Old CEO of Nintendo said that even if it means you take a massive loss, you shouldn’t push a game hard that you don’t think can be successful. They never believed in it in the first place. It didn’t hit any sales target, they just never had one.
I will say, no I don’t think prime remastered was a failure. 1.5M for a remaster is super good, games like fire emblem awakening or astral chain full on brand new 3D games built from the ground up consider 1M as a success, now imagine Metroid prime. Here’s some other things to consider about Metroid prime, it’s been leaked that the USK (the age rating accusation in Germany) has listed Metroid prime remastered as far back as 2021 meaning there’s a high possibility that between prime 4 rebooted development and 2021 the remaster only took 3 years. It’s also important to bare in mind the remaster is simply a graphical remaster of prime so it shouldn’t cost as much as other from the group up remakes Furthermore, while prime might have more people credited in its credits, it’s important to remember that a lot of the people who did work on dread sadly didn’t get credited due to their company’s policy. Even more is the fact Retro Studio was hiring during the early 2020s so a lot of the people credited for prime remastered could joined midway or late into development meaning the game may not have been as costly as you may think To add on to my point the game also lacked much of any marketing which in my opinion could be a key factor to harming its sales however it also means Nintendo didn’t spend as much on the marketing as they did with Metroid dread or other switch games making the bar for the amount of money Prime Remastered to recuperate much lower than other new releases like Metroid dread or other games on switch There’s also the fact that it saw a digital release first thus making all the money digital copies made go to Nintendo which again benefits prime remastered. It doesn’t end there though cuz we need to keep in mind the future of the prime series, we will no doubt see prime 2+3 coming out on switch ala pikmin 1+2, and it’ll most probably happen near prime 4’s marketing cycle which could mean prime remastered will see a boos in sales especially if switch 2 is out by then and there’s a switch 2 version of the game or a potential paid upgrade However I still do believe shadow dropping it was a mistake as it didn’t benefit the game at all, not to mention the way they revealed it, and yes as you mentioned the lower price might’ve turned some people off thinking it was of a lower value than other games. However as you mentioned there’s a post it’s prime remastered was used to aid in development of prime 4, and IMO I think that’s very likely due to how similar both games look and how they run at a similar frame rate and quality, it makes me belief that prime remastered was used as a learning experience in which they could make money off of it on the side while helping to aid prime 4’s development making it much simpler than it might’ve been before Ultimately I dint think it’s a failure, it most probably made its budget back plus more, and will continue to sell now that the switch 2 is confirmed to be backwards compatible and with prime 4’s release next year so here’s hoping the game manages to sell 2M copies by next year
@ 3 years with so many people working on it does create a high budget, and it only sold for 40 dollars. This game was more expensive than your typical C list Nintendo game, and it made much less money. It very much did not make a profit, making it a failure. It may even be considered by Nintendo a flop. It’s worth noting that Nintendo reviewed many of the games’ sales in 2023, and declared 3 of them “good” Pikmin 4, totk, Mario wonder. Those are the games that in their eyes were successes.
This. Not being on store shelves for a very long time hurt. I didn't get it when new. When it started getting some high mark reviews, I got more interested and looked into buying it last summer but wasn't in stores and I got something else. Looked for it again a few months ago and still didn't see it in stores, so finally broke down and ordered it online. Now I go into stores and its suddenly everywhere. Sometime in late September or October new copies started showing up on store shelves, probably to stock up to get a second crack at holiday sales. Simply put, no game (or anything else) gets any casual impulse buys if its not on the shelf when potential buyers are there - and when Metroid Prime has physically been on shelves less than half its time since release, that's going to hurt the sales. Were it only so easy for Nintendo magically swap out excess copies of Everybody 1-2-Switch for Metroid Prime Remastered, it probably would have cleared 2 million. Everybody 1-2 Switch seems to be the dog no one can get rid of. Came out only a few months after Metroid Prime, has a similar one million total sales number, but my local stores have way too many extra copies (My Best Buy has a full dozen copies on the shelf, and no more than six or seven of any other game, including new ones like Echoes of Wisdom or Super Mario Party Jamboree.) They clearly manufactured too many Everybody 1-2 Switch and not enough Metroid Prime Remastered and only recently starting to repair this situation. (A big holiday discount on Everybody 1-2 Switch would be the last step needed so retailers can finally get out from under it and free up shelf space for newer stuff.)
I really, really hope that Nintendo give Prime 4 a big lengthy marketing campaign with how much money was allegedly put into its development. Certainly wouldn’t mind waiting a little later in the year if they could really make a push for it through trailers and ad campaigns.
OG Prime: 2.8 plus million units sold in its lifetime Prime Remake: 1 million units sold in less a year, plus almost no research and development costs. Also Primed new gamers to the origin of the series. Yep, its a success.
Barely half the sales, less than half the price, and more expensive than the original since *every asset was remade with much higher graphical fidelity* It had to sell 2 million to break even. This was a flop.
@@minecrafter3448 I don't think cost scales that linearly with fidelity. They didn't have to figure out how to put a 2D franchise into 3D space while staying recognizable. Gameplay done, art design done, bugs already squashed, playtested into oblivion. No disrespect on the effort that goes into 3D models and textures, and changing a running system probably rattles a lot of issues loose that now need fixing, but for full on new development you have to consider a lot more I believe. Also the often quoted 2 million is about being a success I believe, not about breaking even. Mabye I got that wrong though, unsure.
Given it must have taken a lower budget to remaster, I think it's fair to assume that it didn't need to hit the 2M mark to be considered successful. Also, unlike for instance Pikmin 1+2 HD, Metroid Prime 4's launch wasn't imminent when the Prime remaster dropped. I should expect it to get a bump once Prime 4 has a definitive date.
For a remaster the amount of credited people on the development side was kinda staggering. They also confirmed to have worked with a secondary studio. I believe simply because of the American labor that it was a bit more expensive than average. Can also be consolidated to engine work for Beyond however.
Nintendo also had a really interesting anti-scalper release strategy for this one… making it seem like it was initially a limited physical release and letting the games get severely scalped… and then pulling up a week or 2 later and saying hey by the way we have a ton of these
It's too complex for the masses. I'm pretty sure that more than half of the people that bought the game, regardless the system, never finished. Heck, probably didn't even progress that much into it.
Metroid has never been a good seller and it was never gonna do better than dread. With that being said Metroid prime remastered sold 3 times as much as Metroid Samus returns and the studio that made Samus returns got the green light to develop dread so I would say that Nintendo isn’t upset about the sales
Can't really worry about MPR's "success" when you don't spend a single penny on marketing and skip the holiday season. The game exists solely to keep Retro Studios from twidling their thumbs before getting the reins of MP4.
i'm still thinking that remastering the sequels might boost the sales of the first one with each release (like i think botw got a bit of boost from totk release) and might make sense if they also ride out the hype from beyond, but of course they'll need to space it out, maybe as a filler until the next 2D metroid dropped
The Link's Awakening remake has sold 6.5 million copies. The Super Mario RPG remake has sold 3.3 million copies. The Paper Mario remake has sold 1.76 million copies. Neither the Advance Wars 1+2 remake nor Pikmin 1+2 seem to have crossed a million. This puts Metroid Prime somewhere in the same league as Paper Mario. Remakes of old classic games don't sell at the same number as newer titles. And they also don't need to. I believe Nintendo fully expected somewhere of a ballpark of 1 million copies for Metroid Prime, and it sits more than 50% above that number.
And btw: The sales for Paper Mario Origami King are at 3.5 million copies. So the ratio for the Paper Mario series (new vs remake) is pretty much the same as for the Metroid series on switch.
I think Nintendo will still position a great launch for the game. One thing about Nintendo when they are confident in the game being made, they will ignore sales for positioning. When it was shown at the investor meeting, Takahashi had pride in it. So I think it's ok
@@therealjaystone2344 exactly why I bought 2, one for me to play and one for my collection of great games I keep sealed. I don't believe it will explode in price. But it is a good game, it's nice to have an extra copy.
Remember single player games are ever green titles. Most people get into the older titles of a franchise after having played through the newest release. And sales aren't everything. Keeping token franchises alive is good for the company image. And unlike most companies Nintendo still somewhat cares about their image towards the mainstream.
@@theterribleclaw4285 I want to see both of them for sure. I just have a bias towards 2. I want to play them both again, so if only one got remastered and both were re-released, I would pick 2 to get remastered. Either way though, I want to play both again with updated controls.
