UK Charts: PS4 exclusives Yakuza and Dreams crack Top Ten

[Adventureracing]

Nobody even thought the thing would chart top 20 in the first place.

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Really? I'd like to see an example of even one person posting they expected this game to miss the top 20 in the UK first week.

8th position in a week like this is really low. Admittedly it likely sold a significant portion digitally.

Dreams is going to be fine, there's no need for the concern trolling. It has a built in viral life, when people start sharing their creations (which has already started happening). Plus Mario Maker and LBP were both big on the streaming circuit, and Dreams probably will be too.

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How often does this happen where a game opens to really low sales but goes on to become a viral sensation? I feel like it's extremely rare. The much more likely scenario is this game will recover somewhat but still end up with mediocre sales.

Will wait and see more regions before judging though.

 

[Raijinto]

Nintendo games selling well over a long period of time is obviously well known but I can't quite understand how LM3 has been such a fixture in the top 10 for all this time. Such short and linear games don't do this well this often. Great game, but I just don't know how Nintendo do it so consistently.

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

Really? I'd like to see an example of even one person posting they expected this game to miss the top 20 in the UK first week.

8th position in a week like this is really low. Admittedly it likely sold a significant portion digitally.



How often does this happen where a game opens to really low sales but goes on to become a viral sensation? I feel like it's extremely rare. The much more likely scenario is this game will recover somewhat but still end up with mediocre sales.

Will wait and see more regions before judging though.

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Just visit the recent page in the Sony first party thread even the most devoted dreams followers knew for a fact this wasn't gonna light the charts on fire anybody acting "shocked" now gotta be kidding me

 

[Deleted member 58846]

Really? I'd like to see an example of even one person posting they expected this game to miss the top 20 in the UK first week.

8th position in a week like this is really low. Admittedly it likely sold a significant portion digitally.



How often does this happen where a game opens to really low sales but goes on to become a viral sensation? I feel like it's extremely rare. The much more likely scenario is this game will recover somewhat but still end up with mediocre sales.

Will wait and see more regions before judging though.

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It actually happens fairly often, and Dreams at any rate has a built in advantage thanks to the never ending stream of community content that will keep it going, because of people stumbling upon, say, Skyrim in Dreams, and sharing that online.

 

[SuperFakerBros]

It doesn't make sense to market it to a wider audience until more content has been made. The hardcore will dive in and what they create will attract others. It's just perfect for viral marketing.

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Wouldn't it be better to get the ball running early on so they attract more content creators and thus attract more people? I'm sure there will definitely be content regardless but it is weird that it's not getting more attention. Hopefully it'll do a lot better long term on PS5

 

[SharpX68K]

Sony should start marketing Dreams more. Glad it broke into the top 10 in the UK.

 

[MeltedDreams]

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio are doing good these days. They still have to remaster these Yakuza games that are set in samurai era.

 

[freeradical]

8th in UK charts equates to what?? 2000 units?

 

[cw_sasuke]

Weak launch for Dreams compared with the last LBP MM games but legs will be more important for that game....also probably something that people would rather pick up digitally.

People are kidding themselves in this topic with those low-balled expectations....sure no one expected a Dreams to chart in the top 20 first week during a slow period of the year ? Come on lol.

Grats to Sega and Yakuza....seems like the IP is still growing in the west. Nice.

 

[Piston]

Nobody even thought the thing would chart top 20 in the first place.

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That isn't even remotely true. If a game that has been in development for 7+ years and is published by one of the biggest, most prestigious software publishers in the world isn't expected to chart in the Top 20 of a slow week in February, I don't know what is.

Just visit the recent page in the Sony first party thread even the most devoted dreams followers knew for a fact this wasn't gonna light the charts on fire anybody acting "shocked" now gotta be kidding me

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Forum users and investors/publishers probably don't have the same view point on this. There is a difference between thinking something is going to bomb as a user and seeing it bomb as a publisher.

 

[LexusRacer]

I just picked up Yakuza remastered and can't wait to dive right in.

