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Top-Selling Japanese Games In 2003 Reveal Trends 58

Posted by simoniker from the xbox-not-so-much dept.
Thanks to The Magic Box for their chart showing the top-selling videogames in Japan during 2003. Square Enix's Final Fantasy X-2 for PS2 tops the chart, selling a little less than 2 million copies, despite Japanese consumer discontent with the title, and Nintendo's Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire for GBA places second, with almost 1.5 million copies sold in 2003, and nearly 5 million in total. A surprise hit in third place is the PlayStation 2 action title Dynasty Warriors 4 from Koei, and further down the chart, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles for GameCube can only manage a disappointing 26th place, with 310,000 copies sold, and an Xbox title of any kind is, sadly, nowhere to be seen in the Top 30.
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Top-Selling Japanese Games In 2003 Reveal Trends More

Top-Selling Japanese Games In 2003 Reveal Trends

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  • But I guess it makes sense.. they all love the sport, but so little space to play it.. years-long waiting lists makes PS2 golf look much better.
    And speaking of the PS2, 18 games are PS2, 7 GBA and 5 GC.. wow.. that's some PS2 lovin'...
    • The Everybody's Golf series is called Hot Shots Golf over here. It's similar to Mario Golf, it's fast, simple and not very realistic. Camelot, the developers of the first Everybody''s Golf game, developed the two Mario Golf games.
    • "they all love the sport,"
      Wow - everyone in Japan loves golf? That's interesting. You know, football games sell very well in the United States. Does everyone in the U.S. love football?

      I'll ignore making the comparison to GTA sales and asking you whether all Americans love stealing cars and shooting people, although I could make that argument against your subtle racism, since many people play golf video games who do not enjoy playing real golf and vice versa.

      • Re:Golf at #5? Nifty (Score:2, Interesting)

        by stuph ( 664902 )
        My apologies... instead, I should have said that "while I lived in Japan for 2 and a half years, every driving range I ever went to, day or night was completely full, and every golf course I ever inquired about had a waiting list of several months at least", thereby making me believe that "there are a good many citizens of Japan who enjoy the game of golf" and perhaps "they play video-game golf in order to get at least some sort of golf-experience that they otherwise could not afford the time or money to ha

        • not every simple mis-speaking/mis-typing is racist, and I hate it when it is viewed as such.

          Agreed.

          Combined with the number of flamebaiters and trolls on here, the ability to quickly respond to things well before actually thinking through what someone wrote just promotes a lot of the bashing that goes on here nowadays, particularly with game articles.

          I got slammed as a racist because I didn't like the aggressive music on the Madden 2004 soundtrack.

          I would be interested in knowing why there is a large

          • There is interest in golf in Japan, but it's primarily among older males (40's and up). Women and young men generally have little interest. However, from what I understand from coworkers, Everybody's Golf (minna no gorufu) is a pretty fun game, regardless of whether you like or dislike golf, hence its universal popularity.
      • You don't have to take every thing so damn literally around here. And, no, you didn't ignore the GTA comparison because you use it in your argument. To ignore the comparison you would have had to delete most of the second paragraph of your post.

        And please tell me how using 'they' to describe the people of a country is 'subtle racism'.

  • nice list and all but that site tried to install so much junk on my computer, does slashdot really need to link to sites like these? surely the top 30 list exists on a site that does'nt try to pull these tricks.

    but onto my point, I though grand theft auto sold over 230,000 copies in japan so how come it is'nt on the list?

    • Re:No Grand Theft Auto? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by bugbread ( 599172 ) on Saturday January 03, 2004 @01:01PM (#7867747)
      Because it's a top 30 list, and GTA hasn't sold enough copies to make it into the top 30. It would have to have sold more than 265,083 copies to beat Kirby's Air Raid and make it into the top 30.
      • ok I get your point, but I read on slashdot it had sold 300,000 copies and that was a while ago.
        http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?.....&tid=186 &tid=99 [slashdot.org]
        I guess I should'nt believe everything I read on slashdot :)
        • Ah, with 300,000 copies, that would be a different story...Hmm, wonder where that number comes from...

          One guess is that 300,000 copies have been sold to stores, and those stores have sold 230,000 copies to the general public. No evidence, of course, but I remember XBox and N-Gage sales being tallied this way to make the amount of sales seem higher.

          • Maybe it is on there, but has a different name. If you scroll down the document a bit, you'll see Resident Evil 4 referenced, but apparently sold under the name "Biohazard 4" in Japan. I don't recognize some of the names on the list (not a heavy gamer though), could one of those be GTA? Anyone know what company distributes GTA in Japan (may give a clue)?

            Who knows. Maybe the list only contains games made by Japanese companies.

            • the game was distributed by capcom, I checked what the games names where on the list for one's I did'nt recongize none where gta.

            • Re:No Grand Theft Auto? (Score:4, Informative)

              by bugbread ( 599172 ) on Saturday January 03, 2004 @02:51PM (#7868368)
              Nope, GTA is sold as Grand Theft Auto here in Japan. I suspect that it was just a few copies short of the top 30 (maybe #32 or 33?). GTA is distributed by Capcom. I don't think the list contains only games made by Japanese companies (game magazines don't tend to do that), but few if any non-Japanese made games sell very well here.

