SoulCalibur Losing Its Grip On Gamers?

<p>Yesterday we reported on how <a class&equals;"zem&lowbar;slink" title&equals;"Namco Bandai Games" href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;en&period;wikipedia&period;org&sol;wiki&sol;Namco&lowbar;Bandai&lowbar;Games" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"wikipedia">Namco Bandai<&sol;a>’s sales figures were quite impressive regardless of if they were world-wide releases or Japanese-only releases&period; However&comma; hidden in past records indicate that some titles are not doing as well as they initially seemed&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><a class&equals;"zem&lowbar;slink" title&equals;"Soulcalibur V" href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;en&period;wikipedia&period;org&sol;wiki&sol;Soulcalibur&lowbar;V" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"wikipedia">SoulCalibur 5<&sol;a><&sol;em>&comma; since its release &lpar;worldwide&rpar; has achieved 1&period;56 million sales since February 2012&period; Although this may seem like an impressive feat for the series&comma; it losses a bit of shine when you consider that <em><a class&equals;"zem&lowbar;slink" title&equals;"Soulcalibur IV" href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;en&period;wikipedia&period;org&sol;wiki&sol;Soulcalibur&lowbar;IV" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"wikipedia">SoulCalibur 4<&sol;a> <&sol;em>achieved 2&period;3 million sales&&num;8230&semi; in seven months&period; Ouch&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This information was gathered through Namco Bandai’s third-quarter earnings report which&comma; on top of this gloomy data&comma; revealed that the company is actually doing quite well&period; Namco Bandai is expected to achieve end of year revenues of 460 billion yen &lpar;£3&period;13 bn&rpar; which would equate to profits of 24&period;5 billion yen &lpar;£1&period;66 bn&rpar;&period; Not too shabby&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&lbrack;Source&colon; <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;bandainamco&period;co&period;jp&sol;files&sol;3QE8A39CE8B6B3E8B387E69699EFBC88E88BB1E78988EFBC89&period;pdf">Namco Bandai <&sol;a>via<a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;eurogamer&period;net&sol;articles&sol;2013-02-06-soulcalibur-5-sales-arent-as-strong-as-soulcalibur-4s"> Eurogamer<&sol;a>&rsqb;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"zemanta-related-title" style&equals;"font-size&colon; 1em&semi;">Similar Articles From Around The Web<&sol;h6>&NewLine;<ul class&equals;"zemanta-article-ul zemanta-article-ul-image" style&equals;"margin&colon; 0&semi; padding&colon; 0&semi; overflow&colon; hidden&semi;">&NewLine;<li class&equals;"zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style&equals;"padding&colon; 0&semi; background&colon; none&semi; list-style&colon; none&semi; display&colon; block&semi; float&colon; left&semi; vertical-align&colon; top&semi; text-align&colon; left&semi; width&colon; 84px&semi; font-size&colon; 11px&semi; margin&colon; 2px 10px 10px 2px&semi;"><a style&equals;"box-shadow&colon; 0px 0px 4px &num;999&semi; padding&colon; 2px&semi; display&colon; block&semi; border-radius&colon; 2px&semi; text-decoration&colon; none&semi;" href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;digitaltrends&period;com&sol;gaming&sol;soul-calibur-and-tekken-series-sales-slow-as-namco-bandai-stays-healthy-in-the-console-market&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank"><img style&equals;"padding&colon; 0&semi; margin&colon; 0&semi; border&colon; 0&semi; display&colon; block&semi; width&colon; 80px&semi; max-width&colon; 100&percnt;&semi;" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;i&period;zemanta&period;com&sol;143528866&lowbar;80&lowbar;80&period;jpg" &sol;><&sol;a><a style&equals;"display&colon; block&semi; overflow&colon; hidden&semi; text-decoration&colon; none&semi; line-height&colon; 12pt&semi; height&colon; 80px&semi; padding&colon; 5px 2px 0 2px&semi;" href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;digitaltrends&period;com&sol;gaming&sol;soul-calibur-and-tekken-series-sales-slow-as-namco-bandai-stays-healthy-in-the-console-market&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Soul Calibur and Tekken series sales slow as Namco Bandai stays healthy in the console market<&sol;a><&sol;li>&NewLine;<li class&equals;"zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style&equals;"padding&colon; 0&semi; background&colon; none&semi; list-style&colon; none&semi; display&colon; block&semi; float&colon; left&semi; vertical-align&colon; top&semi; text-align&colon; left&semi; width&colon; 84px&semi; font-size&colon; 11px&semi; margin&colon; 2px 10px 10px 2px&semi;"><a style&equals;"box-shadow&colon; 0px 0px 4px &num;999&semi; padding&colon; 2px&semi; display&colon; block&semi; border-radius&colon; 2px&semi; text-decoration&colon; none&semi;" href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vg247&period;com&sol;2013&sol;02&sol;05&sol;namco-bandai-financials-profits-up-71-7-to-303-million&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank"><img style&equals;"padding&colon; 0&semi; margin&colon; 0&semi; border&colon; 0&semi; display&colon; block&semi; width&colon; 80px&semi; max-width&colon; 100&percnt;&semi;" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;i&period;zemanta&period;com&sol;noimg&lowbar;62&lowbar;80&lowbar;80&period;jpg" &sol;><&sol;a><a style&equals;"display&colon; block&semi; overflow&colon; hidden&semi; text-decoration&colon; none&semi; line-height&colon; 12pt&semi; height&colon; 80px&semi; padding&colon; 5px 2px 0 2px&semi;" href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vg247&period;com&sol;2013&sol;02&sol;05&sol;namco-bandai-financials-profits-up-71-7-to-303-million&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Namco Bandai financials&colon; profits up 71&period;7&percnt; to &dollar;303 million<&sol;a><&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ul>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"zemanta-pixie" style&equals;"margin-top&colon; 10px&semi; height&colon; 15px&semi;"><img class&equals;"zemanta-pixie-img" style&equals;"border&colon; none&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;img&period;zemanta&period;com&sol;pixy&period;gif&quest;x-id&equals;dde77d52-69f3-4158-b416-41bd603c2e73" &sol;><&sol;div>&NewLine;