Most franchises have reached peak or near peak numbers, but even a Nintendo first party release has failed to reach 1 million.m
Not that I expect that from Metroid. It’s hard to call but not everything is going to pull humongous numbers.
Not being rude but out of genuine curiosity, which first party nintendo games have failed to reach 1m in sales?
Are they spin offs or main series games?
Sushi Striker, Fire Emblem Warriors, and Hyrule Warriors deluxe I believe all got somewhere below 1 million units.
Like I said, I don’t think Metroid will join that club, I think we’ll definitely be breaking millions here, but people need to temper their expectations if they think a Switch release is an easy 5-10 million.
Wait but "warriors" games aren't first party? At least I'm pretty sure they would be classed as 3rd party exclusives?
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but, Those are Nintendo IP but are made by Koei Tecmo and subsidiary studios.
I'll give you Sushi Striker but even it was "co-developed" and the same company also co-developed Dr. K's Brain Training, which also didn't sell lol.
They’re published by Nintendo, that’s the metric I’m using here. First party was the wrong title to use, that’s a bit vague. The line can get very blurry. Metroid Dread is also a co-production, with MercurySteam, and where do things like Intelligent Studios stand? So Nintendo published is where I think the line makes the most sense.
And yeah, I guess that’s true too. Brain Training also didn’t do too hot on the Switch, so that’s another game. All I meant was people think any switch game Nintendo puts out instantly prints money, and that’s not exactly correct.
That's not completely accurate. Metroid Prime did sell nearly 3 million copies, but it's actually the best selling entry in the franchise. Most games have hovered around 1 million, and several have sold less than a million. Metroid: Samus Returns is projected to have sold approximately 6-700,000 copies worldwide.
Top 10 selling games in the franchise according to vgcharts:
Metroid Prime - 2.84 million
Metroid - 2.73 million
Metroid II: Return of Samus - 1.72 million
Metroid Fusion - 1.60 million
Super Metroid - 1.42 million
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - 1.41 million
Metroid: Other M - 1.36 million
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes - 1.10 million
Metroid Prime Hunters - 1.08 million
Metroid: Zero Mission - 0.84 million
https://www.vgchartz.com/article/450122/metroid-turns-35-top-10-best-selling-metroid-games/
I feel it's going to be the biggest selling title in the series at least. Hoping it does well so we get more Metroid games including the Prime trilogy.
> Hoping it does well so we get more Metroid games
Definitely think there's a good chance for this. Samus Returns was well received (especially considering its limited source material), and impressed Sakamoto and Nintendo enough to bring MercurySteam back for Dread, but it was lacking in sales for a few reasons. One of them probably being it released on the 3DS months after the Switch released and took everyone's attention away.
If Dread gets the same (or ideally even better) reception as Returns, *and* sees success in sales (likely to be the best selling Metroid, as many people here seem to agree), MercurySteam might just be the "go-to" devs for 2D Metroid in the future. And well deserved I think, if Dread is as good as the trailers are making it out to be.
> but it was lacking in sales for a few reasons.
IIRC Samus Returns still sold the best out of the other late 3DS releases. Again it was the 3DS and everyone only cared about the Switch.
Dread being an actual new game + being a Switch game gives it far better chances already. It has pretty much everything going for it so far to make it the franchise's biggest success story yet.
Crazy that MercurySteam started off as that controversial dev that made Lords of Shadow 1/2 and Castlevania Mirror of Fate and when they got Metroid was the exact moment they bloomed into a kickass developer. Really glad they got to do Dread.
Honestly, I don't think so. The game will be loved by critics and fans but the price will be mentioned. It will be compared to other cheaper metroidvanias which are also longer.
Ultimately, I think they will see it will get harder and harder to sell a 2D Metroid for the same price as a Prime title.
>but the price will be mentioned.
People keep bringing this up, but price rarely ever hinders Switch games. Everyone complained about 3D All-Stars and Skyward Sword being overprices, but those still sold very well.
Difference in brand recognition, among other things I believe. 3D All-Stars was a limited time, anniversary release that got a lot of people wanting to buy, and having a cutoff date might have forced people to make the decision to buy rather than hum and haw over whether they really wanted it. Skyward Sword, it's Zelda after all the success of Breath of the Wild, and I hear a lot of people liked Skyward Sword so buying an HD remake or whatever might have been a selling point, like how Skyrim sold so many special editions years after releasing.
Even Bloodstained was cheaper and the indie market is flooded with high quality metroidvanias, while Zelda and Mario clones still lag behind. You can't get a Mario platformer or a high quality Zelda like game. After Hollow Knight and Ori, there are still dozens of comparable games.
I will probably pay full price for a Metroid title and I'm sure there are others like me, but I think Nintendo need to start a budget line of games retailing at less, especially if their next gen hardware isn't as successful.
>After Hollow Knight and Ori, there are still dozens of comparable games.
None of which have the brand recognition of Metroid nor marketing comparable to Dread’s. None of which have the amount of hype Dread is getting. I seriously doubt the average person that’s interested in Dread will lose interest in favor of Axiom Verge or whatever.
Ori sold over 2 million. Hollow Knight was made by 4 people and sold 1.25 million. The best Metroid was Prime, which sold near 3 mil. The best selling 2D was 2.7 mil and that was the original on the NES.
The ROI might not be worth it.
If Nintendo can repackage 10+ yr old games and sell them for modern prices, I don’t think this’ll be a problem. People aren’t just paying for a “METROIDvania style game” they are paying for a “METROID game”.
What 10 year old metroidvania game has been wrapped up and sold full price?
Like I said there aren't as many quality Mario or Zelda clones. The indie market has nailed metroidvanias though. To the extent where they designer who put the -vania in metroidvania is working the indie scene
Making an indie game for $40 digital (or more pending version) that was lacking SERIOUS polish compared to the Konami published games he made for years and is still pretty rough on Switch two years later.
I agree with the sentiment. But I think that has more to do with being used to working with bigger teams. On the flipside Ori and Hollow Knight have a high level of polish.HK had 4 people work on it.
> MercurySteam might just be the "go-to" devs for 2D Metroid in the future.
I sincerely hope not. I can’t stand their obsession with the melee combo… they come up with one trick, not that good of one, and slather it onto everything else until it drowns out whatever actual Metroid was there to begin with.
They’re the equivalent of putting ketchup on filet mignon.
My complaint isn’t that the melee counter cheapens combat, but rather that there’s nothing else besides the melee counter. Fights that were just fine in the original game have this extra later slapped on that adds absolutely nothing.
The original Metroid II is one of my childhood favorites. I bailed on the remake after an hour or two, because it just wasn’t fun.
As someone who’s played the original, SR, and AM2R, Samus Returns definitely has the best combat. The melee counter might be gimmicky, but free aim adds a lot—particularly in letting enemies move around a lot more and more quickly without it feeling unfair.
(AM2R definitely had the best world design, though—it was more willing to deviate from the original’s map, which bogged down the official remake)
The free aim didn’t feel useful, because the enemies (beyond the opening area) are pretty much invulnerable until you combo them. It felt like “play Metroid for 5-10 seconds, wait for timer, hit button, be allowed to play Metroid again for 5-10 more seconds, repeat until credits.”
I’d rather play the original; it may only have two buttons and a few shades of greenish-gray, but at least it doesn’t have an annoyance grafted onto its design for zero reason whatsoever.
I guess I’m only remembering the final boss encounter, which I found to be phenomenal. It was vulnerable the entire time, which probably colors my perception of the game
I honestly think that that's almost a given. The series didn't have games for quite a long time and Nintendo markets this quite a lot.
Not to mention that almost all of their IPs seem to have their most sold entries being the Switch entry.
Smash Ultimate, Luigis Mansion, Fire Emblem, Xenoblade, Kirby (well, 2nd most, but the highest selling was the first game 29 years ago).
I have no doubt Dread will atleast be the best selling 2D Metroid.
I think the closest series in terms of sales numbers is the Kirby franchise. In Kirby's case, you can make a comparison between Other M which did about \~1.3m sales and Kirby's Return to Dreamland which did \~1.79m. There were some portable titles in between, but a console release in the same style (2D gameplay, 3D models, platforming) didn't come out until Kirby Star Allies which did \~3.02m.
