Japanese Game Publishers Show Mixed Results

Thanks to GameScience for its round-up of financial results for Japanese videogame publishers for fiscal Q1 2004. The piece muses on "disappointing figures for Konami and Sega with a lack of big titles for the period, and with two cancelled titles, Namco also suffered heavy losses. Sony's game division also suffered, while Capcom and Square-Enix had a comparatively good period." The article also notes Nintendo's "large-scale gains", pointing out: "the Gameboy Advance SP continues to enjoy good sales while software such as 'Mario vs Donkey Kong', 'Kirby' and 'Famicom Mini Series 2' was a great success [both series together have sold over 2.7 million copies]", whereas "the bulk of the losses" in Sony's game division can "be attributed to lower hardware sales than usual", as the PlayStation 2 nears the end of its lifecycle.

Comments

Re:Possibly.

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

Well, for the end user - original games are an exciting premise but for anyone advising game developers, sequels sell. Looking at a list of the 10 best selling console games from 2003 [here]:

1. PS2 - Madden NFL 2004 (Electronics Arts)
2. GBA - Pokemon Ruby (Nintendo)
3. GBA - Pokemon Sapphire (Nintendo)
4. PS2 - Need for Speed Underground (Electronics Arts)
5. NGC - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Nintendo)
6. PS2 - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (Rockstar)
7. NGC - Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (Nintendo)
8. PS2 - Tony Hawk's Underground (Activision)
9. PS2 - Enter the Matrix (Atari)
10.PS2 - Medal of Honor: Rising Sun (Electronics Arts)

These are sales figures from North America. Looking at that list, the only game there that was not an established game franchise is the Matrix game - and that was already an established movie franchise. Simply put, companies that want to make money need to exploit their established characters. The video game industry is still relatively young and perhaps after more maturing, originality will sell games. For now, companies should bet on sequels selling. The link I provided provides a list of the best selling games in Japan for 2003, which paints a similar picture.

Now, I will agree that companies should not "pump out" sequels. Companies need to realize that in this industry, established characters are a license to print money, IF you protect your characters and make sure that poor release after poor release does not devalue them. For instance, the most recent Tomb Raider game was a sequel that did not sell because it was a bad game with an established character. Companies need to use established characters but also release quality games.

Re:Possibly.

[PainKilleR-CE]

These are sales figures from North America. Looking at that list, the only game there that was not an established game franchise is the Matrix game - and that was already an established movie franchise. Simply put, companies that want to make money need to exploit their established characters. The video game industry is still relatively young and perhaps after more maturing, originality will sell games. For now, companies should bet on sequels selling.

Going through the list, only 3 of the titles (Need for Speed, Madden, and GTA) outsold the previous title in the series, though, so companies should beware of the diminishing returns of sequels. In many cases (especially the Nintendo titles), the ratio of sales was nearly 5 to 1.

I would attribute the difference in Madden, NfSU, and GTA as having to do with:
-Madden's competition getting worse
-NfSU actually being a better game than previous titles in the series, in addition to having more popular appeal
-GTA:VC riding off the controversy and popularity of GTA3, having come out perhaps at the height of GTA3's rising sales, and perhaps having stolen some sales from GTA3 in the process (not to mention people's confusion over the fact that Vice City and San Andreas are more expansions rather than true sequels to GTA3).

Re:Games Are Deep

[bigman2003]

I'm not sure if you are a FAN of me-sucky-long-time RPGs, or if you are against them...but that's not the point. (The point is that this gives me an opportunity to spout my own opinion...)

I hear a lot of the "oh, RPGs don't sell as well, because they are so good, and so deep, that you only need to buy one or two a year."

And of course, usually this is said while giving a negative reference to sports/FPS games. Because we all know that RPGs are like the be-all and end-all of the gaming world.

Well I beg to differ on a few points here.

#1- Sports games can take up tons, and tons, and tons of time. For instance, my latest addiction is NFL 2K5. I'm almost done with my first season (Super Bowl party this weekend!) and I've got at least 30 hours playing 2K5. Each game takes about an hour. Then you spend time fixing up your crib, and looking at stats. And depending on your style of play, you need to scout out the next team. And of course, playing outside of franchise mode against friends, on-line, etc. And then there are off-season trades, changing the playbook, etc. I really expect to go at least 3 seasons with my team (Buccaneers) so I can see the effect of my trades, drafts, etc.

If past history is any indication here, I will easily spend 150+ hours on this game off-line and on-line combined. (You can actually argue that this type of game IS an RPG...but then a bunch of true-RPG sissies might threaten you with some form of phone phreaking, and the only time you'll get any peace is during the annual Comic-Con)

#2- Rainbow Six 3 is another good example of a non-RPG game that can be a major time sucker. Every wife/girlfriend/little sister has heard "just one more round" coming from a Rainbow Six 3 player. I say it again, and again, and again. While on-line, you can see how many kills other players have, and when you figure how much time they've spent on the game, it's astounding.

So I don't believe it at all when RPG fans blame the lower over-all sales of the RPG genre on "the games are so deep, you don't need as many". I prefer to blame it on "No 'Lord of the Everlasting Butterfly' the rest of the world does NOT want to pretend that they are the wizard of all fairy insects".

Okay...I think that is all for now. Because It's Time For Buccannnneeeeeeeeerrrr Footballlllll!

(And a personal, heart-felt apology to any RPG player who is not currently wearing a black T-shirt, and does not speak any languages whose basis comes from fantasy literature.)