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Media Create Sales: CY 2021 (2021 Jan 04 - 2022 Jan 02) [new+used]

They can keep the Kojima nonsense, the Platinum nonsense however...
Platinum should be showing off Bayo 3 this month unless a delay occurs but i wish they went and made Astral Chain 2. Does anyone have numbers to compare both franchises BayovsBayo2vsAsCh?
However considering we havent seen much of Platinums other projects and their mismanagement by Square i feel they are gonna be purchased by someone unless they dont go overbudget with bayo3.
 
I doubt someone will buy Platinum, they mentioned multiple times they basically want an owner that give them bags of cash to continue doing what they are currently doing with total freedom. Good luck finding that.
Tencent?
 
I doubt someone will buy Platinum, they mentioned multiple times they basically want an owner that give them bags of cash to continue doing what they are currently doing with total freedom. Good luck finding that.
Tencent would be the ones to buy them since they already invested some cash into Platinum
 
Platinum should be showing off Bayo 3 this month unless a delay occurs but i wish they went and made Astral Chain 2. Does anyone have numbers to compare both franchises BayovsBayo2vsAsCh?
However considering we havent seen much of Platinums other projects and their mismanagement by Square i feel they are gonna be purchased by someone unless they dont go overbudget with bayo3.
Bayo 3 budget is a Nintendo issue they are the ones paying for it. The issues could come if PG has some performance (related to scores or sales) bonus which they need for financial reasons or they need Nintendo contract work to stay afloat and Nintendo doesnt give them more work if they are not happy with Bayo 3 performance (or they just want to contract PG for Astral Chain and that’s not enough). I think both cases are too extreme and PG will be ‘fine’ but you never know

Well the "good" thing about Tencent buying Platinum is that Tencent has no problem working with Nintendo. =P
Tencent may have different plans for PG than staying a contract work studio like they have been during almost all their history. If that happens then Nintendo would lose PG as a partner, that was the reason why Nintendo bought NLG because they couldnt be sure of having access to NLG as a partner if they were bought by another company. (Im not saying Nintendo should or will buy PG)
 
Bayo 3 budget is a Nintendo issue they are the ones paying for it. The issues could come if PG has some performance (related to scores or sales) bonus which they need for financial reasons or they need Nintendo contract work to stay afloat and Nintendo doesnt give them more work if they are not happy with Bayo 3 performance (or they just want to contract PG for Astral Chain and that’s not enough). I think both cases are too extreme and PG will be ‘fine’ but you never know


Tencent may have different plans for PG than staying a contract work studio like they have been during almost all their history. If that happens then Nintendo would lose PG as a partner, that was the reason why Nintendo bought NLG because they couldnt be sure of having access to NLG as a partner if they were bought by another company. (Im not saying Nintendo should or will buy PG)

Tencent generally doesn't meddle like that, and a Tencent exec also said they want to work on Nintendo IP(and they made Pokémon Unite). People are anxious to be anxious about basically nothing.
 
there are multiple Silent Hill projects. I think Sony has been hinted at working with Bloober Team for a more higher end experience. there's also said to be a Silent Hill game being made by Konami. if anything, I think that one is slated for Switch

as for Metal Gear, I just remembered that Virtuos is making an MGS3 remake. and they touted how they can port anything to Switch
There are also Annapurna Interactive Silent Hill short stories rumored that would most likely find their way to Switch. MGS1/2 remasters were also rumored to release prior to the MGS3 remake and those should probably hit Switch as well even if the latter doesn't pan out.
 
I'll be honest, the Metal Gears I'd really like to see come to Switch are the original MSX2 duo, Ghost Babel, Rising and Ac!d.
 
