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[The Boat]

Omae wa mo squideiru!

 

[QaaQer]

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.

550k

 

[QaaQer]

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.

I found the art genuinely disturbing. The head to body ratio really turned me off. But I agree, the art style was a huge problem.

 

[Xbro]

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.

This is one thing people don't quite understand about marketing. Some products are easier to market than others.

 

[Saroyan]

I'm happy for Splatoon, but Downtown Nekketsu sold like crap which would kill any chance of a western release I think. Too bad, I'd like to see the kunio-kun series come back in some way

 

[Mory Dunz]

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.

Not sure why people were expecting a bigger bump when nothing has helped Wii U.
HW is dead, focus on SW

 

[UncleSporky]

Splatoon will be a solid 350k seller. With impressive word of mouth and if it also has the Nintenlegs™, probably a 500k selling title.

In case you didn't see above your post:

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.

MK8 is over 1M right now...

 

[Duffman]

Witcher 3 had a pretty solid second week it seems. Never thought it would sell that well in Japan.

Also happy to see great numbers for Splatoon.

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

550k

Pretty sure he meant sold-through copies. Not current active subscribers.


Also, pretty surprised that TW3 had a (relatively) strong second week. Definitely didn't see that coming.

 

[RayearthRob]

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

Yeah... that's so sad!

 

[Mory Dunz]

What's the 3DS's next big release? It needs a kick?

DBZ probably doesn't matter.

so FE if?

Or when's he next color...or new bundle?

 

[HardRojo]

Nice opening for Splatoon. I hope it does well in the long run since it's always good to see Nintendo try new ideas, even if their online functionality isn't on par with the rest. Maybe Inkling boy and girl can become Smash characters some day

 

[Grakl]

In case you didn't see above your post:



MK8 is over 1M right now...

The Mario Kart series is a different beast. We know nothing about Splatoon's potential legs quite yet.

 

[CrisKre]

This is such great news! I hope nintendo tales note, and releases and puts faith in more unique projects with proper market exposure.

 

[Gaiaknight]

good for splatoon i really want this to become a million seller WW already 1/10 of the way there!

 

[twothunder]

Splatoon will be a solid 350k seller. With impressive word of mouth and if it also has the Nintenlegs™, probably a 500k selling title.

It will be interesting to see how Splatoon's LTD will be in the end of the year.
As for US numbers. Too bad it's first NPD listing will probably only have like 3 days.

 

[Javier]

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'll add that another problem with W101 was that the demo actually worked against it. It didn't explain the controls well (which were quite complex) and they picked rather hard stages for a first play.

The Splatoon testfire starts with a very nicely designed tutorial, and throws you into Turf War mode right away, which is the simplest game mode. And since it was a limited stress test, it left players wanting more.

 

[Hatty]

TW101 didn't have an intriguing concept and charming characters? I mean, I see your point, but Nintendo literally sent those games to die.

W101 was pretty much impossible to market well, We're lucky it got made at all

 

[JCX]

W101 was pretty much impossible to market well, We're lucky it got made at all

As a game or story, it's super easy to market, it's basically a kids cartoon. The gameplay on the other hand, that's tough to market.

 

[Conduit]

Media Create Monthly Hardware Sales 2015

+-------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| Month |    3DS   |    PSV   |    PS4   |   WiiU   |    PS3   |  XB One  |   Total  |
+-------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
|January|   326.739|   125.809|   107.999|    63.623|    48.930|     1.981|   675.081|
|  Feb. |   168.806|    82.453|   111.015|    26.200|    27.845|     2.513|   418.832|
| March |   125.971|    89.763|   159.420|    28.726|    27.870|     1.346|   433.096|
| April |   130.845|    89.803|    99.936|    50.572|    22.343|     1.852|   395.311|
|  May  |    75.340|    53.883|    51.849|    42.889|    13.011|     1.165|   238.137|
| June  |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |
| July  |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |
| August|          |          |          |          |          |          |          |
| Sept. |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |
|October|          |          |          |          |          |          |          |
|  Nov. |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |
|  Dec. |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |
+-------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| Total |   827.701|   441.711|   530.219|   212.010|   139.999|     8.857| 2.160.497|
+-------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+

The worst month in the history?

