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Media Create Sales: Week 48, 2015 (Nov 23 - Nov 29)

Btw, what are expectations for Gravity Rush Remaster on PS4? It's been releasing in a week and preorder-wise doesn't seem there's much anticipation.

I kinda see your point but at the same time your argument is absurd since you could consider that every single game on PSV/PS4 could fit on 3DS because of the huge difference in install base (which is not completely untrue per se), but you already know that Minecraft wouldn't fit on 3DS because of technical reasons and that God Eater has clearly been developped with Vita's audience in mind, and in the state it's in no one knows how much it would sell on 3DS.

Those are just examples - of course Minecraft cannot run on 3DS but a 3DS version will likely sell well given how the platform is owned by kids and a sloppy rip-off is becoming one of the best selling games on the eShop. As for God Eater, I'm pretty sure even a tiny percentage of those 3m faithful MH gamers would be willing to buy some other game in the genre (as it was happening on PSP, and as it happened to FF Explorers - average quality and 300k units); who knows of course - but sometimes it's nice to discuss reasonable scenarios in terms of where IPs might go (multi or not) - it's not port-begging, and it's not hope-driven discussion in the vein of "YW, MH multi! That is, PS4!".
 
Speaking of X, from what I gathered XCX's critical reception with english reviewers has been more positive than Japanese impressions. I think it may, oddly enough, be more well received in the west.

It shriveled up in japan at about 200k, right? I'm thinking maybe 300k ww excluding japan may actually be doable, for a respectable (but not great, considering budget) 500k.

Thats not respectable at all. Considering how long X has been in development and it looking somewhat graphically decent, I would say selling <500k is a failure.

Port-begging is bannable, so no...? At most we discussed about how some IPs might perform on other platforms, and not "everything should be multi*"

*everything = IPs on Nintendo platforms.

I mean, DQIX on PSP and MH on PSV have been a joke for years. Saying that Minecraft and God Eater would fit well on a Nintendo platform because of userbase and target complementarities is just obvious.

Are we forgetting how years ago people laughed at the idea of DQ coming to the PS4 let alone there being 5 DQ games announced for the PS4 now or how people thought Persona 5 was going to be a 3DS game.

Iirc port begging only applies if the game has been announced. Hypotheticals are just that although one would expect a decent argument for said hypothetical.

Yeah. Thanfully Capcom isn't as reckless...or outright dumb.

They have a deep understanding of what their fanbase wants and how they want to play MH (at least the mainline teams are on point).

Funding an ultra expensive console exclusive first, because the West's WRPG fanbase might...if the starts align.... be interested (ignoring how far away MH is from basically every WRPG) sounds like sheer insanity.

Edit: Has there even been a case where the PS4 SKU of a japanese developed game sold more than MH4G's 1 Million (1,3 million ??) in the west aside of Bloodborne ?

Bloodborne - 2million+
DBZ XV
FF Type 0 HD most likely

Why do you ask?
 
MOOR-ANGEL keeps making trash posts yet i get banned coz i didn't refer to him by his name, like it wasn't obvious to everyone who i was talking bout, not to mention someone else did the exact same thing to me, but yeah thats all fine and dandy

and whoever banned me suggest i pm mods if theres a problem with him,

hey dude, what's up with you?
You hate me? I don't understand the reason and your anger...
am I trolling? Maybe yes but not more not less than other people.
you have insulted me 2 times, and this is the third (I write trash things? Do not read my trash, so simple :D ), even if I might troll I don't insult anyone, first cause I got a certain education from my parents, second cause we are just talking about videogames

so please ignore me and most important I'd like to ask you to stop insulting me, or next time I will contact mods

in my country we say: clear words, long friendship, keep it in mind
 

sörine

Banned
Those are just examples - of course Minecraft cannot run on 3DS but a 3DS version will likely sell well given how the platform is owned by kids and a sloppy rip-off is becoming one of the best selling games on the eShop. As for God Eater, I'm pretty sure even a tiny percentage of those 3m faithful MH gamers would be willing to buy some other game in the genre (as it was happening on PSP, and as it happened to FF Explorers - average quality and 300k units); who knows of course - but sometimes it's nice to discuss reasonable scenarios in terms of where IPs might go (multi or not) - it's not port-begging, and it's not hope-driven discussion in the vein of "YW, MH multi! That is, PS4!".
For what it's worth the CEO of Mojang confirmed there's no technical reason why Minecraft couldn't be done on 3DS.
 
