Topic: Official Sales Thread

[Chozo Ghost]

200k in 37 weeks is impressive? Look at the sales for Japan for this week. In one week the 3DS sold 350k. One Week. Now, I know Australia doesn't have as much population as Japan does, but still.

[BlackNMild2k1]

We're talking the population of Texas across a land mass the size of ~3/5 the US.

Not impressive by our standards, but it still set a record there.
But now you know why they get the shaft most of the time when it comes to pricing... gotta make it worth the effort.

[Mop it up]

Plus, if I recall, videogames have never been as popular in Australia as other territories like the US, Europe, Japan, etc.

[NWR_insanolord]

That might have something to do with how much Australian gamers get screwed in terms of pricing. Importing seems significantly more popular there, probably because it's actually cheaper a lot of the time, and that wouldn't show up on the Australian sales charts.

[Mop it up]

Good point. I wonder how different sales would be there if the prices were more comparable to other territories.

[Ymeegod]

Alot of systems have regional lock to their online stores but I know a few aussie gamers that found ways around your IP tracker meaning they have access to US's marketplace and us prices which is nearly 1/2 of normal costs.

Most of them got sick of paying double+ for most retail games so they ended up importing systems and games to save money.  You would think the retailers would take notice that software doesn't move and lower prices but prices have instead gone up which leads to even less sales--pointless.

it's true that there's import taxes on video games but it's nowhere's as high as they claim.  An $60 value game got $22 of taxes and shipping chargers and that's at retail costs.  Retailers get software usually for a little more than 2/3 costs so why are they charging an extra $20-30--GREED.  Doesn't make much sense to me, you can make just as much money selling more games for less profit and keeping the people from looking at importing goods themselves.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Good point. I wonder how different sales would be there if the prices were more comparable to other territories.

It's funny how much of a catch 22 it is.

Publisher/retailer probably charge more because there isn't that large of an audience and they need to recoup the cost. So if there was a larger audience, they would probably charge normal prices.
But the consumers decide to import because of the local pricing, but would probably buy more locally if the prices were comparable or atleast decent.

either way, even if you doubled the sales to way overcompensate for importers, you would still have a decent (single) month in the US to equal a record 37weeks  (~7-8months) in AUS
at 200k you have a really good week in Japan.
So unfortunately for you Aussies, your market is just too small and you are forced to have to accept pocket rape or import.

[Chozo Ghost]

Many consumers in Australia might be importing their 3DS units from Japan or the United States, so the sales would register for those regions and not for Australia. So maybe some of that 350k 3DS units sold in Japan last week were actually exports to Australia?

It would make all the more sense to import your 3DS if it is region locked, because a 3DS region locked to Australia isn't going to see a lot of software, unfortunately. But if you have a Japanese or NA 3DS then you can enjoy all the titles of those regions. It may cost more, but it would be worth it I think because of how much more would be available to you.

[NWR_insanolord]

I would think most Australians would import from the United States or Europe, as I don't imagine too many of them are fluent in Japanese.

[Chozo Ghost]

I would think most Australians would import from the United States or Europe, as I don't imagine too many of them are fluent in Japanese.

It depends on the game they are playing. Some Japanese games seem to have English text in them for some reason. Also, some genres of games just don't matter. Something like an RPG where there would be a lot of communication involved yeah, sure it would be a problem, but if its something like a fighting game or shooter then what little you don't understand isn't going to matter because what matters is the action and anyone can understand that regardless of nationality.

[NWR_insanolord]

Yes, but if you have to pick one region to import the hardware for and stick with it for all types of games, and you're not Greg Leahy, you're probably going to go with one that speaks your language.

[Chozo Ghost]

A NA region system would probably be the best choice for an Australian because NA is an English speaking region. But on the other hand, Japan always seems to get the lion's share of games, or at least when it comes to RPGs and things like that. Japan is also geographically closer to Australia, so maybe that would make importing prices lower.

I think the whole region locking thing is stupid. A business is about making money, so why lock out customers based on where they live? It makes no sense. Money is money and a sale is a sale no matter where your customer is.

[NWR_insanolord]

Nintendo makes more money if you buy the Australian version than if you import the North American version. If they make things region free they wouldn't be able to gouge people as easily.

[Enner]

In the end: money may be money, but more money is more money.

[Stratos]

Plus doesn't Australia act a lot like Germany where they like to ban or censor the more mature games? I'm sure that has something to do with it. Don't they not have a classification for 'adult' rated games?

[TJ Spyke]

Plus doesn't Australia act a lot like Germany where they like to ban or censor the more mature games? I'm sure that has something to do with it. Don't they not have a classification for 'adult' rated games?

Correct, their government operates the OFLC (which rates movies, books, and video games) and have in the past banned games from being sold in Australia. Part of it was that the highest rating they had for video games was for 15+, they finally allowed the 18+ rating to be allowed for video games this year, so that might help.

[Chozo Ghost]

Nintendo makes more money if you buy the Australian version than if you import the North American version. If they make things region free they wouldn't be able to gouge people as easily.

I'm not sure if gouging Australians is the better way to make money. Sure, for the people who do buy your stuff gouging them gets you more money out of them, but it also results in fewer people buying your stuff. Maybe by not gouging Australians that 200k sales would have been 400k or higher or something. Maybe that would have brought Nintendo more money than this region locking gouging scheme.

[Tamazoid]

It's not just Nintendo, it's all the video game companies. Retailers are the biggest offenders. New Super Mario Brothers Wii still retails near $100 for example. Also when MW1 came out it had a rrp of $120 at most retailers. 