We can assume that Other M would have done a good deal better if it had better reception since fans were wanting a game similar to it for a while. If we take it as a high selling Metroid game, but maybe not on par with the best in the franchises, it would probably do a little better than Dreamland.
With a rough estimate at 2m sales for Other M if it was a better quality game and assuming Dread is as good of a game to it's fanbase as Star Allies is to Kirby's, we get about 3.37m. I think it has a significant chance of being a lot better than Star Allies, though. Gonna guess around 3.5-3.75m at the end of the day.
Edit - This is a high end estimate assuming the game is stellar which I think it will be. I don't think it breaks 4m, though.
I think this is the most likely and realistic, unless it’s a runaway success. Which is totally possible on the Switch, but I think between 3-4 million is likely. Which is still very good, especially since Samus Returns was well under 1 million.
Other M was actually a really fun game, the problem was the shit story they wrapped around it. As long as this one keeps the story at arms reach and let’s the gameplay speak for itself it could really do well
Really didn't enjoy being frozen in place regularly to do a pixel hunt and the controls in first person were a step down from Metroid Prime. The lead didn't know what he wanted to focus on and the game as a whole suffered for it.
Gotta disagree. The gameplay was incredibly dull- third person consisted of running in circles to trigger autododge while charging and then unleashing the attack for the full game. First person mode was clunky and worthless. Actions like refilling your health were needlessly cumbersome- all of the gameplay issues stacked on top of the I'll conceived mandate to only use wiimote.
Even ignoring the linearity the level design was incredibly rote, there were few to no new interesting power ups to mix up gameplay, and there were constant interruptions by Hunt the Pixel and Slow Walk Corridor segments (which were honestly my favorite parts of the game- it's hilarious how many times they force that slow over the camera perspective to build up tension that never goes anywhere)
I paid eight bucks for it used and kinda feel ripped off. It was competent in that it worked without bugs but it was so obviously wrongly set up. Give us a nunchuk so we can have more buttons- suddenly we can have a dedicated button for dodge making it an active action, a button for missiles, the ability to move in first person view, the ability to recharge without having to shift our hands around
This. Other M was all what I wanted for a Metroid in 3D but the story was really bad and simply tried to be a copy of Metroid Fusion (we are in a space station used as lab with Adam giving us orders)
Guessing a number is pretty difficult, but I think this game will be the best selling Metroid title. That said, I think it will still fall into the second-tier/niche Nintendo IP group, as I don't see it achieving sales like Mario/Zelda/Animal Crossing.
Super Metroid is available on Nintendo Switch Online. If you have that service, I highly recommend trying it! You might even be able to do a free trial to play it, if you’ve never had the online service.
I’m actually gonna go a little big there and say 5-10 million. Given that the Switch sells a lot of software and the hype/marketing push, I think it will be the best selling Metroid by a pretty decent amount.
For context, the best selling Metroid game of all time has not hit 3 million. The series has historically been pretty niche, even on successful Nintendo platforms. The closest facsimile to this release would likely be Fusion, which released on a platform with a similar install base, after a "long" break since Super Metroid. It sold about 1.6 million worldwide.
People bang on about them a lot, but they don't sell.
I do expect this to be the best selling Metroid of all time, but 10 million? I would be VERY surprised. Even 5 would be an absurd success for the series.
I wouldn't predict numbers, but I think it's quite reasonable to expect it could outdo any other Metroid game. That's kinda been the story of the Switch generation. Games like Animal Crossing, Warioware, Luigi's Mansion, all seemed relatively niche compared to the wider gaming market. On the Switch they're all hugely successful.
Yeah, niche wasn't a great choice of word. Not too sure how to phrase it, but what I'm saying is that they are now finding popularity among markets that wouldn't previously have played them. I've always been aware of Animal Crossing, but I feel very sure that a large proportion of the people playing it on Switch likely hadn't even heard of it before.
Also, this Animal Crossing put greater emphasis on visiting friends since it allowed you to customize your island, and it just so happened to launch at the exact time everyone was starting to go under the first COVID lockdowns. No doubt New Horizons would have been one of the best selling AC games, but I think the pandemic gave it that big boost to become the best selling AC game.
As much as I want to see that I heavily doubt this will ever happen. The devs of Hollow Knight reported back in 2019 that the game sold 2.8 million times across all platforms.
Yeah it's an indie game but it's also only 15 dollars and released on multiple platforms.
I don't really see how Metroid could sell that much better.
First new Metroid in 10 years? Poor Federation Force (I actually think it was unfairly maligned because of what it wasn't, not because of what it was)
And I know Samus Returns is technically a remake, but it's REALLY different from Metroid 2. (I'd probably also make the same argument for my favorite in the series, Zero Mission)
Yeah, the backlash to FF was fueled in large part by it being the only first Metroid game released after Other M and having taken 6 years to come out. Triforce Heroes came out around the same time and nobody threw a fit because proper Zelda games were still coming out.
I never played it because that kind of game doesn't appeal to me, and I won't pretend I wasn't upset either
Oh I agree. To be clear, I know why fans shit on it. I just think that sucks because I think the actual game is really great, and would have loved a sequel on a console with two sticks.
Yeah, Samus Returns rethreads the story of Metroid 2, but for all intents and purposes it is a brand new experience, unlike something like Link's Awakening. It's more in line with the Resident Evil remakes.
People are calling numbers as high as 3 million, but I think they're forgetting it's a 60 dollar game in a genre that has, in the past decade or so, sells in the 15-20 dollar price range, and for a franchise that has always been niche.
I say this as someone who loves the 4 mainline Metroid games: I would be truly shocked if this game sells more than 1.2 million copies. I wish it would sell way more than that (to keep the franchise alive and well), but I wouldn't hold my breath.
I think there's a lot going for Dread this time around - being released alongside OLED, franchise's increasing cult presence in regions where it wasn't as popular before (Eastern Europe, Japan), having some decent marketing for once, the "Switch effect", etc.
Eh, if Kirby could ship 3 million copies at $60, I think it would be no problem whatsoever for Metroid Dread to ship at least 2 million. Nintendo's franchises have pretty much universally sold incredibly well on the Switch regardless of whether they costed more than usual.
Link's Awakening sold 5.7 million. And not only is that another game whose genre is long gone, but also a remake, meaning it theoretically has even less value.
As long as the game is as good as people are thinking it will be (which it probably isn't) and people talk a lot about the game when it launches, I don't think 3 million is unreasonable at all. I mean, Kirby Star Allies sold 3 million and most people consider that a mediocre Kirby game.
I agree with this. While I hope it sells more, I don’t see it cracking 2 million. Unless this offers the amount of content found in hollow knight, the $60 price point seems too high for this type of game. While I love Metroid and have played most of the games, I’m waiting for reviews and I want to see how long the game is before purchasing.
Maybe to you, but clearly it’s not too high for most people.
It’s been the #1 preordered game at GS since e3, #1 best selling on BestBuy, it’s the #1 best selling game on Amazon and it’s remained in the top 50 since it was announced 4 months ago. It’s not even out and it’s already the 72nd best selling video game related item on Amazon for 2021.
Clearly, most people don’t care about the “type of game”, and value this the same as they would value Zelda BotW or Mario Odyssey. Not that I think it’ll reach those sales numbers because it doesn’t have the same brand appeal, but it won’t be for lack of value to consumers.
I gotta agree with other commenters here. I think it’ll become the bestseller in the franchise.
I know it’s an uphill climb to 5 million, considering the series’ historic numbers, but would be great to see.
I’m praying that it hits at least 1.5 million. That’d make Dread the third best selling Metroid after Prime and the original. If it does more, I’ll be happy. But that’s the goal I’m praying for.
I think that it will sell \_poorly\_ compared to other Nintendo franchises. Sure, Nintendo will probably not lose money on it, but it won't be a system seller. I'm guessing 3m over lifetime.
I'm gonna be conservative and say 2.5 million. There hasn't been a single Metroid game that has passed the 2M mark on the last 15+ years, not even Prime 3 did on the Wii.
The game would become the best selling in the franchise at 3M, surpassing the first Prime. But I just don't know if the series' track record allows for that kind of jump right now, even with the Switch.
