Last week brought some notable releases to the UK market, and there are a couple of positive Nintendo Switch stories that are sadly joined by a bit of a flop on 3DS.
First of all, top spot goes to Persona 5 on PS4, which has been generating a lot of hype that has evidently paid off. The first Nintendo title to appear is doing well, though, with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild up one position to 7th spot in the all-format chart. A look at the single format results shows that it's the Switch version doing the lifting, as it's up to 3rd in that listing while the Wii U iteration is struggling in 36th. Those are some impressive legs for the higher-profile version of the game.
In good news that Nintendo will no doubt share to third-parties on the fence, LEGO City: Undercover has sold best on the Switch so far - in the all-format charts it's in 8th place, but in the single-format results the Switch version is the best performer in 14th position. The next best iteration is on PS4 in 26th place, so clearly the Nintendo audience (perhaps familiar with the Wii U original) has been the most enthusiastic; we're just wrapping up our review of this one to share with you soon.
Finally for Switch, we have 1-2-Switch still in 18th place (all-format), which is decent going for the party game.
The big arrival last week on 3DS - Yo-kai Watch 2: Bony Spirits & Fleshy Souls - has endured a poor launch, however. Bony Spirits only managed 36th place while Fleshy Souls was nowhere to be seen; though the IP has shown improvement in some Western territories, the UK market is clearly not embracing the series yet.
Elsewhere for 3DS we have Pokémon Sun in 28th place (no Moon in the top 40), while Mario Kart 7 clings on in 40th place.
A mixed week from a Nintendo perspective, then, with the power of Breath of the Wild seemingly neverending at present, while Undercover sales should help keep Warner Bros. on board with LEGO releases.
[source chart-track.co.uk]
Comments 52
Have we earned a temporary reprieve from "the UK has terrible taste in games" this week?
It's a well deserved success story for Atlus, and it is nice to see Breath of the Wild clinging on in the top ten too!
Never saw any promotion for YO-KAI WATCH 2. Barely anything from their official social media streams either.
@olrodlegacy Really? The ads have been popping up during my Youtube viewing a lot. Its the only reason the tune is playing in my head..... XD
Guess they'll be rolling out the Lego movie games in the hundreds soon enough now......
Warner has always supported Nintendo with their LEGO games though this news will definitely help cement that further.
@Dakt No. Barely anyone was hyping it as that. Yo-Kai Watch is great, though.
Any real fans of Yo-kai Watch ( me and my son ) are not going to wait 6+ months for the European version to show up sometime, while we could just order the Australian one last year in October already.
Yo-Kai Watch 2 is a great game and my son had a blast playing it before Christmas!
Level-5 is just screwing up the IP here in Europe with too long delays and poor marketing (read no marketing at all! ).
It's a complete shame as it's a really great IP and fun games to play! The TV series is nice too, but again... nowhere to be seen on European Netflix, while the US has it since last year! /shrug
Lego City Undercover on the Switch is fantastic too!
Except for the long load time when starting the game, the ingame load times are a hell lot better than they were on the WiiU.
Both me and my son have a blast playing it right now on the Switch, alongside Zelda.
I think Yokai Watch was localised too late into the 3DS's life. They should've been on that straight away. It stings a bit when you know you're so many games behind. Also doesn't help when you're unsure if the sequels are even going to make it to your country.
Cool to see a multiplatform game performing best on the Switch with Lego City. I've looked up the game and it looks like the best Lego game so far (I've tried about 5 Lego games and think they range from bad to average). I might take the plunge and buy this as I'm looking for some co-op games to play with my SO, and it looks fun enough.
Lego City Undercover is doing better on Nintendo because its been around the block.
Not as well as the new kid on the block for other consoles.
I wonder if that includes digital or is only physical copies sold in blocks and mortar.
I'll stop with the block jokes now.
I think the original Yokai watch benefited from a drought in new Pokémon games, and now that sun and moon launched there isn't much demand.
