Discussion France: Totk has sold 500k copies in the first week (Physical only)

[Tbone5189]

It's almost certainly a given that it will sell less than BOTW. That has had 6+ years to steadily get to 30 million sales. TOTK won't have that luxury. Also sequels on the same console pretty much always sell less than the original because that's just generally what happens.

TOTK getting to around about 75% of what BOTW has managed (so between 20-25 million) would be a phenomenal achievement, and based on early indications it could get there.

It's not almost certainly at all, TotK will have the opposite with a huge launch in comparison. 20mil-25mil lifetime? 25mil should be surpassed before the end of year alone, we could be looking at a 10mil sell thru launch which would mean 15mil+ in this quarter (ship+digital)

 

[Mirev]

Many of those examples can be explained by them being multiplat titles or non-story driven games (such as fighters or sports games). I don't think you can really put the likes of FIFA in this category either because their annual release model depends on them growing year on year. You can't compare them like for like to Zelda which see a new game once every 5-6 years.

A more relevant comparison would be to look at how sequels on Switch have performed in general. Splatoon, Xenoblade and Fire Emblem have all seen sequels that sold less than their predecessors. It's not an unreasonable prediction to expect TOTK to follow that trend. Regardless of how big the launch is, time just isn't on its side.

If TOTK does go on to outsell BOTW on the standard Switch it would be a frankly unbelieveable achievement, but the only way I see it getting there is with some cross gen support around the launch of Switch 2, via a bundle of graphics/performance boosts and some meaty DLC.

^ this. Pokémon is gonna be one of the few sequel that will outsell the old one (SV is gonna surpass SwSh with DLCs)

 

[Leo]

I feel people treating this as a given is quite careless looking at Nintendo's history of never having done that and generally never prioritizing graphical optimization. I think such a patch would make sense and would be very welcome, but I would really try to temper my expectations there.
If the successor is a rather straightforward upgrade the game may be able to benefit from some upgrades without much work, but we basically don't know anything yet.

But on topic: amazing success for TotK in France and well deserved.

I mean, I'm okay if the game never gets upgraded, I'm having a blast with it as is. It just makes sense business wise for Nintendo for multiple factors, including that they will probably need invest in a crossgen transition because they won't be able to support the new hardware with only brand new games, and they will have one of their biggest games of all time right there having its legs cut short by the Switch phasing out. It's kind of a no brainer.

And the argument that they never did it before is simply not true, they did this several times, especially on the Switch with lots of enhanced Wii U ports. It's just the format would be a bit different this time because the environment and context is different.

 

[Hocot8]

It's almost certainly a given that it will sell less than BOTW. That has had 6+ years to steadily get to 30 million sales. TOTK won't have that luxury. Also sequels on the same console pretty much always sell less than the original because that's just generally what happens.

TOTK getting to around about 75% of what BOTW has managed (so between 20-25 million) would be a phenomenal achievement, and based on early indications it could get there.

Normally, I'd agree but there's something different here. ToTK is an event like BoTW with 120M consoles in the hands of players. It also has something that BoTW didn't have. Tiktok. Tiktok I think is taking this game into another plane of existence. The normies and casuals are seeing this game and are buying it. I've seen it first hand.

 

[byDoS]

If TotK end up getting the MK8DX treatment at the beginning of the Switch 2 lifecycle, I believe it can get past the 30M, even 40M total. If not, I don't think it will break the 25M barrier.

 

[BassForever]

If TotK end up getting the MK8DX treatment at the beginning of the Switch 2 lifecycle, I believe it can get past the 30M, even 40M total. If not, I don't think it will break the 25M barrier.

I just don't see the Switch 2 getting this flood of DX Switch games people seem to think it will. That happened with the WiiU -> Switch because the WiiU was an epic flop and for 99% of Switch buyers, they were new games. I think at best you might see some Switch 2 patches for current Switch games, but I don't see Nintendo flooding the first couples years of Switch 2 with Switch 1 remasters/dx versions. I can see that maybe happening for Smash Ultimate if Sakurai doesn't want to make a new Smash, but that's it.

