Some ppl have witnessed Dragon Quest Edition once going out of stock getting replenished without announcement (so much for "limited "edition lol) so this may be helping a little too..
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Media Create Sales: Week 5, 2015 (Jan 26 - Feb 01)
- Thread starter Chris1964
- Start date
Some ppl have witnessed Dragon Quest Edition once going out of stock getting replenished without announcement (so much for "limited "edition lol) so this may be helping a little too..
Eolz
Member
Thanks for the info!
Don't think Namco expected 100k for the original, but with this and the reception of the reboot (is AH on consoles a reboot?), it made sense to go the F2P route on PS3 (with other reasons of course).
Right. They also basically need to maintain a presence in Japan for Japanese publishers. That could change someday though.
Sectorseven
Member
Has Xbox Japan ever been profitable? Has it ever been disclosed how much they lose each year?
sörine;150566822 said:
Do they really? Maybe this was true 10 years ago, where Japanese publishers might be reluctant to sign on if there's no Japanese presence, but today we're seeing major Japanese publishers choose to not release multiplatform games on Xbox in Japan while not shying away from supporting the platform overseas. The landscape has changed so much that I think even if MS completely exited the Japanese market, big Japanese publisher would be unable to ignore the Xbox outside of Japan for AAA titles.
Media Create:
The 3DS is continuing to hold well relative to last year. The hardest comp will be next week, in which two strong Dragon Quest games have released for the last two years.
Generally speaking, if you feel someone has a bad argument, you should point out why instead of just making a snide comment, even if you feel the reason why is obvious.
Code:
Week | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | Change 2014 -> 2015 |
------------------------------------
Week 1| 279,259 | 176,555 | 153,166 | Down 13.2% |
Week 2| 92,661 | 60,154 | 57,674 | Down 4.1% |
Week 3| 81,855 | 47,438 | 44,229 | Down 6.8% |
Week 4| 75,124 | 38,229 | 35,262 | Down 7.8% |
Week 5| 77,682 | 37,462 | 36,408 | Down 2.8% |
Week 6| 127,695 | 48,308 | | |
Week 7| 97,971 | 39,716 | | |
Week 8| 74,729 | 32,151 | | |The 3DS is continuing to hold well relative to last year. The hardest comp will be next week, in which two strong Dragon Quest games have released for the last two years.
Generally speaking, if you feel someone has a bad argument, you should point out why instead of just making a snide comment, even if you feel the reason why is obvious.
Forbidden Magna is Marvelous localizing Marvelous, Atelier has a story since PS2 days. During DS and PSP, a bazillion of games were localized, and a bazillion weren't, without a direct correlation between Japanese sales or such. JRPG audience is arguably everywhere.
Problems to work with the original developer is one of the main reasons to turn away companies (other are unreasonable fees and licensing hell). Niche RPGs have sold quite well everywhere, but not every RPG sells well or is fine to be localized.
sörine;150561149 said:
Unless it is sold as a SaGa game, people will not make a connection with a SE game, published by Nintendo and properly advertised and a game that is not that appealing in the west (lacks story and many of the 1-star reviews are complaining it is not like SaGa at all). If every publisher would take the most successful game of a genre to measure the success they might have, they'd all be bankrupt by now.
Not a hentai game, published by the western branch of the developer's parent company, had a good reception in Japan, catered to an established fan base. I can't see Legend of Legacy not falling in Unchained Blades realm unless it is market as a SaGa game.
To summarize, it doesn't matter that some RPGs do well on 3DS, or Vita, or PS3, or Wii U, or Steam, or iOS, or refrigerators. Every game is different and I just don't see Legend of Legacy being an obvious choice for localization.
It will depend more on how Furyu is willing to sell it to localization companies and support them than anything else, and the fact that the company that worked with them recently has been burned out by their lack of support, I don't believe it is in the top of the priority list of any western localization company.
I have pretty good reasons to expect that Legend of Legacy will be picked up for localization, unless there are business factors beyond the game itself which get in the way. FuRyu is not a large publisher with a western branch, so there is much less red tape in terms of availability. There's actually a lack of interesting mid-tier Japanese titles to license these days in the open market, and companies like NISA, XSEED, Aksys, Atlus, etc are always competing for any such titles which aren't locked in.
