Soul Calibur V Sales Discussion

Wadou_Ichimonji

Wadou_Ichimonji

[13] Hero
After 3 weeks, SCV has sold 543k units across both platforms which is less than SF4, SSF4, MvC3, MK, and Tekken 6 in the same amount of time. It’s selling better than KOF13 and UMvC3 (but to be fair, and I am not joking, “Barbie: Groom and Glam Pups” for the Wii has sold more units than UMvC3). Compared to SC I-IV, it looks like it could end up being the lowest selling one and, considering the drastic sales drop-off, SCV is unlikely to sell a million units.

So what do you people think are the reasons for the poor sales of V compared to the other major fighting series and past Calibur games? Going forward, do you think we’re going to see SCVI and if so what does Namco and Project Soul need to do to in order to improve the sales of the next Soul Calibur game?

Sales.png

All info from VGChartz and do not include sales from handheld or PC versions of the games (if any).

Edit 1:
Before making this thread I did search around to see if I could any other sources for the sale numbers for SC5, but VGChartz was the only place I could find figures for worldwide sales. Media Create also posted specific sales numbers, but that only covers Japan.

From Media Create sales chart, SC5 in its debuted at #2 in its for the PS3 version and sold 34,328 units; the XBox 360 version debuted at #16 and sold 7,679 units. In its 2nd week, the PS3 version sales dropped 78.1% to #11 in the chart and sold 7,519 units; the Xbox 360 version fell out of the top 50 and is unlisted. In its 3rd week, the PS3 version fell #32 and it sales numbers are unlisted (Media Create only lists the sales figures for the top 20 games). The sales numbers from weeks 1 and 2 of the PS3 version and week 1 of the Xbox 360 version total 49,526 units (VGChartz has 50,141 units under the same parameters), in comparison SC4 sold 74,607 units in Japan in its first week on the PS3 alone.

The only other info I could find about SC5’s sales was that in the UK it debuted at #5 on their sales chart in its first week.

Edit 2:
NPD released the top 10 selling games in February and SCV (which was released on Jan. 31st) came in 7th
Neogaf Forum said:
01. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (360, PS3, Wii, PC)** Activision Blizzzard
02. Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3, 360)** Square Enix Inc.
03. UFC Undisputed 3 (360, PS3) THQ
04. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (360, PS3, PC) Electronic Arts - 330K
05. Just Dance 3 (Wii, 360, PS3) Ubisoft
06. NBA 2K12 (360, PS3, PSP, Wii, PC, PS2) Take 2 Interactive
07. Soul Calibur V (360, PS3)** Namco Bandai Games
08. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360, PS3, PC)** Bethesda Softworks
09. Twisted Metal 2012 (PS3) Sony - 221K
10. Battlefield 3 (360, PS3, PC)** Electronic Arts
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Edit 3:
Cynergy posted the official sales numbers from Namco's quarterly financial report, but there's a question as to whether or not there's a typo on the report that the sales numbers for SCV don't include the US region.
Cynergy said:
Bumping this cause Namco released official #'s:

h5Kvo.png


SCV appears to have underperformed, but for whatever reason, this chart doesn't include US sales of SCV.
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Personally I blame a combination of disapointments being spread by word of mouth and a big lack of marketing. The only way they can really do better with VI is by showing that they learned their lesson with some really good patches and DLC going forward to get some negative opinions reversed.
 
SCV had a terrible reception before it was even released. People who never bought the game for that reason are telling other people not to buy he game. The damage is done, I don't think this game is going to get a second wind unless they do some pretty drastic dlc.
 
wasn't soul calibur 5 also the only one lacking in a demo. i don't think 3 needed one since it had enough attention from the slew of fans that picked up SC2. but i agree with hotaru99. mostly the lack positive word from the core fans of course has a negative outcome to people that are interested.
 
To begin with, Soul Calibur 5 was rushed and it felt as if there was some semi-effort on the part of the developers not to mention everything in between. Many people say that Soul Calibur 4 was bad but say that Soul Calibur 5 was an improvement really needs to look at the big picture as to what's going on with Project Soul. You know a game (fighting game or otherwise) is bad when their sales tops that of a Barbie game and not the predecessor in the first 3 weeks. I'm very certain that Project Soul can rebound from this and look back at what made Soul Calibur 5 flop.

