-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Pokemon Sun & Moon sold 1.9 million in first 3 days in Japan (Famitsu), down from X&Y
- Thread starter DKHF
- Start date
Greninja96
Banned
lets say it sold 100k digital, still down from XY.
This is still really good result and it certainly will surpass XY legs.
This is still really good result and it certainly will surpass XY legs.
Black/White sold the most copies FW in pokemon history...
To be honest the 'Pokémon Go factor' wouldn't show during the first week anyways, if you're coming back to Pokémon or if this is your first mainline game after Go, you're still probably not part of the people who buy the games on day one. The Go crowd is more likely to grab it for the holidays imo
Greninja96
Banned
I agree. B/W sold the biggest FW and it still sold less than D/P LTD.
For Pokemon games, legs where it truly matters.
20%
LordRaptor
Member
The comparison between some of the posts in this topic and the inevitable FFXV first sales numbers topic is going to make for some fascinating reading.
Banjotanooki
Member
Doesn't surprise me. I asked all my students here in Osaka if they were planning on buying it and many of them didn't seem that interested. :/
I'd say 2m first week sales are in line with expectations. X/Y had the second biggest opening for a Pokemon game ever and we saw where it ended at LTD. Legs are what killed X/Y and gave life to Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire.
KillerMan91
Member
That very well might be but I don't really understand that on what basis people expect Sun and Moon have better legs than X/Y considering the age of 3DS. Black and White had about million higher first week than Diamond and Pearl and yet didn't match the LTD sales of D/P. Would be first time ever that second mainline Pokemon game on same platform outsells the first. I mean if you count the Switch version then maybe but do people count Platinium to the totals of D/P and Crystal to the totals of Gold and Silver?
There is also Yo-kai Watch, I didn't see any improvement over last years.
For a kids franchise that didn't face supply problems you are looking at a 5, 10% ratio max, being way closer to 5%.
X/Y has the second best first week sales among the mainline Pokémon games despite that it's the only mainline Pokémon to have sold less than 5 million units in Japan.
Now I'm not saying S/M will surely outsell X/Y in Japan but X/Y legs weren't good and it's overall LTD was unimpressive for the series standard.
EDIT:
Basically beaten by Chris.
Good. While these are still good numbers, I feel like X&Y deserves the crown. The transition to 3d was a huge undertaking, and the most important element of it (pokemon models and animations) they absolutely nailed. The game seemed fresh as hell as a result.
Sun and Moon seems so very low-effort by comparison. There's no feature anywhere near as big as seeing all the pokemon animated in 3d for the first time in a mainline game. It feels like gen 6.5 at best. The engine is worse than X&Y (if you're on o3ds) and 3d is disabled despite all the time they had to fix it.
X&Y set a foundation for the future of the franchise and was rewarded accordingly with massive sales. I'll never understand why people are so down on them.
I'm gonna be very interested to see how they make 'Stars' operate for the Switch, because I don't feel like it's really good enough to be a home console RPG (comparisons to other RPGs in the home console sphere that probably cost the same amount like FFXV, Witcher 3 etc will not be flattering), and I'm wondering what kind of sales it will be as a port people will already have put 100+ hours into.
Sun and Moon seems so very low-effort by comparison. There's no feature anywhere near as big as seeing all the pokemon animated in 3d for the first time in a mainline game. It feels like gen 6.5 at best. The engine is worse than X&Y (if you're on o3ds) and 3d is disabled despite all the time they had to fix it.
X&Y set a foundation for the future of the franchise and was rewarded accordingly with massive sales. I'll never understand why people are so down on them.
I'm gonna be very interested to see how they make 'Stars' operate for the Switch, because I don't feel like it's really good enough to be a home console RPG (comparisons to other RPGs in the home console sphere that probably cost the same amount like FFXV, Witcher 3 etc will not be flattering), and I'm wondering what kind of sales it will be as a port people will already have put 100+ hours into.
test_account
XP-39C²
Hard to say. Its been only three days. I know that this is all we can go by for now, and its also a fair comparision to other Pokemon games (which first weeks only were like a few days as well), but we need to see the long term effect for a game like this.
