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[Pristine_Condition]

I don't really see how a Japanese publisher can justify funding a PS3 game at this point.

Here's a clue: There are these thinks called cargo vessels, which are large ships designed to carry goods across the oceans to foreign lands, like Europe and North America.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

Here's a clue: There are these thinks called cargo vessels, which are large ships designed to carry goods across the oceans to foreign lands, like Europe and North America.

Only one of which does the PS3 have any relevance in.

 

[Psychotext]

On the more positive side, Wii, from lack of owner interest, lack of publisher interest, or a combination, isn't exactly running away with the traditional PS2 crowd. It is certainly in a gigantically better position to do so than the PS3, but it hasn't done it, yet.

Do we know that for sure? It's certainly selling like the PS2 did... but you think to a different market?

(Wait... are you referring to the types of games sold?)

 

[Stumpokapow]

Here's a clue: There are these thinks called cargo vessels, which are large ships designed to carry goods across the oceans to foreign lands, like Europe and North America.

... where Japanese-designed titles have not been doing a whole lot better.

Look at the PS3's mega successes. Using public data and what little leaked data I was able to scrounge in 2006 and early 2007 on various public forums (obviously quite incomplete!), the PS3 does not have a single title over 100k from a Japanese developer. The only big Japanese game I don't have data for is Ninja Gaiden Sigma, and while I'm sure that broke 100k I can't imagine it really did all that well on the overall.

Europe follows NA's software pattern pretty well except that all software is in general slightly more successful and PES did well.

Someone with more leaked data than me or a keener eye at scrutinizing public forums might be able to suggest some Japanese-developed games that did well outside Japan, but...

 

[Spiegel]

It's higher.


On the PSP software side, before MHP2G's launch, the PSP was only ahead of the 360 in software sold during the month of March (i.e. looking at how its done recently). With MHP2G's launch, it shot up to #2 behind the DS. In short, PSP software sales are as "good" as they have been lately outside of MHP2G.

I said before MHP2G's launch that if it followed the MH -> MHG trend, it would have a higher first week but a lower LTD. With this second week, the initial thought would be that it'll crush MH2P's LTD. I do wonder how much of the second week total is left over demand from it being sold out the first week, though. That would show up in a much larger than normal decline for its third week, if that is the case. However, it'll still likely beat MH2P's LTD with this kind of start.

How many (or what) PSP games were released during the end of February/March? And how many (or what) on PS3/PS2/Wii/NDS?

 

[ccbfan]

Do we know that for sure? It's certainly selling like the PS2 did... but you think to a different market?

(Wait... are you referring to the types of games sold?)

That and the fact that games bomb like games have never bombed before.

While we don't expect 50k selling games to selling one mil, we also don't expect 50k selling games to sell 5k but thats what's happening to the Wii.

 

[Mushashi]

... where Japanese-designed titles have not been doing a whole lot better.

Look at the PS3's mega successes. Using public data and what little leaked data I was able to scrounge in 2006 and early 2007 on various public forums (obviously quite incomplete!), the PS3 does not have a single title over 100k from a Japanese developer. The only big Japanese game I don't have data for is Ninja Gaiden Sigma, and while I'm sure that broke 100k I can't imagine it really did all that well on the overall.

Europe follows NA's software pattern pretty well except that all software is in general slightly more successful and PES did well.

Someone with more leaked data than me or a keener eye at scrutinizing public forums might be able to suggest some Japanese-developed games that did well outside Japan, but...

Not even RR7? shipped data is at 350K for US/EU.

 

[Pachael]

I think Sonic PS3 would have hit 100K US/EU for sure, considering the 'strength' of the Sonic brand.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Not even RR7? shipped data is at 350K for US/EU.

I have RR7 just shy of 100k for a secret amount of months between 3 and 6 based on public data and leaked data posted on public forums. It's almost certainly passed 100k since then. As you say, however--350k for US and EU, <100k for Japan. Do we really think that 450k is profitable for a PS3 game?

Possibly for Ridge Racer because really it was a low budget game that cribbed pretty shamelessly from RR6, but not for many titles.

I think Sonic PS3 would have hit 100K US/EU for sure, considering the 'strength' of the Sonic brand.

I have it at around 65k for a secret amount of months between 2 and 5 based on public data and leaked data posted on public forums. It has probably although not certainly passed 100k since then.

