Support NeoGAF

[cw_sasuke]

I think Ocarina of Time could be a system seller for the West, but as I understand it, Zelda isn't too popular in Japan.

OoT sold over a million back then, OoT 3D had the longest line@Nintendo World this year and the 3DS version has been in the Famitsu Top 5 for a couple of weeks i think, SS isnt event in the Top 20 - OoT 3D should sell very well.

 

[sillik]

If I have Nintendogs already, is there really a compelling reason for me to get this new one?

That could be said for every mario kart, pilot wings, wii sports ever made.

 

[gundamkyoukai]

Well, it's one thing to speak on a personal level and another to speak for "anyone" as he asked. Clearly, loads more people still play it on PSP than on Wii so the second analog appears to be a non issue for its target audience. Thus, it would work fine on 3DS (with touch camera?). The difference between PSP and 3DS sales? One has Monster Hunter, the other doesn't. Guessing about the future of the series based on these numbers alone is hardly appropriate. Was the PSP initially chosen for how well it sold? I think not...

More people play MH on psp because it's portable .
Now the question would be if they had choice to play it on both portables with one having a extra analog , how much is that going to matter to them.

 

[Kyoufu]

I refuse to believe a 13 year old game will be a system seller

It'll sell well, but a system seller?

 

[FINALFANTASYDOG]

Is that a port of the (horrible) PS2 game? Google doesn't find anything about it.

My lord, I'm getting Alzheimer's, I 100% thought I/meant to type steel diver. Not sales related at all but it's getting me worried, Sorry guys for confusing you, I will triple re-read my posts in the future.

Sales related: I believe Amagami first edition printing contained enough limited edition things to explain the very early sales, I expect a huge drop next week

 

[ULTROS!]

Have you ever loved something so much that you started to hate it?

The more you hate, the more you love!

 

[charlequin]

Anyway, for whatever reason they claimed software was held back (to help third parties supposedly, who obviously didn't make use of this opportunity).

I'm sure some of them would have loved to take the opportunity if, like, they'd had dev kits and stuff.

 

[cw_sasuke]

I refuse to believe a 13 year old game will be a system seller

It'll sell well, but a system seller?

It will sell well - it wont be NSMB Wii ;-)
3DS Userbase is still very small, so pretty much every semi-big title which has it fans will sell more system. The "true" system sellers, ala Mario Kart wont be released before autumn.

 

[Pureauthor]

Insufficient numbers of people purchased Samurai Warriors Chronicles. That is the problem.

 

[m.i.s.]

That could be said for every mario kart, pilot wings, wii sports ever made.

Certainly, but I'd expect those titles to not be as popular as their forebears too.

 

[Pureauthor]

That could be said for every mario kart, pilot wings, wii sports ever made.

I'm willing to bet that unless there's something that makes the newest one stick out, these won't outsell any predecessors.

 

[Barack Lesnar]

This. When you release crap software at launch, and the hardware itself is not super compelling, you do not deserve great sales.

Agreed. I'm happy they didn't flock to this thing like sheep because it'll force Nintendo to up their game. I still think there could be something inherently wrong with the appeal of the system to the Japanese market which could be causing the sales, and not just the lack of software. Time will tell.

 

[sillik]

Certainly, but I'd expect those titles to not be as popular as their forebears too.

Time will tell i guess. Does anyone know what 3DS first surefire heavy hitting software title will be ? And when it will launch ?

 

[Elios83]

3DS still hasn't reached stable numbers, declining week after week atm.
My guess is that it will continue to decline until it reaches 20k-30k territory and there it will settle until Nintendo comes out with a 5000yen price cut and a solid games lineup.

 

[maskrider]

I refuse to believe a 13 year old game will be a system seller

It'll sell well, but a system seller?

If a system needs a 13 years old game to be a system seller, then it means the said system doesn't have any new game worth buying than such a 13 years old game.

For sure no one wants to see it, and if so, it can not be considered a "progress".

edit: In the meantime, people are playing the AR non-games.

