Topic: Official Sales Thread

[Chozo Ghost]

The $249 price tag certainly isn't helping matters either. That's $100 more than what the original DS launched at.

[Louieturkey]

And the original DS dropped to $129 really fast. 

[NWR_insanolord]

I'm betting Nintendo really regrets that. Most of the DS's sales came after the price drop, but I'll bet most people who bought one at $130 would have paid $150, and that's a lot of money that Nintendo left on the table.

[Mop it up]

There's only a 385-unit difference between the PSP and 3DS for that week, so it's really not a big deal at all. There are many factors for it which have already been mentioned, but I think people underestimate just how much of a sales spike a new Final Fantasy game can create. So the main reason the PSP came out on top is because of the release of Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection.

[SalesBot]

Media Create - Week 13, 2011: 3/28 - 4/03

01. / 00. [NDS] Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 - Professional (Square Enix) {2011.03.31} - 163.008 / NEW
02. / 00. [PSP] Amagami (EBKore+) (Kadokawa Shoten) {2011.03.31} - 69.221 / NEW
03. / 01. [PSP] Final Fantasy IV: Complete Collection (Square Enix) {2011.03.24} - 31.382 / 135.554 (-70%)
04. / 02. [PS3] Dynasty Warriors 7 (Koei Tecmo) {2011.03.10} - 26.493 / 383.606 (-28%)
05. / 00. [PSP] BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II (Arc System Works) {2011.03.31} - 23.808 / NEW
06. / 00. [PS2] Amagami (EBKore+) (Kadokawa Shoten) {2011.03.31} - 17.261 / NEW
07. / 05. [PSP] Monster Hunter Freedom 3 (Capcom) {2010.12.01} - 15.864 / 4.417.517 (-4%)
08. / 04. [PSP] Dissidia: 012 (Duodecim) Final Fantasy (Square Enix) {2011.03.03} - 15.223 / 419.135 (-30%)
09. / 00. [3DS] Pro Baseball Family Stadium 2011 (Bandai Namco) {2011.03.31} - 12.851 / NEW
10. / 07. [PSP] Phantasy Star Portable 2: Infinity (Sega) {2011.02.24} - 12.002 / 312.419 (-17%)
11. / 08. [3DS] Nintendogs + Cats: French Bulldog / Shiba / Toy Poodle & New Friends (Nintendo) {2011.02.26} - 10.780 / 171.522 (-18%)
12. / 00. [PS3] Crysis 2 (Electronic Arts) {2011.04.01} - 10.416 / NEW
13. / 06. [3DS] Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle (Level 5) {2011.02.26} - 10.304 / 252.953 (-37%)
14. / 10. [NDS] Pokemon Black / White (Pokemon Co.) {2010.09.18} - 9.306 / 5.136.984 (-7%)
15. / 00. [3DS] Naruto Shippuden 3D: The New Era (Takara Tomy) {2011.03.31} - 8.127 / NEW
16. / 14. [WII] Wii Party (Nintendo) {2010.07.08} - 7.998 / 1.837.933 (-5%)
17. / 09. [PSP] SD Gundam G Generation: World (Bandai Namco) {2011.02.24} - 7.900 / 291.702 (-22%)
18. / 12. [PS3] Way of the Samurai 4 (Spike) {2011.03.03} - 6.596 / 117.079 (-28%)
19. / 15. [PSP] Fairy Tail: Portable Guild 2 (Konami) {2011.03.10} - 6.571 / 38.015 (+4%)
20. / 03. [3DS] Gundam: The 3D Battle (Bandai Namco) {2011.03.24} - 6.521 / 30.021 (-72%)

PSP - 8
3DS - 5
PS3 - 3
NDS - 2
WII - 1
PS2 - 1
360 - 0

Software

Code: [Select]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------           
|System | This Week | Last Week | Last Year |        YTD |   Last YTD |           
-----------------------------------------------------------------------           
|  ALL  |         0 |   712.364 | 1.048.568 | 11.825.364 | 15.872.341 |       
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hardware

