×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
NEWS: Final Fantasy XIII-2 Sells 521,959 & PS Vita Moves 324,859




Note: this is the discussion thread for this article

Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Jaymie



Joined: 18 Jun 2009
Posts: 915
PostPosted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:11 am Reply with quote
XIII-2's numbers are still good, but it's 1 million copies less than XIII. I imagine that XIII-3 will sell even less.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Manga
whitefangrazorblade



Joined: 25 Nov 2010
Posts: 24
PostPosted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 1:35 pm Reply with quote
Vita being second but release just less than 5 days ago is quite a feat. I wonder how many devices are sold so far.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
MetatronM



Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 281
PostPosted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 7:09 pm Reply with quote
Jaymie wrote:
XIII-2's numbers are still good, but it's 1 million copies less than XIII. I imagine that XIII-3 will sell even less.

XIII-2's numbers are a disaster. These numbers are nearly one million units lower than the previous worst opening weekend by a major single player release in the mainline Final Fantasy franchise in the Playstation era. The previous worst opening weekend belonged to Final Fantasy X-2, which debuted at 1,472,914. It's one thing to only just barely come in under that number, but these numbers aren't even remotely in the same ballpark.

Not only are these numbers not "good," they're a huge bomb.

FF XIII, XIV, and the endless development of Versus XIII have clearly done serious damage to the Final Fantasy brand.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
MetatronM



Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 281
PostPosted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 7:16 pm Reply with quote
whitefangrazorblade wrote:
Vita being second but release just less than 5 days ago is quite a feat. I wonder how many devices are sold so far.

It's not a feat at all. It's a console launch, and its launch is already tracking below the 3DS' launch over the same period of time earlier this year. (You know, the one that was so bad they had to drop the price by $80?)

Still a pretty good launch, but a bit worrisome if you're Sony. The overseas territories are going to be really important for Vita.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Charred Knight



Joined: 29 Sep 2008
Posts: 3085
PostPosted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 7:37 pm Reply with quote
The problem with the 3DS wasn't the launch numbers but the fact that the sales numbers had dropped quite a bit. It was supposed to be a mainstream device but people simply waited until the price dropped. The Vita sold about twice the numbers of PSP in it's first two days/
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
MetatronM



Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 281
PostPosted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 7:43 pm Reply with quote
Charred Knight wrote:
The problem with the 3DS wasn't the launch numbers but the fact that the sales numbers had dropped quite a bit. It was supposed to be a mainstream device but people simply waited until the price dropped. The Vita sold about twice the numbers of PSP in it's first two days/
The gaming market in Japan is a WILDLY different place today than it was when the PSP hit. (Partially, to its credit, because of the PSP.)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Charred Knight



Joined: 29 Sep 2008
Posts: 3085
PostPosted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 8:30 pm Reply with quote
MetatronM wrote:
Charred Knight wrote:
The problem with the 3DS wasn't the launch numbers but the fact that the sales numbers had dropped quite a bit. It was supposed to be a mainstream device but people simply waited until the price dropped. The Vita sold about twice the numbers of PSP in it's first two days/
The gaming market in Japan is a WILDLY different place today than it was when the PSP hit. (Partially, to its credit, because of the PSP.)


What are you talking about? All your doing is raising the bar to some ridiculous level. What would be good sales numbers? You seem to be mistaking the Japanese video game market with the American market.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
MetatronM



Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 281
PostPosted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 2:22 am Reply with quote
Charred Knight wrote:
MetatronM wrote:
Charred Knight wrote:
The problem with the 3DS wasn't the launch numbers but the fact that the sales numbers had dropped quite a bit. It was supposed to be a mainstream device but people simply waited until the price dropped. The Vita sold about twice the numbers of PSP in it's first two days/
The gaming market in Japan is a WILDLY different place today than it was when the PSP hit. (Partially, to its credit, because of the PSP.)


What are you talking about? All your doing is raising the bar to some ridiculous level. What would be good sales numbers? You seem to be mistaking the Japanese video game market with the American market.
The Japanese game market is now over 80% handheld today (in fact, 85% this week, but that's somewhat inflated due to the new console launch). It wasn't even remotely close to that in 2004. Launching a new handheld today is a fundamentally different thing than it was 7 years ago given the dramatic shift in that market.

That said, I never said the sales weren't good. In fact, I said the exact opposite, in plain English, "still a pretty good launch," right there in my post. Taken in a vaccuum, the sales are great. A nice continuation of the PSP's legacy of the last couple years. You're dealing with relative factors, though. Japan is basically a two dog race, and those two dogs are competing over basically the entire country's main bread winning franchises and games. Second place isn't really good enough, no matter how many units you sell while taking second place.

The bigger issue for Vita is that the 3DS has a serious lineup coming down the pipe for early 2012, with some of the biggest (Japanese) franchises in the industry. The 3DS is also only just starting to hit its stride, and with the software coming down the road and the fact that it is significantly cheaper than the Vita now, it's hard to see it ceding much ground. Vita is already launching as second best, and it's going to have a tough road ahead with the kind of competition the 3DS is going to be providing. When taken in that context, then Vita's opening performance, while solid, is hardly overwhelmingly impressive.

Regardless, launch performance will mean little overall when it's all said and done. The more important thing will be whether or not Vita has staying power. It should have a great week next week, due to it being its first full week on sale (and the holidays), but the more telling numbers will be what we see from the system in January and February.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14754
PostPosted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 3:43 am Reply with quote
Man, FF XIII-2 just got a 45 4Gamer Reader Review.

By next generation, console games will only be released outside Japan. Laughing
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
sainta



Joined: 21 Feb 2011
Posts: 989
PostPosted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 12:10 pm Reply with quote
Man, considering Final Fantasy XIII-2 has been criticized by people ever since its announcement (even though nobody played it), it is no surprise it ended like this.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
TitanManTheMan



Joined: 21 Dec 2011
Posts: 15
PostPosted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 1:41 pm Reply with quote
sainta wrote:
Man, considering Final Fantasy XIII-2 has been criticized by people ever since its announcement (even though nobody played it), it is no surprise it ended like this.


That's why you dont buy into hype or negative hype Wink
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
redranger



Joined: 13 Sep 2010
Posts: 271
PostPosted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 6:22 pm Reply with quote
Japanese people have shit taste. Maybe if the game had cute little moe girls doing cute things or forming a band it would have sold a couple more million.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
TitanManTheMan



Joined: 21 Dec 2011
Posts: 15
PostPosted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 10:08 pm Reply with quote
redranger wrote:
Japanese people have shit taste. Maybe if the game had cute little moe girls doing cute things or forming a band it would have sold a couple more million.


Because you've played it and know it's a bad/good game right? Wink

American gamers have no room to talk for taste given all the big profile games are generic shooters here.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
superunature



Joined: 09 Feb 2010
Posts: 110
PostPosted: Fri Dec 23, 2011 2:22 am Reply with quote
32 people bought the DSLite? retailers still carry that?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group