 

[Alexios]

I'm sure some of them would have loved to take the opportunity if, like, they'd had dev kits and stuff.

Well, that held back content is still not out or announced, if it even exists, so the window isn't closed yet. Maybe they held it back for the likes of Capcom alone, or all the companies they name dropped for committing to 3DS support, and rather than name who they made arragements with they just said "third parties", who knows?

I mean, sure, the launch sucks, and doesn't deserve better sales, I'm not arguing against this at all. I wouldn't buy a 3DS now. Still, isn't this the perfect time for third parties to step up their game anyway? The system could be a flop, but as of now it's certainly not guaranteed or implied, it's just too early. Are they just going to wait and see if Nintendo will put out titles to turn it around all on their own, and then complain that only Nintendo games sell again? Why not try and release their own system sellers and foster their own audience? Capcom seems to be the only one to have announced something with at least some potential in that direction, with RE: Revelations. What else is coming? Not having kits is a sad excuse really, surely they're not so expensive to acquire if your company weren't among the lucky to get it for free. We're not talking about Indie-san here...

 

[m.i.s.]

I'm sure some of them would have loved to take the opportunity if, like, they'd had dev kits and stuff.

As usual charlequin hits the nail on the head.

Where is the next Tetris going to come from, or the next GTA or the next Tomb Raider? Not from the third parties that have invested into 3DS so far it would seem and there's only so much that Nintendo can do.

Nintendo need to make those investments and relationships now.

 

[Pureauthor]

Does anyone have a graph representing weekly sales of the 3DS?

 

[caligula13]

i think the 3ds is too expensive to beat psp

 

[cw_sasuke]

i think the 3ds is too expensive to beat psp

A cheaper device wouldnt change that much without the right software lineup....but casual titles like nintendogs will suffer because of the high entry price.

 

[archnemesis]

Does anyone have a graph representing weekly sales of the 3DS?

From JoshuaJSlone's Garaph. This week is missing.

 

[m.i.s.]

3DS still hasn't reached stable numbers, declining week after week atm.
My guess is that it will continue to decline until it reaches 20k-30k territory and there it will settle until Nintendo comes out with a 5000yen price cut and a solid games lineup.

Some astute posters had already made these points - that the 3DS won't enjoy the same popularity as DS in the same way that GBA did not have the same sales impact that the original Gameboy did.

From it's asymmetrical screens, dual d-pad and analog controls and the cluster of buttons beneath the screen that could scare away casuals, poor battery life and high hardware and software price, the 3DS has seen key decisions made that you would not normally associate with a Nintendo handheld.

Considering the sheer, overwhelming dominance that Nintendo has enjoyed in the handheld sector - particularly in Japan - and the pre-release hype surrounding the 3DS in general these 3DS launch figures are nothing short of embarassing.

 

[freddy]

Maybe if Nintendo just stop playing favourites and just hand out some kits to everyone at the same time. I noticed a lot of devs say the first time they saw it was playing someone elses game.

 

[GregLombardi]

The only 2 remakes in the history of vidoegames that I believe could be legitimate system sellers are Ocarina of Time, and Final Fantasy 7. If Ocarina of Time hits it huge, you'll see rescources dumped into FF7 for a remake within a generation, I'd wager.

Also, I'll be buying whichever system both remakes are on! (Already have a 3DS!)

 

[Pureauthor]

It's payback for region-locking the 3DS, that's what it is.

PAYBAAAACK

 

[caligula13]

nintendo set the price for the 3ds by judging what they thought people would pay. now the people are telling what is really the price they want to pay

 

[m.i.s.]

nintendo set the price for the 3ds by judging what they thought people would pay. now the people are telling what is really the price they want to pay

OR, you know, heads of companies, shouldn't ever listen to the ravings of the internet-forum bubble and look instead to sustainable, long-term price planning.