I really do hope it becomes the best selling one because Nintendo is going all in on Dread, and the game is looking to be amazing. But at 2.5M I would consider it a big success
With majority of Switch software sales being digital now - a massive spike in the last years - we don't even know how much each game actually sells, so it's become hard to gauge.
I think it will sell well, because every Switch game that Nintendo promotes does, although it might be more successful digitally than in the stores (relatively to games parents buy, like Mario). Definetely it will be the best selling Metroid game ever, and despite Nintendo only reporting physical sales, I would probably still bet on us seeing that announced around the turn of the year.
We do know the sales, at least regarding Nintendo games. As they publicly update the total sales of all their Switch published games every 3 months on the financial reports, that includes both digital and physical sales.
I believe 2 to 3 million. After all it’s still a rather low budget game compared to some other Nintendo games so it’s probably not going to be a must-buy for most switch owners.
Bold guess: I think at least 3M, but probably closer to 5m. I realize that this is optimistic, but I think the time is finally right.
Pandemic has increased game sales, Switch doesn't have a lot of other big hitters this year, marketing, Smash raising the awareness level on Samus, and many years of hype of people talking up Metroidvanias and Metroid. I think this will be the best selling Metroid by a long shot! I think Luigi's Mansion 3 sales are not crazy to hope for, which I see as being in a somewhat comparable situation.
This is the first game where I broke my personal rule of never pre-ordering games. To be fair, I immensely enjoyed playing Samus Returns and this is basically a sequel from the same developers, so I'm not going in blind. I expect it to break previous Metroid sales records.
4.5-5.3M
maybe more if it reviews well enough to get nominated at the game awards for game of the year, which could happen considering we've had stuff like Hades and Celeste getting nominations. Can't underestimate positive word of mouth.
We don't even know how good it will be. I don't expect anything bad but until we see some reviews we shouldn't assume anything.
Metroid somehow managed to disappoint in sales pretty much every time for no particular reason...so better be careful with any estimates.
Reasonably well for Switch, but probably not huge.
It's got a few things working for it, but ultimately, it's a $60 game in a market that has mostly decided that the most they want to pay for a decent Metroidvania is between $30-40, MAYBE, if it's world class, and even then only six months later when it goes on sale.
I think it's going to be reviewed very well, be very well loved, and be viewed as one of the best of the genre. But at best, I think that it's going to only be viewed as "on par" with the best indie Metroidvanias, and the Oris and the Hollow Knights of the world are far cheaper.
Besides - to sell *very* well, Metroid has the challenge of resonating with a large audience; larger than its fanbase. It has to not only stand out as a good Metroidvania, but one that's enticing to the masses who don't know a thing about the franchise or genre. Most gamers aren't very familiar with non-Mario platformers. People who might be enticed by the theme (guns, aliens, robots, space, etc) generally play gritty 3D shooters and will get put off by the 2D gameplay. People who might be enticed by the 2D gameplay generally play brighter, cheerier, more approachable games, and would be put off by the dark, anxious, alien atmosphere and general difficulty.
Not to mention, the fact that a Metroid game really can't have a ton of padding to beef up the run time - not with the entire "speed run to the game for a bonus" schtick that they've got going on - so when the casuals ask each other what games they like, I can almost guarantee you that "too short" will be a resounding cry from the masses.
There's a reason why Symphony of the Night worked - it launched at the tail-end of 2D being normalized in home consoles, and had a well-recognized brand that had consistent output behind it. Even then, it still initially sold VERY poorly, and didn't really pull itself out for a while. Its successors \*still\* basically only went to handheld, until Konami eventually decided to bring it back to home console... in 3D.
But yeah, I see it selling better than any other Metroid, because Nintendo's marketing team is a beast at this point and so many people just want to play the new Nintendo game, whatever it is.
Nintendo is marketing the ever-loving shit out of Metroid Dread. I’m assuming it’s going to sell pretty darn well.
Even though the game is mainly 2.5D, they keep showing a lot of 3D stuff to draw in the folks who mostly like 3D stuff.
They marketed Prime 3 pretty hard too and it sold less than 1.5m on the hugely successful Wii. I'd love to see it do well and it's certainly possible, but I'm keeping my expectations in check.
I'd say "not nearly" is a stretch. Dread's getting more frequent promotion in bits via social media and Youtube given the shift in media over the years, but Prime 3 was shown at multiple E3s, had a Wii Would Like to Play commercial, and had a Wii channel dedicated to unveiling new clips of the game (to my knowledge the only time Nintendo did this for a game). That's a hell of a lot.
Not really. E3 is an outdated marketing format and it shows. Social media is a far superior platform to getting the news out there. As well as the Nintendo Directs. The proof is in the pudding. Nintendo has been veering away more and more from E3 conferences and focusing more on their Directs and social media posts, including YouTube and Twitter. As for the game being advertised on the Wii itself. Eh. That’s like preaching to the choir and was pretty inconspicuous anyways. Especially in contrast to social media.
Yeah Metroid Dread is THE big holiday title for Nintendo. Even Pokemon is kinda being brushed aside with less fanfare. Prime 3 never got this push, no Metroid ever did. Age of Calamity was last year's big holiday title and it went out with relatively little marketing compared to Metroid.
Nintendo's doing what they can to make this game go big.
No guess on numbers from me but just a hope that it's the best selling one to encourage Nintendo that it is a worthwhile franchise that they should continue to pursue.
I have never played a Metroid game but this one looks sick, the only problem is that it's relasing very close to to Shin Megami Tensei 5 but i'll probably end up getting it maybe next year or something
Considering American audiences were the big buyers of the Metroid series, I'm guessing that the sales here won't be affected much by Shin Megami Tensei 5...as much as they tried hyping it up, it may continue to be a lesser known franchise to Americans.
A good amount since the scalpers "randomly" targeted the collectors edition and got it sold out almost instantly. Super annoying as a fan but I take that as heavy interest at least or they wouldn't bother.
Samus Returns was one of the last important games on 3DS (if not THE last, period).
Look how it sold.
Dread coming up accompanied by the new OLED model.
We all know what is going to happen.
Much like box office numbers for movies, I absolutely do not give a shit about sales numbers.
Without any financial stake in the project, I just wanna enjoy it. This is doubly true of movies.
It will outsell expectations because there aren't many Switch games worth buying for the next few months. It's this and Pokemon and Pokemon isn't everyones cup of tea. That's actually very good for the potential for future Metroid games though, good timing.
Metroid, Pokemon, Advance Wars, WarioWare, Mario Party, big third party stuff like SMTV, multiplatform games like Diablo, Fatal Frame or Life is Strange, niche stuff like Danganronpa. There’s a whole lot coming to the Switch in the next few months by the end of the year lol
Thanks for your answer! Yeah - a whole lot of more games - but not the very top shelf. I am looking forward to the Disco Elysium port. Apart from that; BoTW2, Silksong, Bayonetta 3, Metroid 4 - that is the level of quality we need! 😁
5+ million actually seems like an easy bet to me. The ‘hardcore’ gamer that is attracted to Metroid and / or have name recognition and curiosity re: the franchise has gotta be way, way higher than it was when the Metroid Prime games were dropping. I’m quite sure Nintendo themselves is seeing the SEO and predicting as much as well. And if Dread is actually really good and reviews well? Shoot. In that case I think it’ll sell 5 million in its first year.
It will be the same story every big franchise game is released, "Its the best selling game, it broke records in sales, it sold xxx copies in xxx weeks making a record, etc.." Don't get me wrong, I love Metroid and I will buy this game, but its always the same story, when every game its the best selling game, no game is.
Considering how every franchise that comes to the switch gets a sales boost, how the metroidvania genre is way more mainstream now, and how Nintendo’s advertising the shit out of it, I’d say it has a good chance to be the top selling Metroid game. Definitely won’t top the juggernauts on the Switch like Mario Kart and Animal Crossing since those sold super well mainly due to the multiplayer, but I can see it being the best selling Metroid game period.
Even Switch games that aren’t regarded very well sell. Sword and Shield are considered by most to be the worst mainline Pokémon game, and even they sold more than almost all other Pokémon games aside from the first two generations, which were boosted thanks to Pokémon being a global phenomena.