It'll obviously fall behind but I'm curious about whether or not the new Dragon Quest Monsters game will be 3DS bound and what effect it would have. DQM: Joker 2 was a sales monster.
@monpiece: Why do you think it would sell bad though? I don't think you've explained why particularly well.
Obviously emulating old school (SaGa) RPGs and going after the Bravely audience worked in Japan so why couldn't it work in the west?
Generally it is what is expected, but things don't happen in a vacuum. One of the users supporting the YoY argument is the one that spent the whole 2014 calling out those who mentioned the YoY thing, often ridiculing them. Do I really need to argue with that user that YoY is not a measurement for success of failure without context?
On that note, does SaGa actually have an audience in the West?
Old mainline Final Fantasy games definitely did, but I'm not sure how SaGa sold overseas.
It's fine to specifically call users out on their own contradictions, but the thing is that to show some basic courtesy, actually going through the process of doing that is important.
Like, it's probably about three sentences and one quick user history search of effort and then no one is confused about the intent of your post or argument.
I'm honestly not sure. I was under the impression that the two games branded as FF Legends did well but that doesn't tell us much...
I'm not as polite as Nirolak, so what I'll say is that if you have a beef with someone and think they can improve their contribution to the thread, you can say so directly instead of beating around the bush. If your contribution is instead to just take pot shots and make whiny remarks without actually addressing the situation, you're just as negative an influence and that sort of thing has no fucking place in this thread.
I think I read somewhere that Xseed has had a bad relationship with FuRyu in the past, so if we do get a LoL localization it probably won't be from them.
It's not a Tales game without a 90% second week drop.
Actually seems about right then. Zestiria might get close to 400k maybe? Still probably too optimistic though.
Pennywise83
Banned
Marvelous can also decide to leave a game in Japan because it might feel it will not sell well in the West. Forbidden Magna sold badly in Japan; it's also a new IP with no reputation other than "the Rune Factory guys worked on it", and not even an particularly good game. Perhaps, there is a market that can justify even quite low numbers. That's a the fanbase Legend of Legacy might hope to reach.
It'd be nice to have the proof that FuRyu is always hard to work with. Basing an argument on the fact that *maybe* FuRyu is hard to work with, while there were just some problems in the localization of Unchained Blades on 3DS is a bit reaching.
The game already gathered some interests on Western boards -unless previous FuRyu projects; also, MC stated that the game was mainly bought by SaGa fans... Even though it is not marketed as a SaGa game in Japan either. Finally, the game is more Saga-ish than what your "many 1-star Amazon reviews" are saying.
Which established fanbase? Because I don't remember any particular PSV card-game selling well in the West.
Majora's Mask 3D is out next week, and should have a bundle, which might bring some additional units - so to be on par with last year's numbers.
I think it would sell bad because it would be like Unchained Blades. Is Unchained Blades a bad game? Not at all. So why had it failed to sell both in PSP and in 3DS?
Unless we are talking about branding the game like SaGa and other Square Enix titles (and possibly failing to deliver, as many of the criticism I have read about the game pointed out), or advertising it a lot more than the average advertisement companies like XSEED, Aksys or NISA do, I can't see it doing better than the "random" games they usually publish and don't do much.
DarkLordMalik
Member
I don't know whether these posts were real or joking but...... 3DS just received a brand new hardware and several AAA games last holiday compared to what for PSV? PSV also had a lackluster TGS. This isn't exactly shocking. What would be shocking was if 3DS started to decline at the start of year, which hasn't happened yet but is inevitable later in the year.
Well we only have XSeed's word but they seemed pretty down on them and none of FuRyu's other games have been localised. I've seen a lot of requests for Lost Dimension too.
EDIT:
Unchained Blades is an entirely different genre, with an entirely different look and target audience. The original developer is the only thing they have in common. Legend of Legacy also sold a lot better than Unchained Blades in Japan.
Orniletter
Banned
Seriously. Companies like NIS are scraping the bottom of the barrel and are localizing games like the one that shall not be named on gaf .
