On the whole, Mega Man is up one million units since 2011. Given that few new games released since then, the boost is probably attributed to digital re-releases of older titles. Free-to-play Rockman Xover and Street Fighter X Mega Man, million sellers in their own right, appear to be non-factor.
You can read additional data at Capcom's Investor Relation page here.
Source: Capcom Total Sales Units Data
That's an average of 229,007 sales per game. I think I'm gonna cry.
ReplyDelete...sigh. Happy 25th Mega Man. You really deserve better.
ReplyDelete"Given that few new games released since then, the boost can probably be attributed to digital re-releases of older titles."
ReplyDeleteThat doesn't surprise me. I've noticed numerous fans around the internet who have never even heard of these games until the VC releases and became fans during that time. I've always known about this series as a kid, but my family would always rent the games. I only got back into it after so many years because of the VC games (and the comics, but that's another story). I really wish Capcom would give this series another chance based on how the VC games sell.
Other media help. I used to watch the Ruby-Spears cartoon, and when I saw a game in a shop, I thought they made a game of the cartoon. XP Also, my brother liked MegaMan NT Warrior, and although he doesn't like 2D platform games, he like the Legends series and bugged me to play the EXE games when I told him about them.
DeleteKinda sad that MM games sell like crap, 129 titles yet Resident Evil which has not even half that amount more than doubled it's total sales. That could be why MM has been shelved by Ol' Caps, but I like to blame the average gamer having crap tastes as to why the series sells horribly.
ReplyDeleteIf you're mad at Resident Evil take a look at how Pokemon and Super Mario sell. A single Super Mario game can out sell the entire MM series, and despite S-Mario being the best selling VG series of all time, Pokemon outsells it consistently and in a shorter time, with less games is reaching Mario's numbers. Also worth mentioning is Call of Duty I guess but honestly it can't compete selling-wise to the two series previously mentioned as much as people think.
DeleteWell you have to remember that there was once an over saturation of Mega Man games, seven Mega Man series is proof of that. Once a Mega Man series got popular Capcom would release a sequel yearly. That is Mega Man's biggest downfall, the yearly sequels just caused sales to decrease and made consumers lose interest with the franchise. However now is the complete opposite, people want Mega Man, it's been 3 long years with no game insight.
DeleteNow now. No need to blame the average gamer.
DeleteFirst it's important to note that those "129 titles" people like to reference often include re-releases, as well as cell phone games, of which there are I believe 34, not including Xover, and most of which never made it outside Japan.
Not only that, but Capcom almost never advertises Mega Man, at all.
The average gamer can find out about games like Street Fighter and Resident Evil much easier because Capcom puts massive amounts of budgeting towards advertising those games. That's never really been the case for Mega Man outside of Japan.
Despite all of that the franchise is still Capcom's 3rd best selling. To me that says there is a whole lot of unused potential. But that's just how I see it.
"I like to blame the average gamer having crap tastes as to why the series sells horribly."
ReplyDeleteThat's just ridiculous. I love Mega Man as much as the next guy but only a handful of those 129 titles are worth buying. Are you really going to argue the case that duds like Mega Man X6, X7, Starforce 1 and 2 with it's 3 versions bullshit, Operation Shooting Star, and bunch of re-releases deserve to sale millions?
It has nothing to do with taste. The series was declining in quality and relevance. Instead of trying to push the series forward, they kept holding it back with nostalgia cash-ins, remakes, re-releases and retreads on older ideas.
Umm.. Everything you've said is completely subjective. I hope you realize the irony in your response.
DeleteYep this pretty much summed it up
DeleteYep this pretty much summed it up, well said.
DeleteCapcom: "That's not a billion... nope, not a billion. Hey! Let's release Resident Evil 6 again! This time with twice as many QTEs!"
ReplyDeleteSo the Mega Man series sold in 25 years the same amount of units...GTA V sold in 2 months
ReplyDeleteAnd no matter what it never will sell that much because most "fans" of the series are A. very few and far in between and B. All talk. No matter how good a game is.