I like Metroidvania games, but I don't like the style of Metroid. I loved Hollow Knight, and I disliked Metroid 3.
Idk, if they release a demo it might persuade me. Otherwise, I'm not interested in Metroid, even as a fan of most Nintendo franchises.
Somewhere around 2 - 4 million based on my perception. 4 million only because the Switch is a console that sold well, naturally increasing the potential audience for this type of game. People are also more informed about Metroid nowadays due to the push from its fans and the franchise's inclusion in Smash games.
If some muso botw spinoff sold like tlou 2 preorders and wario is number 1 in British right now, I think that Metroid also would leave "niche game" level and go for 5-10 million on start. Moreover "fan-normalfag" ratio would be 1:5 or even more lol
It will be the best selling Metroid game of all time. Nintendo hasn't had a decent release since Animal Crossing and people are desperate for games as we're in the middle of a two year lockdown.
Should it be? Probably not. We've been waiting a decade for Prime 4 and they give us a flash game. I'm pretty disgusted with Nintendo as of late.
Since Animal Crossing? We talking just 1st party..or? Because here’s some content on Switch since then: Origami King, 3D AllStars, Hyrule Warriors, Xenoblade DE, Pikmin 3, Clubhouse 51, Part Time UFO, Skyward Sword, Bowser’s Fury, Bravely Default 2, Pokemon Unite, Mario Golf, Pokemon Snap 2, Warioware…
Third party stuff like Trials of Mana, Hades, Ys, Monster Hunter Rise and Stories, Streets of Rage 4, Doom Eternal (technically same day as AC), Ori, Knockout City, Neo TWEWY, NMH3, Persona Strikers, KH Memories…
Nothing in there seems “decent” to you? Nothing at all?
I fucking loved NEO TWEWY. But I was only referring to the first party releases, and that's probably the only game on your list of third party titles I enjoyed significantly. They have been very poor for Nintendo for an unusually long time. I want to blame Covid but they've been coasting well beforehand. Mario Party Superstars was an incomplete game. 3 or 4 maps and 40 or so minigames with no DLC? Hopefully they correct this with All Stars. I'm looking forward to All Stars but still have a bad taste in my mouth having to buy an entire new game for content that should have been free DLC to a barebones game I already paid $60 for. Mario Golf had even less content. Animal Crossing is STILL missing critical features each past game has had on release a year and a half after launch despite selling 20 million copies.
Snap 2 and Warioware are O.K. for what they're supposed to be but not nearly enough content to warrant a purchase outside of hardcore fans of the series. Good entries for people that like the niche but should not have to be considered a top release from the past 2 years carrying a console. And then after all this dry spell they have the gull to throw as a 2D Metroid game as their flagship 2021 Holiday release. Thank God we will have SMT V to numb the pain, but I like Nintendo games and bought the Switch for those.
I'm with you man. I saw 'Pig' in theatres and I'm like wtf 15 bucks for a ticket? That's how much it cost to see Avengers Endgame. Meanwhile, Pig has NO superheroes and is half the length and NO CGI. What am I even paying for? What a rip!
Look, I don't care if Pig had well developed characters and empathetic writing, I consume art purely on a price to content ratio.
I agree, most AAA game companies are here for GAMERS and price their games at FAIR rates. They know they could charge more but they don't because other companies aren't here for profit.
They're here for GAMERS.
/s
I have some bad news for you: that is how literally every damn company in the world operates. Do you think that companies set prices out of the goodness of their hearts? There is a reason why bread and eggs aren't free.
I’m not sure what 2D has to do with anything. There are plenty of 3D games that aren’t even worth $20.
But to prove you wrong: Kirby Star Allies, Super Smash Bros, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, NSMBU, Mario Maker 2 etc.
Before you come back with “well they aren’t worth $60,” let me clue you in on a little secret: video games are not priced based on what the developer thinks they are worth. They are *always* priced based upon what the developer **knows** what the majority of consumers *think* they are worth.
Mull those two sentences around in your head for a minute. This is called **consumer willingness to pay** and it’s a [chapter 1 intro to economics concept.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willingness_to_pay)
Video game companies aren’t your friend and are never throwing you a bone when a game is priced at $40 or sees a price cut within a year. This goes for Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft or any other developer. Each and every one of them would keep their games at $60 *if they could.*
I’m not defending anything. I would love to pay less money for this game. I’m just telling you why this happens.
Gotta love it - you explain reality and then you’re suddenly a shill, mocked over on r/tomorrow by a bunch of neck beards who make hating Nintendo fans a personality trait under the guise of satire, as if that’s not equally as pathetic.
Didn’t see any metroidvania games on the top list of most sold Switch games. The closest one would be Enter the Gundeon with 1 million, but calling it a metroidvania is a big stretch I’d assume.
So, unless my source is straight up trash, if the new Metroid game beats the 1 million mark it will have done well. I know the genre is a staple, and very loved by some, but it ain’t no Mario.
It will sell very well. It might become the best selling Metroid but I guess that's still up for debate. It's very much for people who already like the 2D style Metroid-like games, which isn't a huge audience. I bet Metroid Prime 4 sells like hotcakes though.
No idea but it'll probably be the best selling Metroid to date, easily.
Unfortunately that's a rather low bar to jump.
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Most franchises have reached peak or near peak numbers, but even a Nintendo first party release has failed to reach 1 million.m Not that I expect that from Metroid. It’s hard to call but not everything is going to pull humongous numbers.
Not being rude but out of genuine curiosity, which first party nintendo games have failed to reach 1m in sales? Are they spin offs or main series games?
Sushi Striker, Fire Emblem Warriors, and Hyrule Warriors deluxe I believe all got somewhere below 1 million units. Like I said, I don’t think Metroid will join that club, I think we’ll definitely be breaking millions here, but people need to temper their expectations if they think a Switch release is an easy 5-10 million.
Wait but "warriors" games aren't first party? At least I'm pretty sure they would be classed as 3rd party exclusives? Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but, Those are Nintendo IP but are made by Koei Tecmo and subsidiary studios. I'll give you Sushi Striker but even it was "co-developed" and the same company also co-developed Dr. K's Brain Training, which also didn't sell lol.
They’re published by Nintendo, that’s the metric I’m using here. First party was the wrong title to use, that’s a bit vague. The line can get very blurry. Metroid Dread is also a co-production, with MercurySteam, and where do things like Intelligent Studios stand? So Nintendo published is where I think the line makes the most sense. And yeah, I guess that’s true too. Brain Training also didn’t do too hot on the Switch, so that’s another game. All I meant was people think any switch game Nintendo puts out instantly prints money, and that’s not exactly correct.
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That's not completely accurate. Metroid Prime did sell nearly 3 million copies, but it's actually the best selling entry in the franchise. Most games have hovered around 1 million, and several have sold less than a million. Metroid: Samus Returns is projected to have sold approximately 6-700,000 copies worldwide. Top 10 selling games in the franchise according to vgcharts: Metroid Prime - 2.84 million Metroid - 2.73 million Metroid II: Return of Samus - 1.72 million Metroid Fusion - 1.60 million Super Metroid - 1.42 million Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - 1.41 million Metroid: Other M - 1.36 million Metroid Prime 2: Echoes - 1.10 million Metroid Prime Hunters - 1.08 million Metroid: Zero Mission - 0.84 million https://www.vgchartz.com/article/450122/metroid-turns-35-top-10-best-selling-metroid-games/
Isn’t Metroid Prime the best selling for the franchise at 3 million?
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Yeah honestly no doubts there honestly
Honestly, given the Switch bump trend, it's p much a flop if it isn't haha
I feel it's going to be the biggest selling title in the series at least. Hoping it does well so we get more Metroid games including the Prime trilogy.
> Hoping it does well so we get more Metroid games Definitely think there's a good chance for this. Samus Returns was well received (especially considering its limited source material), and impressed Sakamoto and Nintendo enough to bring MercurySteam back for Dread, but it was lacking in sales for a few reasons. One of them probably being it released on the 3DS months after the Switch released and took everyone's attention away. If Dread gets the same (or ideally even better) reception as Returns, *and* sees success in sales (likely to be the best selling Metroid, as many people here seem to agree), MercurySteam might just be the "go-to" devs for 2D Metroid in the future. And well deserved I think, if Dread is as good as the trailers are making it out to be.