Metroid Prime Remastered sold comparably to anything in the Xenoblade series. It’s a remaster of a 20 year old game. Dread sold over 3 million which is presumably more than any Xenoblade game. They’re happy.
keep in mind: the game was first released digital only. the retail version was released a few weeks later. i think the digital sales are much higher than imagined. in combination with the retail sales, i think it did very well.
Also let's keep in mind that everyone and their mother has already played the first game. The second one everyone skipped back then in favour of halo 2 aka generic sci fi shooter 2000.
I quintuple-dipped. EU, US, AUS and Japan versions, plus the digital. I had the others shipped to secure underground storage facility where they are wrapped in multiple layers of protective packaging and stored in a climate controlled vault more than 100 metres underground. Unfortunately I’ve now forgotten where I put them.
Nintendo understands many of their franchises don't sell nearly as well as bigger franchises. So prime remastered selling the amount it did is probably enough of a success for them.
I think one thing to consider is the "Remake effect", where if a game was recently still available, people, myself included, won't buy the enhanced remake because they still own it. I have metroid prime trilogy from the wii u eshop, and because all I would be getting is a visual enhancement, i don't think it would be worth it. A new game isn't affected by this, and if a remake has compelling enough bonus content, then it might just get around this, but MPR, as well as Luigi's Mansion 2 HD, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, have not convinced me to buy them simply because i already have that game and the bonus content, if any (I'm looking at you, LM2HD), isn't enough to get me to buy it again, at full price (or more [LM2HD again]). I would not be surprised if Metroid Prime 4 sells better than MPR, or if Luigi's Mansion 2 HD also is considered a flop. Being on the Wii U originally is enough of a niche that the Wii U "Deluxe" ports don't have the Remake Effect affect its sales as much, and the DLC MK8D has gotten is a big help for sales.
Including MK8DX, Nintendo’s second best selling game *ever* by a pretty wide margin, on a list of games who’s sales you think have been dampened… that’s certainly a choice
Even before the BCP, it had sold 43M copies and was already the second best selling Nintendo game of all time, trailing Wii Sports but already ahead of SMB1 on the NES (ACNH had not yet sold 40M)
@@extremepayne I was honestly just searching for a third option, maybe Pikmin 3 is a better choice. Though you could argue the "switch effect" overpowered the "remake effect" for that game, as well as most of the Wii U games on Switch.
I double dipped. I’m also convinced that Nintendo underestimated the demand for this game in physical form and the difficulty some people had getting their hands on one at first caused sales to suffer.
Another point is that the previous Prime 1 release was bundled with Prime 2 & 3! In comparison it is a 3. Rerelease with less game which probably prevented some people from buying it
In furtherance of your point, Switch 2 rumors are dogging sales, if the full trilogy remake solely releases for switch 2 and we don't know the physical cost, buying the single physical was a bad investment.
@@michaellane5381 Right now, in Portugal, you can buy Prime Remastered for the equivalent of 25 dollars. New. If I was into re-selling games, it would be a great investment for the future, still unpacked.
On the Nintendo e-Shop, there's no sign of Metroid Prime 4 Beyond , in the Japanese e-Shop, yet when I look in the UK one, the game is mentioned there.
It depends on the budget. If the budget was $2, then $2mil sales is a success. If budget was $5mil, then $2mil is a fail. We don't know how much it cost to make MPR.
The game was marketed horribly. 'Hey, we spent years on this game and it was expensive to make. Let's release it with no buildup or hype instantly at a budget price and have people wait on real copies. Hopefully everyone will buy the digital copies so we don't have to make more physical copies.' Terrible strategy.
Exactly. Shadow dropping the game was the wrong move. Also most metroid fans are older and have probably already played the original game, so a 1:1 remaster with no new areas, bosses, powerups, etc... was also a bad decision.
I thought Nerrel said in his recent video that specific sales figure only represents Physical sales, which is non-representative because the game was Digital only for an extended period of time following it’s shadow drop. I may be misunderstand and they are different figures, but if so that’s a big deal
I think it could reach 2 million if Nintendo announced a switch version of Metroid prime 2 and 3 even if they are just ports and not full on remasters. I can only go on my sample size of one but something tells me I’m not alone in sitting on the fence waiting to see if the other two will make it to switch before making my purchase. Otherwise I will continue to play my (legitimately purchased) copy of Metroid prime trilogy with primehack on my steam deck.
Personally, I'm a big Metroid fan, but I don't double buy many games. As pretty as the game might be, it probably plays worse than the Wii Trilogy. I assume on average a rerelease won't be bought by everyone who bought the original, having to make up the difference with new customers. Another thought: There is a good chance that the overlap between 2D Metroid fans who wanted Dread and 3D Metroid Fans who wanted Prime 4 isn't that large. Afterall, Prime originally did remarkably better than Super and Fusion, whereas Echos and Corruption had considerable lower sales - sales that are suspiciously close to the difference between Super/Fusion and Prime. Just saying, maybe the OG 2D fans tried Prime, didn't vibe with it, and then stayed dormant for 20 years until Dread released. Why would they show up for the rerelease of a 3D game they didn't even buy the sequel for? If you remove Dread from the calculation of how well Prime Remastered should do and look at the last 3D games (Echos, Corruption and Trilogy) I feel like this re-release did alright. Sure, less than the iconic 2 million, but still in the neighborhood of it's kin. But man, from that perspective, I'm reeeaaal curious how well Beyond will do. I'm not convinced it won't plunge the series back into the dark ages XD no matter how good it reviews
In the case of Fire Emblem Engage, the game wasn't marketed very well outside of Japan & had pretty poor word-of-mouth for everything outside of the gameplay. So that may not be the best point of comparison for Metroid Prime 1 Remastered.
@@dinar8749 Intelligent Systems said one of the goals behind Engage was to do something different from Three Houses, which has a more epic and adult war story, and to hearken back to Awakening as a work with appeal to a (broad audience). Tsutomu Tei the director also said that the decision for Engage to have a single path, rather than the branching paths in Three Houses and Fates, was made early. Genki Yokota, producer from Nintendo, said that some players were intimidated by too many branching paths and would assume they had to play all of them. Tei felt that a simplified story structure would allow players to put all their focus on the tactical gameplay. The idea of the Emblem system, according to Nakanishi, came up when the developers were discussing the marriage system from the previous titles Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, Awakening, and Fates. Those games allowed customized children to be recruited whose skills and stats would vary based on their parents, but experimenting with different combinations would essentially require restarting the game. Swappable Emblem Rings would allow similar customization where characters could be given Emblem Rings that improved and modified their fighting style, but in a flexible way that encouraged experimentation. The game's art style was largely driven by Mika Pikazo, an illustrator new to the Fire Emblem series. The team at Intelligent Systems was impressed with her vivid and colorful drawings that "popped". This perfectly matched their goal of appealing to a broad audience, including younger players. That explains everything.
@@dinar8749 One of the goals behind Engage was to do something different from Three Houses, which has a more epic and adult war story, and to hearken back to Awakening as a work with appeal to a broad audience. Genki Yokota, producer from Nintendo, said that some players were intimidated by too many branching paths and would assume they had to play all of them. Tei felt that a simplified story structure would allow players to put all their focus on the tactical gameplay. Director Tsutomu Tei felt that a simplified story structure would allow players to put all their focus on the tactical gameplay. The game's art style was largely driven by Mika Pikazo, an illustrator new to the Fire Emblem series. The team at Intelligent Systems was impressed with her vivid and colorful drawings that "popped". This perfectly matched their goal of appealing to a broad audience. This explains everything.
@@orangeslash1667 Awakening was far more dark and adult than engage though. And clearly this "broader appeal" is nowhere to be seen with engage's sales numbers. Nintendo and oversimplifying already simple working mechanics. Thought we'd left that nonsense behind in the wii & wii u days. Mica picaso was a horrible choice for the artist.
@@dinar8749 It's says that FE Engage sold 1.61 million. Thats more than Luigi's Mansion 2, Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, Astral Chain, Princess Peach: Showtime!, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, and Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince. FE Awakening had 6 writers, including Kouhei Maeda, the writer of FE : The Blazing Blade. Not only did Engage only had one writer, but Kouhei Maeda was working on FE Heroes.
Dude I bought 3+ copies of this game just to get all of my best friends to try it 😂 but yeah I think it just wasn't the best time to shadow drop it so close to the end of the Switch's life. Metroid needs to be pushed in the middle of a drought (and when there's hype around its hardware platform). I'm hoping that this is the kind of climate that Prime 4 releases into as a showcase of the Switch 2.