 

[Armoured_Bear]

I feel people treating this as a given is quite careless looking at Nintendo's history of never having done that and generally never prioritizing graphical optimization. I think such a patch would make sense and would be very welcome, but I would really try to temper my expectations there.
If the successor is a rather straightforward upgrade the game may be able to benefit from some upgrades without much work, but we basically don't know anything yet.

But on topic: amazing success for TotK in France and well deserved.

It's became standard in the industry with this generation and Nintendo hasn't been in this situation before, so none of us can be confident in this, one way or the other.

 

[Lord Azrael]

Normally, I'd agree but there's something different here. ToTK is an event like BoTW with 120M consoles in the hands of players. It also has something that BoTW didn't have. Tiktok. Tiktok I think is taking this game into another plane of existence. The normies and casuals are seeing this game and are buying it. I've seen it first hand.

TikTotK

 

[Bonejack]

Chris Meledandri has just been seen rushing to Nintendo's Kyoto HQ with truckloads of bribing gifts for Miyamoto and Aonuma to get them to okay a Zelda movie.

(This is a joke, just in case it wasn't clear.)

 

[TanookiTom]

I mean, I'm okay if the game never gets upgraded, I'm having a blast with it as is. It just makes sense business wise for Nintendo for multiple factors, including that they will probably need invest in a crossgen transition because they won't be able to support the new hardware with only brand new games, and they will have one of their biggest games of all time right there having its legs cut short by the Switch phasing out. It's kind of a no brainer.

And the argument that they never did it before is simply not true, they did this several times, especially on the Switch with lots of enhanced Wii U ports. It's just the format would be a bit different this time because the environment and context is different.

Rereleasing a game such as they did with Mario Kart 8 is not in any way a "graphics patch" though, or which WiiU > Switch game are you referring to?

You were referring to a patch such as we have seen for games on PS5 or Xbox S/X etc., so that is something that I am not aware Nintendo has ever done in any way. I am up for them doing that of course, but I rather think they would rerelease an optimized version where you would simply have to buy the game again.

However the WiiU > Switch transition is of course not comparable for many reasons.

But I guess this would rather fit in another topics anyhow.

 

[bodokoh]

It's almost certainly a given that it will sell less than BOTW. That has had 6+ years to steadily get to 30 million sales. TOTK won't have that luxury. Also sequels on the same console pretty much always sell less than the original because that's just generally what happens.

TOTK getting to around about 75% of what BOTW has managed (so between 20-25 million) would be a phenomenal achievement, and based on early indications it could get there.

TOTK has the luxury of having 130 million users at its launch, which pretty much offsets the 6+ years of BOTW sales on the Nintendo Switch.
The 20–25 million mark will be achieved at the end of 2023. TOTK isn't behaving the same as other sequels on the same system, but it's performing similarly to a global phenomenon called "Animal Crossing New Horizons".

In France alone, TOTK's physical sales in 3 days are already at 1/3 of BOTW's total physical sales, and now TOTK is having stock issues in France.

 

[bodokoh]

Normally, I'd agree but there's something different here. ToTK is an event like BoTW with 120M consoles in the hands of players. It also has something that BoTW didn't have. Tiktok. Tiktok I think is taking this game into another plane of existence. The normies and casuals are seeing this game and are buying it. I've seen it first hand.

Social media like Tiktok, Twitter, etc. went further to strengthen the popularity of TOTK thanks to the sandbox experience that has been cranking up to 11 by the developers with the new set of tools that make the system work seamlessly with the user's creation, unlike in BOTW, where many things were working unintentionally because of its physics system, but it was clunky and barely working, making it really hard for normal users to pull it off in the game.

A few examples that went viral on Twitter

 

[Leo]

Rereleasing a game such as they did with Mario Kart 8 is not in any way a "graphics patch" though, or which WiiU > Switch game are you referring to?

How is it not? It ran at 720p on the Wii U and 1080p on the Switch. That's exactly the kind of patch I'm referring to (improvements in resolution and performance). There are other examples of Wii U ports like this as well.

 

[Hocot8]

Social media like Tiktok, Twitter, etc. went further to strengthen the popularity of TOTK thanks to the sandbox experience that has been cranking up to 11 by the developers with the new set of tools that make the system work seamlessly with the user's creation, unlike in BOTW, where many things were working unintentionally because of its physics system, but it was clunky and barely working, making it really hard for normal users to pull it off in the game.

