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javi741 on 12 December 2023
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Tober said:

Most typical Nintendo players I know do not like playing first person games. Japan gamers are notoriously not into first person games much.

When Metroid Prime came out, it was a novelty that was featured heavily in magazines and obviously it reviewed very well. A lot of people gave it a try. But the drop in sales with Prime2 and only a mild recovery with Prime3 on a 100+ million console, tells me that a lot of typical Nintendo players could not gel with the first party gameplay.

The Prime fandom is there, but isn't very large. The mildly disappointing sales of Prime remastered is another reason I believe Prime4 will not be the huge seller that people think. Perhaps somewhere around 2 million.

Prime being an FPS isn't the reason why it's niche. We've seen 2D Metroid games that fall more in line with the typical 2D Platform generes Nintendo fans love but would still sell low. Goldeneye is an exclusive Nintendo FPS and it was one of the bestselling N64 games, and I'm sure any other more accessible FPS would do just fine on a Nintendo platform.

Metroid is niche thanks in part to its atmosphere. It's dark, it's isolated with very little story. It's not as bright, lively, and colorful looking like Mario & Zelda, which makes those games more approachable. Metroid also has more complicated controls and gameplay compared to many other games for it to be as popular.

But yea Metroid will always remain niche, won't be a system seller due to the nature of its atmosphere and gameplay. A lot of people probably got turned off by Prime 1 on the GC which led to Prime 2 selling far worse, probably since the game isn't a typical 1st person shooter game like they were expecting and is more of a exploration adventure experience. Prime 3 selling that low on a 100 Million install base should also speak volumes that Metroid will always remain niche. I could see Prime 4 maybe selling 5 Million at best.