BluePikmin11
Member
I expected it sell more than a certain other game. I hope people don't taunt us today. Not in the mood for it.
UserDoesNotExist
Member
The British pound strikes again! Even Japan is not safe from its debilitating influence!
sixteen-bit
Member
What a beast.
Diprosalic
Banned
ya, bugfixes.
Oh wow, that number has certainly improved in the past few years, huh? I remember digital was really low at first.
This is the real question.
KillerMan91
Member
Well I see this more of Japanese gaming industry following western trend where big games have more and more frontloaded sales. Looking at that chart on first page it seems that latest two mainline entries have highest first week sales of the franchise but that first week is also bigger part of the final LTD than in the past. I guess we shall see.
First Point, I would encourage to read a bit more about the game. I was thinking the same thing about Sun and Moon due to it only being four islands, the islands on the surface seem to be very sparse and very rural very little new Pokemon no gyms. However, the QOL improvements seem massive. The game seem to be a bit more challenging as well (i.e. wild Pokemon can call for back up). It seem to have a more of emphases on interactivity with Pokemon than Generation 6. XY get flacks due to it's bland side characters and very little post game content.
I'ms suspecting that the Stars pricing will be the same as Sum and Moon pricing. Also, I'm staring to suspect Nintendo released a cheaper standard alone handheld version of the Switch with it.
thestopsign
Member
I'm guessing it has better word of mouth than X/Y through this holiday season in Japan. It may not have the multiple year legs that many Pokemon games get due to the imminent release of the Switch and the potential of Stars.
test_account
XP-39C²
Its a joke
I dont think theres any average download numbers for games, it will variate from game to game. Pokemon also has download cards that are tracked, so less direct eShop sales will be done because of that. But what the total amout is, thats anyones guess.I talking more about the launch sales. I would have expected this game to have good legs. At least before the Pokemon Stars rumor.
The game did a little less, it's 50% not 150% and that's a worldwide number.
test_account
XP-39C²
Understood. In that case, i think its fair to have expected a bit more based on the things that you mentioned.
No, it's just Japan.
It will sell significantly more (initially at least) everywhere else. Pre-order numbers straight from Nintendo showed this months ago with Japan being the only anomaly. It just goes to show that the biggest social phenomenon that made Pokemon more relevant than it ever has been is not enough to improve its sales in the dying waste pit that is the dedicated Japanese video game market.
If Pokemon Go couldn't (or doesn't) boosts the sales of Pokemon Sun/Moon over that of X/Y, just what chance does any other big/mid-range Japanese franchise going forward have of improving sales over other entries in their own respective franchises?
The dedicated market in Japan is on its last legs in some ways.
Almost every game this year has been down from its predecessor and it's like the eighth year of notable overall market decline in a row (we're now back in early 1990s or perhaps even 1980s grade sales for dedicated hardware/software).
Just wait until you see how much FFXV is down from FFXIII.
There's a chance of some recovery with the Switch, but it will look baaaaaad if the thing doesn't take off.
Here's an outdated chart:
Even if Sun and Moon legs are only ok, it should be enough to beat XY terrible legs
But i still expect lower LTD because its legs should die after Stars is announced
What do you mean read more about the game? I've beaten Sun (including all postgame) and am halfway through Moon. I know precisely what I'm talking about.
As for QoL, that's one area that Sun and Moon has gone massively backwards. The Festival Plaza is a huge pain in the ass, and nowhere near as good as the awesome PSS was. Not only that, the Plaza confused the shit out of me. Poke Pelago is also of limited use, and introduces shitty mobile-style 'wait timers' into the game. This contrasts with X&Y, who had similar features like egg-hatching help handled by the awesome O-Powers system.
The game is more challenging. No doubt. That's its ace card.
But as for interacting with pokemon? X&Y was the game to deliver pokemon amie. That was awesome then, but they haven't progressed it at all. That's a major point for X&Y, not Sun / Moon.
And as for bland side characters, there is no more bland characters in the series than Lillie and Hau, both of whom I despised. In X&Y your crappy friends get out of the way 95% of the time. I barely remembered who they were until I booted the games up again, and sure enough within moments they were gone.
