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Media Create Sales: Week 22, 2015 (May 25 - May 31)

random25

Member
Do you guys think there's any chance of Code Name STEAM doing okay in Japan? I don't know how it sold in the West (probably awfully), so I hope it can at least do better in Japan... despite the theme of the game not being precisely Japan's favorite :x

I'm sorry to tell you, but...
 
Do you guys think there's any chance of Code Name STEAM doing okay in Japan? I don't know how it sold in the West (probably awfully), so I hope it can at least do better in Japan... despite the theme of the game not being precisely Japan's favorite :x

Game bombed everywhere.
 
those hardware sales are depressing, well done splatoon and witcher

If only Assassination Classroom because of despair and a evil bear
 

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
Do you guys think there's any chance of Code Name STEAM doing okay in Japan? I don't know how it sold in the West (probably awfully), so I hope it can at least do better in Japan... despite the theme of the game not being precisely Japan's favorite :x

Codename Steam makes Wonderful 101 look like a success story.
 

AdanVC

Member
The fact that a brand new IP by Nintendo is #1 on it's first week in Japan is truly the best news of the year so far IMO. Even sold more on it's first week than other already stablished franchises like Pikmin 3 and Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze! Hope continues to sell well wich I'm sure it will. Everyone on Japan is a squid now <3

Nintendo just needs to release Splatoon every week and the WiiU is saved!

If Nintendo does like Activision with CoD by releasing a new Splatoon game yearly it could work! hah
 

vinnygambini

Why are strippers at the U.N. bad when they're great at strip clubs???
Splatoon digital ratio must be good too

Reason: Amazon, Amazon is always right

Solid debut, happy.
 
It would need some pretty great legs, MW3 is ~525k and BLOPS2 is ~580k if you combine SKUs. Largest single SKU is 336k. Who knows though, some Nintendo titles have shown similar legs in the past.

Thanks for the answer. Are those the best shooter numbers we know of for Japan?
 
Because Nintendo has no idea how to market such games. People think that marketing is just taking a ton of money and spending it on TV ads or whatever, but that's really not the case. You have to understand the audience you want to attract and know the best way to get their attention. Nintendo has shown time and time again that while they're more than willing to fund and publish games like this to diversify their portfolio, they simply do not know how to sell them.

This is actually a problem that comes up all the time in television, You have an excellent show which has the potential to attract a loyal and decent sized audience, but it just does not fit in at all with the rest of your lineup or audience.

The problem with these games is that their very purpose, to win over fans who otherwise wouldn't buy a WiiU, is a circular challenge. Xenoblade's purpose is to attract an audience that is not currently on the WiiU to it, but the challenge facing it is that its intended audience is not on the WiiU. The challenge facing whoever is running its advertising is not to simply convince consumers that it is a good game; I think that can and has been achieved in the past with its predecessor. The challenge is to convince people who have no interest in the rest of the WiiU's lineup that it is worth buying a WiiU over.

I am interested in Xenoblade X. If it came out for PC/PS4 I would almost certainly buy it. But I do not have a reason to buy a WiiU as someone who likes RPGs and tends to prefer WRPGs and darker/eccentric JRPGs since there is literally nothing else on the system I would be interested in, not one game, nor is there any prospect of additional games like it being released in the lifetime of the system.

Marketing cannot sell Xenoblade no matter how much is spent because my reaction is a rational reading of the situation, meaning that the correct decision for most of the game's intended audience is to maybe wait till the WiiU hits the bargain bins or for the NX.
 
Great for Splatoon, lol didnt somebody say it was gonna sale on The Wonderful 101 level? Lol thats more then TW101 life time sales

So, with Splatoon in that #1 spot, can we stop having people claim this game is going to do Wonderful 101 numbers? Please?

Well. Splatoon has already outsold the Japanese + US LTD of Wonderful 101 in 4 days

Creamsugar has it at 104K in the April 2015 NPD thread. (That´s after price cuts etc.)
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=160467229&postcount=1252

In japan, It´s first week was 5,258
[Wii U] The Wonderful 101 (Nintendo, 08/22/13) &#8211; 5,258 (New)
http://www.destructoid.com/the-wonderful-101-s-sales-don-t-look-good-so-far-260892.phtml

In the end of 2013. It still didn´t show up in the top 200 of media create. So less than 42.606 LTD in Japan at that time
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=125783246&postcount=1
 

casiopao

Member
Yeah, I guess an open world console RPG with MMO style gameplay and online multiplayer features is totally niche. No one wants those. Yup.

