yES i WAS GOING TO POST THIS!

Sorry.

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

^^
Yep, Layton had a good run.
Time to end it though, it couldn't last forever. I'm still doubting if I should get Mask of Miracle or the new one (which hasn't been released yet), but I'll get one of the two.

Next week, next million seller with Dragon Quest VII (probably)!

New Million Seller! Dragon Quest VII 3D

The second Dragon Quest title on 3DS has achieved one million sales in just two weeks. For comparison, Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry's Wonderland 3D, released last May in Japan, still has not sold a million.

The DS also saw several Dragon Quest remakes, but only one -- Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation, released in 2010 -- reached one million in Japan so quickly. (Dragon Quest IX, on the other hand, sold over 2 million in its launch week! Where's DQXI for 3DS, Square? WHERE??)

Realms of Revelation ended around 1.35 million sales in Japan, while no DQ remake on the DS sold more than 1.4 million units there, so I feel pretty comfortable projecting VII sales to fall in the 1.2 to 1.5 million range. If DQ VII secures a Western release -- and it should, given the series' track record for localization -- it should wind up in the 1.5 to 2.0 million range.

Oh yea, how many million sellers so far this year? 4 right on 3DS

We all know it's coming. 

At this point 3DS is being carried by AC and 3rd parties in Japan. 

This year, as in 2013? Color me impressed.

Hang on, you may be misunderstanding. They haven't sold a million in 2013, they've reached a million total in 2013. So games like Kid Icarus Uprising and Pokémon Rumble Blast have actually sold very few copies so far in 2013, but they were on the brink of a million total sales when 2012 ended.

DQVII is the first game to sell a million physical copies on any single console in 2013.

Call of Duty didn't sell a million from 2013 till now? Or do you mean like 0-1000000.