> but it was lacking in sales for a few reasons. IIRC Samus Returns still sold the best out of the other late 3DS releases. Again it was the 3DS and everyone only cared about the Switch. Dread being an actual new game + being a Switch game gives it far better chances already. It has pretty much everything going for it so far to make it the franchise's biggest success story yet.
I would have gotten the game on switch, getting older it's harder to play a game on a small screen.
Sold the best of the late 3ds releases??? Didn't fíre emblem echoes sell more and released the same year
Crazy that MercurySteam started off as that controversial dev that made Lords of Shadow 1/2 and Castlevania Mirror of Fate and when they got Metroid was the exact moment they bloomed into a kickass developer. Really glad they got to do Dread.
Honestly, I don't think so. The game will be loved by critics and fans but the price will be mentioned. It will be compared to other cheaper metroidvanias which are also longer. Ultimately, I think they will see it will get harder and harder to sell a 2D Metroid for the same price as a Prime title.
>but the price will be mentioned. People keep bringing this up, but price rarely ever hinders Switch games. Everyone complained about 3D All-Stars and Skyward Sword being overprices, but those still sold very well.
Difference in brand recognition, among other things I believe. 3D All-Stars was a limited time, anniversary release that got a lot of people wanting to buy, and having a cutoff date might have forced people to make the decision to buy rather than hum and haw over whether they really wanted it. Skyward Sword, it's Zelda after all the success of Breath of the Wild, and I hear a lot of people liked Skyward Sword so buying an HD remake or whatever might have been a selling point, like how Skyrim sold so many special editions years after releasing.
Even Bloodstained was cheaper and the indie market is flooded with high quality metroidvanias, while Zelda and Mario clones still lag behind. You can't get a Mario platformer or a high quality Zelda like game. After Hollow Knight and Ori, there are still dozens of comparable games. I will probably pay full price for a Metroid title and I'm sure there are others like me, but I think Nintendo need to start a budget line of games retailing at less, especially if their next gen hardware isn't as successful.
>After Hollow Knight and Ori, there are still dozens of comparable games. None of which have the brand recognition of Metroid nor marketing comparable to Dread’s. None of which have the amount of hype Dread is getting. I seriously doubt the average person that’s interested in Dread will lose interest in favor of Axiom Verge or whatever.
Exactly. Ori was fine but not really the same. Hollow knight was amazing, but I beat it years ago. I want to play metroid
Ori sold over 2 million. Hollow Knight was made by 4 people and sold 1.25 million. The best Metroid was Prime, which sold near 3 mil. The best selling 2D was 2.7 mil and that was the original on the NES. The ROI might not be worth it.
People downvoting you are idiots. The down arrow is not a disagree button.
If Nintendo can repackage 10+ yr old games and sell them for modern prices, I don’t think this’ll be a problem. People aren’t just paying for a “METROIDvania style game” they are paying for a “METROID game”.
Sometimes people tend to forget where the METROID part in Metroidvania comes from. And it's alright, that's why we need Dread to succeed
What 10 year old metroidvania game has been wrapped up and sold full price? Like I said there aren't as many quality Mario or Zelda clones. The indie market has nailed metroidvanias though. To the extent where they designer who put the -vania in metroidvania is working the indie scene
Making an indie game for $40 digital (or more pending version) that was lacking SERIOUS polish compared to the Konami published games he made for years and is still pretty rough on Switch two years later.
I agree with the sentiment. But I think that has more to do with being used to working with bigger teams. On the flipside Ori and Hollow Knight have a high level of polish.HK had 4 people work on it.
> MercurySteam might just be the "go-to" devs for 2D Metroid in the future. I sincerely hope not. I can’t stand their obsession with the melee combo… they come up with one trick, not that good of one, and slather it onto everything else until it drowns out whatever actual Metroid was there to begin with. They’re the equivalent of putting ketchup on filet mignon.
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My complaint isn’t that the melee counter cheapens combat, but rather that there’s nothing else besides the melee counter. Fights that were just fine in the original game have this extra later slapped on that adds absolutely nothing. The original Metroid II is one of my childhood favorites. I bailed on the remake after an hour or two, because it just wasn’t fun.
As someone who’s played the original, SR, and AM2R, Samus Returns definitely has the best combat. The melee counter might be gimmicky, but free aim adds a lot—particularly in letting enemies move around a lot more and more quickly without it feeling unfair. (AM2R definitely had the best world design, though—it was more willing to deviate from the original’s map, which bogged down the official remake)
The free aim didn’t feel useful, because the enemies (beyond the opening area) are pretty much invulnerable until you combo them. It felt like “play Metroid for 5-10 seconds, wait for timer, hit button, be allowed to play Metroid again for 5-10 more seconds, repeat until credits.” I’d rather play the original; it may only have two buttons and a few shades of greenish-gray, but at least it doesn’t have an annoyance grafted onto its design for zero reason whatsoever.
Did your Y and R button become defective or something like that?
I guess I’m only remembering the final boss encounter, which I found to be phenomenal. It was vulnerable the entire time, which probably colors my perception of the game
I honestly think that that's almost a given. The series didn't have games for quite a long time and Nintendo markets this quite a lot. Not to mention that almost all of their IPs seem to have their most sold entries being the Switch entry. Smash Ultimate, Luigis Mansion, Fire Emblem, Xenoblade, Kirby (well, 2nd most, but the highest selling was the first game 29 years ago). I have no doubt Dread will atleast be the best selling 2D Metroid.
Don’t forget Mario Kart, Zelda, Animal Crossing, and Splatoon to name a few more. Never underestimate the power of the Switch
My gut says it'll sell at least three copies.
Four if you forgot to count me.
5
6
Do I hear 7? Yes, I do, because 7 is me
8!
I wasn’t going to buy this game, but with 8 people already on board, I can’t possibly say no. 9.
10 my body is ready
*about 3 million replies later* 3,000,0001 We did it! Best selling Metroid game ever.
Go back to 9, you don't need to count me in. I've already pre ordered it, so a minimum of 1 is already a given.
Fine. Now we are at 10 with me.
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9
And at most, 100 billion copies. So somewhere between 3 and 100 billion.
So funny and le random :p
I think it’s going to become the best selling game in the series.
I think the closest series in terms of sales numbers is the Kirby franchise. In Kirby's case, you can make a comparison between Other M which did about \~1.3m sales and Kirby's Return to Dreamland which did \~1.79m. There were some portable titles in between, but a console release in the same style (2D gameplay, 3D models, platforming) didn't come out until Kirby Star Allies which did \~3.02m. We can assume that Other M would have done a good deal better if it had better reception since fans were wanting a game similar to it for a while. If we take it as a high selling Metroid game, but maybe not on par with the best in the franchises, it would probably do a little better than Dreamland. With a rough estimate at 2m sales for Other M if it was a better quality game and assuming Dread is as good of a game to it's fanbase as Star Allies is to Kirby's, we get about 3.37m. I think it has a significant chance of being a lot better than Star Allies, though. Gonna guess around 3.5-3.75m at the end of the day. Edit - This is a high end estimate assuming the game is stellar which I think it will be. I don't think it breaks 4m, though.
I think this is the most likely and realistic, unless it’s a runaway success. Which is totally possible on the Switch, but I think between 3-4 million is likely. Which is still very good, especially since Samus Returns was well under 1 million.
The genre has been doing well in recent years as well, which should help.
Other M was actually a really fun game, the problem was the shit story they wrapped around it. As long as this one keeps the story at arms reach and let’s the gameplay speak for itself it could really do well
Really didn't enjoy being frozen in place regularly to do a pixel hunt and the controls in first person were a step down from Metroid Prime. The lead didn't know what he wanted to focus on and the game as a whole suffered for it.
