Friday, January 6, 2012

eShop Sales-Ratings: December 2011 (and 2011 Review)

The Nintendo eShop is Nintendo's online shop through the 3DS where people can download games from old Nintendo hardware, DSiWare games, and new download software specific for the 3DS. Because Nintendo does not disclose sales numbers, and developers are most likely barred from revealing them, we do not know how games are doing on the service.

But we might have at least a small hint.

After playing a game on the 3DS for over a hour, players are capable of rating these games via the eShop, and the totals are shown on each game page, showing up to five stars based on what the population thinks. At the very least, we now have minimum sales figures for the games, but with a very large disclaimer: these numbers represent the users who have done the following:

1) Purchased the game
2) Played the game for over an hour on the 3DS, and
3) Chose to rate the game on the eShop.

People who play the games on their DSi systems cannot rate games, nor can people who have not played the games for less than one hour. Since rating cannot be done outside of the eShop, some might have forgotten to or chosen not to rate said games. Also note that a rating does not necessarily correspond with a sale in the month in which it appears, only emphasizing the number of additional people who completed the above steps.

With that disclaimer in mind, let us take a look at how the games performed.

---

Free Apps
1 1 Nintendo Video 6936 35933
2 2 Pokedex 3D 6583 46870
3
Swapnote 5525 5525
4 3 Netflix 4439 23225

Hulu did not appear by year end as I anticipated, but we did receive another app this past year, the messaging application known as Swapnote. Now it does take a while for applications such as these to take off, but despite the potential of it to grow, I do not think it will surpass other free software such as Nintendo Video. It appears that Pokedex 3D, while still remaining the most-rated product for download on the eShop, has not crossed Nintendo Video's monthly ratings, as I predicted. Regardless, Nintendo Video has a ways to go before it gets close to reaching Pokedex 3D's LTD ratings.

Overall, 2011's Free Apps appear to be growing at a similar pace over the course of time. Pokedex 3D is the clear winner, here. Netflix appears to be growing steadily but at about half the pace, and it reflects in total distribution. Next year, I expect a few more apps to appear, but I suspect Pokedex 3D updates will keep it at the top for the foreseeable future.






Video Downloads
1 1 Thriller 124 258
2 2 Night of the Living Carrots 93 195
3 3 The Pig Who Cried Werewolf 23 52

The video ratings would be surprising to me, but I know it would take time for these videos to get past the "one hour" mark for eShop rating. I am surprised we have not seen more of these video downloads emerge yet, though.

In 2011, only 505 ratings were made for the three videos, so data is not necessarily that accurate here, but we can certainly agree that Michael Jackson songs can attract a viewing audience!




Pre-eShop DSiWare*
1 4 Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! [CN]
1256 4320
2 1 Plants vs. Zombies 800 5721
3 2 Photo Dojo 700 4283
4 5 Cave Story 441 3753
5 3 Inchworm Animation 413 2887
6 6 Zenonia 279 1811
7 10 Shantae: Risky's Revenge 278 2494
8 7 Mario Clock 278 1619
9 8 Anonymous Notes Chapter 1 - From the Abyss 270 2017
10 9 GO Series: 10 Second Run 215 1391
11 13 Tetris Party Live 205 1504
12 14 Bomberman Blitz 173 1564
13 11 Nintendo Countdown Calender 167 805
14 16 Army Defender 150 1006
15 15 Crystal Monsters 146 1061
16 12 Pop Island - Paperfield 137 1196
17 21 Soul of Darkness 123 873
18 18 Mario Calculator 95 446
19 17 JellyCar 2 91 867
20 19 Dr. Mario Express 90 807
21 20 Glory Days: Tactical Defense 71 462
22 22 Dark Void Zero 66 799
23 26 Earthworm Jim 58 320
24 31 Touch Solitaire 56 453
25 30 My Farm 55 423
26 29 Paper Airplane Chase 54 353
27 27 Pop Island 52 491
28 36 Extreme Hangman 47 548
29 28 Blazybloo: Super Melee Action Battle Royale 47 349
30 24 Gangstar 2: Kings of L.A. 44 325
31 25 Arcade Bowling 42 399
32 33 5 in 1 Solitaire 40 274
33 37 Castle Conqueror 37 263
34 34 Anonymous Notes Chapter 2 - From the Abyss 35 492
35 38 WarioWare: Snapped! 31 257
36 39 My Exotic Farm 31 251
37 23 AiRace 27 243
38 35 GO Series: Defense Wars 26 206
39 32 Faceez Monsters! 24 187
40
Escapee GO! 21 157
41 42 Petz Dogz Family 17 92
42
MySims Camera 17 47
43 40 A Topsy Turvy Life: The Turvys Strike Back 7 86
44 41 Petz Kittens 7 67

