Media Create Sales: Week 51, 2020 (Dec 14 - Dec 20)

P Diddy · Dec 25, 2020

Tbone5189 said:
💀 Horrible legs of Musou (W2-W5) 💀

90k — 35k — 16k — 8k: [149k Tot] = OPPW
102k — 46k — 23k — >11k [>182k Tot] = DQW
72k — 34k — 19k — >9k [>134k Tot] = FotNS
98k — 46k — 27k — 16k [187k Tot] = DQW2
56k — 26k — 12k — 8k [102k Tot] = OPPW2
49k — 25k — 15k —8k [97k Tot] = OPPW3
42k — 19k — 11k — 8k [80k Tot] = HW (all sku)
35k — 25k — 17k — 13k [90k tot] = OPPW4

41k — 23k — 19k — 23k [106k Tot] AoC

Converting to percent drops:
W3 W4 W5
-61.1%-- -54.3%-- -50%
-54.9%-- -50%-- >-52.2%
-52.8%-- -44.1%-- >-52.6%
-53.1%-- -41.3%-- -40.7%
-53.6%-- -53.8%-- -33.3%
-49.0%-- -40.0%-- -46.7%
-54.8%-- -42.1%-- -27.3%
-28.6%-- -32.0%-- -23.5%

And AoC's drops:
-43.0%-- -19.0%-- +20.0%

~~When did each game come out?~~
Found that information:
OPPW: March 1, 2012 (PS3)
DQW: February 26, 2015 (PS3/PS4)
FotNS: March 25,2010 (PS3/360)
DQW2: May 27,2016 (PS3/PS4/PSV)
OPPW2: March 20, 2013 (PS3/PSV)
OPPW3: March 26, 2015 (PS3/PS4/PSV)
OPPW4: March 27, 2020 (PS4/NSW/XB1)

zroid · Dec 25, 2020

LostCauseUnite! said:
Let me rephrase, they don't really seem to care now because they already sowed the seeds long ago and have made themselves the de facto big cheese for home only consoles. They don't see them as competition in japan because they already put measures in place where it doesn't compete where it matters for the brand as a whole, and the PlayStation brand is heading in the direction of being a place that has all of the western and eastern AAA games on top of their award winning exclusives and the gamers can feel that premium and prestige either by brand name or what the platform offers in quality. PS5 will be the one showcasing this direction in phase 2. PS4 was more like phase 1 in the second half of its life.

Like how apple products, to some, sell on name as they have established that prestige and high caliber. Their phones are regarded for being this premium prestigious device.

Nintendo's platform has become a haven for the their own first party Triple A and Double A offerings, AA and A offerings from third parties as well, but not many Triple A day and exclusives like Rise.

Xbox is the only other brand that has similar offerings to playstation, except it gets mostly western AAA and AA offerings, and lesser AAA and AA offerings from Japan. They allocated more to where that brand has relevance to not lose its market share.

Honestly, switch is more like an underdog in all of this, and should not be one that gets ignored even if it is a weaker device. If it was on par with the PS4Pro and portable when released (only for example!), only Nintendo has enough "power" or rather, pockets to really shift the Japanese industry to their platform. Microsoft doesn't have enough close relations with many of the top Japanese publishers, but N does in comparison, despite everything.

TL;DR they are showing signs that they believe they will be ok because they are the only option for what they care about to those in japan. Only relevant option anyway.

Of course, future is an enigma and can change course! but currently this is the signs it is showing.

I agree with this.

Chris1964 · Dec 25, 2020

Sony was offering an easy development environment with multiple benefits for releasing across multiple PlayStation systems. There was big investment on that model in Japan that helped PlayStation to maintain the biggest part of Japanese third party support and minimise the drop of sales after PS3. The transition to only PS4 was attempted and didn't work but PS4/Switch happened instead with clear signs lately that some of these games are moving only to Switch. With the natural death of PS4 coming soon there are no guarantees the next step is PS5/Switch. If a sizable part of PS4 audience doesn't jump to PS5 Sony will lose a big piece of the pie that had since the company entered the market.

Pancakes R Us · Dec 25, 2020

ggx2ac said:
It's very easy to take something out of context to end up with the mess that was "NX won't be a hybrid".

I wasn't even the first person to point this out, there was a thread or post on the old forum from the guy that used to work at 'Wired' Chris Kohler, where he pointed out the very same issue with people taking that quote out of context for why "NX won't be a hybrid".

I knew you were going to fall back on this and I don't really give a shit because the moment I do anything about that you will then look for other examples to validate your world view.

I only cared about making sure you don't spread that stupid misquote of "NX won't be a hybrid" because it's still being posted years after the NX speculation days.

I really don't give a shit that you don't give a shit. I choose to not be one of those people that believes everything a corporation says.

