Japanese indie hit Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin has shipped 500,000 units worldwide, publisher Marvelous has announced. That number accounts for retail shipments and download sales across PC (Steam), Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4.

Sakuna is developed by the two-man indie studio Edelweiss, and took a total of five years to make. The game is a combination of action-platformer and highly intricate rice-harvesting sim—a unique combination that is a large part of the reason for its success.

Upon release, Sakuna sold 55,861 copies at retail in Japan, selling out at stores due to retailers underestimating demand. This spurred download sales, with the Switch version of the game reaching the #1 spot in the Nintendo eShop best-sellers list. The game also received positive word of mouth over social media, and this alongside cross-promotion from Japan's agricultural sector, drove continued sales over the next several days. At present, Sakuna is still at the #2 spot on the Japanese eShop.

In North America, Xseed Games stated that Sakuna was seeing twice as many pre-orders on Switch as PS4, owing to Nintendo's promotion of the game in their Nintendo Direct and Treehouse Live events. After launch, it worked its way into early 20s in the eShop best-sellers list, then higher up to the #12 spot where it remains today.

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Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity has shipped 3 million units worldwide, according to a Famitsu report. That number is a combination of total global shipments and download sales.

Four days from launch, that already makes Age of Calamity the best-selling Warriors game ever, according to Famitsu. Other crossover Warriors games have broken the 1 million mark in the past, but have often taken several weeks, if not months, to get there.

In the UK alone, Age of Calamity's launch sales were 324% greater than the original Hyrule Warriors, according to a GamesIndustry.biz report. That game took over 4 months to cross the 1 million mark worldwide.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity was released globally on November 20th for the Nintendo Switch. It serves as a prequel of sorts to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which has sold over 21 million units globally and is the highest-selling Zelda game to date.

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Recent sales reports from Japan indicate that Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin has done rather well, as retailers have sold most of the first shipment of the game.

After five solid years of development, Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin made its debut on PC, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4 earlier in the week. Developer Edelweiss says most of those five years were spent on the intricacies of the game's core mechanic—an incredibly realistic and detailed rice-harvesting simulation that makes your character stronger and prepares her for battle.

In Sakuna, the harvesting of rice begins with mixing rice seeds and mud into a bucket of water. More mud yields better rice, but also less rice, which already gives the player an early decision to contend with. You then need to till your field, and the amount of effort you put into this impacts how well your crop will contend with weeds (which you also need to routinely monitor as your rice grows). Once you've done that, you place your rice seeds in a seeding box and wait for them to sprout until they're ready to be planted. And all of that is just step 1.

When Edelweiss began working on Sakuna in 2015, the two-man team knew exactly what they wanted the game to be—equal parts action-platformer and rice-harvesting simulation. During development, they visited the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives association to learn the intricacies of harvesting rice, researched old Japanese homes and farming tools, and even went to the effort of growing their own rice to get a feel for the minutiae they wanted to replicate in-game.

The end result of all this effort is that Sakuna appears to be finding an audience that appreciates its eccentricities—at least in Japan. Multiple Japanese retail blogs have reported that Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin has sold through most of its first shipment to retailers. Meanwhile, on the Nintendo eShop in Japan, the game worked its way up to the #2 spot in the game rankings list over the weekend. (This is a list that takes into account the last two weeks of digital software sales.) While none of this points to an overwhelming success, it does tell us that Sakuna is doing reasonably well, or at least, better than Japanese retailers expected.

People who have played the game remarked on Twitter that its commitment to simulating the rice-harvesting process as meticulously as it does caught them by surprise. Some are expressing that they aren't fully on board with just how painstaking the entire process is, while others revel in its uniqueness and are tweeting out screenshots and captures of their rice fields. A bunch of players have even found their way to the website of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries in Japan, where they're following an actual rice-growing guide to grow rice in the game.

Meanwhile, the agricultural industry appears to have spotted an opportunity to stir up word-of-mouth as well. Shinmei Holdings, a Japan-based manufacturer and distributor of rice products, recently spoke to Edelweiss about Sakuna's development process, and is presently conducting a Twitter campaign offering followers that retweet a chance to win two copies of the game and 2 kilos of rice. Shinmei also pointed Twitter followers to U.S. Miraijuku, an e-learning firm dedicated to teaching rice-cultivation, in the event that the game inspires someone to take up rice cultivation as an actual career or hobby.

Over in North America, there's no real indicator as to how well Sakuna is doing. We know that the Switch version saw twice as many pre-orders as the PS4 version prior to release, but that doesn't really give one a sense of how actual launch numbers look. The game moved its way into the early 20s in the eShop bestsellers list over the weekend, but again, that doesn't tell us much in isolation either. One will just have to wait for publishers Xseed and Marvelous to issue a statement once sales reach a satisfactory level.

The post Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin Appears to be Doing Well in Japan appeared first on Siliconera.

Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin has been in development for over five years, but if you go back and watch its very first trailer from 2016, it looks astoundingly similar to the game we're getting today. Not from a visual standpoint, of course—Sakuna has seen a great deal of polish in the interim—but it's plain that developer Edelweiss knew exactly the kind of game they wanted to make at the outset.