Sonic was probably profitable as a port, but if you disregard the 360 release, you're looking at sub-300k worldwide number for a ground-up next-gen game with a multi-million dollar advertising budget. That's not a kind number.

I'd say a lot of these Japanese products will end up long-run profitable, but the waters are not currently very warm for a Japanese developed looking to do a PS3-exclusive title. It's no surprise to me that more Japanese developers are opting towards multi-platform titles or targetting their games towards a Western audience in an attempt to capture as much of the US/EU market as possible.

The question is where do you go from here? SEGA took a gamble with Yakuza 3--that appears to have paid off even if the game wasn't anything near as successful as the first two, but other than that almost no high profile third party Japanese PS3 exclusives exist so far.

MGS4 I think will be significant for that reason.

 

[donny2112]

How many (or what) PSP games were released during the end of February/March? And how many (or what) on PS3/PS2/Wii/NDS?

I hope you're not trying to use the "less games of course means less sales" excuse. There's good reason why that doesn't hold, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt here. This is the list of all the games released since the February monthly that fall within the March monthly that we've gotten some sales info for.

PSP

PSP Monster Hunter Portable 2G
PSP Tales of Rebirth
PSP Code Geass
PSP Echochrome
PSP Need for Speed: ProStreet
PSP Umihara Kawase Portable
PSP My Stylist
PSP Tomb Raider: Anniversary
PSP Dead Head Fred


NDS

NDS Pokemon Ranger: Batonnage
NDS Beautiful Letter Training DS
NDS Soma Bringer
NDS SimCity DS 2: Kodai kara Mirai e Tsuduku Machi
NDS Mobile Suit Gundam 00
NDS Dramatic Dungeon: Sakura Taisen - Kimi Arugatame
NDS Doraemon: Nobita to Midori no Kyojinden DS
NDS Chou-Gekijou-Ban Keroro Gunsou 3: Tenkuu Daibouken de Arimasu!
NDS Akagawa Jirou Mystery: Yasoukyoku
NDS Shugo Chara! 3-tsu no Tamagoto Koisuru Joker
NDS Crayon Shin-Chan: Arashi o Yobu Cinema Land
NDS Hayate no Gotoku! Ojousama Produce Daisakusen Boku Iro ni Somare! Oyashiki-Hen/Gakkou-Hen
NDS Time Hollow
NDS Vitamin X Evolution
NDS Lux Pain
NDS Home Teacher Hitman Reborn! DS
NDS Super Dodgeball Brawlers
NDS Kekkaishi: Kokubourou Shuurai
NDS Rosario to Vampire
NDS Duel Love: Koisuru Otome wa Shouri no Megami
NDS Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword
NDS Tetsudou Seminar: JR-Hen
NDS Puchi Eva: Evangelion @ Game
NDS Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
NDS Hana to Taiyou to Ame to - Owaranai Rakuen- (Flowers and Sun and Rain …)
NDS Bangai-O Spirits
NDS Kantan! Tanoshii! Okashi Navi DS
NDS Contra: Dual Spirits (Contra 4)
NDS DS Dengeki Bunkou ADV: Baccano!
NDS Kage Densetsu: The Legend of Kage 2
NDS YS I/II
NDS Bakousou Dekotora Densetsu Black
NDS Kachou Shima Kousaku DS: Dekiru Otoko no Love & Success
NDS Zoo Tycoon 2
NDS Spider-Man 3
NDS Jigsaw Puzzle DS: DS de Meguru Sekai Isan no Tabi


360 (Below PSP before MHP2G)

360 The Idolm@ster: Live for You!
360 Armored Core: For Answer
360 Army of Two
360 Dark Sector
360 Raiden Fighters Aces
360 WarTech: Senko no Ronde (BEST)
360 Rainbow Six: Vegas (BEST)
360 Tomb Raider: Anniversary
360 Need for Speed: ProStreet
360 Call of Juarez
360 Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions of WWII
360 Skate


PS3 (Above PSP before MHP2G)

PS3 Yakuza 3: Kenzan!
PS3 Armored Core: For Answer
PS3 Army of Two
PS3 Winning Post 7 Maximum 2008
PS3 Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
PS3 Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
PS3 Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions of WWII
PS3 Skate


Wii (Well ahead in second before MHP2G)