I think it's really, really weird how unlikely some people seem to think that a more vanilla looking JRPG thats following quite closely in the footsteps of a big success in the West....which apparently doesn't even have much dialogue to translate... will be brought over.
NIS and Aksys don't really bother with the 3DS though and XSeed only localises Marvelous games on the 3DS. Atlus has localised other companies games on 3DS though so they are a possibility.
Pennywise83
Banned
Link? I remember something on those lines, but it'd be nice to read what XSeed had to say.
I honestly expect The Legend of Legacy to be more interesting than Unchained Blades, because of the artstyle and the similarities with Bravely Default (at least in the overall presentation), which was really popular in the West. Also, Unchained Blades was a digitial only release over here, and when PSP was dying / 3DS' digital store was picking up.
Orniletter
Banned
Thats true, it would be out of their "comfort zone", thats why I think Atlus is the most likely candidate....
...but even then, Nis publishing is not that much of a stretch and unlikely as monpiece makes it sound.
michaelius
Banned
Those games aren't on 3DS. And we have no idea how good and elastic are Nintendo policies for releases on 3ds in west.
I don't think Marvelous Japan will ever say "this game didn't sell well here, so don't publish it there" if their western branch has done its market research and concluded the title will do well in the west. I think it is exactly the opposite: they prefer that the company localize an in-house title to sell 20k than a title from another developer to sell 20k.
I believe only Unchained Blades was localized, so we work with the evidence we have. It doesn't mean every time it will be bad, but it is not like companies have a good relationship with Furyu like they have with other publishers. The whole point is that if Legend of Legacy will sell as much as any other "good" RPG from their parent companies or from companies that have a good relationship with the localization companies, it will be on the bottom of the priority list. Legend of Legacy must bring something more than the average RPG they publish and I can't see it having anything more than the average RPG pulbished by these companies.
That we can work the other way around the same way to say it is worse than it looks. It is not marketed as a SaGa game because it would be illegal, but they stress the involvement of past SaGa developers.
Games don't sell only on the mechanics. CH fans were asking for it.
NISA is localizing a NIS game. The risks must be extremely low.
You might actually be right. I remember reading that they had trouble getting FuRyu to divert attention to the localisation instead of Exxiv but I can't find anything with XSeed saying that so it might have been secondhand/conjecture.
I just don't see those companies suddenly becoming interested in the 3DS four years into its life.
Pennywise83
Banned
Yep. I keep reasing this but I haven't found any source yet. And in the case, there might be an isolated situation. The fact that no other FuRyu game has been localized might be more because of the games themselves.
So there was some discussion about re-releases last week that I meant to weigh in on then, but never got around to.
I believe the four examples brought up were:
- Tales of Zesteria PS3 -> PS4 (presumed)
- Tales of Vesperia/Graces -> PS3
- Miku Diva F vs F 2nd
- Persona 3/4
I feel these are all rather different scenarios and aren't necessarily great comparison points, even though they're technically all late ports. Well, maybe they are, but more in the sense of different strategies you can take than things to do 1:1 comparison between.
1.) Tales of Zesteria PS3 -> PS4 (presumed)
This is a case where Tales is going from its best platform to its second best platform, which is not the case we've seen with other Tales recent ports (where they're usually going to better platforms). It's not unreasonable to think that the sales on PS4 would be rather marginal given how the PS4 is doing, the likelihood of how low effort the upgrade would be, and if I'm understanding these threads correctly, that Tales of Zesteria is not a very good game.
2.) Tales of Vesperia/Graces -> PS3
While this is a platform correction going from a terrible platform choice to a great platform choice for the series, I feel there's still a limit to how much you can do something like this without burning your audience who has to double dip. We also see that the game that launched first on PS3 following this trend actually had a higher LTD than either Vesperia or Graces even when combining the versions.
Tales of Xillia: 670,182
Tales of Vesperia: 408,171 + 204,305 = 612,476
(It hits 670,476 when we add in the budget re-release, but that makes notably less money per copy.)
Tales of Graces: 551,397
(585,131 with budget re-releases.)
