Not everything related to Demon Slayer will appeal. For instance its anime soundtrack 'only' sold 24k first week (physical + digital). Everyone should always keep in mind things can still go both ways for a fighting game.
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Not everything related to Demon Slayer will appeal. For instance its anime soundtrack 'only' sold 24k first week (physical + digital). Everyone should always keep in mind things can still go both ways for a fighting game.
To be fair, the comparison between Rune Factory 4 and 5 could use a bit more contextualisation: RF4 was released the week before the 3DS XL's release (in that case the system enjoyed a substantial WOW jump from 44.202 to 235.974 units sold) and then its 4th and 5th week sales were probably helped by the Obon Holiday which ran from August 11th to August 15th in 2012. Meanwhile, Switch sales peaked at 100k the week RF5 released, then 71k, then 97k and now 78k again with no major Holiday sustaining the whole market.
Yup. It's also following the Arena fighter formula which people probably could have done without.
I know this started as a joke, but we can expect Samurai Warriors 5 to have a stronger start on PS4 than Switch. The PS4 SKU's debut week might range from 1,5 to 2,5 times what the Switch SKU will do (the situation will change once post-launch legs kick in).
Less like Warriors Orochi 4 (Famitsu)
01./00. [PS4] Warriors Orochi 4 # <ACT> (Koei Tecmo) {2018.09.27} (¥7.800) - 105.875 / NEW <80-100%>
04./00. [NSW] Warriors Orochi 4 # <ACT> (Koei Tecmo) {2018.09.27} (¥7.800) - 28.493 / NEW <60-80%>
And more like Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate
13./00. [PS4] Warriors Orochi 4: Ultimate <ACT> (Koei Tecmo) {2019.12.19} (¥7.800) - 18.386 / NEW <40-60%>
19./00. [NSW] Warriors Orochi 4: Ultimate <ACT> (Koei Tecmo) {2019.12.19} (¥7.800) - 9.928 / NEW <40-60%>
For those interested in post-launch legs for both, here's the most recent numbers from Media Create Top 1000s
[PS4] Warriors Orochi 4 # <ACT> (Koei Tecmo) {2018.09.27} (¥7.800) - 5.096 / 163.720 (-97%) (100.831 <91,15%>)
[NSW] Warriors Orochi 4 # <ACT> (Koei Tecmo) {2018.09.27} (¥7.800) - 6.553 / 51.802 (-86%) (23.660 <50,69%>)
[PS4] Warriors Orochi 4: Ultimate <ACT> (Koei Tecmo) {2019.12.19} (¥7.800) - 18.895 / 43.451 (-23%) (16.720 <52,60%>)
[NSW] Warriors Orochi 4: Ultimate <ACT> (Koei Tecmo) {2019.12.19} (¥7.800) - 20.188 / 34.625 (+40%) (9.688 <55,38%>)
[NSW] Warriors Orochi 4 # <ACT> (Koei Tecmo) {2018.09.27} (¥7.800) - 6.553 / 51.802 (-86%) (23.660 <50,69%>)
[PS4] Warriors Orochi 4: Ultimate <ACT> (Koei Tecmo) {2019.12.19} (¥7.800) - 18.895 / 43.451 (-23%) (16.720 <52,60%>)
[NSW] Warriors Orochi 4: Ultimate <ACT> (Koei Tecmo) {2019.12.19} (¥7.800) - 20.188 / 34.625 (+40%) (9.688 <55,38%>)
Still cant believe they are releasing an anime game and not launching it on Switch, the last few that released on both PS4 and Switch did better on the latter
鬼滅の刃：劇場版「無限列車編」BD＆DVD 売り上げ100万枚突破 - MANTANWEB（まんたんウェブ）
吾峠呼世晴（ごとうげ・こよはる）さんの人気マンガが原作のアニメ「鬼滅の刃」の劇場版「劇場版『鬼滅の刃』無限列車編」（外崎春雄監督）のブルーレイディスク（BD）＆DVDが6月16日…mantan-web.jp
Demon Slayer movie sold over 1 million BD/DVD in it's first 3 days.