WII Deca Sporta: Wii de Sports 10 Shumoku!
WII Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
WII General Knowledge Training TV
WII The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return
WII Zenkoku Dekotora Matsuri
WII Family Jockey
WII Choro Q Wii
WII Winning Post 7 Maximum 2008
WII Tomb Raider: Anniversary
WII Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
WII Uchi Tsuri! Sega Bass Fishing
WII Baroque
WII Nobunaga no Yabou: Kakushin with Power-Up Kit


PS2 (Comfortably in third before MHP2G)

PS2 Gundam Musou Special
PS2 Daito Giken Koushiki Pachi-Slot Simulator: Shin Yoshimune
PS2 Code Geass
PS2 Guilty Gear Accent Core Plus
PS2 12Riven: The Psi-Climinal of Integral
PS2 Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de: Otsukae Nikki
PS2 Nobunaga no Yabou: Kakushin with Power-Up Kit
PS2 Final Approach 2: 1st Priority
PS2 Winning Post 7 Maximum 2008
PS2 Naraku no Shiro
PS2 Elminage: Yami no Fujo to Kamigami no Yubiwa
PS2 Tomb Raider: Anniversary
PS2 Neo Angelique Full Voice
PS2 Tori no Hoshi: Aerial Planet
PS2 Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
PS2 Nobunaga no Yabou Online: Souha no Shou

That and the fact that games bomb like games have never bombed before.

Hyperbole much? :lol

 

[Busaiku]

Accent Core Plus is PS2.

 

[donny2112]

Accent Core Plus is PS2.

Thank you. For 3/24-30, I was using the Top 30 from this thread, which had it listed as a PSP game.

 

[Spiegel]

I hope you're not trying to use the "less games of course means less sales" excuse. There's good reason why that doesn't hold, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt here. This is the list of all the games released since the February monthly that fall within the March monthly that we've gotten some sales info for.

I'm saying that it's possible PSP was 5º before MHP2G because:

NDS - A lot of new releases + Nintendo games with monstruous legs like Mario Kart/NSMB, M & S
Wii - Smash Bros selling well + Nintendo games with monstruous legs like Wii Fit/Wii Sports/Wii Play
PS2 - Gundam
PS3 - Yakuza 3
PSP- No high profile game + few new releases

Yeah, psp games aren't selling great but it's not helping that there are few new releases

And thanks for the data donny

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

Yeah, psp games aren't selling great but it's not helping that there are few new releases

There's a pretty strong possibility these two things are related somehow.

 

[Spiegel]

There's a pretty strong possibility these two things are related somehow.

Of course, but I think that the new releases are doing good or not worse than they would do on PS2/Wii/NDS

 

[ccbfan]

The PSP:slim is basically like a brand new system in Japan.

PSPhat to PSP SLim is a lot like GCN to Wii.

The first failed and the 2nd is having a lot of success.

Both the Slim and Wii have very little major 3rd party games because of poor history. Unlike the PSP though, Nintendo didn't abandon the Wii like Sony did.

 

[jeremy1456]

Impossible to be sure obviously. But I suspect it.

It IS possible to be sure that it's seriously not going to happen.

 

[Stumpokapow]

The PSP:slim is basically like a brand new system in Japan.

PSPhat to PSP SLim is a lot like GCN to Wii.

The first failed and the 2nd is having a lot of success.

That's a pretty poor analogy given that the reason for the Wii's real success versus the GameCube's real failure is not the reason for the PSP Slim's "success" versus the PSP Phat's "failure".

Both the Slim and Wii have very little major 3rd party games because of poor history. Unlike the PSP though, Nintendo didn't abandon the Wii like Sony did.

With the Cube, people just didn't make software from the get-go. The third-party software that WAS made did alright. The reason why the Wii is slow on the uptake is because the toolset and development flow required for the Wii just wasn't established at most developers who had licenced or developed engines and tech for the PS3/360 and were gearing up to use them. So, one-two-three punch: no experience and difficult to switch because they never tried.

The Slim doesn't have support because companies tried and failed on the Phat. It'd be simple for them to make games again, the toolsets and flows are still there, and plenty of people have experience with the architecture. The only strike against the PSP Slim is that both the PSP Slim and the PSP Phat have done poorly in terms of software. The Slim's marginal improvement in weekly software performance doesn't come anywhere near matching its astronomical improvement in hardware performance.

