Lugia667
Darknut
- Pronouns
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time to draw TOTK conculsions from this, it will clearly only sell 5 million lifetime total!
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Sales Data Updated sales numbers for Switch titles: Fire Emblem Engage (1.61M), Kirby's RtDL DX (1.46M), Metroid Prime Remastered (1.09M), and more
- Thread starter curl-6
- Start date
Síriocaz
Xenoblade Enjoyer
Three Houses really resonated with people.
I liked Engage a lot, I felt it was way stronger than Three Houses from a mechanical standpoint, but I agree that it fell short in the narrative area. Which makes sense because it was supposed to be an anniversary entry. I believe Komuro can still make another hit, though.
olobolger
Tektite
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I think they have been doing this since the announcement, or in any case since the development was rebooted for sure.
NintenDuvo
Bob-omb
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Don't want to be that guy but from my standpoint i dont think the low sales have to do with the games, i personally know people who are tired of the Switch hardware and keep asking me are they any closer to revealing new Switch hardware
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I mean we are in the sixth year of the system so it’s no reason to doom or anything, but yeah, I think the “switch effect” for these more niche series has probably worn off a bit.
Stuff like TOTK that’ll cross into the mainstream will break the barrier but stuff like Xenoblade 3 isn’t legging it out despite a lot more acclaim than its predecessor, Prime remastered had tons of positive buzz and is currently the highest rated game of the year. None have terrible sales at all of course, but I can’t lie and say I didn’t expect more out of the “switch effect” we saw earlier in the system’s life. It’s just so much more choice now, and just that we’re in that natural stage of the hardware life cycle.
thoughthaver
Chain Chomp
TOTK sells 5 million copies, asked to leave Top Selling Title Sales Units
Rampo360
Like Like
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Certainly we are at the point where many owners have moved on. Will be interesting to see if TotK sales are affected.
Sc/Vi also slowed down significantly imo. It doesn't help that Nintendo lied and GF fixed shit.
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Dread launched alongside new hardware with a big advertising campaign during the biggest sales season of the year. Prime dropped on a Wednesday night in February out of the blue. Difficult to know how much more it'll sell, but I don't think Nintendo will be especially concerned.
With FE Engage, I'm also not surprised to see that not do as well as Three Houses. It had a noticeably weaker critical reception and didn't seem to strike a chord or generate much conversation. It'll still likely trundle on over the 2 million mark; I'd guess there isn't another mainline FE release till next year, even with all the talk of Engage being finished a while back.
With FE Engage, I'm also not surprised to see that not do as well as Three Houses. It had a noticeably weaker critical reception and didn't seem to strike a chord or generate much conversation. It'll still likely trundle on over the 2 million mark; I'd guess there isn't another mainline FE release till next year, even with all the talk of Engage being finished a while back.
I think it's interesting that's happening with the lower profile franchises, or the Super enthusiast stuff. There's probably a lot of competition for that market now, whereas a few years ago competition wasn't quite as intense. There was some suggestion from UK analysts last year that the 'smaller' titles (in general, not just on Switch) were struggling to break through as people cut their entertainment budget and gravitated towards the biggest brands; I wonder how much that's occurring globally.
Nintendo always give digital plus physical sales in these reports (they don't include digital only titles, though).
Lugia667
Darknut
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"cool down a bit", it's the 6th year....
Rooster
Chain Chomp
It was still the sixth year when everyone had higher expectations for all these numbers
Mario games sold extremely well this quarter, so much so that NSMBU made a return to the top 10.
