I think the big thing is the Stigma attached to the Wii as well. People I know were less inclined to buy it at first, either for the hope of it coming to the PS360, or the high price tag, or, more importantly, the fact people view the Wii as a "kiddy" console. Whilst this probably doesn't account for a lot of lost sales, it's still a contributing factor. People I know are almost embarrased to admit that they own a Wii, and shove it in my face with a frustrating barrage of pointless COD facts back at me, and refuse to see it as a worthwhile entry to the series.

Oh well, their loss I suppose. It's a shame they didn't get more sales, but it beat Capcom's expectations, is the best subscription game in Japan EVER (as mentioned) and no doubt made a tidy profit, which is why I expect Monster Hunter 4 on the next Nintendo home console.

All in perspective I suppose...

Actually, Monster Hunter is almost exactly like Animal Crossing in sales patterns.  The two are really very comparable, only console AC didn't have the same sort of impediment console MH does (ie: you don't have to pay $8 a month to play with your friends).  I'm curious why exactly you think the switch to handheld would allow AC "to explode" and not MH, when the core thrust of MH is local multiplayer?  If anything, I'd say AC is less naturally suited to handhelds than MH is (as it's really a less social game), despite the comparably explosive sales both have seen on the formats.

There's no article about subscription targets, Capcom mentioned it in one of their quarterly reports so you'll have to go digging on their IR site (it's all in english).  They basically said subscription revenues exceeded expectations, no hard numbers were given.

And I don't think you quite get it, there's no "reasons for underperforming" when it comes to MH3, because it quite literally did not underperform.  It's an unqualified success, it met it's sales targets, exceeded subscription targets, broke sales records in Japan for a subscription based game, and sits as one of the few series this generation than claim to have sold more on a current home console than it did on PS2.  It's Capcom's best selling console exclusive this gen, and the only one that's going to pass 2m worldwide... if that's not "success", what is?

Sometimes people don't understand what you're trying to get at. I get it, and I'm sure most people do. 

I feel as though Red Steel 2 and Monster Hunter Tri are exhausted now...anyone got any views on Okami?

Hrm... let me see here...

1. Xenoblade. This seems to be dependant on a western release. Though it fell in line with the later Xeno series for sales, it was being hyped up as a new thing. If it doesn't come to the west, it looks like it's pretty close to break-even, maybe on the side of failure.

2. Monster Hunter Tri. There's a debate here? 1.6m copies, still selling a few more, and monthly revenue in Japan. Capcom has also expressed being pleased with the sales of this game, and it is the best selling MoHun on home consoles. Easy success.

3. Red Steel 2. Frankly, this game was set up for failure. There were 3 years between 1 and 2, making people who were newer to the system wonder where 1 was. People who remember 1 remember it for being, at best, an average game, and thus, have less interest in 2. It received no marketing, and needed the WMPlus, at a time when it was still being adopted. Unless sales severely pick up from WMP now being with all new systems (which I doubt), this is a definite failure.

4. Metroid: Other M. I'm going to refrain from this one. It's too early since release, and I want to see if Nintendo legs start to show, or if it falls flat. If it falls, it's a failure; success depends mainly on how good the legs are.

5. Boom Blox. I have one thing to say: BOOM! Success.

6. Okami. Didn't the Wii version outsell the PS2 version? On the basis of that, it's a success. And for the team that made it, I really have to rule it as such...

I think the debate is due to the fact that the PSP incarnations were so successful, but I don't understand either :P

As for Okami, you're spot on IMO. It's a success in comparison to their other games and their sales expectations. Therefore it's a success. Like I said, everything in perspective...

My, what a big first thread you got here Cone ;)

Those figures for MH3 (1,607,428), you say it's for the west but don't you mean worldwide?

I didn't even know Xenoblade was already released in Japan. Those number aren't too good tbh.

My point was that Monster Hunter was a growing series that continued growing on portables.  People always like to say it was the best selling console MH as if there had been numerous console versions that couldn't break a sales barrier.  If the situation were identical except it was the PS2 32 months in instead of the Wii, do you think it would have topped out at ~1 million?

Also the sales targets were 2 million by the end of the fiscal year (March 31, 2010).  I'm not sure if it was official or just speculated, but it was generally seen as 1.5 million in Japan and 500k in the west.  Now obviously it got delayed so the western release missed the fiscal year, but it's safe to say the lifetime sales were below expectations.  To be fair capcom was particularly terrible with their expectations last year, but I wouldn't say their Tri number was too outrageous.  Do you really think Capcom was completely happy investing all that money in Tri only for it to be outsold by 2G a mere 7 weeks in.

Back in 2007 when Tri made the switch to Wii Capcom said "We believe that by bringing the Monster Hunter series to multiple platforms, it will help the franchise reach an even-greater number of users eager for its unique gameplay."  They also cited high PS3 development costs as a reason for the switch.  In your honest opinion if Capcom could go back in time and make the decision again, would they stick with the Wii or go with the PSP?

It also seems a bit odd to call it an "unqualified success" when these arguments always abound with comments like.
Best selling console Monster Hunter.
Highest sales for a subscription based game in Japan.
Second largest console game this generation not published by Nintendo in Japan.

Yeah, I meant WW. My bad. It's something like 550,000 in the west. Saying Capcom wanted 500,000 by March 31st that's damn good.

Xenoblade was never gonna be massive. If it released stateside, I'm expecting around 1 mil lifetime.

Xenoblade = flop and failure.

MH3 = Great Success

Red Steel 2 = Massive flop and failure

Metroid: Other M = Now I'm not exactly too sure how big people expected this game to be in terms of sales but since it was the next big Metroid Game, I guess people did have pretty big expectations for this but it hasn't done well. It's more the flop side right now but in a years time we can decided whether Other M was a real flop and failure or not.

Hmm...it seems as though this'll need to be left for a little while before we can find out accurate results for, let's say Monster Hunter Tri and Metroid: Other M...