Capcom Expects DmC to Sell 2 Million Copies

[A203D]

Not that i'm criticising you Moses. but i usually turn to vgchartz for sales figures. i'm not sure how reliable they are since they dont reveal their sources. but their numbers do usually line up with the figures reported by publishers and manufactures like Microsoft or Sony. and their sales figures for the DMC series are somewhat different:

http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=devil+may+cry

i'm not sure which figures to believe, but i'm pretty sure the numbers they have for DMC3 are wrong because that has changed since i've been looking at the DMC figures as of last year.

but i wouldve assumed that those figures were indeed accurate, since (i think) Capcom have said they've sold 10 mil copies of the DMC series during the lifespan of the 4 games. so it seems to me aside from the DMC3 discrepancy vgchartz numbers seem to be accurate.

and i think i remember Capcom saying something about selling 5 mil copies of DmC. i'm not sure what they said exactly, but the logical assumption is that they are aiming for a minimum of 2 mil, with 5 mil being the optimistic hope of the developers not the shareholders.

personally i feel that it is possible for this title to be a great success, and i would be very happy to see it do 3+ mil, sending a message that a reboot was the right choice after DMC4.

[moseslmpg]

VGChartz is not a reliable source of information. If you compare many of their sales figures to official ones, they tend to be off. Official sales figures from companies have to be correct or the companies can be pursued for fraud for reporting more sales than they actually made IIRC, whereas VGChartz has no such restriction or oversight. So it isn't what I would consider a valid source of information. And in any case, they don't post sales projections, or sales after 1 fiscal year so there's no reason for me to use them.

Also, the 5 million thing is myth perpetuated by mainly opponents of DmC to expose Capcom's supposed hubris. It originated from this article where Motohide Eshiro, a producer and not a corporate officer with any hand in planning the marketing or sales, said:

Well, taking Devil May Cry 4 as an example, including the PC versions we sold 2.7 million of that particular game, but we looked at the market and saw that there were other action games selling four million, five million, all these copies.

That's the only mention of the 5 million units thing, that's it. He doesn't even say they want 4 or 5 million copies or that they hope for them as if it is in the realm of possibility. He is only implying that they would like to capture the larger market share that these more successful action games have, and I assume he means GOW. It did not constitute an official or even unofficial sales projection in any way, shape, or form, although opponents instantly latched onto it and twisted it into "Capcom says DmC is going to sell 5 million."

The purpose of my post was just to compare the projections to actual sales, to show that the DmC projections are reasonable and that Capcom has a good track record with meeting or surpassing their projections. So I fully expect it to sell 2 million, if not more.

[A203D]

VGChartz is not a reliable source of information. If you compare many of their sales figures to official ones, they tend to be off. Official sales figures from companies have to be correct or the companies can be pursued for fraud for reporting more sales than they actually made IIRC, whereas VGChartz has no such restriction or oversight. So it isn't what I would consider a valid source of information. And in any case, they don't post sales projections, or sales after 1 fiscal year so there's no reason for me to use them.

Also, the 5 million thing is myth perpetuated by mainly opponents of DmC to expose Capcom's supposed hubris. It originated from this article where Motohide Eshiro, a producer and not a corporate officer with any hand in planning the marketing or sales, said:

That's the only mention of the 5 million units thing, that's it. He doesn't even say they want 4 or 5 million copies or that they hope for them as if it is in the realm of possibility. He is only implying that they would like to capture the larger market share that these more successful action games have, and I assume he means GOW. It did not constitute an official or even unofficial sales projection in any way, shape, or form, although opponents instantly latched onto it and twisted it into "Capcom says DmC is going to sell 5 million."

The purpose of my post was just to compare the projections to actual sales, to show that the DmC projections are reasonable and that Capcom has a good track record with meeting or surpassing their projections. So I fully expect it to sell 2 million, if not more.

I think vgchartz figures are accurate, this instance included because those fiscal reports you've linked to in your previous post (i didint look at all the profiles, and i cant read Japanese). but those fiscal reports are based on the first year of sales after the respective DMC game was released. i didnt look at all the reports but we might have 2 years of sales during some of the fiscal reports you've linked to.

I find this a problem because a game dosent stop selling copies after it first year on the market. it does however slow down. different types of games have different rates of sales decent. but a lot of games continue to have respectable sales during their 2nd, 3rd and even 4th years on the market. not to mention there was probabily a small leap in sales numbers 2 years after each game was released, where popular PS2 games were rereleased in Sony's Platinum/Greatest Hits line.

and heres the link where Capcom state 10 mil copies of the DMC series have been shipped as of 2009:

http://kotaku.com/5172766/devil-may-...illion-shipped

My point is; I'm not saying DMC1 sold any copies in 2008. but i do think it sold 1.4 mil during its first year, then sold another 1.5 mil during subsequent years. to eventually sell around 3 mil copies. aside from the DMC3 annomaly i can see in vgchartz numbers, i think their figures are a reasonable estimate of the series sales, since they are in line with the number of copies Capcom reported to have shipped as of 2009.

Agree with your 5 mil point and the 2 mil sales expectations. i think the measure of success for most fans willl be whether it can top DMC4. which i think will be a difficuilty because of the poor quality of the title.

[moseslmpg]

VGChartz figures are unreliable. Some are accurate, some are not. That's why it can't be used in this instance. But if you want to use them, the point about Capcom's projections being met and exceeded still stands.

I was using the next possible official sales figures for each game to give an idea of how they performed within one fiscal year of their projections, to show that DmC might very well reach 2 million in 1 fiscal year, not just lifetime sales as some people say. I'm not really interested in lifetime sales because they aren't what Capcom would be focusing on. They don't want 2 million sales in like 7 years, they want them soon.

Also, that article says Capcom has shipped 10 million units, but according to their official figures the 4 main games in the series have sold only 7.76 million. It is probably that the 10 million refers to things like the 5th Anniversary collection, Greatest Hits, mobile games, and so on. I'm only concerning myself with the 4 original releases because that's all I have projections for.

EDIT: Actually, on Capcom's website it does say the DMC franchise has shipped/sold 10 million, but in that context "DMC franchise" refers to 15 titles, not the 4 I'm talking about.