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[ZSaberLink]

I just wanted to highlight and give credit to Nintendo & the Pokemon Company for managing to keep Pokemon and Animal Crossing just as relevant as they were during the DS era despite the massive changes caused by mobile. (Of course this is partly due to Pokemon Go and New Leaf's new amiibo version, but impressive nevertheless.)

I think Sun / Moon will pass X / Y soon enough in terms of shipments given how quickly it's sold thus far.

3DS
Pokemon X / Y - 16.11 million
Pokemon Sun / Moon - 15.44 million
Pokemon Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire - 13.74 million
Animal Crossing New Leaf - 10.97 million

DS
Pokemon Diamond / Pearl - 17.67 million
Pokemon Black / White - 15.64 million
Pokemon Heart Gold / Soul Silver - 12.72 million
Animal Crossing Wild World - 11.75 million

Thoughts?

 

[Lord of Ostia]

I just wanted to highlight and give credit to Nintendo & the Pokemon Company for managing to keep Pokemon and Animal Crossing just as relevant as they were during the DS era despite the massive changes caused by mobile. (Of course this is partly due to Pokemon Go and New Leaf's new amiibo version, but impressive nevertheless.)

I think Sun / Moon will pass X / Y soon enough in terms of shipments given how quickly it's sold thus far.

3DS
Pokemon X / Y - 16.11 million
Pokemon Sun / Moon - 15.44 million
Pokemon Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire - 13.74 million
Animal Crossing New Leaf - 10.97 million

DS
Pokemon Diamond / Pearl - 17.67 million
Pokemon Black / White - 15.64 million
Pokemon Heart Gold / Soul Silver - 12.72 million
Animal Crossing Wild World - 11.75 million

Thoughts?

1. These are popular Japanese franchises, 3DS is very strong in Japan.
2. Core Nintendo gamer enthusiasm hasn't suffered despite the lack of huge casual audience that the DS had.
Edit: Point one was wrong, sorry. But Japan audience for 3DS contracted much less than the western DS to 3Ds audience did.

 

[watershed]

The core audience for both of these IPs are very reliable. That's what these numbers say to me.

 

[ZSaberLink]

1. These are popular Japanese franchises, 3DS is very strong in Japan.
2. Core Nintendo gamer enthusiasm hasn't suffered despite the lack of huge casual audience that the DS had.
Edit: Point one was wrong, sorry. But Japan audience for 3DS contracted much less than the western DS to 3Ds audience did.

Point 1 isn't entirely wrong. Pokemon is still a hugely popular franchise in Japan, and the 3DS is the 3rd best selling platform there ever. However, like you probably realized, Pokemon actually has been declining in Japan, so these similar shipped #s are due to the rest of the world.

 

[Usobuko]

Actually, imo, I think it's a shame the sales doesn't expand.

Yes, DS was a golden era for Nintendo with close to 2x more the sales of 3ds. But at the same time, Pokemon is a unbelievable cultural phenomenon, with the proliferation of Internet and the rising middle-income in developing countries, the sales of such Pokemon should naturally benefits from these 2 factors.

Think of how mainstream movies are hitting billions more and more frequently, and when Disney brought back Beauty and the Beast, it easily exceeds it predecessor.

Now, I know part of the reason is because of accessibility, not everyone is willing to buy a Nintendo handheld in today's day and age plus the biggest gaming market, China, is firmly PC + Mobile entrenched.

I just think that it's a shame to not capitalize.

 

[titiklabingapat]

I think Nintendo will be just fine in the mobile era. There is clearly appetite for substantial mobile games with meaty content and I am pleased with their bite-sized output. Boxboy and Snipperlcips are great and it seems like Pokemon will be fine.

 

[Lord of Ostia]

Point 1 isn't entirely wrong. Pokemon is still a hugely popular franchise in Japan, and the 3DS is the 3rd best selling platform there ever. However, like you probably realized, Pokemon actually has been declining in Japan, so these similar shipped #s are due to the rest of the world.

My post erroneously said 3DS was more popular than DS in Japan, but that was wrong. I edited it to reflect the reality.

 

[Acid08]

Animal Crossing is legit gigantic. I was shocked they didn't announce a sequel for the Switch at the console reveal considering how long it's been since New Leaf came out.

 

[ZSaberLink]

My post erroneously said 3DS was more popular than DS in Japan, but that was wrong. I edited it to reflect the reality.

Oh ok, I missed that .

Anyways to those saying their fanbases are stable, the interesting part is that Animal Crossing's fanbase is actually largely female iirc. At least in Japan it pushed the 3DS to its best selling year (5.6M units there) back in 2012 who weren't drawn in earlier by monster Hunter, Mario 3D Land or Mario Kart 7 even.

