• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Media Create Sales: Week 8, 2015 (Feb 16 - Feb 22)

Darius

Banned
530k + Metal Slime bundles + Digital sales taking it closer to 600k for the first week isn't terrible I suppose. Will be interesting to see if it has any legs at all.

The bundles launched last year and sold for several weeks, therefore also the licenses for the game, adding them to the 1st week sales of the retail copy is simply incorrect. You can add them to the lifetime sales if you want to.
 
Nice debut.

It couldn't beat One Piece Warriors debut (627k) but it could beat all the other recent Musou; it's DQ after all, and the first DQ game on Sony platforms since 2006.
 

sense

Member
The bundles launched last year and sold for several weeks, therefore also the licenses for the game, adding them to the 1st week sales of the retail copy is simply incorrect. You can add them to the lifetime sales if you want to.
Why not? It is still a sale for the game and it was only available a day early for those buyers. Unless you thought people not interested in dq bought those bundles they are still like preorders for a game
 

Amir0x

Banned
I hope that DQ Heroes gets people in Japan moderately more interested in next-gen consoles despite the PS3 version being there. Obviously Dragon Quest XI will do the rest of the walk.

But I suspect that PS3 version will greatly undercut the PS4 version. Still, hope that we get a nice unit boost for PS4 for two weeks or so.
 

Darius

Banned
Why not? It is still a sale for the game and it was only available a day early for those buyers. Unless you thought people not interested in dq bought those bundles they are still like preorders for a game

More like why do you insist in counting them for the same period, when in fact the bundles including the licenses launched last year and sold at retail for several weeks.
 

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
So this is the marker the ps4 standalone sku has to beat.

Thats not how it works. Or are you suggesting that Nintendo and SE have had the same expectations when it comes to DQ Heroes and Hyrule Warriors ?
 
My power level is 530.000 units

873ddfc9.png
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=154195106&postcount=608

Comg deliver once again. Third tracker to be honest.
 

lherre

Accurate
More like why do you insist in counting them for the same period, when in fact the bundles including the licenses launched last year and sold at retail for several weeks.

Because they didn't count that week as a "software sale", only as a hardware sale.

And I think this is not the first time this occurs.
 

duckroll

Member
So this is the marker the ps4 standalone sku has to beat.

There isn't much connection between these two releases. It's not a comparison at all. What the PS4 SKU of DQH is competing with essentially is itself, at least if we're looking for a positive result for the PS4 platform.

With 530k sales, a 2:1 ratio (Yakuza Ishin) would mean almost 180k for the PS4 alone. And that would be a pretty bad result because it means lots of people are still sticking to the PS3. A ratio of 1.5:1 (MGS:GZ) would give the PS4 about 210k sales, which is better but not super encouraging, considering the stronger PS4 line-up in these 2-3 months. If it manages to be a close 1:1 tie, or if somehow the PS4 version outsells the PS3 one, that would be a super positive outlook for the PS4.
 
If it manages to be a close 1:1 tie, or if somehow the PS4 version outsells the PS3 one, that would be a super positive outlook for the PS4.

very unlikely, both Tsutaya and Comgnet (and I'd also add Amazon) are showing that the PS3 version sold more than the PS4 one
I would be very surprised if the PS3 version sell less than 300k, and 300k is too much for just a million userbase as PS4
 

duckroll

Member
very unlikely, both Tsutaya and Comgnet (and I'd also add Amazon) are showing that the PS3 version sold more than the PS4 one
I would be very surprised if the PS3 version sell less than 300k, and 300k is too much for just a million userbase as PS4

I agree it's unlikely, but that's the sort of sales the PS4 needs eventually to be able to sustain itself as a platform. If people aren't moving over, then it will continue to hold publishers back from committing to current-gen for anything other than games which require the highest technical specs. Since we're talking about Japan, there aren't many of those!

If DQH ends up selling 500-600k on PS3 and 200k on PS4, and MGS5 does the same, that is unfortunately not a very encouraging outlook. The important thing about these few months in Japan is that there are a lot of PS4 titles including Bloodborne, and there are more on the horizon. If people don't jump on right now, then it's likely that there won't be another big window of excitement for a while, maybe not until the end of this year or early next year.
 

