The UK software charts have had their weekly update, and it's a case of mixed news for Nintendo. The overwhelming positive is that Animal Crossing: New Leaf has moved up one position to third with no drop in sales from last week; it's showing impressive momentum.
There is disappointment from a Wii U perspective, however, with Pikmin 3 sales dipping, resulting in a drop from its debut position in second place to 15th this week, which seems like a sharp loss of momentum. New Super Luigi U, which did release as DLC first time around, has dropped away to 37th place.
There were some more positives for the 3DS, however, as Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros. came in 11th place, showing decent momentum for a franchise that isn't typically a blockbuster at retailers. Elsewhere we have Luigi's Mansion 2 in 21st place, while LEGO City Undercover: The Chase Begins and Mario Kart 7 are in 28th and 31st places respectively.
The 3DS continues its decent momentum in the UK, but Pikmin 3's fall out of the top 10 in its second week reflects a smaller Wii U userbase and the fact that, perhaps, it's not shifting substantial numbers on its own. As more games release Nintendo will no doubt hope for a cumulative effect of multiple quality games on shelves driving hardware sales, but it's disappointing nevertheless.
[source ukie.info]
Comments 35
AC:NL FTW!
Not even Pikmin 3 is saving the Wii U. Come on MK8, we need you!!
Well, Pikmin has always been a boring game to begin with....
I'm not surprised by this at all. I'll wait and see what happens when The Wonderful 101 and Wind Waker come out
UK is hopeless.
bezerker99 is right what the wii u needs is a another brown shooter for real fun.
No surprises.....pikmin will sell to people who already have Wii u's. We need mk8 ASAP to turn things around!!!
@Chris720 Well, of course. Pikmin's a fantastic game, but it's too niche to really move units the way Mario and Zelda can.
Pikmin has actually done quite well considering..
I really hope that The Wonderful 101 does well as it looks amazing..
@jrwchil To be fair it only has one doesn't it?
nintendo might have to wait a few months to see sales improve i can't see the wonderful 101 and a remake of wind waker making any difference to console sales they will sell well to wii u owners but i just can't see a boost in sales of the console
Pikmin 3 did fantastic in the Uk.. getting number 2 on opening week with so very few Wii U's in Europe is amazing.
There is alot more Wii U's in North America, so Pikmin 3 should sell much better...... The thing is, the game will see a spike in sales the first week. We have all those thirsty Wii U owners needing a game, and Pikmin 3 is the first to end the drought, so everyone who wants a new game will be buying it in its first week.
It won't have legs or anything, and wont sell systems, but it should sell at a very high attach rate for the install base.
I still want to know if Pikmin 3 caused a spike in Wii U sales in Europe. We know in a 3 month period only 10,000 units were sold. If Pikmin 3 launching creating a spike in sales close or equal to this than that is a victory for Nintendo. It's called chipping away. Does anyone have those numbers?
Yawn. These numbers don't include digital sales which is where Pikmin 3 could sell lots (& how I'm going to buy it) because of the W101 deal for all we know. Digital is the future!
@element187 - exactly. I'ld bet the number of Pikmin 3 games sold in the UK in it's first week was a pretty big chunk of the UK WiiU install base. And it probably sold some systems as well. The numbers are so low it could have easily doubled, but that will be a one week spike as well.
As for the US - I really have to wonder what Nintendo's thinking is. They've knocked the $299 White Basic out of existence like it's Richie Cunninghams older brother, leaving only the $349 Deluxe, effectively creating a price hike on a system that hasn't been selling, yet they are still selling Nintendo Land for $60 even though it now comes with every WiiU sold. Crazy.
I figured Pikmin 3 wasn't a console seller, wait til Super Mario 3D World, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze and all that come out, than I expect more sales.
I think we all know next year is when the Wii U will get tons of sales thanks to Smash Bros and Mario Kart
@hydeks I think we will see more sales this holiday season. That's when I plan to by one. I still need time to recover from buying my 3ds and its games.