Which is on Wii U.........where there probably will only had only this single title and no more. Which i feel is the main problem of total mismatch in audience.
 
If anything Xenoblade X should be an easier sale to Western audiences than it was in Japan.

If it were multiplatform and marketed correctly like the Witcher 3 was, and released at the right time of year I think it could do incredibly. But its platform, and the nature of that platform's audience, are likely going to be an almost insurmountable problem. Which is to some extent what happens when Nintendo funds non-Nintendo-esque games for its platform,
 

duckroll

Member
Which is on Wii U.........where there probably will only had only this single title and no more. Which i feel is the main problem of total mismatch in audience.

Okay, so it's not that the game is niche, it's that no one wants it on the system it's on. Why would Nintendo bother marketing it then? People who want it are already going to buy it right? :)
 
If it were multiplatform and marketed correctly like the Witcher 3 was, and released at the right time of year I think it could do incredibly. But its platform, and the nature of that platform's audience, are likely going to be an almost insurmountable problem. Which is to some extent what happens when Nintendo funds non-Nintendo-esque games for its platform,

Why would a game from a Nintendo first party be multiplatform?
 

RM8

Member
The art style is really unattractive. It's like a Japanese take on what they think Americans like with the result that it's unappealing to both groups.
Gamers are shallow :( Oh well, I'll be grateful that it exists. One of my favorite developers, one of my favorite genres, my favorite system, no wonder I loved it so much.
 
Why would a game from a Nintendo first party be multiplatform?

Its not. And as a consequence the advertising has to convince a potential audience to buy a WiiU for one game when no others like it are coming and they have a far more appealing library on other systems.

The open-world single-player RPG audience is not on the WiiU.
 

Astral Dog

Member
Holy crap I wasn't aware. It sold sub 2k numbers in Japan, WTF. Why? :( It's my GOTY so far...

The game just doesnt look appealing...

That and mixed reviews and impressions, demo too slow, etc. it would had done better if pushed as an Eshop release for 3DS and Wii U imo.
 
From the last thread... I accidentally posted in the wrong one:

I don't expect a resurgence in Japan anytime soon.

They have the lowest fertility rate in the developed world, with a combined (male + female) median age of approximately 46.5, the oldest in the developed world, whilst also continuing to age the fastest (although may soon be overtaken by Taiwan).

An economy that has long been in either a state of recession or stagnation, coupled with the aforementioned demographic issues that are only going to get worse, there is no recovery in sight.

The country may have a population of ~128 million people, but the break down and the trends of demography sure aren't favorable for a market that relies heavily on the intake of previously unexposed people (i.e new generations).

Japan is dead, for the foreseeable future. I'm sure this will come across as a controversial opinion to some, given the ultra-left views of some members on this forum and the hatred for anything that might be considered conservative (like... breeding above replacement rate), but it's a genuine factor in the death of the industry in Japan that I don't think is often considered. The console market always has a chance to be revitalized in a country that's been as tech-savvy as Japan, for so long, but the rate of population replacement simply hinders that potential.
 
Its not. And as a consequence the advertising has to convince a potential audience to buy a WiiU for one game when no others like it are coming and they have a far more appealing library on other systems.

The open-world single-player RPG audience is not on the WiiU.

No other current-gen consoles have an open world JRPG that I can think of. I don't really see a game like Xenoblade selling much better on XB1 or PS4.
 
01./00. [WIU] Splatoon <ACT> (Nintendo) {2015.05.28} (¥6.156) - 144.818 / NEW

It's great to see Splatoon doing this well.
Especially after the Wonderful 101 and Codename S.T.E.A.M bombed.
With Splatoon's low shipment. It might even stay on top next week if there isn't a somewhat big release.

Hope this success shows Nintendo how good marketing can work for them.
 

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
If it were multiplatform and marketed correctly like the Witcher 3 was, and released at the right time of year I think it could do incredibly. But its platform, and the nature of that platform's audience, are likely going to be an almost insurmountable problem. Which is to some extent what happens when Nintendo funds non-Nintendo-esque games for its platform,

XBX suddenly being a a big seller on PS4/One/PC, reminds me of the Monster Hunter arguments - we are living in a time were even Final Fantasy games have a difficult time selling in the west. Sure the userbase would be bigger but it wouldnt sell like The Witcher just because its on other systems. Its still a JRPG and its likely that many people who love the Witcher would be put off by its character design and limited moral choices you find in a title like XB.