As far as the reasons for Soul Calibur 5 being such a flop, let's look at the factors:
- The 17 year skip in the story: This should not have been done regarding the establishment and continuity of the series altogether. It doesn't make sense and it confuses fans or people getting into the Soul series. Tekken did this earlier in their series making the jump from Tekken 2 to 3, having some story behind it and explanation as to why the characters are now older in Tekken 4, With Soul Calibur, the execution for this move as well as explanation fell flat. I can accept that Soul Calibur 5 could've taken place two, maybe five years after Soul Calibur 4 but 17, just to introduce a new protagonist that we don't even care about? Sorry but if it a'int broke, don't fix it.

- Replacement and Removal of Characters: I was pretty upset that most of the cast from the previous Soul Calibur game were excluded and not given a reason as to why they weren't coming back. Some were replaced by younger variations like Leixia with Xianghua, Natsu with Taki, and especially Sophitia and Cassandra with Patroklos and Pyrrha. Other characters that weren't included in Soul Calibur 5, most notably, Yun-Seong, Zasalamel, and especially Talim were excluded without any reason or explanation as to what happened to them afterwards. It upsets me knowing that most fans of the game hated such characters but once they're replaced or removed without any reason, then they start acting like they miss them as if they main them throughout the years. I miss Xianghua, Taki, Sophitia, Cassandra, Yun-Seong, Talim, Zasalamel, Seong Mina and the rest, they brought a lot to the table when it came to being characters that we loved and now dealing with their successors is practically a headache.

- Three Mimics: Seriously, was there any need for this concept? I can understand EdgeMaster because he mastered several weapons for his time but Kilik and Elysium, please explain to me why Project Soul? First off, I was glad that Kilik was back in Soul Calibur 5, that I'll admit but when I found out that he was going to be a mimic character, I had mixed results. Kilik, you're my dude and all but you really shouldn't be a mimic or trying to be the next EdgeMaster. be you, be the Kali Yuga wielding Kilik. Now, as for Sophiti--I mean Elysium, do we need a mimic character for females? This is why EdgeMaster was there for a reason, to be the only mimic character in a game.

Story mode: I won't go into this that much but all I can say is...FAIL.

Very little modes and no endings: That's what also hurt this game the most because if this game had endings, maybe we would know more of their motivations and relationships rather than by going what Project Soul just hands us and hoping we accept it. We're a lot more smarter than that now.

Going forward to Soul Calibur VI (6), if Namco and Project Soul want to undo the mishaps that Soul Calibur 5 brought on, here's what they need to do.
- Look back at how successful Soul Calibur 2 was, take notes, and build upon it. Those key elements made the Soul Series a series worth playing and respecting again

- Bring back the original characters: The ones that were excluded and replaced from Soul Calibur 5 deserve another chance as well as characters that were misused and forgotten about like Hwang, Li Long, Rock, and many others.

- Reboot the series: It worked for Mortal Kombat 9 and it breathed new life into the series plus it would give characters that were forgotten, excluded, and replaced a new lease in being interesting. I know it's a little too soon to be thinking reboot but with the way things are going with sales for Soul Calibur 5, it's time to look at the big picture and think long term.

- Bring back Museum Mode, Weapon Master Mode, and Chronicles of the Sword: Those modes were the best and brought a refreshing spin for the series

-Alternate Timeline Story Mode: Going back to MK9, the alternate story mode worked because it gave us new twists and different aspects from each character while remaining on point to the plot. This could be applied to Soul Calibur as well, for example, having the story mode told through EdgeMaster, having Kilik and Xianghua remain together, Siegfried undoing his wrongs, etc.

-Give the fans what they want: How hard could this one be? If fans want to see their favorite characters again, do it. Don't exclude one without having any kind of closure for them. And adding some original characters/warriors wouldn't hurt either.
 
lack of positive word? i thought the community was immensely happy with the trials and demos before the game released.
I think maybe some people that are new to the game were getting hammered by competent players and therefore gaveup and spread negative comments.
 
I think if they want to be succesful they have to keep supporting the game with DlC, patches, release the missing chars,new modes ect, if they do what marvel did and release another sc in another DVD, not even me a dying hard fan going to buy it, and that says a lot, if i remember well, they said the game was full patcheable so im pretty positive, for now...
 