Loool i had a very similar experience. I had just beat the game on my gamecube when they shadow dropped the remaster lol. I just beat the remaster 2 days ago and it was a great experience. I also emulated it so I could get higher resolution and anti aliasing(dont worry I bought a copy, i didnt pirate)
I wanted to buy this on launch day, but they didn't have any in stock in my area. I still see it, but it keeps dropping on my list. In general, I think Nintendo is partially responsible for some of the "underwhelming" sales figures of their games. There have been so many Switch 2 rumours for so long that I would not be surprised if people are holding off on, e.g., Tears of the Kingdom in case they drop a definitive edition for the next console. Ironically, if they just posted a Switch 2 Direct I might be motivated to get some of the older first party titles they don't feature because I would assume they won't drop for a while. For me at least, it's one of the ways that postponing the reveal is siphoning from their potential game sales.
I feel that Nintendo is Banking on Selling on Both the Switch and Switch 2 to Surpass the 3 Million Copies. I am hopeful that between the 2 consoles Metroid prime should be between 4 to 5 Million copies. The franchise has had that potential since the Gamecube if Other M had not deflated the franchise.
The answer is vague. Metroid Prime Remastered was used as a test bed for Retro to incorporate a new production pipeline and toolset to outsource(since they previously didnt outsource.) People forget that Metroid Prime 1's sales were inflated due to it being bundled with the Gamecube so it didnt actually sell as great as people think it did.
People should realize Metroid Prime is an older GameCube game and was actually priced well at $39.99. When Pikmin 1 & 2 was made available their games were $19.99 each for the Switch or $29.99 for both. So 40 bucks of for Metroid Prime that was already was available on a Trilogy previously is probably the correct price.
Hmm I wonder if there's a world where Nintendo will charge 3-10 bucks for a switch 2 upgrade on switch 1 games OR if you are an nso or more likely an expansion pack member, you get the upgrades included with your subscription
@@spectacularstarlight8206depends on how far they go with the remaster. PS4 to PS5 is a much smaller jump than Switch to Switch 2, if the leaks are true.
@@Crafty_boy70 that's true about how far it goes with the remaster PS4 was a 1080p console, the ps4 pro is most similar to ps5 because it could do 4k so I still think they wouldn't go over 10 especially because it won't be as powerful as the ps5
I really hope they don’t charge for updates. If Nintendo is gonna charge 60 bucks for 7 year old games why should it cost more just to run better on the new console?? The upgrade fees only make sense for consoles where the games drop in price
I love how Nintendo says they have a lot of caution when putting titles from multiple franchises in one console. Meanwhile Xenoblade has an entire trilogy on the Switch, an upcoming one next year. Also Pokemon somehow breaks the trend hard here. Despite its technical issues, Scarlet and Violet sold as well as Sword and Shield. That's without mentioning BDSP and Legends Arceus releasing only a short while before.
While true, Xenoblade Chronicles and Pokemon are made develipment houses which I think have a lot more autonomy, and aren't as directly controlled by Nintendo's management as stuff like their mainline titles, and it should be noted that XBC2 (the "first" one on the switch) has sold more than 1 and 3. So they may have a point that sequels on the same system seldom sell as well as the original, it's just that they let some of their dev teams take that risk and others... not so much.
It's always a matter of perspective. I'm 41 years old, and I'm currently playing Prime for the first time on the original GameCube console. It's a great experience, but a highly complex and difficult game. It's hard to believe that most kids and young adults TODAY have patience for such a game. When entertainment is based on quick and easy simplicity more than ever. Sad but true. Omnipresent Internet enters the chat. That being said, specially being an old game, I think Nintendo can't complain too much.
Playing remastered felt like how I was playing it the first time, however some gameplay mechanics feel outdated and none of the bosses or environments are as surprising anymore
From a technical point, it would be nice if they fixed the Charge Shot issue, although to a degree it affects sales is questionable. But I have no idea why they can't fix that
@@ET-bc4yj He's talking about how in the remaster you always have to shoot your beam normally before it starts charging whereas in the original you don't have to do this.
I think what's often overlooked is when metroid prime trilogy was still on circulation it effectively made each prime game worth roughly $20. The fact remaster sold for twice that much, not adjusted to inflation, seems to point to me that nintendo is fairly confident to make a profit from it without making it worth full retail price like the other remakes. In fact making prime remaster cheaper than other remakes may actually incentivise players to puechase it when prime 4 comes out as making both full price would deter potential customers.
I will say that it doesnt help Nintendo when they make remakes full price games. If prime remake was 40$ I think more people would buy it They dont realize how bad a taste it can give people who have seen this game for ages now. Sk, thats just my two cents. I do believe they could have sold more
I think Prime did very well for what Nintendo could’ve expected, considering it was a shadow drop and they ran out of physical copies pretty quickly. 1.5 million is still pretty damn good for a niche franchise getting shadow dropped with hardly any post-launch marketing. Compared to Dread, which had the luxury of coming out with the OLED, and being during one of Nintendo’s most lucrative years on the Switch. When Prime dropped, I think a lot of Switch owners had unfortunately already dropped their systems by that point
I picked two copies for Switch, digital day 1, and physical a few months later If they release 2 and 3 on Switch (which I believe they will, close to Prime 4 release, just as they did with Pikmin 1+2 when Pikmin 4 was released) I will buy again Even having the Wii version of the Trilogy
@@technobladeleakedclips1827 That's becuz Bandai Namco was working on it at first but Nintendo didn't like all that so they got Retro Studios to work on it instead starting from scratch.
In my opinion it sold pretty good for HD Remaster of a 2002 GameCube game, especially considering the serious stock shortage it suffered during the first few months that it was out, you people just have unrealistic expectations for this franchise.
I was a bit surprised that Prime 4 was confirmed for Switch My first thought when they dropped Prime Remastered was that it was a preemptive apology, hoping that fans would not be so angry to learn that Prime 4 was moved to Switch 2, and as a way of cashing in on the engine/shaders/assets developed for the current Switch I guess that theory was wrong XD On the other hand, Nintendo may be banking on Prime Remastered getting more sales after Prime 4 drops- newcomers who enjoy Prime 4 might end up having an interest in playing the remaster
The marketing for this was soo barebones I doubt Nintendo had any expectations for it. I’d say it did ok if Nintendo felt like glazing the sales of switch era Metroid. But I think this remaster had done better with proper marketing instead of a shadow drop
With the last Nintendo financial report, we can assume some sales data from the 3DS titles too. I think Samus Returns is in the 700 thousands range and Federation Force in the 250.
Wonder if Prime 4 will be cross gen title. Think the series could get a major boost by being a launch title to show off switch 2's performance and give some major attention to the franchise during a fresh new system.
Despite Nintendo’s flaws they seem to be one of the few companies that understand not every title can and should sell gangbusters. They clearly want quality evergreen titles and are doing the opposite of what Microsoft has been up to lately
Prime remastered came out in 2023. Other games that sold well at that time include Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Pikmin 4, Super Mario RPG, Fire Emblem Engage, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Oh for the love of, its a HD Remaster of a game originally released in 2002, it also didnt help that it suffered a serious stock shortage during the first few months that it was out. No way in Hell the Prime 1 Remaster going to sell as much as Dread which was a entirely new game, God you people have such unrealistic expectations for this franchise.
I truly don’t believe their sales numbers are accurate. If Metroid dread sold 3.04 million and prime sold “1 million” then why does it say 4.99 million? Also, I truly believe metroid games sold better than what they are showing us. We never got a full update on the total numbers for both games.
Metroid is the only franchise I willingly and immediately double dip for at launch. When dread dropped, my physical copy didn't have a definite delivery time on a day I was super sick, so I bought the digital and kept the physical, then I bought the special edition when it was in stock again. With prime I bought the digital then ordered the physical. I love this franchise and I'll take a hit in the wallet to show it.
The most important part is that Prime Remastered got amazing reviews, so it's not damaging the brand. I think the Prime Remastered credits are doubled because a lot of the previous crew are credited, along with the remastering crew.
Just so we're clear - great game. The problem is, when you listen to guys like Rule of 2 Review, they seem to think it was a massive hit. It sold about 1M units, guys. To many this is the best 3D Metroid game out there. Just saying.
Think Nintendo is sorta handling Metroid wrong. Metroid is a bit like Xenoblade, it's a niche franchise so it needs a bit marketing for people to understand what it is. But whatever fans that like it will probably be pretty loyal fans.
MP is the Ocarina of Time to Super Metroid. It is so amazing I would pay full price gladly for this gorgeous and smooth 60fps version of the game with completely retexturing and Increase of the polygon count everywhere. Their DK games amazing, don’t get me wrong. They truly received the same gift as monolith after the acquisition. But after being stuck in Banana Hell for ages and finally proper reviving a masterpiece, only to find weak sales it must be disheartening … I was so ready for a rematch with the Emperor Ing
No it did not according to developers. This games was the most phisical demanded game 2023 of the console surpassing Hogwarts legacy so no it did not flop. I went better than expected.