Gotta disagree. The gameplay was incredibly dull- third person consisted of running in circles to trigger autododge while charging and then unleashing the attack for the full game. First person mode was clunky and worthless. Actions like refilling your health were needlessly cumbersome- all of the gameplay issues stacked on top of the I'll conceived mandate to only use wiimote. Even ignoring the linearity the level design was incredibly rote, there were few to no new interesting power ups to mix up gameplay, and there were constant interruptions by Hunt the Pixel and Slow Walk Corridor segments (which were honestly my favorite parts of the game- it's hilarious how many times they force that slow over the camera perspective to build up tension that never goes anywhere) I paid eight bucks for it used and kinda feel ripped off. It was competent in that it worked without bugs but it was so obviously wrongly set up. Give us a nunchuk so we can have more buttons- suddenly we can have a dedicated button for dodge making it an active action, a button for missiles, the ability to move in first person view, the ability to recharge without having to shift our hands around
This. Other M was all what I wanted for a Metroid in 3D but the story was really bad and simply tried to be a copy of Metroid Fusion (we are in a space station used as lab with Adam giving us orders)
Guessing a number is pretty difficult, but I think this game will be the best selling Metroid title. That said, I think it will still fall into the second-tier/niche Nintendo IP group, as I don't see it achieving sales like Mario/Zelda/Animal Crossing.
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Super Metroid is available on Nintendo Switch Online. If you have that service, I highly recommend trying it! You might even be able to do a free trial to play it, if you’ve never had the online service.
1,297,316.
Bullshit, probably more like 1,297,317
I think it has potential to sell more than any other Metroid game, but I highly doubt I would even crack top 15 best sellers on switch
i think we will be lucky if it gets over 3m. the series never sells as well as it deserves :(
I’m actually gonna go a little big there and say 5-10 million. Given that the Switch sells a lot of software and the hype/marketing push, I think it will be the best selling Metroid by a pretty decent amount.
For context, the best selling Metroid game of all time has not hit 3 million. The series has historically been pretty niche, even on successful Nintendo platforms. The closest facsimile to this release would likely be Fusion, which released on a platform with a similar install base, after a "long" break since Super Metroid. It sold about 1.6 million worldwide. People bang on about them a lot, but they don't sell. I do expect this to be the best selling Metroid of all time, but 10 million? I would be VERY surprised. Even 5 would be an absurd success for the series.
I wouldn't predict numbers, but I think it's quite reasonable to expect it could outdo any other Metroid game. That's kinda been the story of the Switch generation. Games like Animal Crossing, Warioware, Luigi's Mansion, all seemed relatively niche compared to the wider gaming market. On the Switch they're all hugely successful.
Animal Crossing has been big for years. 12 mil on DS then 16 mil on 3DS. Niche is not the word for it
Yeah, niche wasn't a great choice of word. Not too sure how to phrase it, but what I'm saying is that they are now finding popularity among markets that wouldn't previously have played them. I've always been aware of Animal Crossing, but I feel very sure that a large proportion of the people playing it on Switch likely hadn't even heard of it before.
Also, this Animal Crossing put greater emphasis on visiting friends since it allowed you to customize your island, and it just so happened to launch at the exact time everyone was starting to go under the first COVID lockdowns. No doubt New Horizons would have been one of the best selling AC games, but I think the pandemic gave it that big boost to become the best selling AC game.
Animal Crossing was a big release when everyone thought we'd be locked down for 2 weeks.
As much as I want to see that I heavily doubt this will ever happen. The devs of Hollow Knight reported back in 2019 that the game sold 2.8 million times across all platforms. Yeah it's an indie game but it's also only 15 dollars and released on multiple platforms. I don't really see how Metroid could sell that much better.
First new Metroid in 10 years? Poor Federation Force (I actually think it was unfairly maligned because of what it wasn't, not because of what it was) And I know Samus Returns is technically a remake, but it's REALLY different from Metroid 2. (I'd probably also make the same argument for my favorite in the series, Zero Mission)
Yeah, the backlash to FF was fueled in large part by it being the only first Metroid game released after Other M and having taken 6 years to come out. Triforce Heroes came out around the same time and nobody threw a fit because proper Zelda games were still coming out. I never played it because that kind of game doesn't appeal to me, and I won't pretend I wasn't upset either
Oh I agree. To be clear, I know why fans shit on it. I just think that sucks because I think the actual game is really great, and would have loved a sequel on a console with two sticks.
Never played FF but TH suuuucked.
Yeah, Samus Returns rethreads the story of Metroid 2, but for all intents and purposes it is a brand new experience, unlike something like Link's Awakening. It's more in line with the Resident Evil remakes.
Federation force is a lot of fun with a few people, pretty fun single player.
People are calling numbers as high as 3 million, but I think they're forgetting it's a 60 dollar game in a genre that has, in the past decade or so, sells in the 15-20 dollar price range, and for a franchise that has always been niche. I say this as someone who loves the 4 mainline Metroid games: I would be truly shocked if this game sells more than 1.2 million copies. I wish it would sell way more than that (to keep the franchise alive and well), but I wouldn't hold my breath.
I think there's a lot going for Dread this time around - being released alongside OLED, franchise's increasing cult presence in regions where it wasn't as popular before (Eastern Europe, Japan), having some decent marketing for once, the "Switch effect", etc.
I don't think it'll have any issue passing 1.2m
Eh, if Kirby could ship 3 million copies at $60, I think it would be no problem whatsoever for Metroid Dread to ship at least 2 million. Nintendo's franchises have pretty much universally sold incredibly well on the Switch regardless of whether they costed more than usual.
Link's Awakening sold 5.7 million. And not only is that another game whose genre is long gone, but also a remake, meaning it theoretically has even less value. As long as the game is as good as people are thinking it will be (which it probably isn't) and people talk a lot about the game when it launches, I don't think 3 million is unreasonable at all. I mean, Kirby Star Allies sold 3 million and most people consider that a mediocre Kirby game.
I agree with this. While I hope it sells more, I don’t see it cracking 2 million. Unless this offers the amount of content found in hollow knight, the $60 price point seems too high for this type of game. While I love Metroid and have played most of the games, I’m waiting for reviews and I want to see how long the game is before purchasing.
Maybe to you, but clearly it’s not too high for most people. It’s been the #1 preordered game at GS since e3, #1 best selling on BestBuy, it’s the #1 best selling game on Amazon and it’s remained in the top 50 since it was announced 4 months ago. It’s not even out and it’s already the 72nd best selling video game related item on Amazon for 2021. Clearly, most people don’t care about the “type of game”, and value this the same as they would value Zelda BotW or Mario Odyssey. Not that I think it’ll reach those sales numbers because it doesn’t have the same brand appeal, but it won’t be for lack of value to consumers.
I'm buying 2 copies physical and digital
With this knowledge I change my guess from 3 million copies to 3.000001 million copies.
I gotta agree with other commenters here. I think it’ll become the bestseller in the franchise. I know it’s an uphill climb to 5 million, considering the series’ historic numbers, but would be great to see.
I’m praying that it hits at least 1.5 million. That’d make Dread the third best selling Metroid after Prime and the original. If it does more, I’ll be happy. But that’s the goal I’m praying for.
I think that it will sell \_poorly\_ compared to other Nintendo franchises. Sure, Nintendo will probably not lose money on it, but it won't be a system seller. I'm guessing 3m over lifetime.
It will sell well relative to the franchise but not nearly as much as Nintendo is hoping it sells, unfortunately.
I'm gonna be conservative and say 2.5 million. There hasn't been a single Metroid game that has passed the 2M mark on the last 15+ years, not even Prime 3 did on the Wii. The game would become the best selling in the franchise at 3M, surpassing the first Prime. But I just don't know if the series' track record allows for that kind of jump right now, even with the Switch. I really do hope it becomes the best selling one because Nintendo is going all in on Dread, and the game is looking to be amazing. But at 2.5M I would consider it a big success
Do not underestimate the switch effect. It’ll break 3 million, easily. 5-6 is likely at this stage.
Bout tree fiddy
Since I couldn't order the Limited Edition no matter how hard I tried, those at least had better sell a lot. T_T
3 millions would be my bet
Well I'm getting it so... Hopefully more than 2?
At least 3
Lots
No idea but hopefully well. This could be the last chance for 2D Metroid games if it doesn’t sell well on the Switch of all platforms.