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

That isn't even remotely true. If a game that has been in development for 7+ years and is published by one of the biggest, most prestigious software publishers in the world isn't expected to chart in the Top 20 of a slow week in February, I don't know what is.

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This game has been called a bomb for the last of those 7 years , there's no marketing, there's no draw to the casual market, the last artsy game from Sony was concrete genie and that landed at out the top 20 I think it was. So yes plz it's true

 

[Arkaign]

Awesome to see the growth of Yakuza in the US/UK markets. Sony adding one of the series as a free PS+ bonus immediately exposed it to many millions of gamers who might have never given it a go otherwise, and the extremely positive coverage from YouTubers like Angry Joe and Jim Sterling probably added a fair bit of growth to it as well. The fact it branched out to become at least somewhat multiplatform was another great move to reach more players, although I'm absolutely certain that the vast vast majority of Yakuza fans are on PS of course.

 

[Adventureracing]

Just visit the recent page in the Sony first party thread even the most devoted dreams followers knew for a fact this wasn't gonna light the charts on fire anybody acting "shocked" now gotta be kidding me

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I don't think anyone's shocked it didn't set the charts on fire. There is a world of difference between that and charting 8th on an incredibly slow week like this. Also I'm well aware that most people expected an underperformance I just don't think anyone specifically claimed the game would launch outside of the top 20 in the UK which would be a catastrophic launch really.

It actually happens fairly often, and Dreams at any rate has a built in advantage thanks to the never ending stream of community content that will keep it going, because of people stumbling upon, say, Skyrim in Dreams, and sharing that online.

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Any good examples spring to mind? I don't think it's nearly as common as you imply.

 

[Raijinto]

This game has been called a bomb for the last of those 7 years , there's no marketing, there's no draw to the casual market, the last artsy game from Sony was concrete genie and that landed at out the top 20 I think it was. So yes plz it's true

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The game can still chart in 8th place and all those things could still be true. Chart placement for a single week, particularly in February, isn't indicative of much. We'll have to wait a lot longer before declaring things one way or the other.

 

[Deleted member 58846]

Any good examples spring to mind? I don't think it's nearly as common as you imply.

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Fortnite? Rainbow Six Siege? TESO? FF14?

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

Forum users and investors/publishers probably don't have the same view point on this. There is a difference between thinking something is going to bomb as a user and seeing it bomb as a publisher.

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Why would I be talking bout the publisher tho of course we have no idea what they expect this to do for all we know(somehow) that would be good to them. Talking strictly here

 

[DriftingSpirit]

That isn't even remotely true. If a game that has been in development for 7+ years and is published by one of the biggest, most prestigious software publishers in the world isn't expected to chart in the Top 20 of a slow week in February, I don't know what is.

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Nope.

We are not going to revise history like this.

Dreams was expected to crater.

 

[Piston]

Nope.

We are not going to revise history like this.

Dreams was expected to crater.

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I don't get this, does expecting something to crater make it acceptable when it happens?

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

Nope.

We are not going to revise history like this.

Dreams was expected to crater.

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It's days gone but the reverse effect

 

[DriftingSpirit]

I don't get this, does expecting something to crater make it acceptable when it happens?

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And we "know" it happened? How did you reach that conclusion?

And that wasn't even the original point anyway. You claimed it wasn't remotely true and it was.

 

[Bushido]

Darksiders Genesis deserves better. Playing it on PS4 at the moment, really cool game.

 

[Piston]

And we "know" it happened? How did you reach that conclusion?

And that wasn't even the original point anyway. You claimed it wasn't remotely true and it was.

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Point me to someone who said that Dreams wasn't going to chart in the Top 20 of the UK Charts if we are getting nitpicky, that was what I originally refuted.

 

[Deleted member 58846]

Also, legitimately surprised Switch versions of multiplat games are performing better than Xbox versions. And this is in the UK, which is one of the stronger markets for Xbox and one of the weaker ones for Nintendo.
It still won't be good enough for some publishers of course.

 

[Pryme]

Nobody even thought the thing would chart top 20 in the first place.

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Top 20 in a month like this is probably around 1000 copies.
I call BS on 'nobody thought it would crack top 20'.

