Animal Crossing: New Leaf has sold >80k digitally in the US

[serplux]

Animal Crossing: New Leaf has recently passed Fire Emblem: Awakening in the U.S. eShop charts. From extrapolation (since FE:A sold at least 80k digitally in the US), this naturally means that AC has sold at least that amount in a much smaller timeframe (4 months for Fire Emblem vs. 2 weeks for Animal Crossing).

For a peak at the charts (All Software):

1. Pokemon Dream Radar
2. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX
3. Super Mario Bros.
4. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
5. Super Mario Land
6. Pushmo
7. 3D Classics: Kirby's Adventure
8. Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!
9. Photo Dojo
10. Plants vs. Zombies
11. Kirby's Dream Land
12. 3D Classics: Kid Icarus
13. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
14. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
15. Cut the Rope
16. Colors! 3D
17. Metroid II: Return of Samus
18. Pokedex 3D Pro
19. Animal Crossing: New Leaf
20. Fire Emblem: Awakening

 

[Coffee Dog]

Thats less than I would have thought. Do we know any physical sales numbers yet?

 

[olimpia84]

Nintendo 3DS: it only downloads money

 

[Cynar]

I almost bought it digitally but then I remembered Nintendo still doesn't have a proper system setup in case my 3ds was damaged or lost during travel to get my purchase back. So no incentive to buy digital.

 

[Zee-Row]

Animal Crossing is one of those games you always want to have on you so you can check on your town.

 

[Kouriozan]

That's pretty big right?
If like 1/5 of sales are digital then I guess it is.

 

[Kazerei]

I'm one of those digital buyers

 

[Mr Swine]

Thats less than I would have thought. Do we know any physical sales numbers yet?

200k in 5 days so far, think its selling a bit faster than the last Animal Crossing game

 

[Alrus]

200k in 5 days so far, think its selling a bit faster than the last Animal Crossing game

I can't find the opening numbers for Wild World but I think it's around 200-300k in the US for its first month and that game opened in December. If that's the case, New Leaf is doing amazing compared to Wild World.

 

[jmls1121]

Holy shit that's pretty huge given that this is a non holiday release.

 

[wrowa]

200k in 5 days so far, think its selling a bit faster than the last Animal Crossing game

Wild World was released at the beginning of December and sold in the 250k range during its first month. New Leaf sold 200k in five days at retail and apparently at least 80k digitally after about two weeks.

 

[vagabondarts]

I almost went digital, but at the last minute chose the cartridge version.

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

I only went digitally because it was free, but I can definitely see the appeal.

 

[BriareosGAF]

I bought the New LEaf LE 3DS XL thinking you could do download play, and when I discovered to my chagrin it didn't support it I hastily bought a digital copy on my original 3DS XL so my daughters could play together. Curse you Nintendo!

 

[mrmickfran]

It makes you wonder why Nintendo was so hesitant to release it in America.

 

[Mpl90]

Actually, AC should be much higher than 80k.
Fire Emblem: Awakening was reported to have sold over 80k digitally through April 15th, so more than two months ago. It's certainly around 90-95k, now. This means Animal Crossing sold slightly less than 100k, if not 100k, in just two weeks, while Fire Emblem sold the same amount in 4 months and a half, with the whole severe shortages going on for quite some time. It's mighty impressive.
Quoting myself from the other thread

Sales comparison

Animal Crossing Wild World
Release: December 5th, 2005
First month sales: 25x,xxx (in more than 20 days)

Animal Crossing City Folk
Release: November 16th, 2008
First month sales: less than 297,000 (in around 15 days)
Second month sales: 497,000

Animal Crossing New Leaf
Release: June 9th, 2013
First five days: more than 200,000 (probably physical + digital)

Iwata said 3DS hardware sales greatly increased, doing 4x of what it did in the week before AC's release, and that was on June 12th, 2013, during the analyst briefing. So:

3DS sales after AC = 4x the sales in the 7 days before New Leafs' release in 3/almost 4 days (two hypotesis: sales considered till the day before the briefing/ sales considered till right before the briefing)

What's actually even more impressive is the impact on hardware sales: Iwata talked about 4x units sold, after AC released, compared to the previous 7 days, for just 3/4 days, since he stated it back on June, 12th (Wednesday). This means the multiplier is actually higher: for sure, it's 5x and more, but it could potentially be 6x. This for the debut week, still.

 

[Speevy]

Animal Crossing (GCN) was a million seller in the US, wasn't it?

(this was a time when selling a million actually meant something)

 

[Galang]

Very nice results, especially for just having come out. Wonder what the full month sales will look like.

 

[mooooose]

These are great numbers. I hope Nintendo can sort out their account system.

 

[Vic20]

Yup, Digital for me as well.

 

[VeryGooster]

I was sort of apprehensive about digital at first because of how it's stored, but it's been really convenient to just boot it up from the menu.

 

[jbug617]

Digital and Retail price is at the same price so wouldn't surprise me if people went retail instead.

 

[serplux]

Actually, AC should be much higher than 80k.
Fire Emblem: Awakening was reported to have sold over 80k digitally through April 15th, so more than two months ago. It's certainly around 90-95k, now. This means Animal Crossing sold slightly less than 100k, if not 100k, in just two weeks, while Fire Emblem sold the same amount in 4 months and a half, with the whole severe shortages going on for quite some time. It's mighty impressive.