I think it was the bad rep it got from the core fanbase that killed it. Fans told friends why they were'n buying it, then they told evveryone else not to buy it. It was kinda destroyed from within. Shit, I mean i haven't even bought SCV yet, and I got no plans to unless I see some MAJOR dlc come out. I hate to say it, but i think that the soul series might die with this one.
 
Wadou_Ichimonji said:
After 3 weeks, SCV has sold 543k units across both platforms which is less than SF4, SSF4, MvC3, MK, and Tekken 6 in the same amount of time. It’s selling better than KOF13 and UMvC3 (but to be fair, and I am not joking, “Barbie: Groom and Glam Pups” for the Wii has sold more units than UMvC3). Compared to SC I-IV, it looks like it could end up being the lowest selling one and, considering the drastic sales drop-off, SCV is unlikely to sell a million units.

So what do you people think are the reasons for the poor sales of V compared to the other major fighting series and past Calibur games? Going forward, do you think we’re going to see SCVI and if so what does Namco and Project Soul need to do to in order to improve the sales of the next Soul Calibur game?

View attachment 13338
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You really need to source your information or I have no way of knowing if it is legit.
 
Captain_Insano said:
I think it was the bad rep it got from the core fanbase that killed it. Fans told friends why they were'n buying it, then they told evveryone else not to buy it. It was kinda destroyed from within. Shit, I mean i haven't even bought SCV yet, and I got no plans to unless I see some MAJOR dlc come out. I hate to say it, but i think that the soul series might die with this one.
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That's the problem with doing things by word of mouth: it can prevent sales the same way it can make them. I was one of the people that didn't want a re-release for SCV (I even made a thread about it), but seeing the end result I think that's what they need to do to redeem SCV. SCV unfortunately does feel rushed, from it's story, single player content, the roster, and even with a few of the Creation options (even some reviewers feel like SCV was rushed). I don't regret getting the game, but I wish I didn't get that Limited Edition. Even that didn't do any justice for the game.
 
Yeah they have to do some big DLC like extra characters + styles and arcade endings.. etc;
they could re release it with everything making super soul calibur v
 
how to improve it:
Bring back talim and all the other characters that were left out,
maybe go back in time? try a different time frame?
arcade endings,
new parts for creation,
1 mimic,
better story mode with not a happy ending,
more single player modes,
bringing back of the parents of the newbies ,
new monster like a ogre (to be like lizardman and asta)
listening more to the players and fans...
 
Let's be honest here, the ONLY reason that SC4 did as well as it did was because of the Star Wars characters. The marketing effort for SC4 was slightly better, I did see a few SC4 commercials on before and after release, but they focused on the SW characters.

I haven't seen any television advertisements for SC5, granted I really only watch Comedy Central and Adult Swim (everything else I watch online) but there should have been something on at least one of those two channels.

I do love SC5 a lot. I don't think that adding DLC will make that much of a difference in bringing people who are new to the series in. The only thing adding DLC characters will do is bring back people that are QQing because their characters weren't initially included. Which is cool because, hey, it's a few more copies sold, but again, it won't bring any new people in.

I think their only recourse will be to forego DLC altogether and release an "Ultimate" version of the game and fix EVERYTHING that needs fixing. As in, add characters that people are clamoring for, add modes (museum, team battle, a CotS type thing) that people want, flesh out the story mode a bit more, new CaS pieces, etc.

The presence of it at Evo might end up bringing in some more sales, but I wouldn't imagine it would be anything THAT significant unless they announce the "Ultimate" version AT Evo.

Also, I'm sure that them choosing to release it so close to the release of SFxT didn't help either. Both Street Fighter and Tekken are both more widely known names to gamers at large so I'm sure that given the choice between SC5 and SFxT, more people are going to get SFxT because it's better known. If they had waited to release SC5 until a few months after SFxT came out, it might have helped the numbers a little bit. And also allowed them to REALLY finish the game (who knows if they intended to release it "as is"). But then it wouldn't be able to have a presence at this year's Evo.

Unfortunately there are trade offs to everything.
That all being said, it will make me sad if this is the last one. SC is the only fighting series that I'm a true fan of. Everything else is just...eh. (To me)
 
Darkmoonlight said:
how to improve it:
Bring back talim and all the other characters that were left out,
maybe go back in time? try a different time frame?
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1. Doing that means eliminating newer characters that people already like.. I don't give a rats about who doesn't like Patroklos but, I do.

