Interesting tidbit I missed! Kirby outsold it’s Wii release. The Wii version of course also had 0 digital sales (and comes from a much more physical era) so it’s outselling it by a lot even.
[NSW] Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe (Nintendo) {2023.02.24} (¥5.980) - 189.031 / NEW
[WII] Kirby’s Return to Dream Land (Nintendo) {2011.10.27} (¥5.800) - 136.811 / NEW
It was the X that sold better in Japan this week as well
Xbox Series X – 595
Xbox Series S – 132
Series S in Japan demand seems dead in the water for now. Wait for Starfield I guess.
That’s…not a lot.
it’s not the demand it’s the shipments
But yeah…there’s no exclusive JRPG that would boost Series.
A Lost odyssey 2 or 3rd party exclusive JRPG would put series consoles sales in the 5 digit number for weeks
I think they miscalculated the demand of the Series S due to the Pandemic and assumed people’s purchasing behavior would remain the same once things relatively got back to normal.
Series S made sense as the lead hardware back then, currently right now ? Not so much.
Yeah i know a few people who live in Japan and series x is way more in demand.
It’s the same in a lot of markets… Not many people are interested in a less powerful console. Especially in markets where high end PC gaming is the thing.
Yep.
They were practically begging people to buy the Series S when they put the $50 discount on them and it still didn’t move much units.
Think that’s all that needed to be said about the Series S.
Where Octopath 2 PS4 landed on the Famitsu top 30
Well… If you told me that people weren’t even aware the game released on PS, I think I’d have to believe you!
Saw a reply on the sale disappointment. Weird to say that it was a mistake to put it on Switch and the sole reason why third party doesn’t port game to Switch. I’m going to assume the person doesn’t know the first game was on the Switch, timed exclusive, and did really well. I believe the novelty wore off or how they say, it was a style at the time.
Ill tell you why it didnt sell as well
The first game just wasnt that good. Hard to hear for some i know. Octopath being thst style and switc wxclusive gave it clout.
I reckon Xbox series is going to have some ugly months until Microsoft “fix” Series X supply problems. Conversely, Ps5 should have a great February and March thanks to Hogwarts Legacy. Yeah, marketing work really well with certain games/ IPS (specially one of the biggest one in the world :V)
The guys from ampere said Series x shortage problems should have been resolve by H2 2023 hope thats true. Everything points to anemic drops from series x this past weeks and series s can’t carry the brand alone.
software is another issue though. Until we get Redfall…we won’t know the potential.
Redfall and especially Starfield will be the first time you have Major AAA game not on PS5 this gen since Halo and Forza. And Forza did wonders for Xbox.
I’m fascinated to see how Series does when Starfield hits
MS MUST absolutely ship tons of consoles. It would be an abject failure if not.
Too many Square RPGs I think
UK 2022 market data
While I do think it’s too early to call Octopath 2 “flop” (it was never going to hit the high bar of the first game’s sales), I do have some reasons I can think of why it’s not a big seller
Weak marketing: It’s marketing was a reveal in the September Nintendo Direct and then a very quick “demo” trailer in the Feb Direct. Nothing more. The first game had a reveal on the Nintendo Switch Jan 2017 Showcase, multiple detailed trailers on many Nintendo Directs, appearances at two Nintendo E3’s, including the “Nintendo Treehouse” segment in which hosts play the game for a while. It’s basically been proven by now that Square is absolutely rancid at marketing when left to their own devices, the original booned massively from receiving Nintendo first-party-tier marketing
The barrage of HD2D: For a long time, the only HD2D game was Octopath 1. It’s what made the game unique. Then last year came Triangle Strategy, which tried out a new genre and also went on to be one of the best selling SRPGs (not reaching OT1 sales, but it’s a more niche genre). Then we had a remake in Live a Live, which, while having the worst HD2D opening week in Japan (it’s always been a cult-classic, but never a majorly fondly remembered game. OT2 also barely passed it’s opening week despite being on more platforms while LaL is Switch exclusive), LaL is also definitely the lowest budget HD2D game. Now we have Octopath 2. The least unique HD2D game (though it’s probably the highest budget one).
The sameness of OT1: In OT2, the game is essentially the same, just with QoL improvements and more budget (such as animated boss sprites, a proper finale, and all boss fights having voice acted segments in them rather than OT1 only having a single boss with a voice acted segment). The 8 characters are all the same jobs (dancer, merchant, warrior, etc.), exploring the world seems the same besides driving boats, and so on
As I said before, I think the game will eventually sell decent enough. Steam sales seem okay and there is very positive word of mouth from many outlets. I will classify it as a disappointment if it can’t pass Triangle Strategy’s 1M (last report we got). In my opinion HD2D games should lean more into two things: Remakes and original games. DQ3 HD will be by far the best selling HD2D game in Japan and it won’t even be close, so the former is covered. Even though OT2 is a great game so far, I do think they’d have been better off making another original game with a new world and new gameplay.