Just being conservative.

 

[Sammy Samusu]

17. Metroid II: Return of Samus

 

[Wynnebeck]

So are we starting to accept that maybe digital sales aren't as bad as people think especially when you look at Vita's digital sales and 3DS's eShop sales?

 

[qko]

Digital and Retail price is at the same price so wouldn't surprise me if people went retail instead.

Convenience outweighs physical goodies (box, cart, pamphlet/manual) in this case.

 

[Cheebo]

Wild World was released at the beginning of December and sold in the 250k range during its first month. New Leaf sold 200k in five days at retail and apparently at least 80k digitally after about two weeks.

The 200k surely included digital since it came from Nintendo and when they release numbers they combine digital and retail unless explicitly stated.

 

[vareon]

17. Metroid II: Return of Samus

Weren't it a part of Club Nintendo reward last month or so?

 

[Dolphin_Butter]

One of those digital buyers here too. I'm still saddened that Nintendo has the downloads tied to the system, but Animal Crossing is and has been one of those games I play regularly, and being able to just switch on it on the fly has been great.

 

[Astral/H3X]

Just bought it last night haha. Now I've gotta find the Gaf topic and invade towns.

Wait, now I totally need to make a Black Phantom outfit of some sort... >_>

 

[Fantastical]

I was one of those!

 

[Meier]

I bought it digitally. Seemed like the smart option since I know I won't be re-selling it at some point.

Ooh, I see spoiler tags are clickable when posting now. Nice change.

 

[Thorakai]

I'm pretty big on physical but I made an exception for Animal Crossing because I know the kind of game it is. I can definitely see myself staying invested in my city much longer than all the other versions just by having it on my 3DS at all times.

 

[jwhit28]

So are we starting to accept that maybe digital sales aren't as bad as people think especially when you look at Vita's digital sales and 3DS's eShop sales?

Even in the best cases Nintendo has said they are like 20%.

 

[Brofield]

Although I kinda wish I went digital, I'm still happy with going for a cartridge.

Mostly cause I'm still VERY hesitant when it comes to Nintendo and their handling of online and account systems.

If they were smart I'd love to have them include a download code with a cartridge. I just prefer physical releases where available for the most part.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

Weren't it a part of Club Nintendo reward last month or so?

not much of a reward

more of a punishment

 

[The Hermit]

not much of a reward

more of a punishment

????

I got it through club nintendo and loved it, are you high?

 

[cosmicblizzard]

Good numbers. I bought it digitally because the 2 places I checked didn't have it, and I was too lazy to check more. Totally worth it.

 

[Boerseun]

I almost bought it digitally but then I remembered Nintendo still doesn't have a proper system setup in case my 3ds was damaged or lost during travel to get my purchase back. So no incentive to buy digital.

You make an account on their website, then link your 3DS to that account by entering your e-mail address (the one used for the account) on your 3DS. And presto! Nintendo now know what you've bought digitally and will replace everything in case of theft or damage.

 

[Skelter]

Bought it digitally myself. I like having it on my 3DS all the time. Pop into a friends town for a little bit then fire up Etrian Odyssey IV. I need New Leaf for when I rage quit.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

one of those is mine, it's the perfect digital title.

 

[donny2112]

Sales comparison

Animal Crossing Wild World
Release: December 5th, 2005
First month sales: 25x,xxx (in more than 20 days)

Animal Crossing City Folk
Release: November 16th, 2008
First month sales: less than 297,000 (in around 15 days)
Second month sales: 497,000

Animal Crossing (GameCube)
Release: Sept. 2002
First month sales: > 100K
LTD sales: well over 1 million, with the majority of that being sales as a Player's Choice title

 

[antonz]

It is without a doubt the perfect kind of title for digital. Though I have bought at least 3 titles digitally so far. Just too nice having a selection of title ready to go anytime without card swapping.

 

[jmls1121]

It may not be my favorite game ever, or the best game imo, but I believe its the best designed fame ever. I cannot think of a single thing I would change from a design standpoint. Sales are well deserved.

 

[Murrah]

One of those digital sales was going to be mine until the last minute when I saw GameStop had a trade-in bonus towards the retail copy. Almost everyone else I know that bought the game got it digitally though. Wouldn't be surprised if digital sales have a higher than normal percentage for this

 

[Servbot24]

I wish I would have bought it digitally, but I forgot I could since I was at the store picking up my 3DS at the same time.

 

[DaBoss]

So are we starting to accept that maybe digital sales aren't as bad as people think especially when you look at Vita's digital sales and 3DS's eShop sales?

When games like AC:NL are the exception and not the rule, it doesn't really change anything other than looking at some big releases or titles that would generally be better to own digitally.

 

[zroid]

Pretty impressive. In the Japanese sales threads there was a lot of talk of how the game was only such a big hit digitally due to the initial shortages (and it's true, of course). But I think US sales show that consumers also understand the appeal of downloading certain types of games, and there is no better example of a game which benefits you by downloading it than Animal Crossing.

 

[Busaiku]

Wild World was released at the beginning of December and sold in the 250k range during its first month. New Leaf sold 200k in five days at retail and apparently at least 80k digitally after about two weeks.

The 200k included digital.

 

[IrishNinja]

i really wanted to buy this one digi, so hard - just waiting on that account update, nintendoes