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Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Sales Slower Than Super Street Fighter IV

By Ishaan . February 6, 2012 . 4:30pm

Capcom have published reports for the third quarter (October – December period of their ongoing fiscal year. Mentioned therein are sales figures for Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, released this past November for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 sold 600,000 copies worldwide across both platforms in two months. While that’s a good number, Capcom USA feel the game could have done better, especially when compared to sales of Super Street Fighter IV.

“SSFIV sold more in the same window. UMVC3 I would expect to have long legs,” shares Capcom senior vice-president, Christian Svensson. “We ship a more every week and the North American market is the lion’s share of the [worldwide] volume.”

Svensson added: “That said, I’m a little bummed we aren’t on track to beat SSFIV. I had hoped the attractive price coupled with the Marvel brand during the holiday launch period would have broke us out more broadly. Don’t get me wrong, we didn’t do badly, but I still think the game deserves more, as good as it is.”

The trend of slow holiday sales wasn’t unique to Capcom alone. Software sales in December were down across the board in North America, dropping 14% from December 2010. Videogame sales including hardware, software and accessories were down 21%.

aoihana
Yeah, I think it might just have been the holiday season, that and the fact that so many games are being pumped into the economy right now! ┐(‘～`；)┌
Sorry, Capcom, I haz no monies for your Marvels. （*＾ワ＾*）
Maybe sales will pick up soon?
…
Ishaan, I posted a comment in This Week in Imports: In A Daze, and when I edited it, I got this:
Moderators of this website chose to explicitly approve all edits made by a comment’s author.
(There was no profanity or questionable material.)
My comment vanished into the abyss! （*＾ワ＾*）

http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan
Hmm, let me take a look at that…
update: Huh, I don’t see anything comments from you in the “pending” section. Are you sure it wasn’t approved?

aoihana
Just checked, it wasn’t approved. It’s weird, it was fine up until I edited the comment, then when I saved, I got the message. I refreshed the page, and just like that, it was gone. It didn’t even leave a notice that it was pending approval. (✿ ｀_´)ゞ
Weird. ( ¬､¬)
Anyway, thanks for checking! I’ll just write it up again! (◕‿◕✿)

http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan
No problem. :) Let me know if it happens again.
RupanIII
I think Disqus has a 10,000 cute-smiley limit.
(sorry, couldn’t resist ;)

HeatPhoenix
“No moneys for your marvels.”
Clever pun, even if not intended.

http://www.genkaibreak.com Code
To be fair it’s easy to understand why. After releasing Marvel vs. Capcom 3 in like March, then releasing Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 in October; this would be the equivalent of throwing a stone in a pond full of fish.

aoihana
Yeah, I really think they should have waited a bit more. I mean, they said they were able to release it much quicker than anticipated, and that they were going to try to follow that model from now on, but too quick, Capcom! （*＾ワ＾*）
Your games are not free, you know! ┐(‘～`；)┌

http://www.genkaibreak.com Code
I’m not railing into Capcom, and have no hate or anything towards them, or updates/new releases >o>’ But just from someone who played both games, and watched the whole thing unfold, this is what I think really happened o3o *puts on detective hat*
I really feel they planned all along to release at October, but decided to have a 80% release point in March. And simply continue to keep production going on the game from March to October for the finished release, just to see if it was a viable business plan o3o’ Sadly it was a plan that did burn a lot of people T3T’ I wouldn’t recommend any company do that again.

mikanko
The producer actually stated in a Japanese interview that the original roster he had planned was 58 to surpass MVC2. If anything they probably began production of UMvC3 thinking they’d have till spring at the earliest.
SFXTekken release along with other releases under the Marvel brand like Spiderman games put forth a corporate decree to have the game out in Fall or not at all. =/

http://gloopyeegra.wordpress.com/ Arla
I’m still waiting for SSFIVAE to go for ~$30 or less on Amazon like I did for MGS:HD. I’ll buy UMvC3 when I see it for $30 or less.

http://twitter.com/Zufield Zufield
It’s funny, because I found AE PS3 for $20 brand-new at Gamestop.
Didn’t buy it, though, since I was looking for something else.