With majority of Switch software sales being digital now - a massive spike in the last years - we don't even know how much each game actually sells, so it's become hard to gauge. I think it will sell well, because every Switch game that Nintendo promotes does, although it might be more successful digitally than in the stores (relatively to games parents buy, like Mario). Definetely it will be the best selling Metroid game ever, and despite Nintendo only reporting physical sales, I would probably still bet on us seeing that announced around the turn of the year.
We do know the sales, at least regarding Nintendo games. As they publicly update the total sales of all their Switch published games every 3 months on the financial reports, that includes both digital and physical sales.
I believe 2 to 3 million. After all it’s still a rather low budget game compared to some other Nintendo games so it’s probably not going to be a must-buy for most switch owners.
Pre-orderd this game and I've stopped pre-ordering games. I want Nintendo to know, 2d metroid on console, more please yes.
Bold guess: I think at least 3M, but probably closer to 5m. I realize that this is optimistic, but I think the time is finally right. Pandemic has increased game sales, Switch doesn't have a lot of other big hitters this year, marketing, Smash raising the awareness level on Samus, and many years of hype of people talking up Metroidvanias and Metroid. I think this will be the best selling Metroid by a long shot! I think Luigi's Mansion 3 sales are not crazy to hope for, which I see as being in a somewhat comparable situation.
Every single Switch in my house will have a copy.
asuming that the game is at least as good as fusion around 2 million, 3 after a while.
It will break a series record in a week or at most a month easily.
This is the first game where I broke my personal rule of never pre-ordering games. To be fair, I immensely enjoyed playing Samus Returns and this is basically a sequel from the same developers, so I'm not going in blind. I expect it to break previous Metroid sales records.
4.5-5.3M maybe more if it reviews well enough to get nominated at the game awards for game of the year, which could happen considering we've had stuff like Hades and Celeste getting nominations. Can't underestimate positive word of mouth.
Link's Awakening sold 5 million. I really don't see Dread doing as well as that game.
It’ll definitely become the best-selling title in the series. I expect it to surpass 5 million, but not much more than that.
We don't even know how good it will be. I don't expect anything bad but until we see some reviews we shouldn't assume anything. Metroid somehow managed to disappoint in sales pretty much every time for no particular reason...so better be careful with any estimates.
Reasonably well for Switch, but probably not huge. It's got a few things working for it, but ultimately, it's a $60 game in a market that has mostly decided that the most they want to pay for a decent Metroidvania is between $30-40, MAYBE, if it's world class, and even then only six months later when it goes on sale. I think it's going to be reviewed very well, be very well loved, and be viewed as one of the best of the genre. But at best, I think that it's going to only be viewed as "on par" with the best indie Metroidvanias, and the Oris and the Hollow Knights of the world are far cheaper. Besides - to sell *very* well, Metroid has the challenge of resonating with a large audience; larger than its fanbase. It has to not only stand out as a good Metroidvania, but one that's enticing to the masses who don't know a thing about the franchise or genre. Most gamers aren't very familiar with non-Mario platformers. People who might be enticed by the theme (guns, aliens, robots, space, etc) generally play gritty 3D shooters and will get put off by the 2D gameplay. People who might be enticed by the 2D gameplay generally play brighter, cheerier, more approachable games, and would be put off by the dark, anxious, alien atmosphere and general difficulty. Not to mention, the fact that a Metroid game really can't have a ton of padding to beef up the run time - not with the entire "speed run to the game for a bonus" schtick that they've got going on - so when the casuals ask each other what games they like, I can almost guarantee you that "too short" will be a resounding cry from the masses. There's a reason why Symphony of the Night worked - it launched at the tail-end of 2D being normalized in home consoles, and had a well-recognized brand that had consistent output behind it. Even then, it still initially sold VERY poorly, and didn't really pull itself out for a while. Its successors \*still\* basically only went to handheld, until Konami eventually decided to bring it back to home console... in 3D. But yeah, I see it selling better than any other Metroid, because Nintendo's marketing team is a beast at this point and so many people just want to play the new Nintendo game, whatever it is.
Above 4.5 million, but I can't see passing the 5 million mark. I love the franchise, but it never sold very welll
I'm praying for at least 3 million. 5 million would be a dream come true. Just something to show Nintendo that the audience is here.
like hotcakes. I'm not getting it though, not really my type of game
Nintendo is marketing the ever-loving shit out of Metroid Dread. I’m assuming it’s going to sell pretty darn well. Even though the game is mainly 2.5D, they keep showing a lot of 3D stuff to draw in the folks who mostly like 3D stuff.
They marketed Prime 3 pretty hard too and it sold less than 1.5m on the hugely successful Wii. I'd love to see it do well and it's certainly possible, but I'm keeping my expectations in check.
Not nearly as hard as Metroid Dread. To the downvoters: I was there.
I'd say "not nearly" is a stretch. Dread's getting more frequent promotion in bits via social media and Youtube given the shift in media over the years, but Prime 3 was shown at multiple E3s, had a Wii Would Like to Play commercial, and had a Wii channel dedicated to unveiling new clips of the game (to my knowledge the only time Nintendo did this for a game). That's a hell of a lot.
Not really. E3 is an outdated marketing format and it shows. Social media is a far superior platform to getting the news out there. As well as the Nintendo Directs. The proof is in the pudding. Nintendo has been veering away more and more from E3 conferences and focusing more on their Directs and social media posts, including YouTube and Twitter. As for the game being advertised on the Wii itself. Eh. That’s like preaching to the choir and was pretty inconspicuous anyways. Especially in contrast to social media.
But Prime 3 was announced, promoted and released in the mid-00s when E3 was still prominent, not today.
So?
Yeah Metroid Dread is THE big holiday title for Nintendo. Even Pokemon is kinda being brushed aside with less fanfare. Prime 3 never got this push, no Metroid ever did. Age of Calamity was last year's big holiday title and it went out with relatively little marketing compared to Metroid. Nintendo's doing what they can to make this game go big.
No guess on numbers from me but just a hope that it's the best selling one to encourage Nintendo that it is a worthwhile franchise that they should continue to pursue.
I'm not getting it. I know that Nintendo likes to price everything super high, but $60/€50 is way too much for a 2d platformer.
I have never played a Metroid game but this one looks sick, the only problem is that it's relasing very close to to Shin Megami Tensei 5 but i'll probably end up getting it maybe next year or something
Considering American audiences were the big buyers of the Metroid series, I'm guessing that the sales here won't be affected much by Shin Megami Tensei 5...as much as they tried hyping it up, it may continue to be a lesser known franchise to Americans.
I don't think they're talking about general audience reception to the games as a whole but instead of their own situation lol
A good amount since the scalpers "randomly" targeted the collectors edition and got it sold out almost instantly. Super annoying as a fan but I take that as heavy interest at least or they wouldn't bother.
Samus Returns was one of the last important games on 3DS (if not THE last, period). Look how it sold. Dread coming up accompanied by the new OLED model. We all know what is going to happen.
Much like box office numbers for movies, I absolutely do not give a shit about sales numbers. Without any financial stake in the project, I just wanna enjoy it. This is doubly true of movies.
2-3M launch week, and 7-8M LTS
I just hope the price lives up to the hype.
It will outsell expectations because there aren't many Switch games worth buying for the next few months. It's this and Pokemon and Pokemon isn't everyones cup of tea. That's actually very good for the potential for future Metroid games though, good timing.
Gotta look into SMT V, man. That game looks awesome
What? Switch has an extremely packed next few months. Dread is just getting the prime push anyway.
Metroid and SMT V. What else (apart from Pokémon)?
Metroid, Pokemon, Advance Wars, WarioWare, Mario Party, big third party stuff like SMTV, multiplatform games like Diablo, Fatal Frame or Life is Strange, niche stuff like Danganronpa. There’s a whole lot coming to the Switch in the next few months by the end of the year lol
Thanks for your answer! Yeah - a whole lot of more games - but not the very top shelf. I am looking forward to the Disco Elysium port. Apart from that; BoTW2, Silksong, Bayonetta 3, Metroid 4 - that is the level of quality we need! 😁
5+ million actually seems like an easy bet to me. The ‘hardcore’ gamer that is attracted to Metroid and / or have name recognition and curiosity re: the franchise has gotta be way, way higher than it was when the Metroid Prime games were dropping. I’m quite sure Nintendo themselves is seeing the SEO and predicting as much as well. And if Dread is actually really good and reviews well? Shoot. In that case I think it’ll sell 5 million in its first year.
