https:///pokemon-lets-go-pikachu-eevee-pre-orders-are-falling-at-an-alarming-rate/
Please let's have a pacific discussion.
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
[NintendoSoup] Pokemon Let’s GO Pikachu/Eevee Pre-Orders Are Falling At An Alarming Rate
- Thread starter Deleted member 31092
- Start date
https:///pokemon-lets-go-pikachu-eevee-pre-orders-are-falling-at-an-alarming-rate/
Please let's have a pacific discussion.
Tbh i think western wise its going to do better than japan i think the gen 8 games will be more of japans jam.
I'm not naive enough to think this game will bomb but I got to admit I'm still a little hopeful that this game only does average so GF won't try to put any of this stuff in the main titles.
Using COMG Preorder numbers for a game mostly focussed on Casual Players says little about actual interrest in the game form the majority of its audience.
Preorders are usualy made by the more hardcore audience, so all this really tells us is that the hardcore fanbase of Pokemon is not as interested in Lets go as in other games.
Considering its very VERY clear what the target audience for these games is(the people who dont tend to preorder games, aka "casual gamers") ringing the doom bell seems a bit silly.
Preorders are usualy made by the more hardcore audience, so all this really tells us is that the hardcore fanbase of Pokemon is not as interested in Lets go as in other games.
Considering its very VERY clear what the target audience for these games is(the people who dont tend to preorder games, aka "casual gamers") ringing the doom bell seems a bit silly.
I wouldn't want to ask someone behind a counter for a pre-order of "Pokemon - Let's Go Pikachu!".
The stupid name doesn't help.
The stupid name doesn't help.
I believe the idea was that Pokemon and Smash would be the 2 games to drive sales during Christmas, yeah.
OP
OP
It would be interesting to have some numbers on preorders of the recent remakes to make a comparison.
Are they going better or worse than AS/OR 4 months before release? Remakes tend to sell less than new chapters.
Are they going better or worse than AS/OR 4 months before release? Remakes tend to sell less than new chapters.
Kind of a mean-spirited thing to say but I sincerely hope Let's Go underperforms so that its quirks don't seep into Gen 8 and onward. I can respect it for being its own little half-mainline half-spin-off title but we all know that if it sells gangbusters that GF will look twice at what it wants to carry over from it to future games. And personally I have 0 interest in the direction Let's Go is going. Cool thing for maybe lapsed fans who jumped off the train after Gen 2 and people who enjoy GO but not what I'm looking for in a Pokémon game.
The game isn't particularly appealing to the audience that pre-order games or fans who continually buy the rpg series.
It should do fine and sell as much as the generation remakes if not more.
It should do fine and sell as much as the generation remakes if not more.
The audience for these types of games is not typically an audience that will pre-order a game.
On top of other factors like Smash pre-orders being available for like 2 more months, Smash having far fewer SKUs and Smash just looking like an incredible game, I wouldn't worry about Pokemon LG pre-orders not comparing favorably right now.
On top of other factors like Smash pre-orders being available for like 2 more months, Smash having far fewer SKUs and Smash just looking like an incredible game, I wouldn't worry about Pokemon LG pre-orders not comparing favorably right now.
This is a difficult one for Nintendo.
This game is clearly targeted at an audience, the opposite to who maybe should've been served first?
I think there's a space for this game and actually I really want to play it but it felt a bit like a bait and switch (pun unintended).
Hey guys, we know you want a Pokémon on Switch so we are making one...Oh by the way it's an extension to Go.
However. If the game is well crafted and received I can see it having a *long* tail. That and the Go fanbase is global and I can see the game selling very well everywhere, even if the initial MC figures aren't going to set the world alight.
This game is clearly targeted at an audience, the opposite to who maybe should've been served first?
I think there's a space for this game and actually I really want to play it but it felt a bit like a bait and switch (pun unintended).
Hey guys, we know you want a Pokémon on Switch so we are making one...Oh by the way it's an extension to Go.
However. If the game is well crafted and received I can see it having a *long* tail. That and the Go fanbase is global and I can see the game selling very well everywhere, even if the initial MC figures aren't going to set the world alight.
Also, just as a side note, Preorders for a game that has at least 4 SKUs are naturally going to be lower than a game with only one(or is the bundle that europe gets also aviable in Japan ?).
For reference, Pokemon Lets Go is currently aviable as Lets Go Eevee, Lets Go Pika, Lets Go Eevee with Ball, Lets Go Pika with Ball, and will probably also get another SKU (or two) if they make a Bundle with both games(and possibly one with both gamed and one or two Balls).
For reference, Pokemon Lets Go is currently aviable as Lets Go Eevee, Lets Go Pika, Lets Go Eevee with Ball, Lets Go Pika with Ball, and will probably also get another SKU (or two) if they make a Bundle with both games(and possibly one with both gamed and one or two Balls).