Year 2014

+-------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| Month |    3DS   |    PSV   |    PS4   |   WiiU   |    PS3   |  XB One  |   Total  |
+-------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
|January|   359.838|   179.915|         -|    93.296|    95.633|         -|   728.682|
|  Feb. |   158.188|    77.994|   374.839|    32.573|    43.604|         -|   687.198|
| March |   174.150|   141.999|   118.499|    38.435|    58.839|         -|   531.925|
| April |   149.153|   119.383|    65.029|    32.467|    40.622|         -|   406.654|
|  May  |   106.500|    61.528|    29.323|    42.665|    29.510|         -|   269.526|
| June  |   117.040|    65.678|    32.929|    47.383|    26.944|         -|   289.974|
| July  |   203.875|   133.293|    32.758|    45.903|    36.443|         -|   452.272|
| August|   166.056|    77.905|    24.808|    49.328|    23.017|         -|   341.114|
| Sept. |   143.155|    57.072|    47.894|    32.757|    24.326|    31.116|   336.320|
|October|   563.864|    57.552|    44.941|    28.376|    25.302|     3.811|   723.846|
|  Nov. |   339.588|    70.605|    51.534|    40.900|    19.061|     4.771|   526.459|
|  Dec. |   695.148|   125.646|   148.113|   134.067|    36.016|     3.569| 1.142.559|
+-------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| Total | 3.176.525| 1.168.570|   970.667|   618.150|   459.317|    43.267| 6.436.496|
+-------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+

May is historically one of the worst month of the year. Things should improve in Summer.

So, little over 1500k for PS4 to date.

 

[Lumyst]

As a game or story, it's super easy to market, it's basically a kids cartoon. The gameplay on the other hand, that's tough to market.

I think we have to remember that when many of those core games were greenlit, the plan was for the WiiU to sell because the gamepad would make it a hit. So add to that, "And you can use the gamepad to draw actions." (I actually couldn't figure out the game until I saw Saur's videos, used the right-stick, then I got hooked )

 

[cw_sasuke]

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.

The Witcher is a Zeitgeist game profiting from the popularity of Game of Thrones and Co. and the acclaimed predecessors... putting Xenoblade on PC doesn't make it more interesting for that crowd. The reason why the couple lower tier titles you mentioned are selling solid numbers is the fact that they hit a bigger market being Multiplatform. Being able to ship a million when developing a big budget titles for PC and HD consoles is a given.

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.

FF13 was like 7 years ago you really think the IP is as strong as back then? What about X-2 and LR? FF XIV ended up doing well for an MMORPG after they had to redo the whole game.

Then again I stated Final Fantasy was one of the few JRPGs doing big numbers but it's not as big as it was during the PS1 and PS2 days.

As a game or story, it's super easy to market, it's basically a kids cartoon. The gameplay on the other hand, that's tough to market.

You just proved his point.

 

[jj984jj]

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.

When it comes to Nintendo understanding what market they're trying to appeal to is their biggest problem, and it goes beyond games. No idea what they're trying to accomplish when they release random games like Bayonetta 2 or Xenoblade X when the platform it-self isn't off the ground, but they must know the audience isn't on their platform, right?

JRPG in a nominal sense

Do you think Dark Souls is a WRPG? Because these terms have just come full circle in how shallow they really are.

 

[Lumyst]

When it comes to Nintendo understanding what market they're trying to appeal to is their biggest problem, and it goes beyond games. No idea what they're trying to accomplish when they release random games like Bayonetta 2 or Xenoblade X when the platform it-self isn't off the ground, but they must know the audience isn't on their platform, right?