http://www.youtube.com/user/jodecideion?feature=mhum TheWon and Only
Personally I think the sales are about right. Fighting games made a comeback due to all them games going back to their roots. Once you get pass playing all the games again you remember why you stopped. Fighting games have evolved since the 3D area. After you get pass the addition of new characters if you not competing fighting games get really old. I think the number of sales of all the add on games show that people. Can care less about new characters if the game is going to be exactly the same.

raymk
That logic is kinda flawed when sports games still sell the same and do even less than fighters from game to game. I know because I still buy a madden every other year lol.
fiks
I hear chess needs to stop being “Exactly the same” to be interesting/fun.
Oh, wait. Deep gameplay has long legs for those who recognize it.
Nemesis_Dawn
Ah, back with your “It’s not from Nintendo, so I don’t like it” commentary of the day.

JustAnotherTraveler
Considering that they did not even wait a year for the next installment and the game itself isn’t even good, I’m shocked they are surprised it did not exceed SSF4. I am shocked it even broke 500k in sales.
Eddie
I totally agree with Aoihana and Code. Ultimate’s speedy release may have hurt the sales but I don’t think it was to big of an impact. What really hurt it (correct me if I’m wrong) was the fact that Ultimate came out November 15th and MW3 came out November 8th. Marvel vs. Capcom has a huge following but thats like K-mart opening up next door to Walmart. I’m sure sales will continue as long as they support it as much as they supported SSF IV.Even though the sales aren’t what they wanted people still love it, SRK is proof of that.

http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan
This could very well be a major factor. CoD is the biggest item in the games biz at the moment, and a LOT of mainstream/casual gamers play it. When you’re a game that sells so many millions of copies, your audience overlaps with just about every other title out there, regardless of genre.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Kamek20xxExtra?feature=mhee Michael Stevens
“Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Sales Slower Than Super Street Fighter IV”
Not to be rude, but I’m not surprised……at all. Once you think about it, there can be a TON of reasons why this is happening. Sorry, Capcom. Better luck next time, okay? X3

raymk
I’m not surprised either and the game is not even as popular as sf in the first place.

http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan
That’s not necessarily true. I’d say the Marvel brand is more popular than SF overall.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Kamek20xxExtra?feature=mhee Michael Stevens
Yeah. Marvel’s brand, but not the game. :)
…………Wait. ಠ_ಠ
Solomon_Kano
True enough, but there’s no way to gauge what segment of that (undeniably large) fanbase overlaps with that of gaming or, more specifically, fighting games.

http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan
Yeah, I guess the Marvel vs. series has always been more “casual”-oriented. I mean, it still shows up at tournaments and they still put a lot of effort into balancing the games, but with so many characters and all the crazy moves and the Marvel brand, it’s definitely meant to be one of those things that tries to coax comic book fans into playing the games. :)
http://www.genkaibreak.com Code
I feel like there’s more middle ground in SSF4 between casual and high level play. Where as Marvel there’s a good casual crowd and accessibility for new players, but at the same time you also have a really strong competitive tournament level community too owo’

konsama
I’d totally sasy it is, but marvel’s line up in UMVSC3 was…uhhh… bad at least imo, i was expecting to see many old MvsC faces rather than avengers propaganda.
cj_iwakura
I think it’s because they’re milking it too much. Consumers aren’t stupid. Releasing Ultimate a few months after the original? Yeesh.

caleb1993
That’s exactly what I was thinking. It’s not surprising in the slightest because from what I’ve heard, most of Ultimate MvC3 could have been released as DLC, something people were originally more willing to pay for. Instead they’re given a $40 game that adds next to nothing worthwhile for the massive cost.

Solomon_Kano
That’s a pity. I’ve yet to buy it myself, but that’s simply because I’ve been holding out to get it on Vita.
The November launch is probably what got it. 2 Mario games and a new Call of Duty aren’t exactly good company to launch in. Though I’m sure, as Aoi and Code said, that its proximity to vanilla MVC was likely a factor as well.
Spirit Macardi
I highly doubt I’ll be getting this, unless the price drops to about $10. The reason being that I bought the original MvC3 after the price dropped to $30, since I figured I was spending about $5 per character in it that I care about. Hence I’m judging this new game as an expansion, and the only characters they added that I like are Vergil and Firebrand.
Also, there’s the whole fact that this could have easily been DLC. Releasing multiple versions of the same game made some sense in the cartridge days where there was no way to update existing copies, but now that every console has internet connectivity and internal storage there’s no excuse.

http://twitter.com/AwesomeWillv1 Will Gonzalez
This criticism is one I just don’t understand. It’s like people automatically see it as “DISC BAD! DOWNLOAD GOOD!” and nothing further without thinking about it at all.
Unless the character prices were reduced to 3 bucks apiece, DLC would cost more money than just buying the disc. The new game option also allows for more things to be added/changed than could be just by DLC.

