| NJ5 said: @Viper1: So they did a $2 million advertising campaign in Japan? Let's put that together with Mr. Svensson's other quote: "Look at publicly listed publisher financials. Industry standard is a variable marketing spend of between 9-12% of forecasted gross sales." This would point to expectations of around $20 million in Japan in terms of gross sales. So they were expecting 400,000 copies sold in Japan? WTF? Given this and what narfwack said, I think Mr. Svensson's information is doubtful at best. |
That's not too surprising. Remember that the advertising campaign he's alluding to were for the PS2 version, back in '06. Such expectations aren't too outlandish. And Svennson's gone on record several times about the Wii version saying they didn't expect all that much in terms of sales (and that it was selling according to expectations).
| nordlead said: How accurate are VGChartz Okami PS2 sales?? Does anyone know if there were any NPD or Capcom information released on that game? |
Quite accurate, according to Svennson, but then we only have Japanese data for that game.
| mike_intellivision said: PS -- Is this the same person: http://www.edge-online.com/features/christian-svensson |
Same guy, yes.
| mike_intellivision said:
And you have a Senior VP responding on message boards (who just over three years ago was working on the editorial side of Next Gen). |
I do despise Svennson and his arrogance (especially the "that's the next test" remark), but I find it invaluable to have an executive who's willing to talk publically about some information that we would never otherwise get (see my previous post, for example). Granted, stomaching this a****** is a high price to pay, but I feel it's worth it.
| jammy2211 said: It does always make me smile inside when people call the game a nishe project which couldn't possibly sell! and then suggest Capcom didn't do enough to market it. Marketing isn't cheap, and marketing a nishe project is never going to happen for a company on the scale of Capcom. I don't think anyone has suggest this as a benchmark for Wii third party sales or anything. More just interesting comparing it to VGChartz sales and drives home a bit of realism in my opinion, not all Wii projects are going to make money, it's not as cheap safe investment as it's made out to be etc. |
Strangely, this may well be the first time I've ever completely agreed with you on anything, let alone a multi-point post. Well done.
| Rhonin the wizard said: According to this as of March 2007 the PS2 version sold 270,000 units. And from Capcom's financial report for the first half of fiscal year ending March 31, 2009, the Wii version sold 300,000 units. |
Svennson's addressed this by saying that the former number is "sold-to-customer," while the latter is "sold-to-retailer." A bit of a bummer, if true, but whachagonna do? Make people buy more copies.
| ChichiriMuyo said: Anyway, if he's right that they spent $2 million to advertize the game in Japan, then that's their **** up. There is no way in hell I'd have green lighted the project if someone came to me and told me Z&W was on a budget that expected 400k sales in Japan alone for a new IP. |
That figure relates to Okami on the PS2, not Zack and Wiki. As far as I can tell, the latter's advertising budget was "lol."
| Lafiel said:
btw I personally believe the factor is at 1.6-2.2x depending on if the game needs it's own engine and is developed by a studio with prior HD/Wii experiences |
Believe whatever you want (this is America), but the range we've been given (by multiple developers) is much higher than that.
| Esa-Petteri said: Z&W bombed, get over it. |
Strangely, I second this post. This fact doesn't mean as much as folks (on both sides) seem to think it does. Although it does muddle a few things, analysis-wise.
| appolose said: I'll have to try this game. |
Yes. Yes you will.