2. Anyway's... I feel they could have had a reason behind why certain characters left the game or, why certain characters could have came back. As long as Soul Edge exists Talim and, Yun-Seong has a reason to be in Soul Calibur. I think it should have been a pre-story of the events that took place during 4-5 and, a Story for Soul Calibur V. That way they could have included more characters and, a longer more interesting story. How did Amy become Viola (and Amy could have had her style in V), Why did Kilik decide to follow his masters foot steps, what happened to Talim, Yun-seong, and Zasalamel during 4-5, Pyrrha's life growing up with Tira. And for godsakes they could have had a event before SC5 where Patroklos goes to Setsuka and, learns laido. That way she could have been in the game.

3. Legendary soul and, quick battle are not fun. Why can't they just bring back older modes from SC3 and, Sc4.

4. I love the new system but, I have yet to see anyone use Just guard since day one. Instead of that, they could have just kept just impact. Just impacts are like super armors now and, I don't fully agree with that since only a handful of characters can do that and not everyone has a Auto Gi move.

5. Customization mode doesn't have much variety like in 4.

6. Ezio is perhaps the boringEST marketed guest character in the history of soul calibur.

7. Can we just get a "Super Soul Calibur V" and, fix all the things I mentioned above.


Overall I think the main problem and, why they didn't have more characters in V was balancing issues and rushing. They didn't announce til like the beginning of summer last yr (May I believe?). That's a very short time, not to mention character balancing. So instead of DLC I'd rather just see a remake and, just revise everything (except the online) because we won't see SC6 for atleast 3yrs.
 
I thought they were in the right direction with the timeskip. It seemed like a great way to refresh the series after 'the failure that is' SC4 (oh lord, watch everyone eating their words) but like Shaolin Tiger said, their execution was terrible. I for one, am tired of Pat and Pyrrha's incessant whining. Story mode was a chore to get through. It wasn't hard or anything but it was BORING. The asian team seems like so much more fun! Alas... we never saw much of them.
SC5 is by no means a bad game. The gameplay is more fun than SC3 (my favorite, haven't played 2) and miles better than SC4. Meter was cool as well as the Edge moves but that's where it ends.
I think that short deadline really screwed PS over. It would have been the best in the series with time. Now I don't want this to be the end of Soul Calibur! It's a brilliant series with a heart and I don't think I could get into Tekken if they play anything like Devil Jin ;)
 
XxRainism said:
1. Doing that means eliminating newer characters that people already like.. I don't give a rats about who doesn't like Patroklos but, I do.

2. Anyway's... I feel they could have had a reason behind why certain characters left the game or, why certain characters could have came back. As long as Soul Edge exists Talim and, Yun-Seong has a reason to be in Soul Calibur. I think it should have been a pre-story of the events that took place during 4-5 and, a Story for Soul Calibur V. That way they could have included more characters and, a longer more interesting story. How did Amy become Viola (and Amy could have had her style in V), Why did Kilik decide to follow his masters foot steps, what happened to Talim, Yun-seong, and Zasalamel during 4-5, Pyrrha's life growing up with Tira. And for godsakes they could have had a event before SC5 where Patroklos goes to Setsuka and, learns laido. That way she could have been in the game.

3. Legendary soul and, quick battle are not fun. Why can't they just bring back older modes from SC3 and, Sc4.

4. I love the new system but, I have yet to see anyone use Just guard since day one. Instead of that, they could have just kept just impact. Just impacts are like super armors now and, I don't fully agree with that since only a handful of characters can do that and not everyone has a Auto Gi move.

