Blue Dragon busts into Japanese sales charts
by Ludwig Kietzmann 
{ Dec 15th 2006 at 4:25AM }
The first thing you should do when this sort of thing happens is somehow confirm that you're still in the same dimension you were in moments before. Examine newspapers, have a look in the mirror and make doubly sure that nobody is sporting an angry orangutan for a head. With that out of the way, you can return to the matter at hand -- there's an Xbox 360 game sitting in the fourth position of the weekly Japanese software sales chart. With a healthy 80,348 copies sold, it would appear that Microsoft's Blue Dragon is at least making some strides in the publisher's continuing battle against apathy in Japan.Examining the other bits of the chart on GamesAreFun, it's easy to imagine some of the cheaper headlines that could have been used for this post. "Blue Dragon crushes Zelda in Japanese sales!" While Blue Dragon enters the chart in fourth place, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess has since slid down to 17th in its second week. Post-launch Wii shortages could be to blame, as Wario Ware: Smooth Moves also fails to make it past the 23rd spot. The fact that Tales of Destiny and Final Fantasy VI Advance wind up below Blue Dragon, however, could be seen as more reassuring.
Ah, but what about "Blue Dragon defeated by Pokemon?" In its tenth week, Pokemon Diamond occupies the third slot, with second and first place going to Sega's Yakuza 2 and Gundam SEED: Federation vs ZAFT II respectively. The install bases of the PS2 and DS make those games particularly tough opponents, so to snag fourth spot seems like a solid accomplishment. Keep an eye out for the infamous Japanese hardware sales later today to see how effective Blue Dragon is at shifting consoles.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
John @ Dec 15th 2006 4:35AM
nice! i want it when it comes out here lol it looks awesome!
go wii60!
FSK405K @ Dec 15th 2006 4:59AM
Looks like they got tired of Zelda fast. ;)
Eggroll @ Dec 15th 2006 5:00AM
i want that damn game so bad...
ckleow @ Dec 15th 2006 5:08AM
Blue dragon cost 29,800 yen?? http://www.m-create.com/jpn/s_ranking.html
That's about US$250!!! Sucks
Gamer G @ Dec 15th 2006 5:24AM
@4
Get a freekin life! It sold 80k copies, thats a fact not a spin!
It goes to show that the Japanease will buy MS stuff as long as it games aimed at them.
Fandango @ Dec 16th 2006 5:01AM
#6, no, it means all 80000 Microsoft employees in Japan bought the game to make it look good, and failed.
How the hell does an RPG - "a game aimed at the Japanese" lose out to Yakuza 2 and Gundam?
Easy, it has Microsoft written all over it, and the Japanese hate MS, and always will.
Stop trying you morons! 80k is pitiful, and you've been outsold by PS3 within a month! And with barely 7 million 360s sold, it's an early DC-like grave for this 'next gen' console.
MMX @ Dec 15th 2006 5:40AM
" it's easy to imagine some of the cheaper headlines that could have been used for this post. "Blue Dragon crushes Zelda in Japanese sales!" "
Taking petty pot-shots are other blogs makes you look like a prick and won't endear you to your target audience. Look what arrogance has done for Sony's reputation.
Jeff @ Dec 15th 2006 5:43AM
Gundam is pretty popular in Japan if you werent aware.
BPM? @ Dec 15th 2006 6:00AM
#5 ckleow:
Actually, that would be the Blue Dragon + 360 Core bundle that costs $250.
#4 drew:
If you read some of the comments, while there wasn't a big line for Blue Dragon where Ashcraft went to, there were at other spots in Japan.
#7 Fandango:
Ahaha, cute. Saying all copies of Blue Dragon were bought by MS employees. Yeah, real cute.
And Japan hates Microsoft? Really? I wonder what OS most of their computers run then... hmm....
Ludwig Kietzmann @ Dec 15th 2006 7:22AM
MMX,
I'm not really sure what you're on about. Those are headlines that came to mind as soon as I saw the chart. I mentioned them to illustrate other angles to the story.
drew,
I think you need to reconsider your concept of "spin." First of all, Kotaku's Ashcraft did not go to the same place our guy in Japan did -- Joystiq went to the official launch at Akihabara's Yodobashi Camera. There were about 200 people there (Kotaku's article mentions this as well). "We had no problem finding a copy of the game in Osaka today, however -- it's popular, but it's not unobtainable."