DeleteTo help you understand this, the best selling game in the series to this day by far is MM2. I'll let that sink in for you a moment.
Really ? 131 ?? According to wiki statement: 129. Here:
Deletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mega_Man_video_games
Yes, 131. That is Capcom's updated number as of Sept.
Deletehttp://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/business/million.html
DeleteMega Man 2 is Capcom's 35th best selling game, after many Resident Evil (Resident Evil 5 in 1st place with 6,500 thousand units sold), Street Fighter (Street Fighter II in 2nd with 6,300 thousand units), Monster Hunter (MonHunF3 in 5th) games plus Devil May Cry 4, Dead Rising 2, Dino Crisis, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: F.o.T.W., Devil May Cry, Onimusha: Warlords, Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny, Dead Rising, Lost Planet 2, Devil May Cry 2, Ghosts'n Goblins, Street Fighter X Tekken, and Onimusha 3: Demon siege.
After MM2:
41 - Mega Man Battle Network 4 (I'm surprised it passed BN3 and BN6. Maybe the Japanese commercial helped, considering most of the top games are either horror or fighting games? I assume it's counting both Red & Blue versions?)
50 - Mega Man X
57 - Mega Man 3
I wonder how much Mega Man Powered Up, Maverick Hunter X, Mega Man X8, Mega Man X: Command Mission, Mega Man Network Transmission, Mega Man Legends, The Misadventures of Tron Bonne, Mega Man Zero 3, Mega Man ZX Advent, Mega Man Star Force 3 (both versions), and Mega Man Battle Network 5 DS sold...
And also how low was Rockman.EXE Operate Shooting Star, Mega Man X6, X7, and Battle Chip Challenge.
You can't expect something like Megaman to compete with something like a crime-simulator, can you?
DeleteIn this neolithic country the prospect of raping virtual hookers, killing virtual drug dealers and jacking virtual peoples cars without real world legal ramifications has so, so, SO much more appeal than a chubby little robot who collects weapons and changes colors.
Not to mention the fact that Megaman's best games pre-date the 32-bit era, at a time when there was a much greater selection of great games to be had.
The less good games currently available, the better the more "appealing" games will sell.
When has GTA EVER allowed rape? I'll give you a hint... The answer is never. Sex in GTA has always been voluntary for both parties. You might be able to kill the hooker afterward, but rape is one place they don't go.
DeleteThere's plenty of things to complain about in the GTA games but let's keep it grounded in reality.
One of the minor features of GTA5 is overhearing conversations and radio broadcasts. And a few of them had dialogue such as (to paraphrase ) "pissing on their hoes when their done with them". While the player can't ultimate rape anyone, the act itself is present and used as a "cool factor".
DeleteOh.. those two games are not count! I will stay with 129 for real retail games. Those two I get for something else separately. I do not consider those two as fully 131 to me. :)
ReplyDeleteI will continue to fight for the megaman serie, till my END! T_T,,,, Rockman Forever :)
ReplyDeleteMegaman has a big potential, enormous but there wasnt really a great communication/show tv for megaman in the past. Specially in Europe or France (where am i), not a lot of people know who is megaman here except "maybe megaman 2...." rofl.....the communication strategy of capcom wasnt good, but we can spread the word because we are the coolest fan ever!
Im sure, it's maybe negative but not so much, we can help for it ! (fangames, megaman stand in convention, Kickstarter megaman board, we need to show to capcom how much people we are....Idk it's complicate, but i want believe, we have a chance to show how megaman is awesome to everybody...
You stand with very few my friend. I can tell a true fan from a fraudulent one, and even tho English most likely isn't your first language and you've yet to master its writing, I can tell you are a true fan. *TEARS*....Goodbye Blue you will be missed!
DeleteThe older we get, this games gets better, no better classic than this.... played this game when i was 12 and now i am 30 still playing this...
ReplyDelete