A few examples that went viral on Twitter

Exactly. There's also a new one from today or last night. Someone created an "orbital bomber." We're just in the first few days of this game. What are the creations going to look like this weekend lol? There's just a different aura surrounding this game and, I've said this numerous times, this game is an event. It cannot be looked at through normal lens.

How is it not? It ran at 720p on the Wii U and 1080p on the Switch. That's exactly the kind of patch I'm referring to (improvements in resolution and performance). There are other examples of Wii U ports like this as well.

Maybe because they mean it came with all of the DLC???

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Rereleasing a game such as they did with Mario Kart 8 is not in any way a "graphics patch" though, or which WiiU > Switch game are you referring to?

You were referring to a patch such as we have seen for games on PS5 or Xbox S/X etc., so that is something that I am not aware Nintendo has ever done in any way. I am up for them doing that of course, but I rather think they would rerelease an optimized version where you would simply have to buy the game again.

However the WiiU > Switch transition is of course not comparable for many reasons.

But I guess this would rather fit in another topics anyhow.

I can think of exactly one occasion where Nintendo has done it specifically, if you're being that granular.

Codename STEAM on the 3DS got an update patch that had significantly better performance on new 3ds models than the older models; to the point where the n3DS update lets you speed gameplay up by x3 where the original models can only do X2.

 

[Leo]

Maybe because they mean it came with all of the DLC???

Then I missunderstood the argument, what I'm arguing is that Nintendo can make improvements to the performance of a game in the advent of new hardware. They've done that plenty on the Switch and also New 3DS, I don't see why they would refrain from doing it on the next Switch if they think it makes sense business wise.

I don't know if it's gonna be a patch, a repackage, a bundle with DLC or what, but I doubt TotK won't be playable with improvements in some capacity on the next hardware.

 

[tarsus]

Yeah those NA numbers must be ridiculous. I wonder if Nintendo will announce worldwide sales before long.

I think they'll announce it tomorrow or so, especially if TotK beats SV's record WW. Even if it doesn't due to a weaker Japan, it should be the fastest selling Nintendo game in NA. Now's the time for Nintendo to capitalize on the Mario movie's momentum and flaunt the Zelda IP. If the movie and theme park are still not greenlit, I imagine there's gonna be a lot of interest now.

 

[MaitreWakou]

I keep telling everybody on international forums, you have no idea how people LOVE Zelda here in France.
Even people who aren't really video game fans, but more manga/anime fans (which represents, like, most of the working class/middle class kids, teens and young adults of France) are big Zelda fans.

There's this idea that France loves Nintendo. Which it's true ! Because it loves Japanese culture more than in any other European country, and Nintendo is THE japanese video game company, both in game design and thematics/graphic styles/etc.
But it goes beyond even that love for Nintendo.

Nintendo is so aware of that, that we got this video for TOTK's release lol, in which Aonuma and Fujibayashi talks in french to us.
People in the comments of the video are all saying how proud they are of the team for the game lmao. French people love Zelda that much, that they are "proud" of each new game lmal

 

[TanookiTom]

How is it not? It ran at 720p on the Wii U and 1080p on the Switch. That's exactly the kind of patch I'm referring to (improvements in resolution and performance). There are other examples of Wii U ports like this as well.

BotW came out on two different systems at the same time and were developed for them in parallel. You could buy the WiiU version or the Switch version at launch, the Switch version with better graphical capabilities. This is not a patch in any way.

I feel we are maybe not talking about the same thing because you keep referring to different versions developed for different systems from the ground up. I am talking about a simple patch that upgrades the graphics on the Switch successor. What I am saying is that I would temper my expectations on that is all.

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Nintendo is so aware of that, that we got this video for TOTK's release lol, in which Aonuma and Fujibayashi talks in french to us.

They did this for like a dozen languages, not just French.

 

[Bonejack]

They did this for like a dozen languages, not just French.

Can confirm, i've seen Aonuma and Fujibayashi saying "Viel Spass" to me! ^^

 

[Wockio]

A more relevant comparison would be to look at how sequels on Switch have performed in general. Splatoon, Xenoblade and Fire Emblem have all seen sequels that sold less than their predecessors.

I wouldn't call it on Splatoon and Xenoblade just yet