I get your point but we should stop acting as if other JRPGS besides FF, Kingdom Hearts and Pokemon sell big numbers in the west - this isnt a WiiU specific problem. Corrent marketing doesnt make Xenoblade suddenly Mass Effect or The Witcher. How many Open World JRPGS do we have on consoles that sell millions or are likely to sell way more than Xenoblade ? Not too mention exclusive ones...
Okay, so it's not that the game is niche, it's that no one wants it on the system it's on. Why would Nintendo bother marketing it then? People who want it are already going to buy it right? :)

Same reason why Coke still advertises their drinks.
 

casiopao

Member
Okay, so it's not that the game is niche, it's that no one wants it on the system it's on. Why would Nintendo bother marketing it then? People who want it are already going to buy it right? :)

It also had quite a number of things which can be unappealing to western fans. The anime character models which would probably scared the potential customer lol.

The fact that Jrpg have also ended up being a niche genre can also pose problem.
 
The state of the console industry really has nothing to do with any of that. Like, at all.

These one sentence refutations with an air of authority seem common around these parts; I guess I better get used to it. But I figure people can at least offer a sensible retort.

Attributing the sluggish market sales simply to shifting technology trends alone seems, well... A little too face-value for me. I'd say demography issues most definitely have relevance to market trend, all things considered. And Japan just so happens to be the greatest demography quagmire on the face of the planet.
 

Zalman

Member
I'm sure Nintendo is really happy with how this game is doing so far, even though they kind of missed an opportunity by not shipping enough. That just goes to show it exceeded their expectations. This won't be the last we see of Splatoon.
 
XBX suddenly being a a big seller on PS4/One/PC, reminds me of the Monster Hunter arguments - we are living in a time were even Final Fantasy games have a difficult time selling in the west. Sure the userbase would be bigger but it wouldnt sell like The Witcher just because its on other systems. Its still a JRPG and its likely that many people who love the Witcher would be put off by its character design and limited moral choices you find in a title like XB.

I get your point but we should stop acting as if other JRPGS besides FF, Kingdom Hearts and Pokemon sell big numbers in the west - this isnt a WiiU specific problem. Corrent marketing doesnt make Xenoblade suddenly Mass Effect or The Witcher. How many Open World JRPGS do we have on consoles that sell millions or are likely to sell way more than Xenoblade ? Not too mention exclusive ones...


Same reason why Coke still advertises their drinks.

I think XBCX is only a JRPG in a nominal sense. Gameplay/world-design wise its taken on a lot of Western trappings, and vertical world exploration/gears thing is something no one else has done. I do not think it could compete with Witcher 3, but rather that in a down time when nothing else in the genre is coming out, and the RPG genre as a whole has become really focused on the console-side, it could be marketed to much of the same audience. Would it sell millions? Almost certainly not. But when something like Amalur can get in the 1.5m range, I think it could do well with good word of mouth, the importance of which is demonstrated by the Witcher 3 v. 2. I mean how much did its actual TV ads matter v. the online/word-of-mouth hype?

But I do agree it is capped. Which I suspect will be a real problem for FFXV which looks a bit like Dragon Age Inquisition with repulsive character designs.
 
It doesn't make a difference to your conclusion, but just for the sake of it:

32 WIU The Wonderful 101 6,663 / 27,028 Nintendo 2013-08-24

LTD sales got boosted by some bomba bin stock dumping I think.

Completely missed those numbers
WIU 2013-08-24 The Wonderful 101 Nintendo 6,663 / 27,028

Okay. US + Japan sales for Wonderful 101 are about 131K with these numbers
 
we are living in a time were even Final Fantasy games have a difficult time selling in the west.

Not really. FF13 sold over a million copies in America in the first month. FF14 currently has over 4 million subscribers worldwide (many of whom aren't in Japan). Yeah, the spin-offs didn't sell as well, but the spin-offs never sell as well.
 

MisterR

Member
This is actually a problem that comes up all the time in television, You have an excellent show which has the potential to attract a loyal and decent sized audience, but it just does not fit in at all with the rest of your lineup or audience.

The problem with these games is that their very purpose, to win over fans who otherwise wouldn't buy a WiiU, is a circular challenge. Xenoblade's purpose is to attract an audience that is not currently on the WiiU to it, but the challenge facing it is that its intended audience is not on the WiiU. The challenge facing whoever is running its advertising is not to simply convince consumers that it is a good game; I think that can and has been achieved in the past with its predecessor. The challenge is to convince people who have no interest in the rest of the WiiU's lineup that it is worth buying a WiiU over.

