Just to make it clear (I edited) I didn't mean by launch, but for 2017.
It wasn't open for preorder. So where would this magical demand come from?
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FIFA 18 on Switch accounted for 1% of all UK physical copies sold
- Thread starter Lonely1
- Start date
It wasn't open for preorder. So where would this magical demand come from?
clevbrowns94
Member
Kind of sucks, but yeah, supply issues are a lower install base make it a little less awful. Still, go figure that this was EA's "test game" and Nintendo's relationship with EA since last generation has been a tragedy.
EA could also have trouble obtaining enough stock from Nintendo. There is a cart manufacturing limit. So a possible scneario could be that EA did get more orders but could not deliver due to cart manifacturing limitations.
MetalliCabombination
Member
That cant even possibly be 10k right? Considering its a position above freaking crash
it may be, time will tell, but FIFA beats almost everything else on other consoles, and if it does not beat most Nintendo games well, when is the best 3rd party game on any platform...i don't know what that may mean regarding 3rd party support, especially EA, of course.
How has it sold compared to arms, splatoon, zelda, mario&rabbids?
It's less than 10k ( retail only ).
Oh, I see. I read past that for some reason. In that case, logic dictates that EA shipped too little, and as a result, the game must have passed their expectations. It's still possible that they adjusted their expectations down from an initial higher expectations due to low preorders (however, as some mention, the game was available for preorder for only a week before launch), but that doesn't seem like the logical stance to take.
It's very curious that they shipped so little, wonder what's up with that.
Edit:
Yeah, that's a possibility. Have we heard previous reports about this happening? We have seen several other games go out of stock (Lego City: undercover in UK, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 in Japan), so this could be the reason.
Baraka Obama
Banned
If EA is using a sports game as a barometer than support might as well be dead.
MetalliCabombination
Member
Smh bets were lost.
Lol.
It is the biggest release in the UK for a long time now. If you do not reach individuals with the most popular mass market game then what hope is there for your less well known titles?
LordRaptor
Member
Or deliberately undershipped physically, because from all accounts the margins on Switch physical are worse than other platforms physical, making digital sales a much more attractive proposition on Switch than even other consoles.
Shadow Broker
Banned
I understand what you're saying but in another more particular part of the world where FIFA is better known as soccer it seems dumb for EA to judge support for the Switch on a soccer port.
If we get these same numbers for Skyrim and DOOM then I'll concede to your point.
lwilliams3
Member
Of course, no one really knows. The point a lot of people are making is that the sales (low as it is) seems to be within or exceeding retailers and EAs expectations.
Not gonna happen, those two games have the benefit of exceptional marketing and fan/industry buzz. On top of that, those two titles will have the benefit of being a 1:1 feature-wise port. FIFA was known to be gimped and the lesser of all the versions.
KawabataSan
Member
If every Switch owner bought a copy you'd be looking at ~30%
This is an extremely disappointing result for the Switch version. It's Vita / Wii U level.
LordOcidax
Member
The game was Sold Out.... And looks like is doing really well digitally. Not the same situation at all.
I think Skyrim will sell well. I have little hope for DOOM. Although, I would be very happy if I were wrong.
LordRaptor
Member
Are there ~300k Switch owners in the UK?
KratosEnergyDrink
Member
UK is no big Switch market anyway, and the Switch version was sold out.
So not much conclusion someone could draw from this 1% information. Let's wait a few weeks.
But let be honest, Switch version has no journey mode and uses technically an "old engine" and lacks some core features. Not because its lacking power (Fifa really don't need much power anyway, there is nothing going on that needs much CPU power) but because the port had only a little budget.
After this information got out it was clear that Fifa Switch was an afterthought from EA, and they clearly don't wanted it to succeed (or don't care). Otherwise it would got a bigger budget from the beginning to make a Frostbite port to Switch and could use smaller budgets for the successors, because porting would be easier from this base on.
So not much conclusion someone could draw from this 1% information. Let's wait a few weeks.
But let be honest, Switch version has no journey mode and uses technically an "old engine" and lacks some core features. Not because its lacking power (Fifa really don't need much power anyway, there is nothing going on that needs much CPU power) but because the port had only a little budget.