Chris1964

Sales-Age Genius
I agree it's unlikely, but that's the sort of sales the PS4 needs eventually to be able to sustain itself as a platform. If people aren't moving over, then it will continue to hold publishers back from committing to current-gen for anything other than games which require the highest technical specs. Since we're talking about Japan, there aren't many of those!

If DQH ends up selling 500-600k on PS3 and 200k on PS4, and MGS5 does the same, that is unfortunately not a very encouraging outlook. The important thing about these few months in Japan is that there are a lot of PS4 titles including Bloodborne, and there are more on the horizon. If people don't jump on right now, then it's likely that there won't be another big window of excitement for a while, maybe not until the end of this year or early next year.

530k first week means something like 300k+ for PS3 and 200k- for PS4. 500k/300k looks like a possible LTD.

I wouldn't expect big difference at split for Yakuza Zero comparing to Ishin. Maybe 10-20% better.
 

Kyoufu

Member
They should delay the PS3 versions to push impatient consumers into buying the PS4 version. Do this with MGSV and see how it goes!
 

duckroll

Member
530k first week means something like 300k+ for PS3 and 200k- for PS4. 500k/300k looks like a possible LTD.

I wouldn't expect big difference at split for Yakuza Zero comparing to Ishin. Maybe 10-20% better.

I was referring to LTD, yes. For FW I'm expecting something like 350k/150k at this point, which isn't great at all for the PS4. Maybe if there is actual momentum though, the PS4 version of these games will have a bit more legs, especially after Bloodborne comes out. I dunno, it's hard to have a very positive outlook on consoles in Japan these days! :(

They should delay the PS3 versions to push impatient consumers into buying the PS4 version. Do this with MGSV and see how it goes!

Who is "they" though? Publishers who are still releasing games on PS3 clearly don't have that much confidence in the short term success of the PS4 over the PS3. So they have no reason to artificially push people to the PS4 more than they've already done by offering the games on the PS4 to begin with.
 
I agree it's unlikely, but that's the sort of sales the PS4 needs eventually to be able to sustain itself as a platform. If people aren't moving over, then it will continue to hold publishers back from committing to current-gen for anything other than games which require the highest technical specs. Since we're talking about Japan, there aren't many of those!

If DQH ends up selling 500-600k on PS3 and 200k on PS4, and MGS5 does the same, that is unfortunately not a very encouraging outlook. The important thing about these few months in Japan is that there are a lot of PS4 titles including Bloodborne, and there are more on the horizon. If people don't jump on right now, then it's likely that there won't be another big window of excitement for a while, maybe not until the end of this year or early next year.

No, wait, I thought you were meaning first week, not LTD...
Absolutely 300k LTD for PS4 version is doable, in the next weeks the userbase will grow up rapidly, but considering the huge difference in userbase between PS3 and PS4, I think it's hard to see both versions selling the same or similar numbers (and I mean a tie ratio less than 2:1)

Around people jumping on the ship, as I said some page before, the games which can give a real boost to sales are BloodBorne and FF Type 0, which are exclusive to PS4 and not multi with PS3 (ok, Type 0 is also planned for XB1, but who cares?)
So I consider more important the result of that couple of games than DQH or even MGSV, in the short time obviously.
In the second half of the year I presume the gap in sales between PS3/PS4 games will gradually decrease and for that time I hope to see more PS4 exclusives and less multiplatform titles.
Ok people might be lazy to jump on PS4 but also publishers have to put an end to PS3/PS4 titles, giving to the customers a good reason to buy a PS4 and forget their lovely PS3.
 

Darius

Banned
Because they didn't count that week as a "software sale", only as a hardware sale.

And I think this is not the first time this occurs.

They won´t count these bundle sales that had been sold since last year for last weeks sales period either, at best we´ll get seperate numbers for liftetime sales, but I doubt they´ll simply add these units to the upcoming weekly sales-chart retroactively.

If you want to use this excuse of "they didn´t count them back then as software sales" because they simply gave us the 1st week numbers for the bundle, why should they count them now? And if they don´t, what exactly is your point then? Anyway it is just a matter of beeing more precise and honest. Is it really that hard to use the correct term instead?

It´s really a banality but things that sold in different periods (especially if sold for a period of several weeks) can´t be combined for 1st week sales, as lifetime sales sure. Don´t see the point in ignoring or worsening the available information, by mixing different periods and trying to sell them as 1st weeks sales. But it seems some feel the need to put a further positive spin, even at the cost of beeing wrong and incorrect.
 