Lelouch0612 · Dec 25, 2020

Really excited about software sales in 2021+ rather than hardware.

I have my eyes on several franchises that could do very well. I have been a big Momotaro believer, and not the only one, since the game impressed in the Amazon charts month before release but it is great to see it exceeding these already high expectations.

Cubo · Dec 25, 2020

Lelouch0612 said:
Really excited about software sales in 2021+ rather than hardware.

I have my eyes on several franchises that could do very well. I have been a big Momotaro believer, and not the only one, since the game impressed in the Amazon charts month before release but it is great to see it exceeding these already high expectations.

Are there any 2021 games "impressing" right now in Amazon or other pre-orders? I know MH Rise is doing very well in COMG, but what about in Amazon? And how about SMTV, Rune Factory, etc?

Lelouch0612 · Dec 25, 2020

Cubo said:
Are there any 2021 games "impressing" right now in Amazon or other pre-orders? I know MH Rise is doing very well in COMG, but what about in Amazon? And how about SMTV, Rune Factory, etc?

Preorders are not open for several games like SMTV or Monster Hunter Stories 2.

Beyond Rise which will do very well, I think Rune Factory 5 will blow up. I think Stories 2 will do very well too.

More generally, we will need some announcements pretty soon, especially for PlayStation. Their current line-up of slated games is pretty much empty (Nier remake in April is the main one).

SinCityAssassin · Dec 25, 2020

Pancakes R Us said:
I really don't give a shit that you don't give a shit. I choose to not be one of those people that believes everything a corporation says.

It's less "believing everything a corporation says" and more "thinking they're lying to you because you don't interpret things correctly."

What Iwata saId isn't conclusive that for the NX's development plans at the time they denied it would be a hybrid.

For a more general correct example of obfustication, Miyamoto saying there were no plans for a new 3DS model at the time he was interviewed about it and then it happened half a year later.

Mpl90 · Dec 25, 2020

Mpl90 said:
Top 30 cut-offs for Weeks 50 across the years (Famitsu)

2020 - 4 new entries in Top 30

30./00. [NSW] Human: Fall Flat <ADV> (Teyon Japan) {2020.06.25} (¥3.500) - 6.447 / 64.456 <60-80%>

2019 - 2 new entry in Top 30

30./00. [NSW] FIFA 20 <SPT> (Electronic Arts) {2019.09.27} (¥5.093) - 3.424 / 31.896 <60-80%>

2018 - 3 new entries in Top 30

30./00. [PS4] Winning Eleven 2019 <SPT> (Konami) {2018.08.30} (¥7.600) - 3.164 / 145.768 <80-100%>

2017 - 6 new entries in Top 30

30./00. [NSW] FIFA 18 <SPT> (Electronic Arts) {2017.09.29} (¥5.800) - 4.302 / 38.650 <60-80%>

2016 - 4 new entries in Top 30

30./29. [3DS] Monster Hunter Stories # <RPG> (Capcom) {2016.10.08} (¥5.800) - 4.602 / 275.898 <80-100%> (+43%)

2015 - 10 new entries in Top 30

30./16. [3DS] Aikatsu! My No.1 Stage! # <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games) {2015.11.26} (¥5.627) - 4.797 / 33.530 <40-60%> (+0%)

2014 - 8 new entries in Top 30

30./00. [WIU] Taiko no Tatsujin: Tokumori! # <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games) {2014.11.20} (¥5.627) - 5.114 / 23.475 <20-40%>

2013 - 4 new entries in Top 30

30./00. [3DS] Super Mario 3D Land # <ACT> (Nintendo) {2011.11.03} (¥4.800) - 9.978 / 1.911.400 <80-100%>

2012 - 6 new entries in Top 30

30./00. [PSP] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2012: Definitive Edition <SPT> (Konami) {2012.12.13} (¥5.250) - 9.786 / NEW

Top 30 cut-offs for Weeks 51 across the years (Famitsu)

2020 - 2 new entries in Top 30

30./00. [NSW] Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum 'n' Fun! <ACT> (Bandai Namco Entertainment) {2018.07.19} (¥6.100) - 6.612 / 545.603 <80-100%>

2019 - 4 new entry in Top 30

30./00. [NSW] Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: The Official Video Game <SPT> (Sega) {2019.07.24} (¥4.990) - 6.139 / 75.821 <80-100%>

2018 - 6 new entries in Top 30

30./00. [NSW] Pro Baseball Famista Evolution <SPT> (Bandai Namco Games) {2018.08.02} (¥6.100) - 5.663 / 107.523 <80-100%>

2017 - 7 new entries in Top 30

30./00. [PSV] Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition # <ADV> (Sony Computer Entertainment) {2015.03.19} (¥2.400) - 8.392 / 1.043.277 <80-100%>