If you want to sell more copies of a sequel than the original, it should be nothing but big leaps forward for a game. For some reason Game Freak is incapable of doing that without taking major steps backwards. I can't understand, in particular, how they can be so technically incompetent. The frame rate and lack of 3d really put me in a bad mood from the start with Sun / Moon.
KillerMan91
Member
While Japanese market is in toilet to me it's more about Pokemon never really losing its extreme popularity in Japan like it did somewhat in west since Gameboy Color days . I mean for example during last gen in Japan Black and White or Diamond and Pearl didn't sell that much less than Gold and Silver that was released during crazy days of Pokemon boom. In west they didn't sell anywhere near the Gold and Silver. There is simply way more untapped potential in west.
Interfectum
Member
1.9 million without digital numbers vs 2.1 million... doesn't really seem that dire.
Give War A Chance
Member
Seeing these articles lately has become disheartening, because we are getting to the point where digital sales numbers are not insignificant anymore. As such, these articles could just be wrong (usually in their headlines) when updated with digital sales.
It seems almost impossible that Sun/Moon didn't sell more digitally than X/Y. The headline would have you believe that Pokémon is in trouble, when clearly... it's not. Blah. I guess after seeing what has happened in my home country (on a much larger scale, and aided heavily by the media), I'm wishing media outlets would be a little more responsible, especially with headlines.
Yadayadayada...
At any rate, Sun and Moon are *crushing* it, and that's awesome to see!
It seems almost impossible that Sun/Moon didn't sell more digitally than X/Y. The headline would have you believe that Pokémon is in trouble, when clearly... it's not. Blah. I guess after seeing what has happened in my home country (on a much larger scale, and aided heavily by the media), I'm wishing media outlets would be a little more responsible, especially with headlines.
Yadayadayada...
At any rate, Sun and Moon are *crushing* it, and that's awesome to see!
It's not pokemon that's in trouble, it's the japanese market for handhelds and consoles as a whole that is.
In that light i don't see how pokemon selling roughly the same as the previous entry is a sign of the franchise being in trouble.
Black Republican
Member
FFXV says challenge accepted!
Interfectum
Member
Yeah. If people are freaking out over Pokemon almost matching the previous entry the FF15 sales thread is going to be legendary.
Jo Shishido's Cheeks
Member
Thread Posters used Rapid Spin!
Guys nobody is saying Pokemon is in trouble, just that on the back of a year long advertisement campaign (the 20th Anniversary celebration), the phenomenon that was Pokemon Go and the 3DS now having a 20 million+ user base in Japan, sales failing to match XY are surprising. Surprising. Pokemon isn't over. Nintendo isn't doomed. That's not what's being said here.
Guys nobody is saying Pokemon is in trouble, just that on the back of a year long advertisement campaign (the 20th Anniversary celebration), the phenomenon that was Pokemon Go and the 3DS now having a 20 million+ user base in Japan, sales failing to match XY are surprising. Surprising. Pokemon isn't over. Nintendo isn't doomed. That's not what's being said here.
I don't know why people thought Pokémon GO would have a big effect. All the people around me who play it are persons who played like one mainline game (if not zero) and stopped caring about Pokémon when they turned 8. I don't expect them to get a new gaming system they don't own just for Pokémon SM.
LordRaptor
Member
Well it seemingly had a much larger effect on 3DS sales than many were expecting, because based on the lack of other factors to explain sales resurgence, people did in fact go out and buy hardware they didn't already own due to Pokemon Go.
frankie_baby
Member
Even if just 1% of pokemon go players buy sun/moon that wouldn't have done otherwise thats still a couple of million extra sales
metalslimer
Member
Honestly I think this is just a part of how awful the Japanese market is right now. I'm expecting pretty bad things from FF15
Interfectum
Member
I would imagine the Pokemon Go effect will be seen more in the west if anything. I always figured Pokemon was nearing it's ceiling of popularity in Japan (given the current state of the market) but still had a ton of growth left in the west.