UK Charts: Animal Crossing Retakes Second, But Pikmin 3 Sees Disappointing Drop

On one hand, Nintendo have no one but themselves to blame for charging 50 quid for a port of a 7 year old Wii U game, in which the series already has a niche audience. On the other hand, this is a real shame, because you can't help but wonder what the future holds for the series.

Probably the last we'll see Nintendo take up the majority of the chart for a while now that the Xbox Series X will be out tomorrow and PS5 out next week.

Shame to see Pikmin 3 Deluxe drop all the way down to 27th spot, but I guess that’s what you get when Nintendo take a lovable, yet admittedly niche, last-gen title and slap a full £50/$60 price tag on the cover. If this was closer to £35/$40, I’m sure it would still be in the top ten.

Sad for Pikmin 3, was expecting it to fall out of the to 10 but not all the way to 27th.

@fox_mattcloud should never be 50 quid. 34.99 or something. 50 quid for a remaster/port is ridiculous - think of the pelters EA got for charging 45 for burnout! Nintendo seems to get a bit of a pass for being Nintendo.

@syrupdash I mean, you say that - but they have practically no games! Miles Morales will do OK - but I don’t think we’ll see many PS5 and Series X/S games dominating the top 10 for a while.

@Krull I was gonna say the exact same thing. I think it’ll be a while yet before we see PS5 and XBOX Series X exclusives dominate the charts.

Wait, WHAT ?! 😮
LOL Surprise Remix was on 10th position ?! 🤣🤣🤣
Salute from me for appreciation of Girly games. 👍

@The_Pixel_King Also new Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty. Those are big sellers as well.

For instance I'm getting AC with my XBOX Series X tomorrow (though, it won't matter here since I'm not in the UK)

@Mdhoover The only criticism I see of this game is the price. Seeing its chart position, I think the UK public largely agree. So in no way has Nintendo got a pass this time around. So hopefully lesson learned, because I've been loving Pikmin 3 deluxe and I'm someone who put 100 hours into the Wii U version.

It holds up extremely well but the price is just too high.

Animal crossing is just printing money worldwide, and to think there is still the holiday season to come.

That game in 10th says it all really, game sales must be bad in the UK atm

@UltimateOtaku91

Why does that say it all? People just have to buy games you like for a chart to be credible?

6 Switch titles in the top 10, another strong week for Switch.

Next week will be interesting but I don't expect any major differences as frankly the Series X is launching with no exclusive games. AC Valhalla or CoD Black Ops will take no.1 and 2 between them which was always going to happen and maybe games like NBA 2K21 may get a bump but I still expect to see Switch games in the mix.

The following week after the launch of the PS5 will shake things up where the top 10 will be a mix of Sony and Nintendo titles.

Edit: Sony games will impact next weeks chart so next week will be the shake up. Still expect to see a couple of Switch evergreens in the top ten.

@TheFullAndy games like that are so niche, maybe sell a couple thousand that's why you never see them in the charts, so see it in the top 10 tells me that games sales are slipping atm, maybe due to the next gen consoles coming out this week unless this weeks charts include xbox series X and ps5 copies aswell

Super Mario 3D All Stars continuing to do well. Still my favourite release of 2020 on any format, so far.

I imagine most Switch owners haven't played Pikmin 1 or 2, so may be put off by jumping in on the third entry? Would be nice to have the originals on the eShop, but I just know they'd get the pricing wrong.

@UltimateOtaku91

Games sales were up 13% over last week and a number of Switch games saw a boost.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-11-08-slight-jump-in-boxed-game-sales-as-lockdown-returns-uk-boxed-charts

Personally I think it is a sign of a healthy chart when niche games can break into the top ten in November.

I would have bought a Pikmin Trilogy day one but Pikmin 3 is an eventual purchase. I might have been in more of a rush for it if they said it would only be available for 6 months or was a more budget release. I have only recently bought Super Mario Bros U Deluxe so shows the urgency with which I am picking up these Wii U titles.

Welp. Looks like we aren't getting Pikmin 4, knowing Nintendo's way of doing things if the absence of F-Zero has anything to say about it.
"If it doesn't sell, we abandon it."

Pikmin is still doing ok on the e-shop. I wouldn't write it off just yet.

I guess next week will be Animal Crossing and MK8 Deluxe among a sea of PS5 and multiplatform titles.

Something like:
1. CoD Black Ops Cold War
2. Assassin's Creed Valhalla
3. Spider-Man Miles Morales
4. Demon's Souls
5. FIFA 21
6. Animal Crossing New Horizons
7. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
8. Sackboy A Big Adventure
9. Godfall
10. Yakuza Like a Dragon

@Grumblevolcano

PS5 is out the week after so probably won't impact next week's charts.

Nintendo know pikmin is not a strong franchise sales wise so why they stick a premium price for a port of a 7 year old game is beyond me

@TheFullAndy While PS5 launches November 19th in the UK, the PS5 launch titles still release on November 12th. You just basically have unusable discs for a week.