It's nice to see Picross 3D 2 and Famista Returns keep selling. The former should hit 80k units pretty soon, while the former is not so far from 55k units (it was completely sold-out at launch). This shows how 3DS can also sustain smaller projects in contract with huge IPs and mid-sized games.
 

sörine

Banned
Not a lot of Japanese games outside the big name franchises can manage a million in the West on any platform. It's pretty rare. Out of curiosity how many 3DS games have accomplished it? Not counting the larger IPs of course.
SSFIV 3DS should have managed a million overseas going by shipment figures. The last time we got an npd figure for it in 2012 iirc the game was over 400k.

Other than that possibly KH3D going by it's early US sales being in line with previous KH handheld games that cleared a million, but no confirmation. It had outsold SSFIV in the US though after just a few months though. It'd be nice if we could get an update from creamsugar on the top selling 3rd party 3DS and Vita games.
 
Outside of BB neither of those fit his criteria as far as I can find. Type-0 is WW. Do we have any breakdown on XVs 2.5m sales?

You really think the PS4 SKU of DBZ would not be 1 million+ with total sales of 2.5 million?
Type 0 HD is close enough.
What is his point anyway?
 
sörine;187674927 said:
SSFIV 3DS should have managed a million overseas going by shipment figures. The last time we got an npd figure for it in 2012 iirc the game was over 400k.

Other than that possibly KH3D going by it's early US sales being in line with previous KH handheld games that cleared a million, but no confirmation. It had outsold SSFIV in the US though after just a few months though. It'd be nice if we could get an update from creamsugar on the top selling 3rd party 3DS and Vita games.

Fire Emblem Awakening sold 1m+ in the West - though a Nintendo IP, it wasn't a big IP until then. Bravely Default should be close (1m Japan incl. a few months after US release).
 
sörine;187674075 said:
For what it's worth the CEO of Mojang confirmed there's no technical reason why Minecraft couldn't be done on 3DS.

I don't think anyone doubts that 3DS can run some version of Minecraft. Different things is would that version be close enough to other console versions to make it appealing (mostly thinking about scale). At least Mohjang has so far decided that it's not worth their time (Even Vita version was probably developed because of some kind of deal with Sony).
 
You really think the PS4 SKU of DBZ would not be 1 million+ with total sales of 2.5 million?
Type 0 HD is close enough.
What is his point anyway?
Whenever someone talks about a mainline PS4 exclusive MH to get the series super popular in the west, there is this sentiment that the PS4 is the (!) place to launch your japanese game on if you want great/amazing/spectacular sales.

My point is that the few data points we have aren't vastly far ahead of what the series can already do on the 3DS (in the west).
 

sörine

Banned
Fire Emblem Awakening sold 1m+ in the West - though a Nintendo IP, it wasn't a big IP until then. Bravely Default should be close (1m Japan incl. a few months after US release).
That's true, Awakening is sort of an unheard of success story given exactly what kind of game it is. The only other recent Japanese SRPGs I can see clearing a million in the west are maybe it's sequel or Valkyria Steam.

I don't think anyone doubts that 3DS can run some version of Minecraft. Different things is would that version be close enough to other console versions to make it appealing (mostly thinking about scale). At least Mohjang has so far decided that it's not worth their time (Even Vita version was probably developed because of some kind of deal with Sony).
I don't think it matters if it'd need to be a cut down PE or not, the point was Mojang confirmed there was no technical reasoning preventing it from being on 3DS. People were saying there's a clear business reasoning for a port but technical issues were preventing it and I was pointing out that isn't the case.

It'll be interesting to watch iust how far Cube Creator 3D goes in it's absence though. It's aready outsold each of the console versions of Minecraft and it's by far the best selling title ArcSys has published in the last decade (or ever?).
 