2016 - 2 new entries in Top 30

30./00. [3DS] Super Battle For Money Sentouchuu: Kyuukyoku no Shinobu to Battle Player Choujou Kessen! <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games) {2016.09.15} (¥5.300) - 10.038 / 51.374 <80-100%>

2015 - 10 new entries in Top 30

30./00. [PS4] Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Ignition <FTG> (Sega) {2015.12.17} (¥7.549) - 7.112 / NEW <40-60%>

2014 - 6 new entries in Top 30

30./00. [3DS] Taiko no Tatsujin: Don to Katsu no Jikuu Daibouken <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games) {2014.06.26} (¥5.119) - 6.610 / 225.170 <80-100%>

2013 - 4 new entries in Top 30

30./08. [PS3] Call of Duty: Ghosts - Dubbed Edition <ACT> (Square Enix) {2013.12.12} (¥7.980) - 14.011 / 51.802 <40-60%> (-63%)

2012 - 7 new entries in Top 30

30./25. [WII] Wii Sports Resort # <SPT> (Nintendo) {2009.06.25} (¥4.800) - 16.997 / 3.075.814 (+40%)

Also, even if a bit late: merry Christmas to everyone here! :D

ggx2ac · Dec 25, 2020

So here's one of the first collaborations with Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin.

DeepL translate:

A PR collaboration between the theatrical film "The Great Rice Commotion" (directed by Katsuhide Motoki, starring Mao Inoue) and the game "Amanoh no Sakuna Hime" (planned and developed by Ederu Wais, distributed by Marvelous) has been realized. Fliers with collaboration comments will be produced and distributed at theaters.

YTZjpvgLRhoYDLbGnopPVWLZve3EsxmXa7rFvyYzhvLoLBGFrx609G5tQ4zD3Cu4TL5H2SG5mmdXW1zq.jpg

spwdFyUyC1Z4o4hB333hBxr4QAFPfdZyuhqy4RxB7IsBbe7q7IJLTjefEH2qEQQBYMDOdQUtHaDTg6Ot.jpg

Edit:

DeepL translate of comment from Edelweiss in the article:

Planning and Development of "Sakuna Hime of Tempo" Edelewis Comment

This is the latest film from director Katsuhide Motoki, who impressed me so much with his previous film, "Dozing Phantom".

This time, the story was based on a historical event, the rice riots, but I was embarrassed to admit that I only remembered that I had learned about it in school. I'm embarrassed to say that I only remembered it from school.

In this work, it is easy to understand how husbands and wives were forced to make choices in order to protect their families, even though they were despised as "small people", and the slightly thick dialect adds a rich color to the tragedy and joy of the harsh times.

There are probably many difficulties ahead for those of us living in Japan, but in 2021, let's start with the strength of "Okaka" and his friends!

Celine · Dec 25, 2020

Kresnik said:
I'd say the whole PlayStation ecosystem development idea probably started much earlier than 2014, probably around 2012. When Vita was floundering and Sony saw that it wasn't actively getting lots of 3P Japanese support (there was a massive gap between even reasonably selling titles at the end of 2012, with Atelier Totori & Fate/Stay Night in November and then nothing until the end of January with Demon Gaze & Monster Monpiece, aside from an AKB port from PSP) they seemed to step in and work with publishers like Bandai-Namco and Koei-Tecmo to get their tech working on the handheld and have multiple PS3/Vita multiplats.

So you went from having Pirate Warriors as a PS3 exclusive to Pirate Warriors 2 as multi-plat, same things with like DW8XL/WO3U etc. Super Robot Wars shifting over to PS3/Vita, ports of Gundam Breaker/DBZ etc.

That kinda just naturally extended onto PS4 in 2014 when it released and there was a period of 2-3 years where the ecosystem was used.

It kinda feels like Sony didn't have much of an endgame beyond this though, i.e. when it started transitioning things to solely PS4 (i.e. getting Falcom/Marvelous on board) they just assumed they'd stay like that. It doesn't seem like they anticipated Switch being such a disruptive force and combined with the fact that many of these PS4-only releases selling kinda meh (e.g. the most recent SAO game), there's not a whole lot they can actually offer to get them to stay there short of literally moneyhatting them (or, for the benefit of this thread, from companies run by people like Kondo ;) )

If they can get the PS5 established quickly enough it can still share ecosystem with Switch + moneyhats on massive titles with western appeal like FFXVI, but that's still going to be a significantly contracted market.

Keeping the third-party support gathered around the PlayStation ecosystem and then transitioning it, in due time, to PS4 was the end goal.

IronTed · Dec 25, 2020

Absolutely nuts that Switch almost has the top 30 to itself. I imagine the overall software sales this year will be very skewed towards the Switch, even compared to last year.

Arthoneceron · Dec 25, 2020

It seems that the ideal world for Sony is the one which Microsoft had done another Xbox One-tier of console, and Nintendo never recovered from the abysmal failure that was the Wii U.