That game is a combination of action-platforming and rice-cultivation. It's an activity you don't often see represented outside of farming sims, and certainly not depicted as meticulously as it is in Sakuna. Early in development, Edelweiss' Nal and Koichi found themselves visiting agricultural universities and researching old Japanese farming tools and techniques to get a feel for the mechanics they wanted players to engage with. Nal and Koichi discussed their development process on Sakuna and growing rice on their own balconies with us, and XSeed Games Executive Vice President Kenji Hosoi talked about how the Nintendo Switch version of the game came to be.

Ishaan Sahdev, Siliconera: All of Edelweiss’ games feel well-rounded in a way that many doujin games aren’t. You’ve almost always made games that look visually appealing and also have a sense of polish in how they play. How is it that you’ve consistently been able to do this, right from Fairy Bloom all the way up to Sakuna?

Nal, Edelweiss: One thing I enjoy about creating video games is the process of combining so many mutually interacting elements together in a single work. Artwork, sound design, story scripts, game systems, engineering—I’m interested in everything. The creator’s interests greatly influence the balance of power in a smaller team’s work, so I think knowing a lot about all these elements allows us to develop well-rounded games. (You could say that I don’t have a single specialization.)

Although you work with other people, Edelweiss has two main members—Nal and Koichi. Nal is a programmer and Koichi is an artist. How do you each feel your work has improved most with Sakuna?

Koichi, Edelweiss: Compared to our previous titles, the world, setting, and game design had a lot of depth to them, and handling all those elements at once was quite the task.

Nal: This was my first time developing a game that combined RPG and adventure elements with rice cultivation, so it was a huge learning experience skill-wise. By incorporating a real industry like rice cultivation into the game, I had the opportunity to reach out to people who work in that industry for research and review purposes, which really broadened my horizons. We could go in so many different directions for our future games, so it will be hard to pick just one.

An organization known as Japan Agricultural Cooperatives distributes rice growing kits for free. You can grow the rice in a bucket, so I tried growing some on my balcony.

[gallery columns="7" ids="858974,858975,858976,858977,858978,858979,858973" link="file"]

Photos of the rice Nal grew in his balcony as part of the research process.

For modern agriculture, I did research on the internet and borrowed academic papers from the National Diet Library (the largest government archive in Japan). We used this research when simulating how the rice grows in-game.

Because this game is based on Japan from long ago, we also needed to research old Japanese households and historical farming tools used for manual labor. I made my way to public archives of agricultural universities and the historical archives of rural regions (these exist all over Japan). To research traditional Japanese homes, I visited Kyoto and Shirakawa-go (a sightseeing village famous for old-style homes).

It was after the game was completed that we were able to speak with people from different industries. I had the chance to meet and talk with professional rice farmers, and I was interviewed by rice wholesalers and agricultural co-ops. I learned a lot and was able to broaden my horizons by speaking with people in industries that I don’t normally have any interaction with.

Nal, you mainly worked on fighting games prior to forming Edelweiss, and traces of that genre can be found in a lot of your work. What elements of fighting games do you feel can be used to make other genres more interesting?

Nal: The fighting game genre specializes in smooth, tight character movement, and I think you can use that to improve the basic foundation of pretty much any other game. Some of the fighting genre’s strongest aspects include systems where the character’s actions reflect the player’s input; clear character animations that vary in speed; and character movements that respond to changing circumstances.

You’ve been part of the Comiket scene for a long time, and you routinely highlight other doujin games by putting together these very well-edited showcase videos and publishing them on your YouTube channel. How do you solicit entries from other developers? Do you have any specific requirements or types of games that you like to highlight?

Nal: Traditionally each team makes their own trailer. I was wondering how to repurpose these trailers to help hype up the event, so I started making compilation videos to highlight these games. I generally begin collecting them about a month before Comiket. I use all the videos sent to me so long as there’s no copyright issues involved. So rather than seek out something specific, I continue to collect them in the hope that, if someone has a game they want to show the world, someone who’s looking for a game just like that will see it.

By now, you’ve released a bunch of your games overseas and attended a few overseas events as well, including PAX and E3. Do you get the sense there’s a difference between the western and Japanese audiences?

Nal: I was impressed to see that at western events people don’t hesitate to play game demos. (In Japan people are reluctant to play if nobody else is, and often watch over somebody else’s shoulder.) I’ve also noticed that the male-female ratio is closer at western events. But while there are subtle differences, overall I don’t think the two groups are fundamentally different. It’s reassuring to know that gaming fans exist all over the world.

Sakuna has two distinct elements that affect each other. There’s the rice cultivation, which is very elaborate. And then, there’s the combat and platforming. How did you begin work on the game? What was the first thing you built and tested when you started development?

Koichi: The rice cultivation element makes this game unique, so it was difficult for us to find other games for reference. It took a long time to decide how to design the gameplay around it. On the other hand, this was an action game at its core, so we had to get that right first. While researching rice cultivation and experimenting with trial-and-error we worked out the details little by little. We began figuring out the gameplay cycle over five and a half years of development, and we finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel during the last two years.