Spirit Macardi
Except how much is really being changed? Yeah characters are rebalanced and some game mechanics are fine-tuned, but most games already do that for free through downloadable patches.
konsama
Yeah, but in case you don’t know before DLC, there were some things called expansions, like the ones of fallout, they don’t sell the weapons or maps, but everything in a big package, this could be done with MvsC3 and update to Ultimate, they even did it with SSFIVAE.

Nemesis_Dawn
That’s why I didn’t get it. I bought a disc once. I’m not buying a second one. If it had been, say, a $25 DLC, I would’ve downloaded it. There is no excuse for not making an expansion a download these days. None.
If people are so hellbent on buying a disc, then do what they did for Arcade Edition and RE5 Gold. If I ever do buy it, it’d have to be around $10 and it’d definitely be a used copy.

pgover
I love UMVC3 and don’t mind it being an individual release but I can understand why it’s not selling as much. Despite the decent amount of new characters and Heroes and Heralds mode, there still isn’t a lot of single player content. For the online fighting game crowd, this game is perfect but for the casual gamer there isn’t a lot to make them stay and play it.
konsama
Maybe if they actually heard their fan base the second chance they had…
But anyone know who magaman X is? i’m sure capcom neither does.

Muggshotter
Yeah, I don’t remember ever hearing about magaman X either.

http://twitter.com/ExceptionL ExceptionL
Now I’m even more satisfied for not buying it. The answer for this is actually very simple. This game did not sell well, because of SSIV. Why? cause you did the same thing twice in a row. had it been the other way around, UMVC3 before SSIV. Same results. I doubt it is the fanbase at all but actually people losing faith in Capcom. Also, on gamefly UMVC3 was out of stock and super hard to get shipped because everybody had it out during those months. Just sayin’. I will be buying Streetfighter X tekken though.
http://twitter.com/charliesabers Carlos Escalante
I didn’t get it because the game is too bare bones. Unfortunately, Capcom seems to be passing this trend to Namco, who used to make meaty games for both the casuals and pros alike.
MrSirFeatherFang
It won’t keep selling… because there’s going to be another version! lol
Only if Asura’s Wrath would have more sales than this… thing…
BadenBadenPrinny
Maybe fans are realizing the downhill trend that Capcom’s fightans are taking and are starting to play better games……………….nah
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002395146276 Peace Legacy
Geez, I wonder why
Muggshotter
Sucks for Capcom. I’m still on the thought about getting this since it does have some characters I want to play as (that and Spidey and Ryu being actually VIABLE) and do some silly stuff in it. There’s just too many good games I want to get before this one…
Meh, guess I get my Mahvel 3 fix from all the YouTube videos.
http://www.myspace.com/Juan_Rod bluejuan85
I’m waiting for some amazon cash to drop so I can get the Vita version to play the game on the go or just drop the money towards SF x T.
midgard229
probably because they released it a few months after the first one’s. stupid company
Raiu
I agree with some of the people about being not surprised…
After releasing MVC3, I’ve heard a lot of people bought it then Capcom release UMVC3 sooner because “it’s now or never” reasons…
With UMVC3 has extra content in it, the people who bought the original don’t have the extra cash or want another copy… To add salt to injury, Capcom dropped support for MVC3 and some people are hoping some sort of DLC for the original to match with the newer version…
eliel
i got money problems thats y i got no UMVC3 but i still want to get :D i do got MVC3 though….
http://www.facebook.com/people/Livio-Nava-Ponce/100001179004097 Livio Nava Ponce
glad to read that.
dahuuuundge
Ultimate/ Super Street Fighter x Tekken Arcade Edition 2012 TURBO XTREME DX. Calling it.
http://www.facebook.com/AshCrimsonTJL Theofratus ‘Geese’ Lester
What about Ultimate Super Smash Bros. 3?