Ryng_tolu

Banned
I expect 3DS to stop around 21.

Not a chance.

MOOR-ANGEL keeps making trash posts yet i get banned coz i didn't refer to him by his name, like it wasn't obvious to everyone who i was talking bout, not to mention someone else did the exact same thing to me, but yeah thats all fine and dandy

and whoever banned me suggest i pm mods if theres a problem with him, yeah thats gonna do so much considering he gets no repercussions for his constant trolling

but hey im no mod, so keep doing ur thing

fantastic splatoon and smm sales, mhx beasting, mh stories gonna destroy japan


mobile could get some form of a more fleshed out mainline mh, just don't see a straight multiplatform one with nx though as the lack of buttons still poses a problem


smash 3ds isn't even charting, can't expect the wii u version to

Welcome back :p
 
Whenever someone talks about a mainline PS4 exclusive MH to get the series super popular in the west, there is this sentiment that the PS4 is the (!) place to launch your japanese game on if you want great/amazing/spectacular sales.

My point is that the few data points we have aren't vastly far ahead of what the series can already do on the 3DS (in the west).

Firstly, using this 1 million + western sales metric is flimsy at best. As someone previously said, how many third party Japanese 3DS games have achieved this. How many third party Japanese WiiU games have? Each franchise has its own expectations.

Secondly, I doubt many people are expecting MH5 exclusive to PS4. The notion is a PS4 port of a mainline game, MHO2 or a mutliplat scenario. The question comes down to is there a sizeable base on the PS4 for Capcom to warrant such a venture. I remember the the DD devs talking about Skyrim so Capcom must observe not only their own performance but performance of other RPGs including WRPGs.

I definitely think MH going like DQ (handheld + console SKU) would be the best case scenario.
 
Firstly, using this 1 million + western sales metric is flimsy at best. As someone previously said, how many third party Japanese 3DS games have achieved this. How many third party Japanese WiiU games have? Each franchise has its own expectations.

Secondly, I doubt many people are expecting MH5 exclusive to PS4. The notion is a PS4 port of a mainline game, MHO2 or a mutliplat scenario. The question comes down to is there a sizeable base on the PS4 for Capcom to warrant such a venture. I remember the the DD devs talking about Skyrim so Capcom must observe not only their own performance but performance of other RPGs including WRPGs.

I definitely think MH going like DQ (handheld + console SKU) would be the best case scenario.

Well, it doesn't matter much as long as 3DS is slaying in Japan - and software can reach 3-4m+ sales in Japan alone. There are already plenty of success stories about third-party 3DS games in the West, from niche to bigger IPs: Rune Factory, Persona, Monster Hunter, Bravely Default, Etrian Odyssey, Shin Megami Tensei, Project X Zone, Fire Emblem, Harvest Moon, Senran Kagura, Hatsune Miku, Inazuma Eleven, Kingdom Hearts - and this on top of good to wonderful sales in Japan for many of them, and other that have yet to be analyzed in the West, such as Yo-kai Watch.

Btw, MH is a different IP than DQ - it works because of multi co-op, so the hope of following the same path DQ did is flimsy.
 
Well, it doesn't matter much as long as 3DS is slaying in Japan - and software can reach 3-4m+ sales in Japan alone.
That isn't the core of what he was saying though.

Why is 1 million being used as the indicator of success? There can be successful titles that do not reach those numbers. It just seems like an intentionally high measurement to superficially enhance an argument.
 
That isn't the core of what he was saying though.

Why is 1 million being used as the indicator of success? There can be successful titles that do not reach those numbers. It just seems like an intentionally high measurement to superficially enhance an argument.

It was just a threshold based on MH4U's Western sales, which was the main driver of the discussion.
 
