Sales Fall Away in Japan as Xenoblade Chronicles 3D Drops to Ninth

It is what it is. Most people in Japan played the game that wanted to already.

I'm sure the split install base had a lot to do with this.

Pokemon oras came out november last year and its 15th and Xenoblade chronicles 3D came out last week or so and its 9th This just shows that the game is as popular now but it can be more popular next year as more exclusive N3DS games are released more people want to get the New 3d then and it may bring the game up higher.

Pokemon oras came out november last year and its 15th and Xenoblade chronicles 3D came out last week or so and its 9th This just shows that the game is as popular now but it can be more popular next year as more exclusive N3DS games are released more people want to get the New 3d then and it may bring the game up higher.

Just seems kind of slow period. Nintendo needs to give more reasons to get the New 3DS though. It really is a great system and I'm super happy I got it.

2 weeks is when numbers for XCX will hit. A month after that is Splatoon. MK8 is nearing 1 million retail sales.

Will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of months

I was in the market for a 3DS system anyways so I picked up the New 3DS XL but if I weren't going to buy another system regardless, I probably wouldn't have made the purchase. It really is a great system though. My 3D stays on all the time except for when I have people watching over my shoulder.

All those hardware numbers were down a lot. Was Japan having a big spring celebration last week (can't imagine either Passover or Easter are big in Japan) or did they raise the tax rate again or something? Just seems like all the # are missing a day or 2.

Everything didn't do so hot this week...

Wow those sales are awful right across the board. There are no winners this week, only lesser losers.

Oh what a surprise. A third-party game on a Nintendo console is performing terribly.

I am, however, surprised XC-3D is even still on the list. Who saw that happening.

Speculating that the Dark Souls II upgrade's release date was deliberately to capitalize on Bloodborne's sales is purely that--speculation. I sincerely doubt that has any impact on the XBO version. The Dark Souls II and Bloodborne release dates would have been decided by completely different parties.

Japan is diying

@Quorthon Xenoblade is 1st party man……

I just got to Gaur Plain yesterday and man is the game awesome...Shame about the sluggish sales, but let's not lose our heads though!

@Nintendo69 I believe he's talking about Rodea.

I don't know why but ninth doesn't look like a word. I thought it was a typo but just checked and it's not. I think it would look better if left as 9th since it is a ranking I believe leaving a number would be acceptable. (I know one-nine is supposed to be spelled out)

@Nintendo69

The situation is so dire, even this Nintendo fan with "Nintendo" in his username isn't even aware of Rodea the Sky Soldier's very existence. No wonder this THIRD PARTY GAME didn't even register.

@Giygas_95

Ohhhhhhhhhh

Have no scary. If you just got to Guar, then you may not have heard this one yet.

Whoa those sells are terrible. Man what is wrong with Japan?

It's always a shame to see a good game sell poorly. On any system. It's especially a shame to see one of the greatest games ever made sell poorly.

I expect more from my western gaming brethren.

When the number 1 title made less than 20k, you know the sales are low. Surprised to see two Wii U titles there.

Also keep in mind that japanese people got the Wii version way earlier then anyone else, so they probably played the goomba out of it already
The game is a direct port without any major bells and whistles.
More of a proof od concept for the N3DS more then anything else.

For such an old game to hold itself in the top then isnt all that bad.

@Nintendo69

As it has been mentioned it was in reference to Rodea but I'm curious...wouldn't Xenoblade be considered second party?

@sweetiepiejonus

No, Xenoblade falls under 1st party. Nintendo owns the IP and owns Monolith Soft as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_development_teams#Software_Development_Subsidiaries

This is an old game, if people expected it to sell like hot cakes after a better quality title was released on a platform everyone has... then they were dreaming

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the list, the Vita TV outsells the Xbox One. Ouch.

@Quorthon Having played Smash 4, I'd say that sounds like Riki, amirite?

Geez did Japan take a gaming vacation? All those numbers look like crud.

@Giygas_95

Totally. I think he only said that when I had Riki as the only male of the party, with Sharla and Melia as the other party members.

He'd tell them to "have no scary" and Sharla would laugh and thank him.

@ikki5

Not only that, but it is only on one specific 3DS family member. It's essentially a launch title, so it hurts it's chances even more. Realistically, how much better could it have done?

Edit: I realize now that is essentially what you said. Haha, sorry for that, it's been a long day for me.

all seems to point to the new 3DS being a mistake

Nintendo games not selling well in Japan is a worry. I know games aren't selling well in general but it's traditionally Nintendo's biggest market.

Xenoblade should be higher than 9th this soon after release.

Wow, 20k for 1st. That has got to be close to the worst ever sales for the #1 position in Japan ... like ever. And with a new title (well, new release!), that is a RPG.

New 3DS is not a mistake. Hardware sales are doing well, and XC is not only selling more hardware - the release would not be possible without it. Its going to gradually keep selling, and be responsible for more hardware being sold. And given its a port - the dev costs should not have been that high. Probably broken even already.

