SEGA in the Charts: MediaCreate charts for Feb 24 – Mar 2 2014

Following last week’s major release of Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin!, SEGA’s samurai epic continues to chart in Japan. But amongst the launch hype of the Playstation 4, the second week was always going to be an interesting one to watch and help us evaluate if the game was going to meet the target set by it’s publisher.  Hit the break to find how SEGA’s big Q4 title managed in this week’s chart!

MediaCreate Charts for February 24th – 2nd March 2014

04./02. [PS3] Yakuza: Ishin! <ADV> (Sega) {2014.02.22} (¥8.600) – 54,148 / 192,305 (-61%)
08./03. [PS4] Yakuza: Ishin! <ADV> (Sega) {2014.02.22} (¥8.600) – 22,466 / 105,006 (-73%)

Following last week’s cumaltive sales of 220,698, Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin manages to add a further 76,614 units bringing the total to 297,311 sold between both platforms. An interesting point I forgot to make last week was the split between both versions, to me, suggests that a group of the fanbase is moving to the Playstation 4. Good news not only for SEGA, but Sony too, as this would make the decision for SEGA to drop developing a Playstation 3 version easier for them having already established a strong 100,000+ fanbase on the console and the best interest in both the developer and the hardware maker. But for SEGA, how does the second week numbers compare to previous entries in the franchise;

Title / Second Week Sales / Total Sales

Yakuza / 57,974 / 187,837
Yakuza 2 / 80,798 / 362,634
Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan! / 42,451 / 220,348
Yakuza 3 / 57,484 / 414,351
Yakuza 4 / 85,503 / 480,626
Yakuza: Of the End! / 48,252 / 355,844
Yakuza 5 / 86,640 / 450,357
Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin! / 76,614 / 297,311

So thanks to it’s first week sales, Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin! has already passed Kenzan‘s lifetime sales of 270,438 putting some distance between itself and already hitting a figure near the 300,000 mark. This now puts it in direct contention with another spinoff, Yakuza: Of the End (Which managed sales of 413,172) Looking at the second week sales, the game has managed to have a better drop off rate than all but 3 titles in the series meaning it might just have longer legs then previous spinoffs of Kenzan! and Of the End, something SEGA would be hoping for if it is to meet its 500,000 sales target. Another interesting factor to take into consideration is the attachment rate the Playstation 4 version holds with the console itself. Last week the game enjoyed a 27% attachment rate, whilst this week it enjoys a 34% attachment rate. As I noted prior to its release, the success of the Playstation 4 will no doubt ensure just how well Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin! performs in the long run. Having already achieved over 100,000 sales for the Playstation 4 version, the target of 150,000 units seems manageable.

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva f 2nd releases this week in Japan

Still at this point it has become harder to see how the title would perform in the long run, not only has the title enjoyed a better drop off rate, it also enjoys a better rise in sales compared to Kenzan. Last week’s sales saw an increase in sales numbers of 124% over Kenzan but this week sees that figure grow to 134%, something it has over Yakuza: Of the End as well. If it continues to sustain a healthy dropoff rate, the title should hit the 400,000 mark in it’s fourth week of release and, coupled with a budget re-release, manage to achieve SEGA’s sales target of 500,000. That covers another SEGA in the Charts article, join me next week as SEGA’s hugely successful rhythm series, Project Diva, releases on Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita as the last of SEGA’s big guns for the fourth quarter releases.

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