Well, it doesn't matter much as long as 3DS is slaying in Japan - and software can reach 3-4m+ sales in Japan alone. There are already plenty of success stories about third-party 3DS games in the West, from niche to bigger IPs: Rune Factory, Persona, Monster Hunter, Bravely Default, Etrian Odyssey, Shin Megami Tensei, Project X Zone, Fire Emblem, Harvest Moon, Senran Kagura, Hatsune Miku, Inazuma Eleven, Kingdom Hearts - and this on top of good to wonderful sales in Japan for many of them, and other that have yet to be analyzed in the West, such as Yo-kai Watch.

Btw, MH is a different IP than DQ - it works because of multi co-op, so the hope of following the same path DQ did is flimsy.

You're missing the point. The 1 million metric is being used as if its an objective bar for Japanese games in order to be deemed a success which is then being used to deem the reception of Japanese games on PS4. I've already shown you how despite the 3DS being on the market for 5 years or so, there are a handful (if that) titles to meet this expectation.

The biggest games in the West have online components despite being mutiplat. The simple idea that there will be communities on each console. Its up to Capcom if they believe that MH can grow in a worthwhile manner by placing an additional iteration on the PS4. I would not be surprised if such a thing happened as PS4's global success is a tempting pie for many publishers.

It was just a threshold based on MH4U's Western sales, which was the main driver of the discussion.

A pointless threshold.
 

Chris1964

Sales-Age Genius
At this week's MH returning to Sony vol.568 it's weird the only alternative is PS4 when Vita is definetely the system that makes more sense.
 

sörine

Banned
At this week's MH returning to Sony vol.568 it's weird the only alternative is PS4 when Vita is definetely the system that makes more sense.
Don't forget Monster Hunter's evidently an RPG so somehow Skyrim justifies a PS4 port. Also that western userbase userbase userbase. I mean what could go wrong, look how well it worked out for Toukiden, One Piece 3, DQ Heroes, Zestiria, Disgaea...
 

jkh33

Member
At this week's MH returning to Sony vol.568 it's weird the only alternative is PS4 when Vita is definetely the system that makes more sense.

Vita is dead to a lot of western audiences minds. Though obviously Vita would definitely make more sense logically.
 

Atram

Member
The PS4 isn´t doing wonders to Japanese IP´s, 99% are selling poor in the West like the Gen before.

At this rate it won´t make any difference any more if we have 20 or 100 Mio. PS4 in the West. We can say for sure that a MH PS4 won´t sell more on equal because MH has a very strong Core Base.

What matters is that a PS4 MH Version would be the worse Option for Capcom because they would need to make a "New" Version to build interest and that would make MH less profitable. Capcom needs a High Profiz MH and this is actual not possible on Sony Platforms for this IP´s.

This could change with NX and easy porting in the future.

Comparing the DQ situation wit MH is nonsense. This is a different situation.
 
At this week's MH returning to Sony vol.568 it's weird the only alternative is PS4 when Vita is definetely the system that makes more sense.

Would the Vita SKU result in notable growth in JP (lets be honest it won't do much in the RotW) or would it simply split the numbers across the two SKUs? In such a sense, would a PS4 SKU be more likely to split the base or create growth (and here RotW is more of a factor)?
 

sörine

Banned
In Japan the PS ecosystem between PS3/4/Vita seems have very much split rather than grown sales for brands like Metal Gear, Musou, etc. I think this was consiously more about consolidation and transitioning audience rather than growing sales though, as well as providing Sony a opportunity for a new form of exclusivity in the face of plummeting hardware sales.

Harder to say in the west though. Has MGSV benefitted from being on 5 times as many platforms as MGS4? Did being on 3 systems increase Zestiria's sales at all over the PS3 exclusive Xillia?
 

Fisico

Member
sörine;187683630 said:
Also that western userbase userbase userbase. I mean what could go wrong, look how well it worked out for Toukiden, One Piece 3, DQ Heroes, Zestiria, Disgaea...

Didn't that one sold around somewhere between Xillia and Xillia 2 despite the fact it has a PC version this time?

EDIT

sörine;187685847 said:
Did being on 3 systems increase Zestiria's sales at all over the PS3 exclusive Xillia?

I think it did/does, Xillia is somewhere around 300k on PS3, Zestiria will be 100k+ on PC alone and PS4+PS3 should be above 200k.
The growth will not be huge likely though.
 

