Tag Digital Distribution

Nintendo Switch eShop – UK Sales Charts (29/04/2018)

Sean Alexander 1 Comment

Is Football Manager still at the top? Did South Park make an impact as a new release? What indie games shot up in sales or otherwise? Let’s see…

Numbers in brackets 


 1: Football Manager Touch 2018 – £29.99
2: Stardew Valley (Up from 3rd) – £10.99
3: Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition (Up from 4th) – £19.99
4: Oxenfree (Down from 2nd) – £15.99
5: Rocket League (Up from 6th) – £15.04
6: Robonauts (80% OFF) (Up from 10th) – £2.69 (u+Usually £13.49)
7: Arcade Archives: Vs. Super Mario Bros. (Up from 8th) – £6.29
8: Sonic Mania (Up from 12th) – £15.99
9: Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove (Down from 5th) – £22.49
10: Streets of Red (Down from 9th) – £6.29
11: Don’t Starve: Nintendo Switch Edition (Down from 7th) – £17.99
12: Celeste (Up from 13th) – £17.99
13: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Up from 14th) – £49.99
14: South Park: The Fractured But Whole (NEW) – £49.99
15: Adventure Pals (Down from 11th) – £10.79

 

 

So what can we gleam from this look into the UK eShop? Well…

Football Manager Touch 2018 has firmly cemented itself as a top seller, making up what will likely be the top 4 for a good while now alongside Rocket League, Stardew Valley and Minecraft. At least until FIFA (Maybe) comes out on the Switch this September.

Arcade Archives remains around the middle of the charts, further showing nostalgia sells, as does Sonic Mania right behind perhaps in preparation for the DLC this July.

Streets of Red maintains it’s place despite no longer being on sale, while Robonauts hugely benefits. Of course Shovel Knight and Don’t Starve continue to drop down, while Celeste and Adventure Pals maintain the lower ends of the charts, with Celeste being a recent return.

Most notable then, is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe maintains it’s position as the sole charting digital first party title, and the only new entry this week is a respectable 14th place for South Park, a full price release of a game from October on other platforms. Maybe this one will pick up steam?

 

And that’s it for this week, so what did we learn? Football Manager is a hit, Mario Kart sells, indies are living the dream and South Park at least charted. Expect Donkey Kong to top next week though as a notable new release.

Nintendo Switch eShop – UK Sales Charts (22/04/2018)

Sean Alexander

This week in the UK eShop sales charts we get to see just what is going on with Football Manager, if it can hold its top spot after rocketing up the charts, and what other indie and third-party releases are sticking around yet again!

 

Numbers in brackets are previous positions based on: 15/04/2018 (Unless they haven’t moved)


 1: Football Manager Touch 2018 (NEW) (Up from 3rd) – £29.99
2: Oxenfree (Up from 8th) – £15.99 
3: Stardew Valley (Up from 4th) – £10.99
4: Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition (Down from 2nd) – £19.99
5: Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove (Up from 7th) – £22.49
6: Rocket League (Down from 1st) – £15.04
7: Don’t Starve: Nintendo Switch Edition (NEW) (Up from 13th) – £17.99
8: Arcade Archives: Vs. Super Mario Bros. (Down from 5th) – £6.29
9: Streets of Red (NEW) (20% OFF) – £5.03 (Usually £6.29)
10: Robonauts (80% OFF) (Up from not charting) – £2.69 (Usually £13.49)
11: Adventure Pals (NEW) – £10.79
12: Sonic Mania (Up from 14th) – £15.99
13: Celeste (Up from not charting) – £17.99
14: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Down from 11th) – £49.99
15: Kirby Star Allies (Down from 12th) – £49.99

 

So take aways for this week? A few things really. First, sales of Oxenfree and Shovel Knight have propelled up the charts to actually dismantle the usual three suspects of Rocket League, Minecraft and Stardew Valley.

Football Manager is very likely to remain a chart topper along with the usual three for some time now, especially at £30. Arcade Archives VS Super Mario Bros also continued to linger in the middle of the charts.

Don’t Starve seems to be selling really well, still climbing up to a respectable 7th. Streets of Red and Adventure Pals are the other new indie entries this week, one with a launch discount, locking themselves notable sales over other entries.

Celeste has also returned, as has Robonauts with a huge discount. UK gamers love cheap and cheerful after all.

More of note is the continued presence of Mario Kart as the evergreen digital first party release, as Kirby is about to fall from the charts entirely. Not surprising, but Mario Kart will also likely drop in the coming weeks with the release of Donkey Kong.

 

So that’s it for this week on the Switch eShop in the UK! Join us next Sunday when we see if Football Manager can remain on top. It probably can, it’s football. I said this last week too.

Nintendo Switch eShop – UK Sales Charts (15/04/2018)

Sean Alexander

I figured we could start doing this, looking over the UK eShop charts on Switch.

