Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

I wouldn't count Animal Crossing and Super Monkey Ball 2 launch games, when those were released in 2003, 2 years into the systems lifespan. Great GCN launch games no one's mentioning here were Eternal Darkness, Skies of Arcadia Legends, Phantasy Star Online Episode I&II, Lost Kingdoms, Star Wars Rogue Squadron II, Summoner 2: A Goddess Reborn, Bloody Roar, and NBA Courtside 2002.

Last friday I experienced something I had been wondering (and hoping) would happen since I first saw the Switch being revealed.

Whilst on the train, someone opposite me asked about my Switch (she actually didn't know what it was saying she had seen no tv adverts) and before we knew it, we were playing local multiplayer on Mario Kart and Snipperclips. Helped the journey pass quickly.

The opportunity for spontaneous local multiplayer and even a way of meeting people was always a unique "feature" I expected of the Switch.

Anyone else experience this?

[Japan] Media Create sales for Week 34, 2017 (August 21st – August 27th)

http://www.perfectly-nintendo.com/japan-media-create-sales-we...

Switch is back on top in the hardware sales after a massive drop-off last week. Which was no doubt helped by Monster Hunter XX Switch Version which debuted at number 1 in the charts. I'd give you numbers but you can check for yourself, they've Media Create and Famitsu figures, which vary a bit.

@SKTTR Animal Crossing came out in 2002, and Super Monkey Ball 2 as well. Unless you're talking about the European release, in that case the GameCube itself didn't come out until 2002, so Super Monkey Ball 2 was still a year 1 game (early 2003 release). Only Animal Crossing had a bit of a delay in Europe, but a PAL version released in Australia a year before it came out over here.

@FX102A I heard a Mario Odyssey at Gamescom ad on the radio the other day, that's all so far

I don't think the text reflects reality. The switch has been sold out every week, which points to high demand. They can't really make any predictions on next week because of that. If it is lower next week, it is more probable that supply isn't met.

MHXX sales bode well. Hit about 85k, on an install base of 1.5 million, so roughly a 6.5% week one attach rate.

Past MH entries on 3DS typically sold 1.5 million (give or take) for their first week. But that's on an install base of 25 million. So also a 6% week one attach rate.

There are roughly 17x as many 3DS in Japan as there are Switches. And sure enough, the MHXX sales are roughly 1/17 of those of past games on 3DS.

But here's the kicker- MHXX is a port of a 6 month old expansion of a 2 year old game. Whereas the 3DS releases were new games. That's pretty good, cause people are effectively buying the game for the 3rd time out there. I think had it been a new game, it would have done 4x these numbers.

@JaxonH Still wondering what it would've done if localized, since people in the West (at least, I hear that sentiment quite often) really want a console MH experience. Sure, they'll get that with World, but that's still a while off.

I just hope Capcom is pleased with this, if there's space for that in their cramped minds of testing the Switch, while being content with how games like Street Fighter V performed on PS4

@UmniKnight It would've probably done very well provided the west release date was far enough away from Super Mario Odyssey (FE Warriors sales are almost certainly going to suffer for being too close).

@Therad I think what the article says is fair and accurate. Summer holidays are over and there's no major releases on the horizon until October in the form of Super Mario Odyssey. There's Pokkén Tournament DX and Dragon Quest X, but they're ports. Still the combination could boost weekly hardware sales. If sales are low, people always say that Nintendo couldn't meet demand. Yet they somehow had enough for Splatoon 2 and MHXX Switch Ver.

@Grumblevolcano I do still wonder about that, but then I'm not as universally excited for games overall, let alone for Mario Odyssey as it seems the majority of people are. But then it has you wonder, if Odyssey really will impact FE: W's sales, then couldn't they have found a better spot for it?

As for XX, if we'll see a Western release at all, with World so close, then it'll probably be mid/end 2018, when it probably doesn't even matter anymore...