It seems that the only counter-measurement for the other companies' success is shrink a whole historically-important market and pay for shady deals and prevent the market to compete on the equal grounds. This seems petty, but its the Sony way of dealing with the things, apparently.

ILikeFeet · Dec 25, 2020

maybe Sony is preparing a new handheld starring an embedded Zen 2/Navi chip in order to at least recapture mid-range JP devs 🤔

srtrestre · Dec 25, 2020

ILikeFeet said:
maybe Sony is preparing a new handheld starring an embedded Zen 2/Navi chip in order to at least recapture mid-range JP devs 🤔

The PlayStation Svvitach

Arthoneceron · Dec 25, 2020

ILikeFeet said:
maybe Sony is preparing a new handheld starring an embedded Zen 2/Navi chip in order to at least recapture mid-range JP devs 🤔

This would look more s spiteful answer for the market than a real product. And, in many ways, a wet dream for Falcom, Bandai-Namco and many Switch negationists.

ILikeFeet · Dec 25, 2020

Arthoneceron said:
This would look more s spiteful answer for the market than a real product. And, in many ways, a wet dream for Falcom, Bandai-Namco and many Switch negationists.

that's exactly why I can see them doing it. of course, after Kinect and Move and whatnot, I think they'll stop doing shit like that

Piston · Dec 25, 2020

Switch Publisher Rankings: Famitsu Top 30 - Week 51, 2020

*Digital sales not included
**Titles that re-entered the Top 30 have the difference since their last appearance added to the totals for this week

MysticGon · Dec 25, 2020

ILikeFeet said:
maybe Sony is preparing a new handheld starring an embedded Zen 2/Navi chip in order to at least recapture mid-range JP devs 🤔

The PlayStation Baby Come Back.

zroid · Dec 25, 2020

Every week when I see that Switch publisher ranking table I find some new oddity. Bamco having published more games for the Switch than Nintendo is not something I expected.

brutaka3 · Dec 25, 2020

Arthoneceron said:
This would look more s spiteful answer for the market than a real product. And, in many ways, a wet dream for Falcom, Bandai-Namco and many Switch negationists.

Honestly it'd be funny if suddenly a new PS portable appeared and Sega made a Sakura Wars port.

Jiggy · Dec 25, 2020

Arthoneceron said:
It seems that the ideal world for Sony is the one which Microsoft had done another Xbox One-tier of console, and Nintendo never recovered from the abysmal failure that was the Wii U.

The ideal world for any company is that their competitors fail. I'm sure Nintendo loved watching the Vita bomb and Sony exit the handheld space, and I'm sure MS would have killed for Sony to release another PS3-sized failure instead of stealing like half their 360 install base.

Arthoneceron said:
It seems that the only counter-measurement for the other companies' success is shrink a whole historically-important market and pay for shady deals and prevent the market to compete on the equal grounds.

What. I don't think Sony making a few timed exclusivity deals for games that probably wouldn't appear on Switch regardless (at least at launch) is shrinking the market in any way. Don't get me wrong, these deals suck but you're being a bit ridiculous about it.

Arthoneceron said:
This seems petty, but its the Sony way of dealing with the things, apparently.

What on earth are you talking about. Are you aware that Nintendo paid off Capcom to delay the PC release of Monster Hunter Rise for nearly a year? Plus whatever they paid to keep it off Playstation and Xbox entirely. How is that any less shady than Sony's deals. That petty Nintendo, refusing to let the market compete on equal grounds with these shady deals.

And why is Yakuza 7 a timed next gen exclusive on Xbox? Why isn't Disgaea 6 being localized on PS4. We can keep going, there's hundreds and hundreds of examples of this sort of shit. At the very least Sony is kind of upfront about this (still sucks tho), we wouldn't have even known Rise is coming to PC if it wasn't for the big Capcom leak. And I'd love to know if Disgaea 6 is a timed or full exclusive in the West. I'm not gonna trash Nintendo for these tactics, it's business and they're here to compete. Just like Sony and MS.

ILikeFeet said:
maybe Sony is preparing a new handheld starring an embedded Zen 2/Navi chip in order to at least recapture mid-range JP devs 🤔

They don't need to recapture mid-sized Japanese devs. They haven't actually lost mid-sized Japanese devs.

Arthoneceron · Dec 26, 2020

Jiggy said:
The ideal world for any company is that their competitors fail. I'm sure Nintendo loved watching the Vita bomb and Sony exit the handheld space.

Okay this is crazy. You are aware that Nintendo paid off Capcom to delay the PC release of Monster Hunter Rise for nearly a year right? Plus whatever they paid to keep it off Playstation and Xbox entirely. How is that any less shady than Sony's deals. Why is Yakuza 7 a timed next gen exclusive on Xbox? Why isn't Disgaea 6 being localized on PS4. At the very least Sony is kind of upfront about this, we wouldn't have even known Rise is coming to PC if it wasn't for the big Capcom leak. And I'd love to know if Disgaea 6 is a timed or full exclusive in the West. I'm not gonna call Nintendo petty for these tactics, it's business and they're all equally guilty of this shit.