Atram

Member
Any source for that? What IPs?

To make you happy they are selling on the same or worse Level. The PS4 didn´t made any difference for the most Japan Stuff. You are feeding a core base without growth potential.

Actually the real success Story for Japan Devs is on PC not on Consoles.
 

sense

Member
sörine;187683630 said:
Don't forget Monster Hunter's evidently an RPG so somehow Skyrim justifies a PS4 port. Also that western userbase userbase userbase. I mean what could go wrong, look how well it worked out for Toukiden, One Piece 3, DQ Heroes, Zestiria, Disgaea...

this sounds like the argument you used to counter the growth of western games in general in japan by using the performance of remastered uncharted games...

could you please explain in your infinite wisdom why the publishers of the games you mentioned keep bringing them over to the west and more are announced every month? it is like there is a world outside japan and there is growth potential in emerging markets and publishers aren't just looking at launch sales at npd retail in US during the last quarter consisting of way bigger releases....

The publishers likely have their expectations in check and are happy with their performances over a period of time that they feel comfortable bringing more games. if they stop bringing them over you will know sales did not meet expectations ex. yakuza.

the added benefit of bringing games to ps4 is the easy port to pc for steam sales down the line so maybe some of you need to stop looking at these decisions with a narrow focus on launch sales in npd. guess what if a game like zestiria goes down to 20 bucks during a steam/psn sale it has a very good chance at selling similar to what valkyria chronicles did on steam and sega was very happy with how that performed didn't they?


sometimes i feel like some of you think publishers are dumb and should hire some of the experts in this thread so every game is only on 3ds and nx and that too exclusively. i agree they probably make mistakes from time to time but doesn't mean these decisions weren't given any thought
 
To make you happy they are selling on the same or worse Level. The PS4 didn´t made any difference for the most Japan Stuff.

Actually the real success Story for Japan Devs is on PC not on Consoles.

No not to make me happy, you need to back up your claims instead of talking out of your ass.
 

Atram

Member
No not to make me happy, you need to back up your claims instead of talking out of your ass.

Every actual Sales Reports from Japan Devs, so not from my ass. I think you can read, because i won´t make the work for you :)

If you think i´m wrong you are free to prove me wrong.
 
Every actaul Sales Reports from Japan Devs, so not from my ass. I think you can read, because i won´t make the work for you :)

If you think i´m wrong you are free to prove me wrong.

That's what I'm asking, where are the links to those "actaul sales reports"? Why should other people do the work for you to prove your claim?
 
You're missing the point. The 1 million metric is being used as if its an objective bar for Japanese games in order to be deemed a success which is then being used to deem the reception of Japanese games on PS4. I've already shown you how despite the 3DS being on the market for 5 years or so, there are a handful (if that) titles to meet this expectation.

The biggest games in the West have online components despite being mutiplat. The simple idea that there will be communities on each console. Its up to Capcom if they believe that MH can grow in a worthwhile manner by placing an additional iteration on the PS4. I would not be surprised if such a thing happened as PS4's global success is a tempting pie for many publishers.



A pointless threshold.

1 million is a pointless threshhold but I am almost certain this discussion spun off from a comment about how Capcom should do a mainline MH on PS4. Minimally doing so loses them 1 milloon Japanese sales so for it to make financial sense I would suppose you would want to heavily outsell what you are already doing numbers wise in the west no?

If you are just talking port (which was not what Jack said) it doesn't need to sell much of anything to break even or make money I imagine but opportunity cost is another story. I am personally surprised 4U didn't get a WiiU/PS4 port for the west though. I assumed 3U set the precedent.
 

Atram

Member
That's what I'm asking, where are the links to those "actaul sales reports"? Why should other people do the work for you to prove your claim?

so you´re saying i´m wrong?

Edit: Just a few

http://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/finance/review.html
http://www.bandainamco.co.jp/ir/library/annual.html
http://www.konami.co.jp/en/ir/ir-data/meeting/2015/0205_510530.pdf
http://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/ir/library/ar.html

here, youre welcome. Youre wonder reports of miracle PS4 Japan dev sales boost.
 