For the first three years, we were focused on just getting all the controls and gameplay for rice growing correct. At this stage, we hadn’t yet decided specifics like the details of how rice growing would affect Sakuna's abilities or what kind of value to assign to each action in the farming section.

When the action and story progression were taking shape as we continued development, it was time to stop postponing the details of the farming section and get to work. We laid out the farm work and all other aspects of the game and asked ourselves, “how should progression in each aspect affect the others?” It required thinking about various aspects of the game in parallel before we could finally get the details just right.

You’ve mentioned that Sakuna controls like a fighting game. Could you explain that? What options and approaches are available to the player in combat, and how do the controls tie into this?

Nal: Sakuna has weak, strong, and combo type attacks, can move quickly by jumping, stepping, and grappling, and also has the ability to parry. Instead of mashing buttons to execute a series of combos, you automatically set up combos by cancelling movements. Because of this, I think Sakuna has more fighting game mechanics than your typical action game.

There are invariably going to be people that get super-obsessive with managing their rice farm and will want to focus largely on that aspect of the game without getting into the combat as much. Is that something you’re looking at allowing for, even if it happens after release?

Koichi: Since this game asks players to make progress in both of those things in order to move forward, it would be difficult to focus on combat or cultivation alone. To put it another way, if a player works hard at one of those things, they’ll be rewarded when they return to the other. We realize that some players may find this stressful due to personal preference, so we took that into consideration and tried to balance the two elements as much as possible. That being said, I think Sakuna’s unique charm and merits shine through when these two elements are combined together.

What’s your on-paper development process like? At what stage did that process begin, and how much of the scope of the game had you planned out from the start?

Koichi: Compared to the normal development process for console games, our style is to scrap and build repeatedly, as opposed to spelling out every last detail. In terms of documentation, we outline our goals and concepts, discuss the reasoning behind them, and then the programmer comes up with specific ways to implement those ideas in-game. The core pillar of Sakuna’s development wasn’t a story as a script, but a story in the sense that we considered how the playstyle would change as players experienced the game’s beginning, middle, and end. We reviewed every element, including the script, in that context and then implemented them in the game itself.

I remember the trailer that was shown at Comic Market 90 in 2016, and you already had the grapple ability with the scarf present both in combat and traversal. What kind of cool stuff are you trying to do with the grapple?

Koichi: There are lots of ways to use the Divine Raiment. For example, you can use it to weaken enemies that are more powerful than Sakuna. There are also skills that make it even stronger, so you should have fun experimenting with them. Besides being a useful item, it also plays an important role in advancing the story.

Sakuna is almost the polar opposite of Astebreed, which felt a little more male-oriented with the mechas and sci-fi backdrop. This time, you’ve got a game that looks much cuter, maybe more approachable, and we already know that the farming genre tends to be very popular with women. Was that something that factored into your decision-making?

Koichi: Since this is an action-RPG with a strong female protagonist, we knew from the start that this game would have wide appeal, and Murayama-san’s involvement as an artist certainly had a dramatic effect. We didn’t even think about how popular farming sims are among female audiences, as we were committed to creating a game that had wide appeal. I would say that we’re a little concerned about the difficulty level of the action segments for some players, since it can get pretty high at times, but you can solve most combat-related problems by gaining levels, so please don’t give up if you run into a difficult enemy. Keep planting rice and try again after you’ve leveled up some more.

The game has seen a full extra year of development time. What’s changed or improved most in the interim? (I remember Astebreed changed dramatically during the latter half of development)

Koichi: This is true for any game, but when you look in from the outside, a game’s development progress is neither linear nor easy to grasp. Many titles seem to undergo drastic changes near the end of their development. If most of a game’s eye-catching elements won’t appear until basic development is complete, then they won’t be apparent to anyone, and you can’t even start working on them. For much of a game’s development you can’t see the actual result, and in that sense, we start adding the final touches when we’re on the verge of hitting the finish line. I think the amount of time and commitment you invest in the game at this stage determines the quality of the final product. We probably could have released Sakuna earlier if we’d fixed up how the game looked and forced ourselves to push it out in a hurry, but we knew we’d regret releasing something we weren’t satisfied with. By working on it for another year, we finally reached a level of quality that we were happy with.

Edelweiss is a small team, but now you’re developing an action-heavy, console-quality game. How do you handle things like game feel and testing?

Nal: When it comes to the action parts, I personally prefer to test them multiple times. Since I have a strong attachment to side-scrolling action games, the aspects I came up with and implemented in-game came out as I expected for the most part.

Do you feel you’ve turned a corner with Sakuna? It looks so much bigger in scope and more polished than any of Edelweiss’ prior games. Have you thought about what you’d like to do next?

Koichi: Compared to our previous titles, Sakuna has received a great deal of positive attention in advance of its release, so we ourselves don’t know what lies ahead. It’s exciting and worrisome at the same time. We ended up depending a lot more on outsourced staff for this project, and I think we need to spend some time rethinking Edelweiss’ core principles. In any case, we’d like to consider all that at our leisure while taking a nice break.

Are you looking to continue working with publishers in the future on these larger, more ambitious games, or do you want to take a break and do something smaller?