L~A

Member
Pretty sure Media Create will have the number of pre-week 1 sales in their weekly report at the end of the week. Well, I hope so anyway.
 
It's a Dragon Quest game, you can't say that.

Musou games based on popular IPs tend to be frontloaded (see One Piece, Hokuto no Ken, Hyrule Warriors); also, recent DQ games did not have much legs, even if they were on Nintendo platforms (DMQ3D2 437k FW / 756k LTD; DQVIIR 836k FW / 1.2m LTD). DQX had better legs but also a tiny FW compared to Heroes and it was hugely undershipped. Other less recent home DQ had terrible legs as well (DQ Swords: 300k FW / 500k LTD; DQ Victory: 150k FW, 340k LTD -better legs but mainly because of bargain bins IIRC).
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
I think a PS3:pS4 ratio bigger than 2 in favour of the former for DQH's sales is too high as an estimate. It's probably more between 1.5 and 2, with higher chances of it being nearer to 2.

Put it in numbers:

Dragon Quest Heroes PS3 - 318,000 < x < 353,000
Dragon Quest Heroes PS4 - 177,000 < x < 212,000
 

test_account

XP-39C²
Pretty sure Media Create will have the number of pre-week 1 sales in their weekly report at the end of the week. Well, I hope so anyway.
Yeah, i would be surprised if they dont give any info regarding that. I'm also kinda arguing with myself if i want them to add the numbers to the 1st week or not for easier sales data history, because as someone else mentioned above, its possible to pre-order games in general a longer time before a release date, and those are counted as first week sales. From what i know, its not like that the bundle was sold at a heavy discount, making the game more appealing back then. But as long as we get to know the total sales, that is the most important thing to me.
 
At least when calculating the split for sale of DQH between PS3 and PS4, shouldn't be more fair to add to the PS4 numbers the copies bundled with the silver PS4. I suppose these are about 50k or more gamers that were probably going to buy a PS4 copy day 1 anyway, don't you think?
 

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
At least when calculating the split for sale of DQH between PS3 and PS4, shouldn't be more fair to add to the PS4 numbers the copies bundled with the silver PS4. I suppose these are about 50k or more gamers that were probably going to buy a PS4 copy day 1 anyway, don't you think?

I agree. hopefully we'll get the exact number from some of the publisher involved?
 

test_account

XP-39C²
At least when calculating the split for sale of DQH between PS3 and PS4, shouldn't be more fair to add to the PS4 numbers the copies bundled with the silver PS4. I suppose these are about 50k or more gamers that were probably going to buy a PS4 copy day 1 anyway, don't you think?
Yeah, i think that is a fair guess.


I agree. hopefully we'll get the exact number from some of the publisher involved?
I hope so, but i think its more likely that the publisher will give out a total shipped/sold-to-stores number instead.
 

Darius

Banned
Yeah, i would be surprised if they dont give any info regarding that. I'm also kinda arguing with myself if i want them to add the numbers to the 1st week or not for easier sales data history, because as someone else mentioned above, its possible to pre-order games in general a longer time before a release date, and those are counted as first week sales. From what i know, its not like that the bundle was sold at a heavy discount, making the game more appealing back then. But as long as we get to know the total sales, that is the most important thing to me.

The confusion is unnecessary, people that bought the bundle bought the complete package including the license, the transaction was already done, the product (the hardware and the license) already bought and in your possession, only the activation is postponed, the transaction already done and you are already the proprietor of the license. The comparison with a simple preorder is therefore quite far-fetched.
 

Kyoufu

Member
The confusion is unnecessary, people that bought the bundle bought the complete package including the license, the transaction was already done, the product (the hardware and the license) already bought and in your possession, only the activation is postponed, the transaction already done and you are already the proprietor of the license. The comparison with a simple preorder is therefore quite far-fetched.

But pre-orders on US PSN work the same way, unless you want to tell me those aren't counted in first week sales either.
 

Darius

Banned
But pre-orders on US PSN work the same way, unless you want to tell me those aren't counted in first week sales either.

The question is quite simpler, when you bought a DragonQuest Heroes bundle are you or not the owner of the license/code? I really don´t care how companies use these kind of pre-order practices (your PSN example) to their benefit in their PR, instead I prefer common sense.

