Dragon Ball Game Sales [Those phone games ... yikes]

[Super Sayian Prime]

So, did UT go well? I'm not used to these things...

It hasn't been released in Japan yet, and that's the only market where I actually get real sales numbers without having to pay a couple of thousand dollars.

[dbboxkaifan]

So, did UT go well? I'm not used to these things...

It hasn't been released in Japan yet, and that's the only market where I actually get real sales numbers without having to pay a couple of thousand dollars.

8th December, 2011, to be exact.

I don't suppose the Japanese fans will go easy on this game without criticizing it.

Amazon.com
X360 - 4.5/5 (15 reviews)
PS3 - 4.5/5 (14 reviews)

Amazon.fr
X360 - 2.0/5 (2 reviews)
PS3 - 2.5/5 (6 reviews)

Amazon.uk
X360 - 2.5/5 (3 reviews)
PS3 - 4.5/5 (4 reviews)

Usually trusting Amazon reviews is something I rather not do but the low score reviews are somewhat trustworthy, especially the one posted at Amazon.uk Xbox 360's edition.

If you use YouTube for DBZ game reviews, Omega2040 does a pretty good job reviewing each DBZ game.

For DBZ's Ultimate Tenkaichi he gave a 5.0/10 I'd given it 6.5/10 just because of the cutscenes and the music (though it's not the synthesized DBZ/GT/KAI tracks).

[Super Sayian Prime]

Rumors point towards a 120k first (probably only) shipment for Ultimate Blast.

[Super Sayian Prime]

By far the worst first week of a major Dragon Ball game I've been around for:

07./00. [PS3] Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Blast <FTG> (Bandai Namco Games) {2011.12.08} (¥7.330) - 44.593 / NEW

[dbgtFO]

By far the worst first week of a major Dragon Ball game I've been around for:

07./00. [PS3] Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Blast <FTG> (Bandai Namco Games) {2011.12.08} (¥7.330) - 44.593 / NEW

Do you have the numbers from other major DB games as a reference point? While less than 50,000 isn't much, I have no idea how it compares to other DB games.

[Super Saiyajin Luffy]

Copy paste from this thread:
http://daizex.fanboyreview.net/viewtopi ... 11&t=18474

[PS3] Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit (Bandai Namco) - 82,010 / 163,010
[360] Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit (Bandai Namco) - 13,233 / 25,051

[PS3] Dragon Ball: Raging Blast (Bandai Namco) - 15.728 / 118.821
[360] Dragon Ball: Raging Blast (Bandai Namco) - 6,943 / 8,570
[PS3] Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2 (Bandai Namco) - 86.890 / 86.890

The first number is first week. The second is life time to date sales. Though the last 2 Spike games are just the units sold in 2010.

PS: Did RB1 really sold that low in the first week in Japan???

[dbgtFO]

Thank you.
That certainly puts things in perspective.

[Super Sayian Prime]

Raging Blast's first week is a typo. It should be:

03./00. [PS3] Dragon Ball: Raging Blast (Namco Bandai) - 57,972 / NEW

For Raging Blast 2 on PS3, that number are sales ending in 2010. This is the first week sales:

02. / 00. [PS3] Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2 (Bandai Namco) - 47.610 / NEW

Compared to that, UT actually isn't terrible, but this is all decline. There's been nothing positive with these current gen Spike games.

[DonieZ]

Raging Blast's first week is a typo. It should be:

03./00. [PS3] Dragon Ball: Raging Blast (Namco Bandai) - 57,972 / NEW

For Raging Blast 2 on PS3, that number are sales ending in 2010. This is the first week sales:

02. / 00. [PS3] Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2 (Bandai Namco) - 47.610 / NEW

Compared to that, UT actually isn't terrible, but this is all decline. There's been nothing positive with these current gen Spike games.

Uhh, I thought there was something odd about those figures. Hopefully the devs take this as a wake up call, and learn that only catering to casual fans isn't really gonna help the franchise for the future.

[Rocketman]

Uhh, I thought there was something odd about those figures. Hopefully the devs take this as a wake up call, and learn that only catering to casual fans isn't really gonna help the franchise for the future.

Any game that doesn't cater to the casual fans won't do even that well.

[DonieZ]

Uhh, I thought there was something odd about those figures. Hopefully the devs take this as a wake up call, and learn that only catering to casual fans isn't really gonna help the franchise for the future.

