Capcom expects Lost Planet 2 to sell 3.7 million units in second half of fiscal year

by Griffin McElroy { Nov 1st 2009 at 3:30PM }

Capcom's recently published financial report for the first half of the current fiscal year contains some fairly gutsy estimates for sales expectations of the developer's upcoming titles -- for instance, the report anticipates selling 300,000 copies of Resident Evil 5 Alternative Edition by March 31, 2010. However, the company expects one game to be its biggest blockbuster by a fairly enormous sales margin: Lost Planet 2, which, according to the report, will sell 3.7 million copies in the second half of FY 2010.

That's a fairly monumental increase compared to the sales statistics for the original Lost Planet, which has sold 2.28 million units life-to-date according to VGChartz. Don't get us wrong -- we've enjoyed what we've seen from the game thus far. However, if Capcom's hoping to approach that target, it may want to consider tossing some Pokémon in there. Perhaps a cameo by Master Chief, too, for good measure.

Read: Capcom Results of Operations and Strategies report (.PDF)

Tags: capcom, expectations, fiscal-year, lost-planet, lost-planet-2, resident-evil-5-alternative-edition, sales

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

sony boy (6 years til sony man child!) @ Nov 1st 2009 3:35PM

my prediction is 1.5 million.

most sequels don't sell as well as their prequel.

Amazingmike @ Nov 1st 2009 3:39PM

Really? I was under the impression (based off of what I've seen over the years) that it's actually the reverse. Where have you seen otherwise?

youhavemail @ Nov 1st 2009 3:46PM

Sequels sell double of almost all entertainment media. Books, movies, games, you name it. This is why we have seen a splurge in announced trilogies before the first installment is even released.

Viking @ Nov 1st 2009 3:48PM

Uncharted 2 wants to have a word with you... And Final Fantasy.

I think that if the first game doesn't deliver, the sequel is the one taking the fall, and I don't think Lost Planet was good enough to leave a sequel hype.

SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Nov 1st 2009 3:49PM

Halo: Combat Evolved wikipedia:
"With more than five million copies sold worldwide as of November 9, 2005."

Halo 2 wikipedia:
"Halo 2 is the best-selling first-generation Xbox game with 8.46 million copies sold worldwide."

Shadowbender (Nelson Is Behind You) @ Nov 1st 2009 4:03PM

It really depends. Generally, sequels do better in terms of sales. For example, Batman Beginz and The Dark Knight. Although "Begins" was well-received, it didn't do too well compared to other superhero films (but it did very well on DVD.) But then in 2008, The Dark Knight was released, and it was a box-office phenomenon. Sometimes that's not always the case, but most of the time it is.

SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Nov 1st 2009 4:06PM

I think Dark Knight isn't the greatest example because some could argue that majority of the sales had to do with the death of Heath Ledger.

*gets downvoted to oblivion*

Mazrael @ Nov 1st 2009 4:09PM

But Shadow Bender.. Heath Ledger died, that would boosted Dark Knight's success

sony boy (6 years til sony man child!) @ Nov 1st 2009 4:49PM

o yea...my bad. i was thinking about gears of war and patapon 2.

Katana Master @ Nov 1st 2009 4:57PM

Look at Halo, sells more each time a new game comes out (except ODST :/)

THE WICKER MAN (BWF) (GT: Dalek Prime) @ Nov 1st 2009 5:20PM

@spyder

Whats so bad about being downvoted to oblivion? I love the elder scrolls! lol

Vcize @ Nov 1st 2009 5:48PM

I think the majority of the Dark Knight sales had to do with the movie being fucking awesome.

Nathan-DTS [He is your father] @ Nov 1st 2009 6:01PM

I thought a prequel was a sequel set before its predecessor. For example MGS3 is a prequel to MGS2. I believe your thinking of the word predecessor.

Street Justice @ Nov 1st 2009 6:10PM

@ Spyder

No matter what you say, if you end your post acknowledging the incoming downvoting, the opposite happens! It's a proven science i swear!

*Prepares to be downvoted*

See!