I am interested in Xenoblade X. If it came out for PC/PS4 I would almost certainly buy it. But I do not have a reason to buy a WiiU as someone who likes RPGs and tends to prefer WRPGs and darker/eccentric JRPGs since there is literally nothing else on the system I would be interested in, not one game, nor is there any prospect of additional games like it being released in the lifetime of the system.

Marketing cannot sell Xenoblade no matter how much is spent because my reaction is a rational reading of the situation, meaning that the correct decision for most of the game's intended audience is to maybe wait till the WiiU hits the bargain bins or for the NX.

Very well said. This is why a system needs a wide, diverse line up. You need to be able to say, hey if you love Xenoblade you'll probably love X, Y, Z on the system.
 
For Wii U sales. Comparison how many Wii U consoles sold during the launch of Mario Kart 8 (Week 22, 2014) and the launch of Splatoon (Week 22, 2015)

– Week 22 2014: 19 312 units sold;
– Week 22, 2015: 17 713 units sold.

The fact Splatoon came that close.
 

vinnygambini

Why are strippers at the U.N. bad when they're great at strip clubs???
01./00. [WIU] Splatoon <ACT> (Nintendo) {2015.05.28} (¥6.156) - 144.818 / NEW

It's great to see Splatoon doing this well.
Especially after the Wonderful 101 and Codename S.T.E.A.M bombed.
With Splatoon's low shipment. It might even stay on top next week if there isn't a somewhat big release.

Hope this success shows Nintendo how good marketing can work for them.

Marketing is a splendid tool; however, if it ain't marketable, the product will fall flat.

Splatoon had a great reveal, an intriguing concept from the get-go, and Nintendo-like characters (charming artstyle).

Wonderful 101 or Codename S.T.E.A.M. had nothing of the above.
 
On the other-hand, I think the staying power of the Witcher 3 is not getting enough attention this week. That 68% or so drop is really good compared to other RPGs and with much of the genre struggling to sell over 150K anyway, the fact that a WRPG will likely exceed that, and consequently the sales of Type 0HD is going to be a roadmap for the future. Why waste money developing your own AAA or even AA software when Western developers will do it for you and all you need to do is localize them?

I think we may see the Japanese console market looking like an inversion of the Western one during the 16/32bit era where the vast majority of the software is localized rather than locally developed on consoles, while Japanese developers retreat to handhelds and mobile. Consoles won't "die" simply because the costs of keeping them in the market won't be that high. The Playstation 4 will just become the go-to place for Western gaming experiences, which given the XBO's non-presence and lack of PC gaming are for all practical Playstation exclusives. That would be more than enough for Sony to keep selling it, and it would be pretty cheap for all involved.
 
Probably been said, but it's worth remembering that Splatoon was hideously supply-constrained. Amazing. So curious to see what it does over the month.
 

RM8

Member
Marketing is a splendid tool; however, if it ain't marketable, the product will fall flat.

Splatoon had a great reveal, an intriguing concept from the get-go, and Nintendo-like characters (charming artstyle).

Wonderful 101 or Codename S.T.E.A.M. had nothing of the above.
TW101 didn't have an intriguing concept and charming characters? I mean, I see your point, but Nintendo literally sent those games to die.
 
Marketing is a splendid tool; however, if it ain't marketable, the product will fall flat.

Splatoon had a great reveal, an intriguing concept from the get-go, and Nintendo-like characters (charming artstyle).

Wonderful 101 or Codename S.T.E.A.M. had nothing of the above.

Of course. All those are also true.
It had a great reception at E3 unlike Codename S.T.E.A.M and plenty of Nintendo gameplay and charm.
Don't remember much about how Wonderful 101 was first received
 

vinnygambini

Why are strippers at the U.N. bad when they're great at strip clubs???
TW101 didn't have an intriguing concept and charming characters? I mean, I see your point, but Nintendo literally sent those games to die.

I didn't think so; furthermore the controls were cumbersome. It's not an easy pick-up-and-play title like many Nintendo games.
 
I think the biggest problem with TW101 sales is that the game looks like a silly kid game but plays more like a very technical Devil May Cry title. There's a huge disconnect between the visual style & the type of game it is.
 
Splatoon will be a solid 350k seller. With impressive word of mouth and if it also has the Nintenlegs™, probably a 500k selling title.
 
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