 

[gconsole]

I don't think people quite understand that MH on conoles =/= MH on the PSP.
MH was a good seller, but before the PSP, not all that amazing.

Before, MHP, the series hadn't cracked 300k (going by Moor-Angol's site).
After MHP, with MH2, it did 577k (probably around 600k by now). That's definitely a great number, but nowhere near as great as the numbers the MHP games have pulled.
I don't see why any future MH game would do quite as well, especially on the Wii or PS3 (which haven't been able to live up to PS2 software numbers yet).

Even with this fact. The game will push PS3 in some way (more or less). It's not like Sony is in a good position now to not in talk with Capcom to release MH on PS3. MH on PS3 is better than MH on Wii (for Sony).

 

[donny2112]

PSP- No high profile game + few new releases

There's MHP2 as a high profile game, but outside of the Monster Hunter's and Crisis Core, there aren't really any other high profile games. In fact outside of those four, no game has sold > 400K according to Famitsu. That is, strangely enough, the same barrier that no game on PS3 has cracked, yet. Weird.

And thanks for the data donny

You're welcome.

<competitor's console exclusive> on <console I care about> is better than <competitor's console exclusive> on <competitor's console> (for <manufacturer of console I care about>).

Fixed for completeness.

 

[Opiate]

Monster Hunter 3 (regardless of the home system it landed on) was clearly going to cause some confusion when predicting its sales; the rise of the series is directly tied to its movement to the PSP.

The question, then, is what caused the rise in sales? Did the series get more popular (which it definitely has, as MHP2G will now sell more than MHP2 did, and MHP2 sold more than MHP1) or is it just more palatable for handheld owners?

I think the answer is both.

 

[Mushashi]

I have RR7 just shy of 100k for a secret amount of months between 3 and 6 based on public data and leaked data posted on public forums. It's almost certainly passed 100k since then. As you say, however--350k for US and EU, <100k for Japan. Do we really think that 450k is profitable for a PS3 game?

Possibly for Ridge Racer because really it was a low budget game that cribbed pretty shamelessly from RR6, but not for many titles.

Do you know how sales compare to RR6?

 

[kassatsu]

The question, then, is what caused the rise in sales? Did the series get more popular (which it definitely has, as MHP2G will now sell more than MHP2 did, and MHP2 sold more than MHP1) or is it just more palatable for handheld owners?

Ding Ding Ding.

 

[Polari]

Why do they need to do this?

They don't need to, but if they want to ensure the DS has the longest possible lifespan and keeps drawing third parties away from PSP, it's a good move.

 

[Innotech]

DS has 22 million units in Japan. thats more than even Ps2 mustered. If it didnt sell a unit more at this point it would still be massively successful. DQ series isnt going to PSP with those kinds of numbers. DQ always went to the syste that sold the most. DS is only a couple hundred thousand units down YTD from PSP at worst right now, and thats not nearly enough of a "defeat" to consider putting Squares biggest franchise on a handheld that really doesnt sell much software outside of that one successful franchise. Lets be logical here.

 

[Jasoncheng]

delete

 

[Hammer24]

When exactly is golden week this year?
There is some hardware on the charts that definitely needs it...

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

After MHP, with MH2, it did 577k (probably around 600k by now). That's definitely a great number, but nowhere near as great as the numbers the MHP games have pulled.
I don't see why any future MH game would do quite as well, especially on the Wii or PS3 (which haven't been able to live up to PS2 software numbers yet).

After Monster Hunter Portable took off, Monster Hunter 2 did much better than the previous entries. It nearly caught up to the PSP game, but didn't have the same continuing legs. If MHP's increase in series popularity gave MH2 a boost, it's possible MHP2 and MHP2G's even greater successes will give MH3 an even greater boost.

Even with this fact. The game will push PS3 in some way (more or less). It's not like Sony is in a good position now to not in talk with Capcom to release MH on PS3. MH on PS3 is better than MH on Wii (for Sony).

This is a discussion they already had, and probably didn't go the way they hoped. It was announced for PS3. Then it was reannounced for Wii.

 

[Jokeropia]

DS is only a couple hundred thousand units down YTD from PSP at worst right now

By Media Create it's ~50k down, by Famitsu it's ~150k up. (Not including this week's numbers.)