Update (15/4/2018) – Yes, Football Manager Touch 2018 has hit Number 1

This week, the comparison data will be from the day prior, April 14th, as some interesting things have shown up. All future weeks will be compared to the prior Sunday!

Numbers in brackets are previous positions based on: 14/04/2018 (Unless they haven’t moved)
1: Rocket League – £15.04
2: Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition – £19.99
3: Football Manager Touch 2018 (NEW) (Up from 4th) – £29.99
4: Stardew Valley (Down from 3rd) – £10.99
5: Arcade Archives: Vs. Super Mario Bros. – £6.29
6: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – £49.99
7: Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove (20% OFF) (Up from 9th) – £17.99 (Usually £22.49)
8: Oxenfree (75% OFF) (Up from not charting) – £3.99 (Usually £15.99)
9: Snake Pass (Down from 8th) – £15.99
10: SteamWorld Dig: A Fistful of Dirt (Down from 7th) – £8.99
11: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Up from 12th) – £49.99
12: Kirby Star Allies (Down from 11th) – £49.99
13: Don’t Starve: Nintendo Switch Edition (NEW) – £17.99
14: Sonic Mania – £15.99
15: ARMS (Down from 10th) – £49.99

So what do we take away from this? Well a few things.

First, even though Football Manager Touch 2018 arrived with no fanfare, it’s skyrocketed up the charts – a surprise, but given FIFA does the same whenever it goes on sale, it’s expected especially when the UK is prime footy territory.

Another note is the resurgence of a few indie games. Snake Pass is fresh off of sale, and Oxenfree and Shovel Knight have absolutely shot up. Don’t Starve is the other new entry this week, showing a good showing for yet another release of the game.

Kirby is still hanging on, to my surprise despite falling hard out of the retail sales charts – and ARMS, fresh out of a sale and demo, is about to vanish again. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has decided to show up again too, probably for some new Switch owners as it seems to be the go to game.

It should be noted the top of the charts rarely changes. Arcade Archives VS. Super Mario Bros. is a prime example of why Virtual Console most likely won’t arrive at all: Imagine all those games clogging the charts like this one does. But Minecraft, Rocket League and Stardew Valley always occupy top spots and have since launch – real mainstays those are.

So that’s it for this week on the Switch eShop in the UK! Join us next Sunday when we see if Football Manager can remain on top. It probably can, it’s football.

Why Am I Leaning Towards Digital Games?

Sean Alexander

I find myself asking this a lot lately. Why am I just wanting games digitally?

 

Even though I can save a few pounds buying a game physically from Amazon, or other independent retailers, in recent months I have found myself simply opting for digital releases.

I suppose part is just being on-board with the inevitable digital only future of gaming, and having an internet speed to sustain it. Plus, the only games sold in my town are from supermarkets, which is generally limited to the major annual releases like FIFA on PS4 and Xbox.

Speaking of those systems, honestly I want to move to full digital anyway. Discs are simply an inconvenience, as they install to your storage space anyway, leaving the only difference being the speed at which they do so, and limiting how freely you access your game –  a disc must be inserted to play the game if it came from a physical copy.

In those cases, I would go digital not just out of convenience of having everything there at my fingertips, but to dodge an inconvenience.

On PC, well you don’t get much choice there. Digital only.

 

On Switch is where this dilemma has arisen. Limited storage aside, I find myself toying with digital more than I anticipated. Convenience is again the main factor. Don’t need to fiddle with boxes and game cards, just tap and go. Fast, simple and easy. Plus pre-loading gets your games at midnight with no fuss.

Of course this is true for any system – convenience.

 

The bulk of my move to digital is in fact due to other circumstances away from the consoles themselves. Delivery times are getting longer and in the past year there have been many instances of games having incorrect tracking for delivery, going missing, being late, and other errors from online retailers.

Of course why go online? I could go to a store, but the nearest one is 12 miles away.

 

Let’s start with Amazon. They give you discounts on pre-orders for games, and that’s great. I attempted to order Kirby Star Allies but was informed delivery would be past the release date…a bit odd.

Of course I expect this from Amazon now, as the past few games from them have been late. Pokemon Ultra Moon had incorrect tracking that stated it was delivered, but didn’t show up until 4 days after launch. Sonic Forces didn’t dispatch until launch day due to an issue with payment that I wasn’t notified of…until launch day.

 

The Nintendo UK Store isn’t absolved of this either. Usually very good about games on time, though Metroid: Samus Returns arrived late, as did Paper Mario Colour Splash in 2016. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 almost came late, and via a different tracker, but arrived on the correct day.

The big mark on them though, is the launch of Nintendo Switch. Here in the UK order tracking was incorrect, with orders not arriving until the day after launch…with no indication, from a different carrier.

 

This has been a recurring trend around me lately, with orders missing, errors in transit, or straight up delays, and after a while consumer confidence will be knocked. Many have had great results with retailers getting games on time, but for me it has been too many too frequently, and so just like the PS4, I would rather dodge an inconvenience.