Okay, lets go by parts. I dont follow the Capcom leak, and I honestly dont care by most of its content, but are you implying that Nintendo paid Capcom to delay unnanounced versions of a game that historically did its best on handhelds because they wanted the lion part of its audience to buy the Nintendo versions of it? Because this seems to be the opposite of what all the rumours prior the Monster Hunter World said it, which was a Sony strategy on re-capturing the series, which migrated from PSP to 3DS in a certain time of its life. Also, all the talks about live-service, absolutely no Switch version, but not caring about PC and Xbox one versions and a guarantee of the Switch gaining only portable versions foward makes me doubt of who had the deal in the whole scope of the things. Honestly, for me, the Switch sucess only break a barrier which was artificially planted.

About Vita crash and burn, the only one that Sony should blame for its failure are themselves, because in the first years, the handheld had the support that the 3DS only could dream on its lifetime.

Jiggy · Dec 26, 2020

Arthoneceron said:
Okay, lets go by parts. I dont follow the Capcom leak, and I honestly dont care by most of its content, but are you implying that Nintendo paid Capcom to delay unnanounced versions of a game that historically did its best on handhelds because they wanted the lion part of its audience to buy the Nintendo versions of it?

Yeah. It was leaked out that Nintendo paid something like $12 million for timed exclusivity (someone can correct me if I'm wrong on the exact figure) for Rise.

Arthoneceron said:
Because this seems to be the opposite of what all the rumours prior the Monster Hunter World said it, which was a Sony strategy on re-capturing the series, which migrated from PSP to 3DS in a certain time of its life.

I mean for World Sony was absolutely involved. They co-marketed the game with Capcom and had some sort of regional exclusivity in Asia. I would assume they'll also be involved in the sequel.

Arthoneceron said:
About Vita crash and burn, the only one that Sony should blame for its failure are themselves, because in the first years, the handheld had the support that the 3DS only could dream on its lifetime.

Of course it was Sony's failure, they shouldn't have made the Vita in the first place since they had no interest in supporting it. I'm just saying that I'm sure Nintendo was pretty happy with the system going the way of the flesh since that means Nintendo gets far more developer support being the only one left in the portable space.

Deleted member 10737 · Dec 26, 2020

Jiggy said:
Plus whatever they paid to keep it off Playstation and Xbox entirely.

there's no indication that capcom wanted mh rise on ps/xb and nintendo paid for it not to happen. the leak only mentioned pc afaik.

Deguello · Dec 26, 2020

Jiggy said:
Okay this is crazy. You are aware that Nintendo paid off Capcom to delay the PC release of Monster Hunter Rise for nearly a year right? Plus whatever they paid to keep it off Playstation and Xbox entirely. How is that any less shady than Sony's deals. Why is Yakuza 7 a timed next gen exclusive on Xbox? Why isn't Disgaea 6 being localized on PS4. At the very least Sony is kind of upfront about this, we wouldn't have even known Rise is coming to PC if it wasn't for the big Capcom leak. And I'd love to know if Disgaea 6 is a timed or full exclusive in the West. I'm not gonna call Nintendo petty for these tactics, it's business and they're all equally guilty of this shit.

We're not sure of the circumstances of the Capcom deal, whether it's some backroom deal or Capcom essentially requires Nintendo fund the entire project and pay for temporary silence of future ports. It's the business world they live in, now, one that started around the mid-90's or so and Nintendo has to play the game to survive.

For Yakuza 7, that's easy. Microsoft is literally paying them the market maximum for a port. They have the most money of any of these companies, and pretty much a reason why Nintendo doesn't often do much in the way of buying ports or exclusivity, because they'd always lose a bidding war against Sony and MS. They'd much rather fund a game from the ground up. For instance, we don't know if Marvel's Avengers is one of those games that one of their competitors paid to "not appear on Switch." Maybe it could run it in some fashion, maybe it couldn't. But Nintendo, instead of paying the asking price for what would likely be a watered-down port anyway, decided to get a close dev partner (Koei Tecmo) and give the long dormant Marvel Ultimate Alliance franchise a shot in the arm with a brand new entry that's pretty much an "Avengers" game, but with more characters, including fan favorites like the X-men, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Black Panther (shamefully locked behind DLC in Marvel's Avengers.)
Nintendo's playing Moneyball strategies.

As for Disgaea 6, that may not be a shady deal if NIS simply isn't confident that the PS4 audience in Western countries will buy an anime-styled game. Hate the expression, but it could be simply a case of not casting pearls before swine. Or they could be worried they have to run it past Sony's American ... uh, let's say "second ESRB" to make sure the content lines up with their market ethics comptroller first.