Koichi: I think focusing on a single title for so long would cause our technological advancement to plateau after a certain point. We’re currently eyeing the possibility of reforming our development environment and working on something very small as a learning project. Our future plans have yet to be set, but we’re not originally aiming for large-scale games. So even if Sakuna has a positive reception, we don’t feel that we have to keep expanding and expanding. Regardless of what happens, we’d like to move forward with our core principles in mind.

You’re collaborating with a well-known publisher for the first time. How is the process different from your prior games, and how did it change things once they got involved?

Koichi: XSEED Games is an amazing publisher, and we really appreciate that they closed the distance between themselves and the development side of things. They worked closely with us from start to finish. In the middle of production, we decided on a multi-region, multi-platform simultaneous release, which led to technological difficulties and really limited our schedule, but they pushed back the release date multiple times. Ultimately, having a deadline allowed us to speed up the process of finishing the game. When I look back on the whole process, they respected our position all the way to the very end.

Do you feel being a doujin (indie) developer in Japan is a viable career? In the west, the indie scene has grown enormously over the past decade, to where a lot of people have been able to make it their full-time career. And while they work long hours and don’t make a lot money, they get to do what they love and it keeps a roof over their heads. What do you think it would take for Japan to get there?

Koichi: In the case of Japan’s indie scene, I think it’s less about having a career that pays the bills and more about being able to share a common hobby with a close-knit community. I think most people who want to work in the indie business brush up their skills first, then after getting their name out there, they move into the business side of things. I don’t think being an indie developer, per se, puts you in a position where you have to make a living doing it. On the other hand, due to the success of all sorts of people, in recent years “indie” itself has become more common in the overseas sense of the word. If it would help even a few more ambitious developers turn this into their career, we should provide such people with the support they need to make and showcase their titles. This will lead to more success stories, and I think that the indie scene will become more active than ever before.

[For XSEED] XSEED has been involved as Sakuna’s publisher going as far back as 2017. I believe you approached them during Bitsummit and asked if they wanted to work with you. How far along was the game at that point?

Kenji Hosoi - XSEED Games, EVP: Yes! The first time we talked to Nal at Edelweiss was when he was showing Astebreed at BitSummit in 2014, I believe. Our President, Ken Berry, was visiting the show in Kyoto and was super impressed with how great Astebreed looked and felt, so he ended up chatting about Astebreed and future projects that Edelweiss had planned. Business cards were swapped, and we kept in touch until they started working on Sakuna. When we first met him, Sakuna was still just a rough concept in Nal’s head.

What happened after the initial conversation between you and them? How did Marvelous get involved, and what has the role of Marvelous and XSEED been on the project?

The initial conversation ended after business card swapping and that was it for a while. Nal later reached out, letting us know that he had a build of his new game he wanted us to check out, and here we are. Initially, XSEED was the only one involved, but when our Japan head office saw the game in action, they fell in love and asked us if they could become the publisher for Asia.

In terms of developer involvement, neither Marvelous Japan nor XSEED has been involved with the development side. XSEED handled the English localization of the game (BIG shout out to translator Elizabeth Bushouse and editor Derek Heemsbergen, as well as our awesome internal localization staff!) as well as the English voice recording. Marvelous Japan handled the Japanese voice recording with Edelweiss and the Chinese translation (Korean translation was handled by the Korea publisher, Arc System Works Asia Branch.)

It’s interesting how the game was initially announced for PC and PlayStation 4, but nearly every major showing over the last two years has been at a Nintendo Direct or Treehouse Live stream. How has that increased exposure impacted sales expectations?

Initially our plan was to release on PC and PS4 only, but after Sakuna was announced as being in the works, our Nintendo contact at the time reached out to us on more than one occasion to consider releasing the game on the Nintendo Switch as well. We were initially hesitant on the first few reach outs as it just was not part of the original plan and we would have had to reschedule everything, but after multiple talks with Nintendo and hearing how passionate they were about the game, we ultimately decided to release the game on the Switch as well.

That wasn’t an easy ask for Edelweiss, but we all agreed that Switch would be a great platform for the game. In hindsight, we’re glad we took their request seriously as we have nothing but appreciation towards Nintendo for actively showcasing the game, and in terms of sales impact, we’re seeing great launch orders on the Switch—about a 2-to-1 over PS4.

Finding good development/publishing partners can be difficult. Now that you’ve established a working relationship with Edelweiss, have you talked about the future at all? Whether they’re interested in doing another project with XSEED/Marvelous, or if you would be interested in funding/publishing their next project?

We would love to work with Edelweiss again on future projects! We’ve been amazed at their passion and skill, and have immensely enjoyed working with them over the last few years, especially our hours-long meetings in our usual café when we visited them in Japan. We’ve been completely focused on getting Sakuna ready for release and haven’t talked much about anything post-Sakuna, but if Edelweiss and their team members pitch us a new game idea, we’ll definitely be interested as they bring a lot of talented people to the table.

Given how well this has worked out, are you going to be looking at other independent developers in the future? Is that something XSEED or Marvelous is interested in—receiving pitches or proposals from indies?