They never planned on the WiiU to go the way it is though. To add to that, I think there's so much unexpected stagnation among the Nintendo console userbase. I say unexpected because in the past, say even on the Gamecube, at least Nintendo had a userbase that could try new things, even JRPGs like Tales of Symphonia. I think Splatoon was a game made specifically for the WiiU owners after seeing just what kind of software and games they were interested in, but games such as Bayonetta 2 and Xenoblade X began being made before they could find out who was buying the WiiU and who its audience would end up being, and even, how much different the behavior of that audience would be compared to their prior consoles.

edit: Oh and duh they knew people who played Bayonetta 1 didn't do so on Nintendo consoles lol And XenobladeX got a console bundle. These kinds of games have strategic importance, that's why they're still important in terms beyond their raw sales numbers. Like for Sony, they used the term "platform differentiator" to describe Bloodborne. And Nintendo is not shy about modifying series to attempt to sell them to new players, so the audience they hope to play their games goes beyond preexisting fans of those kinds of games.

 

[ivysaur12]

So Freedom Wars remains the highest debut for a new IP this generation? Lol. Nintendo should have shipped more inklings!



Lol. I'm not sure if some of you really believe that or if you're just saying that to feel better. There isn't going to be any big marketing campaign for the game in the west. NoA probably doesn't even consider it a major title. More like something they're obliged to release to get it out of the way.

How did all that Bayonetta 2 marketing go?

It depends on their release window. Honestly, they might have to treat it like a major title since they have nothing else.

Not to say that would help, but that it might become a centerpiece of their fall/winter strategy by default.

 

[Mory Dunz]

You just proved his point.

Do ads even need to show gameplay? Just play up the cartoon thing to get interest. Show some funnies.


I mean, what even is this Heores of the Storm thing I keep seeing?
All these Blizzard things are furthest away from how the game looks. (Is it Blizzard? I dunno)

 

[SatoAilDarko]

It depends on their release window. Honestly, they might have to treat it like a major title since they have nothing else.

Not to say that would help, but that it might become a centerpiece of their fall/winter strategy by default.

Yeah. The way Bill introduced it in the Direct was saying it was grand Adventure like Zelda and Metroid. It felt like they were trying to get people to see this as a substitute.

 

[StormKing]

Xenoblade X is essentially the most ambitious game Nintendo has developed to date. It is their first step into seamless open world game development. It won't be as great as Skyrim, Witcher 3 or GTA 5. However, it will be a basis for when they develop other open world games in the future like Zelda U and perhaps a new 3D Mario.

I suspect that hardware limitations also played a factor in some of Xenoblade X's perceived shortcomings.

 

[Eolz]

Just seen the thread, but pretty nice for Splatoon, pretty sad for every hardware number...

 

[Takao]

Fun times at Konami PR:

Akira Sakuma, creator of Hudson's Momotaro Railway series, claims the 27 year old franchise is dead due to a lack of communication with Konami. Konami issued a press release today stating their intent to continue the series.

To recap:

Key personnel behind the Love Plus and Tokimeki Memorial series ditch Konami. The publisher claims they'll continue work on those properties.

Key personnel behind the Metal Gear Solid series are reportedly set to ditch Konami. The publisher claims they'll continue to work on that property.

Silent Hills gets cancelled. The publisher claims they'll continue to work on that property.

Key personnel behind the Momotaro Railway series ditch Konami. The publisher claims they'll continue to work on that property.

That's just in 2015.

 

[Crom]

Things don't have to sell through 100% to be impacted by shipping. If a game sells through even 80%, it's not going to be available in a lot of places, slowing down or even stopping sales on a local scale.

Beat me to it. They sell games in tons of locations...not one giant swimming pool of games that every one goes to. In many locations a potential consumer couldn't find the game because it was sold out.

 

[cw_sasuke]

Do ads even need to show gameplay? Just play up the cartoon thing to get interest. Show some funnies.