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

Point me to someone who said that Dreams wasn't going to chart in the Top 20 of the UK Charts if we are getting nitpicky, that was what I originally refuted.

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PlayStation Worldwide Studios |OT6| The only JRPGs we're getting are Jim Ryan Party GIFs

Better than I initially thought, I was expecting 35-40.

www.resetera.com

PlayStation Worldwide Studios |OT6| The only JRPGs we're getting are Jim Ryan Party GIFs

to be fair, i expected Dreams to not even chart... so better than i expected?

www.resetera.com

There I don't feel like looking no more

 

[DriftingSpirit]

What do you think will be the biggest flop of 2018?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_in_video_gaming For me, it has to be Sea of Thieves. The game has been in development for a really long time by a fairly large developer so it must have churned through a massive pile of cash. I can't say I've seen a massive amount of excitement for it...

www.resetera.com

Crtl + F Dreams

Y'all are trying and it is cute but nah.

 

[chrisPjelly]

Hell yeah! Yakuza and Dreams are such fantastic and unique games in the current gaming landscape, so it's good to see them get more of a spotlight

 

[ArmGunar]

Yakuza has carved a loyal niche audience in UK.

Dreams is a bomba, there is no way to paint it otherwise, while Snack World is nowhere to be seen in top 40.

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Could you guess range for Dreams based on previous weeks ?
1-5k ? 5-10k ? More ? Less ?

Or there isn't enough info to guess that ?

 

[Crayon]

Dreams rollout is real quiet. The beta was most of the game out for a long time. The full releases and the reviews are basically the marketing. We'll see if it works. They got lbp up to 8mil sales or whatever so they probably know what they're doing. It's a service game, after all.

 

[Rat King]

Great result for Dreams.

 

[jroc74]

I didnt even think Dreams will chart at all, so thats good.

this game is gonna be a slow burn though, so the day 1 sales arent extremely critical. Just need to hope people get intrigued when seeing creations online and get it.

surprising opening for yakuza, but i guess remasters once again prove they got a pull.

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I will be completely shocked if Dreams sells well.

Not that I think it's a bad game, but the type of game. Mario Maker sales do give me hope tho.

 

[convo]

Holy shit Yakuza charting is unexpected, it's good value for the collection. With all gaps not counting the spin-offs closed, recommendations are pretty easy.

 

[jroc74]

Just visit the recent page in the Sony first party thread even the most devoted dreams followers knew for a fact this wasn't gonna light the charts on fire anybody acting "shocked" now gotta be kidding me

Click to shrink...

It's days gone but the reverse effect

Click to shrink...

What do you think will be the biggest flop of 2018?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_in_video_gaming For me, it has to be Sea of Thieves. The game has been in development for a really long time by a fairly large developer so it must have churned through a massive pile of cash. I can't say I've seen a massive amount of excitement for it...

www.resetera.com

Crtl + F Dreams

Y'all are trying and it is cute but nah.

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Yup, lol.

I looked at it on the PS4 store yesterday. That trailer should be the commercial for the game if it isn't.

 

[Necron]

Great news on both.

 

[DarkDetective]

You don't need to sell a lot of copies to get into the Top Ten, according to Dring.
So I guess that means Dreams and Darksiders Genesis sales are both quite low, and Yakuza Remastered may be doing relatively well against the rest of the market, but is probably not too spectacular either.

 

[KiNolin]

I see it as a you reap what you sow scenario: loyalist PS fans, so to speak, have mostly grow up with Uncharted, God of War and every Western-influenced action game in between. The likes of us who've been around since PSX and cherish the memories of what was quirky or childish are less and less by the day. There's barely an audience any longer in PlayStation for these games, because most people buy their systems looking exactly for the opposite kind of game.

PS: Okay, I'll end on a positive note. According to this profile, there's close to 200k unique users on Dreams right now. Keep going up, you little Imp!

