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Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon Fastest-Selling Nintendo Game in Americas
- Thread starter Penguin
- Start date
SinCityAssassin
Member
GearDraxon
Member
Makes sense. It's the first (non-Go) Pokémon game I've ever played.
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
Puts into perspective the Doom and Gloom talk in the thread that came out after the Japanese release
DashReindeer
Lead Community Manager, Outpost Games
Nintendo is definitely smart to make sure Stars comes to Switch in the first year of that console's life. I really hope Nintendo's internal mobile endeavors can have a similar impact on their other franchises on Switch.
So Pokemon GO clearly did translate into traditional franchise sales. There's nothing inherently special about Sun/Moon over any other Pokemon generation launch that would explain why the uninformed general audience is rushing out like this. People not on NeoGAF (or similarly invested in video games) don't really give a shit about 20th anniversaries.
vinnygambini
Why are strippers at the U.N. bad when they're great at strip clubs???
3.7 million in 2 weeks? Wut.
SinCityAssassin
Member
the 20th Anniversary angle for this year is a REAL HARD push, considering it's on all the merch, part of the current year of pokemon trading card expansions, and all the mainstream commercials, including Super Bowl.
However Pokemon Go did bring a larger mindshare to Pokemon in general.
Oh this is def the Go-effect. I mean the franchise has always been popular, but don't think it has been this in the mainstream since the initial generation. I'm curious to hear/see thoughts about that since neither game seems to really speak to the other
Pokémon Go Absolutely relit the fire in a lot of people who once played the franchise. Nintendo needs to make sure they keep that in mind and continue activities like that. Sales are over 7 million worldwide already.
CopperPuppy
Member
They did a spectacular job with Sun and Moon, in my opinion, so I'm glad to see that sales are sending the right message.
OniBarubary
Banned
Good.
Now take this as an example to heart. Keep pushing what you can do with Pokemon, don't be afraid to change it up or utilize better writing and more mature storytelling. This game is fucking fantastic and I don't wanna see it regress to the status quo that kept me from enjoying Pokemon games for a ton of years.
Now take this as an example to heart. Keep pushing what you can do with Pokemon, don't be afraid to change it up or utilize better writing and more mature storytelling. This game is fucking fantastic and I don't wanna see it regress to the status quo that kept me from enjoying Pokemon games for a ton of years.
Even if it is on merch, people don't really care about that sort of thing unless they are big fans. Maybe Go's success encouraged Nintendo to spend more on marketing though.
LordOcidax
Member
Thats insane....
C.Olimar788
Member
Well deserved. Game Freak did a great job on capitalizing on Pokemon Go as well as bringing back fans with a fantastic pair of entries. I hope this emphasizes to Game Freak the benefits of going outside the box and pushing the boundaries beyond the traditional Pokemon formula for years to come~
...Why must you make me want this. D:
Pokémon Go clearly raised awareness way up, but the product actually had to look interesting to get this many people buying.
If that wasn't the most important factor, we'd have seen astronomical upticks in both existing Pokémon games and in other mobile titles like Pokémon Shuffle, which only had modest bumps in reality.
It said Americas on the quote unless thats a mistake?
I really can't wait till we get the License Global report.
Last year was $2.1 billion without a mainline game, or any major release really.
This year saw Pokémon Go and the mainline games.
Card and other merchandise sales seem to be way up too.
I would not be surprised if they break $4 billion.
Last year was $2.1 billion without a mainline game, or any major release really.
This year saw Pokémon Go and the mainline games.
Card and other merchandise sales seem to be way up too.
I would not be surprised if they break $4 billion.
JB-the-Hunter
Member
This is why Switch being a home/handheld hybrid is a huge deal. Having mainline Pokemon games along with home experiences like NBA 2k17 and Skyrim is huge.
Calamari41
41 > 38
I thought that we did see pretty significant sales increases for X/Y and Alpha/Omega after the launch of Pokemon Go?
Maybe someone who follows the numbers more closely than I do can chime in on this?
vinnygambini
Why are strippers at the U.N. bad when they're great at strip clubs???
US & Canada yup
Well, marketing is going to play a role too. They are spending tens of millions telling people a new Pokemon is out, as opposed to Go Players deciding on their own volition to check out games that came out years ago.
Calamari41
41 > 38
Ah, ok. But I think that it still indicates a strong effect considering that X/Y and Alpha/Omega were a year or two old and didn't see any increased media campaigns like Sun/Moon saw with the launch.