I mean, what even is this Heores of the Storm thing I keep seeing?
All these Blizzard things are furthest away from how the game looks. (Is it Blizzard? I dunno)

Its not that easy....as showing the "Cartoon" thing otherwise we would still have publisher like THQ doing thse kind of games on console. You have to realize that the WiiU is a joke from a userbase standpoint and not many Kids own one to begin with - there are also way more popular and proven IPs that cater to that demographic. A funny Cartoon tv add wont be enough to stop them playing Minecraft on their tablet or Pokemon on 3DS just to convince their parent s to drop 350 bucks for system and game.

Games like W101 are difficult to sell to people who already own a WiiU and watch Nintendo Direct, meaning is more or less impossible to reach the audience outside of that bubble. I dont think the game could have done much better on other system though...so im kinda baffled that Nintendo financed it to begin with.

 

[Tadaima]

I can't believe that people expected Splatoon to have a weak opening.

The Japanese love tentacles.

 

[FonkyByNature]

Really fucking happy for Nintendo, Splatoon and Mario Kart 8 joining the million club !

 

[TreasureHunterG]

Good job, Splatoon! A nice pimp slap on the face of the doubters and a great indication that Nintendo needs to invest into new IPs more.

 

[Geg]

im kinda baffled that Nintendo financed it to begin with.

At least they did and the game exists. That's the most important part to me.

I can't believe that people expected Splatoon to have a weak opening.

The Japanese love tentacles.

And squid puns in general

 

[ZSaberLink]

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

337 3DS Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. 1,835 1,835 Nintendo 2015-05-14

Worst first week of a 1st party Nintendo game in Japan. It did even worse than Wii Sports Club. Basically the JP numbers make the US ones look good.

 

[MasterSheen]

Good job Splatoon. Highest prediction was like 80k lol

In case you didn't see above your post:



MK8 is over 1M right now...

Not sure what temporary hardware bumps have to do with potential lifetime sales. Pikmin 3 boosted hardware higher than either of those games. Million seller confirmed?

Fun times at Konami PR:

Akira Sakuma, creator of Hudson's Momotaro Railway series, claims the 27 year old franchise is dead due to a lack of communication with Konami. Konami issued a press release today stating their intent to continue the series.

To recap:

Key personnel behind the Love Plus and Tokimeki Memorial series ditch Konami. The publisher claims they'll continue work on those properties.

Key personnel behind the Metal Gear Solid series are reportedly set to ditch Konami. The publisher claims they'll continue to work on that property.

Silent Hills gets cancelled. The publisher claims they'll continue to work on that property.

Key personnel behind the Momotaro Railway series ditch Konami. The publisher claims they'll continue to work on that property.

That's just in 2015.

That's just sad. I know Konami has their hands in stuff outside of gaming, but are going to be okay when their gaming sector looks to be dying?

 

[Mory Dunz]

Its not that easy....as showing the "Cartoon" thing otherwise we would still have publisher like THQ doing thse kind of games on console. You have to realize that the WiiU is a joke from a userbase standpoint and not many Kids own one to begin with - there are also way more popular and proven IPs that cater to that demographic. A funny Cartoon tv add wont be enough to stop them playing Minecraft on their tablet or Pokemon on 3DS just to convince their parent s to drop 350 bucks for system and game.

Well, it wouldn't necessarily have to convince someone to drop 350 bucks.
The Wii U userbase is garbage, but there still must be enough kids who already have one considering the not-awful sales of Skylanders, Just Dance, and Infinity on the system.

 

[ZSaberLink]

From the last thread... I accidentally posted in the wrong one:

Ironically while your argument is definitely of concern to Japan as a country, you do realize that mobile gaming is growing at a rate that I believe is easily counteracting the shrink in the dedicated device market? Gaming in general is still growing, even in Japan, just not for dedicated devices.

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.

To be fair, the hardware bump from Mario Kart 8 was super disappointing.

 

[duckroll]

Fun times at Konami PR:

Akira Sakuma, creator of Hudson's Momotaro Railway series, claims the 27 year old franchise is dead due to a lack of communication with Konami. Konami issued a press release today stating their intent to continue the series.

To recap:

Konami decides to overhaul their management and centralize power in the HQ to better position themselves for the mobile future.