Any game that doesn't cater to the casual fans won't do even that well.

Reread what I wrote. "Only" to casual fans. It's a completely different story.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

But Spike is doing the opposite. They are only going after...well us, the hardcore Dragonball demographic. Everything about these games is reliant on the audience's per-established knowledge of the series and the hope that we [the hardcore] will buy these games because "OMG IT'S DRAGONBALL!" Given the series is twenty(+) years old, it's obvious to see why Namco-Bandai/Spike made this decision. The problem is, no one outside of us really knows this game exists and those that do are so done with the idea of "another Dragonball game." If Namco-Bandai wants to see a rise in Dragonball game sales they have to not only cater to the hardcore demographic but the casual fans who loved Dragonball way back when; all while capturing the attention of gamers who are also looking at Batman, Call of Duty, Assassins Creed, Zelda, Mario...well you get the point. The game needs to be a game and not just a portal for hardcore Dragonball fans to play out what-if battles against their favorite secondary characters.

[DonieZ]

Uhh, I guess I didn't make what I said clear enough. I don't necessarily mean casual "DBZ" fans, I mean general gaming casual-minded fans within the fanbase (If that makes sense). These games are fighting games they keep making right? Well, we all know that there are different groups of mindsets which gather in our fanbase/ whoever buys the games. There are either casual-gaming minded people, and then you could say there are "hardcore"-gaming minded people, I hope that I am making sense.

Now that we've got that down, I'll make my point again. Whilst, as you said, Spike may have been catering to the "hardcore" of "DB" fans, in general they weren't catering to those with the highest technical expectations aside from DB content. I mean, the hardcore DB fans wanted 200 characters (exaggeration I know), whilst the hardcore gamers (fighting gamers in this case) didn't really care for this kind of thing and simply want a fun and great system where some could possibly battle on a competitive level with friends and online. Now this is what I mean.

As Spike have currently been doing, they have been catering to the casual minded, though at the same time probably most hardcore of DB, fans who want as much content as possible and story mode. In Ultimate Tenkaichi's case they went really overboard with the direction and target audience. The game was/is one of the most noob and idiot friendly games I have ever seen. It is an immediate unattraction towards the "hardcore fighting" gamers in the DB fandom. It only attracted the casuals, and not even all at that. Thus the niche targeted audience became even more niche. Wasn't a good move.

The thing about fighting games which may have a "hardcore" scent to it, is that anyone can actually play, people (as I do with SF sometimes) can play casually (even if they don't play a lot), whilst people can also play competitively and to higher levels. However, a game such as UT, where the game is completely catered at casual minded gamers, only they, they casuals, can play and enjoy it. The hardcore's? They will hate it. That's the thing. Completely casually friendly games can only be played by casuals, and that's not a good thing.

[Saiga]

I'm more of a hardcore than casual, and I liked UT. Obviously it isn't a hardcore game at all, but I still found it enjoyable for bringing in some new ideas.

[DonieZ]

I'm more of a hardcore than casual, and I liked UT. Obviously it isn't a hardcore game at all, but I still found it enjoyable for bringing in some new ideas.

Thing is with you, you're similar to me. People like us aren't the so called casuals, we're not idiot's basically, as someone else I know has put it. We may play games casually, but we know and want game's to be far better than what they are. A hardcore fighting gamer would really hate UT, simply because there isn't much for them to learn to kill every one online or wherever. The game's too simple and leaves nothing for them to really really learn and disect for themselves.

Btw, I mean hardcore "fighter", not simply hardcore gamer. Hardcore fighting fans are quite different, I believe.

[MCDaveG]

Damn, Dragon Ball Online is fucking challenging..... UT players can click their 4 butons endlessly as I will die for countles times in the heart of Red Ribbon Army base unless I'll call out my friends and kick the s**t out of Red Pants Army...... It will be awesome if they will make game on the same engine, only with the DB to DBZ / maybe GT story. Damn!! With possibility of online battling.
Or some dumbed down version offline, with the story about the main villain.