Holy fuck it outdid Frozen lmao.
to clarify, when he says "But I used to work at Square Soft, so I often use addition too much" is he saying that now they can go bigger or that back then they had bigger budgets relatively speaking and it increased out of ambitious habits?Another interview from Takahashi 3 years ago for Xenoblade's enormous budget. (Although apparently there will be sizable budget increase from Nintendo for Xenoblade 3 after the success of 2)
"Monolith Soft is owned by Nintendo, so we definitely have a good backing, but it's not as good as people might think, and we don't have a huge budget like major titles.
We have to work with that in mind, but I used to work at Square Soft, so I often use addition too much"
“Xenoblade” Tetsuya Takahashi and “Persona” Katsura Hashino: What Does it Mean to Create? Creators of World Renowned JRPGs Discuss Their Philosophies
Xenoblade” Tetsuya Takahashi and “Persona” Katsura Hashino: What Does it Mean to Create? Creators of World Renowned JRPGs Discuss Their Philosophies Interviewer: Satoshi Eguchi Original text: Itō S…www.google.com
I wouldn't use an anime soundtrack because that's an apple to oranges comparison in regards to it doing huge numbers in a lot of different sets of entertainment. I mean you have a lot more ways where you can access the soundtrack like YouTube. With the game though you have a lot more engagement because you are playing as these extremely popular characters. This is why the game has a huge chance of breaking out and that it would be higher if there was a switch sku. You gotta understand Kimetsu no Yaiba characters are one of the important factors for the series making waves. Playing as mf Rengoku in a game can be incredible for lots of people.
It all just depends on the game being good. If it's like Kakorot then yea it may not see those big numbers. Not the biggest fan of CC2 when it comes to their games.
I'm not comparing anything. It doesn't get more descriptive than "not everything related to Demon Slayer will appeal." Frozen 1 movie and home media also did phenomenally in Japan, and in addition, its soundtrack album also sold over a million in Japan not factoring digital, but similarly not everything related to Frozen will appeal.
You also don't stop at knowing what makes a series popular, you also need to know why. For instance if a bunch of people like the characters for its story, then an arena fighter won't appeal to these people even if you get to play as these characters.
Yup. It's a huge property, with potential for millions, and will be a pretty big on both PS4 and PS5.
Arena fighter should appeal just based on the fact you can play as these characters that have different fighting styles. Their personality should come off through their moveset in the game which people will love. The biggest problem with Arena Fighters is that they are usually low-budget throwaway games for cash grab like a lot of Namco anime games are. If one thing CC2 is good at it's their visual quality and if they can match the quality they did with Ninja Storm games then the Kimetsu game should be able to do incredibly well.
Aniplex and CC2 should be able to make a hit out of this game on the sole fact of how incredibly huge the franchise is. They already missed their mark by not including a Switch sku, but even then without it, the PS4 version should do incredibly well.
I mean the game is coming out when Season 2 of the anime for Kimetsu releases (Not 100% sure the possibility is huge). This game should do incredibly well especially if they are gonna cross-market the game with the launch of the anime. Honestly, the only issue I can see is if the game ends up being a bust plus it seems like they haven't shown any Demons as characters and haven't seen what the single-player is gonna be like. I'm thinking they might show it all as it gets closer to release.
We've been down this road before of people assuming that popular anime=good game sales and yet not only are y'all insisting that it will, but it will on much less popular systems
OP
OP
Late porting to Switch is irrelevant with selling well or not before it happens.
The full quote:
I believe he is talking about the way they use their budget having some inheritance from the Square times rather than how much budget they have.
Stretching a little from my personal opinion, I think he wants to reduce the scope and polish/streamline more, for a better balance, but ends being overambitious and spend too much time in the "addition" part than the "subtraction".
Personally speaking, they should have spent their resources on a Switch sku instead of the Xbox version or even PC (In a better reality it should have been on everything). Switch and PS4 should have been the primary focus especially since the audience for Kimetsu includes a hugely diverse audience. PS4 would help with the core audience and Switch with more diverse audience imo.
Yea you are right but I'll say this again Kimetsu is not like any other hit in Japan. It isn't just a regular popular anime, it's a phenomenon in Japan. Everything from Politicians to entertainment and etc covers Kimetsu. I mean Kimetsu increased the overall economy of Japan lol.