Eventhough Pikmin 3 isnt a console seller, once people actually buy a wii u they will probably pick up pikmin 3.
Pikmin had a pretty good debut for a console with virtually no install base in the region. It was really all we could hope for.
The Wii U won't pick up enough momentum until we approach a critical mass of exciting new releases.
Right, Wii U installed base in UK is abysmal so it was impressive enough how well it did in its debut. As a Wii U owner you are either starved for a big game release or a fan of Pikmin and have been waiting 10 years. Either way, you bought it on or close to day one.
In the end, though, I agree with many that it just isn't a system seller. People don't know what Pikmin is. It was never a phenomenon. If only Nintendo Land had half the success of Wii Sports in selling systems and getting people to play it, (would have been nice if it was a pack-in with the basic console, too), every Wii U owner would be familiar with it to some degree.
I've only played the original for a short time, so this will be my first Pikmin game, but I almost feel I have to buy it to support the system.
@Dark_Link Well this is a first for me. It's the first time I have ever bought a game before I had the console. There are still games in my Wii library that I have not even started yet. Currently working on The Last Story, next is Pandora's Tower of Xenoblade Chronicles, both of which I haven't even opened yet. Plus I've not even opened Pikmin 1 and 2. At 53 I don't have a lot of time to game but I'm still gaming!
I see sales picking up this holiday season when more consumers feel a reason to pick up the console. We all knew Pikmin 3 is fantastic but not a mainstream system seller.
@jrwchil Yeah, or a sports game!
Zelda isn't the big seller people seem to think it is either, and Metroid sells even worse. Luckily for Nintendo, Mario is enough, even when it's not very good in the case of NSMB2.
Off course these sales figures dont reflect digital sales. Only a low % of people bother rating games on eStore and given the amount Pikmin3 has been rated on eStore its safe to assume that digital sales have been higher than normal. Probably helped by the Wonderful 101 promotion.
Untill these charts fully count digital sales then to be honest they don't necessarily reflect the the whole picture as accurate as they should.
Having said that considering the WiiU's install base entering on retail charts at 2nd and still being within the top 20 isn't to bad. It's not 'THE' system seller but its one of a good number of games coming to WiiU that will increase system sales.
Pikmin 3 was actually the 5th best selling Unit in the All-formats chart. Yes, mutlti-platform titles have more of an advantage, but I still think it's doing very respectable.
I'm just glad Pikmin 3 made it to the top of the charts a while ago. I would've love for it to have the staying power AC has but at least it's something.
The fact a relatively unknown franchise with little outside advertisement debuted in 2nd place on a platform with an extremely minimal install base is MORE than anyone could have hoped.
Pikmin 3 is a FANTASTIC game, but it's a game that is only popular among those in the know (that would be us, the core Nintendo fanbase). Even if it had been Mario Kart 8, I don't think we'd see Wii Us flying off shelves to the extent people think. Great games take time to resonate with consumers. It doesn't happen overnight, and the Wii U sales numbers will not change drastically in the short term.
The Wii U needs a library of great 1st party games, not just one or two. A great game is awesome for those who already own the console, but for those who haven't yet been swayed, it's going to take the whole kit and boodle to convince them the Wii U is something they should be spending over $300 for. Again, single-title system sellers are a pipe dream (every game is a "system seller" to an extent, but no single game can ever carry a console). It's when the library reaches critical mass that people start coughing up Benjamins en masse.
It's painful to watch the Wii U sales week by week, because it seems like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. But if you could fast forward to holiday season 2014 in a time machine, I bet you'd hear about how Wii U's finally starting to pick up and hit a stride, with games like Zelda U helping the console solidify it's place in the market. 2 years. That's how long it took 3DS to really start turning things around. So don't expect TOO big a jump this holiday season, though it will be a critical time for the system. Once the software from THIS holiday season saturates and soaks into the minds of consumers for a year or so, coupled with new software from next year, my bet is holiday season 2014 is when Wii U is elevated to success.