We´ll see how less biased institutes like Media Create, Dengeki and Famitsu will handle the situation, they´ll most likely list the actual tracked/estimated sales in their weekly charts for the actual period (last week) and if we are lucky we´ll also get lifetime sales seperately.
 

test_account

XP-39C²
The confusion is unnecessary, people that bought the bundle bought the complete package including the license, the transaction was already done, the product (the hardware and the license) already bought and in your possession, only the activation is postponed, the transaction already done and you are already the proprietor of the license. The comparison with a simple preorder is therefore quite far-fetched.
I dont think that there is any confusion, at least not for me personally. I'm just arguing with myself (not arguing against anyone else, each person will have to decide what they think is the best way to do it) if i want the data added to first week for easier sales data history. The sales trackers will most likely do what they feel is the best way regardless of what i say. It doesnt matter to me as long as there wont be any doubts looking at sales data how much the game sold =)

I see your point of view, but i think that the pre-order comparison is fair enough because it shows that a game can be bought in advance before recieving the actual game. Pre-order being possible also means that a game has been available for sale (or "sale") for more than e.g 2 or 4 days, and pre-orders is also helping determain how big the first shipment will be. The biggest difference in this case is that its probably very easy to just cancel a pre-order, while buying the bundle, you cant really cancel that (maybe you could return it if was unused).
 

Kyoufu

Member
The question is quite simpler, when you bought a DragonQuest Heroes bundle are you or not the owner of the license/code? I really don´t care how companies use these kind of pre-order practices (your PSN example) to their benefit in their PR, instead I prefer common sense.

We´ll see how less biased institutes like Media Create, Dengeki and Famitsu will handle the situation, they´ll most likely list the actual tracked/estimated sales in their weekly charts for the actual period (last week) and if we are lucky we´ll also get lifetime sales seperately.

I don't think Media Create or Famitsu will include the bundle figures, but that wasn't what I had stated to begin with anyway. My logic is that there are X amount of copies sold to consumers and the game has been out for one week only. The fact that the license was sold back in December is irrelevant because those buyers were going to buy DQH in the first week anyway.
 

Darius

Banned
I see your point of view, but i think that the pre-order comparison is fair enough because it shows that a game can be bought in advance before recieving the actual game. Pre-order being possible also means that a game has been available for sale (or "sale") for more than e.g 2 or 4 days, and pre-orders is also helping determain how big the first shipment will be. The biggest difference in this case is that its probably very easy to just cancel a pre-order, while buying the bundle, you cant really cancel that (maybe you could return it if was unused).

That´s the point some seem to have a hard time to accept, the licenses were bought before last week, before the launch of the disc version and activation, therefore they won´t be tracked as last weeks sales. Also a pre-order doesn´t always equal an acquisition.
 

crinale

Member
I don't think Media Create or Famitsu will include the bundle figures, but that wasn't what I had stated to begin with anyway. My logic is that there are X amount of copies sold to consumers and the game has been out for one week only. The fact that the license was sold back in December is irrelevant because those buyers were going to buy DQH in the first week anyway.

Afaik they would include it to the first week's sales, but we'll see.
 

duckroll

Member
See, One Piece has much greater casual appeal.

Don't you think you're being really lame at this point? For months you've been decrying the potential success of the game by saying that you don't see what it has going for it, and that you don't see it being anywhere as successful as Ken's Rage or One Piece Musou, and then going on and on about how DQ isn't a big cultural franchise like One Piece is. Now it seems clear that the game has sold over 500k in the first week, not counting the bundles they already sold since last year. That puts it pretty close to One Piece Musou's first week, and the only thing you have to say is a stupid one liner trying to validate your incorrect observations? Pathetic.
 

test_account

XP-39C²
That´s the point some seem to have a hard time to accept, the licenses were bought before last week, before the launch of the disc version and activation, therefore they won´t be tracked as last weeks sales. Also a pre-order doesn´t always equal an acquisition.
I think that they accept it, but rather argue that the same thing can be said about pre-orders as well, and that its not that big of a deal if those numbers are added to the 1st week sales. Its definitelly true that a pre-order doesnt always lead to a sale as you mention, indeed, but its also true that many follow through with their pre-orders, and then the sale could technically have been done before the 1st week tracking period.
 
Top Bottom