I agree with Oregano that if the game doesn't do incredibly well even if it's on PS4 and PS5 questions need to be asked.
Yea you are right but I'll say this again Kimetsu is not like any other hit in Japan. It isn't just a regular popular anime, it's a phenomenon in Japan. Everything from Politicians to entertainment and etc covers Kimetsu. I mean Kimetsu increased the overall economy of Japan lol.
I agree with Oregano that if the game doesn't do incredibly well even if it's on PS4 and PS5 questions need to be asked.
There aren't any questions to be asked, CC2 games simply don't have that kind of appeal/potential and especially not on PlayStation in 2021.
It's like expecting every Pokémon spinoff to sell gazillions just because they use the biggest global media franchise ever.
It's like expecting every Pokémon spinoff to sell gazillions just because they use the biggest global media franchise ever.
With the way software is selling on PS5 and how much it has declined on PS4, I don't really see Demon Slayer selling anywhere near 1m. That seems like a big ask tbh.
Post E3 Update, the changes are in bold.
2021 line-up
4m+ sellers:
- Monster Hunter Rise (NSW)
- Pokémon D/P Remakes (NSW)
2m+ sellers:
- Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (NSW)
1m+ sellers :
- Mario Party Super Stars (NSW)
500k+ sellers:
- New Pokémon Snap (NSW)
- Demon's Slayer (PS4/PS5)
- WarioWare Get It together ! (NSW)
200k+ sellers:
- Miitopia (NSW)
- Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town (NSW)
- Monster Hunter Stories 2 (NSW)
- Pro eBaseball Spirits 2021 (NSW)
- Nier Replicant (PS4)
- Resident Evil Village (PS4/PS5)
- Shin Megami Tensei V (NSW)
- Horizon Forbidden West (PS4/PS5)
- Skyward Sword HD (NSW)
- Mario Golf Super Rush (NSW)
- Rune Factory 5 (NSW)
- Samurai Warriors 5 (PS4/NSW)
- Tales of Arise (PS5/PS4)
- Lost Judgment (PS5/PS4)
- Yu-Gi-Oh Rush Duel ! (NSW)
- Garage Builder (NSW)
100k+ sellers:
- Bravely Default II (NSW)
- Scarlet Nexus (PS5/PS4)
- Shin-Chan: My Summer Vacation (NSW)
- NEO: The World Ends With You (PS4/NSW)
- Little Nightmare II (PS4/NSW)
- Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires (PS5/PS4/NSW)
- Metroid Dread (NSW)
- Super Robot Wars 30 (PS4/NSW)
- Battlefield 2042 (PS5/PS4)
Very few notable games exclusively to the PS ecosystem, the difference with the Switch one is stark (7 vs 19). Even without taking into account 1st party titles, Switch really benefited this year from the exclusive support of Capcom (2 titles vs 1 for PS), Marvelous (2 vs 0) and Konami (2 or 3 vs 0).
PS5 has a real shot at finishing the year without any notable exclusive and only had 7 notable games on it vs 11 for PS4 and 24 for Switch. Not a single game crossed 100k on the system so far.
2021 line-up
4m+ sellers:
- Monster Hunter Rise (NSW)
- Pokémon D/P Remakes (NSW)
2m+ sellers:
- Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (NSW)
1m+ sellers :
- Mario Party Super Stars (NSW)
500k+ sellers:
- New Pokémon Snap (NSW)
- Demon's Slayer (PS4/PS5)
- WarioWare Get It together ! (NSW)
200k+ sellers:
- Miitopia (NSW)
- Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town (NSW)
- Monster Hunter Stories 2 (NSW)
- Pro eBaseball Spirits 2021 (NSW)
- Nier Replicant (PS4)
- Resident Evil Village (PS4/PS5)
- Shin Megami Tensei V (NSW)
- Horizon Forbidden West (PS4/PS5)
- Skyward Sword HD (NSW)
- Mario Golf Super Rush (NSW)
- Rune Factory 5 (NSW)
- Samurai Warriors 5 (PS4/NSW)
- Tales of Arise (PS5/PS4)
- Lost Judgment (PS5/PS4)
- Yu-Gi-Oh Rush Duel ! (NSW)
- Garage Builder (NSW)
100k+ sellers:
- Bravely Default II (NSW)
- Shin-Chan: My Summer Vacation (NSW)
- NEO: The World Ends With You (PS4/NSW)
- Little Nightmare II (PS4/NSW)
- Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires (PS5/PS4/NSW)
- Metroid Dread (NSW)
- Super Robot Wars 30 (PS4/NSW)
- Battlefield 2042 (PS5/PS4)
- PS only - 7
- PS4 only - 1
- PS5 only - 0
- PS4/PS5 - 6
- NSW only - 19
- PS/NSW - 5
- PS4/NSW - 4
- PS4/PS5/NSW - 1
Very few notable games exclusively to the PS ecosystem, the difference with the Switch one is stark (7 vs 19). Even without taking into account 1st party titles, Switch really benefited this year from the exclusive support of Capcom (2 titles vs 1 for PS), Marvelous (2 vs 0) and Konami (2 or 3 vs 0).