Software Top 10
Total sales followed by sales added to the total in Q4
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: 53.79m + 1.79m
Animal Crossing: 42.21m + 620k
Smash Bros Ultimate: 31.09m + 650k
Zelda BOTW: 29.81m + 810k
Pokémon Sword/Shield: 25.82m + 140k
Mario Odyssey: 25.76m + 640k
Pokemon S/V: 22.10m + 1.49m
Super Mario Party: 19.14m + 350k
New Super Mario Bros. U: 15.41m + 660k
Ring Fit Adventure: 15.38m + 160k
New Releases
Fire Emblem Engage: 1.61m New
Kirby's Return to Dream Land DX: 1.46m New
Metroid Prime Remastered: 1.09m New
Others
Pokémon Legends Arceus: 14.83m + 200k
Luigi's Mansion 3: 12.82m + 380k
Super Mario 3D World + BF: 11.38m + 560k
Splatoon 3: 10.67m + 540k
Mario Party Superstars: 10.17m + 790k
Switch Sports: 9.60m + 990k
Kirby ATFL: 6.46m + 340k
Mario Strikers Battle League: 2.54m + 70k
Xenoblade Chronicles 3: 1.86m + 50k
Bayonetta 3: 1.07m + 30k
Software Top 10
Total sales followed by sales added to the total in Q4
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: 53.79m + 1.79m
Animal Crossing: 42.21m + 620k
Smash Bros Ultimate: 31.09m + 650k
Zelda BOTW: 29.81m + 810k
Pokémon Sword/Shield: 25.82m + 140k
Mario Odyssey: 25.76m + 640k
Pokemon S/V: 22.10m + 1.49m
Super Mario Party: 19.14m + 350k
New Super Mario Bros. U: 15.41m + 660k
Ring Fit Adventure: 15.38m + 160k
New Releases
Fire Emblem Engage: 1.61m New
Kirby's Return to Dream Land DX: 1.46m New
Metroid Prime Remastered: 1.09m New
Others
Pokémon Legends Arceus: 14.83m + 200k
Luigi's Mansion 3: 12.82m + 380k
Super Mario 3D World + BF: 11.38m + 560k
Splatoon 3: 10.67m + 540k
Mario Party Superstars: 10.17m + 790k
Switch Sports: 9.60m + 990k
Kirby ATFL: 6.46m + 340k
Mario Strikers Battle League: 2.54m + 70k
Xenoblade Chronicles 3: 1.86m + 50k
Bayonetta 3: 1.07m + 30k
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Johna X
Boo
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I mean 1 million in like 2 months for Metroid is fine, that's already a third of Dread
Perhaps the issue is it will be quite front loaded
I do wonder sometimes how the Switch would be with no pandemic, surely still fine prob would eventually hit 100m but when looking at the sales data there really was an explosion of momentum during the pandemic that they can never count on again, I hope they're goal is to sell like 80% as much next time rather then somehow topping it
Perhaps the issue is it will be quite front loaded
I do wonder sometimes how the Switch would be with no pandemic, surely still fine prob would eventually hit 100m but when looking at the sales data there really was an explosion of momentum during the pandemic that they can never count on again, I hope they're goal is to sell like 80% as much next time rather then somehow topping it
PixelKnight
Observing the process
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I agree that Engage’s battle scenarios/mechanics were much better than TH. Amongst my favourites in the series.
I don’t see why a game being an anniversary entry means its story and cut scenes need to be as bad as Engage’s though. I mean, sure, it’s not about the intricate damaged relationships between 30-odd new cast members when you’ve got a dozen old favourites grabbing the spotlight alongside the player avatar, of course that pushes even the handful of major new characters (the faction leaders) into third place, let alone their allies. But even then, it’s not that such elements are pushed aside, it’s that the story itself is just really, really poor and predictable, the cut scenes themselves are lifeless as everyone stands around while the villains monologue, and the campaign is just a march around a silly ring-shaped continent (such subtlety) taking in plain grass land, angry fire land, cold ice land and fun desert land in turn. Not so much ‘anniversary game’ and more that the writing and direction of the cut scenes struggled to find anything to show or surprising to say beyond ‘ta-da, aren’t the old characters fab, and everyone else worships the player avatar as a god’. They could still have had the ring emblems while finding something interesting to say or do with the story. Which is likely why there’s very little discussion of it beyond players clearing the last bits of DLC.
Admittedly, most games have a severe drop-off in engagement (sorry!) 3 months after launch. Engage is just forgettable though, in a way it didn’t have to be even when including the lords as SMT-style summon assists for your party.
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Formula Zero
Octorok
Wow Engage actually hurt the series momentum
It was obvious that the change of tone was too much from THs and the latter is the way more interesting game
It was obvious that the change of tone was too much from THs and the latter is the way more interesting game
maniacmaison
Art bitch
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I strongly believe Xenoblade will be one of the IPs that will benefit the most from the next generation hardware. Being a real visual standout will attract many people and will be a selling point.