*This list consists of a selection of DSiWare games that released prior to June 2011 and does not reflect the actual rating listing of every previous DSiWare game released.
[CN] This game was made available for download via Club Nintendo.

It appears that the overall ranking for the older DSiWare games will only change slightly over time, as we see here, but there is one factor to mention. Starting December 2011, Nintendo has provided select games for download using Coins from Club Nintendo. As a result, a number of games will eventually be downloaded and rated without actual sales passing through. From here on out, the games will be marked with [CN], and those that have become newly-made downloads via Club Nintendo will have red-marked ratings data. As seen here, Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again is December 2011's most-rated game and also was selected by Club Nintendo. Dr. Mario Express is January 2012's game, and it will be marked next month.

No new additions this month for the Legacy DSiWare titles, but more may arrive in 2012.

2011's most-rated DSiWare title of old was Popcap's Plants vs. Zombies with 5,721 ratings. As the top spot, it took 11.9% of the ratings, which is not all too bad in hindsight, especially since the list does not include every old DSiWare game before the eShop launch. Even the partial list has the most ratings outside of the Free Apps, a total of 47,969 ratings. 15 of the 44 games on the list had more than a thousand ratings.

What is interesting to note is how adding Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! to Club Nintendo directly affected its ratings. Without the boost, it would probably sit at number 4, but it crosses over Cave Story and Photo Dojo in December. You can see in the chart below how the ratings more than doubled the previous month, but in the end, these were not indicative of actual sales. No doubt about it, Plants vs. Zombies looks like it'll have over 10,000 ratings by this upcoming December.

The Legacy DSiWare Top 10 (2011)
1 Plants vs. Zombies 5721
2 Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! (CN)
4320
3 Photo Dojo 4283
4 Cave Story 3753
5 Inchworm Animation 2887
6 Shantae: Risky's Revenge 2494
7 Anonymous Notes Chapter 1 - From the Abyss 2017
8 Zenonia 1811
9 Mario Clock 1619
10 Bomberman Blitz 1564