Sandfox · Dec 26, 2020

I kinda doubt Nintendo paid for Disgaea 6 exclusively in the west. It's more of a niche title and they would go for WW exclusivity.

With Yakuza MS is clearly paying Japanese developers to get these games on their platform and Gamepass.

Jiggy · Dec 26, 2020

mazi said:
there's no indication that capcom wanted mh rise on ps/xb and nintendo paid for it not to happen. the leak only mentioned pc afaik.

If nothing was leaked on that then I'll retract that part. Maybe Capcom just wants to keep World and Rise on separate platforms (aside from PC which gets everything). The rest of my post stands.

Deguello said:
We're not sure of the circumstances of the Capcom deal

TBF we're not aware of the circumstances of any of these exclusivity deals. But people still get upset about them!

Deguello said:
It's the business world they live in, now, one that started around the mid-90's or so and Nintendo has to play the game to survive.

That's my point. They're businesses trying to get an edge over the competition. Go back and read the post I was responding to. My point wasn't to bash Nintendo, but to point out that everybody does this sort of thing.

Deguello said:
As for Disgaea 6, that may not be a shady deal if NIS simply isn't confident that the PS4 audience in Western countries will buy an anime-styled game. Hate the expression, but it could be simply a case of not casting pearls before swine. Or they could be worried they have to run it past Sony's American ... uh, let's say "second ESRB" to make sure the content lines up with their market ethics comptroller first.

AFAIK the PS4 version of Disgaea 5 sold a lot better in the West than Japan. It actually bombed in Japan and the Western release sort of saved the game, then the later Switch port did extremely well. It makes little sense to leave the PS4 version only in Japan when the localization work is already done and the Western release will have a bigger audience (who makes PS4 games just to sell them in Japan?). And Sony's censorship policies would have already been in play with the Japanese release.

MegaXZero · Dec 26, 2020

Sandfox said:
I kinda doubt Nintendo paid for Disgaea 6 exclusively in the west. It's more of a niche title and they would go for WW exclusivity.

Yeah, if Nintendo was paying for Disgaea 6, the sales in Japan lost for NIS by exclusivity would be vastly lower than the rest of the world. Why would Japan be left in if Nintendo went for timed exclusivity? The best theory so far is NISA doesn't have confidence in a PS4 release summer 2021 in the west.

Deleted member 31092 · Dec 26, 2020

Monster Hunter Rise was never coming to PS4/XBO. From the leaks it started as a Switch only titles and the PC version was added much further into development. Nintendo and Capcom reached a deal to delay the announcement and release off the PC version, not to keep it of other consoles.

Jiggy · Dec 26, 2020

Sandfox said:
I kinda doubt Nintendo paid for Disgaea 6 exclusively in the west. It's more of a niche title and they would go for WW exclusivity.

The PS4 version of Disgaea 5 sold a lot better in the West than in Japan, so lets make a PS4 version of Disgaea 6 and only release it in Japan.

That's an... interesting strategy.

MegaXZero said:
Yeah, if Nintendo was paying for Disgaea 6, the sales in Japan lost for NIS by exclusivity would be vastly lower than the rest of the world. The best theory so far is NISA doesn't have confidence in a PS4 release summer 2021 in the west.

NISA is releasing Poison Control and Fallen Legion Revenants next year on PS4. Both of which will assuredly sell much less than a new Disgaea game. I don't think that's a very good theory.

I don't know why it's so hard to believe NOA offered marketing support or something in exchange for some sort of timed exclusivity.

I don't want to keep derailing over this, the Disgaea thing was just an example. I'm sure there'll be a PS version localized at some point.

Deleted member 31092 · Dec 26, 2020

NISA very publicly accused Sony of not caring about them, I'm sure this was a big factor in Disgaea 6 being Switch exclusive in the west.

Hero of Legend · Dec 26, 2020

Jiggy said:
Of course it was Sony's failure, they shouldn't have made the Vita in the first place since they had no interest in supporting it. I'm just saying that I'm sure Nintendo was pretty happy with the system going the way of the flesh since that means Nintendo gets far more developer support being the only one left in the portable space.

Nintendo getting MH4 and actually announcing it a couple of months before the Vita released was uncharacteristically without mercy deathblows I've seen by Nintendo. You can tell Nintendo went in and went in HARD. But of course 3rd-parties otherwise didn't care. 90% of them still supported the Vita over 3DS no matter how often the 3DS eons outsold the Vita on a weekly basis.

It's why NIS and KT/Gust (especially the former) going so hard on Switch was something unheard of during that era. I mean Disgaea being on Nintendo hardware was like a white whale. We had Disgaea DS but that was a long time ago and was a one-off. After that weird sticker-based spin-off on 3DS, NIS internally wrote off the 3DS outright. Gust was also absent until near the end with a weird tactics-style demake of Rorona (which never got localized).

