Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Rise of the Ronin outsold by Princess Peach: Showtime! in Japan
Nintendo released Princess Peach: Showtime! on March 22, and during its first week, the game has topped Japan’s physical sales charts with 77,562 units sold (Source: Famitsu).
Princess Peach: Showtime, developed by Good-Feel, is the second Princess Peach solo title in the Super Mario series, coming nearly two decades after the Nintendo DS platformer Super Princess Peach. The theatrical new adventure game follows Peach through various colorful settings and transformations, ranging from a kung-fu fighter to a figure skater.
The release date of Princess Peach: Showtime overlapped with Capcom’s Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Koei Tecmo’s Rise of the Ronin. While the “competition” between the latter two has been heavily focused on globally, in Japan, Princess Peach has outshined both Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Ronin (in its first week at least). Dragon’s Dogma 2 ranked right after Princess Peach with 68,592 copies sold, and Ronin was a close third, selling 64,646 units. Another big release in the past week (albeit Japan-exclusive) was “Door to the Future and the Slumbering Girl,” the seventh expansion of the Dragon Quest X Online MMO. This title launched on March 21, and ranked in 4th place with 25252 units sold (Switch and PS4 versions combined).
With the massive popularity of Nintendo’s Mario series and with how widespread the Switch is in Japan, Princess Peach: Showtime’s popularity comes as no surprise (although it has been significantly less successful than titles such as Mario Wonder). At the same time, Dragon’s Dogma 2 has been performing well worldwide despite struggling with performance and frame rate-related issues, and with updates planned to address the problems, it can be expected to maintain its momentum. Rise of the Ronin, while faced with mixed impressions overseas, is winning Japanese players over with its Team Ninja-goodness and satisfying glider/grappling hook action.
Amber V
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Glad to hear Peach get the recognition she deserves especially when Nintendo was really uncertain after the Peach DS released. I can only hope for a Rosalina game as well down the line. As for Rise Of The Ronin I think the reason why it’s mixed is because the Blue Ocean confused this for Ghost Of Tsushima which is more about “graphics” and “power” than a Fromsoft style game that rewards you on your patience and does not prioritize graphics but gameplay. I do think it will sell well overseas and it will be appreciated much more on PC than it will be on PS5 currently especially FF Rebirth. Unless Sony changes its policy and returns it’s HQ back to Japan they are in trouble.
As for DD2 I think Capcom is at fault for not allowing more time for Itsuno and his team to develop the engine for open world and to add onto the features rather than rush things out and overload MTX for fiscal year.