Dynasty Warriors sales in Japan
Dynasty Warriors (Shin Sangoku Musou) is a series of Hack-n-slash action games started by Koei and created by Omega Force. It draws inspiration from the historical novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, entailing the epic struggle of power between three kingdoms in ancient China. The series originally started as a 3D fighting game adaptation of the Romance of the Three Kingdom strategy series. When the developers wanted to port the fighting game to the PlayStation 2, they had second thoughts due to the fighting game boom at the time. To make themselves stand out, they envisioned a battlefield scenario and focused on the prospect of the player working with a team to fight against several opponents at once. After they decided to incorporate more elements from the Three Kingdoms era, it eventually became the hack-and-slash hit that it's known for today. To establish a distinct difference between the first release of the series, the word "true" (shin) was inserted for the second title. Hence, the Japanese title for Dynasty Warriors 3 is actually Shin Sangoku Musou 2 and so on.
As mentioned above, the first Dynasty Warriors game for PS1 was a 3D one on one fighting game. The game contained 10 playable characters with an additional 6 bonus characters that could be unlocked using various methods. The first game wasn't quite seen as a success for KOEI and this prompted them to work on a better sequel which led to the 1 vs 1000 type game we all know and love today. Dynasty Warriors for the PlayStation 1 shipped 110,000 units in Japan.
Koei released Dynasty Warriors 2 in Japan as one of the first PS2 games on August 8th 2000. The game was also a launch game for the North American and European PS2 launch. It departed from the VS fighter style of the previous game and started the dynamic battlefield gameplay that is the series staple to this day. To represent this change in focus, the game was named differently in Japan adding the Shin, making the title Shin Sangoku Musou, literally meaning "Real - Unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms". The Dynasty Warriors name was kept in the west, leading to the number discrepancies between the international releases and Asian titles.
Dynasty Warriors 2 opened with fairly good sales and maintained a steady selling pace in Japan as the PS2 userbase grew. KOEI shipped 340,000 units of Dynasty Warriors 2 (a BEST version was released with 10k additional sales) and under 500,000 units overseas. The success of Dynasty Warriors 2 and it's hack and slash style gameplay led to the release of many sequels and spin off games.
After the success of Dynasty Warriors 2 worldwide, KOEI set their sights on a sequel and released Dynasty Warriors 3 in Japan on September 20th 2001 for PS2 and Xbox. Dynasty Warriors 3 is widely regarded as one of the best Dynasty Warriors games of all time and is known to have one of the hardest AI enemies. Dynasty Warriors 3 introduced new elements such as players being able to collect and equip various items and weapons. The game also introduced many other new features.
Dynasty Warriors 3 shot to the top of the sales charts in Japan during it's first week on sale by selling through over 250,000 units in it's first week. Sales of the game kept up over the year. In just under four months, over 1 million copies of Dynasty Warriors 3 had been sold in North America and Japan combined and made it the first of KOEI's games to pass one million sales on a single platform and making it a platinum title. Not only that but it topped the sales charts for five consecutive weeks and, according to Famitsu Weekly, it was ranked the 9th best selling game of 2001 in Japan. Dynasty Warriors 3 eventually went on to sell over 2 million units worldwide with 1,100,000 of those units being sold in Japan. On March 6, 2003, Dynasty Warriors 3 received Animation Magazine's "Best Overall Game Animation" award. This was Koei's first award for a Dynasty Warriors game.
After the success of Dynasty Warriors 3, KOEI released their first expansion to the game under the title "Dynasty Warriors 3: Xtreme Legends". The game launched as a PS2 exclusive in Japan and expanded on the original game. Xtreme Legends added several new features to Dynasty Warriors 3, including new items and the ability to fully customize bodyguards. Xtreme Legends also included a Musou Mode for the playable characters who did not belong to either Wu, Wei, or Shu (Diao Chan, Lu Bu, Zhang Jiao, Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao, Zhu Rong and Meng Huo). Xtreme Legends also allowed players to obtain a fifth-level weapon for each character and added two new difficulty levels: Beginner and Expert. The game sold through over 280,000 units during it's first week on sale in Japan and shipped 760,000 units lifetime.
In addition to the huge succes of Dynasty Warriors 3 and Dynasty Warriors 3 XL on PS2, Koei has published over 400,000 copies (as of 15th January 2002) of its strategy guide for this title - "Dynasty Warriors 3 Complete Guide, Vols 1 & 2". This is the highest figure ever for a book published by Koei.
Due to the huge success of Dynasty Warriors 3 and XL, Omega Force began development on the sequel, Dynasty Warriors 4, and its expansions. Dynasty Warriors 4 for PS2 launched on February 27th 2003 in Japan to a huge launch week of over 720,000 sales. The game went on to sell over 1 million units in just it's first 9 days on sale becoming the best selling Dynasty Warriors games in Japan and one of the best selling PS2 games of all time in Japan. According to Famitsu, Dynasty Warriors 4 shipped 1,250,000 units in Japan making it the 7th best selling PS2 game of all time.
Sales overseas were great as well and just like Dynasty Warriors 3, the game ended up selling over 2 million units worldwide with the game getting a Greatest Hits release in the USA due to the popularity and great sales figures. Koei followed up Dynasty Warriors 4 with two spin offs on consoles, Xtreme Legends and Empires. Dynasty Warriors 4 Xtreme Legends shipped 580,000 units in Japan and Dynasty Warriors 4 Empires shipped 320,000 units in Japan. The Dynasty Warriors 4 series of games in Japan shipped over 2 million units combined.
