
Sonic Mania Plus has had a pretty stellar launch, instantly becoming the highest-rated Sonic game for 25 years among critics. It had a pretty decent week in terms of sales, too, jumping straight into the fifth-place spot in the UK charts, and it turns out that most of those sales were on Switch.
Figures show that the Nintendo Switch accounted for 52% of the game's initial sales, with PS4 making up 34% and Xbox One on just 15%. Sonic games have historically performed well on Nintendo consoles since making the jump, but this shows that the blue blur is still fostering a large audience on Nintendo's latest platform, especially considering that this is in a region where the two rival systems have much larger consumer bases.
To give you an idea of how much these sales figures impact chart standings, the individual formats charts show that the Switch version managed to nab seventh spot, with the PS4 and Xbox One versions sitting at 16th and 38th respectively.
Did you pick up a copy of Sonic Mania Plus on Switch? Let us know with a comment below.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 44
“It’s because it’s a kids game and that’s who play Nintendo” - Uninformed 3rd party publishers still turning down the massive switch market
@Stocksy "If we tailor our releases for the audience there instead of trying to shoehorn games for other audiences we'll make a lot of money" - informed 3rd party publishers.
@PanurgeJr “wake up wake up your dreaming” Panurge Snr
And I don’t agree TBH - the switch market is same as the Xbox and PS4 market it doesn’t need tailoring.
That’s the misconception- maybe they need to tailor it to the hardware... yes.
But the games that sell well on Xbox and PS4 would sell well on switch.
If released at same time and not horrific like WWE.
so in slow summer months it mainly sold on switch, and only 5th for one best sonic games ever. MAybee if you hadnt bent us over and put it where the sun dont shine for 25 years you might have sold more sega. Ahh this wasnt actually devbeloped by them lol
it is a kiddies console...or this game works so well as a portable game?
Well deserved. I already had the digital version, got the physical mostly just for the art book (and via Prime savings), and purchased the DLC anyway to avoid having to put the cartridge in
Sonic Mania deserves that spot! What a fantastic game.
After all, it’s the best place to own such a game so I’m not impressed.
I grabbed it on Switch, already had a digital copy on Xbox. Incredible game !
Likeliest audience to play a Sonic game is on a Nintendo system. True story in the past, still a true story today... It is what it is.
it sold better on Nintendo Switch? shocking! (not really that shocking.)
Rather than saying that it's due to the game suiting the so-called "Switch audience", I'd say in the case of such games, the cartridge media is affecting it. It is what games to which this one pays hommage to used to ship on, so there's likely a psychological effect to it. With the love for retro games being stronger now than it's ever been (just look at the price of original cartridges of old games, how they skyrocketed in recent years, for proof), there's a love for the sturdiest media physical game ever shipped on. Therefore having Sonic Mania Plus, a great game to boot and possibly the best Sonic game ever, on a solid state media that will stand the test of time as opposed to optical media that will rot over time, has an added value on Switch.
Then, you have the fact that for all intents and purposes, other versions have nothing over the Switch one. The game looks absolutely the same due to its old school nature, so there's no benefit for anyone who owns a Switch and another platform on which it is available to NOT go with the Switch version.
Other games that will take a visual hit on Switch or not come complete on the cartridge for example are obviously going to struggle amongst the portion of the audience who owns several systems, who will look at what they could have and where they could play the game they want and go for what's best for them. If they want graphical fidelity they'll go over to the more powerful systems, if they're willing to sacrifice a certain amount a graphical fidelity or performance for portability, they'll go for Switch instead, or maybe both if they want both. There's perhaps a treshold of visuals and performance that they wouldn't be willing to go under though. Case in point, Skyrim sold decent on Switch, and it ran beautifully on it because it wasn't a very recent game. I'd be surprised to hear that something that runs at 360p like Wolfenstein II and which didn't ship complete on the cartridge, would ever perform well at retail. I could be wrong, but I don't think so.
@N8tiveT3ch The latter. It only ever would be the latter.
@Stocksy I believe you're right. I dont think the Nintendo audience has been given a proper chance to prove themselves as 'hardcore' or 'mature' gamers. Publishers just kind of assume we want family-oriented games by default.
Many mature games on the Wii didn't sell: Well, Nintendo was heavily catering to a non-gaming and casual audience. Of course they weren't going to sell very well.
Many mature games on the Wii U didn't sell: The Wii U's install base wasn't very big.
Some speculate that games like Doom didn't sell very well on Switch: Well, if publishers stopped throwing us ports, maybe more people would buy these type of games. Lots of gamers had already played games like Doom on other systems.
So, devs and publishers, can you actually give us a better chance without being so persuaded by past / flawed consoles and old ports?
.....but of course, i could be wrong. Just my opinion.
Well of course it. Just because of Nintendo’s legacy, any retro gamer will always go for their console as it is the only true original gaming platform left. Every gamer alive today has had Nintendo available to them since childhood and will have a natural ‘member berry nostalgia chord to be plucked that will always make them gravitate to that platform.
Not only does that equal 101%, but what about PC sales?
