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Note: This is highly abbreviated
Week 17 was truly fantastic for the big N, who saw a big restock of the Switch to coincide with the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe launch.
Mario Kart, without question, was the top performer of the week, selling through 284,823 units (about a 36.64% attach rate) and about 60-80% of its allocation. While this is lower than the Wii U SKU's launch numbers of 325,892, the title is biting into a far bigger piece of the overall market. I expect this to be a strong performer through 2017 and beyond, likely topping out shortly after New Year's.
Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission X (3DS) similarly saw some real life, outpacing launch numbers of its predecessor.
Monster Hunter Double Cross (3DS) continued to hold down the fort at third place, with 27,829 units reaching customers (1,421,205 LTD). The real highlight here, though, is that the title broke 1.4 million lifetime sales. We should see this easily crack 1.5 million before E3 rolls around.
For those who don't want to hunt monsters, hurl blue shells, or spend five episodes charging, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild continues to be a compelling option. Link's latest outing saw a 24% bump this period, with 25,286 copies reaching customers (420,941). The title broke the 400K milestone this period, which is nothing short of fantastic, and continues to enjoy a 54% attach rate. the ratio still stands that, for every two Switches, there's a copy of Zelda being played. The Wii U version also charted at 14th, with 4,504 units sold (109,193 LTD).
Sadly, it looks like the battle in Valentia is dying down quickly. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (3DS) saw a sharp 83% drop this period, selling thorugh just 22,721 units (154,389 LTD). On the plus side, the game did crack 150K, so... yay?
On the Hardware Front, the Switch saw a major restock, which means that sales saw major bump. The hybrid handheld dominated this period, with 76,679 units sold. The 3DS sold less than a third of that, moving a comparatively paltry 23,063 units.
The Wii U, meanwhile, saw a small bump - up to 543 from its low of 262.
Titles in the PlayStation family controlled five spots on the big board this week, with three PS4 games and two Vita titles making the cut.
At the front of the pack were YoRHa - those charming androids who have a love of black clothes and blindfolds. They're not keeping their eyes wide shut to the charts, though, as NieR: Automata carved up 10th place with 7,245 sales (230,497 LTD). The title continues to impress on the charts, surpassing expectations with each week. While I'm not expecting the title to reach 400K, I'd love to see it hit 350,000 before it finally exits the charts. The title saw a welcome Golden Week Bump this period, with a 14% week-over-week increase.
Not far behind, the Ashen One continues his final journey through the charts. Dark Souls III: The Fire Fades Edition, which includes the two expansions, went hollow at 13th, after finding 6,560 bloodstains (48,662 LTD). Truth be told, this isn't bad, given that we're looking at a "Game of the Year" edition. The title should crack 50K with ease next sales period, and will likely get close to 70,000 before it exits the charts. It really does depend on how much the title declines next week, as the title didn't get the usual Golden Week Bump - rather, sales dropped by 27%.
Meanwhile, some folks are taking the holiday week to kick it in the wildlands. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands stalked its way to 14th this period, with 5,413 units sold (174,865 LTD). The title is on track to cruise by 175K next sales period, and should get close to 200K by the time it exits the big board. The 14% Golden Week bump is in line with expectations, and a good sign of health for the title overall.
Vita fans are in for a familiar and welcome sight, as Minecraft makes its way back into the top-20. The title bounded to 18th, up from 26th, with 4,051 units sold (1,149,824 LTD). While I don't see this one sticking around long, it's great to see Minecraft's Vita SKU can still pull in the crowds.
Meanwhile, it looks like people are doing a different kind of spelunking this week at the #20 space. Dungeon Travelers 2-2: The Maiden Who Fell into Darkness and the Book of Beginnings (Vita) descended to the #20 space, with 3,851 units sold (37,891 LTD). Like Dark Souls, this one's days in the charts appear to be numbered - the 42% decline is odd for Golden Week, and I expect further bleeding come the next round charts.
The PS4 took a hard-fought second place this period, with 27,954 units sold. Of those, 6,991 were PS4 Pro consoles. The Vita, meanwhile, bounced up a bit, to move 7,158 handhelds.
The PS3 is still hanging in there, though. The decade-old console managed to move 407 units last week.
Note: This is highly abbreviated
This week, the PlayStation family controlled six spaces on the big board, with two Vita games and four PS4 titles making the cut. Leading the way was Dark Souls III: The Fire Fades Edition (PS4), which cashed in 9,014 souls at 8th place (42,102 LTD). The title saw an expected 73% drop week-over-week, which is always encouraging to see. That said, it looks like the trajectory might be a bit steeper than first expected given this week's numbers.
Not far behind, Vita title Gun Gun Pixies made its debut. The, uh... I'd like to call it "quirky" but some of it screams "creepy" shooter from Compile Heart blasted its way to 9th place with 8,675 copies reaching customers.
Meanwhile, the dungeon just got deeper for Dungeon Travelers 2-2 (Vita), which dove down to 10th place with 6,659 units sold (34,040 LTD). The 76% decline is within acceptable norms, though again, this week's performance indicates a very sharp sales curve.
On the flip side, Nier: Automata (PS4) began to kick into gear again. The title pushed 6,168 units last sales period (313,252 LTD) to earn the 12th place ending. The 1% week-over-week increase could be seen as a leading indicator for this period's 14% jump.
For those who don't want the apocalypse, the wildlands continue to call. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands (PS4) set up camp at 13th place, with 4,742 units sold (169,453 LTD).
At the bottom of the charts, crime continued to pay. Grand Theft Auto V's budget-priced re-release skidded back into the spotlight, taking the #19 space with 3,281 copies reaching customers.
On the Hardware Front, the PS4 took second place, with 25,303 consoles sold. The Vita held onto fourth, with 5,994 handhelds reaching customers.
The XBox One saw its own Golden Week bump this period, as the console rebounded to 677 sales. Still, that's super low, which means it's funny story time.
In the world of radio, WNG677 is a NOAA radio station that's also referred to as "St. Croix All Hazards". The station serves the US Virgin Islands, and can be heard for up to 80 miles in the Carribbean Sea.
In the world of Japanese console sales, at least a few Microsoft employees are probably fantasizing about escaping to somewhere as cozy as the Virgin Islands at this point.
[Discussion at NeoGAF - Week 17]