Monday, April 19, 2010

Monster Hunter 3 and Red Steel 2: Sales Comparisons

Monster Hunter 3 & Red Steel 2 Amazon.com Sale Rank Comparisons
(click chart to enlarge)

Last week, I posted up two charts.
The first chart showed Red Steel 2's Amazon.com sale ranks from March 9 through April 11.
The second chart showed Monster Hunter 3's sale ranks for the same time period.

The Chart Data:
The chart shows the sale ranks for:
The lightning bolt symbols on the chart show the days Red Steel 2 and Monster Hunter 3 television commercials were reported as being seen aired on television.
  • The yellow lightning bolt is the first day a Red Steel 2 commercial was reported, on March 17, 2010.
  • The green lightning bolt is the day a new Red Steel 2 commercial was reported, this one was about a minute and a half in length and aired during a WWE show.  It was reported on March 29, 2010.
  • The orange lightning bolt is the first day a Monster Hunter 3 commercial was reported.  It was reported on April 7, 2010.

The star symbols show the days Red Steel 2 and Monster Hunter 3 broke into Amazon.com's Top 100 in video games.
  • On March 23, 2010, around 6:00PM, both versions of Red Steel 2 were recorded in Amazon.com's Top 100.
  • The day Monster Hunter 3 entered Amazon.com's Top 100 was on April 6, around 3:00PM(only day marked on calendar, not time).
  • Monster Hunter 3, the game only, had not entered Amazon.com's Top 100 by April 11, but has since done so.
Again, the data in the chart was gathered from March 9 through April 11, with March 15 being the only day sale ranks weren't captured for either game.  The sale ranks for the games in the chart were all gathered within about three minutes of each other, and I would double check to make sure the ranks were the same after gathering them.
(You may need some coffee now!)

Thoughts:
To me, it looks like Monster Hunter 3 is going to outperform Red Steel 2.
I think Monster Hunter 3 will outperform Red Steel 2, 2:1 for the first month sales performance when we see the NPD data for April.
Red Steel 2 was confirmed to have sold about 50,000 units in March, according to the NPD data.
I think Monster Hunter 3 will cross 100,000 units its first month.

Questions:
If you purchased Red Steel 2 and already completed it, now that some time has passed from the release of the game, do you still recommend Red Steel 2 for others to purchase?
Did any of you make it to the Monster Hunter 3, Nintendo World Store event this past weekend?
If not, how many of you plan on buying Monster Hunter 3 tomorrow when it releases?  I should be getting my copy tomorrow morning!
Will I see any of you on the hunting grounds?  If so, will any of you be using Wii Speak with the game as well?

If you're interested in either of these games, you can see prices for them on Amazon.com below:
    

15 comments:

  1. I'm the person who first uploaded the Red Steel 2 Commercials, and reported to GoNintendo.
    I bought Red Steel Bundle. I also have a Monster Hunter 3 Tri Bundle reserved as well. Monster Hunters is more for experienced gamers. Red Steel 2 is for everyone, even people who had Wii Sports Resort. I will be using Wii Speak, and I also have a lot of friends ready to play.

    ReplyDelete
  2. @TheWon:
    I've seen some of your "tips" on GoNintendo before! I have one friend, that hasn't purchased a Wii game in years, that is purchasing Monster Hunter 3 tomorrow.
    I've got my copy ordered, and it should arrive tomorrow as well.
    I ordered just the standard game though, due to short supply issues with the CC Pro, and I already own the original Classic Controller.

    If I really think the CC Pro will make a huge difference for me, I'll end up getting it later.

    I also have Wii Speak, and I'm be glad to have a game to finally use it in frequently(I'm hoping anyway)!

    Thanks for the comment!

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  3. I got the Red Steel bundle because, up until then, I had resisted buying a M+. Not that I didn't want to, but I knew I was getting RS2 and figured may as well go whole hog on it.

    Same goes for Monster Hunter - ordered the bundle as soon as possible. Also got the bundled Endless Ocean with Wii Speak since Target had it for $30.

    To answer your other question, I would still recommend Red Steel 2 after finishing it. It's one of those games that folks may have a hard time paying full price for (it's short), but I enjoyed it immensely, and could see myself revisiting it every so often for kicks. Kinda like how I'll never get rid of a Mario game because I always end up playing it down the line.

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  4. Here were my thoughts on Red Steel 2:
    http://superphillipcentral.blogspot.com/2010/03/red-steel-2-wii-review.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. I won't be getting Monster Hunter tomorrow because I have an exam on Wednesday so I'll probably get it on Thursday as long as I can find the bundle.

    I'd love to play with Wii Speak, but I haven't been able to find the Endless Ocean bundle here in Quebec because: "Due to the legal restrictions of the Quebec French Language Charter, this product cannot be delivered in Quebec."

    If I play online enough it might be worth it to buy Wii Speak though.

    Jonath

    ReplyDelete
  6. @SuperPhillip:
    Are you picking up Monster Hunter 3?