Nintendo recently introduced their budget titles for games like Kirby's Adventure and Boom street. We are still being screwed over but atleast the status quo is beginning to shift since if those games were released a year or two ago they would be going for $100.



@Stratos, Yeah we still can't buy the new Mortal Kombat down here.

[Enner]

Japan numbers!
http://www.siliconera.com/2011/12/21/this-week-in-sales-playstation-vita-makes-its-debut/

Period: The week of December 12th – December 18th (2011)

Top-seller: Final Fantasy XIII-2 – 524,217

Nintendo 3DS sales: 367,691 | Total sales: 3,601,990

PlayStation Vita sales: 324,859

Lw   Tw   Title   Weekly Sales   Total Sales   Sys.   Publisher
New   01.   Final Fantasy XIII-2   524,217   New   PS3   Square Enix
01.   02.   Monster Hunter 3G   208,427   730,386   3DS   Capcom
02.   03.   Mario Kart 7   182,418   789,871   3DS   Nintendo
New   04.   Inazuma Eleven Go: Shine/Dark   135,259   New   3DS   Level 5
03.   05.   Super Mario 3D Land   112,533   837,1430   3DS   Nintendo
08.   06.   Kirby’s Return to Dreamland   71,028   398,516   Wii   Nintendo
New   07.   Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational   61,412   New   PSV   Sony
New   08.   Uncharted: Golden Abyss    48,224   New   PSV   Sony
10.   09.   Just Dance Wii   44,021   323,293   Wii   Nintendo
12.   10.   PokéPark 2: Beyond the World   43,829   164,018 Wii   Nintendo
11.   11.   Wii Party   42,632   2,129,236   Wii   Nintendo
06.   12.   Magician’s Quest: The Stylish Wizard   25,068   81,110   DS   Konami
13.   13.   Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games   34,351   64,573   Wii   Nintendo
New   14.   Shin Kamaitachi no Yoru: 11 Hitome no Suspect   33,686   New   PS3   Chunsoft
New   15.   Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend   32,992   New   PS3   Arc System Works
16.   16.   Wii Sports Resort   30,804   734,046   Wii   Nintendo
17.   17.   Taiko no Tatsujin: Definitive Edition   30,046   100,284   Wii   Namco Bandai
New   18.   Dynasty Warriors Next   29,181   New   PS3   Tecmo Koei
New   19.   Lord of Apocalypse   28,742   New   PSV   Square Enix
06.   20.   One Piece: Gigant Battle 2 New World   28,406   207,458   DS   Namco Bandai

Hardware
3DS – 367,691
PS Vita – 324,859
PS3 – 65,119
PSP – 64,468
Wii – 60,916
DSi XL – 5,600
Xbox 360 – 3,584
DSi – 3,523
PS2 – 1,400
DS Lite - 32

-----

Monster Hunter Tri G doing it's work with 208k sold this week. At this rate, it will outsell Super Mario 3D Land within a month.

Hurray for Kirby Wii hanging in there in the top 10.

[Ymeegod]

Vita selling alot less than I expected, then again both MH and FF came out on other systems at the same time so maybe the Japanese are just strapped for cash.

In the US the 3DS is selling twice the Japanese rates (last week numbers are around 700K) and Super Mario Land is going break 2 million mark with US sales alone.  Mario 3D Kart is doing ok and Zelda reappeared in the top 10 so right now Big ole Nintendo must have the holiday GRIN on their faces.

-------------------------

[NWR_insanolord]

While I'm sure they're very happy about how well it's selling, I would guess at least some people in the company are upset with themselves and wishing they hadn't dropped the price by as much as they did.

[Luigi Dude]

Holy sh!t, Final Fantasy XIII-2 bombed big time in Japan.  For the last decade all the Final Fantasy games sell well over a million copies there first week, hell, most of them sold around 2 million their first weeks.  Looks like Final Fantasy XIII really hurt the Final Fantasy brand in Japan.  Since this series is very front loaded, FFXIII-2 looks to be the first major Final Fantasy that won't even cross the 1 million mark.

Will be interesting to see what SquareEnix does with the series now since even the Japanese fans aren't happy with it.

[broodwars]

Holy sh!t, Final Fantasy XIII-2 bombed big time in Japan.

Personally, I don't see half a million copies sold in 1 week as a "bomb", especially when the game was made with a significantly lower budget than its predecessor with a significantly shorter development time (and likely a lot of re-used assets from that game).  Is it an under-performer by numbered Final Fantasy standards so far?  Yes.  Did it still likely turn a profit for Square-Enix, and is it likely to make them even more money when it hits NA next month?  "Yes" and "yes", respectively.

Regardless of quality, I don't think FF XIII-2 was ever going to sell as well as its predecessors have done, largely because of how divisive the original FF XIII was.  Reportedly, the game is quite good and fixes a lot of the problems its prequel had, but FF XIII likely made a lot of people skeptics.  Besides, the JRPG has been waning for quite a long time now.  It was kind of inevitable that lower sales would eventually hit Final Fantasy as well.

[Shaymin]

So what did FFX-2 come in at for week 1?

Also, it came out the same week as the Vita... which sucked a lot of money out of the room.

[Enner]

So what did FFX-2 come in at for week 1?

Also, it came out the same week as the Vita... which sucked a lot of money out of the room.

VGchartz has it pegged at around 1.5 million. Pretty crazy if you forget it's a Square-Enix game. I'm curious to see if next few weeks will show Final Fantasy XIII-2's debut to be a sign of things to come or displacement from by the Playstation Vita. I hope it isn't the former because it seems like Square-Enix really tried to make XIII-2 a better sequel that fans will find more pleasing.