When a AAA game is generally expected to sell several million copies at launch, having Splatoon pass the 1 million sales point within a month might not sound too impressive, but in the grand context of Nintendo’s current business, it being a new IP for the company and coming to the stuttering Wii U console, this has to be considered a successful launch.
Breaking those sales down with both physical and digital sales combined, the US took the largest slice of the sales pie chart, with 476k sales, with Japan on 368k, Europe selling 230k and 20k in Australia and New Zealand.
Nintendo of Europe president Satoru Shibata said, “Since Splatoon launched on May 29, it has been great to see so many players competing in online matches. We are pleased this new Wii U exclusive game is capturing the imagination of so many fans across Europe, and look forward to bringing more exclusive titles to both Wii U and Nintendo 3DS this year.”
Part of Nintendo’s strategy since launch has been to gradually drip feed new content to players of the game with regular updates, but it turns out that most of this is included on the disc itself, just waiting to be activated.
A post on NeoGAF collected together the details from a datamining of the disc. There are ten maps on the disc in total, with two yet to be released, with three new game modes called Splat Zones, Tower Control and Rainmaker – a form of Capture the Flag – and a whopping 33 new weapons also on the way.
From a good launch to the way that Nintendo are handling the steady stream of content, it’s safe to say that they likely have big plans for the burgeoning series in the future.
Source: Nintendo via Digital Spy, NWPlayer123 via NeoGAF
gazzagb
Why hasn’t there been a huge outcry over future DLC already being present on the disk? If it was EA or Activision, you don’t even need to guess what the Internet would be saying about it.
Steelhead
Probably because they seem to be activating it all for free. Whereas EA, Activision and Capcom, to name a few, would probably demand we pay through the nose for it
Steelhead
That was supposed to be a reply to gazzagb but my laptop spazzed out.
gazzagb
Ah, OK I hadn’t realised it was free. But still, what’s the point in it? Is it to just artificially increase the life span of the game? If the devs had already made the content, what’s the point in holding it back?
Steelhead
Yeah, basically. I don’t understand it either, there’s even a case for saying this has harmed the reception of the game, as every review picked up on the lack of content at launch and docked points off the final score. Nintendo should have been more concerned about launching a complete package.
Kennykazey
It’s likely to ease players in, by adding features and content gradually and keeping it fresh. Some of the content is probably also not fully finished, given the games short dev-time. So as it gets ready they unlock it.
I actually think it’s worked well, except that there was a bit too little available at first. It means there’s something new every week.
I’m really pleased Splatoon has done well, as it’ll increase the odds of Ninty banking on more new IPs in the future.
Steelhead
The rollout of content has certainly been well paced, I’ll give Nintendo credit where its due on that front. In hindsight the slower introduction of the arenas was certainly worthwhile as it gives players new challenges to overcome.
Personally I enjoy what’s on offer, although I haven’t played in about a week as I grew fed up of being disconnected. Has anyone else suffered constant stability issues with Splatoon? I would be interested to know.
Forrest_01
I think the bigger news here for me is that there are more than a million Wii U owners!