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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Sega talks sales: Yakuza 3 broke even, 7th Dragon very good, MadWorld meh

outlawauron on 21 April 2009
BengaBenga said:
Don't want to ruin the party, but breaking even is NOT a success at all. It means they could have put the money they spent making Yakuza 3 on the bank and made more money. That's not how companies work.

But it isn't a failure. 

And the game isn't going to suddenly stop selling now.



"We'll toss the dice however they fall,
And snuggle the girls be they short or tall,
Then follow young Mat whenever he calls,
To dance with Jak o' the Shadows."

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Aj_habfan on 21 April 2009

Hey, Yakuza is still selling here people it's not dead. I imagine they are going to need to ship more, as that 500k shipment is drying up.



Kasz216 on 21 April 2009
outlawauron said:
Kasz216 said:
outlawauron said:
Kasz216 said:
outlawauron said:
Kasz216 said:
Yakuza 3 only broke even huh? That's... disapointing... considering everyone here thought it sold really well.

Very seldom does a HD game break even only with the Japanese sales. That in itself is a surprise.

That means whatever is sold in the West is pure profit!

Yeah... but Yakuza doesn't sell in the west.  So it's break even or nothing.

Also it had the advantage of the Yakuza Engine already existing.

It's more likely that Yakuza 3 will sell another 500K in japan then it is Yakuza 3 will sell 50K in the US.

Looking at both games, I'm not sure if they used the same engine. They look miles apart.

I disagree.... aside from that... look at Gears 2 and other games made with UE3.

Heck look at the difference between Gears 1 and Gears 2.

With time and expierence games will look better on the same engine.

Also they stated they used the Kenzan engine... so unless that's changed.

They very well could be using the same engine, I'm just not too sure.

Although, we still haven't had a "The Best" entry for Yakuza 3 and it's still selling well. I'm sure they'll continune to make some nice cash. (The Best for Kenzan! has sold over 50k according to other trackers putting the game over 350k)

They are.  I mean even IGN says so... it's in the games description at retailers etc.

 



outlawauron on 21 April 2009
Aj_habfan said:
Hey, Yakuza is still selling here people it's not dead. I imagine they are going to need to ship more, as that 500k shipment is drying up.

Yakuza 2 sold 2k last week.



"We'll toss the dice however they fall,
And snuggle the girls be they short or tall,
Then follow young Mat whenever he calls,
To dance with Jak o' the Shadows."

Check out MyAnimeList and my Game Collection. Owner of the 5 millionth post.

Kasz216 on 21 April 2009
Aj_habfan said:
Hey, Yakuza is still selling here people it's not dead. I imagine they are going to need to ship more, as that 500k shipment is drying up.

Yeah, i'm hoping it legs out to a million like i predicted.  I got opening week about right i think... so it could be on track.

Still... using the Kenzan engine i just thought it would of broke even at 250,000K.

 



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outlawauron on 21 April 2009
Kasz216 said:
Aj_habfan said:
Hey, Yakuza is still selling here people it's not dead. I imagine they are going to need to ship more, as that 500k shipment is drying up.

Yeah, i'm hoping it legs out to a million like i predicted.  I got opening week about right i think... so it could be on track.

Still... using the Kenzan engine i just thought it would of broke even at 250,000K.

Seriously? I don't think there is a way for a large profile game like Yakuza 3 to break even that low even with an engine already.



"We'll toss the dice however they fall,
And snuggle the girls be they short or tall,
Then follow young Mat whenever he calls,
To dance with Jak o' the Shadows."

Check out MyAnimeList and my Game Collection. Owner of the 5 millionth post.

mjc2021 on 21 April 2009
BengaBenga said:
Don't want to ruin the party, but breaking even is NOT a success at all. It means they could have put the money they spent making Yakuza 3 on the bank and made more money. That's not how companies work.

Well what kind of sales was Sega expecting? Right now this is the number four best selling PS3 game in Japan. Did they think this would sell a million copies or something? MGS4 still has a long way to go before it sells 1 million copies in Japan alone.



Munkeh111 on 21 April 2009

Common, bring Yakuza to the west, it got good reviews... Although, in the OPM review of it, it did mention that it was clearly a very Japanese game, so it would not appeal as much to western gamers, so if they just do a little bit of work on it, it should sell decently in the west. I know it would cost them more money, but it will be worth it to establish it as more of a franchise outside of Japan



Kasz216 on 21 April 2009
outlawauron said:
Kasz216 said:
Aj_habfan said:
Hey, Yakuza is still selling here people it's not dead. I imagine they are going to need to ship more, as that 500k shipment is drying up.

Yeah, i'm hoping it legs out to a million like i predicted.  I got opening week about right i think... so it could be on track.

Still... using the Kenzan engine i just thought it would of broke even at 250,000K.

Seriously? I don't think there is a way for a large profile game like Yakuza 3 to break even that low even with an engine already.

It's large profile... for Japan.

Which means it should have a budget that is set for selling to one of three markets... and that market being the smallest market of the three.

Plus an engine is like... half the cost.

Most "Japan only" or might as well be games tend to have low budgets.

 



BengaBenga on 21 April 2009
outlawauron said:
BengaBenga said:
Don't want to ruin the party, but breaking even is NOT a success at all. It means they could have put the money they spent making Yakuza 3 on the bank and made more money. That's not how companies work.

But it isn't a failure. 

And the game isn't going to suddenly stop selling now.

 

I don't know if it's a failure. From the sales numbers we can calculate that Yakuza must have costed ~$13 million (assuming $30 per game revenue for the publisher). Investing that kind of money without seeing a return would be a failure in almost any business. But at least it didn't lose money, that's for sure. Maybe that's how the hit-driven game industry works.

But with another 50k sold they could make ~$1.5 million in profit, 10% RoI. It sure is something, but I'm pretty sure Valkyria was a bigger success (RoI wise,). I don't see it costing anywhere near Yakuza levels and it sold decent.