Yakuza I and II Wii u is off the charts!

[Radrappy]

I agree.  However, if their plan was to gauge interest they could have done much better.

[Chaosmaster8753]

Maybe it's some royalty payment for Sega, similarly how Namco is developing Smash Bros. for Nintendo, in trade of putting of Tekken Tag 2 on the Wii U.

Namco announced Tekken for Wii U long before they ended up co-developing Smash Bros.

[Shigs]

Ironically, it probably would have fared better here in the U.S. XD

That's what you get for not giving us more English ports Sega! XP

[fernandeath]

WOW
I'm shocked!
Really!
It sold around 1K unities in its first week?
That's way below expectations.
WOW²

[TimmiT]

This forum is now only about sales statistics and about how everything is doomed.

[Ben]

And that is exactly what SEGA wanted to know, was there an audience for Yakuza on the Wii U, however little, or is it likely that the people who own the Playstation 3 version also happened to own a Wii U too.

SEGA was looking to see if they can expand the audience in Japan, that was the purpose of this experiment and it's been answered for SEGA.

Got news for you man. Nagoshi was saying months ago that he had no plans for more Yakuza on Wii U, lol....so no, this was always a cash grab, nothing more. Sega was once again trying to squeeze every penny they can out of old PS2 games. The Wii U presented the opportunity because it's the only other HD system in Japan (well, unless you count the 360...which, at this point, you shouldn't, over there...)

Question; Are there people in Japan who are into this type of game who haven't played Yakuza 1 and 2 yet? Those who haven't played it got to do so with the PS3 HD remaster this year....what audience was this supposed to reach?

[CrazyT]

This forum is now only about sales statistics and about how everything is doomed.

Nah, i think we are being quite reasonable here. The game never stood a chance unless some luck/miracle was involved. Dont know whats worth blowing it up more than it is like gaf is doing. Im gotta admit, im not a big fan of sales talk. I sometimes miss the times i was ignorant of this kind of information. Its only recently ive learned that the gamecube was a failure and those were the times that set my new standard of what i love about videogames.

Edit: havig said that, would have been great if it came west. Id buy it only for 40< euros though. Too many games already on my wishlist

[ROJM]

Got news for you man. Nagoshi was saying months ago that he had no plans for more Yakuza on Wii U, lol....so no, this was always a cash grab, nothing more. Sega was once again trying to squeeze every penny they can out of old PS2 games. The Wii U presented the opportunity because it's the only other HD system in Japan (well, unless you count the 360...which, at this point, you shouldn't, over there...)

Question; Are there people in Japan who are into this type of game who haven't played Yakuza 1 and 2 yet? Those who haven't played it got to do so with the PS3 HD remaster this year....what audience was this supposed to reach?

It was a good way to see if it could sell on that system, it didn't cost them much to do the port anyway. Apart from that, maybe the old school mentality of not everyone has played a big hit game because it wasn't availble on all systems needs to be changed. That idea may have worked and paid off during the 16bit and 32 bit eras but it doesn't really work now especially with the internet and people having access to the ROMS of these games. Even then that doesn't mean YAKUZA couldn't sell on the WiiU. If this was a new game who knows what the result would have been. Its hard to say its a fail when its a port of a game that's been collected and rereleased so many times.

[Ben]

Yeah I mean without a doubt, certain people will try to use this game to make some sort of "statement" about the Wii U's chances of success, the status of M-rated games on the system, or whatever.....

But IMO it wouldn't make any sense to use this game as an example of anything except a lame attempt at a cash grab.

[Nameless 24]

And that is exactly what SEGA wanted to know, was there an audience for Yakuza on the Wii U, however little, or is it likely that the people who own the Playstation 3 version also happened to own a Wii U too.

SEGA was looking to see if they can expand the audience in Japan, that was the purpose of this experiment and it's been answered for SEGA.

This must give them some incentive to at least focus on their western markets now?

The Japanese side has been slowly declining in terms of what sells for SEGA and what doesn't.

As far as I am aware; Yakuza, Miku and 7th Dragon (to a point) are the only games that sell well in Japan...even the most recent Shining game flopped at a mere 55,000 in it's debut, when they've been known to sell at least double that.

Not sure on their stance on Valkyria either, but they do need to give that a chance in the west.

[ROJM]

This must give them some incentive to at least focus on their western markets now?

The Japanese side has been slowly declining in terms of what sells for SEGA and what doesn't.

As far as I am aware; Yakuza, Miku and 7th Dragon (to a point) are the only games that sell well in Japan...even the most recent Shining game flopped at a mere 55,000 in it's debut, when they've been known to sell at least double that.

Not sure on their stance on Valkyria either, but they do need to give that a chance in the west.