After this information got out it was clear that Fifa Switch was an afterthought from EA, and they clearly don't wanted it to succeed (or don't care). Otherwise it would got a bigger budget from the beginning to make a Frostbite port to Switch and could use smaller budgets for the successors, because porting would be easier from this base on.
darkstar0155
Member
Not able to preorder until a week before release leads to retailers not able to gauge demand.
EA ships low amount of copies
Just about all retailers appear to be sold out, waiting for more copies from EA
IDK, sounds like EA wasn't expecting good sales and didn't try to gauge demand, shipped too few of copies and the game is no completely sold out. Cant really judge anything about this other than EA heavily underestimated demand.
KawabataSan
Member
It wasn't sold out given there are still copies at retail.
Digital numbers are of course missing. That being said, even if the game had a 100% digital share, it wouldn't make a material difference.
Things are different this time though. The Switch is not the Wii U or Vita. I can see EA putting out FIFA 19. But it's clear that FIFA 18 Switch is just replacing the lost sales from the Vita / Wii U versions of past games.
Diablohead
Member
The game was in the top 3 on UK eshop last time I checked so it's doing the numbers digitally also.
UnemployedVillain
Member
There's almost no chance of that being the case. A cart manufacturing limit? Come on guys. How many copies do you think EA was asking for? Millions?! If there are supply issues it's because they underestimated demand
Last I checked the Switch version doesn't have Pro Clubs mode.
UK and Nintendo is not an anomaly a big as XBox and Japan, but there's no denying Nintendo enjoy way better sales in other big markets.
WhatWeLeftBehind
Member
I see the dumpster fire that is this thread is raging hard.
Portugeezer
Member
FIFA is a very social game, you get the version your friends get, more people have PS4 and XB1 they won't change within 6 months of Switch launch.
It is also lacking some modes, which doesn't help, but 1% would still be tens of thousands of sales in the long run (in the UK)
It is also lacking some modes, which doesn't help, but 1% would still be tens of thousands of sales in the long run (in the UK)
LordOcidax
Member
Did you have any proof of that? At least in Spain the game is sold out and some retailers even delayed the release. So i can expect the same situation is happening in UK.
Also GAME have the game delayed too.
KawabataSan
Member
Since when was Spain the UK?
It's still available to order in the UK from retailers not called Amazon.
Kresnik258
Member
Where is this narrative coming from? Some retailers have stock, some don't. That isn't sold out lol.
The rest of my post
jack_package_200
Banned
I can't tell if the launch of this game has been a shitshow. Is it good, is it bad? Who knows!?!
Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ.
Skittzo0413
Member
According to people in this thread that's not true. It's sold out at a number of different retailers, including GAME and Argos. That doesn't mean none of those stores have it, just some of them are sold out.
That doesn't usually happen in general if a game isn't outperforming retailer/publisher expectations.
The Hermit
Member
It's sold out... But it's just 1%.
The OT title could be Switch's Fifa is sold out and it would be true too.
The OT title could be Switch's Fifa is sold out and it would be true too.
killatopak
Gold Member
we failed the test.
Woo-Fu
Banned
Considering the result of passing the test might have been a steady stream of lackluster EA Sports ports maybe failing is the better path.
That said, nobody should have expected anything else, least of all EA.
Jawbreaker
Member
Yikes.
It has only been available from Argos since the weekend, they didn't even have a listing for it on release day
LegendofDragoonLives
Member
And big 3rd party games other than few exceptions don't sell on Nintendo consoles.
How to spin awful news, brought to you by the Hermit. Wow, there's lots of these kinds of posts lol.. Can someone make a list of all these posts for week two?
What's gonna be interesting is how EA proceeds if FIFA sales aren't satisfactory but every other third party title's are.
LordOcidax
Member
You need to be more specific or you are wrong: Big 3rd party games by western publishers that are released late don't sell on Nintendo consoles.
Otherwise Atlus, Capcom, Bandai, Sega, Konami (who each have multi millionsellers on 3DS/DS/WII/WIIU) and several indies would like to have a word with you.