One Year Later, Metroid Samus Returns Still Not Sold Over 500k

[VAMatt]

Wyrdness said:

VAMatt said:

You've missed the point.  People have moved on from 3DS.  Some no longer own it, some just don't want to go back to the two screens and mediocre graphics.  

I'm in the group that no longer owns a 3DS.  It sat for about 2 years with almost no use.  Then Switch came along and sealed the deal.  There was no reason for me to own a 3DS.  Had this game launched even one year sooner, I'd have purchased it.  Certainly, the same holds true for many people.  

It is incumbent upon Nintendo to release the right games at the right times.  In this case, they failed on the timing.  Consequently, sales sucked.

He has a point though the 3DS is being handled the same way Sony handle their prior platform where it is supported while being phased out this helps smooth out the migration of one userbase into the next SR is the Metroid fill for 3DS while Switch gets its own title that's the whole point. They didn't fail on the timing as Switch was only out for a few months at that point with people still wondering what games were on the way (Switch at that point I recall had sold about 5-6m that doesn't account for the other 60m 3DS users at the time either), we see time and time again the Metroid userbase being loud but never walk the walk.

Fact is a kickstarter backed Metroidvania game in Hollow Knight heavily outsold SR in the same time frame.

Fair enough.  But, at least for this one Metroid fan (me), the timing just didn't work.  I no longer owned the system that it was released on.  

And, certainly, this applies to more people than just me.