VF5 R & FS combined 3rd best income 2010 in Japan

A console release that sold about half of what they expected :V I see a lot of people who are like DURR HURR NAMCO SHOULD BUY THE VF LICENSE AND MARKET IT but they sure as shit can't afford anything like that right now because they've been in utter, desperate need of an international hit since SC4. Thus: 3 Tekken games in the next 2 years AND Soul Calibur V! One of those has GOT to stick, right?!

For all people talk about how Sega's hurting now, well, they're actually in better shape than most - it's just that every JP game company is struggling with the current market changes (both for home consoles and arcades).

IMO, if some recent announcements wind up tanking, you're going to see many more companies start to "space" major fighting game franchise releases by years at a time.

Also, I don't believe that many special venues for Sega-sponsored tourneys have been arranged outside of the finals. Most of the bigger local stuff as always been held in "flagship" Sega arcades to the best of my knowledge.

 

Soul Calibur is a weird beast. The hardcore fighting fans will burn it to the ground but it will still make money.

I hang around with quite a few non-fighting gamers and they enjoyed SC4 to bits. Ranked it over SF4 even. I'm talking about guys who never or perhaps vaguely ever heard of VF and have a few stray memories of something called Tekken. Guy had the Tekken movie at home and didn't know Christie was supposed to be a capoeira fighter as well as black, didn't know who Jack was, or Paul, or Steve, you know, THAT market.

Namco has the #1 arcade money maker in Japan with Tekken and a very well running casual fighter franchise in the West with Soul Calibur. Personally I expected to see SC5 far earlier.

It's still a fighting game though and the Western market is tough on them.


Anyhowz:
Good to hear VF is still doing (reasonably?) good business in Japanese arcades.

 

In the USA I don't the hardcore fighting fans make ANY game a success; mvc2 included. Reason why is after the initial sales they aren't making additional money on tournaments. I'll say for MvC3 however, it's some additional marketing. Frankly I hear more about it from my non hardcore fighter fans that the people I know.

Just look at the new engines capcom is sporting for SSFIV and MvC3. Everything is getting dumbed down! The way of the hardcore was never the way.

 

For a game to do well in the Japanese arcades you don't need many players, just a solid core willing enough to refuel their local arcade machines ad infinitum.

Talking about hardcore in regard to Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is obsolete anyway. This game is specifically aimed at the more casual players (almost completely eliminating execution skill on the way), while still retaining some depth for mastery for the more advanced. I was play-testing the game at Capcom's: the fighting mechanics are solid (Niitsuma knows his job), very much like his previous project, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, of course.

 

We should all feel lucky that arcades have lasted this long in Japan. I think viewing them as a sustainable business in the era of online play is kinda silly, so I hope Sega and Namco and whoever else has something (better than what's been on offer) planned for what I thought was a pretty foreseeable decline.

 

To me, the real problem here is Sega didn't sell VF4 correctly, and yet they expected the game to sell twice as well as it did.

The real issue was that there was no online on PS3, and at the time, no one in the fighting game community thought the 360 would do a good job with a fighter. Then again, Sega has a distressing tendency to blame the fans for its own shortcomings, I've seen it with other franchises, not just Virtua Fighter- which is why I have somewhat of a contempt for Sega.

As for Namco- I think their games will do well, provided the online doesn't suck. Tekken 6 had sales problems due to crap online. Soul Calibur will do well no matter what, it's Soul Calibur, it's the safest name in fighting games next to SF.

I think most of the fighters this year can sell well- though I suspect one won't. (I think Tekken vs SF will be the one to bomb) MK, Tekken Tag, Mavel and SC all have built in nostalgia.

It's probably a good thing SSF4AE is being released DLC, I think it would bomb if it was released on disc in this climate.

 

It did?

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-08-06-tekken-6-breaks-million-marker

 

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Tekken 6, evidently, was their only release in the fiscal year that met or performed above expectations.</div></div>
http://www.1up.com/news/namco-bandai-cutting-630-jobs

 

Re: VF5 R & FS combined 3rd best income 2010 in Ja

Here's my Question How can Tekken 6BR be a #1 in arcade sales, meaning (its making money for NAMCO) but NAMCO is not afraid to release Console versions and not afraid to announce new SC and new Tekken.

Sega on the other hand, Does not have #1 in arcade sales, but doesn't want to release new console versions out of fear the console sales will hurt arcade sales

It seems like (maybe I'm wrong here) but it seems like virtually every fighting game publisher in the industry has indicated or hinted at what their future console fighting game plans are except Sega.

If Tekken 6 is #1 in Arcade sales(income) in 2010 and Namco is not afraid to talk about upcoming plans for console releases of Tekken, W.T.F makes Sega so special

Sega put out this game called Viking battle for Asgard and although it was a good game (IMO) Sega will probably not put out another one. I guess I'm going to have to put VF in the same categoy as Viking battle for Asgard (Sega has released a version on the PS3 and that's it)

 

Re: VF5 R & FS combined 3rd best income 2010 in Ja

When you ship 2 million day one and only sell half that during the major launch period, yeah. How many of those sales were post price drop (which came pretty fast)?

There's a lot of smoke and mirrors from NBGI and the fandom about Tekken 6's success. It's doing well enough in arcades, and the home sales are disappointing but look alright on paper. But it's hardly doing what the series did in the T3/TTT heyday. But since it's one of the better performers for the company right now, they are going to make sure to run that shit into the ground with 3 Tekkens in a 2 year timespan.

 

Re: VF5 R & FS combined 3rd best income 2010 in Ja

The numbers show that there's demand, the way they got those numbers show that Namco shot themselves in the foot with the release- as it was a fairly shoddy port (online was utter crap, Scenario Campaign being shoved on people was HATED) I do think the 2 yr delay on Namco's part was resented over here some, though I doubt that effected sales among casuals- they don't know about the Japan arcade scene other then it exists.

I just hope Namco learned their lessons when SC5 comes out- Daishi's twitter is giving me some hope and some groans, but SoulCal is almost as safe as SF as a series.

As for the Tekkens- Tekken Tag 2 will do quite well from nostalgia- it's a game the old crowd has wanted for a decade. I think the crossover games bomb though, though I don't think they are going to be big efforts. (and one of those games is being made by Capcom I think)

 

Re: VF5 R & FS combined 3rd best income 2010 in Ja

SUP DAWG, WE HEARD YOU LIEK TO TROLL SO WE PUT A TEKKEN ON YOUR TEKKEN SO YOU CAN TROLL WHILE YOU TROLL.

 

Re: VF5 R & FS combined 3rd best income 2010 in Ja

SUP DAWG, WE HEARD YOU LIEK TO TROLL TROLLER'S CAUSE YOU REALLY DON'T SERVE UP MUCH USE ON THIS BOARD SO WE PUT TROLLERS ON YOUR TROLLERS SO YOU CAN TROLL WHILE YOU TROLL.

 

Re: VF5 R & FS combined 3rd best income 2010 in Ja