As reported previously, Cavia-developed NieR Replicant sold out of its first shipment during launch week, pushing publisher Square Enix to release more copies of the game to retail as early as the following weekend. In a recent interview, NieR producer Yosuke Saito stated that the company developed the game intending for it to be a “second action-RPG pillar” alongside the well-established Kingdom Hearts franchise.
Looking at actual first-week sales of NieR Replicant, it’s safe to say Square Enix were rather conservative with their initial shipment. The PS3 version of NieR sold 60,174 copies in its first week, topping the Media Create sales chart. While a somewhat respectable achievement for a new franchise, 60,000 units isn’t quite what one would expect of a game intended to stand alongside Kingdom Hearts. Whether or not overseas sales will contribute positively remains to be seen.
The top-ten for the week of April 19th – 25th is as illustrated below, with more observations following the chart:
Lw | Tw | Title | Tw. Sales | Tot. Sales | Sys. | Publisher |
New | 01. | NieR Replicant | 60,174 | New | PS3 | Square Enix |
01. | 02. | New Super Mario Bros. Wii | 28,757 | 3,715,496 | Wii | Nintendo |
New | 03. | Tokyo Mono Hara Shi: Karasu no Mori Gakuen Kitan | 21,953 | New | PSP | Atlus |
02. | 04. | Tomodachi Collection | 19,681 | 3,130,665 | DS | Nintendo |
New | 05. | Ys: Oath of Felghana | 16,167 | New | PSP | Falcom |
03. | 06. | Pro Baseball Spirits 2010 | 15,607 | 118,340 | PSP | Konami |
09. | 07. | Wii Fit Plus | 15,217 | 1,847,757 | Wii | Nintendo |
15. | 08. | Mario Kart Wii | 13,671 | 2,711,000 | Wii | Nintendo |
New | 09. | The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (GOTY) | 14,685 | New | PS3 | Bethesda |
06. | 10. | Pokemon Ranger: Tracks of Light | 12,408 | 408,906 | DS | The Pokémon Company |
NieR Gestalt, the less effeminate Xbox 360 game, debuted at #11, just off the top-ten chart. According the Dengeki’s sales tracker, it sold in the range of 10 – 12,000 units.
The other very interesting title in the top-ten is Mario Kart Wii, which crawled its way up the chart owing to a new commercial featuring a popular Japanese idol. Media Create also speculate that people who picked up a new Wii for New Super Mario Bros. Wii are purchasing Mario Kart as their second game of choice.
Also, as predicted in previous weeks, the PSP version of Pro Baseball Spirits 2010 is set to outlast its PS3 counterpart, despite the latter version including an exclusive online mode that allows the game to download updated baseball rankings. While the PSP version enjoyed another week in the top-ten, the PS3 game dropped to #12.
Other notable releases during the week are as follows:
#26 – Knights in the Nightmare (PSP)
#40 – Disgaea: Infinite (PSP)
And finally, both versions of No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise dropped off the top-ten, with the PS3 version at #29 and the Xbox 360 version vanishing from the top-50 chart entirely.