Yesterday, UK chart data showed that Shin Megami Tensei V managed to earn a ninth-place spot in its opening week on the market. For a JRPG exclusive to a Nintendo platform in a physical-only UK chart, that's pretty impressive going, and further analysis offers a better insight into just how well it's performed.
GamesIndustry.biz's Christopher Dring has shared some interesting sales comparisons between Atlus' new game and previous JRPG releases in the UK. He notes that SMTV managed "60% more sales at launch than Bravely Default II, 43% more than Monster Hunter Stories 2 and 23% more than Tales of Arise". As a reminder, all of this data relates to boxed sales only.
Of course, the past few years have shown that the UK's attitude towards Nintendo appears to be shifting somewhat. For a lengthy period, PlayStation and Xbox titles dominated the charts, as well as store shelves, but with the success of Switch, it's not uncommon to see half of the top ten being gobbled up by Nintendo these days.
Perhaps this is what's helped Shin Megami Tensei V to sell so well during its opening weekend? Or maybe it's just because the game's "a modern masterpiece." Either way, the future's looking a little brighter for UK JRPG fans.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 36
Nintendo is gaining momentum in UK compared to 3ds era. Although JRPG's outside FF continue to be niche market alas.
Still need to buy, just waiting for pay day. The wait gets worse as it goes on however; all I am getting in my Youtube recommended are SMTV boss fights. Haven't watched any, but seeing the thumbnails is annoying as heck.
Well deserved!! I have about 20 hours on the game and it is epic!!! Maybe the best RPG of 2021.
Shame Pokemons about to release and blow that away
@Munchlax sadly
I am getting Pokémon too, but I did get SMT V even while I am not playing it for another month or two, but Atlus deserves my money for this and I knew I wanted this one 100%.
SMT V deserves its success due to the quality of the game alone. It's the best game in the series for me so far. It should be able to sell far more copies so that more people can enjoy it, but as we all know, we live in a clown world where this is going to sell maybe 2-3 million copies while Pokemon BDSP is going to sell at least 10 million.
It's honestly surprising how well this game seems to sell.
Here in germany, I wanted to buy the game physical on day one.
Got to some stores in the evening after work and had to notice: I couldn't get it anywhere. Looked on Amazon and there it also was sold out.
Ended up buying it digitally, but wow, I don't know how many copies were actually on the market, but I didn't expect that to happen at all.
I expect similar results all around Europe considering the impeccable marketing campaign Nintendo (they're the publisher of SMTV in the region) put together.
Anyway I'm loving the game, of the best jrpgs I've ever played in a long time.
Cannot wait to eventually sink my teeth into this, just another four hundred games to play first.
Well deserved. This game will probably be my favourite new game of 2021 - and I've never played anything from these series up to this point.
Good, SMT V deserves it. Genuinely a bigger fan of mainline than Persona too so I’m all for this game getting a larger audience.
Kinda interested to see how big the 2nd week drop will be as it's usually very steep for JRPGs.
Persona 5's launch sales were roughly 3× higher than that of SMTV (digital sales back in 2017 were way lower than they are now) but it's 2nd week drop exceeded 95%.
The Switch is a JRPG powerhouse! Love it
Tales of Arise is also very good. Everyone should pick that up alongside SMTV
This really is lovely to hear and we’ll deserved. The game is living up to my expectations so far.
the game is already in the 11 position in the best selling ranking of the eshop here in brazil, this is kinda huge tbh
@MS7000 I would stay off YouTube until I had the game. Had to do it myself for Monster Hunter Rise. But SMT V is really an amazing game!
Gorgeous music and atmosphere ! SMT never disappoints.
Words can't describe how good this game is. Well deserved!
I am having a reeeaaally hard time swallowing the design of the main protagonist.
Also, ... do I need to play the other SMT games to understand this one? ._.
besides the technical issues because of the Switch being so weak Shin Megami Tensei 5 quality wise is just amazing I'm over 20 hours and loving the game so far, might even be the best JRPG on Switch
Ouch to Tales of Arise
How does it compare to Persona 5/Royale and Tokyo Mirage Sessions?
@locky-mavo basically the same turn-based combat from persona 5 but with little differences that makes it harder than persona, also there is more exploration in the world map instead of the calendar/school daily life and social events that makes the game feels like a visual novel sometimes
Hopefully, my copy will arrive tomorrow. I can't wait! I've actually passed on a few RPG's I've wanted (Ys IX, Nocturne for example) because I knew once SMTV came out, they'd end up on the back burner anyway.
@MS7000 Had to unsub from buffmaister for that reason, I want to play this game as blind as possible
30 hours in now. Literally can't stop playing it. Despite dropping most of the things that made older games in the series artificially difficult, it's still a wonderfully challenging experience on normal difficulty. Atlus outdid themselves.
@lokozar SMT V is an original story. No experience with previous entries in the series is needed.
@Strumpan I am not sure if I am going to stay off at the moment, but I am certainly going to be more cautious of which videos I look at for the time being.
@Quizler I've never been subbed to him, but his videos are everywhere in my recommended. I've watched a couple before for other games so I guess Youtube thinks I am interested in only his vids or something, heck knows.
If the games you want have not or are not been released for whatever reason at the moment, do you look to buy something you would not normally play?
I think this is s a reason for higher sales. I don't want Mario Party and Advanced wars has been pushed back until next year. And I was looking at Shin Megami Tensei V reviews, not because I would normally buy this game but because of the lack of game releases at this time of the year.
Shin Megami Tensei V is not for me, but it could have been, I guess.
@Ralizah
Thank you. Guess, I'll give it a spin, then.
UK is still a super tiny market, accounting for only a few % of total global sales. Nonetheless, it can still be useful for comparative analysis and trend detection.
SMTV sold out complete on BestBuy, seems to also have sold out on Target (only digital now shows in a search) and Amazon sold out of the steelbook edition, but is getting a new shipment in a week as it says "ships in 7 days"
So it's clearly doing better than expected.
It's so good, too. SO dang good.
I'm gonna wait for the ineviable PC release instead as leak points out to PC and PS4 port.
@Jemusu Well, not everyone has the opportunity to no life this game at launch like I do. It's always a double-edged blade, since you want to play it as much as possible, but if you don't pace yourself, the initial playthrough doesn't last you as long.
@lokozar Excellent. Nahobino's design is a little odd, but you get used to it quickly. The demons, music, and fantastic gameplay are the stars of the show here.
Glad to see SMT getting what it deserves. I mean SMT > Persona.
Hope this manages to push the franchise further as SMTV and DQXI are one of the best turn based JRPGs out there.
@felip
How’s it compare sales wise? Was my question.
Tales of arise by far the better game.
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