The latest UK chart results are out, once again reflecting some half-term sales in the country, and the outcome is disappointing from a Nintendo perspective.
Only one Nintendo exclusive is in the top 40, with Yo-kai Watch climbing one place to 39th in the all-format results (38th in single-format). Considering its steady decline we're slightly surprised that it's clung on, so it's good news that the Level-5 franchise is still just about hanging around the UK chart.
Disappointingly, though, Fire Emblem Fates - with Birthright and Conquest listed separately - has seen both entries tumble out of the top 40. After a solid start both entries had fallen down in their second week - Birthright from 5th to 23rd and Conquest from 11th to 34th - but they've now left the top 40 completely. It's a rapid tumble for a dual-release that enjoyed impressive sales in the US earlier in the year, but evidently the UK audience hasn't picked it up with the same enthusiasm. A recent check does show Fates as a whole holding second in the 3DS eShop chart, however.
There's little else to report, though in the Wii U charts Nintendo Selects titles continue to do well, with New Super Mario Bros. U + New Super Luigi U maintaining its lead over Splatoon.
Overall it's a rather grim scenario at present in the UK, sadly. Nintendo-exclusive games have almost zero presence among the top-sellers; we'll see whether Kirby: Planet Robobot can bring some happier news in next week's results.
[source chart-track.co.uk]
Comments 18
I'll be expecting yokai watch to cling on for a while
Called FE back when they announced the release for EU, so I'm not shocked.
"It's a rapid tumble for a dual-release that enjoyed impressive sales in the US earlier in the year, but evidently the UK audience hasn't picked it up with the same enthusiasm."
God, in February there were 2 (two) games that were worth checking out - Primal and Xcom 2, although Xcom is kinda niche genre, so mainstream had only one game. If they released it in EU at the same time, it would enjoy strong sales. Now, though?
You have Uncharted, Overwatch, Witcher witch are obvious GOTY material, and also you have other "smaller" releases like Doom and tommorow there will be Mirror's Edge which will probably also enjoy some beyond 70 metacritic. Also there is Kirby coming, which is a surprise we won't wait for it 2 years or don't get it at all. Like they knew FE will bomb, because it couldn't stand the competition.
So no sh#ts given about censored game cut in 3 with loads of DLC, released by company that does everything as backwards and unproffesional as possible is really no surprise.
Nintendo could give out a free Wii U to everyone in the UK and I think they'd still struggle to have any presence in the charts.
Dark times.
@OorWullie Hit the nail on the head there bro. I get laughed at for Nintendo stuff, less so for Sony stuff by my pc friends.
There is no appeal to it here. I can't fathom why that is but it's just the case. Even pokemon isn't huge.
Fire Emblem's main problems are that it's niche, and the way it was released (one entry downloadable, two retail versions, plus dlc) doesn't make it more accessible. It's not disappointing, as Nintendo hasn't had a title which has both quality and broad appeal for a while; it's an entirely deserved chart position.
Nintendo's UK chart presence is pitiful. And most games that do manage to chart, usually don't last more than a couple of weeks. Whereas if you look at some of the third party games, they seem to nearly be a permanent fixture in the charts. Minecraft, GTA, COD, FIFA, etc.
Not really sure how you can assume Fates has done worse in the UK than the states when they don't release sales figures? These games are very hardcore, and the fans will go out and buy them on release, meaning a good debut and quick drop off. It had a good debut chart in the US and the UK, but then disappears from both in subsequent charts. It's not the sort of game casuals are going to pick up in big numbers weeks and months after release.
Chart positions and length of time spent in the chart do not always correspond to sales figures. You can see from Japan where they do include the numbers, that some weeks a game will be number 1 in the chart and sell 17k copies, while another week, a game might sell 50k copies and only be 10th.
In the States, Birthright was 9th in it's first chart, then disappeared. Media reports this as a huge success. In the UK, Birthright was 5th in it's first chart, then disappears, and this is reported as a disappointed.
I hope the slight presence of Yôkai Watch will make them more inclined to release the next entries faster.
The sooner, the better: I don't want to buy a NX/whatever to play a translated Yôkai Watch 3. (like they did with Inazuma 3 3DS exclusivity, instead of selling the compilation)
Why does Nintendo even bother with the UK? What a waste of time evidently...
@Link41x In what way are they bothering with the UK? Their best games (Mario Kart 8, Splatoon, Smash) sold well. The others didn't. Sadly, there has been plenty of reason for gamers who can only afford one console to jump ship to the other providers this gen. I really wish Nintendo were bothering with the UK, and everywhere outside Japan for that matter.
It's like europe doesn't care. People who buy nintendo games there must be from another country lol
Maybe the hype has died down during the three month wait we have had to endure. And the Special Edition fiasco may have left some voting with their wallets and not bothered with both games.
Also gamers maybe saving their gaming budget for Kirby.
@zool That's most likely what happened, I would lose hype for a game if it took three months for it to come out. The wait time is probably a high contributor to FE: Fates poor sales in the UK, but it might not have if Nintendo did a global release at the same time.
A observation for comparison is Total Warhammer was #9 in its first week last week and in it's second week has fallen off the charts. Total War being a bigger series than Fire Emblem ever was and Warhammer being even more iconic in the UK. Whereas both Fire Emblem games lasted 2 weeks in the charts to Total Warhammer's 1.
Fates could very well be the top selling strategy game this year but it would still be expected to fall off the charts because niche games simply don't sell as well as mainstream ones.
Happy to see Yo-Kai Watch hanging around, even if it is barely hanging on each week. I finally got to start playing last week & have really enjoyed my time with the game so far - already putting in around 20 hours. The game is just incredibly fun. My only issue is the overuse of RNG but hopefully the sequels will help ease up those elements (& hopefully they will release them quicker in Europe).
I loved FE Awakening and thought the franchise was going to get bigger but FE Fates has been a backwards step. Cutting it in three was unnecessary and I'm staying away until the price drops and I can afford the 'full game'.
@Link41x Why is any of this a surprise? Fire Emblem is ace and I'm loving it but they really screwed the pooch on the UK market. The "special edition" basically didn't exist over here, appearing all over other european markets, I searched and searched for weeks but nothing, ended up getting it from French Amazon and sent over.
The whole "buy a cartridge" and download 2 games later thing also really lowered the value in peoples eyes.
Then there is the simple fact it is a niche game. Then there is the fact America had this months before the UK then the fact Japan had it over a year beforehand.
If you didn't religiously keep up to date with this game, it was easy to miss - that isn't good marketing.
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