Animal Crossing is legit gigantic. I was shocked they didn't announce a sequel for the Switch at the console reveal considering how long it's been since New Leaf came out.

Well New Leaf keeps selling anyways, so perhaps they're just waiting a bit before announcing a new game.

 

[Lord of Ostia]

Oh ok, I missed that .

Anyways to those saying their fanbases are stable, the interesting part is that Animal Crossing's fanbase is actually largely female iirc. At least in Japan it pushed the 3DS to its best selling year (5.6M units there) back in 2012 who weren't drawn in earlier by monster Hunter, Mario 3D Land or Mario Kart 7 even.

Animal Crossing is probably Nintendo's most broad appeal title, in terms of drawing in their typical crowd and a crowd they otherwise might not draw in.

 

[Acid08]

Well New Leaf keeps selling anyways, so perhaps they're just waiting a bit before announcing a new game.

My current theory is they're waiting until they reveal the mobile AC thing to announce a Switch sequel. Maybe there'll be some connectivity between the two that'll be the big selling point for both.

 

[MegaManTrigger]

Actually, imo, I think it's a shame the sales doesn't expand.

Yes, DS was a golden era for Nintendo with close to 2x more the sales of 3ds. But at the same time, Pokemon is a unbelievable cultural phenomenon, with the proliferation of Internet and the rising middle-income in developing countries, the sales of such Pokemon should naturally benefits from these 2 factors.

Think of how mainstream movies are hitting billions more and more frequently, and when Disney brought back Beauty and the Beast, it easily exceeds it predecessor.

Now, I know part of the reason is because of accessibility, not everyone is willing to buy a Nintendo handheld in today's day and age plus the biggest gaming market, China, is firmly PC + Mobile entrenched.

I just think that it's a shame to not capitalize.

I think the cultural phenomenon aspect of Pokemon has been greatly overstated. Pokemon was at its peak when RBY and GSC came out for the Game Boy family (thanks to marketing, newer products like the TCG, and the "fad" era catching onto as many children as possible), and ever since, the series hasn't seen the same sales. Though to its credit, sales have been pretty steady from Gen III-onwards. I suspect that sales don't get higher because you have people with waning interest in the series being replaced by children/other people getting into Pokemon. That and less people are buying consoles than they used to with the smartphone/tablet era being a thing.

 

[Usobuko]

I think the cultural phenomenon aspect of Pokemon has been greatly overstated. Pokemon was at its peak when RBY and GSC came out for the Game Boy family (thanks to marketing, newer products like the TCG, and the "fad" era catching onto as many children as possible), and ever since, the series hasn't seen the same sales. Though to its credit, sales have been pretty steady from Gen III-onwards. I suspect that sales don't get higher because you have people with waning interest in the series being replaced by children/other people getting into Pokemon. That and less people are buying consoles than they used to with the smartphone/tablet era being a thing.

I don't really agree with this because of how crazy Pokemon Go was when it hits. It's mainstream, arguably much more mainstream in terms of raw appeal to everybody.

Imo, it can certainly do better than 3ds era. But I have to leave it to Nintendo and TPC to figure out how to capture the audience, making an appealing hardware like Switch is a start. If they could lower the cost with future iterations and somehow makes it way to China, it would be even better.

 

[MrSaturn99]

It really is delightful how Animal Crossing bounced back after City Folk.

 

[Torokil]

ORAS outselling HGSS is a fucking crime.

 

[Yoshimitsu126]

XY and ORAS sales are quite impressive too considering how closely they were released within one year compared to Diamond/Pearl and HG/SS that a gap of two years or more in some part of the worlds.

 

[Iacobellis]

Animal Crossing is legit gigantic. I was shocked they didn't announce a sequel for the Switch at the console reveal considering how long it's been since New Leaf came out.

I think Nintendo learned from New Leaf not to announce the next entry too early. The game was first announced at E3 2010 but didn't come stateside until June 2013.

 

[Lupin the Third]

ORAS outselling HGSS is a fucking crime.

I think they under-printed HG/SS. It became scarce pretty quickly. So that was quite possibly their own doing.

 

[robotrock]

feels like just yesterday I became a 3DS ambassador

 

[Novocaine]

I am responsible for 1 copy of Wild World and 3 copies of New Leaf :/

 

[madstarr12]

Animal Crossing has plenty of room to grow, glad for its success.

 

[The Horror the horror]

Actually, imo, I think it's a shame the sales doesn't expand.

Yes, DS was a golden era for Nintendo with close to 2x more the sales of 3ds. But at the same time, Pokemon is a unbelievable cultural phenomenon, with the proliferation of Internet and the rising middle-income in developing countries, the sales of such Pokemon should naturally benefits from these 2 factors.