Code: [Select]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------           
|System | This Week | Last Week | Last Year |        YTD |   Last YTD |         LTD |           
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------           
|  PSP  |    58.075 |    51.095 |    39.248 |    642.660 |    717.805 |  17.292.872 |     
|  3DS  |    42.979 |    50.710 |         0 |    835.933 |          0 |     835.933 |     
|  PS3  |    27.453 |    28.973 |    38.877 |    382.624 |    463.092 |   6.470.114 |     
|  NDS  |    19.901 |    19.094 |    41.219 |    330.943 |    687.380 |  32.481.642 |     
|  WII  |    10.249 |    11.808 |    30.938 |    219.167 |    527.368 |  11.498.802 |     
|  PS2  |     1.996 |     1.862 |     1.815 |     23.742 |     26.628 |  21.719.834 |     
|  360  |     1.789 |     1.963 |     2.676 |     31.815 |     43.086 |   1.452.312 |     
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------           
|  ALL  |   162.442 |   165.505 |   154.773 |  2.466.884 |  2.465.359 |  91.751.509 |     
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------           
| DSiLL |     9.706 |     9.760 |    21.583 |    170.644 |    349.971 |   2.118.227 |     
|  DSi  |     9.566 |     8.604 |    15.526 |    144.279 |    266.546 |   5.688.003 |     
|  DSL  |       629 |       730 |     4.110 |     16.020 |     70.863 |  18.089.941 |     
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------           
|  PSP  |    57.379 |    50.479 |    37.445 |    629.161 |    696.086 |  17.118.949 |     
| PSPgo |       696 |       616 |     1.803 |     13.499 |     21.719 |     173.923 |     
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Oblivion]

Dynasty Warriors 7?! I stopped at 5!

[BlackNMild2k1]

I guess PSP games became the popular thing all of a sudden.
8 games in the Top 20 and it outsold the 3DS for the 2nd week in a row.

Capcom better announce that MH3DS soon or the 3DS could be in trouble in Japan.

[Ceric]

3DS could be availability and lets be honest about the launch titles.

Professor Layton - Large Cult Following who would probably buy a Layton Device
SSF4 - Large Competative Following who probably buy an SSF Device (and if the 3DS become the Leagues and like platform then well...)
Pilotwing - Nintendo Fan who would probably by a 3DS eventually anyways

Much like the DS itself this will take time.  Unlike the DS it will also take a good price drop to get a lot of the DS market.  Not to mention the whole eye explosion under 7 thing.

[Oblivion]

Not to mention the whole eye explosion under 7 thing.

Which is false. Just throwing it out there.

[MegaByte]

3DS could be availability

So it seems like anywhere you go, be it in Japan or otherwise, there's #3DS stock. So, is there just low demand, or ample supply?

And in fact,

The 3DS is no longer supply constrained. In fact, retailers like Amazon are giving it a small discount of around ¥1,000. PSP, on the other hand, appears to be continuing to sell out. A quick check at a few major online retailers found zero stock. One of our favorite retailer Twitter feeds, the Sofmap at Nihonbashi, mentioned a quick sellout of the PSP once new stock was received earlier today.

So, it's actually the exact opposite situation!

[BlackNMild2k1]

3DS isn't exactly bombing in Japan, but it's way behind what was expected.

They were to have ~1.15 million available in Japan before end of the Fiscal year, I would assume they were all assembled before the earthquake. That would mean that they have ~300k units sitting in shops around the country.

But that's not really where the problem is. The highest selling 3DS game this week sold < 13k.
Nintendo left the launch in the hands of the 3rd Parties, and they fumbled it bad, with the exception of SSFIV which isn't even on the charts and has failed miserably (less than 70k sold 3 weeks ago and hasn't placed Top 20 since).
Neither Pilotwings or Nintendogs are systems sellers and casuals likely aren't buying at ~$330 US (I think that's what it translated to). They need a real 1st party effort (or MH3DS) out to boost sales and OoT3D doesn't come out till June and I don't think that will be the system seller they are hoping for.

It's possible that the May update may turn things around with the eShop and people may be holding out for that (I know I'm not even considering a purchase until after that update) and VC games. So maybe all they can do is just waiti it out for now, but it's kinda embarrassing to see the PSP suddenly have a resurgence after the 3DS is released when it's been long considered dead outside of MH. They need a big announcement or start releasing games for the core audience that is willing to buy now and not wait for a price drop.