Secondly, the fact is the game sold 80,000 copies and entered fourth place in the charts, regardless of how many people turned up for launch events and lines. That's what's being reported here. Implying that it's a successful game for a console that has a pitiful install base is completely fair. Honestly, you seem more upset and bitter that a 360 game is on the charts than anything else.
Jeff @ Dec 15th 2006 7:33AM
Just to round things out, Japan console sales for last week (Media Create numbers):
Nintendo DS Lite - 309,630
Wii - 85,439
PS3 - 50,171
X360 - 35,343
PS2 - 30,460
PSP - 28,930
Game Boy Advance SP - 1,896
Game Boy Micro - 1,555
GameCube - 569
Nintendo DS - 167
Game Boy Advance - 17
Xbox - 6
360 did well (for the 360), but it did not hit anywhere near the 70,000 reported here earlier in a seriously optimistic bit of translating. It also outsold neither the Wii *nor* the PS3. It did, however, outsell the PS2 for one week, despite PS2 games taking the #1 and #2 slots at retail. The PS2 market's just saturated.
Pedro @ Dec 15th 2006 7:52AM
Jeff
Thanks for the numbers. If anything, this shows 2 things. It shows that the japanese are willing to buy the 360. It also shows it needs games.
If MS has any sense at all they will start courting Japanese game studios even harder (and give sakaguchi whatever he wants).
Andrew Yoon @ Dec 15th 2006 8:30AM
drew,
You have one of the worst-founded conspiracy theories around. Why? Because AOL Time-Warner COMPETES against Microsoft. If ANYTHING, we'd want THEM to lose, and someone like Nintendo OR even *shock* Sony to win. Why? Because neither of those companies provide services like MSN or Live to compete against AOL's stuff.
So, please. If you're going to make conspiracy theories, at least make them more believable.
porkepik @ Dec 15th 2006 8:37AM
I was thinking that maybe the x360 would have passed the PS3 this week on unit sold as they already had sold 25k x360 unit as pre-sale blue dragon special edition and the other weeks PS3 was selling about 30k units a week(due to production issue) but sony seems to begin to overcome its production issues as this week is nearly double unit sold (is it the same in the US?). We will have to see if blue dragon has a lasting effect next week, if the 360 falls back to 5k unit a week that will not bode well. We will also have to see if Sony incrase its unit sold even more.
Linkamus @ Dec 15th 2006 9:05AM
XB360, PS3, and Wii... they are all made in CHINA morons. Japan has nothing against it being an "American" box... thats the dumbest shit I have ever heard. The fact that people are willing to buy a XB360 when a good game comes out shows that the hardware matters not, but the games do.
You Sonyboys are embarrassing yourselves. Someone make sure those Sony numbers aren't shipped numbers. LOL.
@ Drew: I can't believe you're the sperm that made it to the egg first. You have half a brain dude... you should stick to jerking it for a while.
Pal @ Dec 15th 2006 9:10AM
Wow guys. You make it sound as if you are vital players in the video game business. Well, we aren't, so calm down.
80,000 may not be an amazing number compared to other blockbuster RPGs, but this was made for a system that has a very, very low install base. Did you expect 3 million bundles to somehow fly off the shelves? Would you risk $250 on a system that could potentially offer you only one good RPG? Note that many of the 80,000 copies were sold via console, which takes a lot of convincing.
Good job Microsoft, finally causing a stir in Japan. With Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon 2 on the way many will keep their 360s around for now, but I sure hope that other developers other than Mistwalker have some RPGs planned for the future. The 360's life depends on it!
The Intangible Fact @ Dec 15th 2006 9:29AM
I would rather risk $250 on a console for a couple good RPG's then $600 on a system without any good games at launch. (Resistance does not count since japs don't like FPS's!)
Right now the 360 is the system to buy. It has a game or two for each category. The only good Wii game right now is Zelda(which I want). All the others look like a 64 games. Farcry is the worst looking. It looks like a PS1 game. The japanese need to swallow their irrational pride and buy the superior system.