Taking a quick look at how Xillia 2 and Zesteria are doing, Namco isn't winning a ton of devotion here. Obviously quality factors in as well, and is plausibly the stronger factor. I still think how you're treating your customers though will impact their ability to go out and buy your game on faith.
Even if we assume there's no overlap between people who bought these games on their original platforms and people who bought them on PS3, they're at best splitting the same potential audience they had just releasing on one platform to boot. Given that they're very likely hitting a lot of double dippers, they're hitting a notably lower audience every time they do this in terms of volume.
3.) Miku Diva F vs F 2nd
Despite the lower sales, I think Sega actually made the right decision here. The second game had the same opening as the first game on Vita, but it was split between the two platforms. This suggests there was likely a fair amount of overlap between people who bought the Vita and PS3 versions of the first game.
Now, the cynical perspective is that this means they should have always staggered the handheld and console releases like this to take advantage of that. However, that's what I like to call a "feels bad" situation for consumers. People who played both versions of the first game and decided they prefer the console version are now punished by either having to wait longer than necessary to play the game, or are expected to put out a lot of money to buy the same game twice. This is the kind of abusive relationship that doesn't help a franchise in the long run.
Beyond that, Sega actually is monetizing their super fans in a different way that should be a lot more amicable to all involved. The first game had a total of six DLC songs and I forget how many costumes. If you bought the PS3 version of the game, it came with those DLC songs for free due to the virtue of being a late port. For F 2nd, they instead have 10+ songs and a gazillion costumes that are sold in season passes in the West for $30 and $100 respectively, and for higher individual prices in Japan.
In this scenario, Sega gets a higher margin as they get 70% on digital revenue (let's ignore licensing fees for this example since they exist either way) and they charge a lot more for the DLC than the cost of buying the PS3 game. On the consumer end, they can pick and choose what they want, and all their money goes to new content instead of paying full retail price for six new songs they might have already bought on their Vita anyway (and would still be a horrific deal if they didn't), while also getting the game on their platform of choice.
I think if we look at this solely from a consumer packaged goods perspective, yeah that looks worse, but when we take the whole scenario into perspective, this works out better for both parties and doesn't burn the fanbase down with anti-consumer practices.
4.) Persona 3/4
Unlike Tales, Persona is a series with notably infrequent mainline releases, and the original releases were very late in the PS2's lifecycle. The situation and time gap here is such that the PS2 was very likely the correct platform for the initial releases, but as the years went by, the PSP gained a lot of the primary target audience instead, and the Vita was presumed to pick up that audience as well.
Since the series had growing popularity over time, these enhanced ports were more about capitalizing on that popularity and offering the game to new audiences instead of just making platform corrections on poor business decisions.
Now, when both the PS3 and PS4 appear to be appropriate platforms for Persona 5, we see Atlus seemingly releasing on both of them simultaneously instead of releasing a PS3 version and then expecting their audience to buy an enhanced PS4 version later. This again is the type of behavior that's actually favorable toward their fanbase instead of trying to bilk them for all they're worth, even if it might mean less money in the short term, though it doesn't have to in the DLC era.
I believe the four examples brought up were:
- Tales of Zesteria PS3 -> PS4 (presumed)
- Tales of Vesperia/Graces -> PS3
- Miku Diva F vs F 2nd
- Persona 3/4
I feel these are all rather different scenarios and aren't necessarily great comparison points, even though they're technically all late ports. Well, maybe they are, but more in the sense of different strategies you can take than things to do 1:1 comparison between.
1.) Tales of Zesteria PS3 -> PS4 (presumed)
This is a case where Tales is going from its best platform to its second best platform, which is not the case we've seen with other Tales recent ports (where they're usually going to better platforms). It's not unreasonable to think that the sales on PS4 would be rather marginal given how the PS4 is doing, the likelihood of how low effort the upgrade would be, and if I'm understanding these threads correctly, that Tales of Zesteria is not a very good game.
2.) Tales of Vesperia/Graces -> PS3
While this is a platform correction going from a terrible platform choice to a great platform choice for the series, I feel there's still a limit to how much you can do something like this without burning your audience who has to double dip. We also see that the game that launched first on PS3 following this trend actually had a higher LTD than either Vesperia or Graces even when combining the versions.