Post-eShop DSiWare
1 1 The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition* 10490 32608
2 2 Bloons TD 443 748
3 3 Cut the Rope 254 412
4 5 Afterzoom 78 593
5 6 Extreme Hangman 2 73 407
6 4 1001 BlockBusters 59 156
7 7 Let's Create! Pottery 52 294
8 31 Come On! Heroes 41 51
9 9 GO Series: Fishing Resort 38 195
10 17 My Australian Farm 36 141
11
Castle Conqueror: Against 35 35
12 8 Magical Whip 33 176
13
Rytnik Retrobits 30 30
14 11 The Lost Town: The Dust 28 268
15 13 Go! Go! Kokopolo 27 179
16
Doodle Fit 27 27
17 16 Calculator 26 102
18 21 Escape Trick: Convenience Store 26 39
19 18 Stratego: Next Edition 25 146
20 19 Moto eXtreme 25 149
21 15 My Asian Farm 25 109
22 22 Make-Up & Style 20 130
23 23 Build-a-lot 20 88
24 14 Crazy Hamster 18 84
25 10 Castle Conqueror: Revolution 18 66
26 20 Simply Minesweeper 17 50
27
Chronicles of Vampires: Origins 15 15
28
Christmas Wonderland 14 14
29 12 Halloween: Trick or Treat 12 47
30 24 Castle Conqueror: Heroes 12 24
31 25 Antipole 11 151
32 27 Blockado - Puzzle Island 11 55
33 30 Academy Checkers 11 24
34
Word Searcher 4 11 11
35 48 Kung Fu Dragon 10 49
36 26 Break Tactics 10 58
37
Elite Forces: Unit 77 10 10
38 45 Pro Jumper! Guilty Gear Tangent!? 9 90
39 32 Hidden Photo 8 49
40 36 Farm Frenzy 8 61
41 33 GO Series: Portable Shrine Wars 8 75
42 42 Zoonies - Escape from Makatu 8 59
43 28 Defense of the Middle Kingdom 8 44
44 46 Escape Trick: Ninja Castle 8 34
45 55 Play & Learn Chinese 8 10
46
House M.D. - Under the Big Top 8 8
47 57 Zimo: Mahjong Fanatic 7 30
48 49 Heart Spaces Euchre 7 48
49 50 Play & Learn Spanish 7 21
50 38 House M.D. - Blue Meanie 7 48
51 43 Crystal Caves of Amen-Ra 7 24
52 47 1950s Lawn Mower Kids 7 13
53 37 Jewel Keepers: Easter Island 6 63
54 40 Trollboarder 6 44
55 41 Go Fetch! 2 6 25
56 39 DotMan 6 23
57 29 Bugs 'N' Balls 6 26
58 53 Roller Angels 5 39
59 44 House M.D. - Skull and Bones 5 16
60 59 Puzzle Fever 4 36
61 60 Just SING! 80s Collection 4 9
62 35 House M.D. - Crashed 4 13
63
WordJong Arcade 4 4
64 58 Delbo 3 32
65 52 Boardwalk Ball Toss 3 23
66 34 Furry Legends 3 20
67
Cake Ninja 3 3
68 56 Gold Fever 2 22
69 61 Oscar's World Tour 2 16
70 62 Puzzle Rocks 2 10
71 63 Bridge 2 5
72 64 Battle of the Elements 2 2
73
Slingo Supreme 2 2
74 54 B-Team - Episode 2: Ice & Venom 1 7
75
Just SING! Christmas Vol. 3 1 1
76 51 Beach Party Craze 0 25
77
Double Bloob 0 0

** This game is freely available until February 2012.

Coming after the great introductions of last month, December's results were a lot less delightful to see. Bloons TD and Cut the Rope remained high on the charts, and Zelda was the absolute top by far, considering the game is available for free anyways. The highest debut for December was Castle Conqueror: Against with 35 ratings; not so bad as the game is pretty much the third or fourth game in the series on DSiWare. Rytmik Retrobits sat just below it, while the majority of the debuts sat lower on the carts. Double Bloob was the only 0-rating debut, but Just SING! Christmas Vol. 3 and Slingo Supreme got pretty close. Beach Party Craze, a game which debuted at the eShop launch, is the only other no-rating game this month.

2011 has been a hit-or-miss year for DSiWare releases that were not on the top of the charts immediately. Whether this is because of the eShop's setup or not remains to be argued. If we ignore Four Swords Anniversary Edition (as we should, considering it is free), the total ratings for new DSiWare games sit at 6,213 ratings, less than a fifth of Zelda's ratings by itself. 18 of the 77 DSiWare titles post-launch have more than a hundred ratings, of which only one reached over one thousand ratings: Zelda. Bloons TD will most likely be the first to reach that milestone in 2012, but the other games will struggle to get there if at all. What is a worse statistic, however, is that 47 of the games got less than fifty ratings, of which 20 have less than 20. Here's hoping the games get more sales than these ratings show.

Clearly, the eShop has not catered well enough to newer DSiWare releases other than already popular products such as Bloons TD and Cut the Rope; hopefully 2012's releases will get more attention and these will improve as well.