    @Jonath:
    On the Wii Speak issue, could somebody from America ship you Wii Speak? Or is that illegal as well?

    ReplyDelete
  7. @SuperPhillip:
    @Jonath:

    Thank you both for the comments!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow... TheWon, SuperPhilip... this is like a who's-who of my online game coverage contacts!

    Anyway, I pre-ordered RS2 with the WM+ bundle. Much like "Kevin" above, for some reason my wife and I got it in our heads that we'd get one M+ with WSR and one with RS2 and we never deviated from that plan when RS2 got pushed back.

    As for MH3? I've been going back and forth about that game for months ... I finally pulled the trigger today. I tried the demo and I found the wiimote+nunchuck more comfortable than my normal CC, so I went with the game-only because I don't really need the CC Pro.

    Looking forward to hunting some monsters (and being totally inept at it!) with you guys soon!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Not finished with Red Steel 2 yet, I am stuck on the second Okaji fight. It is an incredible experience, I definately recommend it. Looks like a 12-15 hour game if you try to do all the side quests and look through the game.

    Already given my thoughts on Monster Hunter, I won't be buying it. Looking forward to Mario Galaxy 2 and have it on pre-order.

    ReplyDelete
  10. @Kevin:
    I'm like you(before RS2), in that I don't own a WM+. I still have $5 on Red Steel 2, but was sick the week it came out and never went and purchased it. I really want a WM+ for another game(Rage of the Gladiator), to see how well it functions.

    I, also like you, purchased the Endless Ocean with Wii Speak. I didn't need the Wii Speak, but I'll be using one in Monster Hunter 3, perhaps as early as tomorrow!

    I really do want to play Red Steel 2, I'm hoping to pick it up after school is out in May.

    @CrashMan:
    I pulled the trigger today also on MH3! I, like you, think the Wii Remote & Nunchuck controls work well, and I enjoyed them in the demo.
    I, also like you, have the normal CC, but I think I'll be playing MH3 with the wiimote+nunchuck as of now.

    @keith:
    I'm glad you like it!

    @delawaregamer:
    I'm not sure how far you are in RS2, as I haven't played it yet, but do you think you'll be like Kevin and hold onto RS2 once you finish it?

    @Everybody that is getting MH3:
    Perhaps I'll see you all in MH3 this week!

    Thanks everybody a lot for all the comments and sharing your thoughts on Red Steel 2!

    ReplyDelete
  11. @CWG
    I will probably not hold onto RS2 after playing it as I rarely hold on to any games anymore after playing them. Past couple of years I have been the most active in gaming, in order to do that, I have to leverage the games I do get as assets. If you buy day of release and sell on e-bay within a month, you can usually clear $30-$40 for most games.

    Most times I leverage a game that I end up not missing like Madworld and Conduit, some games I miss but would likely not replay RS2 and the NMH's fall here. Occasionally I divest a game and regret it, Super Paper Mario (didn't finish it) and Muramasa fall here.

    I can do this because my gaming time is limited, probably an hour a day. Between the stellar release sched of 09-10 as well as the WiiWare and VC titles, I have more than enough to keep busy.

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  12. Also, I am on the boss of the next to last level, so I am close to finishing RS2. So far I would say the story isn't the best but it is passable (and typical for a ninja style game). Graphics are gorgeous, level design could be better but is good and the enemy selection is actually quite diverse and quite challenging at times.

    Biggest complaints I have are 1) Cutscenes, action cutscenes are great, but some of the story/character interaction cutscenes are boring. It is a static camera with a NPC walking around and talking to you. it would be better to put these in game a la Half-Life.

    2) Map, the bottom corner map is fine, but it would be helpful to be able to pull up a full map of the level.

    Once I beat Okaji, I will be done with the Tiger's Nest chapter, and will have the Revenge chapter left.

    ReplyDelete
  13. @delawaregamer:
    Are you a member of GameFly? It may help you save money over the long run, though I fully understand supporting the developers by purchasing the games.

    Thanks for the reply, and I hope you enjoy the last chapter in Red Steel 2!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Finished Red Steel 2. End of the game was not quite as good as the beginning. The next to last chapter was really good and very focused if quite linear, but the last "chapter" was barely anything other than a few areas to clear, clear out a few enemies and fight the final boss. Kinda that idea where a game runs out of ideas by the finale. Ending was as non-descript as the beginning, nothing grandeous, open for Red Steel 3 (what are the chances it's rebranded The Kusagari).

    Last two bosses are TOUGH!!! They are fast and have almost all your moves. A lot of criticism I have heard is that it was too easy, well aparantly they didn't want to adjust the difficulty. I played on Medium and the game had some really challenging areas.

    Overall really good. Also, I used to have Gamefly, in the long run, I didn't really find it that useful. I would rather cycle the games myself. Also that leaves some of my gaming cash for DL games as well.

    ReplyDelete

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