Yes we know each company has financial reports. Could you please reference where in these reports the following is said or inferred:

99% are selling poor in the West like the Gen before.
 

Not one of those claim 99% of Japanese IP sell poor on PS4, and I doubt you even read a single annual report.

Here's the reality, most JPN games sell within expectations on PS4, even on Vita, publishers have confidence. That's why the next few years are set to have the best JPN games line up in over a decade.
 

Atram

Member
Yes we know each company has financial reports. Could you please reference where in these reports the following is said or inferred:

if the 99% was the problem, sorry for that, it was litarally spoken (hyperbole).

Correct is Japan Games are selling on the same or worse Level like last Gen on Consoles and only found growth on PC/Steam.

I didn´t see nothing wrong in this.

@Canis: can you prove this?
 
Every actual Sales Reports from Japan Devs, so not from my ass. I think you can read, because i won´t make the work for you :)

If you think i´m wrong you are free to prove me wrong.

The only japanese ps4 games in the west that I can think of are type 0 hd and mgsv and both did well in the west.

The big ps4 japanese games are coming next year.
 
Must've been 100k then. The number in my head was bouncing between 100k and 200k but 100k sounded too low to me. All I remember is that the witcher beat it.

I'm changing my non-japan WW estimate to about 225k. Doubtful we'll ever get hard numbers for it though.

A little late to responding to this, but I am thinking Xenoblade Chronicles X will clear 150k in December in the US alone. Nintendo really doesn't have much else to offer this holiday besides evergreen sales of Super Mario Maker, Splatoon, Smash 4, and Mario Kart 8. Xenoblade stands to benefit greatly from the dearth of games and its apparent quality. The game also has a very western-focused style that will probably resonate fairly well with the western audience.
 

ZSaberLink

Media Create Maven
Uggh... I was wondering why this thread was so active, but we're having an argument of hypotheticals. Honestly I'm happy Japanese companies see enough value in localizing titles and releasing them on PC, PS4, 3DS, w/e. My 2 cents would be, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate did pretty well in the West on 3DS (1M units), so if anything you'd think they'd be doubling down on making sure MHX & Stories do well in the West (& Japan in terms of stories) as well. Stories, being a traditional RPG, would fit right in with the 3DS's (and potentially NX's) RPG audience & X would appeal to those newfound Western MH fans. That's really all imo...

Now onto more interesting topics...

Expecting huge numbers for Yokai Watch Busters next week (exclusive medal from today with retail copies) and huge free update in 9 days.
Hm... Interesting stuff. Will be cool to see :).
 

Mario007

Member
if the 99% was the problem, sorry for that, it was litarally spoken (hyperbole).

Correct is Japan Games are selling on the same or worse Level like last Gen on Consoles and only found growth on PC/Steam.

I didn´t see nothing wrong in this.

@Canis: can you prove this?

When you make a claim about sales in a sales thread you need to back it up with numbers and not act super defensively so that we're about 6 or 7 comments from your initial statement and you still haven't provided the numbers. The burden of proof is on you not on other people to prove you wrong. If you do not back up your numbers then they quickly slide from fact to opinion.
 

Ōkami

Member
1dcc278a.jpg

d021f697.jpg
Nintendo is advertising the New 3DS in some very unique ways now.
 

horuhe

Member
&#332;kami;187696617 said:
Nintendo is advertising the New 3DS in some very unique ways now.

It reminds me about how the home consoles were shown in your room at the beginning of the Pokémon games.
 

ZSaberLink

Media Create Maven
&#332;kami;187696617 said:
Nintendo is advertising the New 3DS in some very unique ways now.

I'm not sure what the text says exactly, but haven't they always put their consoles in their games (Pokemon always had the latest Nintendo console in the character's bedroom for example).