M-C Switch Top 50 Third Party Titles (Unofficial Rankings)
  1. Momotaro Dentetsu (Konami) - 2.650.704
  2. Minecraft (Microsoft) - 2.281.023
  3. Monster Hunter Rise (Capcom) - 2.201.544
  4. Dragon Quest XI S (Square Enix) - 801.803
  5. Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum 'n' Fun! (Bandai Namco) - 783.811
  6. Fishing Spirits: Nintendo Switch Version (Bandai Namco) - 686.500
  7. Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (Capcom) - 554.914
  8. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (Sega) - 460.214
  9. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (Koei Tecmo) - 412.595
  10. eBaseball 2020 (Konami) - 398.467
  11. Yo-kai Watch 4 (Level 5) - 396.247
  12. Super Bomberman R3 (Konami) - 336.869
  13. Dragon Quest Builders 2 (Square Enix) - 323.878
  14. Jikkyou Baseball (Konami) - 276.458
  15. Baseball Spirits 2021 (Konami) - 273.619
  16. Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town (Marvelous) - 270.501
  17. Octopath Traveller (Square Enix) - 261.115
  18. Human: Fall Flat (Teyon Japan) - 233.436
  19. Monster Hunter Stories 2 (Capcom) - 222.979
  20. Fitness Boxing 2 (Imagineer) - 221.689
  21. Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin (Marvelous) - 213.783
  22. Disney Tsum Tsum Festival (Bandai Namco) - 208.302
  23. Fitness Boxing (Imagineer) - 207.160
  24. Crayon Shin-Chan (Neos) - 198.366
  25. Dragon Ball: Xenoverse 2 (Bandai Namco) - 195.387
  26. Fortine (Epic Games) - 192.955
  27. Shin Megami Tensei V (Atlus) - 186.913
  28. Minecraft Dungeon (Microsoft) - 185.677
  29. One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 (Bandai Namco) - 179.565
  30. The Battle Cats (Ponos) - 176.617
  31. Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town (Marvelous) - 169.899
  32. Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel (Konami) - 168.746
  33. Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission (Bandai Namco) - 161.886
  34. Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 (Sega) - 157.670
  35. Bravely Default II (Square Enix) - 150.875
  36. Rune Factory 5 (Marvelous) - 149.997
  37. Sumikko Park e Youkoso (Nippon Columbia) - 141.722
  38. Derby Stallion (Game Addict) - 140.850
  39. Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 (Sega) - 136.803
  40. Doraemon: Story of Seasons (Bandai Namco) - 136.248
  41. Pro Baseball Famista Evolution (Bandai Namco) - 136.156
  42. FIFA 18 (Electronic Arts) - 127.875
  43. The Snack World: TreJarers Gold (Level 5) - 117.014
  44. Hatsune Miku: Project Diva MegaMix (Sega) - 114.868
  45. Dragon Ball FighterZ (Bandai Namco) - 113.937
  46. Trials of Mana (Square Enix) - 113.671
  47. Super Robot Wars 30 (Bandai Namco) - 110.652
  48. Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle (Koei Tecmo) - 109.969
  49. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot (Bandai Namco) - 104.729
  50. Little Nightmares 2 (Bandai Namco) – 104.310
TOTAL: 18.760.968

Top 10 Publishers:
  1. Konami - 4.104.863 (21.9%)
  2. Capcom - 2.979.437 (15.9%)
  3. Bandai Namco - 2.921.483 (15.6%)
  4. Microsoft - 2.466.700 (13.1%)
  5. Square Enix - 1.651.342 (8.8%)
  6. Other - 1.398.734 (7.5%)
  7. Sega - 869.555 (4.6%)
  8. Marvelous - 804.180 (4.3%)
  9. Koei Tecmo - 522.564 (2.8%)
  10. Level 5 - 513.261 (2.7%)
  11. Imagineer - 428.849 (2.3%)
Tried my best to compile the Top 50 Third Party titles on the Switch, a lot of games that are older have several SKUs - so I might be a bit off and it's also likely I missed certain titles.


Konami is by far the publisher that has had the biggest impact on the Switch. Momotaro is set to surpass 3M physical this year

Capcom with Sunbreak is likely going to close the gap with Konami unless the later have something planned for the later part of the year.

Bandai's year will depend on how the new Taiko does but they also have a couple of other games which could be a factor.

Microsoft is going to be around 3M by the end of the year and with Minecraft Legends next year, continue to be a factor in Japan due to a single IP.

Square already had a decent result with Triangle Strategy, the key for them this year is the Dragon Quest IP and which games are actually going to manage to launch on the Switch.

Smaller publishers continue to be big factor on the Switch, so far this year EXNOA & Aniplex are likely to join the fray knocking off a couple of the lower ranked games.

Sega isnt going to see much changes in it's fortune, Sonic isn't a major IP in Japan and it doesn't appear they have much planned for the Switch beyond it.

Marvelous is likely to catch up to Sega even without a new game this year, they had a record year in 2021 with over 500K sales just across the Top 50 titles, which will be difficult to repeat - Loop8 so far doesn't look like it has enough hype to hit 50K.

Koei Tecmo look like they will see a major growth for Fire Emblem Warriors franchise and its likely to be able to reach the Top 50.

Level 5, not even sure if they will maintain their spot in the Top 50, once Snack World is out of the Top 50 they would be easily caught by any small publisher that is able to find a hit that is able to surpass 400K.

Not surprised to see Imagineer sneaking in, very impressive growth for Fitness Boxing IP.

Overall this year will not have as much of an impact as 2020 or 2020 as no title so far dated can match Momotaro or Rise, with the highest selling third party titles likely being Sunbreak and the new Taiko.