              Biohazard was sold as Resident Evil abroad because of (I believe) issues with the band Biohazard.
        • I'm a little surprised that GTA isn't in there either - perhaps it sold through just under 230,000, but Take Two has sold 300,000+ copies to retailers, hence their slight inflation in the number mentioned in their financial results?
    • On the installation of junk, I agree wholeheartedly. I couldn't see it, because I'm running Mozilla, but on loading the site in Internet Explorer, it tried to install a couple of different programs of various kinds. Pretty rude.

      Unfortunately, since The Magic Box translates a lot of stuff from Japanese media, it's often the first source for quite a bit of news, but I just mailed the webmaster and asked if he could take off the super-obnoxious Gator-style installation attempts, at least.

  • Who cares? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    an Xbox title of any kind is, sadly, nowhere to be seen in the Top 30.

    Who cares?
    • Maybe Microsoft and other Western console developers because it shows either a fault with the X-Box or the Japanese unwilling to accept it?
      Maybe Nintendo and Sony because it shows that they still have market domanance even if people say they are losing to Microsoft in the USA (and I do not belive they are)?
      Maybe N-Gage because it gives insight to them if they want to launch it there?

      • Re:Who cares? (Score:2, Insightful)

        by BigKato ( 683307 )
        I think it is easy to bash Microsoft over this but really, what American electronics companies sell well in Japan? It's not just the XBox that doesn't sell well there. What about American made cars? Do you think they sell well in Japan?

        • Re:Who cares? (Score:3, Interesting)

          by bugbread ( 599172 )
          Different reasons, though. American cars don't sell well here because they (historically) are huge, have bad mileage, and break down a lot. I don't know if things have changed, but it's less the "foreignness" of the product than the "low quality".

          XBox, on the other hand, is a pretty high quality product (I own one and am very happy with it). The problem is that they have NO decent games on it in Japan! It's incredible! Pick your favorite 10 XBox games. 9 of them have probably not been released here.
          • Another reason you fail to note is that the Japanese are quite nationalistic. While Americans like to chant the slogan "Buy American", they mostly buy goods manufactured in China whereas the Japanese actually stick to their guns and actively avoid buying foreign goods. [Obviously not all Japanese harbor this type of nationalistic sentiment but it is a market force.]

            • Re:Who cares? (Score:3, Interesting)

              by bugbread ( 599172 )
              This is actually a really tough call. There is definite correlation, but there may or may not be causation. That is, I suspect that Japanese buy Japanese products not so much because they are Japanese, but because they are better. I can't really think of many non-Japanese consumer device companies who produce to Japanese standards. I would say the XBox, but the giant CD-scratching fiasco on launch pretty much knocked that out. Motorola stopped making phones in Japan for a long time due to low sales, bu
          • American cars don't sell well here because they (historically) are huge, have bad mileage, and break down a lot.

            The Xbox is huge, and from my personal experience breaks down a lot. As far as mileage goes, my Gamecube travels with me to my casual gaming friends because it is smaller with a handle, and it has better [gamefaqs.com] multi [gamefaqs.com] player [gamefaqs.com] games [gamefaqs.com].

            I checked on Gamefaqs [gamefaqs.com] for Japanese release dates and found nearly all of my favorite Xbox games have been released in Japan. Unfortunately, most of them didn't sell well in
            • Of the top 20 XBox games on Gamerankings.com, at least 12 have not been released in Japan. Admittedly, a good chunk of that is made of sports games, which wouldn't sell even if released, but the point is that there are no equivalent high-rating Japan-only XBox games. The situation is getting a lot, lot better, but then again, Microsoft is going to some desperate measures: releasing Morrowind untranslated for the Japanese market?
          • is a pretty high quality product

            On the contrary, lots of Xboxes have problems. "DDE" (dirty disc error) plagues the first versions, and extremely high fan noise plagues the latest versions (most of the ones sold now, but not all - it's a manufacturing problem with the fan).
  • It's great to see that one of its games is a bestseller in Japan. I remember the days when Koei only made turn-based strategy games, and could only satisfy a niche market. Hopefully this recent success will allow them to make even more excellent games.

    Rob

  • Lucky ducks! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by llamaluvr ( 575102 ) on Saturday January 03, 2004 @02:33PM (#7868255) Journal
    They got another Dragon Quest (Warrior) Monsters Game? Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart for the GBA was 7th place. Does anybody know if that's just another name for one we have over here or an entirely different game? I've actually never played one, but I've recently become enamored with the Dragon Warrior series, having played the rereleass of 2 and 3 on the GBC, and DW7 on Playstation.

    At any rate, it's a little OT, but, do any other single-player RPG fans out there besides me find the Dragon Warrior games to be a whole lot more satisfying than the Final Fantasy series? Sure, the graphics on DW7 are pretty subpar for the Playstation, but the games seem to be a whole lot more challenging, with less cheesy diolouge, cooler spells and attacks, dungeons with more than one direction to go in, and things like that.