Richard Mitchell @ Dec 15th 2006 9:51AM
"make doubly sure that nobody is sporting an angry orangutan for a head"
Ludwig, are you making a subtle Earthworm Jim reference? I hope so :)
Drew,
Not one soul tells us what to write. If you'd like to write an article bashing Microsoft, why don't you fill out an application?
http://www.weblogsinc.com/
Richard Mitchell
Xbox 360 Fanboy
Mick @ Dec 15th 2006 3:53PM
If somebody doesn't know you and doesn't like you, you shouldn't take it personally. Same with the 360.
The Japanese just will not buy it.
Does not matter to them that the 360 is better than the PS3 (for now), or was available when the PS3 was not.
Stop the flames.
Jonathan @ Dec 15th 2006 10:02AM
I have a couple of questions about this:
1. Of all those Blue Dragon exclusive bundles, how many will we see on eBay, being sold to western gamers?
2. In the grand scheme of things, while some might say Microsoft managed to create a "small stir" (although even that seems overrating it a bit), how much money did they throw around to make this happen?
I could be wrong, but I just can't help but think we're getting a (not necessarily intentionally) distorted view of things here. I still bet that if you walked down the street and asked the average person in Japan, or even the average young person what an XBOX 360 is, they wouldn't be able to tell you much about it, if anything at all.
Mr Blonde @ Dec 15th 2006 10:02AM
"make doubly sure that nobody is sporting an angry orangutan for a head"
I think that is a Planet of the Apes reference...
Fred T @ Dec 15th 2006 10:27AM
Dont Japanese like Zelda (as much as NA)? Why isnt the attach rate higher for that game? Does anyone know?
Chocolate Starfish @ Dec 15th 2006 10:27AM
The reason for Zelda's decline in sales is simple: over 75% of Wii owners already own it.
Jeff @ Dec 15th 2006 11:02AM
"Of all those Blue Dragon exclusive bundles, how many will we see on eBay, being sold to western gamers?"
Probably not many. I just checked myself for kicks, and there's not a one on auction at the moment, though there are a few for sale from Ebay storefronts.
There aren't a whole hell of a lot of these out there to begin with. Add that on to the fact that there aren't a lot of Japanese people who both speak English well enough and have the gumption and technical knowledge to really sell to US residents through Ebay (they basically have to know about PayPal and have an account they can link up, which is not common in Japan). Certainly there are plenty of Japanese sellers on Ebay, but you're talking about a really specific subset of knowledge, *and* a really specific (and small) subset of people who bought a BD 360 set.
If there were half a million of these sets out there, then yeah, I'd expect to see a few on Ebay at any given time. But at 10k-25k (I don't know which is the correct number), it's unlikely you'll ever see all that many from individual sellers.
"I still bet that if you walked down the street and asked the average person in Japan, or even the average young person what an XBOX 360 is, they wouldn't be able to tell you much about it, if anything at all."
Oh, I agree.
35,000 units is nothing in Japan. You see that the DS sold almost 10 times that amount in one week. And it's not like that number's going to grow, because included in that are pre-sales of these bundles that have been going on for months. So next week, I'd be surprised if it wasn't back down to 15k or below. Probably under 10k again.
The game itself sold mostly to current 360 owners, who are the hardest of the hardcore gamers there. They're equivalent to the people who buy Neo Geo AES stuff here.
The Xbox had its occasional bumps in sales there too, specifically when the DOA titles came out. But a couple games here and there aren't really going to help long-term.
I've always made the point that the Japanese will buy anything, regardless of where it's made, if it's just made to appeal to their tastes. In this case, the 360 has one big game that obviously does appeal to a certain demographic. That's a start. But seriously, it's a drop in the bucket in terms of what MS would really need there. It's a 1% solution. It's not even going to make a dent. When you compare it to what every other console has either on the market or in development, it's just not nearly enough. And of course, the console itself still has its design issues from the Japanese perspective.
I'm not necessarily ragging on MS or the 360, but I am saying that realistically if they want to be successful there, they are going to have to do a lot more than this both in software and in hardware. It's going to require a complete change of thinking, which they've so far not shown that they're capable of. Hopefully, on some level they know that too. It *is* possible, they just have to execute properly, and so far this is really the one bright spot for them in terms of execution there.
VampireHunter Z @ Dec 15th 2006 11:15AM
Blue Dragon did show an impact regardless of what the above retards say. Last couple weeks the 360 has been averaging around 5K consoles a week now with the release of this game it's up to 35K. It outsold the PS2 and PSP. What more can you ask for.