Take the charts Phantom Thieves!
Atlus, you have done us proud once again. PS4 or Switch, we can all agree that developers like Atlus deserve success no matter the platform!
@Dakt It's sad isn't it. I hate missing out. All this COULD be rectified on the Switch. Imagine if Nintendo allowed for some sort of game mods... specifically fan translations, available from the eShop.
Wouldn't be an ideal solution, and it might even deter them from localising games officially so it's not entirely ideal. But it could be fun for those who just want to experience the games.
Highly unlikely though, lol.
@Moon It's even more sad. Yo-Kai watch has grown into a billion dollar franchise, so it's not like they don't have the resources to make faster localizations happen.
It's just poor business execution outside Japan! /shrug
Shame about Yokai Watch 2, I loved the first game and picked up Fleshy Souls on Friday. The anime seems to be officially available on YouTube.
Wow at Persona 5! Hyped on the internet, but still very much a niche title.
Should have released the Yokai watch games way earlier. This is what happens. Some people will have finished the first game in a matter of days, only to have to wait months after Americans get the second iteration. I can't understand why the releases were spaced out so far apart - localization doesn't always take years.
Yo Kai Watch simply missed its target window.
It came WAY too late to the west, when the buzz created by japan already died off here.
Imo, its no surprise it has a really hard time getting a foot in the door here, sadly.
According to PushSquare LCU only sold well since we have nothing else to play
So surprised to see Persona up there on UK sales! That's great for Atlus and JRPGS!
A little bit of me is happy to see Horizon drop below Zelda. The rivally between that and Zelda was completely fabricated and hopefully we've heard the last of it.
I'm a uk buyer who picked up Lego City on Friday
I never got round to getting it on Wii U so to me its a whole new experience and I have to say what a fantastic game.... hardly managed to put it down all weekend...... Really impressed with it
As long as we get all the Yokai Watch games after a poor launch for 2. I got it on Friday and am eager to dive in after I have finished Mass Effect and Breath of the Wild.
kind of ironic that lego city sold best on a nintendo system...after it already was available on a nintendo system for much cheaper for several years.
I missed LCU the first time around, so I thought I'd give it a go on the Switch. I've not stopped playing it all weekend, it's a very enjoyable title and load times are a total non-issue in my experience. I can't see me playing it for long after I complete the story though, as I'm just not interested in collecting everything, but the campaign has been pure joy so far.
A brand new game barely outsells a six-year-old game for the same system? Ouch.
Can't blame anybody but Level-5 though.
I relly hope they are optimizing this game for switch with a patch. It seems to run between 15-25 fps and that is brutal.
Good to see Lego doing well and Zelda but Persona 5 well deserves it spot on the list.
Seems like Gamers are changing their tastes now.
I'm not surprised at Yokai Watch 2's performance. The first game looked wonderful but the gameplay is unfulfilling (I'm collecting all these items for no obvious reason) and the sequel has come too close behind that. The TV series is excellent but that's suffered from inconsistent scheduling on Cartoon Network,
@Bread-Not-Toast Not sure if gamers are changing their tastes or if people just buy whatever they're told they're supposed to like because it's popular. I never understood the rapid popularity of Skyrim when it was a weaker Elder Scrolls game than the prior three, yet those all went entirely under the radar. But it certainly didn't indicate a shift in gaming tastes in the years to follow
I'm not surprised Yo-Kai Watch 2 didn't sell well. Nobody would get it unless they played the first one, and I can't imagine too many people who have played the first one would want to play another one.
@olrodlegacy TBH you're not missing much.
Excellent Persona 5 sales.
I'm surprised LCU sold most on the Switch, but I guess it previously being Nintendo exclusive helped. It's pretty rare to see any multiplatform game sell more on a Nintendo platform in this day and age, so that's good.