XSEED has been very fortunate in being able to work with a pretty amazing list of talented indie devs in our 16 years of business. From Team GrisGris, GalaxyTrail, Magnetic Realms, WayForward, Ankake Spa, and now Edelweiss, as well as our recently announced partnership with Voracious Games, we’re always happy to support super passionate indie devs. Every indie title we’ve worked on has been very exciting and we learn something new with every project. Our love for indie games is still going strong, so would love to hear from more developers directly. Currently, the best way to reach us is still via our general public-facing e-mail of comments@xseedgames.com, but we are looking to create an indie-dedicated way of reaching out to our key people directly.

Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is available for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PC. This interview has been edited for clarity and readability.

The post Interview: How Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin’s Devs Grew Their Own Rice for Research appeared first on Siliconera.

Nearly four years after its first trailer, Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin will release for the PC, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4, but that wasn't always the case. Initially, Sakuna, which augments its stylish action-platforming with an intricate rice-harvesting sim, was only in development for the PC and PS4, and the Switch hadn't been considered. Now, XSEED Games Executive Vice President Kenji Hosoi announced the Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin Switch version was pre-ordered "2-to-1 over PS4."

According to XSEED, which is publishing Sakuna in North America, the platforms it would appear on changed after Nintendo expressed an interest in Edelweiss' game. Ever since the Switch version's announcement, most of Sakuna's exposure to the public has been at presentations like the company's Nintendo Directs and Treehouse Lives, which has driven more pre-orders on the platform.

Here's Hosoi's statement to Siliconera

Initially our plan was to release on PC and PS4 only, but after Sakuna was announced as being in the works, our Nintendo contact at the time reached out to us on more than one occasion to consider releasing the game on the Nintendo Switch as well.

We were initially hesitant on the first few reach-outs, as it just was not part of the original plan and we would have had to reschedule everything, but after multiple talks with Nintendo and hearing how passionate they were about the game, we ultimately decided to release the game on the Switch as well.

That wasn’t an easy ask for Edelweiss, but we all agreed that Switch would be a great platform for the game. In hindsight, we’re glad we took their request seriously as we have nothing but appreciation towards Nintendo for actively showcasing the game, and in terms of sales impact, we’re seeing great launch orders on the Switch—about a 2-to-1 over PS4.

Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin will be available on the Switch, PlayStation 4, and PC on November 10, 2020. Siliconera's full interview with Edelweiss and XSEED Games on the day of its release.

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While the Switch has been Nintendo's flagship games device for a little over three years, the 3DS has continued to play an important role as an affordable alternative, allowing the company to sell its software to the more cost-conscious consumer. That may no longer be the case in a few months.

In 2019, Nintendo sold 6.25 million units of 3DS software, with a significant chunk of that coming from 3DS owners picking up ever-popular hits like Pokémon, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and Mario Kart 7. This even lesser-known games like Tomodachi Life (which has been a surprisingly consistent seller since its 2013 release). While the system represented a fraction of Nintendo's overall software sales, the company indicated there was enough demand for its 3DS business to continue into 2020.

Halfway through 2020, the 3DS is still providing cost-conscious gamers with cheaper access to Nintendo's games, but not nearly to the same extent as it was last year. Nintendo's investor site indicates that the company sold 960,000 units of 3DS software during the first half of 2020—about 1% of Switch software sales during the same period.

Like last year, a lot of those sales came from the most popular Nintendo 3DS games. Here's a look at how they sold between January and March of 2020, along with life-to-date sales for each:

Animal Crossing: New Leaf - 100,000 | 12.55 million
Pokemon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon - 70,000 | 8.77 million
Tomodachi Life - 40,000 | 6.59 million
Mario Kart 7 - 30,000 | 18.71 million
Super Mario 3D Land - 30,000 | 12.7 million
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS - 20,000 | 9.59 million
New Super Mario Bros. 2 - 20,000 | 13.34 million
Pokémon X/Pokémon Y - 10,000 | 16.45 million
Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire - 10,000 | 14.27 million

Interestingly, these are the last-known updates we have for the aforementioned games. Nintendo hasn't provided updated sales figures for them beyond March 2020, which could mean they're not selling enough any more to be worth noting. (This is a strong indicator that this will be the 3DS' last year on the market.) Regardless, here are some interesting observations from the data we do have:

• Animal Crossing: New Leaf sold 110,000 units during the January - March quarter in 2019. During the same period in 2020, it sold 100,000 units—only 10,000 units less. It's likely that Nintendo's marketing efforts for Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the Switch led to increased awareness of New Leaf as well, leading to a large number of people still buying the older game.
• New Leaf can currently be bought for $20 on the Nintendo 3DS eShop. This makes it a cheap entry point for anyone that wants to try the series out, but isn't willing to gamble a full $60 on the newer Switch game. It's the perfect example of why the 3DS still exists.
• Despite being one of the strangest, most obtuse games on the 3DS, Nintendo has sold 6.59 million units of Tomodachi Life to date. In due time, there's an opportunity for the brand to find an audience on the Switch.
• While Nintendo sold 960,000 units of 3DS software during the first half of 2020, it only sold 160,000 units of hardware. (Down 64% from the same time frame in 2019) That's another strong indicator that this will be the device's last year on the market.
• In contrast to the 3DS' stronger software sales, the company has only moved 200,000 units of Wii U software since September 2019. A lot of those sales came from Mario Kart 8, Super Mario 3D World, New Super Mario Bros. U, Splatoon, Nintendo Land, and Mario Party 10, each of which have sold just 10,000 units apiece over the last several months.

