Metroid Dread Had The Strongest Opening Month Of Any Metroid Game Ever In The US

I hope this bodes well for Prime 4.

It's odd to see metroid at the top of the world, my entire life I've heard of these old games that Nintendo neglected then suddenly, boom, with one game and one big push for the series, it's been planted as one of Nintendo's most interesting series. I personally think infact, that is it the best series Nintendo has after playing all the main line games now

Great news…..hope we get ports of other Metroid games or gaps filled in the eshop like (fusion & zero)

And I still need to buy this game. Lol

The reason Metroid Dread had the best opening month of any Metroid game ever is because Nintendo has advertised the bejesus out of it. They've never advertised any other Metroid game as much as they advertised Metroid Dread.

Sure they've had one or two adverts for past Metroid games but with Dread they hit us with a new trailer every week for about 6 weeks prior to launch. They hit the world up on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube - as many outlets as they could. Essentially spending money to make money and boy did it pay off for them.

Of course it helped that the game lived up to the hype because if it hadn't then all the adertising would have been for nothing. But fortunately the game has great visuals and audio, great story and great gameplay. Even the voice acting was well done.

I'm not really sure if the other games in the series were big competition, but it's good news!

Hopefully we see Samus more often.

Let's do some math:

> Back in November 2002, Metroid Prime sold ~363,400 copies in the US.
> GCN games were priced at $50, so that means it generated ~$18.17 million in revenue.
> Since Metroid Dread's launch month retail dollar sales nearly doubled that of Metroid Prime, we can calculate that Metroid Dread generated ~$36 million in revenue.
> Given that Switch games are priced at $60, we calculate that Metroid Dread sold ~600,000 copies in October 2021.
> However, some people bought the Metroid Dread Special Edition, which retailed at $90. This means the actual retail sales of Metroid Dread were a bit below 600,000 copies - probably 580,000-590,000.

Either way, it's a huge launch for a Metroid game. A 30% digital share would put Metroid Dread's total US launch sales at 830,000-840,000 if my previous calculations were correct.

Proper avertising works wonders huh?

Glad it's doing well.

It'd be nice if we could get a compilation akin to the Castlevania ones. Metroid, Metroid II, Super Metroid, Fusion, and Zero Mission all in one package.

@westman98 always appreciate your analysis, this is excellent news if the numbers are correct!

https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/12/22776640/nintendo-switch-oled-sales-october-2021-doug-bowser-interview

Nintendo provided some numbers for October 2021 in the US:
> Switch sales: 711,000 (314,000 for the OLED model)
> Metroid Dread sales: 854,000 (including digital)

Switch sold 736,000 in October 2020, so sales declined 3.5% compared to last year due to lack of OLED model stock. Nintendo could have probably sold up to 1 million Switch units had they supplied enough OLED models to meet demand.

Either way, it was a massive month for Nintendo.

@Zag_Man I agree the EMMIs were a bit annoying. Even worse, they were repetitive. It’s a short game and EMMIs and Chozo Soldiers were used over and over with little differences.
It’s a solid fun game for sure, but not the 10 this site gave it. It’s not a 10 in graphics, gameplay, originality, music, replay ability or any category.
I’m glad the game is doing well. I want more Metroid. This was more of the same of what we’ve played on DS (which is a good thing). The next 2D game needs to push 2D Metroid to the next level. More involvement from Nintendo can do that (instead of farming everything out).

@Ravenmaster Definitely a big part of it, but I think the massive resurgence of 2D Metroidvanias in the indie space over the last decade has played a big part in it too. Genre is bigger than it’s ever been thanks to affordable indies and there’s bound to be a lot of people buying Dread/getting into the Metroid series retroactively after falling in love with Hollow Knight, Ori etc.

@justin233 I’m crap with horror games (barely scraped through to the end of Last of Us/Part 2 and had to play them during the day) but I got through Dread fine! The EMMI bits are definitely intense but the fact they’re gated off in their own parts of the map at least lets you prepare yourself for them instead of scaring you out of nowhere.

@justin233 they aren’t scary at all.

Metroid US launch month sales:
> Metroid Prime: ~363,000
> Metroid Fusion: ~200,000
> Metroid Zero Mission: ~152,000
> Metroid Prime 2 Echoes: ~192,000
> Metroid Prime Pinball: ~6,000
> Metroid Prime Hunters: ~122,000
> Metroid Prime 3 Corruption: ~218,000
> Metroid Prime Trilogy: ~34,000
> Metroid Other M: ~173,000
> Metroid Prime Federation Force: ~30,000
> Metroid Samus Returns: ???
> Metroid Dread: ~854,000

Metroid Dread had a bigger launch than Metroid Prime 1 + 2 + 3 combined.

I mean is that really a hard thing to do given the success of the series and the success of the switch

@blindsquarel if the people saying piracy was going to kill the metroid franchise are to be believed, yes

Well earned, I'd say. I generally don't like the genre but Dread was the first game in the series I gave a serious effort and I absolutely loved it. Perhaps I'll go back and try some of the older titles at some point. Not now, though, there's too much on my plate as is!

So. Metroid Prime at the Video Game Awards then. It seems to be a good place to show it off.

@Zag_Man yeah I agree it’s the same way to kill the EMMIs and it’s not all that fun to do gameplay wise.
What we personally give the game is different than what a website reviewer would give it. They need to be more critical and not a fanboy score. I’d probably give it an 8.5 because of the reasons I mentioned. Nintendo can make more 10s than anybody. This just isn’t one of them (and again, it wasn’t really Nintendo).

this is what us Metroid fans like to hear

Hearing the game selling well makes me so happy. I think we may finally be entering a new Metroid Golden Age.