    They get plenty of respect in Japan, as Dragon Quest 7 was the greatest selling playstation game ever over there, or something like that. But they really don't get props over in the States. Nobody payed much attention to the GBC rereleases of of Dragon Warrior 1, 2, and 3, even though they were marvelous remakes, and it's been near impossible to find DW7 in a store for a long time now. [sigh]
    • Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart [dqshrine.com] is part three of the series. I know the links to the DQM:CH images on my page(s) are broken because I have to conserve server space because I have a quota.
    • If you are somewhat dissapointed with DW7, you should pick up some emulator [zsnes.com] a patch [dejap.com], and the Dragon Quest 6 rom (which you should find easily by yourself).

      It is easily the greatest of all Dragon Quest/Warrior games, with an inmense world to explore, which is designed in such a way, that every new transport medium you get, opens at least two new locations, with fun minigames or cool places to go, which are not obvious at first, so you expend some time exploring.

      That game is the best of the series. I am wai
    • I also personally prefer Dragon Warrior over FF.

      Perhaps the the reason why American's prefer FF can be traced to the beginning of the introduction of RPGs in consoles. The Dragon Warrior's UI was less refined than Final Fantasy's. Also FF's graphics where significantly better.

      When FF2 was released on the SNES it showcased the power of the console (awesome graphics and music), also they refreshed the series with a new entry almost every year.

      Even though the Scenarios of DW2 & 3 where much better tha

  • Content: Poor Xbox sales = Poor Xbox game sales (Score:5, Informative)

    by HardcoreGamer ( 672845 ) on Saturday January 03, 2004 @02:45PM (#7868340)

    ...and an Xbox title of any kind is, sadly, nowhere to be seen in the Top 30.

    I'm not sure why this described as sad - I would characterize it as entirely predictable. We have all read about the many struggles that Microsoft has had in gaining acceptance in the Japanese market. Despite its best efforts, Microsoft's console has remained in last place, embarrassingly outsold even by the rebranded original PlayStation, the PSOne.

    Part of the problem is the physically large design of the Xbox hardware itself, in a country where space in the typical home is at a premium and a small PS2 or GameCube is far preferable to the bulky Xbox.

    Part of the problem is undoubtedly related to an allegiance to the domestic console manufacturers - Sony and Nintendo - over the foreign Microsoft.

    But the biggest problem may be a cultural one. If the Xbox provided titles that appeal to the Japanese market, the Xbox would have better sales and better game sales. But it doesn't. Without the titles to back up the platform, there isn't - and the shouldn't be - any expectation of strong sales.

    Splashy marketing and hype only buy you the attention of Japanese gamers (or any gamers for that matter). The question is: Can the Xbox deliver on the content?

    So far - in Japan - the answer to that question is a resounding NO.

    • and very poor product placement. I'm currently residing in Japan and I have to say that the X-Box section, or "shelf" would be more appropriate to describe it, is usually situated in the *very* back of the game section and pretty much left to its own (untidy, game cartridges piled, open boxes, etc). It's almost as if, since they have to have the section, they try to make it as innocuous as possible.

      It's actually embarrassing to be seen in that row, especially being a foreigner.

      --
      I am not an atomic playboy
      • the X-Box section ... is usually situated in the *very* back of the game section

        Note that this wasn't true when the xbox was first released in Japan -- in fact at that point, xbox games had a primo up-front location in many stores, and quite often a prominently situated demo unit. There was also a huge amount of advertising accompanying the release (e.g., it was almost impossible to escape xbox adverts in central shibuya, as even the street lamps were flying xbox banners).

        Of course as the xbox has conti
  • and an Xbox title of any kind is, sadly, nowhere to be seen in the Top 30.

    Yeah, it's pretty unfortunate that Microsoft is having a hard time making a profit in Japan, because you know... hey wait a minute, am I still on slashdot?
  • The one Glaring Error in the title is that, unlike most if not all the games in this list, Dynasty Warriors 4 is a multi-console game so X-Box is included in this list.

    The trend noted is not wether or not the article is an anti-microsoft statement but it's a trend noting that game makers are making Games exclusively for specific platforms.

    Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy (for the most part), Grand Turismo, and SOCOM have always been known for being Playstation 1 and/or 2 games.

    Secondly, the next trend shoul
  • Final Fantasy X-2 can't be that bad. It's the only game that CmdrTaco is playing according to the What We're Playing tab on the right side of Slashdot Games page. And Yuna's damn sexy.
  • Almost all of those games are sequels or offshoots of previously-released games. Part of the reason I rarely reach for the consoles anymore is because pretty much everything that's coming out is a rehash of something I've already played.
  • Enough with the console bias already. Remorse at an underperforming GCN title and mock sympathy for the Japanese Xbox failure is getting ridiculous. Everybody who reads this site regularly has seen it in the story comments a million times. Lets try to keep it off the front page, Simoniker.

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