Don't enthusiasts tend to pre-order more than other consumers? That's not the market these games are going for. I wonder how games like NSMB Wii (or even Wii Sports Resort) fared for pre-orders. This might be completely from my ass, but it sounds like something I heard before.
If anything, I think this just means the enthusiast crowd is skittish on these, which we already knew.
If anything, I think this just means the enthusiast crowd is skittish on these, which we already knew.
OP
OP
Generally speaking Pokémon games have no legs. What they sell in the first 6 months is 98% of their LTD, the hype machine for the next annual chapter starts in spring/summer, so they have the spotlight for 4-6 months only.
Didn't this happen with DQXI already? PS4 had stronger pre-orders, but the 3DS version wound up outselling it.
Yep, it's hard to have legs when the next game comes out the following year.
I could see LG breaking this trend just because of the different focus; Gen 8 isn't going to replace LG proper like it normally would. Especially if GF goes full GF and removes features like co-op.
That's the risk and what Nintendo is probably trying to counter.
Not sure if it'll work but Go has continued to attract success after 2 years and the theory is that this customer base may not all flock to pre order but continue to buy the game long term.
OP
OP
It's a known fact that the PS4 audience in Japan is more inclined to preorder than the Nintendo audience, but preorders were very high for both versions.
Nintendo knows what it's doing. It's experimenting with these games. If the public rejects them, Smash will be the big hit this fall and they still have a real Pokemon game to carry them next year. In all honesty, this game not selling like hotcakes probably preserves the franchise as it is. I'm all for freshening up the formula but making the game play itself is a bad idea.
Even worse...Amazon ranking.
Some of the biggest games of the year like CoD and RDR2 werent showing up high in the charts until we got new trailers or preview events for them.
There is so many wrong things about the methodology used here that I don't know where to begin with.
- Comgnet numbers are not representative of the whole JP market, it is a small retail chain. GEO, with 1300 stores, would have been more accurate.
- Comparing comgnet numbers for between games on two systems at two different time of their life is nonsense. X/Y would have been a more fitting comparison and even then it wouldn't have been accurate.
- Amazon is dividing the Pokemon SKUs in 4 vs one for SSBU.
- The fact that SSBU does extremely well (especially days after the Direct) doesn't mean that Pokemon is doing badly.
- The idea that preorders are falling is not documented at all, especially when the games are rising on charts.
It is totally possible that the games won't do extremely well (it is a risky move after all) but extrapolating that from Comgnet preorder points and Amazon charts 3 months before release is nonsense.
- Comgnet numbers are not representative of the whole JP market, it is a small retail chain. GEO, with 1300 stores, would have been more accurate.
- Comparing comgnet numbers for between games on two systems at two different time of their life is nonsense. X/Y would have been a more fitting comparison and even then it wouldn't have been accurate.
- Amazon is dividing the Pokemon SKUs in 4 vs one for SSBU.
- The fact that SSBU does extremely well (especially days after the Direct) doesn't mean that Pokemon is doing badly.
- The idea that preorders are falling is not documented at all, especially when the games are rising on charts.
It is totally possible that the games won't do extremely well (it is a risky move after all) but extrapolating that from Comgnet preorder points and Amazon charts 3 months before release is nonsense.
Is its performance on Amazon actually uncommon compared to previous Pokemon games? Games starting high on these charts when the pre-order period begins only to drop until closer to release when pre-orders start to increase again strikes me as a rather normal pre-order trajectory. They compare it to Smash Bros's performance, but Smash Bros pre-orders are obviously influenced by last week's Direct.
I'm sure it will not have co-op. For them Let's Go is the game focused on console (local cooperative, movement control) and Gen 8 is the game focused on handheld (as always)
Anyway, it's not as if in a normal Pokémon game you could fit co-op
I didn't want to imply that the 3DS version had zero pre-orders or something like that, but I do think it's worth pointing out that pre-orders are hardly the end-all qualifier for success with regards to casual-targeted franchises.
There are 'proper' Pokemon games coming next year on the Switch. Folks know that, because Nintendo told them. If you don't want to see games like Let's Go, the best way to let Nintendo know is to not buy them or not preorder them. Perhaps this is what's happening. Or not, I have no idea.
The game will bomb relative to expectations. The free to play mobile audience won't buy an expensive system for it and the hardcore audience are disappointed with the concessions made.
Smash is a franchise that can challenge Pokemon. You're underestimating it.
Yep. Same with God of War and others. Really Amazon pre orders months prior to release isn't really a good way of measuring anything. When Let's Go was first revealed it was topping the charts on Amazon
That's true, and I came off sounding a little more unfair to GF than I meant. However, it doesn't change the popularity of the request - I think a decent number of people want that, especially inside the audience LG is meant to attract. It's for reasons like that I expect the games (if well received - important 'if' there) to sell decent numbers even beyond the launch of Gen 8.
