Beneath its innocent and cute looks, our little pink ball actually seems ready to devour the whole world. Kirby and the Forgotten World got off to a decent start in France, but in Japan it was downright entitled to a explosive start which is likely to remain in the history of video games in the archipelago!
A rocket launch in Japan!
The information comes from the Twitter account @GameDataLibraryspecializing in data and information on the video game market in Japan:
Translation : “Kirby and the Forgotten World had the BEST START of the saga in Japan, with 70% more sales at launch than Triple Deluxe. It’s the second-best launch of 2022, behind Pokémon Legends: Arceus and ahead of Elden Ring.“
Yes yes, you read that right: in front of Elden Ring. While the last game FromSoftware seems to span all entertainment media and that it is almost impossible to miss the phenomenon in France, he is beaten by Kirby on the Japanese side.
Recently we shared with you the decision to HAL Laboratory to always want to innovate more in the future to create unique gaming experiences on Kirby, and that was already the ambition in the Forgotten World, hence the switch to 3D. It seems to be a winning bet and that the studio finds its audience without any problem!
However, we will have to work twice as hard to compete with pokemon and take the lead in the rankings when the next opus is launched. Beware Game Freak: Kirby is hungry.
What are the best-selling games in France?
In 2021, France registered a 1.6% increase turnover in the field of video games compared to 2020 (source). This figure is quite exceptional since the year 2020 was in itself a very special year given the health context. It can therefore be concluded that growth after this period proves that video game culture is now well established in France.
In this context, it may be interesting to look at the stocks that performed best in the medium last year and try to see if the trends continue this year. In 2021, the Top 5 sales were this:
- FIFA 22 (1.59 million sales)
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (503,150 sales)
- FIFA 21 (501,483 sales)
- Call of Duty: Vanguard (486,957 sales)
- Grand Theft Auto V (469,634 sales)
This ranking only includes sales of physical games, not digital copies. We therefore find as main themes: the footballthe conduct and the war. Wouldn’t we be a bit cliché in France? Where are the more dreamlike, more joyful titles? Rest assured, Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Pokémon Sparkling Diamond close behind, in seventh and eighth position respectively.
To know the trends of the beginning of the year, we can go to the SELL website., the Syndicate of Leisure Software Publishers, which publishes the top 5 weekly sales each week. Unfortunately we will not have no information on Kirby and the Forgotten Worldé for the moment because the SELL data currently stops at the week preceding its release.
The Top 5 of week 11 is this one:
- Pokemon Legends: Arceus (Switch)
- Gran Turismo 7 (PS5)
- Gran Turismo 7 (PS4)
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxee (Switch)
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Additional Tracks Pass (Switch)
We love driving in France, don’t we? Either way, we can’t wait to see the numbers for Kirby and the Forgotten World to find out if its voracity is about to gobble up the French market in addition to the Japanese.
nintendo
While the license has just passed into the third dimension, Nintendo would already like to go back and offer a return to 2D from the next opus? Discover the reasons for such a rapid turnaround and the great promises of the developers at HAL Laboratory.