The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D (3DS)

[FirstBlood]

3 mil for a N64 game in 2011+ isn't "a decent deal", it's bonkers.
Which is why it's a no brainer to put out Majoras Mask, what with the development team/tools/assets already in place. Therefore it's really much closer to printing money than some niche bullshit.

Those Link Between Worlds numbers are pretty sad though.

[YellerDog]

I wonder if the Link Between Worlds numbers (or any of them really) include digital sales. Wouldn't move the needle much, but curious.

[jyoung]

I wonder if the Link Between Worlds numbers (or any of them really) include digital sales. Wouldn't move the needle much, but curious.

They do. Nintendo always includes digital purchases in their sales figures.

Their sales totals also include games that come bundled with a system.

[Hero]

3 mil for a N64 game in 2011+ isn't "a decent deal", it's bonkers.
Which is why it's a no brainer to put out Majoras Mask, what with the development team/tools/assets already in place. Therefore it's really much closer to printing money than some niche bullshit.

Those Link Between Worlds numbers are pretty sad though.

Well, look at it in context.

N64's install base was roughly 33 million. So 7 mil on Ocarina was 'bonkers' and 3 mil on Majora, pretty damn good.

Now on 3DS, the install base is about 45 million (currently), with (what we'd assume is the more popular) Ocarina selling about 3 million. Given that this platform has a higher install base, but drastically lower sales for the more popular N64 release, I'm skeptical that Majora's Mask will do better than Ocarina now, or better than it did originally.

And yes, even if we say that it does sell 3 million on 3DS like Ocarina, Majora's Mask is still niche. Compared to the best-selling 3DS games, it sure as hell is. Unless you think something like Luigi's Mansion is a household institution that everyone knows and loves, since it sold better than Ocarina...

I'm not saying it's bad, I'm just trying to look at the context of the situation. Will MM make money? Sure, its low cost of development means it won't need high sales to recoup its cost. Is it some no-brainer money-making machine diehard Zelda fans believe it is? Not a chance. I don't even think Zelda as a games series has the kind of cultural significance other Nintendo properties have been able to create and hold onto. As an icon, Link still holds that significance, but the games? Nope.

[FirstBlood]

Is it some no-brainer money-making machine

Yes.

And calling something niche "compared to the best-selling 3DS games" isn't niche.

[kingoffighters]

This is an awful discussion on this game's merit.

[FirstBlood]

Hero gets so weird about this shit, I can't help but poke him.

[GohanX]

Well, it appears that OoT is still the best selling remake on the 3DS, all the games above it are original. In addition, it has come to my attention that there are people paying good money on ebay for it from the fact that it's hard to find at retail. If Nintendo did another run the sales may well be higher.

[Hero]

Well, it appears that OoT is still the best selling remake on the 3DS, all the games above it are original. In addition, it has come to my attention that there are people paying good money on ebay for it from the fact that it's hard to find at retail. If Nintendo did another run the sales may well be higher.

Except people can buy Ocarina digitally, and these sales numbers are supposed to include that, right?

I don't really care either way, but it's fun to make the argument, especially since by FirstBlood's metric, Luigi's Mansion is mainstream. I wish the world worked that way.

[Joust Williams]

Well, look at it in context.

N64's install base was roughly 33 million. So 7 mil on Ocarina was 'bonkers' and 3 mil on Majora, pretty damn good.

Now on 3DS, the install base is about 45 million (currently), with (what we'd assume is the more popular) Ocarina selling about 3 million. Given that this platform has a higher install base, but drastically lower sales for the more popular N64 release, I'm skeptical that Majora's Mask will do better than Ocarina now, or better than it did originally.

And yes, even if we say that it does sell 3 million on 3DS like Ocarina, Majora's Mask is still niche. Compared to the best-selling 3DS games, it sure as hell is. Unless you think something like Luigi's Mansion is a household institution that everyone knows and loves, since it sold better than Ocarina...

I'm not saying it's bad, I'm just trying to look at the context of the situation. Will MM make money? Sure, its low cost of development means it won't need high sales to recoup its cost. Is it some no-brainer money-making machine diehard Zelda fans believe it is? Not a chance. I don't even think Zelda as a games series has the kind of cultural significance other Nintendo properties have been able to create and hold onto. As an icon, Link still holds that significance, but the games? Nope.

I think it's not as simple as "since this one outsold the other 2:1, that ratio will hold". It might, but OoT was THE game to have on the N64. I bet the two 3DS Zeldas "scale well" in that the audience that bought the first would buy the second. One thing against it would be that by the time it comes out (when does it come out?), no one will care about 3DS games.