I will say, no I don’t think prime remastered was a failure. 1.5M for a remaster is super good, games like fire emblem awakening or astral chain full on brand new 3D games built from the ground up consider 1M as a success, now imagine Metroid prime. Here’s some other things to consider about Metroid prime, it’s been leaked that the USK (the age rating accusation in Germany) has listed Metroid prime remastered as far back as 2021 meaning there’s a high possibility that between prime 4 rebooted development and 2021 the remaster only took 3 years. It’s also important to bare in mind the remaster is simply a graphical remaster of prime so it shouldn’t cost as much as other from the group up remakes Furthermore, while prime might have more people credited in its credits, it’s important to remember that a lot of the people who did work on dread sadly didn’t get credited due to their company’s policy. Even more is the fact Retro Studio was hiring during the early 2020s so a lot of the people credited for prime remastered could joined midway or late into development meaning the game may not have been as costly as you may think To add on to my point the game also lacked much of any marketing which in my opinion could be a key factor to harming its sales however it also means Nintendo didn’t spend as much on the marketing as they did with Metroid dread or other switch games making the bar for the amount of money Prime Remastered to recuperate much lower than other new releases like Metroid dread or other games on switch There’s also the fact that it saw a digital release first thus making all the money digital copies made go to Nintendo which again benefits prime remastered. It doesn’t end there though cuz we need to keep in mind the future of the prime series, we will no doubt see prime 2+3 coming out on switch ala pikmin 1+2, and it’ll most probably happen near prime 4’s marketing cycle which could mean prime remastered will see a boos in sales especially if switch 2 is out by then and there’s a switch 2 version of the game or a potential paid upgrade However I still do believe shadow dropping it was a mistake as it didn’t benefit the game at all, not to mention the way they revealed it, and yes as you mentioned the lower price might’ve turned some people off thinking it was of a lower value than other games. However as you mentioned there’s a post it’s prime remastered was used to aid in development of prime 4, and IMO I think that’s very likely due to how similar both games look and how they run at a similar frame rate and quality, it makes me belief that prime remastered was used as a learning experience in which they could make money off of it on the side while helping to aid prime 4’s development making it much simpler than it might’ve been before Ultimately I dint think it’s a failure, it most probably made its budget back plus more, and will continue to sell now that the switch 2 is confirmed to be backwards compatible and with prime 4’s release next year so here’s hoping the game manages to sell 2M copies by next year
Man, it really was released just in 2023... I now wonder if the game could have sold more if it dropped earlier, if the audience that would be interested in a game like Metroid Prime moved on from the Switch because they wanted to play other, more graphically advanced FPS games on PS5 / Xbox SX consoles... or if that's just anecdotal, and the games sales would've been the same no matter when it released in the Switch's lifetime.
Do you plan on making a video about Mario & Luigi: Brothership sales? I'm not that good at finances so I don't know wether it's a flop or not, and if it is, will Nintendo keep making new Mario & Luigi games?
Off topic: in your opinion, who sold more games in total? Sony or Nintendo? I think is difficult to guess, since Nintendo not reveal any download only games data, like Sony did, but If I have to chose, I pick up Nintendo, with nearly 6 billion games sold, against something in the 5,7 range for Sony.
@ I think in total sales. If one day, Nintendo reveals the sales on the Wii/DSi/3DS/WiiU and Switch (download only games), then we can assume a real number. Because Sony did this with all your consoles since the PS3.
Well… I bought it. Forced myself to finish it out of principle, but it was a slog. Definitely turned me off to the Prime series. Still like the main series though.
Well, hard to say it flopped when remakes always underperform. Look at Zero Mission and Samus Returns for reference. They couldn't even get past the 1 mil mark.
@@_sparrowhawk Few people like Metroid. Sure if it releases on PS5 and Xbox and PC it would obviously sell better but it's still not a huge hit with customers as a whole.
@@_sparrowhawkmany franchises aren't appealing to most people. Nintendo understands that so it selling the way it did isn't much of flop. Could even be a success depending on their standards. Not everything needs to sell tens of millions to be a success.
i am a fan of classsic 2d metroids, not so much of the prime metroids to be honest. yet bought both. Though dread was and is the obvios favorite to me, the only one i would have bought if i could only afford one
If $2 million is the normal bar for a $60 Nintendo game, then wouldn't $1.5 million be considered about the same based on price? Not that price is the primary factor but..
I doubt it. Considering that Dread came out over an year before Prime Remastered & is the best selling Metroid game and Prime Remastered sold over 1.3 million copies and there's retro games on Switch Online, Metroid is at good hands.
Nintendo admitting they didn't make enough copies is pretty conclusive to me that the game surpassed Nintendo's target sales number for it.
Old CEO of Nintendo said that even if it means you take a massive loss, you shouldn’t push a game hard that you don’t think can be successful. They never believed in it in the first place. It didn’t hit any sales target, they just never had one.
Good point
I will say, no I don’t think prime remastered was a failure. 1.5M for a remaster is super good, games like fire emblem awakening or astral chain full on brand new 3D games built from the ground up consider 1M as a success, now imagine Metroid prime.
Here’s some other things to consider about Metroid prime, it’s been leaked that the USK (the age rating accusation in Germany) has listed Metroid prime remastered as far back as 2021 meaning there’s a high possibility that between prime 4 rebooted development and 2021 the remaster only took 3 years. It’s also important to bare in mind the remaster is simply a graphical remaster of prime so it shouldn’t cost as much as other from the group up remakes
Furthermore, while prime might have more people credited in its credits, it’s important to remember that a lot of the people who did work on dread sadly didn’t get credited due to their company’s policy. Even more is the fact Retro Studio was hiring during the early 2020s so a lot of the people credited for prime remastered could joined midway or late into development meaning the game may not have been as costly as you may think
To add on to my point the game also lacked much of any marketing which in my opinion could be a key factor to harming its sales however it also means Nintendo didn’t spend as much on the marketing as they did with Metroid dread or other switch games making the bar for the amount of money Prime Remastered to recuperate much lower than other new releases like Metroid dread or other games on switch
There’s also the fact that it saw a digital release first thus making all the money digital copies made go to Nintendo which again benefits prime remastered. It doesn’t end there though cuz we need to keep in mind the future of the prime series, we will no doubt see prime 2+3 coming out on switch ala pikmin 1+2, and it’ll most probably happen near prime 4’s marketing cycle which could mean prime remastered will see a boos in sales especially if switch 2 is out by then and there’s a switch 2 version of the game or a potential paid upgrade
However I still do believe shadow dropping it was a mistake as it didn’t benefit the game at all, not to mention the way they revealed it, and yes as you mentioned the lower price might’ve turned some people off thinking it was of a lower value than other games. However as you mentioned there’s a post it’s prime remastered was used to aid in development of prime 4, and IMO I think that’s very likely due to how similar both games look and how they run at a similar frame rate and quality, it makes me belief that prime remastered was used as a learning experience in which they could make money off of it on the side while helping to aid prime 4’s development making it much simpler than it might’ve been before
Ultimately I dint think it’s a failure, it most probably made its budget back plus more, and will continue to sell now that the switch 2 is confirmed to be backwards compatible and with prime 4’s release next year so here’s hoping the game manages to sell 2M copies by next year
@ 3 years with so many people working on it does create a high budget, and it only sold for 40 dollars. This game was more expensive than your typical C list Nintendo game, and it made much less money. It very much did not make a profit, making it a failure. It may even be considered by Nintendo a flop. It’s worth noting that Nintendo reviewed many of the games’ sales in 2023, and declared 3 of them “good”
Pikmin 4, totk, Mario wonder. Those are the games that in their eyes were successes.
This. Not being on store shelves for a very long time hurt. I didn't get it when new. When it started getting some high mark reviews, I got more interested and looked into buying it last summer but wasn't in stores and I got something else. Looked for it again a few months ago and still didn't see it in stores, so finally broke down and ordered it online. Now I go into stores and its suddenly everywhere. Sometime in late September or October new copies started showing up on store shelves, probably to stock up to get a second crack at holiday sales. Simply put, no game (or anything else) gets any casual impulse buys if its not on the shelf when potential buyers are there - and when Metroid Prime has physically been on shelves less than half its time since release, that's going to hurt the sales.
