Ignition Confirms Muramasa Sept Sales Numbers, Expects Strong Sales Through the Holidays

Gamer Investments writes: "In a statement provided to Gamer Investments today from Ignition the company confirmed that the rumored September NPD sales data for Muramasa: The Demon Blade, which was reported to be 35k, is accurate and in line with their expectations."

[Smacktard]

Very good news :D

[Keith Olbermann]

I guess good for being on the wii but expecting strong sales over the holidays is a joke. The new mario will gobble up those sales buddy.

[Smacktard]

35k is good considering that it's only the first week sales of a new IP in only the Americas. And considering that (according to VGChartz), Odin Sphere only sold like 320,000(~), and that was on the PS2. It's a new, niche game, and it's performing roughly as well as its spiritual successor did, though the Wii has an install base of roughly half that of the PS2.

Of course its sales aren't going to be comparable to Mario. That's just ridiculous.

[raztad]

@Smack

There is a detail that escapes your analysis. The gorgeous Odin Sphere was a LATE PS2 game (2007), Odin needed to compete with a huge library of high quality games, thats not the case in the Wii. I fully agree though that Marumasa (as Odin Sphere) is a niche genre.

[Harry_Manback]

I would definitely buy this game.

[ChickeyCantor]

"is. The gorgeous Odin Sphere was a LATE PS2 game (2007), Odin needed to compete with a huge library of high quality games, "

But OS was also of high quality. On top of that its an action RPG.
RPG's were hella popular on the PS2.

Even Okami and NMH(compared to killer 7) did a much better job at selling on the Wii.

[ButterToast]

The number of sales it takes to be good is dependent on a number of things but probably one of the more important things (to developers) would be development costs. If a game doesn't take that much to make than it doesn't need a million sales to be profitable. If a game is profitable its good news for the developers and judging by Ignitions response sales seem to be on target to where they will make a profit (or at least break even).

[N4g_null]

LOL@raztad These game have to compete with almost 7 generations of fun thanks to the virtual console and the new smash hits that keep coming out from nintendo.

Another thing these games have to deal with gamers who are too good for these type of games. That was not too much of a problem back in the day as young gamers where respected among gamers as well as older gamers. There was no age just preference and now the hardcore believe the preference of gamers as a whole must be narrow as what they like only.

The more vannilla make the more they will be able to shape a draw people into their type of game. Also we all know these games would have done bad on the other systems simply because you guys are not traditional gamers and I'm pretty sure their are more traditional gamers out there on the Wii than on the HD systems. We see the value in the old school games as most of you new comers or elitist only scoff at it.

Just let new super mario bro come out along with the other games coming and these games will sell just fine as there has never been any thing wrong with 2d.

Uncharted does nothing to make an audience for these games. The next halo doesn't either.

On top of this you have full 2d games that the hardcore never talks about and the sales are pretty bad also plus they where in HD. I'm sorry I can not see how HD gaming is helping this type of game.

It is not a problem with the Wii it is a very problem with the gaming fan. They are just to good for the very games that got them to $600 system.

I just love it when people say gaming should not go back in tech. Gaming has never been just about tech it has always been about art. If you are old enough you would know that many gamers where actually better and more fun on the NES compared to the snes simply because the system was easier to program for. Power is not always needed if the game play is addicting and the artist is actually talented at making game art and not just over designed realism art.

If you have seen the new vids of red steel2 or if you get a chance to see it in person then be sure to check it out. Also if you guys actually do get to play demon blade there are some truly beautiful effects that shows that 2d has a lot more power to take advantage of.

On top of this Vanillaware has under 10 employees last time I checked them out. 1 million in profit is good... Another thing is thanks to the bad mouthing on the internet some stores in Europe are not even selling it. Yes they are refusing to even put it on store shelves.

I mean damn the Wiis good games are treated as if they are porn almost!

It is time for nintendo to open up their own apple stores or team up with other retail chains to do that very thing. This is just ridiculous!

[Shnazzyone]

I think what developers might be realising is that these games do sell enough for a profit, eventually that is. Wii owners buy games when they feel like it. They aren't quite the ones who jump on titles the moment they release like hd kids do. Wii is a different market where instead of huge sales that only last until the next week when fickle "core gamers" send their money elsewhere. They buy their games when they feel like it and they will always make enough money to make it worth it. Madworld proved it, overkill proved it, WaW proved it and No more heroes proved it. If more developers look at the wii market as an investment rather then a quick cash in . BTW, look at 35k this way. At 50 bucks a disc it still totals over 1.7 million dollars in sales. Now is that really a huge failure? Not if it only cost 1 mill to make.

[N4g_null]

Now this game is being hit with stupid retailers. You actually have alot of people not even stocking this game.

[Goomba12]

35 for a niche title is not that bad. Hope they see a good profit down the line for this.

[MK_Red]

I still wish this game was on PS3 and 360 as well. I mean, it doesn't use motion sensors and those 2D artworks would looks deadly on HD. Plus, it could have sold more that way.

[ozstar]

Not when you get idiots who think 2D games should be 10$ and only as a download, like Braid.

[ChickeyCantor]

The art is pretty rough on its original resolution, i guess it would have meant more work for them too.

And like ^ says, then people would expect a 10 dollar price, doesn't look like it.

[lonestarmt]

I hope it does better than odin sphere. Odin Sphere was in my mind one of the top five best games on ps2. It got my wife into gaming, so vinallaware will always have a special place in our hearts. I bought a wii just for this game, no more heroes, and TvsC.

This game wouldn't have made any difference on PS3 or 360. The art style and 2D gameplay fit perfect for a system like the wii or the DS. It was actually smart mk-red to have it on the wii right now. PS3 and 360 owners are mostly too busy playing uncharted, halo odst, and call of duty and this would have been over looked easily sadly. On the wii this prob be best game of the year on the system, right besides new super mario brothers wii.

[NMC2007]

I think everyone who wanted the game and a Wii at this time probably has the game, I expect "The Conduit" like sales this holiday from Muramasa, I hope not but I am expecting it.

[Sarcasm]

It's a pretty telling sign that a game sells only 35k when the install base is 50 million worldwide.

[Xander-RKoS]

Well..you have to account for the fact that not all of them are the typical gamer. That's why the HD systems can't even compare to those numbers right? Next, you have to consider that on all three systems, big top selling games are either sequels to established franchises or heavily marketed...I don't think Muramasa was one of them. Then, you have to consider that most gamers fear the unfamiliar, that explains the sequel thing and why a slew of games out there are FPS games or drivers, etc. Muramasa is in a Japanese style, immediately isolating many of those who are unfamiliar with the culture, it's 2-D, which again probably drops the game off some people must buy list because despite it being pretty, a good portion of gamers today can hardly imagine a console game not in 3-D or in some isometric angle, and it's that actually looks rather complicated despite it being fairly simple...so again, it scares away the gamers unfamiliar with those types of games.

All factors considered, I think they did fairly well.

[Voice_of_Reason]

Whats telling is how you wanna act like Okami, God Hand and so many others didnt fail on PS2 with 140 million install base. 3 times the Wii install base yet Okami sold better on Wii, RE4 sold better on Wii, NMH was Sudas best selling game beating the sales of everything they offered on the 140 million install base PS2.

What I get most from your post is that you are a new gaming. You obviously have no gaming knowledge beyond this gen.