New Million Sellers! Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, Pokémon Rumble Blast
Two new million sellers this week -- well, one new and one re-do. Let's tackle Pokémon first.
Pokémon Rumble Blast finally sold one million units after 79 weeks on shelves. The previous (and only other) game in the spinoff series was a WiiWare title; as such, sales data is unavailable for comparison. Rumble Blast has taken longer to reach one million sales than other, more well-established Pokémon spinoff titles, such as the three DS Ranger games (the slowest-selling of which reached 1 million in its 53rd week) and the three DS Mystery Dungeon games (the slowest-selling of which reached 1 million in its 54th week). Rumble Blast should settle around 1.2 million sales.
Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask was a launch title for the 3DS in Japan, but was not released in America or Europe until last October. It reached one million sales after 103 weeks, 16 weeks, and 15 weeks on sale in Japan, Europe, and North America, respectively. Such a long gap between Japanese and Western releases is not unusual for games in the Professor Layton series.
It is easy to see at a glance that the Layton series has experienced declining sales since the second game's release. A more detailed look paints a further distressing picture of the franchise.
The state of Professor Layton before Miracle Mask. Curious Village, the first game, was the fastest to reach one million sales, clocking in at 59 weeks. The second game, Diabolical Box, was the slowest to reach one million, doing so 93 weeks after launch. Unwound Future and Last Specter reached the milestone in 70 and 77 weeks respectively. All four games reached 2 million sales by week 104. Now let's replace the middle game, Unwound Future, with Miracle Mask and take another look.
The good professor is still able to manage one million sales, but not much more; his days as a blockbuster system seller are clearly behind him. It's little wonder Level-5 is ready to retire the title.
I promise next week's update won't be so gloomy. :P