@PanurgeJr not true, I bet black ops and battlefield would sell phenomenally well in Switch right now. Not gonna happen though
Can you imagine if Sonic Mania never came to the Switch like it originally was, Sega would be losing money on a lot of retro Sonic Switch fans. Like Sonic Generations, Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2, and Sonic 2006, Sonic Mania was never intend to come to a Nintendo console as Sonic Forces was suppose to be meant for Nintendo's system, glad that change for the better.
Lego the Incredible that is on #2
46% PS4,
30% Xbox One
23% Nintendo Switch
So this makes the PS4 "Kiddy"?
Some games resonate on one platform others do on another. Sonic fits Nintendo well. I love seeing Sonic next to Mario on my Switch 😏
"Retro" is by far a bigger thing on Switch.
@diablo2 you are right....
If released at same time big named games would sell as well.
Doom launches on all three at same time it sells well on switch.
People who owned it already... (I owned it twice) didn’t wanna pay full price for it - (I did anyway)
It’s not a level playing field - when it is - proportionally speaking switch holds it own or out performs
Bought it on launch day for Switch and still haven't found time to play it yet
You’re welcome, Sega. And thank u.
Good for Sonic.
Sonic Mania Plus sold ~8000 retail copies at launch, with half of that (~4000 copies) coming from the Switch version.
For a year-old physical re-release, these are pretty decent numbers, but they aren't particularly noteworthy in the grand scheme of things. I'm still much more interested in how much the original Sonic Mania sold last year.
The Switch is mostly played by adults and therefore it makes sense that a retro game from their era would sell so well there. Every single person I know on the Switch is an adult and all the kids/teenagers I know don’t own it and aren’t that interested, mostly as they can’t afford to pay for it or parents won’t pay for another console.
The Switch is the busy adults console of choice.
It just irks me when people say Nintendo is for kids
So this isn't surprising to me, because Sega and Nintendo play well together. I happened to have bought it on Switch as well. Flying to China in a few months, and I think this will be a fun time killer. I've already passed the first three worlds with sonic, and the first two with Knuckles. I'm happy for SEGA that this is selling.
My thought, and I'd love other's opinions, SEGA supported Wii with Mad World, and House of the Dead: Overkill. I'm not too keen on trying to play an onrails shooter on switch, but would love to see Mad World again. I still own it on Wii, and have beaten it, but I would gladly buy it again.
Also, someone much more knowledgeable than me, how hard would it be to recreate Mad World on Switch. I don't think it would be too graphically intensive on the system. It would be a day 1 purchase for me. That game should have had a much larger audience. One of my top 5 favorite games on Wii.
Pleased to see high numbers on switch it shows a lot of us old school gamers are supporting Nintendo. A new 2d mario game please.
Imported mine from Japan... that edition is simply gorgeous.
!! SUBARASHI !!
"The Switch has no games" yet games are selling on the switch
@Anguspuss well it was a sleeper hit for ages in digital so its not exactly a new release. Even Minecraft Switch retail wasn't huge. Sonic Mania 2 with the right promotion can be massive
@ShadowWarrior that meme got old very quickly. I'm surprised people still say it unironically.
@IronMan30
Just the PlayStation fanboys thats all lol
@ShadowWarrior Yeah, for the most part it is them.
People will argue about it being a kids game, but a lot of kids prefer GTA V and COD to old school games like this. I have students whose English consist solely of swear words they learned from GTA...
The Switch Accounted For 52% Of Sonic Mania Plus' Launch Week Sales, LUL. when you barely have any real 3rd party support trash like sonic sells great.
Junk ware and shovel ware that switch has tons of does not count as real 3rd party support.
It's easy: what platform do we want to play a great looking 2D game on in short bursts?
The PS4 and Xbone are for longer online sessions, possibly with kids insulting your mom, or for very long solo games. That's how I see it.
Bought it digitally because I was impatient but also got it physically for my birthday.
1. There is a lack of physical games on the Switch this could be a reason more Switch gamers bought it.
2. The handheld obviously sells games for the Switch, especially as 3ds new games are almost at extinction level.
3. Because the Switch is still the new kid on the block and many gamers with two consoles will favour the handheld for playing Sonic. But if Nintendo is not careful the handheld part of the Switch will be used by gamers with two consoles as their handheld console only, all other big games will be bought for the the main home console for the better graphics, costing Nintendo sales.
6. For the Nintendo gamer (as opposed to the player who will buy a Switch today and a year later trade it or just get board with it and let it gather dust it a cupboard); the Switch is now part of the furniture and gamers want to know what's next. New Games, a new 3ds what?
At one time it was rumoured that Nintendo wanted to make one game that will play on both consoles, home and handheld. This way seperate games would not have to be made and sales of games would be bigger. If this is the Switch, great, but the loss of the 3ds and better home console graphics is a price to much to pay.
@Kosmo good point, but the 3ds fits easily in the pocket ideal for a quick play at home or on the go. The Switch is still large and not pocket friendly, and has a short battery life.
I'm sure the Nintendo audience helped, but there was also widespread information about bugs in the PS4 version (well, more bugs than the Switch). The most serious bugs were not fixed on PS4 until the release of Mania Plus just recently, which is quite a terrible way to treat your customers.
Am I going crazy or 52+34+15 = 101? Me here thinking percentages of a whole need to add up to 100%. Also, the U.S. figures were not taken into account, because they still registering them.
Are we talking about physical copies? Because multiplatform games usually have a larger physical ratio on Switch.
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