Were it only so easy for Nintendo magically swap out excess copies of Everybody 1-2-Switch for Metroid Prime Remastered, it probably would have cleared 2 million. Everybody 1-2 Switch seems to be the dog no one can get rid of. Came out only a few months after Metroid Prime, has a similar one million total sales number, but my local stores have way too many extra copies (My Best Buy has a full dozen copies on the shelf, and no more than six or seven of any other game, including new ones like Echoes of Wisdom or Super Mario Party Jamboree.) They clearly manufactured too many Everybody 1-2 Switch and not enough Metroid Prime Remastered and only recently starting to repair this situation. (A big holiday discount on Everybody 1-2 Switch would be the last step needed so retailers can finally get out from under it and free up shelf space for newer stuff.)
I really, really hope that Nintendo give Prime 4 a big lengthy marketing campaign with how much money was allegedly put into its development. Certainly wouldn’t mind waiting a little later in the year if they could really make a push for it through trailers and ad campaigns.
OG Prime: 2.8 plus million units sold in its lifetime
Prime Remake: 1 million units sold in less a year, plus almost no research and development costs.
Also Primed new gamers to the origin of the series.
Yep, its a success.
Barely half the sales, less than half the price, and more expensive than the original since *every asset was remade with much higher graphical fidelity*
It had to sell 2 million to break even. This was a flop.
Well the development cost was high, ad it is a full on graphical remake and 420 people worked on it, double as much as did on dread
@@minecrafter3448 I don't think cost scales that linearly with fidelity. They didn't have to figure out how to put a 2D franchise into 3D space while staying recognizable. Gameplay done, art design done, bugs already squashed, playtested into oblivion. No disrespect on the effort that goes into 3D models and textures, and changing a running system probably rattles a lot of issues loose that now need fixing, but for full on new development you have to consider a lot more I believe.
Also the often quoted 2 million is about being a success I believe, not about breaking even. Mabye I got that wrong though, unsure.
@ But it did make 1/4 the money. That is a fact. Nowhere near enough to be successful
@@minecrafter3448The game was shadow dropped.
They didn't advertise Prime Remastered like they did with Dread.
“Yeah so it drops right now here’s a trailer lol.”
~Nintendo, probably
If 1.5 million for a remaster Metroid game is "bad," what does that say about Xenoblade 1 & 3 or Paper Mario TTYD?
Given it must have taken a lower budget to remaster, I think it's fair to assume that it didn't need to hit the 2M mark to be considered successful. Also, unlike for instance Pikmin 1+2 HD, Metroid Prime 4's launch wasn't imminent when the Prime remaster dropped. I should expect it to get a bump once Prime 4 has a definitive date.
For a remaster the amount of credited people on the development side was kinda staggering. They also confirmed to have worked with a secondary studio. I believe simply because of the American labor that it was a bit more expensive than average. Can also be consolidated to engine work for Beyond however.
@@IISuzakuIIYeah, I am nearly 100% sure that in part Prime 1 Remaster was made to recoup some of the dev costs for restarting Prime 4.
Nintendo is underselling this game. Most of the publishers including Sony would call this a remake.
@IISuzakuII they worked with seven support studios, many of them overseas. Obviously it must've been cheaper otherwise they wouldn't have.
Also the serious stock shortage it suffered during the first few months that it was out certainly didn't help it in the sales department.
Nintendo also had a really interesting anti-scalper release strategy for this one… making it seem like it was initially a limited physical release and letting the games get severely scalped… and then pulling up a week or 2 later and saying hey by the way we have a ton of these
I loved this game, I’m really sad more people haven’t played it
I know 😥.. It’s one of the best games of all time
It's too complex for the masses. I'm pretty sure that more than half of the people that bought the game, regardless the system, never finished. Heck, probably didn't even progress that much into it.
Not in its Prime?
It's still a Prime cut of a game.
Metroid has never been a good seller and it was never gonna do better than dread. With that being said Metroid prime remastered sold 3 times as much as Metroid Samus returns and the studio that made Samus returns got the green light to develop dread so I would say that Nintendo isn’t upset about the sales
Can't really worry about MPR's "success" when you don't spend a single penny on marketing and skip the holiday season. The game exists solely to keep Retro Studios from twidling their thumbs before getting the reins of MP4.
i'm still thinking that remastering the sequels might boost the sales of the first one with each release (like i think botw got a bit of boost from totk release) and might make sense if they also ride out the hype from beyond, but of course they'll need to space it out, maybe as a filler until the next 2D metroid dropped
The Link's Awakening remake has sold 6.5 million copies. The Super Mario RPG remake has sold 3.3 million copies. The Paper Mario remake has sold 1.76 million copies. Neither the Advance Wars 1+2 remake nor Pikmin 1+2 seem to have crossed a million.
This puts Metroid Prime somewhere in the same league as Paper Mario.
Remakes of old classic games don't sell at the same number as newer titles. And they also don't need to. I believe Nintendo fully expected somewhere of a ballpark of 1 million copies for Metroid Prime, and it sits more than 50% above that number.
And btw: The sales for Paper Mario Origami King are at 3.5 million copies. So the ratio for the Paper Mario series (new vs remake) is pretty much the same as for the Metroid series on switch.
There's a difference between a Remaster and a remake.
I think Nintendo will still position a great launch for the game. One thing about Nintendo when they are confident in the game being made, they will ignore sales for positioning. When it was shown at the investor meeting, Takahashi had pride in it. So I think it's ok
I bought two copies.
Same lol too many stocking issues and I’m autistic
Im about to buy another one so that i can lend the game to 2 different people at once
Save one unsealed to sell high for the next 20 years
Same. Digital and a sealed physical copy, not to re sell. . .
@@therealjaystone2344 exactly why I bought 2, one for me to play and one for my collection of great games I keep sealed.
I don't believe it will explode in price. But it is a good game, it's nice to have an extra copy.
Remember single player games are ever green titles. Most people get into the older titles of a franchise after having played through the newest release. And sales aren't everything. Keeping token franchises alive is good for the company image. And unlike most companies Nintendo still somewhat cares about their image towards the mainstream.
Nintendo published documents recently notifying the growth of some of their IPs on the Switch, Metroid is one of them, I think it's in a safe place
Yes, this is the source of the figures used here.
I bought it physical and became a Metroid fan. Seems like a dub to me.
Well I'm reallly hoping we get a Prime 2 remastered or re-release. My favorite of the trilogy.
I hope Prime 3 gets the same as well that's my favorite in the Trilogy.
@@theterribleclaw4285 I want to see both of them for sure. I just have a bias towards 2. I want to play them both again, so if only one got remastered and both were re-released, I would pick 2 to get remastered. Either way though, I want to play both again with updated controls.
@@Rundas045 well regardless of what happens I still have the Prime Trilogy collection to go back to.
@@theterribleclaw4285 I don't have a wii anymore (ha) and I never had a wii u so I'm waiting for switch ports.
@@Rundas045 I get it, we can only hope.
Metroid Prime Remastered sold comparably to anything in the Xenoblade series. It’s a remaster of a 20 year old game. Dread sold over 3 million which is presumably more than any Xenoblade game. They’re happy.
Plus it was shadow dropped. Shadow dropped games usually don't sell much.
@ 💯
keep in mind: the game was first released digital only. the retail version was released a few weeks later. i think the digital sales are much higher than imagined. in combination with the retail sales, i think it did very well.
Also let's keep in mind that everyone and their mother has already played the first game.
The second one everyone skipped back then in favour of halo 2 aka generic sci fi shooter 2000.
@@trashaimgamer7822Proof for that claim?
@@Romapolitan no
I definitely double dipped. Kept the physical copy sealed.
Same
I triple dipped. Have a jp and euro box sealed.
I quintuple-dipped. EU, US, AUS and Japan versions, plus the digital. I had the others shipped to secure underground storage facility where they are wrapped in multiple layers of protective packaging and stored in a climate controlled vault more than 100 metres underground. Unfortunately I’ve now forgotten where I put them.
Nintendo understands many of their franchises don't sell nearly as well as bigger franchises. So prime remastered selling the amount it did is probably enough of a success for them.
I think one thing to consider is the "Remake effect", where if a game was recently still available, people, myself included, won't buy the enhanced remake because they still own it. I have metroid prime trilogy from the wii u eshop, and because all I would be getting is a visual enhancement, i don't think it would be worth it. A new game isn't affected by this, and if a remake has compelling enough bonus content, then it might just get around this, but MPR, as well as Luigi's Mansion 2 HD, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, have not convinced me to buy them simply because i already have that game and the bonus content, if any (I'm looking at you, LM2HD), isn't enough to get me to buy it again, at full price (or more [LM2HD again]).
I would not be surprised if Metroid Prime 4 sells better than MPR, or if Luigi's Mansion 2 HD also is considered a flop.