PS5 has a real shot at finishing the year without any notable exclusive and only had 7 notable games on it vs 11 for PS4 and 24 for Switch. Not a single game crossed 100k on the system so far.
Storm 4 did ~100K in 2016, long past the peak of Naruto's zeitgeist. If Demon Slayer launches alongside season 2, it shouldn't have any problem hitting 300K+ imo, with 500k being a possibility. This of course depends on the health of Playstation software ecosystem which..... isn't exactly great right now. I wish Demon Slayer was bigger internationally, because I don't think the west can carry sales like it did/does for Naruto and DBZ games. IIRC i do't even thing a western release is confirmed? A JJK game from CC2 would probably do really well domestically and internationally, hopefully thats up next.
As always thanks for compiling this. I would say that your TWEWY NEO prediction might be high IMO :(
Also I think Tokimeki Memorial could hit 100k pretty easily.
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We shall see, the original sold 200k after all.
Good call for Tokimeki but I'll wait a bit before adding it.
I hope I'm wrong, but I just am not noticing any hype anywhere for it.
I don't think the PS ecosystem is so weak that the hottest IP in the region fails to sell a million copies despite breaking records in every other sector.
They kind of confirmed a western release, but with no details IIRC.
They kind of confirmed a western release, but with no details IIRC.
Insane that a dev is gonna hurt their own profits not because the game can't run on a system, not even out of spite or bias. But because they're scared of Sony. And Sony probably doesn't even care aslong as there's a ps version
For the record Demon Slayer's OST is included in the special editions of the movie release and the singles for the TV and film are north of a million sales a piece.
The series performance has frankly been record-breaking. I think being bullish on it's potential is okay. The JoJo game was set to do stonks until word got out about the ridiculous paywall mechanics in your $70-$80 game.
I think it will take CC2's sales crown from JoJo's 486k and it might have the anime arena brawler record of 600k+ from Budokai Tenkaichi 2's combined PS2/Wii performance.
The series performance has frankly been record-breaking. I think being bullish on it's potential is okay. The JoJo game was set to do stonks until word got out about the ridiculous paywall mechanics in your $70-$80 game.
I think it will take CC2's sales crown from JoJo's 486k and it might have the anime arena brawler record of 600k+ from Budokai Tenkaichi 2's combined PS2/Wii performance.
You do know that Kimetsu no Yaiba is really popular internationally as well right lol. It's bigger than JJK.
People frankly forget how big season 1 of the anime was in the West. Season 2 will continue that popularity.
Of course it's popular, but it's not touching any of the big three or even something like AOT or ~2016/17 MHA. And to be fair, i'm only really basing the JJK comparison on anecdotal evidence, do you know where i can find more official consumption stats?
When CC2 conducts market surveys in schools and finds 90% of the target audience for KnY own Switch, and still chooses not to develop for the platform, there isn't much to analyze. They would rather ignore reality for the sake of one sided loyalty to Sony.
I'm sure the game will sell well no doubt but it's like these Japanese execs don't like making even more money or something.
I'm sure the game will sell well no doubt but it's like these Japanese execs don't like making even more money or something.