I was curious about CY2021 (i.e. the most recently available CY data), but even at this point in the Switch's life the software totals for the year are still majority Nintendo and "Nintendo second-party" (ex. The Pokemon Company):
NSW CY2021
01. Nintendo & The Pokemon Co. - 12.099.308 <52,44%>
02. Capcom - 2.628.951 <11,40%> (2.201.544 / 83.74% of which are from Monster Hunter Rise alone)
03. Konami - 1.741.618 <7,55%> (1.053.174 / 60.47% of which are from Momotaro Dentetsu alone)
04. Bandai Namco - 1.082.265 <4,69%>
05. Microsoft Game Studios - 826.148 <3,58%>
06. Square Enix - 608.819 <2,64%>
07. Marvelous - 524.329 <2,27%>
08. Sega (incl. Atlus) - 509.193 <2,21%>
09. Koei Tecmo - 437.108 <1,89%>
10. All Others <11,32%> (No individual publisher >1%)

Between Nintendo, Pokemon, Monster Hunter, and Momotetsu alone, you can already account for at least 66% of all physical software sales on Switch for 2021. You could argue it says more about the selling power of Nintendo's IPs and the lackluster nature of third-party software support I imagine, but that's just what the data is.
 
The cumulative Switch physical software sales split in Japan as December 2021 (Media Create) is as follow

First-Party (Nintendo/Pokemon Co): 65.28%
Third-Party: 34.72%
 
The graph, from a crazy perspective, shows how bad the Ps5 software output was and some thirds may look for this and try harder more on PS5 and skip Switch entirely because of Switch's "bad" performance. Sadly true. :(


Because Publishers Targeting Global Markets dont look at the one region data and a particular SKU of an ecosystem having Stock Issues.

Its a cross gen period and transition period, Gaming Habits evolves from each gen to each gen and currently its more about ecosystems .

Stock Issues and Scalping are one of the biggest reason hampering the transitions and the reason why most publishers will looking at combined and overall pictures (eg - PS4/PS5 + Physical + Digital + dlc/mtx + internal deals) and having a strategy catering to the ecosystem they have invested.

Small Blips happen here and there on the overall picture.

I understand Switch Fans Frustration and more Japanese support could had happend and is under-utlized but what some are doing might be working for them as well

PS had the second strongest year on units sales globally despite several games under performing and lack of new releases last year


PS- This comment is not discussing on PS Sales in Japan 2021, but rather on a comment towards the value and criteria a third party will consider targeting globall audience
 
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Because Publishers Targeting Global Markets dont look at the one region data and a particular SKU of an ecosystem having Stock Issues.

Its a cross gen period and transition period, Gaming Habits evolves from each gen to each gen and currently its more about ecosystems .

Stock Issues and Scalping are one of the biggest reason hampering the transitions and the reason why most publishers will looking at combined and overall pictures (eg - PS4/PS5 + Physical + Digital + dlc/mtx + internal deals) and having a strategy catering to the ecosystem they have invested.

Small Blips happen here and there on the overall picture.

I understand Switch Fans Frustration and more Japanese support could had happend and is under-utlized but what some are doing might be working for them as well

PS had the second strongest year on units sales globally despite several games under performing and lack of new releases last year


PS- This comment is not discussing on PS Sales in Japan 2021, but rather on a comment towards the value and criteria a third party will consider targeting globall a
Not a switch fan frustration. The switch was a global phenomenon too. Try to argue against this, when the ecosystem of the switch has dominance in several big market in the globe is the worst type of negation of the market reality ever.
 
Switch digital evolution
I’ve already posted these graphs in the weekly Media Create threads. But I want to leave it here too.

I made some graphs using Media Create retail numbers and Nintendo shipments for each year since 2017, in order to check the digital ratios.

Year 2017
Sales
2022-09-01-12-46-09.jpg


Ratio
2022-09-01-12-45-44.jpg


Notes for 2017:
- Media Create sales are until 7 Jan 2018, in order to include New Year’s sales because these shipments are sent the end of December.
- Since it was the first holidays for Splatoon 2 and Super Mario Odyssey, both games had plenty of copies on shelves, thus the real digital ratio is lower than the one showed in the graph.
- Taking the previous point in consideration, digital ratio in 2017 was around 10% for most of the games.
- The big exception is Xenoblade 2, which had already a vey high digital ratio (over 30%). The game even had some stock issues by the end of the year, and shipped an additional 50k shipment the next quarter.

Year 2018
Sales
2022-09-01-12-46-49.jpg


Ratio
2022-09-01-12-47-03.jpg


Notes for 2018:
- Media Create sales are until 6 Jan 2019, in order to include New Year’s sales because these shipments are sent the end of December.
- Since it was the first holidays for Smash Bros. Ultimate and Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu / Eevee, both games had plenty of copies on shelves, thus the real digital ratio is lower than the one showed in the graph.
- This is specially important for Pokemon LG Pikachu / Eevee, since the game was overshipped 2018 holidays and it took several months to sell through all copies. The ratio for Pokemon is misleading.
- Taking the previous points in consideration, digital ratio in 2018 moved from 10% to 20%. Being Mario Tennis Aces and Captain Toad: TT the ones with the biggest share.