Johna X
Boo
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On another note, MK8D really has a strong shot to be their second best seller ever behind Wii Sports-
well ok Mondo's thing claims it already is, the original SMB has 58 mil on wikipedia, they combine MK8D and the Wii U one but that was my point, we may be able to cut Wii U out entirely and still say that
but perhaps cutting out wii u would cut out SMB's extra 18 mil anyway
well ok Mondo's thing claims it already is, the original SMB has 58 mil on wikipedia, they combine MK8D and the Wii U one but that was my point, we may be able to cut Wii U out entirely and still say that
but perhaps cutting out wii u would cut out SMB's extra 18 mil anyway
Multiverse
Moblin
We need Xenoblade anime project by Wit Studio. The Mario movie clearly did wonders for the games.
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Well you see, the thing with data on the Internet is that it basically confirms whatever the person who reads it already thinks! It's an amazing phenomenon.
AoiHana
NINTENDOOMED
- Pronouns
- She/they
Mario movie effect, eh?
thoughthaver
Chain Chomp
i dont know, ghost switches?
Johna X
Boo
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I'd say Nintendo would be stupid not to drop a new Mario game this year
and I mean they would
But I feel like if any company would not release a game for a movie tie in set to be this magnitude (yeah no game sonic movie 1 no uncharted game but c'mon they knew it'd outperform) it'd be Nintendo
and I mean they would
But I feel like if any company would not release a game for a movie tie in set to be this magnitude (yeah no game sonic movie 1 no uncharted game but c'mon they knew it'd outperform) it'd be Nintendo
Yeah, pretty meh results for both Xenoblade 3 and Engage.
With Fire Emblem, we know that the IP has greater potential (see 3 Houses) and so there’s plenty of reason to believe this is just a bit of a hiccup in the overall franchise sales picture.
As for Xenoblade, it’s strange to me to see 3 seemingly have worse legs than 2 despite the higher critical reception of the former. Maybe the more “controversial” aspects of 2 were actually a positive for sales? Regardless, my belief is that the combat system in these games is pretty scary looking for many folks, and that this series really needs to find a more newcomer-friendly system if it wants to grow.
With Fire Emblem, we know that the IP has greater potential (see 3 Houses) and so there’s plenty of reason to believe this is just a bit of a hiccup in the overall franchise sales picture.
As for Xenoblade, it’s strange to me to see 3 seemingly have worse legs than 2 despite the higher critical reception of the former. Maybe the more “controversial” aspects of 2 were actually a positive for sales? Regardless, my belief is that the combat system in these games is pretty scary looking for many folks, and that this series really needs to find a more newcomer-friendly system if it wants to grow.
Ahmed
Paratroopa
Sad to see no visible growth for the Fire Emblem and Xenoblade series. Perhaps it's because of the Switch age, but many other games are doing well enough.
I don't get how people are surprised at Metroid Prime numbers. It's a series that was never a seller, so what do you expect with a remaster that doesn't add anything and gets shadowdropped with barely any marketing? Even the lower price won't help it much. I think it's pretty impressive to have sold a million already in just a month or 2.
Splatoon is another disappointment, but that's my general experience with this entry. It feels like a missing opportunity in many ways. I'm already thinking about how Splatoon 4 should be (or rather what I want it to be).
I don't get how people are surprised at Metroid Prime numbers. It's a series that was never a seller, so what do you expect with a remaster that doesn't add anything and gets shadowdropped with barely any marketing? Even the lower price won't help it much. I think it's pretty impressive to have sold a million already in just a month or 2.
Splatoon is another disappointment, but that's my general experience with this entry. It feels like a missing opportunity in many ways. I'm already thinking about how Splatoon 4 should be (or rather what I want it to be).
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I doubt the 'annual playing users' metric distinguishes between uber nerds like us who sank billions of hours into weeb games in the last 12 months and Jane & John Casual, who played four minutes of Switch Sports before putting the Switch in a cupboard, but the annual playing users figure climbed again, to 114 million.
thoughthaver
Chain Chomp
does that count profiles as playing users
Galgavias
Koopa
Seems to be the case to me that Switch games are still selling, but there are a lot of Switch games now, so the sales are more spread out. Means owners aren't automatically rushing to buy the latest releases when there are plenty other games they need to catch up on. Case in point, Mario games had a solid quarter sales wise despite there being no Mario related game released. The next quarter will be even bigger no doubt given the success of the movie.