Now we have Ryza 2 being revealed first in a Nintendo Direct during the August(?) Partners Showcase, and Disgaea 6 being outright Nintendo-exclusive in the west where the franshise by far sells the most these days (but also evidently was made specifically for the Switch in mind).

And both companies have been singing in the rain on Switch. KT just struck pay dirt with Age of Calamity (shared with Nintendo but still) which I think is now by far the highest ever selling Musou game of all-time. Plus they also made the highest selling FE ever with Three Houses on Switch.

And NIS scored BIG with Disgaea 5 Complete on Switch in the west near launch (can you blame them going exclusive for 6 in the west?).

We're in a very different era now with some of the former Sony loyalists basically doing a 180 over the past gen. Falcom's kind of the only not not joining them, but have allowed NIS and other to port their games to Switch at least.

Jiggy said:
The PS4 version of Disgaea 5 sold a lot better in the West than in Japan, so lets make a PS4 version of Disgaea 6 and only release it in Japan.

That's an... interesting strategy.

NISA is releasing Poison Control and Fallen Legion Revenants next year on PS4. Both of which will assuredly sell much less than a new Disgaea game. I don't think that's a very good theory.

I don't know why it's so hard to believe NOA offered marketing support or something in exchange for some sort of timed exclusivity.

I don't want to keep derailing over this, the Disgaea thing was just an example. I'm sure there'll be a PS version localized at some point.

Apparently the Switch version of D5C sold TEN TIMES more than the PS4 version did in the west (at least NA?).

Jiggy · Dec 26, 2020

Joseki said:
NISA very publicly accused Sony of not caring about them, I'm sure this was a big factor in Disgaea 6 being Switch exclusive in the west.

They're releasing other PS4 games next year

Deleted member 31092 · Dec 26, 2020

Jiggy said:
They're releasing other PS4 games next year

Yes I know, but I think that made the decision to partner with Nintendo for D6 much easier for them.

I also wonder if Nintendo was a bit more interested than one would expect in D6 precisely because of the public fallout between NISA and Sony. Nintendo is putting a lot of focus in the mid-small 3rd party market, what better way to show it then securing exclusivity of D6.

On a semi-related note, Gal Gun became a Switch console exclusive yesterday as the XBO version was cancelled due to disagreement with Microsoft over its content.

Jiggy · Dec 26, 2020

^^I don't disagree with anything there

Hero of Legend said:
But of course 3rd-parties otherwise didn't care. 90% of them still supported the Vita over 3DS no matter how often the 3DS eons outsold the Vita on a weekly basis.

Do we know the total number of Japanese releases for the 3DS and Vita? I'm curious how close they ended up despite the difference in hardware sales.

MegaXZero · Dec 26, 2020

Jiggy said:
The PS4 version of Disgaea 5 sold a lot better in the West than in Japan, so lets make a PS4 version of Disgaea 6 and only release it in Japan.

That's an... interesting strategy.

NISA is releasing Poison Control and Fallen Legion Revenants next year on PS4. Both of which will assuredly sell much less than a new Disgaea game. I don't think that's a very good theory.

I don't know why it's so hard to believe NOA offered marketing support or something in exchange for some sort of timed exclusivity.

I don't want to keep derailing over this, the Disgaea thing was just an example. I'm sure there'll be a PS version localized at some point.

I specifically said summer for a reason. Both of those are out before Disgaea 6 in the summer. There is some precedent for this kind of thing when NISA didn't release Refrain's vita version in the West.

Hero of Legend said:
Apparently the Switch version of D5C sold TEN TIMES more than the PS4 version did in the west (at least NA?).

No. If I'm thinking of the right comment, that was refering to a general sales total thrown out by someone, not a platform comparison.

Kriegshand · Dec 26, 2020

There is nothing wrong with paid exclusives. It is a valid strategy to promote your platform with exclusive content. Neither Sony nor Nintendo are evil because of this. Everyone does it: Apple, Amazon, Netflix.

But it is not acceptable for big publishers to keep content away from one competitor for no reason especially if it is the market leader. That is called syndicate.

For example Ubisoft has a good practice. They release their games on all possible platforms. They have also exclusives and collaborations and they usually support every new platform from launch, even Vita and Wii U. They support the industry they are in. Often i wish everyone would act in that regard like Ubisoft.

A negative example is EA not supporting the Dreamcast with sport games despite the audience being there. These are not exclusives or deals. These are politics and syndicates.