While Nintendo ceased to manufacture Wii U consoles in 2017, ending the troubled platform's run at just 13.56 million consoles sold, the 3DS sits at 75.87 million units sold worldwide and is still being produced. Given the drop in both hardware and software, though, it is likely this won't be the case much longer. This would leave the Switch and Switch Lite as the only two Nintendo devices on the market after 2020.

The post Analysis: How Are the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Doing in 2020? appeared first on Siliconera.

Nintendo's Switch console sold 5.68 million units during the April - June quarter, the company reported today. The hybrid Nintendo Switch contributed 3.05 million units to that figure, while the portable-only Nintendo Switch Lite contributed 2.62 million.

Total Nintendo Switch hardware sales are now at 61.44 million units, and poised to overtake total sales of the Nintendo 3DS by next year. Here's a look at how the Switch is doing compared to the 3DS, launch-aligned:

A recent Bloomberg report stated that Nintendo is on track to produce 25 million units of the Nintendo Switch this fiscal year; however, Nintendo has chosen not to increase its hardware sales forecast for the time being, and is sticking with its prior forecast of 19 million units for the year.

The company did confirm, however, that production of the Switch is almost back to normal. Nintendo stated: "COVID-19 created some difficulties in procuring the parts required for the manufacture of Nintendo Switch consoles, but the situation has almost recovered. However, if the impact of COVID-19 expands in the future, it may affect manufacturing, etc. Regarding Nintendo Switch consoles, because there is a time lag between production and the stocking of store shelves, and because demand remains strong, there are still shortages in some regions. We work hard to be able to deliver these products to consumers as quickly as possible."

Nintendo also said it aims to ramp up shipments of its fitness RPG, Ring Fit Adventure, and its custom controllers in time for the holiday season. Despite facing shortages through the spring season, the game has sold over 4 million units so far.

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In a financial results reports, Nintendo has revealed sales figures for its April - June quarter. Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, has sold 1.32 million units since its May 29th release, while Clubhouse Games, released on June 5th, has sold 1.03 million units.

Nintendo also provided updated sales figures for a number of its other Switch games. Animal Crossing: New Horizons grew by another 10.63 million units during the quarter, bringing total sales to 22.4 million—the highest in the series. Meanwhile, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is now at 26.74 million units sold.

More Switch software sales below:

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - 19.99 million

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch version) - 18.60 million

Pokémon Sword/Pokémon Shield - 18.22 million

Super Mario Odyssey - 18.06 million

Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee! - 12.20 million

Super Mario Party - 10.94 million

Splatoon 2 - 10.71 million

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe - 7.44 million

Ring Fit Adventure - 4 million units

Nintendo also reported that the Switch saw nine million-sellers during the April - June period, including two games from third-party publishers. Total software sales on the device are now at 406.67 million units, having outsold total software sales of the Nintendo 3DS, which are at 384.07 million units. The company expects to sell a total of 140 million units of software this fiscal year.

Finally, Nintendo revealed that digital sales have seen a 229.9% increase year-on-year, owing to high sales of download-only software and adoption of its Nintendo Switch Online subscription service.

The post Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Sells 1.32 Million, Animal Crossing: New Horizons at 22.4 Million appeared first on Siliconera.

Nintendo is raising its Nintendo Switch production target to 25 million consoles for the ongoing fiscal year, Bloomberg reports. Sources familiar with the matter informed the publication that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues to spike demand, and the easing of component shortages has made it possible for Nintendo to increase production.

This past February, Nintendo revealed that the Coronavirus outbreak in China, which is where the company's Nintendo Switch console is manufactured for the Japanese market, would lead to shortages of the device in that region. A follow-up report confirmed that the component shortages would also spill over to Vietnam, which is where the Switch is assembled for the U.S. and European markets.

Shortages of the Nintendo Switch persisted through April, following which Nintendo increased orders of the device to 22 million units, once the necessary components were more readily available. Given that it has asked production partners to further raise this figure to 25 million units, it would suggest the company expects to outdo its hardware forecast of 19 million Switch consoles for the fiscal year.

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Persona 5 Royal has shipped over 1.4 million units worldwide, Atlus announced today. The expanded re-release of Persona 5 was released in Japan in October 2019, followed by a western release in March 2020.

The original version of Persona 5 had shipped over 3.2 million units worldwide as of December 2019. That brings combined sales of the game's two releases to over 4.6 million units.

Meanwhile, Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers has shipped over 480,000 units between its PS4 and Nintendo Switch versions across Japan and Asia. A western release date for that game has yet to be announced.

Atlus also reported that total worldwide shipments of the Persona series are now at over 13 million units. This includes the 500,000 units of Persona 4: Golden that were sold on Steam following its release last month.

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Type-Moon Studio BB has updated its website with a blog post from project manager "Yanagi". Like some of the studio's other staff, Yanagi was previously employed at Square Enix, where they were involved with the operation and promotion of online games.

