March 23rd, 2016. Japanese sales analyst Media Create
reports that
Digimon World -next 0rder- opened its first week at 64,218 units sold, standing neck-and-neck with
Pokken Tournament at 69,675. This makes
-next 0rder- the second best-selling game for the week of 03/14-03/20. While these two competing may look like a Democratic primary on the surface, the figures bear some internal concerns for
Digimon.
-next 0rder-'s first week sales are lower than
Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth's, which moved
76,760 copies in its first week in Japan, but more than
Decode, which only moved
34,350 copies within the same period.
Although
-next 0rder- also undersold compared to
Re:Digitize, (
85,817 copies) the PSP's install base was much greater than that of the Vita's. At
Re:Digitize's launch in July 2012, between 15 million and 19 million PlayStation Portables had been sold in Japan, while at
-next 0rder-'s
only 4 million Vitas had been sold in the country. With these numbers in mind, it's natural that
-next 0rder- would undersell its PSP predecessor.
Underselling
Sleuth is harder to dismiss. Despite a strong continuous promotional campaign since its original announcement late last July, consumer interest in
-next 0rder- may have been dampened by the game's moderately lower review scores compared to
Sleuth, and its smaller playable roster.
-next 0rder- received a 33/40 in
Famitsu magazine versus
Sleuth's 34/40, and consumer review sites have consistently rated it lower than
Sleuth, presently
3.5/5 on Amazon versus
Sleuth's
4/5, and
82.9 on
Wazap! versus
87.3.
4Gamer's lone user review gave the game a
60/100, while
Sleuth holds a
69/100. Only a small number of users have ranked or reviewed
-next 0rder- thus far, but the number of stars a game has does a lot for its public perception regardless of the ranking's overall accuracy.
 |
| Dukemon Crimson Mode, the last Digimon in -next 0rder-. |
The official
-next 0rder- guide pins the lineup at just 216 Digimon, but does not include the DLC Digimon Maicoomon. Thus the game's actual roster is 217 playable, which is 33 less than
Cyber Sleuth's at-launch 240. (
Sleuth has since added five Digimon via patches.) One of the bigger disappointments discovered upon launch is that the
Frontier and
Xros Wars Digimon Agnimon, Susanoomon, Shoutmon, Omega Shoutmon, Gumdramon, and Arresterdramon are not simply the "tip of the iceberg" as was popularly thought, but are the
only Digimon from those series present in the game. Many Japanese fans on 2chan and Twitter were excited by the prospect of nontraditional Digimon being available in the game, speculating that Digimon like Dark Knightmon of
Xros Wars or Ranamon of
Frontier could be playable.
The speculation was in part fueled by the game being billed as having "over 200 Digimon," a statement which had also been made word-for-word in
Cyber Sleuth's later trailers. As it turns out,
-next 0rder- is exactly as advertised, with no more nor less than what was seen in previews. Almost every Digimon available in the game could be seen at some point in a trailer, magazine promotion, or preview screenshot.
Regardless of how it may compare to past games, 64,000 is solid and hardly dangerous for an opening week.
Cyber Sleuth's domestic performance was exceptional, going through
91% of its first shipment. Not every game is going to do so miraculously in the market, and there's nothing wrong with average sales. An important point with regard to the game's absolute profit is that Media Create cannot track digital sales, which means that
-next 0rder- is selling slightly more than what these numbers say up front.