Tales of Xillia: 670,182
Tales of Vesperia: 408,171 + 204,305 = 612,476
(It hits 670,476 when we add in the budget re-release, but that makes notably less money per copy.)
Tales of Graces: 551,397
(585,131 with budget re-releases.)
Taking a quick look at how Xillia 2 and Zesteria are doing, Namco isn't winning a ton of devotion here. Obviously quality factors in as well, and is plausibly the stronger factor. I still think how you're treating your customers though will impact their ability to go out and buy your game on faith.
Even if we assume there's no overlap between people who bought these games on their original platforms and people who bought them on PS3, they're at best splitting the same potential audience they had just releasing on one platform to boot. Given that they're very likely hitting a lot of double dippers, they're hitting a notably lower audience every time they do this in terms of volume.
3.) Miku Diva F vs F 2nd
Despite the lower sales, I think Sega actually made the right decision here. The second game had the same opening as the first game on Vita, but it was split between the two platforms. This suggests there was likely a fair amount of overlap between people who bought the Vita and PS3 versions of the first game.
Now, the cynical perspective is that this means they should have always staggered the handheld and console releases like this to take advantage of that. However, that's what I like to call a "feels bad" situation for consumers. People who played both versions of the first game and decided they prefer the console version are now punished by either having to wait longer than necessary to play the game, or are expected to put out a lot of money to buy the same game twice. This is the kind of abusive relationship that doesn't help a franchise in the long run.
Beyond that, Sega actually is monetizing their super fans in a different way that should be a lot more amicable to all involved. The first game had a total of six DLC songs and I forget how many costumes. If you bought the PS3 version of the game, it came with those DLC songs for free due to the virtue of being a late port. For F 2nd, they instead have 10+ songs and a gazillion costumes that are sold in season passes in the West for $30 and $100 respectively, and for higher individual prices in Japan.
In this scenario, Sega gets a higher margin as they get 70% on digital revenue (let's ignore licensing fees for this example since they exist either way) and they charge a lot more for the DLC than the cost of buying the PS3 game. On the consumer end, they can pick and choose what they want, and all their money goes to new content instead of paying full retail price for six new songs they might have already bought on their Vita anyway (and would still be a horrific deal if they didn't), while also getting the game on their platform of choice.
I think if we look at this solely from a consumer packaged goods perspective, yeah that looks worse, but when we take the whole scenario into perspective, this works out better for both parties and doesn't burn the fanbase down with anti-consumer practices.
4.) Persona 3/4
Unlike Tales, Persona is a series with notably infrequent mainline releases, and the original releases were very late in the PS2's lifecycle. The situation and time gap here is such that the PS2 was very likely the correct platform for the initial releases, but as the years went by, the PSP gained a lot of the primary target audience instead, and the Vita was presumed to pick up that audience as well.
Since the series had growing popularity over time, these enhanced ports were more about capitalizing on that popularity and offering the game to new audiences instead of just making platform corrections on poor business decisions.
Now, when both the PS3 and PS4 appear to be appropriate platforms for Persona 5, we see Atlus seemingly releasing on both of them simultaneously instead of releasing a PS3 version and then expecting their audience to buy an enhanced PS4 version later. This again is the type of behavior that's actually favorable toward their fanbase instead of trying to bilk them for all they're worth, even if it might mean less money in the short term, though it doesn't have to in the DLC era.
Alisha was marketed as the main heroine, but she ended up being a minor character you can't play for most of the game. But they're releasing a DLC with her as the main character (free for a limited time) soon. Most people are mad their waifu got slighted.
If you read the impressions from level headed people in the import thread on here or a few threads on GameFAQs, the game has a few issues, but it's a pretty good game.
KillerMan91
Member
Western sales must be also taken in account when speaking about PS4 port of Zesteria. Xillia sold pretty well in west (230k shipped during launch quarter) and with dying PS3 they are not going to reach anywhere close to those numbers with PS3 only release.
@Nirolak: I think you touched on this with the Tales point but Namco has now poisoned the well for any Tales games on a non-Sony platform. I think even by the time Graces was announced there was already the expectation that a superior PS3 version would be announced and the game ended up being an "obvious beta". Also the time between release of Graces and announcement of Graces f was quite short.