[Oblivion]

Two words: Final Fantasy. It sells, no matter what system it's on.

[broodwars]

Two words: Final Fantasy. It sells, no matter what system it's on.

Except look at the sales for the latest Final Fantasy IV port: they're not that impressive this week, with a significant decrease (70%) since last week.  And note that despite the game selling worse this week, the PSP actually dramatically outsold the 3DS this week (as opposed to being a virtual tie last week).  I suppose a new Dragon Quest boosted things in Sony's favor, but note the lack of 3DS software on that top 10 list.

The 3DS may not be a bomb right now, but it's sure not selling to Nintendo's expectations.  Considering the weak launch lineup in all regions; the overly-bloated price; and the minor health issues caused by the 3D mode (in a country already proven susceptible to display issues), I can't say they should be surprised.

[Retro Deckades]

Everyone is always talking about how Nintendo has to bring 3rd party developers back to their hardware. But as BlackNMild2k1 put it, "Nintendo left the launch in the hands of the 3rd Parties, and they fumbled it bad." Now Nintendo has to pick up the pieces. Another victim of the typical 3rd party attitude on Nintendo systems. Which is why I don't really care all that much whether or not Nintendo has good 3rd party support. Sure, I'll support them when one of their teams actually gives a damn and crafts a fun an entertaining experience for my Wii -- they may be few and far between, but they still happen -- but the rest of the time, screw 'em.

However, there are one or two notable exceptions, such as Capcom.

[broodwars]

Everyone is always talking about how Nintendo has to bring 3rd party developers back to their hardware. But as BlackNMild2k1 put it, "Nintendo left the launch in the hands of the 3rd Parties, and they fumbled it bad." Now Nintendo has to pick up the pieces. Another victim of the typical 3rd party attitude on Nintendo systems. Which is why I don't really care all that much whether or not Nintendo has good 3rd party support. Sure, I'll support them when one of their teams actually gives a damn and crafts a fun an entertaining experience for my Wii -- they may be few and far between, but they still happen -- but the rest of the time, screw 'em.

However, there are one or two notable exceptions, such as Capcom.

Keep in mind that the 3DS was rushed to market for the sheer purpose of negating Nintendo's weak fiscal year.  In many cases, 3rd parties probably didn't have the time to get the truly worthwhile software ready for primetime, so they put out what they could and often it wasn't good.

[Retro Deckades]

Ya funny you should mention that broodwars, because I actually had typed that until I decided to go in a different direction.

My thoughts on that were that sure, maybe it was rushed to market and 3rd parties didn't have as much time to prepare, but is a game like Rayman 3DS really the best Ubisoft could do? If you are limited to ports, why not choose ports that could be way better?

[Ceric]

Two words: Final Fantasy. It sells, no matter what system it's on.

It also takes forever whatever platform its on.

On a related note, I'm sure the price is a result of the profit margin Nintendo wants to make on it.  Probably were originally going to take a slightly less profit margin but, decided to take their regular margin after the initial reactions.  3D screens are still scary to a lot of consumers.  Being sarcastic earlier on the eye thing.  I could see it not working for someone younger due to face dimensions and like.

[King of Twitch]

Rushed to market rushed to market rushed to market... I keep hearing that but they announced it a full year in advance.

3D gaming is coming, no glasses. Get your A-game ready. We don't know the date yet.

Ubisoft: ...

...

Ubisoft: ...

Ok, it's not coming this year. You have a few extra months.

Ubisoft: ...

...

Ubisoft: We got Rayman 2 ready for launch, and Petz Fantasy 3D and Zoo Mania 3D for June.

Anything else?

Ubisoft: Hang on, we just got done with Beyond Good and Evil HD.

 
Sheesh.


...

Ubisoft: Players can watch and virtually touch the animals as they practically jump off the screen, showing off their personality and skills.

Did you have anything more substantial in min--

Ubisoft: --it's the first zoo simulation game on the Nintendo 3DS.

