Japan Sales Thread *renamed
- Thread starter 22psi
- Start date
Haven't they spent a lot on TV ads too? I'm just guessing that based on 8 TV spots at GameTrailers. Early days yet, but this could be pointing to Wii's audience being fundamentally different. They're not the same Nintendo gamers of old who Mario'd on SNES and N64 and GC, but people who don't care for Mario outside of mini-games.
What's needed at this juncture is some relative numbers. M.G. is the flagship Mario title, like M. Sunshine and M. 64, right? So we'd be expecting the same Mario fans to be buying this one at the same rate?
According to http://mmopub.com/2007/05/16/japans-mario-sales-throughout-the-ages/
Super Mario Sunshine only sold 871.250 units in Japan during its lifetime.
So 300.000 in the first week is not too bad in comparison, if sales don't drop too sharply.
OTOH, Mario Galaxy looks like it's a lot better than SMS, so it certainly deserves to hit the million...
Super Mario Sunshine only sold 871.250 units in Japan during its lifetime.
So 300.000 in the first week is not too bad in comparison, if sales don't drop too sharply.
OTOH, Mario Galaxy looks like it's a lot better than SMS, so it certainly deserves to hit the million...
tongue_of_colicab
Veteran
I think what you are trying to say is that alot of times western products just dont offer any advantage over Japanese products. Take cars or tv's for example. Western products dont really have a advantage over japanese products but japanese products are alot cheaper to buy if you are japanese. So if you are japanese, are you not buying western stuff because you dont like it or because there simply is a better and/or cheaper product available that just happens to be japanese?
They buy iPods, BMW and Mercs are still way more populair than lexus (see, now quality/image comes into play), they use windows, they use hardware from western companies etc.
Now there's a nice word to pronounceNo wonder they changed it to Miffy.
If you think that is hard what about Alfred jodocus kwak? happens that was a very populair cartoon around the world to btw. Dutch stuff rules teh world!
Gaming in Germany is generally not a mainstream activity. The sales figures demonstrate this. PC gaming is a minority exercise, Sims and god-games excluded.
FPS is a specific genre in which violence is enacted through your own eyes. The immersion is greater. The gun culture is big in America, it's not everywhere else. I am 100% positive this is a very big reason for the Xbox's lack of success. The stigma associated with FPS is much greater than in any other type of genre. Games are generally looked down upon as a form of entertainment. Most sales are towards kids. FPS is not a family genre at all. Racing can be a family genre, platforming can be a family genre. FPS will never be a family genre, therefore if your hardware is associated with the FPS stigma then you will never gain mainstream acceptance.
GTA is sandbox. Most people playing the game steal a car and enjoy being chased by the cops. The popularity of GTA was due to the freedom it gave you to do outrageous things. MGS doesn't have to be violent at all, but it's not a big deal in Japan. Neither is DMC4. They make very little impact. They appeal to a small section of the market. Biggest franchises pre-Touch Generations were collection marathons, RPGs, platformers and racers. Halo's success in Europe is still a fraction of its popularity in the US. Is it mainstream in Europe? Not at all. It’s not culturally or socially acceptable.
Microsoft went to Japan with a project called Midway, their primary franchise an FPS, with a console built around Western(read Anglo-Saxon) gaming culture, a focus on online in a market that didn’t want to know, with a marketing theme which used the wrong phrase for High Definition and a console named after its failed predecessor. The results are not surprising.
If you don’t research your market you will fail. Just like SCEI is doing today. One company, actually one man, saw the value of asking consumers what they really desire, it’s no surprise that his company under his vision has eclipsed the rest.
EDIT: The Xenophobia debate....
iPod, Starbucks (Shibuya has the most profitable Starbucks coffee house in the world), McDonalds, Coke, Pepsi, Nike, Adidas, Mercedes, BMW, Ferrari, Porsche, Hollywood movies, American TV shows, Hip-hop culture, etc. etc.
Japan enjoys the same globalised products as the rest of the west. Japan is often included in the characterisation of “Western”.
What is different is their culture.
It’s like asking why NFL isn’t popular outside the US.
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Reported where?
BTW two weeks ago Wii sold 20,575, last week it sold 24,932, this week its 27,502. That's a pretty strange slump if you ask me....
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Still way down from the ~40k a week it was doing earlier.
If you're selling 40 units a week for 20 weeks, then you drop to 20 one week then 24the next , and finally 27 would you report that as continued slump or a sales increase?
.../backs away slowly
Readykilowatt
Regular
Didn't the PS3 recently get a price cut? It's interesting that even so, the Wii is still outselling it.
Johnny Awesome
Veteran
Your GTA arguments are very weak. Guys want to shoot things for fun. Europe, US, Japan. Everywhere. Sure there are some cultural differences and if you want to argue that Japanese and European gamers aren't as big on FPS games due to other reasons that's fine, but not because they are violent. That's nonsense IMO.
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No, it's in 7 days.
The mainstraim media is now running a few stories about falling Japan Wii sales:
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUST30269720071102
Although, the articles tend to be misleading, as PS3 isn't really gaining, it's just staying somewhat steady (but still poor) while Wii has fallen back towards it.
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUST30269720071102
Although, the articles tend to be misleading, as PS3 isn't really gaining, it's just staying somewhat steady (but still poor) while Wii has fallen back towards it.
It actually already had the price drop which did result in Ps3 sales increases in the numbers from 2 weeks ago. Its not highly advertised though and the 40GB isn't out yet.
I think Evildeus meant the 40GB version, which is a cheaper price for PS3 - the 'price drop' that we allude to.
Its still more expensive than the 20GB PS3 they are still selling in Japan though.
DuckThor Evil
Legend
No it isn't... The 40GB will be cheaper than the 20GB. The 40GB will be 37000¥ at Amazon.jp and the 20GB is 42000¥, so there is 5k yen between them. Amazon prices are slightly below the official price, but the 5k difference is also in the official prices.
LMAO!!! Germany is the second-biggest gaming market worldwide for PC games after USA. But we buy most of the games abroad because of the extremely stupid, mind-boggling censorship here. As for consoles, the interest here is way less for obvious reasons.
EDIT: btw. I usually buy games on Amazon UK
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Johnny Awesome
Veteran
Do you buy FPS games? Or are they too violent for you? LOL
Don't overexaggerate your dismissal of the violence argument though. Not every country has an army like in the US or a gun culture like in the US, or have so many live veterans and professionals in their family, etc.
While that does not necessarily mean that people don't like games with guns, which they obviously do in a lot of countries, but that also doesn't mean that it doesn't make any difference whatsoever.