I think it was a case of Namco trying to have their cake and eat it too and I think going forward their stuck with Sony platforms for better-or-worse.
I think it was a case of Namco trying to have their cake and eat it too and I think going forward their stuck with Sony platforms for better-or-worse.
IAmRandom31
Banned
Eventually retailers will pull it from shelves completely to make room for something that will sell
Maybe you're only reading about people complaining about the lack of Alisha which, in the overall game, is a very very minor point.
You can take a look at the import thread for more detailled feedbacks, Zestiria is a pretty good game and a huge improvement over Xillia and Xillia 2 for the most part.
The irony being that overall Xillia is the weakest game quality wise.
I also don't think that quality is the most proeminent factor, Xillia 2 was a sequel release only one year after the original and sequel selling less is something normal.
Zestiria came out years after when PS3 software sales plummeted, it may have sold less than the two previous entries but it will still probably be in the top 3 PS3 software for 2015 (below DQH and maybe OPW 3)
Hero of Legend
Member
Speaking of ports, is anyone kinda feeling we will indeed see Persona 3 on 3DS, maybe even at the event going on right now?
You got the movies coming out currently, you had P3 be half of Persona Q, and PQ did really well.
Not to mention that wasn't P3P a very scaled down version of its PS2 counterpart? Wouldn't a complete version on 3DS be very appealing?
Just for fun, isn't the main color blue in that game? Persona 3: Sapphire anyone?
You got the movies coming out currently, you had P3 be half of Persona Q, and PQ did really well.
Not to mention that wasn't P3P a very scaled down version of its PS2 counterpart? Wouldn't a complete version on 3DS be very appealing?
Just for fun, isn't the main color blue in that game? Persona 3: Sapphire anyone?
We don't know when it's supposed to be, just "Early 2015".
Hellraider
Member
Short-term? Definitely, no doubt. Long-term is what remains to be seen, though. It would be really interesting to see how n3ds affects the 4DS.
boiled goose
good with gravy
Crazy how dead the wiiu is. Third party development completely nonexistent. Complete failure of vision by iwata. The Wii success and wiiu disaster are both awesome case studies for a business course.
IAmRandom31
Banned
What does the pre-order situation look like for DQ Heroes? Is it getting some hype on the streets? Commercials?
Speaking of ports, is anyone kinda feeling we will indeed see Persona 3 on 3DS, maybe even at the event going on right now?
You got the movies coming out currently, you had P3 be half of Persona Q, and PQ did really well.
Not to mention that wasn't P3P a very scaled down version of its PS2 counterpart? Wouldn't a complete version on 3DS be very appealing?
Just for fun, isn't the main color blue in that game? Persona 3: Sapphire anyone?
I doubt they have the interest or the manpower to make a 3DS version of Persona 3. Plus I'm not sure the 4th or 5th version of the game would sell very well.
Speaking of ports, is anyone kinda feeling we will indeed see Persona 3 on Vita, maybe even at the event going on right now?
You got the movies coming out currently, you had P4G which did really well.
Not to mention that wasn't P3P a very scaled down version of its PS2 counterpart? Wouldn't a complete version on Vita be very appealing?
Just for fun, isn't the main color blue in that game? Persona 3: Indigo anyone?
You got the movies coming out currently, you had P4G which did really well.
Not to mention that wasn't P3P a very scaled down version of its PS2 counterpart? Wouldn't a complete version on Vita be very appealing?
Just for fun, isn't the main color blue in that game? Persona 3: Indigo anyone?
Ah I see. People just kept posting really negative user reviews so I didn't know if it was a small issue or a structural problem with the entire product.
I don't think that's a bad idea actually, especially since they keep including P3 in all the spin-off content.Speaking of ports, is anyone kinda feeling we will indeed see Persona 3 on Vita, maybe even at the event going on right now?
You got the movies coming out currently, you had P4G which did really well.
Not to mention that wasn't P3P a very scaled down version of its PS2 counterpart? Wouldn't a complete version on Vita be very appealing?
Just for fun, isn't the main color blue in that game? Persona 3: Indigo anyone?