Being on the Wii U originally is enough of a niche that the Wii U "Deluxe" ports don't have the Remake Effect affect its sales as much, and the DLC MK8D has gotten is a big help for sales.
You're missing out on Bowser's fury, it's one of the best games for switch imo
Would you buy just Bowser’s fury for $60 though?
Including MK8DX, Nintendo’s second best selling game *ever* by a pretty wide margin, on a list of games who’s sales you think have been dampened… that’s certainly a choice
Even before the BCP, it had sold 43M copies and was already the second best selling Nintendo game of all time, trailing Wii Sports but already ahead of SMB1 on the NES (ACNH had not yet sold 40M)
@@extremepayne I was honestly just searching for a third option, maybe Pikmin 3 is a better choice.
Though you could argue the "switch effect" overpowered the "remake effect" for that game, as well as most of the Wii U games on Switch.
I double dipped. I’m also convinced that Nintendo underestimated the demand for this game in physical form and the difficulty some people had getting their hands on one at first caused sales to suffer.
Another point is that the previous Prime 1 release was bundled with Prime 2 & 3!
In comparison it is a 3. Rerelease with less game which probably prevented some people from buying it
In furtherance of your point, Switch 2 rumors are dogging sales, if the full trilogy remake solely releases for switch 2 and we don't know the physical cost, buying the single physical was a bad investment.
@@michaellane5381 Right now, in Portugal, you can buy Prime Remastered for the equivalent of 25 dollars. New. If I was into re-selling games, it would be a great investment for the future, still unpacked.
On the Nintendo e-Shop, there's no sign of Metroid Prime 4 Beyond , in the Japanese e-Shop, yet when I look in the UK one, the game is mentioned there.
Dread had actually started development in January 2019 as thats when leaks of mercury working on another game began
It depends on the budget. If the budget was $2, then $2mil sales is a success. If budget was $5mil, then $2mil is a fail. We don't know how much it cost to make MPR.
The game was marketed horribly. 'Hey, we spent years on this game and it was expensive to make. Let's release it with no buildup or hype instantly at a budget price and have people wait on real copies. Hopefully everyone will buy the digital copies so we don't have to make more physical copies.' Terrible strategy.
Exactly. Shadow dropping the game was the wrong move. Also most metroid fans are older and have probably already played the original game, so a 1:1 remaster with no new areas, bosses, powerups, etc... was also a bad decision.
@@dinar8749 It doesn't have the Fusion Suit, so it's technically not 1:1.
@@KBroly True. Imagine if they'd given us the Dread suit or the Metroid suit as unlockables!
I thought Nerrel said in his recent video that specific sales figure only represents Physical sales, which is non-representative because the game was Digital only for an extended period of time following it’s shadow drop.
I may be misunderstand and they are different figures, but if so that’s a big deal
I think it could reach 2 million if Nintendo announced a switch version of Metroid prime 2 and 3 even if they are just ports and not full on remasters. I can only go on my sample size of one but something tells me I’m not alone in sitting on the fence waiting to see if the other two will make it to switch before making my purchase. Otherwise I will continue to play my (legitimately purchased) copy of Metroid prime trilogy with primehack on my steam deck.
Nintendo UA-camrs and banging on about Metroid sales numbers, name a more iconic duo.
Big Mike and Obama
Samus and being more well known as the hot blonde lady from Smash rather as the protagonist of the Metroid franchise.
Personally, I'm a big Metroid fan, but I don't double buy many games. As pretty as the game might be, it probably plays worse than the Wii Trilogy. I assume on average a rerelease won't be bought by everyone who bought the original, having to make up the difference with new customers.
Another thought: There is a good chance that the overlap between 2D Metroid fans who wanted Dread and 3D Metroid Fans who wanted Prime 4 isn't that large. Afterall, Prime originally did remarkably better than Super and Fusion, whereas Echos and Corruption had considerable lower sales - sales that are suspiciously close to the difference between Super/Fusion and Prime. Just saying, maybe the OG 2D fans tried Prime, didn't vibe with it, and then stayed dormant for 20 years until Dread released. Why would they show up for the rerelease of a 3D game they didn't even buy the sequel for?
If you remove Dread from the calculation of how well Prime Remastered should do and look at the last 3D games (Echos, Corruption and Trilogy) I feel like this re-release did alright. Sure, less than the iconic 2 million, but still in the neighborhood of it's kin. But man, from that perspective, I'm reeeaaal curious how well Beyond will do. I'm not convinced it won't plunge the series back into the dark ages XD no matter how good it reviews
In the case of Fire Emblem Engage, the game wasn't marketed very well outside of Japan & had pretty poor word-of-mouth for everything outside of the gameplay. So that may not be the best point of comparison for Metroid Prime 1 Remastered.
Engage would have sold a lot better if it had no emblems or nostalgia, better story, darker art style, better character designs.
@@dinar8749 Intelligent Systems said one of the goals behind Engage was to do something different from Three Houses, which has a more epic and adult war story, and to hearken back to Awakening as a work with appeal to a (broad audience).
Tsutomu Tei the director also said that the decision for Engage to have a single path, rather than the branching paths in Three Houses and Fates, was made early. Genki Yokota, producer from Nintendo, said that some players were intimidated by too many branching paths and would assume they had to play all of them. Tei felt that a simplified story structure would allow players to put all their focus on the tactical gameplay.
The idea of the Emblem system, according to Nakanishi, came up when the developers were discussing the marriage system from the previous titles Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, Awakening, and Fates. Those games allowed customized children to be recruited whose skills and stats would vary based on their parents, but experimenting with different combinations would essentially require restarting the game. Swappable Emblem Rings would allow similar customization where characters could be given Emblem Rings that improved and modified their fighting style, but in a flexible way that encouraged experimentation.
The game's art style was largely driven by Mika Pikazo, an illustrator new to the Fire Emblem series. The team at Intelligent Systems was impressed with her vivid and colorful drawings that "popped". This perfectly matched their goal of appealing to a broad audience, including younger players.
That explains everything.
@@dinar8749 One of the goals behind Engage was to do something different from Three Houses, which has a more epic and adult war story, and to hearken back to Awakening as a work with appeal to a broad audience.
Genki Yokota, producer from Nintendo, said that some players were intimidated by too many branching paths and would assume they had to play all of them. Tei felt that a simplified story structure would allow players to put all their focus on the tactical gameplay. Director Tsutomu Tei felt that a simplified story structure would allow players to put all their focus on the tactical gameplay.
The game's art style was largely driven by Mika Pikazo, an illustrator new to the Fire Emblem series. The team at Intelligent Systems was impressed with her vivid and colorful drawings that "popped". This perfectly matched their goal of appealing to a broad audience.
This explains everything.
@@orangeslash1667 Awakening was far more dark and adult than engage though. And clearly this
"broader appeal" is nowhere to be seen with engage's sales numbers.
Nintendo and oversimplifying already simple working mechanics. Thought we'd left that nonsense behind in the wii & wii u days.
Mica picaso was a horrible choice for the artist.
@@dinar8749 It's says that FE Engage sold 1.61 million. Thats more than Luigi's Mansion 2, Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, Astral Chain, Princess Peach: Showtime!, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, and Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince.
FE Awakening had 6 writers, including Kouhei Maeda, the writer of FE : The Blazing Blade. Not only did Engage only had one writer, but Kouhei Maeda was working on FE Heroes.
Dude I bought 3+ copies of this game just to get all of my best friends to try it 😂 but yeah I think it just wasn't the best time to shadow drop it so close to the end of the Switch's life. Metroid needs to be pushed in the middle of a drought (and when there's hype around its hardware platform). I'm hoping that this is the kind of climate that Prime 4 releases into as a showcase of the Switch 2.
you are doing god’s work🫡
@olimar_09 Ty soldier, this is probably the only game I'd ever do that for too 🫡
I just got the original for my GameCube then they dropped this.
Loool i had a very similar experience. I had just beat the game on my gamecube when they shadow dropped the remaster lol. I just beat the remaster 2 days ago and it was a great experience. I also emulated it so I could get higher resolution and anti aliasing(dont worry I bought a copy, i didnt pirate)
I wanted to buy this on launch day, but they didn't have any in stock in my area. I still see it, but it keeps dropping on my list. In general, I think Nintendo is partially responsible for some of the "underwhelming" sales figures of their games. There have been so many Switch 2 rumours for so long that I would not be surprised if people are holding off on, e.g., Tears of the Kingdom in case they drop a definitive edition for the next console. Ironically, if they just posted a Switch 2 Direct I might be motivated to get some of the older first party titles they don't feature because I would assume they won't drop for a while. For me at least, it's one of the ways that postponing the reveal is siphoning from their potential game sales.