Key personnel behind the Love Plus and Tokimeki Memorial series ditch Konami. The publisher claims they'll continue work on those properties.

Key personnel behind the Metal Gear Solid series are reportedly set to ditch Konami. The publisher claims they'll continue to work on that property.

Silent Hills gets cancelled. The publisher claims they'll continue to work on that property.

Key personnel behind the Momotaro Railway series ditch Konami. The publisher claims they'll continue to work on that property.

That's just in 2015.

Fixed. There's a specific reason why all this is happening in 2015.

 

[cw_sasuke]

At least they did and the game exists. That's the most important part to me.

Well just talking about the commercial success. Sure its great for the niche of gamers who like these games...but they dont really seem to help the platform they are on which is the No.1 goal.

Moneyhatting 3DS and WiiU version of Minecraft when they still had the chance for example would have been an option instead of trying the same old formula again - just look at their Sega collaboration.

Well, it wouldn't necessarily have to convince someone to drop 350 bucks.
The Wii U userbase is garbage, but there still must be enough kids who already have one considering the not-awful sales of Skylanders, Just Dance, and Infinity on the system.

But those are poplar IPs....something that W101 isnt heh. Not to mention that it would be too difficult and crazy for most of the audience anyway. Skylanders and Co. still sell more on the old ass Wii from what i have saw - so not many Kids made the jump to the WiiU when most of these games are on other systems as well anyways.

 

[mclem]

Good debut for Splatoon. Witcher 3 also having strong second week.

As for WiiU hw sales I really don't see how 10 k bump is that great. Splatoon is completely new ip based on genre that WiiU lacks and the console gets meager 10 k bump despite the strong sales for the game (not to mention all other platforms rose from the last week too so the bump from Splatoon was little bit lower actually). That means that Splatoon mainly sold to the same audience that buys all other Nintendo franchises too so Nintendo really wasn't able to widen the customer base of WiiU even with pretty unique game. After the first reports of strong Splatoon sales I was certainly expecting more considering the nature of the game.

To be fair, if it has any knock-on effect on hardware sales, I'd expect it to be mostly via word-of-mouth over time. Not that I am expecting much anyway.

 

[kitchenmotors]

Heh so Wii U has a 150k opening New IP that is very different than what is available on Wii U so far with big marketing funds behind it and it only manages 18k...

When was the last time PS4 was in 4th place lol?

Can't stop Minecraft 0_o

Can't stop Minecraft? Splatoon will surpass it next week.

Slaytoon tbqh.

 

[mclem]

Double-post, sorry

 

[test_account]

What are people expecting from the 2nd week sales of Splatoon?

Can't stop Minecraft? Splatoon will surpass it next week.

Slaytoon tbqh.

That wont stop Minecraft from selling like its selling.

 

[Alrus]

What are people expecting from the 2nd week sales of Splatoon?

Depends on what Nintendo shipped. Amazon is only getting a new shipment on the 6th for example...

 

[Mr Swine]

What are people expecting from the 2nd week sales of Splatoon?



That wont stop Minecraft from selling like its selling.

I think it will have a large drop, likely to sell around 35-40k in it's second week. Minecraft will sell like it does till the end of the year while I think it will slowly drop every month.

 

[Takao]

Can't stop Minecraft? Splatoon will surpass it next week.

Slaytoon tbqh.

PSV : Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition [PlayStation Store] {DL} ( Mojang ) { 2014-10-29 } - - / 268,549
PSV : Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition ( Mojang ) { 2015-03-19 } - 36,593 / 176,417
Total: 444,966

Minecraft's success in Japan on Vita is surprising for a multitude of reasons.

Fixed. There's a specific reason why all this is happening in 2015.

Konami has been out of the traditional games business for a while now. It's just amusing to see all their key staff just bail out.

 

[duckroll]

Konami has been out of the traditional games business for a while now. It's just amusing to see all their key staff just bail out.

Are they bailing out or are they being forced out? This only started happening right after they carried out the management reshuffle.