I want Lego City but for like $30 so I'm waiting. This also applies to Bomberman R. Sometimes is hard and I'm about to dip in but so far I have been strong. However, I preorder Puyo Puyo since is like $31 at launch.
@olrodlegacy i see a lot regarding the UK launch from their facebook page, but it gets like, 7 likes and 1 share. I have very few facebook friends but if i take a photo of my milkshake i get at least twice that number of each.
Wasn't there meant to be a LCU review for the Switch version on NL?
@russellohh There's been four or five posts max. As someone who works with social media professionally, they should have been counting down every day, posting gameplay teasers, footage of people playing it and so on. It's been so half-a***d.
I'm not surprised that LCU is selling better on the NS, simply because there isn't as many other options on the system at the moment. That's why it's smart to get a game out near the launch of a new system rather than take the 'wait and see' approach that most publishers are taking with the NS.
In Germany, Zelda was the best selling game of the month of March, compared to the UK where it was thw 3rd best aelling game of March and Japan it was the 2nd best selling game of the month.
@BensonUii how many hours have you put in?
I'm at 66hours and still have 1/3 of the shrines to do, a lot of korok seeds, (but that's not a priority), and a good chunk of the map still to discover...
Zelda should stay in the charts for a while, easily the best game so far this year and I can't see anything coming out the rest of 2017 that can top it except for possibly Red Dead Redemption 2 or Super Mario Odyssey. Unfortunately it's not a sure thing the latter will be out this year, that's easily my most anticipated game right now. Looks like it will be even better than the Galaxy games and I loved both of those.
@CaPPa It's also the type of game that would do well on a Nintendo console, regardless of timing. Which is why Snake Pass is doing well as well.
Yooka Laylee would have performed better had it been ready, and if it were actually getting a physical release on Switch (unless something has changed), I think playtonic are shooting themselves in the foot, at least in terms of potential sales. It will probably do fine, but reviews have been mixed, and a game that's had quite the high profile run in the media will be missed when it's not found on shelves.
The release date is all wrong for Yo-Kai 2, this should have been pushed out at the end of 2016 for Xmas. Our money had gone on Switch with Zelda and waiting for Mario Kart now. Yo-Kai 2 might be on the Xmas 2017 list though.
Level 5 should b pretty disappointed with how Nintendo UK market their games IMO. The Layton games sold really well here, and then they did an RPG based on football. A game made by the people behind a smash hit, based around the nation's favourite sport.... it should have been a HUGE hit, but Nintendo seemed to think because there was an anime of it, there was no need for a marketing push.
So is Yokai Watch a double release game like Pokemon? They need to stop doing that. Pokemon can get away with it (not that I think they should still be doing it), but other games can't. Isn't it only Nintendo who do this? They did it with FE Fates too, but I see they've not done it with the new FE coming next month.
@Gamer83
Much like pretty much all Mario games, Mario Odyssey won't be delayed. Nintendo said it was practically already finished, so expect it to be a November holiday title.
Persona 5 is masterful, but I'm still shocked to see how well it has been doing. Especially given Sony's apparent reluctance to show it off.
Good show, Atlus!
@-@; Persona 5 has been my life for the last week.
Lego City Undercover's sales being better on Switch than PS4 could be that this is only the 6th retail game I've seen for Switch so far. The audience is starved of new games, a lot of people have probably finished Zelda: BOTW. While PS4 owners have a much bigger choice of games to choose from and a lot of them would have bought Persona 5 instead last week.
wait, did Yokai 2 just now launch in EU? Really? The US got it last year! And it released after the Switch did on 3DS, so no wonder it sold poorly
Just getting into the last stages of YKW2 now and loved every minute of it.
Hopefully we'll get Yo-kai Sangokushi soon too.
If anyone wants to trade their Sailornyan for my Robanyan-F let me know.
@Marios-love-child did you play docked or undocked?
@wariosmith
Mainly docked but a little bit of both
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