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Quirky games are more successful than ever on PS4, but from Japanese 3rd parties. This is a chart with Yakuza on number 3. Sony reminds of when Nintendo refused to advertise anything that wasn't Mii related, even though they had several hardcore games on Wii. Just stupid. Persona was a huge success, yet Sony never spared it a single spot during any of their big conferences instead of whatever generic shooters came from western 3rd parties at the time.

 

[BubblegumNemesis]

8th in UK charts equates to what?? 2000 units?

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Yeah it isn't worth starting a thread over TBH.

 

[Deleted member 51691]

Sony definitely seems to be banking on Dreams being a long term project, given its lack of big "this is the moment that Dreams happens get it now" marketing.

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Yeah, it's something that will gain appeal as more and more creators get their hands on it. Launch day is just the beginning. Ideally, Dreams will have consistent sales for years to come.

 

[Bruno MB]

Could you guess range for Dreams based on previous weeks ?
1-5k ? 5-10k ? More ? Less ?

Or there isn't enough info to guess that ?

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3 weeks ago (week 4, 2020) Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot topped the UK charts selling around 7.000 units.

 

[Deleted member 23381]

What is 8th place in the UK charts in a dead week? like sub 500 copies?

 

[Deleted member 10737]

What is 8th place in the UK charts in a dead week? like sub 500 copies?

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1k to 2k, probably.

 

[SpaceCrystal]

Dreams came out at the end of week prolly why so low

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It's Sony's fault for not marketing it at all.

 

[Mechaplum]

The concern trolling is typical, but it's not like Sony pushed Dreams as much as it could either.

 

[Pariah]

Quirky games are more successful than ever on PS4, but from Japanese 3rd parties. This is a chart with Yakuza on number 3. Sony reminds of when Nintendo refused to advertise anything that wasn't Mii related, even though they had several hardcore games on Wii. Just stupid. Persona was a huge success, yet Sony never spared it a single spot during any of their big conferences instead of whatever generic shooters came from western 3rd parties at the time.

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Well, I think E3 conferences are and have always been about the most commercial games, or sending specific messages. PlayStation had talked enough about indies and smaller Japanese games by the time Persona was ready to release (I say this judging by their approach in later years). In that sense, it's a game that could have been there or not; I remember others like Nioh (distributed by Sony) or Yakuza appearing on that stage or similar ones. It's also an arrangement between companies: perhaps SEGA had other plans for its promotion on the West; meanwhile it was heavily promoted by Sony Japan at TGS. So, different schedules, different targets.

I don't feel that Yakuza is that quirky anymore; it's a pretty known entity by now, with an established, supportive fan base. Number 3 or number 40, the raw sales figure is what matters, which in this case must be quite discreet. But on the topic of success, I just want to say one thing, because I'm struggling to find a single Japanese game fitting the criteria: Dreams or Astro Bot or any of these games that don't make as many headlines as the Horizon or Days Gone of this world; they're also succesful. I really think that Dreams will be succesful, and it won't need millions for that to happen. It's just that some products cannot reach the same heights. Nintendo promoted ARMS as much as any other big series, but it wasn't enough to turn it into the next phenomenon. Still, was it succesful? Absolutely. I expect the same here, though it will take a long while.

 

[Iwao]

Every single facebook ad is a Dreams one for me and I feel like I've def seen TV ads for it

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And billboards in the UK.

 

[get2sammyb]

Dreams is borderline impossible to market and very few people will want to own this physically anyway. Stop worrying about the financials and be grateful such a wonderful game got made in the first place.

 

[ArmGunar]

3 weeks ago (week 4, 2020) Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot topped the UK charts selling around 7.000 units.

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Thanks !

Dreams is borderline impossible to market and very few people will want to own this physically anyway. Stop worrying about the financials and be grateful such a wonderful game got made in the first place.

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And maybe Dreams has been done because they previously released 2 hits (LBP1/2) so we can be concerned about Dreams sales if we want them to have the possibility to create such great games in the future

 

[8bit]

Really happy to see Yakuza get some traction, it's been my favourite for years and I thought Dead Souls killed the series in the west.

Dreams is going to be a slow burner for now, but I'd expect it's a lynchpin for PS5.

 

[Deleted member 5359]