You're missing out on a great game.
@@donkeypong1847 But the same game as the Metroid Prime on my copy of the Trilogy, right?
I feel that Nintendo is Banking on Selling on Both the Switch and Switch 2 to Surpass the 3 Million Copies. I am hopeful that between the 2 consoles Metroid prime should be between 4 to 5 Million copies. The franchise has had that potential since the Gamecube if Other M had not deflated the franchise.
The answer is vague. Metroid Prime Remastered was used as a test bed for Retro to incorporate a new production pipeline and toolset to outsource(since they previously didnt outsource.)
People forget that Metroid Prime 1's sales were inflated due to it being bundled with the Gamecube so it didnt actually sell as great as people think it did.
People should realize Metroid Prime is an older GameCube game and was actually priced well at $39.99. When Pikmin 1 & 2 was made available their games were $19.99 each for the Switch or $29.99 for both. So 40 bucks of for Metroid Prime that was already was available on a Trilogy previously is probably the correct price.
They didn't make Metroid Prime Remastered to sell it.
They sold it so they could make it.
Hmm I wonder if there's a world where Nintendo will charge 3-10 bucks for a switch 2 upgrade on switch 1 games OR if you are an nso or more likely an expansion pack member, you get the upgrades included with your subscription
Make that 20-30 bucks. People will go wild and hate it and buy it anyway.
@ Sony charges 10 bucks for their upgrades, Nintendo will not charge 20-30 lol
@@spectacularstarlight8206depends on how far they go with the remaster. PS4 to PS5 is a much smaller jump than Switch to Switch 2, if the leaks are true.
@@Crafty_boy70 that's true about how far it goes with the remaster
PS4 was a 1080p console, the ps4 pro is most similar to ps5 because it could do 4k so I still think they wouldn't go over 10 especially because it won't be as powerful as the ps5
I really hope they don’t charge for updates.
If Nintendo is gonna charge 60 bucks for 7 year old games why should it cost more just to run better on the new console?? The upgrade fees only make sense for consoles where the games drop in price
I love how Nintendo says they have a lot of caution when putting titles from multiple franchises in one console. Meanwhile Xenoblade has an entire trilogy on the Switch, an upcoming one next year.
Also Pokemon somehow breaks the trend hard here. Despite its technical issues, Scarlet and Violet sold as well as Sword and Shield. That's without mentioning BDSP and Legends Arceus releasing only a short while before.
While true, Xenoblade Chronicles and Pokemon are made develipment houses which I think have a lot more autonomy, and aren't as directly controlled by Nintendo's management as stuff like their mainline titles, and it should be noted that XBC2 (the "first" one on the switch) has sold more than 1 and 3. So they may have a point that sequels on the same system seldom sell as well as the original, it's just that they let some of their dev teams take that risk and others... not so much.
Is this digital and physical combined or only physical?
Yeah the game launched early digitally so it almost certainly has a higher proportion of digital to physical sales compared to most games
@@aggressivelymediocre350this is a good point. Digital games have better margins, so they made more money per copy sold.
Maybe Metroid isn't a series that should be shadow dropped.
It's always a matter of perspective. I'm 41 years old, and I'm currently playing Prime for the first time on the original GameCube console. It's a great experience, but a highly complex and difficult game. It's hard to believe that most kids and young adults TODAY have patience for such a game. When entertainment is based on quick and easy simplicity more than ever. Sad but true. Omnipresent Internet enters the chat. That being said, specially being an old game, I think Nintendo can't complain too much.
Playing remastered felt like how I was playing it the first time, however some gameplay mechanics feel outdated and none of the bosses or environments are as surprising anymore
From a technical point, it would be nice if they fixed the Charge Shot issue, although to a degree it affects sales is questionable. But I have no idea why they can't fix that
What’s the charge shot issue?
@@ET-bc4yj He's talking about how in the remaster you always have to shoot your beam normally before it starts charging whereas in the original you don't have to do this.
I think what's often overlooked is when metroid prime trilogy was still on circulation it effectively made each prime game worth roughly $20. The fact remaster sold for twice that much, not adjusted to inflation, seems to point to me that nintendo is fairly confident to make a profit from it without making it worth full retail price like the other remakes. In fact making prime remaster cheaper than other remakes may actually incentivise players to puechase it when prime 4 comes out as making both full price would deter potential customers.
They should have advertised Prime remastered more instead of shadow dropping the game out of nowhere. I believe that is what hurt the sales most.
I will say that it doesnt help Nintendo when they make remakes full price games.
If prime remake was 40$ I think more people would buy it
They dont realize how bad a taste it can give people who have seen this game for ages now.
Sk, thats just my two cents. I do believe they could have sold more
I think Prime did very well for what Nintendo could’ve expected, considering it was a shadow drop and they ran out of physical copies pretty quickly. 1.5 million is still pretty damn good for a niche franchise getting shadow dropped with hardly any post-launch marketing. Compared to Dread, which had the luxury of coming out with the OLED, and being during one of Nintendo’s most lucrative years on the Switch. When Prime dropped, I think a lot of Switch owners had unfortunately already dropped their systems by that point
I picked two copies for Switch, digital day 1, and physical a few months later
If they release 2 and 3 on Switch (which I believe they will, close to Prime 4 release, just as they did with Pikmin 1+2 when Pikmin 4 was released)
I will buy again
Even having the Wii version of the Trilogy
I'm personally okay with Metroid remaining a niche franchise, but I still want it to sell enough to survive.
If they have not released Prime 2 or 3 then yes. They probably think they failed. I want them both or I will not purchase 4.
MP2 will come out after MP4 on switch 2. as for MP3.... it will come out but who tf knows when
@@enorma29 They might bundle 2 and 3 closer to Prime 4 instead. Having Prime 2 after Prime 4 would make no sense.
@@RKMCHere that’s what I’ve been hoping for. Let’s hope.
Prime 4 is gonna be super mid anyway. They literally started over TWICE because they can't make q good game anymore
@@technobladeleakedclips1827 That's becuz Bandai Namco was working on it at first but Nintendo didn't like all that so they got Retro Studios to work on it instead starting from scratch.
How many times do I have to buy this goddamn game before they give me a new one
In my opinion it sold pretty good for HD Remaster of a 2002 GameCube game, especially considering the serious stock shortage it suffered during the first few months that it was out, you people just have unrealistic expectations for this franchise.
I was a bit surprised that Prime 4 was confirmed for Switch
My first thought when they dropped Prime Remastered was that it was a preemptive apology, hoping that fans would not be so angry to learn that Prime 4 was moved to Switch 2, and as a way of cashing in on the engine/shaders/assets developed for the current Switch
I guess that theory was wrong XD
On the other hand, Nintendo may be banking on Prime Remastered getting more sales after Prime 4 drops- newcomers who enjoy Prime 4 might end up having an interest in playing the remaster
The marketing for this was soo barebones I doubt Nintendo had any expectations for it.
I’d say it did ok if Nintendo felt like glazing the sales of switch era Metroid.
But I think this remaster had done better with proper marketing instead of a shadow drop
Shadow drops are bad business for bigger games.
Nintendo didn’t spend a penny marketing this game, which is a shame.
With the last Nintendo financial report, we can assume some sales data from the 3DS titles too.
I think Samus Returns is in the 700 thousands range and Federation Force in the 250.
It was my first Metroid and it was a great pickup at $39! not a diehard fan, the backtracking did wear on me but definitely picking up Prime 4
Wonder if Prime 4 will be cross gen title. Think the series could get a major boost by being a launch title to show off switch 2's performance and give some major attention to the franchise during a fresh new system.
I bought it, some people need to start pulling their weight...
Despite Nintendo’s flaws they seem to be one of the few companies that understand not every title can and should sell gangbusters.
They clearly want quality evergreen titles and are doing the opposite of what Microsoft has been up to lately
Nintendo is woke. That's the flaw
@ please take a shower after you pull your head out of your ass
Damn this is disappointing, gamers need to stop buying garbage and start supporting quality
Prime remastered came out in 2023. Other games that sold well at that time include Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Pikmin 4, Super Mario RPG, Fire Emblem Engage, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Oh for the love of, its a HD Remaster of a game originally released in 2002, it also didnt help that it suffered a serious stock shortage during the first few months that it was out. No way in Hell the Prime 1 Remaster going to sell as much as Dread which was a entirely new game, God you people have such unrealistic expectations for this franchise.