Post-Launch DSiWare Top 10 (2011)
1 The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition* 32608
2 Bloons TD 748
3 Afterzoom 593
4 Cut the Rope 412
5 Extreme Hangman 2 407
6 Let's Create! Pottery 294
7 The Lost Town: The Dust 268
8 GO Series: Fishing Resort 195
9 Go! Go! Kokopolo 179
10 Magical Whip 176


CHARTS
















Classic Games
1 2 Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX 1271 17463
2 1 Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins 1109 3688
3 3 Super Mario Land 652 10285
4 6 Metroid II: Return of Samus 594 737
5 4 Kirby's Dream Land 384 3728
6 5 Donkey Kong 298 4110
7 7 Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge 172 817
8 9 Mario's Picross 151 1144
9 8 Game & Watch Gallery 113 1125
10 10 Gargoyle's Quest 107 623
11 14 Catrap 58 165
12 13 Pac-Man 51 192
13
Adventure Island 51 51
14
Blaster Master: Enemy Below 43 43
15 16 Alleyway 35 695
16 15 Burger Time Deluxe 35 76
17 17 Avenging Spirit 34 208
18 12 Double Dragon 33 114
19 11 Balloon Kid 26 78
20 19 Qix 17 215
21 18 Baseball 14 187
22 20 Radar Mission 13 241
23
Bionic Commando 11 11
24 22 Side Pocket 7 22
25
Tetris 7 7
26 21 Tennis 6 167
27 24 Golf 5 29
28 23 Fortified Zone 3 110

Classic Games (or Virtual Console, hard to tell after the title changed a few times on the eShop) have had better months. Metroid II performed much better this time around, as I predicted, but it still has a way to go if it wants to match up against Nintendo's bigger VC games released thus far. Mario's Picross passed the thousand mark, and Donkey Kong became the third title to pass the 4,000 rating mark, behind Super Mario Land and Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX, which is still the most-rated downloadable game which has never been available for free. Super Mario Land is now the second VC game to surpass 10,000 ratings, quite a feat to be sure!

The top performing debut goes to Hudson Soft's Adventure Island with 51 ratings, followed quickly by Sunsoft's Blaster Master: Enemy Below, which is the second GameBoy Color title in the US eShop. The numbers are not too great, when comparing to the rest of the games on the list, so hopefully they will continue to get more in the near future. Meanwhile, big game Tetris did terribly at 7 ratings, but considering the multitude of newer Tetris games, I am not too surprised.

Club Nintendo has marked Kirby's Dream Land for January 2012.

2011 was very good for a number of games on the Virtual Console and marginally so for others. No doubt Nintendo took the top spots all around, with Link's Awakening DX and Super Mario Land taking a large stake in the total rankings (46,331 total). The spread between the top tier games and the other titles is wide enough that two graphs were necessary. Of the 28 games released in 2011, 20 got more than a hundred ratings, 11 had more than 500, 7 had more than a thousand, and 2 had more than ten thousand.

Top 10 Classic Games (2011)
1 Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX 17463
2 Super Mario Land 10285
3 Donkey Kong 4110
4 Kirby's Dream Land 3728
5 Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins 3688
6 Mario's Picross 1144
7 Game & Watch Gallery 1125
8 Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge 817
9 Metroid II: Return of Samus 737
10 Alleyway 695







3DS Download Software
1
Pushmo 2870 2870
2 1 FreakyForms: Your Creations, Alive! 1717 2966
3 3 3D Classics: Kirby's Adventure 1364 1964
4 2 3D Classics: Excitebike* 807 19727
5 6 3D Classics: Xevious [CN]
616 1748
6
Mighty Switch Force! 483 483
7 4 Let's Golf! 3D 280 2135
8
VVVVVV 171 171
9 7 3D Classics: Twinbee 105 437
10 8 3D Classics: Urban Champion 102 736
11 5 Pyramids 87 288

*Available for free during June 2011
[CN] This game was made available for download via Club Nintendo.

I am glad to say that this was the most active month for eShop originals yet. Not only did we get Nintendo's second non-3D Classics title, but we also received two third party games near the end of the month. Pushmo succeeded in getting great word of mouth and sits at the top with 2,870 ratings, already placing it at the third most-rated title on the list (editor's note: the game has since passed FreakyForms). Mighty Switch Force performed especially well, and it is no doubt on the path to hitting a thousand ratings in no time! VVVVVV appeared mere days before the end of the month, so its performance is pretty good for such a short time. Whether it can build from that momentum will need to be seen next month.

Last month's hits FreakyForms and 3D Classics: Kirby's Adventure continued to perform well; FreakyForms was made the most-rated 3DS Download Software title that was never free, and Kirby's Adventure is only behind Excitebike for the 3D Classics. Xevious has the mark of Club Nintendo, and as expected, the ratings have improved in number for it.