Since they've worked with Square Enix in the past, a lot of the Studio BB staff has previous ties to studio director Kazuya Niinou, who created the Dragon Quest Builders games at Square. This isn't the case with Yanagi, who says they've actually never worked with Niinou before, despite the fact that both were at Square Enix together—maybe even on the same floor.

Since Type-Moon Studio BB only has 7 fulltime staff members (read about the others here), Yanagi has been tasked with both project management and advertising. They're presently involved with two games at the studio:

1. A project that is being co-produced with external development partners and began development in late 2019. Studio BB is collaborating with its development partners using online meetings, and development is progressing every day.

2. A smaller project that the studio is developing in-house, which began development earlier this year. Studio BB is presently experimenting with a game engine and 3DCG software to determine what kind of worldview they would like to present, and what kind of gameplay would be possible.

Due to COVID-19, the staff has been working from home since early March, and in light of the current situation the studio is taking a long-term approach to remote work. An environment has been created whereby the staff can perform all the same tasks, even from home, and Yanagi says this is beneficial as it does away with commuting time.

Earlier in the week, Studio BB launched a 10th anniversary website for Fate/Extra, a PSP RPG that launched 10 years ago. A timer on the website is presently counting down to 12:00 PM JST on July 22nd, and it's possible this could be connected to one of the two aforementioned projects.

The post An Update From Type-Moon Studio BB’s Project Manager appeared first on Siliconera.

During its 80th annual General Meeting of Shareholders, Nintendo's upper management was asked to comment on plans for the next Nintendo console and future hardware. The question was answered by company president Shuntaro Furukawa and senior executive director Ko Shiota. You can read the full exchange below:

Could you tell us about the outlook for your next game system? Game hardware has always displayed an image on a TV or other kind of screen while you do something, and I think that's where the limits for this format are. Would the hardware you're thinking about go beyond those limits?

Shuntaro Furukawa (President): Our current generation system, Nintendo Switch, has entered its fourth year since launch, but its momentum is increasing. We believe there are two factors behind this. First is the existence of two hardware configurations with different characteristics, in Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite. The second factor is that Nintendo's development resources are concentrated on developing for a single platform, Nintendo Switch. We want to extend the life cycle of Nintendo Switch while maximizing such advantages.

Ko Shiota (Director, Senior Executive Officer): In addition to the performance aspect (higher technical specifications), Nintendo's dedicated video game platforms are developed with a focus on providing a comfortable environment for consumers to play fun software. From the perspective of playing with the image displayed on a TV, we believe that because consumers can play Nintendo Switch on a TV or the game console screen itself, it has greatly increased the opportunities for gameplay in various scenes in their lives, compared to previous consoles. Through Nintendo Switch, we've made many discoveries about where a dedicated video game platform can fit into a consumer's daily life. We see scenes on social media of children and their families sitting around a game console to play, which gives us a renewed sense of value of our dedicated video game platform. We will utilize these experiences in carefully considering the form our future game consoles will take.

It almost sounds as though the person that posed the question could have been subtly asking if Nintendo plans to investigate technology like virtual reality, which is displayed through means other than a TV screen. Furukawa and Shiota don't address that part of the question directly, and their responses indicate that Nintendo is currently more interested in further exploring how the convenience of a device like the Nintendo Switch affects users and their playing habits.
In case you missed it, Furukawa and General Manager Shinya Takahashi also talked about Nintendo-related topics like Joy-Con drift and Nintendo Directs at the June 2020 investor’s meeting.

The post Nintendo Asked to Comment on Its Next Console at Shareholder Meeting appeared first on Siliconera.

Last August, Type-Moon launched a brand new game development studio, dubbed Type-Moon Studio BB, led by former Square Enix director Kazuya Niinou. Niinou, who helped create Etrian Odyssey at Atlus and then spearheaded the development of Dragon Quest Builders at Square, announced that the goal of Type-Moon Studio BB was to facilitate the creation of brand new 2D and 3D games based on Type-Moon properties.

Over the past few months, Type-Moon Studio BB has been highlighting some of the talent that has joined its ranks since the studio was set up, and we now know the names of five key members of staff:

Yasuhiro Ikuta - Game Designer

Formerly of Square Enix, Ikuta worked as Battle Game Designer on SaGa: Scarlet Grace and served as the director of the game's expanded Ambitions release on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PC. During his time at Square, Ikuta also served as a "Crafting, Gathering, and Item Planner" on Final Fantasy XIV.

Koya Tsukada - Scenario Writer

Like Ikuta, Tsukuda has extensive experience working on Square Enix projects. He was the scenario writer for Dragon Quest Builders and Dragon Quest Builders 2. He also worked on the scenarios of Valkyria Chronicles 4 and Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth as part of Strobeworks Inc., one of several companies involved with the stories of both games.

Yoshikazu Takenouchi - Art Director

Another ex-Square developer like Ikuta, Takenouchi served as Art Director on Dragon Quest Builders 2, and a character artist on SaGa Scarlet Grace and Final Fantasy XIV. He also created concept art for Fate/Grand Order, some of which you can see above. Takenouchi says that the ongoing pandemic has forced him to work remotely, but that work is proceeding smoothly nonetheless.