WINterfang ( Now with the power to piss you off ) @ Nov 1st 2009 9:08PM

A sure fire way to get upvotes is to make fun of the guy of the guy that made a downvote like you lol and not telling Joystiq what to do.

WINterfang ( Now with the power to piss you off ) @ Nov 1st 2009 3:35PM

*chuckles*

Whaaaaaaaat?

Autobot (Now with Vitamin D)! @ Nov 2nd 2009 8:26AM

That's what I thought.

Maybe 3.7 thousand, but MILLION? That's going a little too far.

NitroMikeo @ Nov 1st 2009 3:36PM

Good luck with that...

Skizz @ Nov 1st 2009 3:37PM

i havn't even played the demo yet.... i'm on it guys.

Prof. Von Manifest (aka Dallas McCoy of the Cocaine Imperium) [PSN: Manifest37] @ Nov 1st 2009 4:33PM

Excellent Demo!!!!
Based on that, they may have a chance... if they make the recovery after a jump quicker.

Special Agent Steve @ Nov 1st 2009 5:16PM

Wait, there's a demo out? I'm so uninformed.

Hooch is Craaazey (The artist formerly known as Street Justice, and Prince depending on the day) @ Nov 1st 2009 6:26PM

I found the Demo a bit underwhelming to be honest, sure it was fun, but it didn't really give any indication of what was going on, other than "Here's an alien, shoot it"

KSPRAYDAD ... no longer playing games @ Nov 1st 2009 3:38PM

Although they should get better PS3 sales this time round (not bullshit delay) I can't see them selling over 50% more across the two platforms. Are you sure they are not including some kind of iPhone port?

Shadowbender (Nelson Is Behind You) @ Nov 1st 2009 3:39PM

What it all comes down to is how well they market it. You can have the best game ever made, but unfortunately, it has the potential to be a failure if you don't market the game well. But sometimes word of mouth can come in, but the game has to be spectacular for that kind of attention. So, Lost Planet 2 has to do 2 things: 1: Please the gamers with a fantastic gaming experience. 2: Market the game well with plenty of effective ads. Look at Halo 3 or Uncharted 2. Those are great examples.

It's possible that the game could reach to at least 3 million copies sold, but 3.7 may be pushing it. My predictions for LP2's sales are maybe 2.8 max.

Shadowbender (Nelson Is Behind You) @ Nov 1st 2009 3:53PM

You know what, after thinking about it, I take back what I said. I think sales will be from 1.5 to 1.9 million. My original prediction was a bit exaggerated.

Mr Khan @ Nov 1st 2009 3:40PM

I think a lot of what the original Lost Planet did was due to timing, i remember it came out January 2007, right? Back in the day when January was a barren dumping ground. This year, that is not at all the case, considering that there are three games releasing on the week of January 26th alone that i know of (No More Heroes 2, Mass Effect 2, Tatsunoko vs Capcom). Lost Planet might get.... Lost in the shuffle

(pun non-intentional)

NitroMikeo @ Nov 1st 2009 3:44PM

You forgot to put on your shades.

AvA (ice~) @ Nov 1st 2009 3:59PM

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hydrophobicfish (PSN: HydrophobicFish) @ Nov 1st 2009 7:25PM

Mag, too, that's a big one for PS3 owners.

Sordid State of Eclairs @ Nov 1st 2009 3:41PM

i was going to say.... never have played the first one but... either that's a typo or "drop mushrooms" Tuesday at the capcom office is really starting to take it's toll.

max @ Nov 1st 2009 3:45PM

maybe they should fix the retarded ass controls first.

xxLUANCHYxx @ Nov 1st 2009 3:52PM

I like them. They feel different but for the sake of sales they might as well include an optional control.

SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Nov 1st 2009 3:53PM

I didn't mind the controls all that much. My problem with the game was that they focused more on looks than the fluidity of the controls. So you would always get in tumbling rolls that took a long time to recover from just because of the way they looked.

Durden @ Nov 1st 2009 3:58PM

I could never get used to the controls. I really wanted to like the game but the controls ruined it for me. Traded LP1 in after about a month. I will give LP2 a try though.