@Grumblevolcano

Ah OK, then yeah I would say you are pretty much spot on.

I mean, Ive played Pikmin on WiiU so I haven't bought it. Its like, surely Nintendo knows that remakes won't always be new best sellers. I mean, singers don't constantly re-release old songs and expect Billboard top 10 hits....

This is game was not to jump high tho it might have sold sales thought the holiday season.

There are a few factors at play here. Firstly the lack of marketing. Today is the first real piece of marketing I have seen with the game reviews included - great to see Switch Player Magazine in there!- and that looks like Nintendo are now trying to get it out there more.
Another issue, as many have already mentioned is the fact that £50 for a 7 year old game is never going to go down well with consumers unless the game is extra special. Personally, I love the game but £50 was steep. Nintendo though don’t do cheap or mass sales with big discounts because they always want to protect their IP’s. If you go into a GAME store or Gamestop etc depending on your geographical location and look at the PS or XB second hand games, you can pick up AAA games for £20-£25. Look at Zelda BOTW for example and even second hand it still sells for £45!
Timing also isn’t great. Nintendo fans will pick games like this up no matter what in the majority of situations but many gamers are currently saving cash for the next gen consoles. With the global pandemic making money tight for all, money on 7 year old remakes isnt high on priorty lists.
Yet still Nintendo rules the charts so they won’t be losing much if any sleep over this but it is disappointing nonetheless.

@jarvismp also Switch uses cartridges and discs are so easy to make quickly and low costs

I'm appointed, not disappointed. The worse this game does, the better - the more likely they'll drop the price or at least be less likely to pull something like this in the future.

Pikmin 3 is doing fine in Japan, tho.

I know this might hurt, but UK sales aren't super important.

@BeefsoundMagnus Honestly, it shot itself in the foot. I love pikmin 3 to death but the $60 price point for what seemed to be a lazy port with co-op mode (which is honestly incredible) and a few hours of extra content just seemed greedy.

Pikmin is a niche series and a rare breed. RTS games in general aren't as popular as they used to be and they were never as popular on consoles as PC.

Not surprising, but such a shame about Pikmin. Every series that failed on other consoles ans thrived on Switch.....but poor Pikmin can't even thrive on Switch....

So LOL Surprise Remix and Paw Patrol, two random licensed games nobody has ever heard of, outperformed Dirt 5 and Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered (and by a significant margin, no less)??

The UK retail market is crazy.

At least the market for weird licensed games seems to exist - I thought it had died out after the NDS/Wii era came to an end.

Not surprising. I wasn't going to buy a 7-year-old game I already own for €60. If it had been a trilogy with the first two remastered it would be a no brainer. Or at a reduced price, €30 maybe. Oh well, I guess we'll have to wait another decade for Pikmin 4, and Nintendo will wonder why that one failed as well.

@fox_mattcloud Very much agreed. This has me worried about one of Nintendo's most unique/charming franchises.

@sanderev Enjoy my friend! I hope to pick up a PS5 in the coming weeks.. if I can find one that is!

I'm surprised Pikmin 3 made it to top 10 in the first place anyway. I think the Switch version appears the definitive way to play but hard to tell until I complete it.

I will never understand the appeal of those L.O.L Surprise things. And I was once the target demographic.

Something I don't get, why didn't Nintendo specifically advertise it's totally fine to play as your first Pikmin game? I wasn't sure if I was going to get it until someone told me it didn't matter.
Nintendo should've been shouting it from the rooftops, but they didn't. That probably hurt sales.

@Moon I agree. I would love to have all three in there. Heck when I first heard about it I thought they were going to have the others in there or have a bundle deal or something.

If Japanese and digital sales stay strong, Pikmin 3 Deluxe could still be on the way to bring the best selling Pikmin title.

Its a tradegy that people are buying the L.O.L. game for their kids!

I showed my daughter some in game footage to see if she was interested and we both agreed that it looked like some bad unfinished homebrew title from 2001. Contender for worst Switch title. There is no excuse, no matter what age or gender to have to put up with such a badly made cheap looking piece of crap.

Why is lol surprise here? Also, fifa 21?

I figured Pikmin 3 was one of those games where it's got it's fanbase but limited appeal outside of that. I didn't bother with it as I already got it on Wii U and it wasn't exactly a beloved classic for me.

Need fot Speed Remastered and Dirt 5 both had horrific launch sales - under 2,000 copies sold for each. Even a 75% digital attach rate won't save them.

Need for Speed Remastered on Switch and Dirt 5 on next gen launches this week. Neither will perform well.

GTA V still around after 7 years

This is just the UK, calm down! Sales were way better in Japan. I wonder how US Sales are

Welp, I hope it does better. Maybe(hopefully) at least a 1.5 million to maybe even 3 million copies.