Deguello · Dec 26, 2020

Jiggy said:
AFAIK the PS4 version of Disgaea 5 sold a lot better in the West than Japan. It actually bombed in Japan and the Western release sort of saved the game, then the later Switch port did extremely well. It makes little sense to leave the PS4 version only in Japan when the localization work is already done and the Western release will have a bigger audience (who makes PS4 games just to sell them in Japan?). And Sony's censorship policies would have already been in play with the Japanese release.

Pretty much all of these Media Create/Famitsu/Sales threads for the past 3 years has been chock full of pure, 100%, unadulterated bafflement at how major publishers (especially those in Japan) could be so irrational towards the market leading console in Japan (and apparently worldwide now.) Particularly ones that heavily supported the dead-end, Sony-abandoned Vita.

This time the irrationality just happens to flow in the other direction, and it shows that sometimes businesses aren't run by profit automatons, but by people, having all the foibles of bias, allegiance, and vengeance therein.

Kriegshand said:
A negative example is EA not supporting the Dreamcast with sport games despite the audience being there. These are not exclusives or deals. These are politics and syndicates.

EA is absolutely guilty of this. One of the reasons they didn't support the Dreamcast was simply Sega had insisted on continuing their NFL sports game series. That was it. They wanted zero competition. When they got their wish and the dreamcast died and Sega became a publisher, they realized they didn't have a monopoly anymore and had to compete (great foresight! Makes me wonder if they've thought through trying to run Nintendo out during the Wii U days) they spent a few years trying to compete until they just bought out the NFL license to eliminate competition.

Another EA classic is sitting on the PGA Golf license for 5 years without even trying to release a game and not selling the license off. Just to try and hamstring any potential competitor.

This is, of course, another way publishers business sense doesn't mesh with what seems obvious for market and userbase growth. [For the Dreamcast] EA didn't care if it increased sales, userbase, fanbase, or reach so long as they get 100% of them with zero competition.

Hero of Legend · Dec 26, 2020

MegaXZero said:
No. If I'm thinking of the right comment, that was refering to a general sales total thrown out by someone, not a platform comparison.

AniHawk said:
d5 did ten times as much on switch in the west.

👀

MegaXZero · Dec 26, 2020

Hero of Legend said:
👀

Yeah and click the arrow to bring you to what that comment was responding to:

Over or under 20k worldwide for Disgaea 6?

Hero of Legend · Dec 26, 2020

MegaXZero said:
Yeah and click the arrow to bring you to what that comment was responding to:

Hmm, I see what you mean now.

cvxfreak · Dec 26, 2020

One element people here often overlook is that Japanese business relationships aren't always focused squarely on the financials. The trust companies have between each other can be just as important in determining how a company decides where to release games. If a Japanese publisher feels like their Western sales on Sony platforms are sufficient, they may very well go down that path while ignoring the Switch entirely.

There's already an underlying assumption that Western sales are more profitable for the AA/AAA-level publishers in the long run.

I personally believe it's time for every developer with reservations about developing for Nintendo systems to bury whatever hatchet they might have, but there are some who just won't favor a Nintendo-centric approach.

Chris1964 · Dec 26, 2020

Famitsu published the annual article interviewing 110 Japanese game creators for 2021 and unsurprisingly nothing important came out from it.

Pooroomoo · Dec 26, 2020

never mind

MegaXZero · Dec 26, 2020

Pooroomoo said:
Maybe this will put things in proportion -

Again that's not a platform comparison.

Pooroomoo · Dec 26, 2020

MegaXZero said:
Again that's not a platform comparison.

My bad, I was perusing on the phone and misunderstood some of the comments about this

Lelouch0612 · Dec 26, 2020

With Capcom and Altus finally supporting meaningfully the Switch, Nintendo doesn't really much more coming from Japan.

Those that will still ignore it are the ones getting punished the hardest by far.

AquaWateria · Dec 26, 2020

Correct me if I'm wrong, but did the creator of Senran Kagura kill off his series because he didn't want anything to do with Nintendo?

Kozy · Dec 26, 2020

Arthoneceron said:
It seems that the ideal world for Sony is the one which Microsoft had done another Xbox One-tier of console, and Nintendo never recovered from the abysmal failure that was the Wii U.

It seems that the only counter-measurement for the other companies' success is shrink a whole historically-important market and pay for shady deals and prevent the market to compete on the equal grounds. This seems petty, but its the Sony way of dealing with the things, apparently.

The ideal world for any company is for their competitors to fail. Sony's deals are not shady and Nintendo does deals all the time.

zroid said:
Every week when I see that Switch publisher ranking table I find some new oddity. Bamco having published more games for the Switch than Nintendo is not something I expected.

With the amount of mid-sized games they do, Nintendo and Namco are the most prolific large publishers in the industry.

Chris1964 said:
Famitsu published the annual article interviewing 110 Japanese game creators for 2021 and unsurprisingly nothing important came out from it.

I hope many of them said they were excited about their games and looking forward to revealing more soon.

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