So glad it's a success! It will sell over 5 millions in total, mark my words.

Nice that it is selling well but i hated the game and took it back and got my money back..The game was worse than the other M..Thank goodness for super metroid.. the best metroid game ever made

@EVIL-C Sets a very high bar too. MP4 is going have to be pretty good to equal or even top Dread.

@westman98 What's your source?

@BTB20
Old NPD data that I have collected over the years, from back when NPD actually divulged sales data in detail.

I really hope this along with the Prime 1 remaster and Prime 4 convinces Nintendo to put more Metroid titles on Switch

@westman98 Proud owner of the collector edition here 🤗

I'm definitely rooting against RGT's bet that'll it'll sell under 3 million copies in its first year. 🚀🚀🚀

@Gwynbleidd
Never underestimate the success of Metroidvania games. To this day, the genre is going very strong (Hollow Knight is an excellent example) and Metroid Dread is what truly defines a modern 2D game. Sometimes, the simplest of games is all people need, and Metroid is especially no exception considering how long people have been waiting for a next good, NEW entry into the series (Samus Returns almost counts, but it's a remake and it got swept under the rug by the Switch's launch).

@westman98 Wished they'd still do that.

@FixLagBrosLag What'does he have to do if he loses? Start scripting his Youtube videos? He tends to repeat himself in the same sentence by repeating what he says. (and I feel my iq lower listening to him.)

After finishing Dread I have come to the conclusion that I prefer the Prime series over the newer 2D series.
The slower pace and exploration and atmosphere in the Prime series is what I love about them, scanning the environment to discover lore etc.
Dread feels more like a run and gun boss rush action game than an exploration game.
Not my sort of Metroid which is disappointing.

I'm glad others are enjoying it but I'm going to patiently wait for Prime 4.

@Freek Just replayed Prime and currently going through Prime 2 again and can totally see what you mean. I love both styles but yeah, the Prime games feel very different. The core is the same but they take very different approaches. Hopefully Prime 4 delivers for you!

@larryisaman
Yeah they're both different but I enjoy Prime"s style more.
Still enjoyed Dread just not as much as I thought I would.
Can't wait for Prime.
Best thing about Dread doing well is hopefully it means more Metroid.
Win, win in my book.

I'm hoping prime 4 is more consistent with the core Metroid games, in art style and ememies. I would like to see EMMI or X Parasites turning up in Prime 4. It was a shame that when Prime introduced Dark Samus, Fusion introduced SAX, which is pretty much the same idea. If they had communicated, Prime could have felt more like a coherent part of the series, rather than a spin off. Before someone tells me that Prime is set prior to Metroid 2, at the time of making the games, this retcon had not been decided yet.

So how many copies has been sold?
Do we have official numbers? Those above seem a little low to me 🥺

@somebread
Piracy is everywhere like it or not. The sales of Metroid are like or again king being the most successful paper Mario. It is really not that hard to do this day and age

Deservedly so its amazing, finally nailed the final boss a few days ago:)

Testament to a damn good game 👏

so happy the Metroid franchise is finally having the regonition it deserve.

@Freek My first time through Dread I was frustrated when I noticed how strongly it was gating access to the map to push you forward.

If the exploration and immersion in the environment is your favorite part of Metroid (it might be my favorite part) I think that is going to be a natural response to this game.

I then went to 100% it and that was pretty fun! Next I played it through on hard and couldn't help pushing through some places to explore and there are come nice tricky ways to get around the gating and force your way. Sequence breaking stuff. It had more ability to explore than I initially thought and, really, I love the game now.

Still, I'm hoping this means the Prime games will be the one to favor exploration and immersion more. That is what Super Metroid accomplished (and even Metroid) compared to their contemporaries of the day.

@NWC I had some frustration during the first play through, but came around to love the game, myself.

Just mentioning it because Super Metroid remains my favorite. Though, the first Prime has been a close second, Dread is in that top 3 now, I think.

Given how Metroid performs in NA compared to Japan, this is impressive.

@aaronsullivan well i sold my copy and have no regrets..it was a very boring game

It's pretty insane. Dread has already now sold more copies than every other metroid game ever made (including remakes) combined. Nobody ever really liked or cared about the metroid games. Especially in Japan where they always seem to only sell like 300,000 copies per game. No wonder Nintendo doesn't like making new metroid games, because nobody buys them. They're a hyper niche thing. I'm not including the metroid prime games or Other M in this by the way, as those are all spin offs, they're not full-blooded metroid games. Metroid Prime has always been way more popular than the main series.

But yeah, thank god for Mercury Stream. They've only gone and made literally the best metroidvania ever created. No hyperbole. It's the first one I've tried that I didn't hate, I usually loathe these games. But for some reason I was so tempted to buy it, so I did, and then forced myself to play it every day so that I could not get stuck and give up like I always do with Metroidvanias. But after a few days I didn't have to force myself to play it any more. I looked forward to it. I woke up every morning excited to play it. So that really says a lot. It's the metroidvania that's finally managed to convert me to the genre. I understand why these are so beloved now.

I just really hope this isn't the final metroid game like Nintendo are saying. I suppose they could make a spin off that plays exactly the same but call them the Samus games. But that would be stupid. Just keep calling them metroid games. And let Mercury Stream make all of them.

Now I've somehow got to get my hands on a 2nd hand 3DS and a copy of Samus Returns, so that I can get more of this mercury stream goodness. I never had a 3DS before. And this is what has made me decide to finally buy one. Better now than later on down the line, too, because 3DS's will only grow in price as time goes on and they become more and more rare