Not really, Sega has been focusing on the digital side of the market because the evidence as far as the japanese market is concerned is that more people are moving away from traditional consoles and buying games for their mobile phones. Considering that PSO2 and KINGDOM CONQUEST 2 are the biggest performers out of the Sega japan IP goes to show all is well in Japan. Over here they've effectivly focused on the PC side. I don't know if that means that Sega as a company thinks that the console market is gradually dying out worldwide.

Yeah I mean without a doubt, certain people will try to use this game to make some sort of "statement" about the Wii U's chances of success, the status of M-rated games on the system, or whatever.....

But IMO it wouldn't make any sense to use this game as an example of anything except a lame attempt at a cash grab.

Yes, I'd like to see Sega japan at least do a collection of games that aren't obvious and do them here as well. Sega's PC side saw real good results when Sega re-released all the previous TOTAL WAR games (that sega never published)on their budget label and as a big collection box. If Sega gets Atlus they could do the same over there with those games. It boggles the mind that they haven't tried to do HD masters on several games or release them as a collection as a digital thing. The fact that they would remaster CASTLE OF ILLUSION a game where they not only have the costs of remastering the game but the additional cost of paying Disney for the license and whatever cut they get from subsequent sales of the game is baffling when it won't cost them much to do the ame with the titles they do own. The PHANTASY STAR PS2 remasters would probably go down well as a digital release, especially if they do get Atlus and use their american side to do the translations.

[Aki-at]

Got news for you man. Nagoshi was saying months ago that he had no plans for more Yakuza on Wii U, lol....so no, this was always a cash grab, nothing more. Sega was once again trying to squeeze every penny they can out of old PS2 games. The Wii U presented the opportunity because it's the only other HD system in Japan (well, unless you count the 360...which, at this point, you shouldn't, over there...)

And some months before this was announced there was no plans for Yakuza on any non-Sony platforms.

And some months before that Project Diva F 2 was a long shot.

Situation changes, are you seriously implying that if this title did not do around 20,000 units SEGA would not contemplate moving Yakuza as a multiplatform title or future ports of the title? Of course it was a cash grab, they (Or Nintendo hoped) wanted to see if the audience would be expanded by moving it onto a non-Sony platform in Japan, it did not, they move on. Simple.

Question; Are there people in Japan who are into this type of game who haven't played Yakuza 1 and 2 yet? Those who haven't played it got to do so with the PS3 HD remaster this year....what audience was this supposed to reach?

You keep hitting home my point.

[Aki-at]

This must give them some incentive to at least focus on their western markets now?

The title had 5 chances, combined, they have done little over 200,000 units in the United States. Obviously there are many factors, but try convincing SEGA West there is a market after 5 failed attempts.

The Japanese side has been slowly declining in terms of what sells for SEGA and what doesn't.

As far as I am aware; Yakuza, Miku and 7th Dragon (to a point) are the only games that sell well in Japan...even the most recent Shining game flopped at a mere 55,000 in it's debut, when they've been known to sell at least double that.

Not sure on their stance on Valkyria either, but they do need to give that a chance in the west.

Add Phantasy Star, Puyo Puyo and Border Break. The Let's Make A... series also continues to post modest numbers for what it is. SEGA Japan certainly have a few domestic big guns, but I will agree outside of Sonic they have little chance at global success.

[Centrale]

The title had 5 chances, combined, they have done little over 200,000 units in the United States. Obviously there are many factors, but try convincing SEGA West there is a market after 5 failed attempts.

It all depends on what their benchmark for success is for the series in the West. It's not as if Sega pressed two million copies of Yakuza 4 and only sold 200k. They knew in advance that sales would be in that range, and budgeted accordingly.

[Aki-at]

It all depends on what their benchmark for success is for the series in the West. It's not as if Sega pressed two million copies of Yakuza 4 and only sold 200k. They knew in advance that sales would be in that range, and budgeted accordingly.

I meant on expanding the audience really.

The original sold 75,000 in America, Yakuza 2 sold 25,000, whilst both Yakuza 3 and 4 both did 50,000 (So much for that supposed backlash) and Dead Souls sold way less than 10,000 on its debut month.

So SEGA had all these chances to try and significantly grow the fanbase and it never materialised. Issue with marketing, a bit with the games themselves, and the fact it was a Playstation 3 exclusive, but I do not see the Western sales ever increasing much unless they flat out reboot the series and vastly change the gameplay.

Whilst being a major publisher, whatever profits Yakuza's Western sales brought in are far too small for them to continue supporting the franchise here. For reference, Hatsune Miku is expected to sell 150,000 units in America alone and that title is always portrayed as some super niche title (Not that I agree with that sentiment)