Also given the higher threshold for #50, it's not too surprising Smash Wii U isn't there. Seems like Mario Kart 8, Smash 3DS & Smash Wii U sell under a 2K threshold. I figure the holidays would eventually boost MK8, but you never know.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Sheesh, spare a guy from his already standing perm warning after six different bans by six different people, tell him to send in PM reports about the other guy he's been complaining about if he has a problem instead of derailing the thread (and said person has been banned three times via PM report in the last year), and instead of taking your advice, he comes back and melts down in the thread.

Since Bishop brought up the topic as his parting act, I guess I'll be a bit blunt. We tried a warning and engagement strategy for quite a while, and while it would work for a week or two, it clearly wasn't working overall, so we went to a ban heavy strategy like normal. Quite a few of you are directly aware of this, I'm sure.

Now, the problem here is that the amount of repetitive argumentation and ad nauseum weekly editions of "OMG MINECRAFT" x40, "#sploogetoon" x50, (gee I wonder if those two are a stand in for something for select posters), "Should this game that won't be announced for 12+ months be ported to platform X?", "Let's discuss whether this 20K selling game indicates whether the Vita or the 3DS should have all the third party games or not for eight pages.", and etc discussion has driven off most of the audience for this thread, including the vast majority of the moderators who used to post here over the years. Some weeks even I'm only reading 10-20% of the posts present when I see one of these topics come up. As such, yes, assuredly some bad behavior is being missed when in the 17th post of an argument about the newest Bandai Namco anime title that debuted at 12K - sometimes in the third thread in a row with a lengthy argument about this game - someone was a bit rude to another poster. This is why in warning posts and even ban messages, we've asked for more people to send in PMs if they feel another poster is acting out of line.

There are a few things to keep in mind though.

The first is that we get a lot of PMs. I have 6788 myself, so while they do all eventually get looked at, it doesn't necessarily happen immediately. It's also rather hard to notice you have PMs on mobile, which can delay things further. You should definitely still send them in though.

Beyond that, sales threads have something of an unusual situation in that we want people to feel comfortable taking up more controversial positions. For example, going into a Xenoblade thread and saying the Wii U is bad will probably get you banned. Doing the same in a Vita thread is likely to result in the same. However, the context of that statement is very different in a sales thread. In a sales thread, this type of argument is generally hooked on to a discussion of the relatively low market success of the platforms and their difficulty in selling a variety of types of software. Someone seeing the post "The Wii U is bad platform, port Xenoblade to PlayStation 4!!!" in the Xenoblade OT getting banned, but then seeing "The Wii U is a bad platform, Level 5 should consider porting Yokai Watch: Just Dance to mobile where their other Yokai Watch dancing title succeeded." in the Media Create not get banned could get confused if they don't spend much time contemplating the difference.

However, I suspect most of you have a pretty good idea of what bannable behavior is. If you see it, and it's not being dealt with, the odds are very high that it's simply because we aren't seeing it. So, instead of stewing about how this person isn't getting banned, send in a PM. It's also fine (and helpful!) to send in a collection of posts if you want to illustrate chronic behavior where you feel none of the individual posts are necessarily problematic, but the overall trend is.

I also assure you that we do take all your PMs seriously. When one is received, unless the answer is dead obvious, we usually have 3+ moderators sit down and have a discussion about the post and our policy in general. In the Media Create threads in particular, we have a lot of line skirters, so this also involves tracking pattern behavior and adjusting what we're banning for to try and limit the number of long term troublemakers slipping through the cracks without breaking the spirit of how we moderate. I will note that we don't always send back a reply to your report due to volume, but trust me, it's being read.

Based on what you've told me over the years, a lot of you come from some Italian gaming forum where there were a lot of posters in chronic console wars between Sony and Nintendo. We don't really care about your off site history here until you make it your on site presence, so if someone follows you across the internet and starts harassing you here too, just send in a PM instead of taking snipes back yourself, and pretty soon (if they keep it up) they won't be here, while you still are.