Think of how mainstream movies are hitting billions more and more frequently, and when Disney brought back Beauty and the Beast, it easily exceeds it predecessor.

Now, I know part of the reason is because of accessibility, not everyone is willing to buy a Nintendo handheld in today's day and age plus the biggest gaming market, China, is firmly PC + Mobile entrenched.

I just think that it's a shame to not capitalize.

If a new Beauty and the Beast came out every other year for the next 20 years, people would get sick of it. The same would go for Star Wars and the MCU. Pokemon's longevity relative to its mainstream popularity is extraordinary.

 

[Lord_Byron28]

Actually, imo, I think it's a shame the sales doesn't expand.

Yes, DS was a golden era for Nintendo with close to 2x more the sales of 3ds. But at the same time, Pokemon is a unbelievable cultural phenomenon, with the proliferation of Internet and the rising middle-income in developing countries, the sales of such Pokemon should naturally benefits from these 2 factors.

Think of how mainstream movies are hitting billions more and more frequently, and when Disney brought back Beauty and the Beast, it easily exceeds it predecessor.

Now, I know part of the reason is because of accessibility, not everyone is willing to buy a Nintendo handheld in today's day and age plus the biggest gaming market, China, is firmly PC + Mobile entrenched.

I just think that it's a shame to not capitalize.

Animal Crossing went from selling 3 million on the GameCube to selling over 10 milion on DS. How is that not a massive improvement? Pokemon also sold a couple million better on DS than the GBA titles.

 

[Cerium]

Animal Crossing is legit gigantic. I was shocked they didn't announce a sequel for the Switch at the console reveal considering how long it's been since New Leaf came out.

EPD2 is currently finishing up Splatoon 2. They busy.

When they're done with Splatoon I'm sure they'll go back to AC.

 

[MegaManTrigger]

I don't really agree with this because of how crazy Pokemon Go was when it hits. It's mainstream, arguably much more mainstream in terms of raw appeal to everybody.

Imo, it can certainly do better than 3ds era. But I have to leave it to Nintendo and TPC to figure out how to capture the audience, making an appealing hardware like Switch is a start. If they could lower the cost with future iterations and somehow makes it way to China, it would be even better.

It was crazy at the time, but that hype has tapered off and the remaining user base is stable. Almost identical to how "Pokemania" declined from Gen II to III and remained that way ever since. This isn't to say the existing user base is bad, because pulling 10-15mil per game is ridiculously good, but it's not really because of the phenomenon (otherwise, you would be seeing even more ridiculous sales). I think it just comes down to the series resonating with a lot of different demographics (kids, teenagers, young adults, and adults altogether).

I think they under-printed HG/SS. It became scarce pretty quickly. So that was quite possibly their own doing.

Pretty sure that's not the case. I bought HGSS from Best Buy in 2012 and there were readily available at the time. What it comes down to is people not being as interested in the series as they are right now. Not to mention, the game sold 12mil, which isn't something you shortprint immediately.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Fans go where the games go I guess.

 

[TangoAlphaLima]

I think Sun / Moon will pass X / Y soon enough in terms of shipments given how quickly it's sold thus far.

3DS
Pokemon X / Y - 16.11 million
Pokemon Sun / Moon - 15.44 million
Pokemon Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire - 13.74 million

Man, that is so nuts how well Sun/Moon have done. Near the end of the 3DS' life, released years after X/Y and OR/AS, yet will surely hit the #1 spot soon. Pokemon Go really brought attention back to the franchise.

 

[ggx2ac]

Whether it counts or not, if you combine Smash Bros for 3DS and Wii U. Their total has outsold Smash Bros Brawl now by ~500k units.

Super Smash Bros.
for Wii U
5.20 million pcs.

Super Smash Bros.
for Nintendo 3DS
8.72 million pcs.

Super Smash Bros.
Brawl
13.21 million pcs.

 

[Shikamaru Ninja]

EPD2 is currently finishing up Splatoon 2. They busy.

When they're done with Splatoon I'm sure they'll go back to AC.

Different teams within Production Group No. 2. Not much crossover. Splatoon and Happy Home Designer released same year with completely different staff outside of Producer (Hisashi Nogami).

 

[Aaron Strife]

Suggests to me that while there was a massive drop-off in sales from DS to 3DS, this came from atypical customers who bought stuff like Brain Age, not the core Nintendo following. That did seem to hurt series like Mario and Mario Kart - even older people who haven't touched a video game since the NES know what Mario is, so that makes sense.

I think Pokémon GBA sales are pretty similar to the DS/3DS entries so that series as a whole has been pretty stable.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

EPD2 is currently finishing up Splatoon 2. They busy.

When they're done with Splatoon I'm sure they'll go back to AC.

My guess is that AC Switch is already pretty deep in development. It probably started life as a Wii U project.