5. Customization mode doesn't have much variety like in 4.

6. Ezio is perhaps the boringEST marketed guest character in the history of soul calibur.

7. Can we just get a "Super Soul Calibur V" and, fix all the things I mentioned above.


Overall I think the main problem and, why they didn't have more characters in V was balancing issues and rushing. They didn't announce til like the beginning of summer last yr (May I believe?). That's a very short time, not to mention character balancing. So instead of DLC I'd rather just see a remake and, just revise everything (except the online) because we won't see SC6 for atleast 3yrs.
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In terms of story, Yun wanted Soul Edge to protect his country. By the time SCV's events come around, the conflict in his country was already resolved. Therefore, he has no reason to go after it (this is probably the reason why he and seong-mina didn't make the roster, but the story should've said so). A lot of story still need clarification and all they did was leave it up to the fans to figure it out. Under no circumstance is that ever a good idea. In regards of Amy=Viola, unless there's absolute evidence that confirms it, don't think she is. Elyisum looks exactly like Sophitia and she clearly isn't her. There could be a reason why Viola has a resemblance to Amy. One thing is certain though: Raphael is Nightmare, but even that part of the story needs to be clarified.

I actually think Quick Battle was a good idea, but their mistake with it was making it "the" core mode for the single player. The concept for Legendary Souls would've been better it there were actual bosses and not simply the normal characters from the roster with a superpowered AI. If the actual Inferno, a seasoned Taki, Abyss, a demon boss like Azazel from Tekken 6 was who you fought, I would've liked it. I probably would've liked to fight Algol if he wasn't the final boss (more like semi-final).

Ezio is arguably the best guest in the series. Not only does he fit in with the roster, but he has a very good moveset.

As for rarely seeing Just Guard, that's not really important, as it's not something seen often in high level play. If there were two things I'd want fix about the GI system, it's simply using 4G for it instead of 4A+B+K and not 'wasting' meter on unsuccessful GIs. If don't have a problem with it costing meter, but it's such a waste to see it deplete the meter if it misses, considering how high a risk it is just to use it in the first place.

I don't think Customization has less variety than what SCIV had. It actually has more, but the equipment pieces at hand are more or less of the same quality of SCIV. The floating pieces, cloth clipping, and bulkyness of some pieces for full-figured characters need to be fixed ASAP.

With the way things are, an enhanced re-release is probably what they need to do. SCVI can wait.
 
I like the game a lot, but I admit they could have done much better.
If it were not for playing the game online, I would have been severely disappointed.

The main thing is, I really did like SCIV, but I bought it for the 360 and never even played online with it. I only played SCIV online on my friends PS3 (before I got one myself). I played SCIV mostly for the single player content and it actually worked pretty well for me. The game lasted a while and I had fun.

After finishing story mode for SCV, I was disappointed since I realized how short it was, what got me into the game was playing online, since it was really fun.
As much as I wouldn't like to spend another $40 on a re-release, anything is better than having the series die out. As long as they put in the missing characters, add a few more modes (Doesn't have to be anything big. Survival mode and team battle can suffice), and give a real Arcade mode with endings for each character, then everything is fine.

I do agree, what is keeping people from buying the game are all the butthurt fans crying about how terrible the game is and telling other people not to buy it.

I know some people might disagree, but if the game included all of the characters taken out from SCIV, it probably would have been much more successful, simply because people like seeing the characters they like in the game.

Well, I'm hoping for the best!
 
#1 reason the game didn't sell well is very likely due to the poor early reviews and terrible word of mouth the game received.

SCV had a lot of hype and momentum going through December. Then when January came, the last 5 characters were revealed to be 3 mimics, Setsuka replaced as a re-skin of Patroklos, and yet another sword/shield clone in Omega Pyrrha, whose inclusion in the series is pretty damn pointless considering she's just a Sophitia/Cass mash-up in a game that already has a Sophie/Cass character in regular Pyrrha. The game screamed RUSHED before it was even released. Hype died immediately.

This probably would've been remedied if once the game was released, it scored very highly by reviewers and had robust single player content. Word of mouth would've spread as it did for MK9. People would've soon forgotten the missing characters and just waited for DLC. Instead, SCV had quite possibly the most barebones single player content in the series. Game receives a bunch of 6's and 7's, and casual fans of the series tell their friends to not even bother getting the game.

The sad part of this news though is that the gameplay and netcode haven't been this good since SC2. Possibly even better. But as with most fighting games, the competitive crowd aren't the ones who drive the sales, as the casuals who buy it for Star Wars characters or offline content. Hell, a bunch of people bought SC4 because of it's incredible CaS at the time. SC5 improved on it, but only slightly -- so those same casuals who bought SC4 to play dress-up barbie likely thought coughing up $60 to do it again (but with stickers!) wasn't worth their money.
 
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