Examples of buying up a project for your console that become "get it here and only here"? Bayonetta 2 seems like an obvious example. RE4? Dead Rising? SFV? FFVIIR (though we have no idea what is even going on there outside of timing)? Shenmue 3? Every single X360 early years jRPG? Sure, they weren't getting bought out to prevent them in general from appearing elsewhere in a scenario where the elsewhere was guaranteed to bomb but they were bought/paid for to have for you and only you (as in the platform holder) as a marketing product. This is really what the crux of my argument is for what Nintendo stands to gain or benefit from.
I think I was unclear here. What I mean is do we have many examples of a company buying an IP where they don't feel they're netting some notable number of people over to their platform.

I feel most of those titles are self evidently containing an audience of at least 500K-1 million people that are being sought after.

We can cover the exceptions though. For Xbox 360 JRPGs, that was part of a general strategy to get Japanese developers on the platform and make the platform seem appealing to Japanese customers. While none of the individual titles were meant to be the winning factor, the overall goal was clear.

For Bayonetta 2, the last game sold 300K+ in Japan (that's pretty good for a core title), and shipped 1.1 million worldwide despite having a publisher who was generally awful at selling AAA games. It was also picked up in a half finished state for pennies on the dollar, and signed at a time when the Wii U had not yet released and Nintendo was presenting the platform as a system for both core and casual gamers. I seriously believe they thought it would sell 1+ million copies and be a differentiator on a system where they had almost every core title. Given Platinum is a sub-200 person studio and currently handling Scalebound, Nier Automata, two Activision licensed game series, Star Fox, and Project Giant Robo, I suspect there isn't a sequel in development.

For Shemue 3, Sony basically paid in very little and gave them a stand on their E3 show floor for some good PR, and it's still actually coming to another platform in the form of the PC. I feel this is notably different than paying for an exclusive, and more akin to throwing in some money for a timed "console first" indie title.

It is still a strong IP and can still move a few hundred thousand even on consoles as history has shown... though on considerably more successful consoles sans the "adequate" quote performance of MH3U on the WiiU (and that came with the caveat of being woven into complimentary co-habitation online with the handheld). I think for Capcom that hypothetical 8:1 ratio is a waste on RoI but to Nintendo, who have already been struggling with home consoles and making their product standout in that regard, securing an exclusive like this not only for their handheld but for their entire ecosystem doesn't seem farfetched.

In general (or a handheld-only scenario), I would see it as a play of simply securing a strong IP to themselves and only themselves.

I may be misjudging things and I may be misguided in my estimations or expectations of how effective that would be in an business argument, but this is simply what seems logical to me. Perhaps, as you say, it really is a pointless venture for Nintendo (and certainly Capcom) to pursue in a scenario of 8:1.

I feel at that point we're accepting that it has appeal to console vendors even if it's notably outclassed by handheld sales. It might not be appealing to Capcom on its own merits, but the argument is essentially "Monster Hunter does help sell home consoles, and is appealing to someone with Nintendo's projected situation for the NX home console."

Also, in order to ultimately happen, at some point it also actually *does* have to become appealing to Capcom. There have been no Wii U versions of Monster Hunter for quite a while, so whatever Nintendo is offering to pay to make that happen is not sufficient for Capcom to want to make it. There is presumably some fee above what Nintendo values the product at where this would be made. It's not like Capcom is sitting there and going "Oh, you'll only give us $100 million to port this to Wii U? Not happening.", and this suggests that Nintendo does not currently value a Monster Hunter home console port to a sufficient level for it to happen.

We can say the same for Sony actually. There is assuredly some cost level where Capcom would make the game for them, but they are not willing to pay it.

This raises a few questions for me:

1.) What level of hardware sales makes it appealing to pay for Monster Hunter ports on home console? So far, based on what's happened, neither the Wii U nor PS4 fit the bill. Does the NX home console have to do even worse than the Wii U for this to be appealing? Is it only appealing if it has more success than the Wii U, because it would assuredly do nothing for the current system? There's also presumably a cut off where a system is so successful that it doesn't make sense to be paying Capcom to do this. Are hardware sales levels actually irrelevant in this scenario?

2.) If hardware sales don't really encapsulate the concept sufficiently, what externalities or other factors make it appealing to pay for this port for NX home console, when it wasn't worthwhile for the Wii U, and so far hasn't proven worthwhile for the PS4?
 
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