I do agree that there are many factors at play here. It isn't a 1:1 thing by any means.
NOLA_Gaffer
Banned
Nintendo isn't dead, it's just sleeping.
Also this is why the 3DS isn't getting put up on the chopping block for at least a few years.
Also this is why the 3DS isn't getting put up on the chopping block for at least a few years.
Yes, but that's what I mean by awareness.
Running an ad in the Super Bowl gets 100+ million people to be aware of your product, but its success still depends on them liking what they see.
I'm personally waiting for switch versions, i'm sure there are a few others.
But no I dont think it had any noticeable impact on sales at all
Affeinvasion
Member
Can you imagine if the game was able to connect to GO somehow? What if they'd made a starters 3-pack of amiibo? Money left on the table.
I will be really interested to see what the Pokemon Box update is like in January.
I will be really interested to see what the Pokemon Box update is like in January.
Calamari41
41 > 38
I see what you're saying now. My bad for misunderstanding. Yes, I agree with you, the great product that Sun and Moon ended up being is what closed the deal and allowed for the awareness raised by Go to be fully capitalized on.
D
Deleted member 465307
Unconfirmed Member
So...if Sun/Moon keep this up and Stars is also a hit, could we be looking at the next "Gen 1" in terms of impact and nostalgia pull for a generation? Like how Gen 1 is referenced all the time and gets a lot of love, I wonder if aspects of Gen 7 will be referenced in the future for a new generation of people. It probably helps that Gen 7 is a bit of a reset in some ways.
I guess it also depends on if people like Gen 7 and end up with positive feelings towards it.
I guess it also depends on if people like Gen 7 and end up with positive feelings towards it.
Let me put it this way.
Do you think if Nintendo relaunched Pokken Tournament with a $40 million marketing budget right now, that it would go on to sell as well as Smash Wii U?
KillerMan91
Member
I think it's a mix of Pokemon Go creating awareness and even Nintendo games being more and more frontloaded (trend when it comes to releases on consoles). I mean the article itself says that the previous record holder was X/ Y and in the end X/ Y ended up as the worst selling mainline Pokemon game (Still obviously sold a lot). With so huge opening Sun / Moon should sell more than X / Y though.
metalslimer
Member
Yeah the Japanese market is just a mess. With the Switch version I wonder if it can get to 25 million.
They lined up a lot of Pokemon related stuff for this year to raise awareness of the IP this year - sure Pokemon Go was the big one but we had bunch of other stuff like the Movie re-releases, the classics hitting Virtual Console etc.
Deserved success for a great game.
Deserved success for a great game.
So given how much COD has dropped in recent years, and how Nintendo products perform in December, Sun and Moon is pretty much locked to be the #1 game in 2016 via NPD no?
Given typical US vs Canada breakdowns, I'd guess that 3.4M or so of these sales to be US only. I know that NPD counts digital now, but am not sure if that includes the eshop. Either way, I'd expect at least another 2M next month. I can't think of anything else that will be over 5M if COD saw a similar drop in the US as it did in the UK.
Given typical US vs Canada breakdowns, I'd guess that 3.4M or so of these sales to be US only. I know that NPD counts digital now, but am not sure if that includes the eshop. Either way, I'd expect at least another 2M next month. I can't think of anything else that will be over 5M if COD saw a similar drop in the US as it did in the UK.
The 3.7 was for US and Canada? Weird when they said Americas. I thought it meant North America and South America.
Okami Haundo
Member
I should add that I don't doubt that there are people who will wait for "Stars", but yeah... When that leak first came out I saw quite a few people who legitimately thought it would seriously hurt sales of Sun/Moon.
I really wonder what this means for the Switch version. I'll have to go look up some data on how other "third version" titles did.
Sammy Samusu
Member
Talent always wins!
I'm not arguing that Sun and Moon isn't an appealing product. I just don't think that, from a layman's perspective (someone who would basically see a few tv spots, and maybe hear some WOM before blind purchasing), X&Y or the Ruby/Sapphire remakes would have come off as unappealing in similar marketing. I know Poke-fans have been hard on X/Y, but reviews were pretty much the same at release (mid-high 80s), and there was hype among gamers for the full polygon refresh. Still X/Y failed to capture this sort of expanded audience.
Smash has its own legacy that helps drive sales, where Pokken Tournament was something new. In this case, we are talking about two titles with the same legacy.