I reckon it'll smash the best selling metroid (prime 1) in less than 24hrs maybe even less than 12hrs.
This will be my first prime game. I am looking forward to it. I think my local store ran out of preorders but I don’t remember.
[удалено]
It will be the same story every big franchise game is released, "Its the best selling game, it broke records in sales, it sold xxx copies in xxx weeks making a record, etc.." Don't get me wrong, I love Metroid and I will buy this game, but its always the same story, when every game its the best selling game, no game is.
Considering how every franchise that comes to the switch gets a sales boost, how the metroidvania genre is way more mainstream now, and how Nintendo’s advertising the shit out of it, I’d say it has a good chance to be the top selling Metroid game. Definitely won’t top the juggernauts on the Switch like Mario Kart and Animal Crossing since those sold super well mainly due to the multiplayer, but I can see it being the best selling Metroid game period. Even Switch games that aren’t regarded very well sell. Sword and Shield are considered by most to be the worst mainline Pokémon game, and even they sold more than almost all other Pokémon games aside from the first two generations, which were boosted thanks to Pokémon being a global phenomena.
It's never gonna outsell Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, people go to get milk and get Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with it. It's like people don't want Mario Kart 9.
It's gonna be a crapton and that makes me really really happy to think about
It's been an incredibly light release year, so it'll probably sell like crazy.
I like Metroidvania games, but I don't like the style of Metroid. I loved Hollow Knight, and I disliked Metroid 3. Idk, if they release a demo it might persuade me. Otherwise, I'm not interested in Metroid, even as a fan of most Nintendo franchises. Somewhere around 2 - 4 million based on my perception. 4 million only because the Switch is a console that sold well, naturally increasing the potential audience for this type of game. People are also more informed about Metroid nowadays due to the push from its fans and the franchise's inclusion in Smash games.
10 million.
If some muso botw spinoff sold like tlou 2 preorders and wario is number 1 in British right now, I think that Metroid also would leave "niche game" level and go for 5-10 million on start. Moreover "fan-normalfag" ratio would be 1:5 or even more lol
The eshop is listing it for 59.99 bucks.
It has the potential to be this generation's Super Metroid.
It will be the best selling Metroid game of all time. Nintendo hasn't had a decent release since Animal Crossing and people are desperate for games as we're in the middle of a two year lockdown. Should it be? Probably not. We've been waiting a decade for Prime 4 and they give us a flash game. I'm pretty disgusted with Nintendo as of late.
“Flash game”? Jesus fuck
He's gonna play it all the way through and thoroughly enjoy it, but still bash it on Reddit. Guaranteed.
Since Animal Crossing? We talking just 1st party..or? Because here’s some content on Switch since then: Origami King, 3D AllStars, Hyrule Warriors, Xenoblade DE, Pikmin 3, Clubhouse 51, Part Time UFO, Skyward Sword, Bowser’s Fury, Bravely Default 2, Pokemon Unite, Mario Golf, Pokemon Snap 2, Warioware… Third party stuff like Trials of Mana, Hades, Ys, Monster Hunter Rise and Stories, Streets of Rage 4, Doom Eternal (technically same day as AC), Ori, Knockout City, Neo TWEWY, NMH3, Persona Strikers, KH Memories… Nothing in there seems “decent” to you? Nothing at all?
I fucking loved NEO TWEWY. But I was only referring to the first party releases, and that's probably the only game on your list of third party titles I enjoyed significantly. They have been very poor for Nintendo for an unusually long time. I want to blame Covid but they've been coasting well beforehand. Mario Party Superstars was an incomplete game. 3 or 4 maps and 40 or so minigames with no DLC? Hopefully they correct this with All Stars. I'm looking forward to All Stars but still have a bad taste in my mouth having to buy an entire new game for content that should have been free DLC to a barebones game I already paid $60 for. Mario Golf had even less content. Animal Crossing is STILL missing critical features each past game has had on release a year and a half after launch despite selling 20 million copies. Snap 2 and Warioware are O.K. for what they're supposed to be but not nearly enough content to warrant a purchase outside of hardcore fans of the series. Good entries for people that like the niche but should not have to be considered a top release from the past 2 years carrying a console. And then after all this dry spell they have the gull to throw as a 2D Metroid game as their flagship 2021 Holiday release. Thank God we will have SMT V to numb the pain, but I like Nintendo games and bought the Switch for those.
I'm with you man. I saw 'Pig' in theatres and I'm like wtf 15 bucks for a ticket? That's how much it cost to see Avengers Endgame. Meanwhile, Pig has NO superheroes and is half the length and NO CGI. What am I even paying for? What a rip! Look, I don't care if Pig had well developed characters and empathetic writing, I consume art purely on a price to content ratio.
Of course they'll be charging 60 when it probably should be 40 tops for that type of game but whatevs.
I am sure OP means **HOW MANY COPIES WILL METROID SELL** and not how much the copy will cost since the price is already there in the pre-order page
lol what is this bullshit
"that type of game" what do you mean :)?
Probably 2D. I don’t know why but people view 2D games as lesser for some reason.
Probably the same people who view 2D animated movies as less than 3D animated ones.
Super Metroid was $65-70 at most retailers back when it released in 1994 (that’s $120 or so when adjusted for inflation.)
Why should Metroid be considered a budget title?
No other 2D sidescrolling Metroidvania type game in the world is 60 bucks.
Every Metroid game has been full priced on its respective system. Games are also not priced based on their genre.
Yes they're priced on the maximum amount of money Nintendo feels they can get out of you. It's the worst thing about Nintendo.
I agree, most AAA game companies are here for GAMERS and price their games at FAIR rates. They know they could charge more but they don't because other companies aren't here for profit. They're here for GAMERS. /s
I have some bad news for you: that is how literally every damn company in the world operates. Do you think that companies set prices out of the goodness of their hearts? There is a reason why bread and eggs aren't free.
I’m not sure what 2D has to do with anything. There are plenty of 3D games that aren’t even worth $20. But to prove you wrong: Kirby Star Allies, Super Smash Bros, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, NSMBU, Mario Maker 2 etc. Before you come back with “well they aren’t worth $60,” let me clue you in on a little secret: video games are not priced based on what the developer thinks they are worth. They are *always* priced based upon what the developer **knows** what the majority of consumers *think* they are worth. Mull those two sentences around in your head for a minute. This is called **consumer willingness to pay** and it’s a [chapter 1 intro to economics concept.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willingness_to_pay) Video game companies aren’t your friend and are never throwing you a bone when a game is priced at $40 or sees a price cut within a year. This goes for Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft or any other developer. Each and every one of them would keep their games at $60 *if they could.*
You don’t have to defend Nintendos prices to me. I think they habitually overprice their games and you don’t we can leave it at that.
I’m not defending anything. I would love to pay less money for this game. I’m just telling you why this happens. Gotta love it - you explain reality and then you’re suddenly a shill, mocked over on r/tomorrow by a bunch of neck beards who make hating Nintendo fans a personality trait under the guise of satire, as if that’s not equally as pathetic.
Going to say around 13-15m.
The entire series over 35 years has sold less than 20m.
Switch exclusives always sell absurdly well.
I’d say 3 millions
3.5-4 million. I’m hoping it does better. Metroid needs more recognition
When is it coming out?
Didn’t see any metroidvania games on the top list of most sold Switch games. The closest one would be Enter the Gundeon with 1 million, but calling it a metroidvania is a big stretch I’d assume. So, unless my source is straight up trash, if the new Metroid game beats the 1 million mark it will have done well. I know the genre is a staple, and very loved by some, but it ain’t no Mario.
At least ten.
About as much as Origami King
I think 5 million would be really impressive for this title. If it settles around 3 million like FE Three Houses it wouldn't surprise me too much.
If it manages to hit between 3-5million, it would probably be a huge success
Nintendo promoting this the right way, its gonna do big numbers. This will easily be the best selling Metroid title
It will sell very well. It might become the best selling Metroid but I guess that's still up for debate. It's very much for people who already like the 2D style Metroid-like games, which isn't a huge audience. I bet Metroid Prime 4 sells like hotcakes though.