Kuroko Hibara - Art Designer

Hibara's first exposure to Type Moon was through Garden of Sinners. In the past, he's worked on both 2D and 3D games, and as a freelancer in the animation industry. He's currently working on a 3DCG game based on a Type-Moon property that he hopes to show off some day. The goal is to create something that can be enjoyed by Type Moon fans, as well as those unfamiliar with the company.

Toru Kamiyama - Programmer

Kamiyama served as Interface Programmer on Black Rock Shooter: The Game and Last Ranker while he was at Imageepoch. He then went on to serve as a Gameplay Engineer and Mission Programmer on Ace Combat 7 by Bandai Namco.

Type-Moon Studio BB currently has three projects in development—a smaller-scale title that is being developed in-house, a medium-scale project that is being worked on in collaboration with an external developer, and a large-scale title that is several years away. The studio plans to release its games on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

The post Dragon Quest Builders, SaGa: Scarlet Grace Staff Joins Type-Moon Studio BB appeared first on Siliconera.

There have been a number of attempts to fan-translate Type-Moon's most recent visual novel, Mahotsukai no Yoru, into English. Since its release in 2012, we've seen several different groups attempt the deed, but these efforts have either been nipped in the bud early on or abandoned halfway through, owing to the scope and complexity of the project. While a Japanese-to-English translation for Mahotsukai no Yoru seems unlikely at this point, the good news is that we're getting the next best thing—a French-to-English translation that's already over halfway complete.

Mahotsukai no Yoru is generally considered to be Type-Moon's most well-produced piece of work, so ardent fans have kept conversation around it alive in niche communities through sheer force of will. The hope has been that they'll manage to keep it from fading into obscurity long enough for someone with the time and perseverance to eventually come along and translate the entire game into English. (Bonus points if said "someone" can also find collaborative editors to double-check their work, and a skilled coder to turn it into a patch.)

This is where the French translation comes in.

[tnm_video layout="mnmd-post-media-wide"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf-9w9O5B7o&feature=emb_title[/tnm_video]

A French fan translation for Mahotsukai no Yoru was originally released in 2018 and further updated in February 2020. This translation is now being used as the basis to translate chapters 8-13 of the game (and extras) into English. (With chapters 1-7 having been translated from Japanese to English earlier) Chapters 1-7 are also being revisited in parallel to ensure consistency with the new translation.

An overview of the project's progress can be found via this Twitter profile. Patches can be found at the Beast's Lair forums, with chapters 8 and 8.5 just having been released via a patch. Notably, the group's latest update was posted on June 24th, and it sounds as though they're committed to seeing the project through. With any luck, we'll be playing a completed version of the Mahotsukai no Yoru English translation by early 2021.

The post Type Moon’s Mahotsukai no Yoru Is Getting a (New) English Fan Translation appeared first on Siliconera.

During the company's 41st annual meeting of shareholders, Capcom management was asked two Monster Hunter-specific questions:

1. If the company plans on porting Monster Hunter: World to the Nintendo Switch
2. If the company will develop a new Monster Hunter game that is popular with high school students in Japan

The answer to the first question was a simple "no". Monster Hunter: World will not be ported to the Nintendo Switch.

The answer to the second question was a "yes". Capcom is planning a Monster Hunter game that will be popular with junior and senior high school students in Japan. This is where things get interesting.

Prior to Monster Hunter: World, which made the series a breakout hit in the west, Monster Hunter was most popular in Japan, where it was played by both children and adults. Most Monster Hunter games prior to World were on portable devices like the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Portable, which made them particularly popular with high school students, since they could carry the games around with them and play together during breaks, on the playground, or at gathering hubs like McDonald's.

While Monster Hunter 4 and Monster Hunter Generations were both a hit with this audience, Monster Hunter: World, by virtue of being on home consoles, isn't quite as popular. In fact, the game has only sold in the vicinity of 2 million units at retail in Japan—quite a bit less than Monster Hunter 4's 4 million.

So, when Capcom says it's developing a new Monster Hunter that will be popular with Japanese high school students, logic dictates they're talking about a game for a portable device like the Nintendo Switch, which would allow kids to play together over local multiplayer—something Monster Hunter: World doesn't allow for. It helps that the Switch is extremely popular in Japan, having outsold the PS4's lifetime sales, and already has a number of games that are popular with the high school demographic, such as Pokémon, Super Smash Bros., and Mario Kart.

In fact, a new Switch version of Monster Hunter has always been a matter of "when" rather than "if". Capcom has hinted at this in the past, too. In 2018, Capcom management was asked the same question—if they would port Monster Hunter: World to the Switch—and the company's official response was that they would develop a Monster Hunter game specifically for the Switch instead.

Just when this game is announced remains to be seen, but it may already have been teased. During a celebration of Monster Hunter's 15th anniversary in 2019, Capcom's Yasunori Ichinose posted a "message card" that spelt out the letters "N E X T".

Ichinose served as the director of Monster Hunter Generations and a number of prior Monster Hunter games released for portable devices, but hasn't had his name featured in a new game since. Ichinose isn't included in the credits for either Monster Hunter: World or its Iceborne expansion, which suggests he's been working on a different game since the release of Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate.

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