

 

[Pennywise83]

And why do you expect worse legs?

Perhaps I'm wrong but being mostly a collection of previous entries might not have that wide appeal. I'd be really glad if the game could sell a million or more, of course.

 

[small44]

What about Arena Ultimax?

Arena Ultimax:95pts

 

[Mpl90]

As of 10:53 GMT, June 8th 2015

Mobius Final Fantasy on Google Play
Reviews - 1,818
Downloads - 100,000 to 500,000

It seems the game took 3-4 days to have over 100,000 downloads on the Android marketplace.

 

[Dash Kappei]

I was referring to a LTD comparison. The Wii entry went to sell 700k.

Holy shit I had no idea, I thought the Wii game underperformed... damn, 700k.

 

[casiopao]

Holy shit I had no idea, I thought the Wii game underperformed... damn, 700k.

It underperformed in U.S for sure. Huahhhhhh.T_T

 

[hiska-kun]

Perhaps I'm wrong but being mostly a collection of previous entries might not have that wide appeal. I'd be really glad if the game could sell a million or more, of course.

Rhythm Heaven games have ~50 minigames.
The Best+ has over 100 minigames, ~70 of them being from last entries and ~30 of them being completely new.

Yeah, you could say the game has less new minigames (30 instead of 50), but overall is the most complete game so far. The multi is also a good point to consider.

I think it's too soon to say it will have more or less legs.

 

[Aostia]

That's quite a good hold for weeks 2 and 3 for Splatoon. Now only if NPD would match this.

at least in EU started very well. N° 3 in UK for two weeks in a row, N°2 in Ger, n°2 and 4 in France.

 

[flaviusconstantius]

at least in EU started very well. N° 3 in UK for two weeks in a row, N°2 in Ger, n°2 and 4 in France.

In the UK that meant about 22,000 copies total for the first two weeks. Compare that to 273,000 for the Witcher 3 in the same space of time, not counting digital. Its just that everything below that fell off a cliff this time of year.

 

[ZhugeEX]

at least in EU started very well. N° 3 in UK for two weeks in a row, N°2 in Ger, n°2 and 4 in France.

Where a game ranks doesn't mean much in Europe this time of year.

Sales are very low for the title in Europe. Even if it did rank in the top 3.

 

[Aostia]

I disagree, but don't want to generate OT.

 

[thestopsign]

No Comgnet weekly numbers yet?