)

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

I'm not entirely buying the "No compelling software at launch" arguement. I think Nintendo really expected Nintendogs & cats to be the go-to title for launch. Didn't the first one open at 16K0+? Wikipedia has it listed as DS's sencond best selling DS title, weighing in 22 million (!) copies to date.

So far it's performing about half as well. DS had about a 2 million userbase when the original launched.

 

[vicissitudes]

Nintendogs versus Nintendogs+cats

------------------------------------------------
|    |     Nintendogs     |   Nintendogs+cats  | 
|----|---------|----------|---------|----------|
|Week|  Weekly |    YTD   |  Weekly |    YTD   |
|----|---------|----------|---------|----------|
|  1 |  182000 |  182000  |  64.213 |  64.213  |        
|  2 |  69000  |  251000  |  44.699 | 108.912  |        
|  3 |  64000  |  315000  |  23.885 | 132.798  |       
|  4 | ~29000  | ~344000  |  14.726 | 147.523  |         
|  5 | ~24000  | ~368000  |  13.219 | 160.742  |       
|  6 | ~25000  | ~393000  |  10.780 | 171.522  |      
------------------------------------------------

Rough comparison I made of Nintendogs and Nintendogs+cats. Around week 4+ I couldn't find the exact numbers for the different versions of Nintendogs so those are estimates.

 

[HaRyu]

Probably been asked before, but when does the next big 3DS game come out in Japan anyway?

 

[BishopLamont]

kinda expect the NGP to steamroll the 3DS when its released this december

3ds strategy so far is disastrous nintendo

lol you never disappoint.

 

[Huff]

Probably been asked before, but when does the next big 3DS game come out in Japan anyway?

Mario 3DS. Sometime in the far future.

 

[HaRyu]

Mario 3DS. Sometime in the far future.

So, what's the general consensus? Do we expect those 3DS numbers to go up in the meantime, or pretty much stay where they are until Mario 3DS comes out?

 

[Augemitbutter]

It's payback for region-locking the 3DS, that's what it is.

PAYBAAAACK

how i wish that would be the case. every game system must be region free.

 

[RamzaIsCool]

At least Nintendo is selling the most handhelds. DS-family > PSP. Dunno if that's the case next week tho.

 

[Orgen]

The next 2-3 months are going to be a lot of fun to watch. Like Elios said, I expect the 3DS to settle between 20k and 30k and not going up until June at least (but not for a long period anyway).

PSP will sell more than the 3DS and maybe than the DS family (lol) for this 2-3 months and people will begin to show his true colours (farnham doesn't count) so maybe we could see funny pictures like the 3 PSP playing and the DS with the Pictochat again (sorry I couldn't find it ).

Joking aside, I don't think these are the results Nintendo was expecting but people seem to forget that they have always been kings in the handheld market. Nintendo will have an strong Christmas as always (Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, Kid Icarus...) but until then we'll see if there's a system seller (I see none at the moment).

An (impossible) NGP summer launch will make things a lot more interesting. Or a Christmas launch with a MHP...

 

[Kyoufu]

At least Nintendo is selling the most handhelds. DS-family > PSP. Dunno if that's the case next week tho.

That joke was already posted on the first page man.

 

[Huff]

So, what's the general consensus? Do we expect those 3DS numbers to go up in the meantime, or pretty much stay where they are until Mario 3DS comes out?

There is going to be spikes in hardware when a "mid major" game comes out, like a OoT, Kid Icarus, MGS, etc.

But until a game has Mario in the title, I don't expect huge sustaining growth.

 

[FoneBone]

Mario 3DS. Sometime in the far future.

What are you smoking? Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, and Ocarina of Time are all (probably) out well before Super Mario, and the first two at least are guaranteed to be much bigger sellers.

 

[gofreak]

I wonder how many 3DS systems Nintendo will ship in Japan this quarter.

At this rate, unless I'm mistaken, they could go a whole quarter without a follow-up to the launch shipment (?)

