Major game releases will start to dry up in the final stretch towards the festive break, but some late-hitters have made an impact on the UK charts in the past week; Nintendo's big release didn't really join the party, however.
FIFA 17 is still top (sigh) but Final Fantasy XV was the big new arrival in second place. Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS has, oddly, been counted alongside the Wii U one and treated as the same game - even with that in mind it only managed 25th place in the all-format chart, with the 3DS version securing the same spot in the single-format chart.
It's better news for Pokémon Sun and Moon, which are listed separately (Chart-Track and consistency aren't happy bed-fellows). Moon has won the Pokemon battle - the cheek of it - in securing 8th place in the all-format chart, while Sun is one place back in 9th.
That's your lot in terms of notable Nintendo results, let us know what you think in the comments.
[source chart-track.co.uk]
Comments 43
Soccer = Worst sport ever for me. Don't care at all despite still popular. I feel more irritated to see that lame sport keep going. I would rather to see sports like Bodybuilding, Kickboxing or K-1, Swimming, Karate, Baseball got more attention. Sorry for my lament, it just my opinion.
Anyway, Great job for Mario Maker 3DS
The first days results aren't that surprising, as people buying day one will be the most aware of the lack on online level exchange. But a new Mario should always be a safe bet for christmas gifts.
It's combined with the Wii U version? Well that makes no sense.
@Anti-Matter Agreed. Why is soccer 200x as popular as hockey. Hockey is:
1) Faster than soccer
2) is confined to walls so the puck will never get "out"
and 3) Hockey players like to fight each other and that's always fun to see.
@Anti-Matter well I don't think soccer is lame , but I'm sick of stupid cash grab sports games that stupid adults and teens buy every single year because they have their favorite athlete or something
The reviews for 3ds Mario Maker have been quite negative, maybe rightly so; even though some scores seen to be high, Nintendo Life.
Is that a bit of a rude joke I see at the end there?
Not overly surprised about Mario Maker... most people who are into that sort of thing would have already gotten the Wii U version, and the 3DS version doesn't seem quite as good in comparison.
But I agree about the inconsistency with this chart... Sun and Moon should have their totals combined to give a fairer representation.
I really hope the best for the portable Mario Maker.
Namely, for whichever result will improve the online functions, even without uploading. You know, browsing by author, inputting codes, anything. In a burst of narcissism if you want to call it that, I wish I could play my levels on the portable system.
That said, so far the portable iteration has treated me well.
Good. A quick and dirty cash-grab with essential features missing doesn't deserve to do well.
@zool Most reviews has been positive. 75 at the moment on metacritics http://www.metacritic.com/game/3ds/super-mario-maker-for-nintendo-3ds
Deservedly modest, considering the idiocy of Nintendo leaving out online sharing and restricting downloadable courses to only ones that are recommended.
I don't understand why people buy yearly installments of anything.
@RainbowGazelle well said.
Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS doesn't really deserve any success. Bye.
I'm having a blast with Mario Maker on 3DS. If there's one thing I didn't liked about 3D Land was the short amount of courses. I can't complaint with this one. 100 levels made by Nintendo and every time I go to Course World I have 8 new levels to play. Sad that it's not doing that great, I hoped if enough people buy it we would have updates with the missing features. Pretty sure they cut them out in order to have it ready for the holidays.
There've been two schools of thought predicting the sales of the game. The first is that, "it's a creation tool with no decent way of sharing the creations, and so about as much use as a box of postcards with no postal service (ie it won't sell well)". The other school is that "it's Mario. It's going to sell anyway - Little Timmy and Jemima's parents won't care so long as they see the smiling plumber on the box'".
In the largely Nintendo-averse UK, the first prediction seems to be bearing the most fruit...
I'm just sad it couldn't be the revival that the Wii U game deserved. It was one of the system's greatest triumphs IMO, but really, really hard to make a great course. The internet features made it possible to get valuable feedback, and ultimately provided the kick of seeing a level you'd sweated over be enjoyed by hundreds of people around the world. If this game had revived that community by becoming a part of it, I'd have been very tempted to leap back in and make some more levels. As it is, the decision to nerf the online aspects has provided very little impetus for stimulating the online community again. It seems like a massive waste.
@hieveryone Cashgrab? FIFA has a metacritic of 85, 10 more than Mario Maker 3DS. It's considered a very good game.
According to GfK, Pokemon Sun/Moon has sold around 363,000 copies LTD after around two weeks. Their numbers and Nintendo's own internal sales tracking differ by quite a bit, as Nintendo themselves stated that Pokemon Sun/Moon had sold 368,000 within a week.
Mario Maker 3Ds had a poor debut. However, it will be interesting to see its 3rd week sales and beyond, as Mario Run for iOS launches then. Pokemon Go did wonders for Pokemon OR/AS and X/Y back in July and August, and helped make Sun/Moon the record breaking success it is right now. It will be interesting to see if Mario Run does the same, and if so, to what extent.
@Mega_Yarn_Poochy Who has seen ice outside stadiums in these days of global warming? It's no wonder soccer is more popular - people can actually play or imagine playing it!
@BensonUii I believe it was around 370K in the UK for Sun and Moon, which isn't that big of a difference.
The usual salty people are out in full force. Mario Maker looks pretty cool and I will be picking it up. The criticism looks identical to that of Hyrule Warriors/Legends, a game I have enjoyed immensely.
Seeing Sun and Moon do 400k at most in two weeks is probably a sign that even with a marketing campaign Nintendo struggles to profit over here. Every other game marketed or no has been below that figure, so lower returns for even that. Suddenly not throwing money at something makes sense.
