Nintendo and Square’s flagship franchises top charts, but not predecessors
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIIIandSuper Mario 3D Worldlaunched to lackluster sales in Japan last week. Though the pair placed first and second atop the nation’s software charts, the latest entries in Square Enix and Nintendo’s flagship franchises saw significantly weaker debuts than their predecessors.
Lightning Returnsopened with 277,082 sales, the lowest of anyFinal Fantasy XIIIgame. As noted byGematsu, the originalFinal Fantasy XIIIsold 1.5 million units in its first week on the market, whileFinal Fantasy XIII-2hit the 524,000 mark. It’s probably a good thing Square Enix is leaving Lightning and friends behind. That progression isn’t pretty.
Super Mario 3D Worldsuffered a similar fate, moving just 99,588 copies. That figure makes for thelowest first week salesof any 3DMariotitle. Even theSuper Mario 64remake on Nintendo DS sold better with 120,062. Yikes.
The acclaimed platformer also failed to spur Wii U hardware sales, which stood neck and neck with the PlayStation Vita at around 21,000. That’s a mere 5,000 unit increase over the previous week, indicatingSuper Mario 3D Worldisn’t quite the system-seller Nintendo so desperately needs.
That said, Nintendo games tend to have long tails, frequently continuing to chart weeks and even months after launch.Super Mario 3D Worldcould very well go on to see success as a slow burner.
「LIGHTNING RETURNS」27万7000本，「スーパーマリオ 3Dワールド」約10万本などがランクインした「ゲームソフト週間販売ランキング＋」[4Gamer]