Overall, 2011 performance for original 3DS software was not great until the last few months when new, original games filled the lineup. Only 11 titles were released for this category, of which 5 were 3D Classics titles. Six of the games had more than a thousand ratings, and all had at least a hundred ratings, regardless. The top third party performer was Let's Golf! 3D with 2,135 ratings, while the lowest performer overall (outside of the few-day-release VVVVVV) was Enjoy Gaming's Pyramids, with 288 ratings by year-end.

Due to 3D Classics: Excitebike's unusually high performance, it's performance is posted on a second chart alongside Let's Golf! 3D for comparison purposes.

All 3DS Download Software (2011)
1 3D Classics: Excitebike 19727
2 FreakyForms: Your Creations, Alive! 2966
3 Pushmo 2870
4 Let's Golf! 3D 2135
5 3D Classics: Kirby's Adventure 1964
6 3D Classics: Xevious 1748
7 3D Classics: Urban Champion 736
8 Mighty Switch Force! 483
9 3D Classics: Twinbee 437
10 Pyramids 288
11 VVVVVV 171






Overall
1 1 The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition** 10490 32608
2
Pushmo 2870 2870
3 2 FreakyForms: Your Creations, Alive! 1717 2966
4 7 3D Classics: Kirby's Adventure 1364 1964
5 4 Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX 1271 17463
6 12 Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! [CN]
1256 4320
7 3 Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins 1109 3688
8 6 3D Classics: Excitebike* 807 19727
9 5 Plants vs. Zombies 800 5721
10 9 Photo Dojo 700 4283
11 8 Super Mario Land 652 10285
12 30 3D Classics: Xevious [CN]
616 1748
13 24 Metroid II: Return of Samus 594 737
14
Mighty Switch Force! 483 483
15 13 Bloons TD 443 748
16 14 Cave Story 441 3753
17 10 Inchworm Animation 413 2887
18 11 Kirby's Dream Land 384 3728
19 16 Donkey Kong 298 4110
20 15 Let's Golf! 3D 280 2135

*This game was freely available during June 2011.
**This game is freely available until February 2012.
[CN] These titles are/were available for download using Coins at Club Nintendo

No doubt, Pushmo was the game of interest in December, while FreakyForms and Kirby remained as strong as ever. Even Mighty Switch Force! appeared in the Top 20, which is darn good for a game which had a week and change on the store when it debuted. The only thing missing from the Top 20 would be a Video Download (Thriller was at 36 this month). Both Club Nintendo games appeared on the list, both with significant rises, but is that really a surprise?

As for 2011 overall, Nintendo posted a list on the eShop, which is reposted below. Beside their rank is the rating rank relative to it.

Top 20 eShop Downloads of 2011*

3 1 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX
4 2 Super Mario Land
10 3 Kirby's Dream Land
11 4 Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
5 5 Plants vs. Zombies
8 6 Donkey Kong
7 7 Photo Dojo
16 8 Let's Golf! 3D
18 9 3D Classics: Kirby's Adventure
6 10 Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again
17 11 Anonymous Notes Chapter 1
24 12 GO Series: 10 Second Run
9 13 Cave Story
13 14 Inchworm Animation
12 15 Freakyforms: Your Creations, Alive!
20 16 3D Classics: Xevious
21 17 Mario Clock
19 18 Zenonia
15 19 Shantae: Risky's Revenge
23 20 Tetris Party Live

*Does not include The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition or 3D Classics: Excitebike, which appear as 1 and 2 in our Top 20 due to times during which the games were freely available.

Obviously there are some differences to be had. One noticeable omission from the Top 20 is Pushmo, which is 14 on our list. I do not know what date range this chart had, but I have a feeling it did not take December into great consideration, or at the very least, only took a couple weeks in December into consideration. Regardless, it shows here that Virtual Console releases have been getting the most attention. Do not be afraid to try out new games on DSiWare or on 3DS Download Software!

Either way, this will be the eShop's first full year, and with Wii U releasing, perhaps it, too, will have a system in need of analysis. Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this overly analytical look at incomplete data. [/crazy]

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