Isn't there a Gundam game coming out for 360? I wonder if it will have any impact since they are obviously crazy about Gundam.
It also looks like Sony wasn't lying about getting over their production issues. They still didn't produce as much consoles as the Wii but they pretty much doubled their production.
Vidikron @ Dec 15th 2006 12:22PM
Damn, some of are getting worked up over this. This is actually a nice number for MS. No, it doesn't mean that Nintendo and Sony are in any danger, but given the XBox's track record in Japan it's a step in the right direct.
So why some of you can't accept that (Drew, Fandango, etc..) for what it is is beyond me. There is no spin in the article and no one is making claims of doom for Sony or Nintendo.
tcc3 @ Dec 15th 2006 12:52PM
why does every one have a pointy chin beard?
Mr. Khan @ Dec 15th 2006 4:54PM
Well, if we want to get into where our stuff is MANUFACTURED, then we can all say good-bye to our "American" TVs, since most TVs from American companies are "Hecho en Mexico"
And yes, 80,000 is a pitiful figure for a game that is supposed to save that console in that region (not a horrible figure altogether, but remember, this is the game thats supposed to save MS in Japan)
And Mr. Yoon, how would AOL Time Warner COMPETE with Microsoft, except perhaps in the sale of Software (say, AIM vs. Windows Messenger)
Industries Microsoft is in:
Video Game Consoles
Personal Music Players
PC Operating Systems
PC Software
Video Game Software
Industries AOL-Time Warner is in:
Multimedia (TV Stations, Movies, Record Label)
Internet Service Provider
PC Software
If anything, AOL Time Warner would be more against SONY than MS
wait, that actually makes sense...
John @ Dec 15th 2006 7:20PM
Blue Dragon and the Xbox 360 are a flop.
Begbie @ Dec 15th 2006 9:48PM
Xbox360 needs to release a game about demon raping tentacles, then it'll be a sure fire hit in Japan.
Wickedneoq @ Dec 16th 2006 3:59PM
The point of this story is to say Japan is willing to buy a new system for a game made by the greats of the RPG industry. Blue Dragon is a 3 DVD game. Just how long is that in gameplay terms? If the bundle was $250 US, then holy hell, how do I get myself one of those Blue Dragon bundles?! I don't care if it's in Japanese.
Japan are loyalists. They bought the Wii because right now, it seems, Nintendo is #1, and has been since the DS. Sony is a Japanese company, so the people there will buy the product because they recognize the brand. Hardly anybody will recognize the Microsoft Xbox branding, because they only know it for the Windows platform. So simply put, the only logical way to sell Xbox 360s in Japan is to make great games that they want. Microsoft Japan needs to grab as much Gundam and Armored Core (Sweet, AC4 to 360 also) as they can to succeed over there. Of course, that's just my opinion.
Th4tGuy @ Dec 16th 2006 6:13PM
The only reason Microsoft has a bad time in Japan is its lack of advertising. Microsoft has made itself known in the United States with the creation of Windows, which has dominated the market since. In Japan, Nintendo has been around since 1889, starting out as a card game (Hanafuda) company, and has managed to evolve and take control of the market after the 1983 video game crash. Sony has made itself known with electronics as Sony Entertainment. Microsoft's Xbox was definitely an underdog with its release after the Gamecube and PS2 in both the US and Japan. Although released before the Gamecube, Microsoft had never tried this before, and Nintendo is a well known name in America, and as for in Japan, the Xbox was released in 2002 and was competing against two homegrown companies, both having brought great consoles into homes. With the Wii and PS3 now, they know how to market their console. The Wii with its odd but unique name, that needs no abbreviation and is universal, their wii-mote that (although hurting people) brings families together (to cause even more injuries(but seriously i have one and its great)), and their smart advertising that shows off the responsiveness of the controllers and how it can be picked up by anyone and played successfully, with the tag line "Wii would like to play". Sony has the association of the name from the PS1, PS2, and their brand of electronics, which leads old and new gamers to try and buy the console. While their advertising is not a "cute" or easy to understand (e.x. Crying Baby) as Nintendo's, it still advertises a point. Microsoft has not made any strides to break through advertising in Japan. They have not made any attempt to connect to the audience. They have the employees and money to make it work, they just can't apply themselves to get gamers hooked.