Nemesis_Dawn
We’re talking about FIGHTING games, here.

Bio_liquid
Ok so What about Ultimate Super Smash Bros. 3? It is a fighting game so we ask about it

Nemesis_Dawn
Smash Brothers is a party game, not a fighting game.

Kandou Erik
OH MY WORD – Open you’re eyes, Capcom! Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom didn’t do as well because you released it not even a year later! You still withheld Shuma Gorath and Jill – which was the middle finger telling me to simply walk away. And I feel good to have. No Megaman — another screw-you to the fan community.
And, the most egregious reason this thing didn’t sell as well as SSF4? Because it’s clear there is going to be an even more Ultimate-ier version released later.
The public can tell when they are being messed with. Most times, like with SSF4, we where ok with it – because you where giving us value for the dollar, and didn’t make it seem like you where cheating us. I felt darn cheated with the first M vs C 3, after seeing the ZERO-price difference between getting the special edition, and getting the regular edition and then buying the DLC character.
In short – Capcom, until you get your act together and start respecting the consumer, and not thinking of us like a piggy-bank to be exploited every time you need cash — I won’t be buying you’re games!

Nemesis_Dawn
You know, the Shuma Gorath and Jill thing is the only decision I agree with on this game. On BB: Extend, I feel completed ripped off for having purchased the three DLC characters only to discover if I had just waited, I could have gotten better versions of those same characters in the new disc update.
At least Capcom said, “If you didn’t buy them the first time, you still don’t get them. If you bought them before, they’re still there.”
CrimsonalCore
Y’know, I completely agree with you, last year was insane, cancelled MML3, RE: The Mercenaries 3D save that cannot be erase, DmC (But got over new Dante and might get that game), Paid demo (I dunno which game, but I remember Capcom was trying to selling a demo on the 3DS, though), etc…. I love Capcom(Especially Monster Hunter), but I don’t like where they’re going with this…

http://twitter.com/Luffink Ruben
Want to know another reason for the bad sales? I´m from Spain, and the distribution is almost not-existent, the only way to get it is through online shops. And yeah, the fact that we could almost know that they were going to do a Super/Ultimate version doesn´t help either
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QX5LRTLTCQEJQ3IXCBUNDILFIE Ryan Saotome
Offer some single player content and people might buy it.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Colin-Tosh/1662494377 Colin Tosh
I can’t say I’m surprised. Capcom released the game far too fast, it had a tonne of far bigger games to compete with and people felt the original version’s online was awful. Naturally this doesn’t rule out a third version but I wouldn’t put money on it considering its failing to meet their expectations.
I’m happy with this version and rather than pay for DLC I’d rather buy a new version if that happened at any point.
TheDarkEmpress
As if the fact that they released it a few months after the first wasn’t enough…the “new and improved” roster was an absolute joke…quite possibly the biggest sausagefest of the stupidest characters ever conceived…some of which I’d never heard of before…and they supposedly beat out Megaman on votes? Pfahahaha. Okay.

ForeverFidelis
Say what you want about the capcom side but the Marvel side was PERFECTION for people who actually read comics

Nemesis_Dawn
I seriously beg to differ. No Ms. Marvel. Too many cosmic characters.

http://twitter.com/manasteel88 Mana
Hawkeye alone was worth the upgrade for Marvel fans.
ForeverFidelis
Too many cosmic characters?There were only 2 in the upgrade.
Nova’s basically the Captain America of Cosmic Marvel, so he was a necessity and Rocket is a fan favorite.
And I can’t really see any reason to add Ms. Marvel besides adding her for the sake of being a girl. She’s a pretty flat personality wise, and she doesn’t really add anything dynamic to the universe besides that screwed up pregnancy thing that every writer besides Bendis pretends they don’t remember.
And looking at the upgrade again
Characters like
Ghost Rider, Iron Fist, Nova, Rocket Raccoon, Dr. Strange, and Hawkeye.
I can’t be in the minority of comic fans when I say seeing one of these guys taken out for Carol would upset me.
Though I’m anticipating you and a bunch of other readers to say that you’d rather have her in than Rocket Raccoon

