With this news, and other possible good news in the future (since Nintendo's first party are doing great in UK and US, and MPDS are doing well in Japan, better than Super Mario Galaxy and Mario Party 8), I believe the Long could reach 3.0 Million or more (2.5 Million should be the minimum).
@apujanata, Could you fix the summary for this article? The Japanese text does not show up properly in the summary, and it is best to just leave the Japanese text out of the summary because of this.
Mario Party DS reached 1 Million in < 2 Months (released on Nov 8, 2007)
Babelfish translation, and edited (and added) for easier reading :
Mario Party DS sales exploded, with sales of 300K last week (period Dec 17 - 23), bringing its LTD to 1 Million in less than 2 months.
Edit : Removed the Japanese text as per request.
I am also surprised by the "no correlation between review and actual sales performance" for casual game. I remember one Wii game : Carnival games.
Almost every reviewer on earth (ok, I am exaggerating, but not much, IIRC) hated that game. However, the sales performance of that game is simply "Miraculous", based on my expectation after reading the review. Same with Mario & Sonic (Wii). Almost all reviewer hated them, and I believe it is the second highest Wii game for December, since GHIII Wii is usually sold out in this month (and third best selling game for November)
I personal disagree. It sold incredible in Japan, and I think 30-35 DKP is the right range on this one in December for US. I was long at 25 DKP and got out at the current price (due its right, imho). Reviews don't mean much on party/casual games. For starters its because the people buying it don't read it AND casual titles are bad reviewed. I don't understand the ratings of many casual games I play. Some get high ones, and are really bad, and others get low ones and are good. Word to mouth is what sells those games (look at Mario & Sonic. It got so bad reviews, I bought it after users said, its better than the reviews, and they where right, it is fun). It wouldn't be that hit in Japan if it wouldn't fit the target market.
The users like it more than the reviewers. Look here, here, Here, Here and even on 1UP (The casual game hating site on earth) it is getting a 9.1 from users
@feelmyring, Let me start off by saying thanks for doing the upbid (I didn't think it was you that downbid me because you are a good contributing member of the site).
My logic is not based on just what you stated (I merely brought a little more info to the table about GameStop because it was brought into the conversation), instead it is based on mostly counter-arguments to your points: 1) DS Download play never significantly hurting the sales of past games 2) Mario Party games generally having good sales even in the light of bad reviews 3) A glut of parents who will stil buy this game for their children 4) The release week of MP8 not being counted in its count for the NPD numbers in June 5) I do not remember any Mario Party game really receiving any kind of buzz (in the way of major advertising and the such) 6) Being that MPDS is the first MP for the DS, then I believe there is still a good audience for MPDS and can still have MP8 looked at for some inference (though not on its own) 7) A large DS installed user base along with large sales of the DS expected during the December NPD reporting period 8) This game has shown that it can rake up sales in other territories (Japan), though markets are obviously different, the sales numbers should tend to be higher than other DS new releases during its first couple months
You have made some good points also and it merely (for those looking to buy or short the future or lifetime - some of these points for both sides can be used for predicting lifetime sales as well) allows people to consider as many factors as possible when choosing a position to take.
It seems like your logic for this game selling well is: people are too stupid and uninformed not to blindly walk into a Gamestop and buy this game.
Of course there's going to be a segment of the game buying population that don't care that MPDS doesn't have a lot of what should be standard features. Of course there are people that are going to buy this game regardless of what the reviews say (should they read them; but since they're too stupid to not buy this game, they're probably too stupid to read). I just don't think that amount of people will exceed 350,000 in December, due to a number of factors.
My reasons are thus, culled from previous posts, with some new additions: 1) The lack of some features (Nintedo Wi-Fi), and the presence of others (4 on 1 card multiplayer) 2) Overall poor reviews 3) A glut of superior DS purchases 4) A November 20th release date (first week sales not in DEC NPD) 5) Total absence of any kind of holiday buzz about the game 6) I don't think good sales of MP8 will translate into good sales of MPDS
Oh, and lstormy10, I don't know why you were downbid, it wasn't me. I upbid you to get you back to even on the comment.
@apujanata, I am not quite sure how the GameStop bestsellers list works exactly, but I want to restate the fact that I am going by the official list they put in their email newsletter each week (not the one they list on their homepage). The one in the newsletter is weekly I believe and the one on the homepage for GameStop is daily I believe.
This gamestop.com bestsellers list, is it a daily / non-stop thing (like Amazon list), or is it a weekly / monthly thing (like M-create or Famitsu Top 30) ?
IMO, casuals (which are the target market of Mario Party games) does not care for WiFi. Of course, most of SE care about WiFi, or online capabilities of console games. Casuals are not even aware of difference between those 360 and PS3 different SKU.
1
It does not show up properly because you don't have Japanese language installed in your computer.
Anayway, I have edited the summary as per your request.