Year 2019
Sales
2022-09-01-12-47-21.jpg


Ratio
2022-09-01-12-47-42.jpg


Notes for 2019:
- Media Create sales are until 30 Dec 2019. I couldn’t add New Year sales since they stopped provinding weekly sales. Shipments for New Year must be considered.
- Since it was the first holidays for Pokemon Sword / Shield and Luigi’s Mansion 3 both games had plenty copies on shelves, and since New Year’s week isn’t included at least >200k shipment for Pokemon and >50k for LM3 must be considered. Thus digital ratio is lower than the one showed in the graph.
- This year vouchers were introduced, and we can see how digital ratio increased. The only game that launched before vouchers is New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, which has the lowest digital ratio (after Ring Fit Adventure).
- Ring Fit Adventure digital ratio is actually untracked sales from MyNintendo Store.
- Zelda: Link’s Awakening was overshipped, and it took several months to sell through all copies (next quarter only shipped 10k copies). The ratio for Link’s Awakening is misleading.
- Digital ratio in 2019 for voucher games goes over 20%, and can go to 40% (Fire Emblem and Marvel Ultimate Alliance) or even 60% (Astral Chain). These three games have a high price tag, so vouchers are a big deal and saves a lot of money.

Year 2020
Sales
2022-09-01-12-48-10.jpg


Ratio
2022-09-01-12-48-28.jpg


Notes for 2020:
- Media Create sales are until 3 Jan 2021, so includes part of New Year’s shipment.
- Since it was the first holidays for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, it had plenty of copies on shelves, thus the real digital ratio is lower than the one showed in the graph.
- Super Mario 3D All-Stars was overshipped and it took several months to sell through all copies. The ratio for this Mario is misleading.
- Pokemon SS and LM3 second year without the extra shipment of the first holiday shows more accurated digital ratio this time for these games.
- This year is covid year, and digital ratio goes around 30%, which some games (Xenoblade DE and Clubhouse games) going close to 50%.

2021
Million sellers sales
2022-08-30-12-54-40.jpg


Million sellers Ratio
2022-08-30-12-54-54.jpg


Other sellers sales
2022-08-30-12-55-10.jpg


Other sellers Ratio
2022-08-30-12-55-22.jpg


Some 2021 notes:

- Pokemon Brilliant Diamond / Shining Pearl is overshipped (probably with more than 200k, so the digital ratio is less that showed in the graph).
- Mario Party Superstars probably also shipped a considerable quantity since it was their first holiday season.
- Super Mario 3D All-stars already sold through all copies, so the digital ratio should be very accurate.

For 2021, I included all games that are over one million, and I made a different chart for games below that mark.
We can still see how most games released in 2021 are moving over 30% digital.

Finally, I made an extra chart with Zelda BotW Total sales each year. In these graphs we can see the digital shift over the years for this game

Zelda BotW sales in Japan:
2022-09-01-12-49-00.jpg


Zelda BotW ratio in Japan:
2022-09-01-12-49-15.jpg


*Digital ratio isn’t 100% since unsold shipments are also included.
 
I'm super late to the party, but here is a small overview of the Otome Game Market in 2021! Crossposting from Otome Game Database!

APXb5JX.png

The Otome Game genre had a big increase on sales (more than 30%!!), mostly because of the massive release of Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side 4th Heart, that sold 65.781 copies during the year! Other releases like the long awaited Jack Jeanne and Angelique Luminarise were of big help to the New Release section sales as well! The catalog sales (sales of games released before 2021), on the other hand, had a decrease. Bustafellows played a part on that, as the title, that added 7.557 copies sold to the catalog sales of 2020, only sold 3.512 copies in 2021. This decrease can be easily explained because many games released in December of 2019 and had a big ammount of copies sold in 2020 (Uta no Prince-Sama: Repeat Love for Nintendo Switch and Bustafellows are examples of that), while 2021 didn't had any game like that.

XVEpqOA.png

While sales were generally higher in 2021, the number of Releases ranking inside the TOP 1000 decreased a bit.

Cm5ojhB.png

To explain a bit better how TokiMemo sales were massive, if we sum up all Otomate games that ranked in 2021 (24 games!!) we get 66.831 copies, which is only 1,5% more than what Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 4th Heart did alone!! As the graph shows, TokiMemo accounted for 32% of all sales in 2021! Aditionally, while it is not a Otome Game, Ruby Party work with Buddy Mission BOND should be recognized, as the game sold 23.547 copies, even outselling the second best selling Otome game of 2021, Jack Jeanne, which sold 21.108 copies!

PS: I doubt someone will repost these graphs, but I added the Install Base logo + my username as @PillFencer suggested! I changed the logo colors to better fit my graphs colors too, I hope this is not a problem!
 
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