Shadowbender (Nelson Is Behind You) @ Nov 1st 2009 4:08PM

I liked the first game, but like you said, the controls were atrocious. It got to the point where I just had to shut down my Xbox in fury and frustration.

Levi @ Nov 1st 2009 5:05PM

You guys are nuts, the controls are fine. Unless you are talking about the aiming mode, where it doesn't move the camera inside a certain box. Which you can change so it feels like any other TPS.

Youthinized @ Nov 1st 2009 6:16PM

see thats what i'm thinking. I thought the demo was okay, but the controls were horrendous. Especially the shooting aspect. If there's a monster to the far left of the screen and I wanted to kill it, holding the right stick all the way to the right, it'd only go a bit to the left. I got to the last monster and even got inside it, but didn't kill it because of all the monsters inside and the piss poor controls. I'm sorry capcom, you make some good games, I'll probably be getting RE:5 with the waggle controls, but this game.... I might wait till its in the bargain bin.

Youthinized @ Nov 1st 2009 6:19PM

...I mean left, is there a edit button somewhere? I'm kinda buzzed, but this game still won't be a first day or even first month buy for me.

Levi @ Nov 1st 2009 8:14PM

did you adjust the sensitivity? I mean, the game doesn't go as fast as your standard run of the mill shooter, so having super fast aiming isn't really necessary. And you don't have terrible input lag like in Killzone 2. If it's the giant dead zone aiming, I remember being able to change it in LP1, and I'm sure you can adjust the sensitivity.

I dunno. I just can't believe there's a sector of players that think the controls are that bad. I can see how some wouldn't care for them, but "horrendous" is not a word I'd think would come up.

Also, for a second there, I thought you were one of those crazies that inverts the X axis :D

patrickhuynguyen @ Nov 1st 2009 4:00PM

there's a chance. when the first one came out, it was early in the 360 life when there weren't a lot of 360s out there. it was practically a launch title.

but now there's a lot more out there. plus isn't it multiplatform now?

Phizzy @ Nov 1st 2009 4:18PM

It came out in a time when there wasn't really that much choice in games for the console. There's a lot more on offer now, they can't guarantee high sales just because there's a high installed base.

CynicalStrike @ Nov 1st 2009 4:25PM

Lost Planet came out in January 2007. To put this in perspective, Gears of War came out in November 2006, yet sold over 2 million by Christmas '06.

heymynameisben @ Nov 1st 2009 4:16PM

Adding some Mudkipz in there and it will sell 3.7million.

CH3BURASHKA @ Nov 1st 2009 4:20PM

That screenshot really gives off a Shadow of the Colossus feeling, though I doubt it will have a similar emotional impact. Still, the huge-boss concept is really really cool: I hope Gears 3 has a similar mode.

Professor Derp @ Nov 1st 2009 5:10PM

LPs envornment seemed very barren and meh to me.
LP2 looks a lot more interesting so I might give it a shot.

Levi @ Nov 1st 2009 5:08PM

I loved the first game, but the demo for the second really let me down: the co-op structure ruins it for me almost completely. When I clear out a group of enemies and die, those enemies shouldn't stay dead. That's just too easy. I got really bored with the demo really fast. Just play, kill ss many as you can, respawn, repeat, until the level is over.

Playing games with your friends can be fun, but taking all of the challenge out is not...

Charlie_Six @ Nov 1st 2009 5:25PM

I felt the same way about the demo. Very "meh" impression. I think the game will sell 1 million copies if it's lucky.

Levi @ Nov 1st 2009 10:49PM

think is, the gameplay isn't that much different from the first really. I liked the gameplay. /It's just the structure. The fact that there's really no penalty from what I could tell for dying in the game, cause when if one person dies? They aren't just going to end the game for everyone else. I don't understand why this is OK now. When you die, you need to be set back a little bit. Otherwise, games become a matter of time until you beat them, not a matter of skill.

I can't complain too much, because I don't remember the specifics. I'm willing to bet that I could come up with a better system for dying/respawning though, that qould suit the co-op gameplay as well as single player gameplay, without sacrificing skill.