@JaxonH Experience tells us that attach rates are often higher on systems with a smaller userbase. If this was a new Monster Hunter, it probably would've sold better, but since this is a port of an expansion, it is what it is. So while the attach rates are the same as on the 3DS, I don't think the comparison is entirely fair. Still pretty good for a port though.

The question is will Capcom see worth in localising it or will executives twist this into more persuasion for the developers to move away from Nintendo in the franchise by disregarding context?

Just a quick in there: http://nintendoeverything.com/worms-w-m-d-officially-announce...

@BLP_Software Hmmmm, think there's something of a grudge or such going on here?

Has me wonder, did Capcom have good sales on Nintendo system? I don't remember reading they had a particularly hard time with any of their franchises, maybe some with Ace Attorney...

So demand has been met in Japan? So it is easy to get Switch if you want one? Because that is what the article implies. But if it hasn't been met, then it doesn't matter if any games comes out until October, it would still sell. You can't look at a single week and then think you have an answer for the next week. You need a trend curve for that.

Now, a quick search on amazon.jp says they have 6 units in stores. So maybe the biggest frenzy has died off.

@UmniKnight It's not a grudge. Capcom almost ran into bankruptcy chasing the COD money years ago and given their limited franchises and their liquidation of some of their more diverse studios at the time (Clover being the most iconic, of which the key members reformed as Platinum) Capcom has had a real struggle paying the bills. Enter Sony, Capcom's new sugar daddy. Capcom has only three "big" franchises (no AA and Megaman don't count): SF, MH, and RE. Sony flat out paid for SFV, Sony (and MS) pay into RE, and speculation is that Sony at least part paid for MH. It's not so much a grudge as Capcom is almost involuntarily a Sony 2nd party as a matter of funding now. They're independent, but can't afford too many projects off the big ones that are subsidized.

@NEStalgia Fair enough, but then why has nobody bothered to buy them up yet? Surely Sony would love to have the MH brand in Japan, as well as SF and RE for broader markets? (I know Nintendo barely does anything in this, even if I'm sure they too would like to own MH, as well as the other franchises.)

@NEStalgia do you have proof that sony have paid for all those games? Otherwise it is pure speculation.

@UmniKnight Why buy a pizzeria if all you want is a couple of pizzas? Sony doesn't want Capcom. They don't want Megaman, they don't want Ace Attorney, or Okami, or the the dozens of other unused IPs Capcom owns but can't afford to leverage. They don't want the building, the shares, the staff, or the debt. They just want a couple of Capcom's games made annually, so they just pay to have them made. Sony gets some games they want on their system, Capcom gets to pay the electric company. Everybody wins. Except Nintendo fans. And Capcom producers that secretly want to jump on a katana.

@Therad SFV is 100% paid for by Sony, full stop. Not speculation they bought it outright, as a pure Playstation exclusive (plus PC. But there's not even going to be an arcade version which really makes me question it's longevity. Not even for the arcades they own and operate in Japan themselves.) RE, as with nearly all multiplats is subsidized by the console holders via a sourcing down payment. That's not unique to Capcom, that's now most AAA multiplats are funded. Sony and MS play ball. Nintendo doesn't. Thus a key reason Nintendo doesn't get many multiplats. I imagine they DID pay into Skyrim since Nintendo approached Bethesda, for example.) The only one that's speculation is MH:W. 50/50 the rumors are true. I suspect they are given the situation, but no, there's no proof for that one. Still, even if MH:W's rumor is false and Sony didn't pay into it, having 2/3 of your main franchises largely outside funded with arguably your biggest of all your franchises being 100% funded as a console exclusive....that's financially disastrous.

Imagine, say, 2K's position if GTA was a Sony funded exclusive, 2KNBA was co-funded by Sony/MS, and Borderlands may or may not have been funded by the above, but was definitely not getting a PC version.

The company's autonomy is severely limited under such circumstances. "Capcom" as we knew it died when they had the mass layoffs after the near-bankruptcy from the failed Westernization attempt.

@NEStalgia That dire huh, I wonder who acquires their IP if they do go off the long end.

It's a really sad thing too, considering how beloved some of their IP is