I don't have a problem with execs wanting less money, but they should do it in a way that is beneficial to consumers and/or workers rather than the opposite! (fewer platforms being worse for consumers)
Viz announced in February Demon Slayer had 1m copies in print in the anglosphere. They announced 4m 3 weeks ago. It took 5 years for MHA to reach 5m units in print there (and then, a year later, it reached 9m - the Pandemic is greatly boosting manga sales worldwide, comparison are hard to make because of that). Demon Slayer is outselling One Piece in the US. And I don't have data for that, but I'm pretty confident Bleach never reached Demon Slayer's highs either. Naruto is in a league of its own though.
In France, it reached 2m in print earlier this year, in a bit over 1 year and a half. It took MHA 3-4 years to achieve that. One-Punch Man ~4 years. AOT 5-6 years. Bleach was never big in France. It has the potential to reach Naruto's peak sales in a year (1.6m in 2007), considering it's already at 1m+ for 2021. It won't touch One Piece's peak because OP is still growing and reaching new highs (1.9m in 2020 was a new record, and it's likely to beat that again in 2021). But it's going to outsell every pre-pandemic One Piece year.
Jujutsu Kaisen seems to be following a trend similar to Demon Slayer. I'd say JJK's doing slightly better than DS in the US and slightly worse than DS in France.
Obviously, comparisons are hard. The manga market is booming everywhere in the world, and manga that have been in the spotlight since the first lockdown are getting the most out of it (Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack on titan, The Promised Neverland, etc).
Also manga sales are far from being the only popularity gauge, so grain of salt and all that.
Literally, Ninja (Fortnite dude) mentioned Kimetsu no Yaiba as being a great anime. Then you also have the Kimetsu winning the Funimation award.
People were hooked on the anime. It even blew up on Reddit. The anime is big in the West and that's ignoring Asia with it having huge streaming numbers in China. The series has definitely caught up in the west.
I dunno, I just wouldn't want to be the person who has to explain why the console game is so much less successful than every other venture especially if the answer is throwing another branch of your company under the bus.
As far as I know it's aniplex calling the shots here and not CC2. Of course Aniplex does do multiplat releases (I mean Demon Slayer will have Xbox version in west) but if Sonys different divisions actually worked more together it makes sense to skip Switch and help PS.
Also, what are the predictions for SMT V in Japan?
Seems like it's doing well preorder-wise on Amazon.
Seems like it's doing well preorder-wise on Amazon.
Arena Fighters don't really seem popular in Japan at all. The other CC2 games got like 90% of their sales in the West.
Well, this is the one that seems like that has the chance to do well if they play their cards right.
The game will do well, but the type of game it is will probably limit it.
If that was the case I'm not sure why Aniplex's other games would be on Switch, or why they would allow an Xbox version, or even why Aniplex would be self publishing instead of allowing the more experienced PlayStation Studios to act as publisher - and not have to rely on third parties to publish/distribute outside of Japan either.
I mean I absolutely don't know if there is any connection here but you would think that with one of the hottest (if not hottest) IPs in japan PS division would put some pressure to the Aniplex with this game. Xbox doesn't matter because it's non factor in Japan/Asia and the game is not system seller in west.
Thank you for the data!!!! I hadn't thought of using manga sales, but seems to line up with what i was expecting. It'll be interesting to see JJKs curve in the next couple years, especially since Demon Slayer is over. I also didn't know Bleach was a flop in France, kinda reminds me of when One Piece was the black sheep of the Big 3 in the 00s lol.
And Megan the Stallion dressed as Todoroki for a photo shoot and said she loves Jojo, that kind of stuff doesn't really mean much lmfao. And didn't JJK literally win that same award this year? I'm not denying Demon Slayer blew up, because it very obviously did. But that doesn't mean it's popular enough to carry a $60 game in the west, when it hasn't for other popular series that blew up.
Possibly... but we also had it straight from the source that CC2 is reluctant to put things on Switch day & date.
OTOH in their recent financial thingy when asked about mobile they said there's no need to consolidate it under one roof so they acknowledged that Aniplex is operating independently of PlayStation in the same/similar space.
I'd also argue that the wholly point of the One Sony/collaboration thing is to have their units do things that are mutually beneficial and I'm not seeing what PlayStation has done to help Aniplex with Demon Slayer right now.
CC2's CEO has said they are usually the ones that come up with the proposals. They don't do commission work.