I truly don’t believe their sales numbers are accurate. If Metroid dread sold 3.04 million and prime sold “1 million” then why does it say 4.99 million? Also, I truly believe metroid games sold better than what they are showing us. We never got a full update on the total numbers for both games.
Metroid is the only franchise I willingly and immediately double dip for at launch. When dread dropped, my physical copy didn't have a definite delivery time on a day I was super sick, so I bought the digital and kept the physical, then I bought the special edition when it was in stock again. With prime I bought the digital then ordered the physical. I love this franchise and I'll take a hit in the wallet to show it.
I am not a big fan of Metroidvania games, but I gave Prime a chance because of it's price and I was glad I did. I really enjoyed it.
The most important part is that Prime Remastered got amazing reviews, so it's not damaging the brand.
I think the Prime Remastered credits are doubled because a lot of the previous crew are credited, along with the remastering crew.
The original team is not credited.
Just so we're clear - great game. The problem is, when you listen to guys like Rule of 2 Review, they seem to think it was a massive hit.
It sold about 1M units, guys. To many this is the best 3D Metroid game out there. Just saying.
They should have just added Metroid prime 2 multiplayer remastered in this as a all around bonus .
Think Nintendo is sorta handling Metroid wrong. Metroid is a bit like Xenoblade, it's a niche franchise so it needs a bit marketing for people to understand what it is. But whatever fans that like it will probably be pretty loyal fans.
MP is the Ocarina of Time to Super Metroid. It is so amazing I would pay full price gladly for this gorgeous and smooth 60fps version of the game with completely retexturing and Increase of the polygon count everywhere. Their DK games amazing, don’t get me wrong. They truly received the same gift as monolith after the acquisition. But after being stuck in Banana Hell for ages and finally proper reviving a masterpiece, only to find weak sales it must be disheartening … I was so ready for a rematch with the Emperor Ing
I don't think Nintendo cared too much about sales. Something tells me a lions share of the budget would be attributes to R&D for Prime 4
No it did not according to developers. This games was the most phisical demanded game 2023 of the console surpassing Hogwarts legacy so no it did not flop. I went better than expected.
Even as a Metroid, I wouldn't spend 70$ on a Metroid Prime 2 or 3 Remaster. That'd be way too steep for me
I will say, no I don’t think prime remastered was a failure. 1.5M for a remaster is super good, games like fire emblem awakening or astral chain full on brand new 3D games built from the ground up consider 1M as a success, now imagine Metroid prime.
Here’s some other things to consider about Metroid prime, it’s been leaked that the USK (the age rating accusation in Germany) has listed Metroid prime remastered as far back as 2021 meaning there’s a high possibility that between prime 4 rebooted development and 2021 the remaster only took 3 years. It’s also important to bare in mind the remaster is simply a graphical remaster of prime so it shouldn’t cost as much as other from the group up remakes
Furthermore, while prime might have more people credited in its credits, it’s important to remember that a lot of the people who did work on dread sadly didn’t get credited due to their company’s policy. Even more is the fact Retro Studio was hiring during the early 2020s so a lot of the people credited for prime remastered could joined midway or late into development meaning the game may not have been as costly as you may think
To add on to my point the game also lacked much of any marketing which in my opinion could be a key factor to harming its sales however it also means Nintendo didn’t spend as much on the marketing as they did with Metroid dread or other switch games making the bar for the amount of money Prime Remastered to recuperate much lower than other new releases like Metroid dread or other games on switch
There’s also the fact that it saw a digital release first thus making all the money digital copies made go to Nintendo which again benefits prime remastered. It doesn’t end there though cuz we need to keep in mind the future of the prime series, we will no doubt see prime 2+3 coming out on switch ala pikmin 1+2, and it’ll most probably happen near prime 4’s marketing cycle which could mean prime remastered will see a boos in sales especially if switch 2 is out by then and there’s a switch 2 version of the game or a potential paid upgrade
However I still do believe shadow dropping it was a mistake as it didn’t benefit the game at all, not to mention the way they revealed it, and yes as you mentioned the lower price might’ve turned some people off thinking it was of a lower value than other games. However as you mentioned there’s a post it’s prime remastered was used to aid in development of prime 4, and IMO I think that’s very likely due to how similar both games look and how they run at a similar frame rate and quality, it makes me belief that prime remastered was used as a learning experience in which they could make money off of it on the side while helping to aid prime 4’s development making it much simpler than it might’ve been before
Ultimately I dint think it’s a failure, it most probably made its budget back plus more, and will continue to sell now that the switch 2 is confirmed to be backwards compatible and with prime 4’s release next year so here’s hoping the game manages to sell 2M copies by next year
The Metroid Prime 1 Remaster sold just fine in my opinion, you people just have unrealistic expectations for this franchise.
Call me when the next 3D Zelda comes out.
Man, it really was released just in 2023... I now wonder if the game could have sold more if it dropped earlier, if the audience that would be interested in a game like Metroid Prime moved on from the Switch because they wanted to play other, more graphically advanced FPS games on PS5 / Xbox SX consoles... or if that's just anecdotal, and the games sales would've been the same no matter when it released in the Switch's lifetime.
If you ask me it sold pretty good for a HD Remaster of a 2002 game.
Grammar error in your title. Do should be Does?
Do you plan on making a video about Mario & Luigi: Brothership sales? I'm not that good at finances so I don't know wether it's a flop or not, and if it is, will Nintendo keep making new Mario & Luigi games?
May do but not until we get more complete info which will probably be after the Feb investor meeting.
Off topic: in your opinion, who sold more games in total?
Sony or Nintendo? I think is difficult to guess, since Nintendo not reveal any download only games data, like Sony did, but If I have to chose, I pick up Nintendo, with nearly 6 billion games sold, against something in the 5,7 range for Sony.
First party or total? I guess it could be calculated.
@
I think in total sales. If one day, Nintendo reveals the sales on the Wii/DSi/3DS/WiiU and Switch (download only games), then we can assume a real number. Because Sony did this with all your consoles since the PS3.
They didn't market Prime Remastered enough.
Well… I bought it. Forced myself to finish it out of principle, but it was a slog.
Definitely turned me off to the Prime series. Still like the main series though.
I bought a personal copy and one as a birthday gift for a friend
Well, hard to say it flopped when remakes always underperform. Look at Zero Mission and Samus Returns for reference. They couldn't even get past the 1 mil mark.
1 million surpassed expectations
Says who
How!? You have 150M Switches out there and a beautiful 3D shooting game getting 1M sales? Sounds like a colossal flop.
@@_sparrowhawk Nintendo underestimated their customers buying it. Remember it supposed to be a limited thing?
@@_sparrowhawk Few people like Metroid. Sure if it releases on PS5 and Xbox and PC it would obviously sell better but it's still not a huge hit with customers as a whole.
@@_sparrowhawkmany franchises aren't appealing to most people. Nintendo understands that so it selling the way it did isn't much of flop. Could even be a success depending on their standards. Not everything needs to sell tens of millions to be a success.
i am a fan of classsic 2d metroids, not so much of the prime metroids to be honest. yet bought both. Though dread was and is the obvios favorite to me, the only one i would have bought if i could only afford one
They need to remake the Trilogy. Too much feels like archaic controls.
If $2 million is the normal bar for a $60 Nintendo game, then wouldn't $1.5 million be considered about the same based on price? Not that price is the primary factor but..
Other way around. Divide by 2/3, needed 3 million to be a “success”
It probably could have broken even with 2 million, but it didn’t even hit that
it's about 2 million sales
I doubt it. Considering that Dread came out over an year before Prime Remastered & is the best selling Metroid game and Prime Remastered sold over 1.3 million copies and there's retro games on Switch Online, Metroid is at good hands.
You should watch the video
@minecrafter3448 I already did.
@ it addresses most of the things you say here
Sad not enough people don't wanna play it, oh well. As long I get more metroid games I'm happy
It's a HD Remaster of a 2002 gamecube game, no way was it going to sell anywhere near as much as Dread.
I have a physical copy for this game and it was hard looking for a physical copy for this game Dallas Tx, so yeah it’s a triumph lol
I mean, there are ready, confirming to Port two and three and Metroid prime four is coming out soon and Metroid six is in the works
Are you sure about this
@ yes because Metroid dread won the game award and it 1 selling game back then
Nintendo seems as deeply confused as we are as to why Metroid isn’t selling some big hecking numbers
Because its pretty mid tbh. Plus other m ruined thr entire reputation of the franchise
This is a terrible take
@@technobladeleakedclips1827it’s a puzzle game
@@technobladeleakedclips1827 It remember, the producer of Metroid Dread is the director of Other M. So that can't be it??
I hate unskippable ads