Dynasty Warriors 5 was released on the 24th of February 2005 on PS2 and Xbox. The game once again shot to the top of the charts selling over 560,000 units during it's first week on sale in Japan. Dynasty Warriors 5 was another successful game developed by KOEI's Omega Force development studio shipping over 1.1m units worldwide in it's first month. The game eventually shipped 950,000 units in Japan and over 1.5m units worldwide as of March 31st 2006. The game saw 2 spin offs in the form of Xtreme Legends and Empires. Due to the number of years that Dynasty Warriors 5 was out and sold for, the game's characters, visuals, and fighting style are also the most publicized versions to date. KOEI published a lot of related media incuding a trading card pack, mini replica weapons and characters, an eight volume fanbook publication, official guide books and a comic series.
Dynasty Warriors 5 Xtreme Legends released exclusively on PS2 in Japan on the 15th of September 2005. The game had a fairly good opening and was able to ship 400,000 units in Japan lifetime. KOEI also released a version of DW5XL for Xbox 360 under the name Dynasty Warriors 5: Special which combined the original game and Xtreme Legends spin off into one package. The game did not sell well with around 10,000 units sold through. Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires sold through 150,000 units in Japan lifetime.
Dynasty Warriors 6 was the true next gen Dynasty Warriors game releasing on November 11th 2007 in Japan for PS3 and Xbox. Dynasty Warriors 6 is a total revamp from previous games and has been rebuilt from the ground up. Koei planned to make this game feel like an old kung-fu action movie as the attacks are motion-captured by real life martial artists. The game was met with a mixed reception and failed to sell well with reviewers or consumers. Though the game was designed to be released exclusively for next-gen consoles, the company decided to release a PlayStation 2 version of the title.
Dynasty Warriors 6 opened to fairly mediocre sales of 210,000 units across PS3 and Xbox 360. The PS3 version was bundled with the 40GB PS3 variant at the time. Dynasty Warriors 6 went on to sell 480,000 units across PS3 and Xbox 360 in Japan. Dynasty Warriors 6 Special was released in Japan on the PS2 as a way to cater for fans of the series who had yet to upgrade to next gen. The game sold a fairly solid 250,000 units in Japan giving Dynasty Warriors 6 a total of ~730,000 units sold across PS3/PS2 and Xbox 360. The game shipped over 830,000 units in the first 5 months and over 1 million units worldwide in the first year.
Dynasty Warriors 6 only saw one spin off which was Empires. The game was released on PS3 and Xbox 360 only and did not see a PS2 release. In Japan the game did not sell too well with an attach rate of under 40% compared to the original game. KOEI shipped 190,000 units of the game in Japan and over 500,000 units worldwide. A PSP version of the game was released which shipped 50,000 units.
Dynasty Warriors 7 was released on March 11th 2011 in Japan to celebrate the 10th anniversary since the start of the Shin Sangoku Musou series. Everything has been stated to be revamped, from characters, stories, and weapon system. The theme for this title is to present a "seamless, cinematic one-versus-thousand" game. The producer replied he wants to continue making a focused, dramatic narrative with character stories in the series. He is also stringent on stating the game is not a complete abolishment of the sixth title nor the complete return of the fifth title. This game was devised to be an "entirely new system", and that the final product is their end result of several experiments and repeated trials for their product.
Dynasty Warriors 7 was a PS3 exclusive in Japan and sold 260,000 units during it's first week on sale (Compared to 180,000 for DW6 on PS3). The game went on to sell through 495,000 units in Japan and over 1 million worldwide across PS3 and Xbox 360. KOEI released a number of spin off games, the first one was Dynasty Warriors 7: Special for the PSP which sold 85,000 units in Japan. Dynasty Warriors 7: Xtreme Legends sold 160,000 units in Japan and Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires sold 140,000 units in Japan. In total, the Dynasty Warriors 7 series and spin offs shipped over 880,000 units in Japan.
Dynasty Warriors 8, which was released on February 28 2013 in Japan, has been dubbed the ultimate Dynasty Warriors experience by KOEI as it builds on the base of Dynasty Warriors 7 and includes over 80 playable characters, an all new lighting system, upgraded graphics and unique movesets for everyone. Just like Dynasty Warriors 7, the game was launched as a PS3 exclusive in Japan. The game recieved fairly good reviews and has been said to be a true return to form for the series.
Sales for the game were not as good as previous games, KOEI sold through 210,000 units in it's first week and shipped 400,000 units lifetime to date. So far KOEI have shipped over 650,000 units worldwide. November 28th 2013 saw the release of Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends for PS3 and PS Vita. So far the game has sold through over 100,000 units combined. I would expect KOEI to sell through around 140,000 units on PS3 and Vita. The game will also release overseas this spring on PS3/PSV and PS4. Japan will also get the PS4 version on February 2014.
So there you have it. Dynasty Warriors sales in Japan. Phew.
Portable Releases
The Dynasty Warriors series had proved very popular on home consoles shipping over 7 million units worldwide as of October 2004. KOEI decided to branch out and release the multi-million selling series on portable console. Dynasty Warriors Vol 1 was released for PSP on the 16th of December 2004 and shipped 300,000 units lifetime. A sequel was released on 23rd of March 2006 which did not fare as well just shipping 60,000 units in Japan. KOEI also released Dynasty Warriors Advance for the GBA which shipped 50,000 units. Dynasty Warriors DS shipped 30,000 units in Japan.
Due to the drop in sales on portable consoles, KOEI developed a new type of game for PSP under the name "Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce. The game shipped 395,000 units in Japan proving to be a huge succces, The HD re-release also shipped around 120,000 units in Japan and this prompted the release of Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce 2 which did not perform as successfully shipping under 150,000 units across PSP and PS3. KOEI took advantage of the new PSV and N3DS and released Dynasty Warriors Next for PSV which shipped 110,000 units in Japan. Dynasty Warriors VS sold through around 50,000+ units on 3DS.