@Peach64
Right. A lot of people don't realize that. If you look at the charts, your average Zelda game (of the last 10 yrs) sells between 3-5 million, with the exception of Twilight Princess (8.4 million sales). That may seem like a lot to some, but games like Mario Kart sell 10-35 million copies.
Metroid games sell between 1-2 million copies (which isn't BAD, it just isn't great). And Metroid is a franchise that is predominantly carried by North America, often outselling the rest of the world combined. But Metroid is consistent, and is usually a guaranteed 1-2 million every time. Even Other M sold right on par with the Metroid Prime series, contrary to popular belief.
And you're right about NSMB2- the game has sold close to 7 million units, right on par with Animal Crossing New Leaf, and just a million or 2 under Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7. The game was mediocre, definitely the red-headed stepchild of the NSMB series. It wasn't necessarily a BAD game imo (even a bad Mario game is still usually a good game), it was just a bland game. But I did like the last level a lot- I thought they did a fantastic job on Bowser's Castle. On the other hand, I thought NSMB-U was excellent, and the direction the series should take.
Pikmin 3 is a great game, but certainly not a console seller.
Animal Crossing New Leaf is a pretty remarkable game. I have been pretty addicted to playing it for the last two months while enjoying the immense amount of charm and gameplay that it offers. Since this is my first Animal Crossing game, I can easily say that I have become a fan of this series. Well worth the purchase.
I'm guessing Pikmin 3's sales must have a fair bit to do with download sales and the Wonderful 101 30% off promotion. Nintendo gamers seem to have embraced retail downloads a lot more than Playstation and Xbox gamers, for some reason, probably a lot to do with the way Nintendo's intergrated them with the free retail game download offer for all 3DS XL owners last year, the 'buy 2 get one to download free' deal on nearly all of the major 3DS retail games that have been released this year, and now the Pikmin/Wonderful 101 offer on Wii U.
Although it does also concern me that it may mean that Nintendo systems will become 'download only' a lot quicker than I'd like.
@LUIGITORNADO you said it. The uk just wants cod fifa and the next fps flavour of the month. They have no taste in games at all,they just want the same crap. Im allowed to say this as im ashamed to say im from the uk.And im not being funny but when a mate of mine says the problem with pikmin 3 is "its too colourful and cheerful" you know the countries gamers need shooting
@JaxonH I agree. At the end of 2014, Wii U will be very strong. Right now the Wii U is just getting back in shape.
@Marshi Stop being so bitter. The UK chart has far more variety than the Japanese or North American one. Last week's top 10 was fantastic. A huge array of different genres, and every game was well reviewed. Let's not forget Ni No Kuni topped the chart upon it's release. Hardly a game that would appeal to a nation that only likes COD and FIFA (which are both great, well reviewed games by the way).
Last week's top 10:
Minecraft (Metacritic Score 82)
Pikmin 3 (Metacritic Score 88)
The Last of Us (Metacritic Score 95)
Animal Crossing (Metacritic Score 88)
Mario and Luigi: Dream Team (Metacritic Score 83)
FIFA 13 (Metacritic Score 90)
Far Cry 3 (Metacritic Score 88)
Skyrim (Metacritic Score 94)
Tomb Raider (Metacritic Score 86)
Lego Batman 2 (Metacritic Score 79)
You'll struggle to find another top ten with such a variety of genres and with every game being that well reviewed. Japan's chart is full of life sims, most of which get awful reviews but still sell into the hundreds of thousands. Don't forget over there Pikmin dropped from 120,000 sales in week 1 (no 1 on the chart) to 15,000 sales in week 2 (no 10).
UK is a almost completely irrelevant market in the grand scheme of things. It only became relevant because certain sony viral market forum that likes to talk about sales numbers can use it to create 'nintendo is doomed' headlines.
I like Pikmin, but I remember trying to explain the appeal of Pikmin 2 on the GameCube (which I was playing at the time) to a Halo fan and he just didn't get it. All I'm saying is that Pikmin is good, but semi-niche. If Mario Kart 8, Mario 3D World and an original Zelda can't sell the Wii U, though, then it really will be in trouble.
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