@BLP_Software How is 400k a bad figure for a country of under 65 million people? It's like a game doing 4 million in the North American market. It's a huge figure for the UK games market, never mind for Nintendo. FFXV sold about 135k this week and it's the 2nd best launch in the series history.
@Peach64
Psst...may I interrupt ? Talking about FF XV, I found Miitopia (Even hasn't released yet) is 100X More entertaining than boring ultra realistic RPG from SquareEnix. Some of other Final Fantasies maybe good enough but except from number 13 and above. For me, Crazy RPG with Hillarious things more appealling for me than Serious RPG with ultra HD graphic. The game that can make Instant LOL or ROFL more amusing than the game that make me Yawn or Bored. Sorry, just wanna share my opinion.
I understand the negatively surrounding the gimped online functionality, but thanks to the Super Mario Challenge (which is essentially a linear 100 stage campaign mode bursting with creativity and replayability), Super Mario Maker for 3DS is arguably the best single player 2D Mario platformer since the SNES era.
I never expected a high placement in the UK. All the big hitters and holiday sales make it hard for a port to place high,
Japan is where Mario Maker 3DS is going to sell best methinks.
Why don't people actually go and do the sport rather than staying home and playing FIFA?
@Shard1
May I share my story about reality in my country Indonesia ? If I tell you about most Indonesian male gamer from mid-low economy almost 99.99% adore Soccer games and they just ONLY want to play with that game, no need play other games (Because their lame mindset think Soccer game = everything they need to be called a gamer. If they don't play soccer, they are not a gamer). And for the worse and even worst, there are TONS of PS2, PS3 & PS4 Rentals with Soccer as Main game they have, No game but Soccer. To make it Horror, Illegal modded PS2, Jailbroken PS3 for their machines. No wonder still so many piracy in my country. Also, the behaviours of players and the owner also very nefarious. They play like Zombies. And for Mid- High economy level, same cases but added with Nefarious adult games inside and to make it even utterly horror, the underage teens access adult contents (blood, gory, headshot, bad language, nudity) when they play the games (Both PS4 rentals and PC gaming rental). Sorry for the shameful reality about my country. I think there also some shameful reality in your place. Please let me know if you don't mind.
Super Mario maker 3DS was not promoted very extensively so it is not surprising that it did not rocket into the charts. However, I expect that sales will be steady for it.
I like how you can switch every instance of the word "modest" on this site for the word "crap".
There's that word again.
"Modest"
@Anti-Matter
Basically the United States doesn't necessarily have the Soccer craze, but the accessibility is what makes it a bit more scary considering that a lot of young people(Under 17) play games with inappropriate content. The country is full of young CoD gamers. At this point, the games aimed towards younger audiences are more mature than the ones aimed towards older gamers. There is also the problem that a lot of young people think that the only way you are a "gamer" is if you play the games aimed towards older audiences because they are "more mature."
I've heard elsewhere that Pokemon has been suffering stock problems. If this is true then Nintendo really don't deserve any success. I can understand them having stock shortages of the NES mini and amiibo when they first launched, as they didn't know whether they'd be mainstream hits. But let's be honest, Pokemon was never going to have millions of units buried in a landfill.
@Shard1
Why don't people go out and play the sport which means organising a venue, equipment and 21 other willing participants instead of playing a computer simulator? Hmmm, tricky one that....
@electrolite77
Yeah, I agree. But some things just aren't the same, like playing a music game isn't the same as actually playing that instrument.
@BLP_Software
An exclusive game selling ~400,000 in the UK, a region where Nintendo has struggled greatly for much of this generation, is absolutely phenomenal. Sun/Moon is the fastest selling exclusive game of all time in both North America, and it's the best selling exclusive of all time in Europe since the last decade or so, IIRC.
@westman98
That it may be, but 400kx£40? Mmaybe it was worth it but their other games dont sell that much and you wonder why they they dont blow loads on marketing.
@JohnnyC They shipped 10 million. To have that go short is impressive.
@Shard1
Of course not. But doing one doesn't preclude the either. It's just that it isn't always easy to do those things in real life. Continuing with football games as the example, the chances of me getting a kick around with Messi, Ronaldo and Fellaini in the next few hours is pretty slim. This year's PES game on PS4 is superb however. And that I can play in the warmth of my house in my slippers.
@BLP_Software
I doubt Nintendo spent £16 million to market Sun/Moon in the UK alone. Nowhere even close...
You overestimate Nintendo's marketing budgets for their games in a single region like the UK. If Pokémon Sun/Moon had only sold 400,000 in all of Europe, then your concerns about marketing budgets would be valid...
@westman98 Plus wages and shipping and rent and taxes...
Im surprised they make anything in this damn country. Most developers here sont even know what Nintendo is. Its like Gods blind spot.
@electrolite77
Agree with you on that.
A question for all Super Mario Maker 3DS owners, that is, two:
1) Which editor tools are given as rewards for each world completed? Having Yoshi Eggs being given as late as World 13 is kind of annoying.
2) I'm collecting all medals so far. Is there a point to that?
@BLP_Software
I am still very doubtful those costs would add up to £16 million.
Ultimately, you fail to understand how small the UK market actually is, to the point where you seem to believe a game selling nearly 400,000 copies in under 2 weeks won't be enough to recuperate costs. In the UK, only three games this year have sold faster than Sun/Moon (FIFA 17 and COD Infinite Warfare). Does that mean every other big game released this year is a flop?? Well, some are (TitanFall 2), but for the most part, no.
No surprise folks were better off sticking with the Wii U version.
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