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

BengaBenga on 21 April 2009
mjc2021 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.

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.

 

When these big PS3 projects got the go-ahead it was:

a) Assumed that PS3 would win hands down, especially in Japan. They probably expected numbers around where Wii is now as an install base and
b) They probably underestimated, especially the Japanese that don't have a PC-HD history, the costs to make the games for PS3.

MGS4 is different as it sells very well in the West. Yakuza has a 0.1% chance of being localized and even if it happens won't sell.

 



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FinalEvangelion on 21 April 2009

I was always under the impression that PS3 and HD games needed to sell millions upon millions to break even hanging around here so long. Good work Sega. They could subtitle this game and probably sell a few copies in the West. Western games are always subtitled / localized and brought to Japan even if they consistently sell less than 50k.



"Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, IT IS THE LEADERS of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is TELL THEM THEY ARE BEING ATTACKED, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. IT WORKS THE SAME IN ANY COUNTRY."  --Hermann Goering, leading Nazi party member, at the Nuremberg War Crime Trials 

 

Conservatives:  Pushing for a small enough government to be a guest in your living room, or even better - your uterus.

 

outlawauron on 21 April 2009
BengaBenga said:
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.

I'm not too sure on how the game margin is in Japan, but you have to consider how games are more expensive there. I think Yakuza 3 is $80 MSRP? Or at least started around there.

However, it's, like most Japanese games, is discounted 20%.



"We'll toss the dice however they fall,
And snuggle the girls be they short or tall,
Then follow young Mat whenever he calls,
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blackstar on 21 April 2009

hasn't Y3 outsold both Y2 and Y1 in Japan?

what were the numbers they were expecting in a much smaller userbase? it's weird really.

there are 2 things that they can do right now:

1- releasing a Yakuza game every year in Japan using the same engine , I guess development costs will only go down because they are familiar with the ps3 techno and the improved engine is here.

2- localizing the game.
I can see them shipping 200k-100 to europe, another 200-100 to NA and 100-50k to Asia.



Munkeh111 on 21 April 2009

@ blackstar, 1 sold about 750k, and 2 sold about 800k



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blackstar on 21 April 2009
Munkeh111 said:
@ blackstar, 1 sold about 750k, and 2 sold about 800k

 

lolwut?

in japan alone?



outlawauron on 21 April 2009
blackstar said:
Munkeh111 said:
@ blackstar, 1 sold about 750k, and 2 sold about 800k

lolwut?

in japan alone?

Yeah, they both have done ~700-800k.

However, half of those sales are done with the cheaper re-release.



"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
blackstar said:
hasn't Y3 outsold both Y2 and Y1 in Japan?

what were the numbers they were expecting in a much smaller userbase? it's weird really.

there are 2 things that they can do right now:

1- releasing a Yakuza game every year in Japan using the same engine , I guess development costs will only go down because they are familiar with the ps3 techno and the improved engine is here.

2- localizing the game.
I can see them shipping 200k-100 to europe, another 200-100 to NA and 100-50k to Asia.

No.

It had a higher launch... but it really fell off hard.

 



BengaBenga on 21 April 2009
blackstar said:
Munkeh111 said:
@ blackstar, 1 sold about 750k, and 2 sold about 800k

 

lolwut?

in japan alone?

 

Yes. And Yakuza 2 was a massive bomb in the West. I think ~50k on the enormous PS2 userbase. Yakuza 3 really doesn't have a big chance of being localized.



outlawauron on 21 April 2009
Kasz216 said:
blackstar said:
hasn't Y3 outsold both Y2 and Y1 in Japan?

what were the numbers they were expecting in a much smaller userbase? it's weird really.

there are 2 things that they can do right now:

1- releasing a Yakuza game every year in Japan using the same engine , I guess development costs will only go down because they are familiar with the ps3 techno and the improved engine is here.

2- localizing the game.
I can see them shipping 200k-100 to europe, another 200-100 to NA and 100-50k to Asia.

No.

It had a higher launch... but it really fell off hard.

It just began to fall under Yakuza 2's curve.

http://vgchartz.com/swlaunch.php?reg1=All&game1=Yakuza+-+PS2&reg2=All&game2=Yakuza+2+-+PS2&reg3=All&game3=Yakuza+3+-+PS3&weeks=100



"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.