Charamiwa
Bob-omb
It's completely natural for a game releasing in Year 6 to have worse legs than the game released in Year 1. As expected, XB3 opened bigger but it will be front loaded. Why it didn't outsell 2 is another matter, with complex awswers probably, but the sales trajectory isn't surprising.
Lugia667
Darknut
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- He/Him
Dunkey didn't bash it hard enough so it didn't sell as well
- Pronouns
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RPG market on Switch is a much more crowded space now; in part thanks to Xenoblade 2 back in 2017. You also never know how many people tried Xenoblade on Switch - either through 2 or the DE - and decided it wasn't quite their thing. It's a pretty peculiar beast, like you say, and I say that as a huge fan of the series.
XBC 3 will get over the 2 million mark anyway, so it's not going to be massively down on 2. But I do wonder if Nintendo will be thinking about ways to grow these smaller series.
Absolutely no idea. It would make sense to do so, but I'd assume the profile would actually have to have bought or played games to count.
- Pronouns
- She/They
Wikipedia combined multiple ports and rereleases to get that questionable SMB1 number. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (by itself, no Wii U) has already far passed the original Super Mario Bros. on Famicom / NES.
Johna X
Boo
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I mean it sold like 10% the first 12 weeks this year what it sold the first 6 weeks, hella frontloaded. It will dethrone SwSh I think but I'm honestly kinda underwhelmed after that first report. The "Will it beat RGBY" dream is very dead imo
PixelKnight
Observing the process
- Pronouns
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I think that might have been the reaction to promotional material from some, but I don’t think it’s why there’s zero buzz or word of mouth around Engage afterwards. From everyone who played it on Fami and was discussing it in the ST, very few were criticising the graphics in the thread, the writing was by far the most commonly criticised element (and, to be fair, the battle gameplay the most praised element).
I put it down and struggled to pick out a single story element I particularly remembered apart from the one moment where something good might happen but the story immediately undercut it and swerved away from it. As if the idea of someone pointing out the PC were wrong for recruiting those who just helped people murder a party member’s dad, and the interesting inter-party dynamics from that fallout, were anethema to Engage. “We’re just here to collect the characters that look like party members, move along please.”
Ah well. I’m looking forward to the next one. Like FF, that FE can change things up is a good thing.
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Or maybe negatives for future games, but we will see
Funnily enough. Xenoblade 3 had a much better marketing campaign than Xenoblade 2. Trailers were better edited and presented.
But Xenoblade 2 was a game that was rather controversial in a sense that so many people would keep talking about either bad or good so maybe it just kept staying in the spotlight enough to get attention for potential buyers. No matter how few and between the years lol
Tho from a pure trailer and whatnot prespective. Xenoblade 2 looks more colorful and easier to understand gameplay wise than Xenoblade 3. Maybe thay also helped
But Xenoblade 2 was a game that was rather controversial in a sense that so many people would keep talking about either bad or good so maybe it just kept staying in the spotlight enough to get attention for potential buyers. No matter how few and between the years lol
Tho from a pure trailer and whatnot prespective. Xenoblade 2 looks more colorful and easier to understand gameplay wise than Xenoblade 3. Maybe thay also helped
Galgavias
Koopa
Xeno 3 was always going to struggle to hit the sales highs of 2 largely due to a combination of 2 launching at a time when there was much less competition on the system, combined with general sequelitis. People will have bought 2 to play something on the new system they'd owned for less than a year when there wasn't much else to choose, but there was no guarantee they'd be back for the sequel. I think the 'controversial' aspects of 2 didn't really affect sales either way, it's just a standard case of a sequel game releasing later on the same system selling less because...that pretty much always happens.
Charamiwa
Bob-omb
This always happens with Pokémon, the second quarter is much much slower because of the massive shipments the game gets during the holidays. It was the same with Sw/Sh, but eventually the legs show up. I don't know if it'll be the case for the new game but 1.5M for a second quarter is very good for a Pokémon game.
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There's a variety of reasons why Xenoblade 3 and Fire Emblem Engage seemingly underperformed (Xeno less so than FE) and I think it would be a mistake to only blame the ageing hardware for this but I do expect both series to "recover" with the Switch 2 if they also address some of the issues in both games.
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- Pronouns
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I expected a bit more for Xeno, but still good numbers overall considering its genre. I think it has some potential to grow on the next hardware when it brings a new story arc.