I resigned on the next gen video games, logged to DBO after 3 months of not playing and enjoying killing wolfs in the forests with kamehameha and jankenpa. Now my newest attack is Vegeta's selfdestruct killing all animals in 10 meter radius

If I wanna play fighter, I'm playing SF4 or Blazblue and decided that I won't spent money on anymore next gen DB games. Just started to import Budokai series 1-3 from Japan to play as they are probably figting games I enjoyed the most

[Saimaroimaru]

I just consider myself a gamer. I find this "hardcore", 'casual", 'idiot" stuff to be unnecessary and funny. But maybe that is because I am business major. While I find Budokai 2 to be my most fav, I do enjoy the Spike engine. To me these games are unfleshed out or rushed ideas that have potential. We can talk to each other in the face till we are blue but till Shue caves in and gives the okay for more time, and Namco is willing to give them the funding for such thing, this gen will be nothing but a collection of incomplete ideas to me. What scares me is that when the next gen comes, with the technical limitations of that and with how Sony likes to initially mess over devs, I fear we are going to get less and less. The only solution I see to this is Spike increasing its workforce size which of course requires money to be able to get more done. I wonder if Shue's limitation is limit to Namco and not Spike. If so, then Spike can easily get around it by having another dev do alternating schedules with Spike. Two years is better than 1. But of course that costs money which means Namco has to see it as worth th effort and money.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

I just consider myself a gamer. I find this "hardcore", 'casual", 'idiot" stuff to be unnecessary and funny. But maybe that is because I am business major. While I find Budokai 2 to be my most fav, I do enjoy the Spike engine. To me these games are unfleshed out or rushed ideas that have potential. We can talk to each other in the face till we are blue but till Shue caves in and gives the okay for more time, and Namco is willing to give them the funding for such thing, this gen will be nothing but a collection of incomplete ideas to me. What scares me is that when the next gen comes, with the technical limitations of that and with how Sony likes to initially mess over devs, I fear we are going to get less and less. The only solution I see to this is Spike increasing its workforce size which of course requires money to be able to get more done. I wonder if Shue's limitation is limit to Namco and not Spike. If so, then Spike can easily get around it by having another dev do alternating schedules with Spike. Two years is better than 1. But of course that costs money which means Namco has to see it as worth th effort and money.

I hate picking at your posts because I always feel like I'm going after you but I would have though a Business major, of all people, would understand the Hardocore/Casual thing. When you look at the potential audience for these games there are really four types of people: Hardcore Dragonball fans who don't play a lot of games; Hadcore Dragonball fans who do play a lot of games(both groups can be found here on this forum); Casual Dragonball fans who do play a lot of games and casual gamers who really don't watch or know about Dragonball (essentially the newer younger generation). As a marketer and developer you have to figure out how to potentially tap into all four categories. You are going to have gamers who want a solid fighter like Street Fighter and then you are going to have people who just want a portal to live out there favorite fights and even some what if matches;next to that, you also have potential buyers who use to love DBZ and play video games that would love to have a fun experience to relive their childhood as well as new fans that recognize the characters from an episode of Kai on Nicktoons and are willing to give the game a shot. These games are seeing weaker sales because no one is figuring out how to tap into all for audiences. There have been successes before, BT3 and Budokai 3 both managed to gain love and respect from all ends of the spectrum; so it can be done.

Yes I agree that time, money and effort would all help to move things along. But at the end of the day what we need is a smart willing director who is able to juggle all of these problems and make due with what he's got and so far we aren't seeing that. We've seen attempts and I applaud Spike for their effort but I don't think they are cut out for the job.

Also, what's your beef with Sony? I'm sorry but almost every post from you has like some sort of swing at them for no reason with no evidence to back up your claims. Just thought I'd point that out.

[NitroEX]

I'm kind of glad the games aren't doing well. They just aren't good games compared to what's out there now and I'de rather not see the DBZ name dragged through the dirt any longer just for the sake of a quick cash in. I made the mistake of buying the first Raging Blast new but after noticing the severe drop in quality from previous games I made sure to buy Raging Blast 2 pre owned and long after it had dropped in price so that Bandai never saw my money. It's now at the point where I don't even have a slight urge to play Ultimate Tenkaichi and probably will never buy it.

I can only hope that they someday lose the rights to develop DBZ games or a new developer comes in who actually cares about the franchise and providing a game that does the anime justice.

[Rocketman]

providing a game that does the anime justice.

Press A to hold staring contest.