(Of course, they won't, but it's true that 3 months at the current rate still wouldn't exhaust that first 1.5m).

 

[Alrus]

So, what's the general consensus? Do we expect those 3DS numbers to go up in the meantime, or pretty much stay where they are until Mario 3DS comes out?

Mario isn't the next 3ds system seller at all (especially since the one announced is a 3d game, they don't sell anything like the 2d ones). I'd look for mario kart/animal crossing first. Those are probably Autumn/winter games.

In the meantime, zelda will probably spur sales a little bit, and may has some relatively popular games announced. so we might see a slight increase in sales.

 

[ivysaur12]

I think the 3DS is in for a miserable spring due to the lack of compelling games. I do trust that Nintendo understands this and is planning accordingly, but after seeing the Wii, there is never any guarantee.

Yeah, one can hope.

 

[Huff]

What are you smoking? Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, and Ocarina of Time are all (probably) out well before Super Mario, and the first two at least are guaranteed to be much bigger sellers.

I meant anything with Mario in the title, be in Kart, 3D, RPG, etc.

And OoT might even sell great, but I don't see it as moving the amount of systems that Mario will.

 

[HaRyu]

Mario isn't the next 3ds system seller at all (especially since the one announced is a 3d game, they don't sell anything like the 2d ones). I'd look for mario kart/animal crossing first. Those are probably Autumn/winter games.

In the meantime, zelda will probably spur sales a little bit, and may has some relatively popular games announced. so we might see a slight increase in sales.

Only slight?

I guess my question should have been: do we expect any "OMGITPRINTZMONEY" sales numbers for the 3DS anytime soon, or is there no game coming out in the next couple of months (let's say, 6 months) that would even remotely get the 3DS to those numbers?

 

[RamzaIsCool]

That joke was already posted on the first page man.

Awww and here I thought I was witty.

 

[1-D_FTW]

The only 2 remakes in the history of vidoegames that I believe could be legitimate system sellers are Ocarina of Time, and Final Fantasy 7. If Ocarina of Time hits it huge, you'll see rescources dumped into FF7 for a remake within a generation, I'd wager.

Also, I'll be buying whichever system both remakes are on! (Already have a 3DS!)

OoT is an enhanced port. People can post whatever they want, but it's an enhanced port. It's not like it was rebuilt from scratch. Some things were improved (some significantly), but it's a very small percentage in the grand scheme. There's a reason people have posted screenshots that look fundamentally identical (Because they are).

 

[vicissitudes]

I expect OoT to perform like Chrono Trigger. Good numbers, not a system seller.

 

[Takao]

PSP over 3DS
PS3 over Wii
PS2 over 360

Is Japan now Sonyland?

Spoiler

 

[Chris1964]

Next week's releases {2011.04.14}

[3DS] Pilotwings Resort (Nintendo)
[3DS] Pro Baseball Spirits 2011 (Konami)

[NDS] Cosmetic Paradise: Princess Life (Global A Entertainment)

[PSP] Super Robot Wars Z 2nd (Bandai Namco)
[PSP] Persona 2: Innocent Sin (Atlus Co.)
[PSP] Pro Baseball Spirits 2011 (Konami)
[PSP] Last Ranker [Best Price!] (Capcom)

[PS3] Pro Baseball Spirits 2011 (Konami)
[PS3] Homefront (Spike)
[PS3] WRC: FIA World Rally Championship (CyberFront)
[PS3] Lost Planet 2 [Playstation 3 the Best] (Capcom)

[360] Homefront (Spike)
[360] Cross Channel: In Memory of All People (CyberFront)
[360] WRC: FIA World Rally Championship (CyberFront)
[360] Lost Planet 2 [Platinum Collection] (Capcom)

 

[Takao]

I wonder if all the PSP/3DS games will do to the 3DS what all the PSP/PS2/Wii games did to the Wii. Even when the Wii's userbase was fairly active in purchasing, well, anything those games almost always sold less than the PSP or PS2 version.