Nemesis_Dawn
Iron Fist is a lame character (what’s a matter, was Luke Cage busy that day? Maybe Cloak and Dagger?). Nova is a lame character. Rocket Raccoon is a lame joke character. I’d rather see Squirrel Girl than Rocket Raccoon. Hell, I’d rather see Devil Dinosaur than Rocket Raccoon. Ben Reilly Spiderman! The Hypno Hustler! Aunt May! All of them, I’d put before Rocket Raccoon.
Ghost Rider…okay, he’s a good addition. Dr. Strange…good addition. Ms. Marvel was actually the first character I thought of when they announced MVC3. For one, you’ve got your character that plays like Rogue. And second, you’ve got one of the more interesting Marvel characters. Huge disappointment with her not being in it.
Hawkeye…not really a fan, but I know he has his audience, so I guess he’s okay for the roster.
ForeverFidelis
“Iron Fist is a lame character”
I repsect your opinion
“Nova is a lame character”I respect your opinion
“Rocket Raccoon is a lame joke character”
I respect yo-
wait
What
“Joke?” “Joke character?”
There are paragraphs of bad things I want to say to you
…
Just..
Just read annihilation conquest and then Guardians of the galaxy vol.2.
Hell, seeing you call Nova lame suggests that you’ve barely, if at all, gotten into cosmic stuff, so I’m just gonna throw this list in your general direction and sod off
http://imageshack.us/f/571/cosmicmarvelreadinglist.png/

http://www.youtube.com/B4ULoveShine Tim_at_where
Off-topic, but is Nemesis part of that same sausagefest? >_<;
I've been getting the whole MAHVEL ZOMBIZ vibe off him.

http://twitter.com/takenbymusic Silvio Carréra
It’s the same game with more characters capcom. Get over it.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Fitzpatrick-Phillips/1786364591 Fitzpatrick Phillips
Capcom’s ego had blown ridiculously in recent times. Can’t expect them to have realistic standards.

NTyron52
Heh, I’m not really surprised either. Honestly only more advanced fighting game players actually bought this, which is what usually happens with updates to fighting games. The series is also not as popular as Street Fighter either.
Also, before anyone complains about the roster, which we have seen a bunch of goddamn times already that’s so tiring to even talk about it, you just have to realize that this game is a marketing product overall just like all the previous entries in the series. It makes sense for them to put someone who’s popular nowadays instead of someone like Gambit or Venom who really haven’t been popular since the 90s. Venom is not even the same anymore now, and I wonder if people who wanted him know that. This whole series really is just a marketing tool, ever since all the previous Marvel games which had rosters reflective of their release periods.
It has been a decade and things just change, I think you just have to deal with it.
/whew, long post.

http://www.youtube.com/B4ULoveShine Tim_at_where
And speaking of marketing tool, that’s pretty much the reason why Marvel asked Capcom to put in Hawkeye, because of the now-confirmed Avengers film, correct?

shion16
Street fighter 4 was an awesome game , MVC3 was good but kinda broken
And then they released SSF4 and it was tons of time better than awesome, more characters, outstanding online mode, tons of new modes like trials or car smash mode
UMVC3 added more characters, it “fixed” the balance, it add some modes in a DLC, and the online mode that sucked in MVC3 now is just average.
Street fighter 4 was better than MVC3 since its roots and it was more trust worth

NTyron52
The series has always been broken to be honest. UMvC3 is the least broken of them all if you compare to the previous games, where pretty much 3 or 4 characters made the entire roster unplayable, which was a problem with Marvel vs Capcom 2. In MvC3 there are some better characters, but you still have a chance to win with some “weaker” characters. Notice that I said weaker in quotes, because you can make the “weaker” characters pretty frightening in this game.

cmurph666
I like to say people are finally catching on to Capcom’s tactics but 600,000 people still prove me wrong.

CrazyKnives
Well more people are catching on, maybe not enough but it’s a start.

eilegz
people learned… they are waiting for arcade edition…
http://twitter.com/ReverendJohnW The Rev
Next Time Capcom don’t release the upgrade 9 months later wait a year.
Also Capcom…stop alienating fans………..
But I’m preaching to the Choir not like Capcom reads this site

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