Pokémon Legends: Arceus has scored the best debut of any Pokémon title, according to the boffins at Gamesight.
The firm compared the first 72 hours of engagement with similar timeframes for each of the series' recent launches, finding that Arceus "significantly outpaced" the debuts of Pokémon Sword & Shield, Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu & Eevee!, and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl.
In fact, Gamesight states that peak viewership for Arceus was almost twice the peak viewership of Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, which was the previous record-holder for the series. However, despite posting improved numbers over its forerunner, Arceus was only the top hit on Twitch for its launch day.
Here's some more insight:
The astonishing thing is that even though its viewership data is better across the board compared to earlier Pokémon games, it only peaked as the #1 watched game on Twitch during its launch day. This goes to show just how many people watch streaming platforms now. It's difficult for even a new, ultra hyped release, such as Pokémon Legends: Arceus, to retain the top spot for an extended period of time.
Arceus was able to retain an ACV (average concurrent viewer) count of 200,000+ for nearly all of Friday and Saturday. It also had 20k more total streams and 100k more hours streamed than Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl. This shows that it's not just larger streamers carrying the numbers, but Twitch as a whole.
[source blog.gamesight.io]
Comments 28
This game really is beast.
Arceus is shining brighter than a diamond.
It was absolutely WILD to see the Twitch viewership numbers on launch day.
There were about 129,700 people watching Fortnite. And 390,000 were watching Pokemon Legends: Arceus.
That's amazing!
Fair enough too. The game's has plenty of major flaws but for the most part it's still pretty fun. Easily the best Pokemon game on the Switch so far.
Fun game! But I doubt TPC/GF would just drop their traditional RPGs for this one in light of the success its receiving in multiple outlets. Since they want newcomers to still experience the old formula. Just like how they're forcing Ash to stay 10 for 25 years in the shows so that the kids can relate xD
Hopefully Legends can become mainline in its own way.
@Zyph What I'd like to see is something in between. Keep the open maps and Pokemon catching of Legends: Arceus but also incorporate elements of the older games into it like trainer battles and gyms, the proper battle system, breeding, competitive multiplayer, etc.
Interesting that Lets Go maintained viewership much better than the games with larger peaks.
@Munchlax
I think that's largely due to Let's Go's shiny hunting, it's one of the most accessible and rewarding because the chain is quick to set up, and then you spawn in overworld encounters until the shiny appears.
I found it curious that they listed Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, which like most 3DS games are difficult to stream owing to having no simple capture solution, or having to rely on emulation.
@BenAV Totally agree! For the most part what Arceus lacked for me were some of the mechanics and design elements from the previous games.
Noticed it on release that it did way better than other Pokémon games.
I'm hoping it leads to more companies outright ripping off the Pokémon formula and making something better (and multi-platform). Tem Tem came close but didn't innovate that much, and didn't look that great, graphically.
@CharlieGirl honestly I’m surprised that many people are still watching fortnite, lol. Don’t get me wrong it’s a pretty fun game the community just sucks.
@BenAV That would be a great wait to improve on it!'
I'm loving the game so much, I'm pretty much hooked on all the pokemon games I play, but I have never played one this much, its so much fin!
@PARK1755 false. The game sucks too.
@Lordplops opinions will be opinions I guess.
PLA is absolutely huge right now on Twitch, I'm even seeing non-Pokemon streamers playing it and getting addicted to it, it's wild. It reminds me a lot of ACNH when that first came out how massive it was.
@Lordplops
@yuwarite Sometimes rip-offs and "inspired by" games are a bit too conservative in my opinion.
I think sometimes they try to evoke the original so much that they'll fail to make innovations out of fear of being too different.
The idea of catching Pokemon without battling (or a catch sequence like Lets Go/Go) would be unthinkable to it's copies, but it's something that Gamefreak has adapted into their games with PLA. In a way the original can be bolder in changing or rewriting its conventions than a copy.
@Dr_Lugae The story is also far more mature than I could've expected. Injury and even death actually existing and being firmly acknowledged throughout the game is something that still feels bizarre to see in an actual Pokemon game and not a rom hack or something. The characters are far more fleshed out as well with actual backstories at points like Adaman, Irida, Kamado and basically all the wardens as well, it's incredible.
@yuwarite If you think anyone is going to beat Pokémon at the monster hunting genre, you are unfortunately deluding yourself.
@BenAV I would like to see something like Gyms return, but trainer battles absolutely suck compared to being out in the world and fighting wild Pokémon. The pace is just a complete crawl in comparison. If they bring back more trainer battles, they need to be very careful with the implementation.
@Troll_Decimator Very few developers in recent years have even bothered to try, so how can you be so sure of that? And by "beating" I'm not talking about sales, but in terms of better graphics, gameplay, actual good story with voice acting and a proper online mode.
@yuwarite I'm talking about the exact same thing. The games will inevitably be in Pokemon's shadow, so without the sales they won't be able to compete. Without sales, what makes you think they can somehow have a better looking, sounding, and more balanced game? The budget is a direct function of sales potential.
@Troll_Decimator Your logic doesn't make sense. They would need to actually create the game first before they understand balance issues or attain any sales, not the other way around. And the budget would depend on the studio and publisher involved, and how much they are willing to invest in a new franchise. Pokémon's multi-billion dollar success itself could be a determining factor for budget. They wouldn't neccessarily be trying to compete, but capitalise on the market that likes Pokémon style games, but wants something more AAA in scope. And now that Arceus shows how a Pokémon game can translate to a true 3D environment, these companies have a blueprint as to how they could adapt their 3D engines to a Pokémon-style game of their own.
I had never properly played a full Pokémon game before. Now I'm addicted to Arceus. And I know more people who are in the same situation as me. Let's see what the numbers related to this game might reach
@yuwarite I mean, my point is proven by the fact that nobody has achieved anything like this so far. Surely, they are not just dumb as you are insinuating, they just don't think they can compete. And they are right. You are not a marketing and game developing genius, you simply don't know what you are talking about.
To me, this speaks more to the overall usage of Twitch for watching streaming versus the popularity of the games. There's a lot more people on Twitch now than there were before. The graph shows the more recent the release was, the more viewership it had. From what I can tell, Arceus is a good game, but there's just more people watching Twitch in general now than there used to be.
@Troll_Decimator And my point is, up until now, there hasn't really been a successful example to show how well a modern Pokemon game could translate to a full 3D environment for companies to bother to even try. Arceus was one step towards showing how a Pokemon style game could successfully translate to a modern open world game, with online rpg elements, and how it could use a contemporary 3D game engine.
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