Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Mega Man 11 on Switch is the #5 Top Grossing Game of the Month (Physical, U.S)


Industry tracking firm The NPD Group have released the latest charts for the month of September and, lo and behold, Mega Man 11 on Nintendo Switch came out fairly strong. (Note: despite going on sale in early October, Mega Man 11 was included in the September NPD because it launched right before the NPD cut-off date on October 6th.)

Based on five days of data, physical sales of the Nintendo Switch version launched Mega Man 11 to the #5 spot of top grossing games of the month, right behind The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Super Mario Party. Do note that these charts reflect dollars sold, not number of units sold.

Its worth pointing out that Mega Man 11 did not chart on the top 20 selling games overall. Still, the fact that the physical Nintendo Switch version generated enough revenue to be tracked by The NPD Group is an accomplishment in itself. The last time a Mega Man game tracked on NPD charts was back in 2003 with Mega Man Network Transmission.

Remember, The NPD Group do not track digital sales. It's very likely Mega Man 11 is faring well on the eShop, among other digital storefronts. We don't have any official data on that area, although the Steam version is said to have sold somewhere between 20,000 and 50,000 copies.

Overall, I believe the game is doing just fine. Always keep in mind that Mega Man 11 was a smaller budget project for Capcom. The game doesn't need to sell millions of copies to turn a profit. I do imagine, though, that there is a certain number Capom want the game to hit to be considered a success. Let's hope it can get there!

Source: VentureBeat

22 comments:

  1. please for god's sake succeed

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  2. Gotta at least try again with the mixed reactions! Same for Star Fox Zero - JUST GO SIMPLE.

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  3. I wonder where Mega Man 11 ranks in number of units sold. It is impressive to see Mega Man 11 rank 5th in number of dollars sold because the game is cheaper than the average game. This is a very good sign that the game is selling. I bet most people want the Switch version because of the amiibo support.

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    1. No, people want the Switch version because they can play anywhere

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    2. I think it's safe to bet on Nintendo systems having a larger number of players who'd be interested in a Mega Man title than other platforms.

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  4. This is good to hear for the series hopefully keeps selling and leads to more games as this is one of the few series that is still unique

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  5. I'm not sure what Capcom's expecting from this game, but even if the game's deemed a technical success, these numbers are anything but breathtaking.

    Hopefully this doesn't end up dashing Capcom's 10 year plan for the Blue Bomber. It's hard not to be reminded of what happened with Mega Man 10...

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  6. Honestly this doesn't look good, it ranked #5 on Switch losing to mostly near launch games one of which is a port and Mario Party (I can maybe grant this) and didn't crack top 20 overall in the month of its release (the month that yields the most sales typically) with very little high profile competition on the Switch.

    I wonder if side scrolling action games primarily about shooting just aren't marketable. For all that Metroid Return of Samus had going for it (Publicity, Great Reviews, a console with a hug install base, affordability etc) by Nintendo standards that thing did kinda miserably.

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  7. I would love to see more megaman games in the future.
    I thought megaman 11 was great. Felt nostalgic and new at the same time. The robot master stages where very well designed. I loved blast man's stage with the movie studio feel and the falling building effects.
    The few things I would have liked to have seen were fully animated cutscenes (akin to 8) and Blues and Bass.
    Other than that it was darn near perfect in my mind. Hopefully Bass and Blues will appear in future games.
    Had alot of fun with this game. Really hope to see more. Maybe an X instalment?

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  8. And to believe this version wasn't released in Europe

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  9. Seems like it's doing okay.

    Even with all the games on Switch, including a new Mario Party to compete with, Mega Man's biggest demographic seems to align pretty strongly with Nintendo's.

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  10. There are several lessons to be learned from this:

    1. Mega Man is still a lucrative franchise

    2. The Switch is a lucrative console

    3. Games don't need massive budgets and state-of-the-art graphics to be successful.

    Capcom will likely ignore all of these lessons.

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  11. Really, for a game with a lower budget, it seems to be doing bery well. It's very likely we won't be waiting nearly as long for another Mega Man game in the future. Now I just wonder they'll try their hand at a different series or if they'll just jump straight into Mega Man 12?

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  12. Are the charts slightly skewed due to people importing copies too?

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  13. These are some Meh sells, I love how people are just praising the bare minimum with phrases like "it doesn't need to sell a million units" and "for a game like this/with this budget" as qualifiers. Barely lukewarm and low budget that's the new Mega Man standard in terms of expectations I see.

    I remember someone actually comparing Mega Man's popularity status to Sonic and Super Mario, lol good times.

    Anyhoo Mega Man 11 is a great Mega Man game that keeps the spirit and integrity of the series intact (so far) my maybe favorite in the classic series except for the soundtrack (my biggest complaint, which should tell you something). If you keep making games like the way you've made Mega Man 11 hey good stuff, if not hey thanks Capcom for delivering 11, I will enjoy it for years 11 to come.

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    1. But that is the standard. Only four Mega Man games in 30 years sold a million or more units. This is pretty typical going by physicla sales.

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    2. Not that kind of standard, standard as in a level of quality not as in normality.

      I was historically bad at Mega Man (NES) if I held my self up to that historical standard I'd stagnate and not achieve the level of proficiency I am at today with that game (which is near flawlessly speedrunning level).

      If I were phrasing those qualifiers I'd say something like "Hey we're are about to hit a quarter of a million units (we are probably not even close to that even) let's keep it rolling and get to half, spread the word"...

      But I guess, "We've only ever sold around a million units with like 4 entries guys, a good cheap product for this series is fine. In fact let's go back to 8-bit, you can save even more money Capcom AND make less in return, that way you can cater to a small few, very sustainable group, because lets face it, Mega Man shouldn't be expected to be competing with the likes of Naruto To Boruto: Shinobi Striker and WWE or games released years ago. What do you think Mega Man even is? Some kind of iconic video game series made by what is likely the 3rd largest video game publisher and developer in Japan or something?" has the same ring to it.

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    3. how about waiting for complete data or for capcom to announce if they are pleased with the sales before stressing your soapbox

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    4. I mean, the dev team for Mega Man 11 was only about 40 people. There are indie games made with bigger dev teams than that.

      How big of a budget / how many resources could it possibly have had?

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  14. they screwed themselves when they decided to release it on same day as ass creed odyssey

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