[Ian Sane]

SSF4 - Large Competative Following who probably buy an SSF Device

Any serious Street Fighter fan already bought a PS3 or Xbox 360 as their "SSF Device".  Hardware fightings fans would never bother with a handheld.  SSF4 is for the odd fan that absolutely HAS to have the game on the go and Nintendo fans who only own Wiis and had no prior access to the game on a Nintendo platform.  There is an obvious reason for it to sell poorly - the target audience bought it a long time ago on another system.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I also remember devs talking back at CES (or was it GDC) last year about how Nintendo told them to aim for an Xmas 2010 launch.

I would assume that if Nintendo was announcing it in March, devs knew about it since atleast sometime in 2009, so that gave them 3 months at minimum to figure out what they wanted to make/port and then a whole year to make it happen.

There are plenty of games coming out on PSP that could have been "up-ported" to 3DS. There are plenty of PS360 games that could have been down-ported to 3DS. Hell, there are Wii games that could have been translated and side-ported to the 3DS if they really wanted to.

If 3rd parties aren't absolutely blowing us all away at E3 this year, then IMO Nintendo did 3rd parties a favor in bad faith with the 3DS. I hope they don't make the same mistake with the Wii2HD3D and not have 1 major core title at launch for the 3rd parties to compliment with their own offerings.

SSF4 - Large Competative Following who probably buy an SSF Device

Any serious Street Fighter fan already bought a PS3 or Xbox 360 as their "SSF Device".  Hardware fightings fans would never bother with a handheld.  SSF4 is for the odd fan that absolutely HAS to have the game on the go and Nintendo fans who only own Wiis and had no prior access to the game on a Nintendo platform.  There is an obvious reason for it to sell poorly - the target audience bought it a long time ago on another system.

Which is why I think it would have made more sense to port over Marvel vs Capcom 3(D Edition) instead since it would have been a near simultaneous launch on 3 platforms with a new game instead of hoping 3DS owners haven't played SSFIV to death already on a home console.

[Retro Deckades]

I can't help but imagine how awesome the original Assassin's Creed could have looked in 3D. Climbing up all those tall towers and leaping off into carts filled with hay... Damn...

[MegaByte]

In talking with 3rd parties, only some were able to get kits (or only one kit for a long time), and some were explicitly prevented from releasing at launch. So, the situation isn't as simple as Nintendo trying to give the launch benefit to 3rd parties.

[BlackNMild2k1]

So Nintendo leaves the launch to 3rd Parties, but then doesn't allow the 3rd parties to properly handle the launch?

Nintendo as a company must be a woman, because I don't think I will ever understand them.

[Chozo Ghost]

There's only a 385-unit difference between the PSP and 3DS for that week, so it's really not a big deal at all.

That's about the amount of votes that determined Bush won the election in Florida back in 2000. Would you say those 300 or so votes didn't matter?

Now look, I'm not saying the PSP outsold the 3DS by a lot, but that's beside the point. The PSP could have outsold the 3DS by just a single unit and it would still be just as bad. It might not mean much from a logical standpoint, but it does mean something from a psychological point of view. When your most recent system gets outsold by the 2nd place system from last gen it is humiliating....

[that Baby guy]

There's only a 385-unit difference between the PSP and 3DS for that week, so it's really not a big deal at all.

That's about the amount of votes that determined Bush won the election in Florida back in 2000. Would you say those 300 or so votes didn't matter?

Now look, I'm not saying the PSP outsold the 3DS by a lot, but that's beside the point. The PSP could have outsold the 3DS by just a single unit and it would still be just as bad. It might not mean much from a logical standpoint, but it does mean something from a psychological point of view. When your most recent system gets outsold by the 2nd place system from last gen it is humiliating....

I wonder if you can be arrested for voter fraud for buying both a 3DS and a PSP in the same week.

Wait a minute. The rules of voting don't apply to console sales? Oh, right.  Hey guys, pack your bags. The Wii failed. The PS2 outsold it that first quarter it was on the market, so there's no way it'll ever succeed. America has voted, and this time millions of people voted PS2 over Wii. Time to throw in the towel.