This Week In Sales: Ouch, Natural Doctrine

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Period: The week of March 31st – April 6th (2014)

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Top-seller: Mario Party: Island Tour (3DS) – 47,106

Nintendo 3DS sales: 9,091 | Total sales: 9,457,943

Nintendo 3DS XL sales: 22,947 | Total sales: 5,928,161

PlayStation Vita sales: 25,017 | Total sales: 2,677,612

Vita TV sales: 1,371 | 104,041

Wii U sales: 7,962 | Total sales: 1,697,696

PlayStation 4 sales: 13,401 | 506,739

<< Last week’s software sales chart

<< How to read and understand sales

 

Ouch, Natural Doctrine. Kadokawa Games’ cross-platform PlayStation RPG was released in Japan last week on the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, and met with a rather sad fate.

 

Only the PS Vita version of Natural Doctrine charted in the top-20 software sales chart, and just barely. The Vita version charted at the #20 position, selling 6,046 copies. Probably not the result Kadokawa were hoping for.

 

While it may be tempting to blame Natural Doctrine’s poor sales on the recent hike in Japan’s consumption tax (read more about that here), I feel that’s an unlikely scenario, given that the title was squarely aimed at a niche audience, and such products tend to be the least affected by larger economic factors.

 

That said, another game might have taken a hit due to the tax increase. Last week, another Japan-specific iteration of Ubisoft’s Just Dance series of games was published by Nintendo. Just Dance Wii U sold 18,403 copies in its first week—a far cry from the debuts of Just Dance Wii (90,039 copies) and Just Dance Wii 2 (60,121 copies). Both games went on to sell fairly well over a period of time.

 

Given that the Just Dance series targets a more casual (and financially conscious) audience, it wouldn’t surprise me if the tax increase did put a bit of a dent in the game’s sales. Poor timing on Nintendo’s part if that was the case. That said, regardless of cause, 18,000 isn’t a figure to be proud of.

 

The top-20 software sales chart for last week is as follows:

 

Lw Tw Title Weekly Sales Total Sales Sys. Publisher
02. 01. Mario Party: Island Tour 47,106 257,873 3DS Nintendo
05. 02. Samurai Warriors 4 25,572 192,514 PS3 Tecmo Koei
04. 03. Yo-kai Watch 23,663 686,387 3DS Level 5
06. 04. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes 20,799 179,031 PS3 Konami
New 05. Just Dance Wii U 18,403 New WiiU Nintendo
01. 06. Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd 16,111 114,738 PSV Sega
08. 07. J-Stars Victory Vs. 13,417 156,957 PS3 Bandai Namco
09. 08. J-Stars Victory Vs. 11,876 134,522 PSV Bandai Namco
03. 09. Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd 10,278 70,243 PS3 Sega
14. 10. Pro Baseball Spirits 2014 10,081 90,876 PS3 Konami
13. 11. Dark Souls II 9,924 320,177 PS3 From Software
16. 12. Kirby Triple Deluxe 9,914 540,373 3DS Nintendo
17. 13. Fossil Fighters: Infinite Gear 9,704 130,083 3DS Nintendo
11. 14. Samurai Warriors 4 9,603 68,796 PSV Tecmo Koei
21. 15. Pokémon X and Y 8,328 4,023,294 3DS Pokémon Co.
18. 16. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes 7,859 112,137 PS4 Konami
15. 17. Pro Baseball Spirits 2014 7,576 50,277 PSP Konami
22. 18. Dragon Quest Monsters 2 6,881 768,483 3DS Square Enix
24. 19. Puzzle & Dragons Z 6,787 1,430,720 3DS GungHo
New 20. Natural Doctrine 6,046 New PSV Kadokawa

 

Sales data acquired from 4Gamer and Media Create.


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Author
Image of Ishaan Sahdev
Ishaan Sahdev
Ishaan specializes in game design/sales analysis. He's the former managing editor of Siliconera and wrote the book "The Legend of Zelda - A Complete Development History". He also used to moonlight as a professional manga editor. These days, his day job has nothing to do with games, but the two inform each other nonetheless.