@DualWielding

Do you mean the new 3DS in general, or Xenoblade going on only the new 3DS? I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt that you mis-typed something.

@Quorthon

That's a relief. Happy they won't go the way of Silicon Knights and Rare. While it wasn't terrible like some say Too Human was a gigantic letdown for me personally.

@DualWielding

Mistake? No by that logic all systems since SNES excluding Wii are a "mistake." It is a fantastic system that unfortunately doesn't have the selling power yet.

@sweetiepiejonus

Well, unless Nintendo feels that Monolith Soft's efforts haven't met with their expectations. They ditched their stock in Rare for largely foolish and questionable reasons with a comment that rang as "well, they only made us one game in two years." Which, one might notice, is actually a bit faster than Retro churns out games, having made only 5 since 2002.

Silicon Knights was never a 1st party to Nintendo, they were temporarily a 2nd party, essentially as Nintendo held stock in the company, but they clearly could not survive without Nintendo standing over them reigning them in.

Well I doubt there's that many New 3DS system out there so these sale numbers for Xenoblade on 3DS probably aren't too bad to be honest.

I was really disappointed with my "new" 3DS XL monster hunter version. Besides looking pretty, it wasn't much of an improvement. The analog stick is stiff and horrible to use in games (it doesn't seem to read the "down" input correctly). The head tracking 3D didn't look any better and just gave me a headache so I switched it off and went back to the regular 3D which worked fine. The CPU upgrade isn't really that noticeable - it still stutters on home screen icons. Probably the only useful upgrade will turn out to be the Amiibo reader, but that's a pretty meh feature to spend $150 on.

Anyway, I can see why it's failing to light the world on fire in Japan or elsewhere. It's a minor upgrade at best, and Nintendo continues to have a poor quality screen in comparison to smartphones or the Vita.

I still want to know what caused the spike in Xbox One sales a week ago? Was there a price drop?

Xenoblade Chronicle 3D doesn't seems so bad, if it could sell >200k worldwide lifetime, I'm sure it's profitable enough for Nintendo. On the other hand, what's up with Rodea? I'm more concerned about it, it looks like a decent and fun game, but it doesn't even chart? Like, what happened?

@Quorthon its first party. Nintendo owns monolith soft and xenoblade.

Not surprised about Xenoblade. It might be an absolutely amazing game and one of the best RPGs I have played in some time BUT the Japanese have already played the hell out of it.

Sad to see Rodea the Sky Soldier having such poor sales. I was looking forward to it. Hopefully it performs better overseas.

I hope not but I think XC Japanese sales on the Wii U is gonna disappoint a lot of people. If Wii U sales reach 5 figures due to XC I would be impress.

Really low sales in Japan last week. At this rate XBO won't even sell 100k lifetime in Japan.

Ahh haaaa Xbone hahaha. Ok, sorry. Got it outta my system. I sure hope Xenoblade Chronicles does better in the future, and of course, Wii U.

I wonder how that Assassination Classroom game plays like. I'm really liking that series.

I guess they're not really feeling it.

...I'll see myself out...

There was pretty much no warning of Rodea being released here in Japan... I didn't see anything in the eShop or in real shops until I went to buy Xenoblade 3D and just happened to see a bunch of shiny new boxes of Rodea sitting next to it. I probably would have bought it on launch day if I had known, but I spent a lot of money on other 3DS-related things recently so now I'm going to wait for a while. Poor Sky Soldier...

Japan is such a horrible market now. It's so disappointing every time I look at their numbers.

I know Japan's been having trouble after that large earthquake years ago that followed with the tsunami, but it is funny that they used to be the biggest game market, and now it seems to be North America being the biggest. Nintendo used to always be a big hit over there, and now they seem to be falling...this is why I think nintendo just needs to go back to a traditional system with a traditional control, instead of all of this weird controller-gimmicky items...it kind of makes you wonder what Japan thinks of nintendo anymore. Other than that, I wonder why Microsoft even tries to sell their items over there? It seems that all of their systems do not really sell to well. Microsoft in Japan is like Nintendo in NA.

It's hard to believe that people can't understand that N3DS have a small install base when compared to 3DS. Of course that exclusives on N3DS will sell much less until N3DS gain some steam.

Yeah seriously. We all played the game years ago on the Wii. Why would we all do it all over again? When X releases, watch it work the numbers.

Even if this release just barely pays itself back, it's an extremely effective way of recapturing mindshare for the Xenoblade Chronicles name, ahead of the release of the sequel.

I absolutely think Nintendo only views it as a primer to get as many people as possible interested in X.

Playing Xenoblade for the first time and i freakin love it so far!

That's what happens when they release a small update to an existing and popular system. The New 3DS is gonna join the club along with the Videopac+, Supergrafx and DSi.
I'm definitively keeping my "old" 3DS and buy a PS Vita instead. With those sales, I can't understand why some say that the Vita is a failed system.

@Quorthon What??
Xenoblade is not a third party game, Nintendo owns Monolith Soft...