Just like in the U.K., Astral Chain's "success" varies a lot based on how you look at it, and it makes it very difficult to estimate how successful it actually is.
On the one hand, it's supposedly one of the most expensive first party Switch games ever released in Japan. It's physical price is apparently much higher than average, and even higher than a non-voucher digital copy of the game. Not only that, but Japan still sells digital vouchers (just like in the U.K.).
On the other hand, it actually sold a little worse than Bayonetta 2 physically in Japan (just like in the U.K.) - and that was a Wii U game, which was considered a "flop" when it sold 38k in it's first week. Then again, considering Bayonetta 2 sold 67% of it's initial shipment (seems like most games hit about 75%) and got a sequel, maybe it was always inaccurate to call that title a flop in Japan. Maybe it met expectations. But that was also a Wii U title.
Astral Chain probably sold around 89% of Bayonetta 2's physical sales in the U.K. and 84% of Bayonetta 2's physical sales in Japan.
This isn't too bad considering Switch is a much healthier digital platform - but to what extent? The voucher program has to have had a huge impact on the sales of big AAA titles, because otherwise a lot of the digital sales come from indie titles ... and Astral Chain is a pretty hefty 9.8GB.
It's probably tracking a bit ahead of Bayonetta 2 in the U.K. and Japan, but what's disappointing is that if it is tracking much farther we simply won't know. Either way, it will probably sell 100K or a little more in Japan lifetime, because Bayonetta 2 is estimated to have hit that. Not that great to be honest, hopefully it has physical legs because that's the only way that sales could possibly "appear" impressive without digital numbers. Most likely though, it's just doing ok, and Platinum is remaining niche. It will have to be carried physically by NA, shocking I know.
Edit: Also this did better than expected for me, expected like 10-22k for Astral Chain lol.
Last edited by AngryLittleAlchemist - on 04 September 2019
