The Forgotten Land has become the fastest selling Kirby game ever, as Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands sells less than 10% of Borderlands 3.
The UK has always been one of Nintendo’s weakest markets, in large part because the NES arrived late and was extremely expensive – which meant there’s much less nostalgia here for classic Nintendo franchise, compared to the US or Japan.
Kirby, in particular, is usually a complete non-event in the UK, and yet new game Kirby And The Forgotten Land has just beaten two high profile, multiformat games in the latest UK physical sales charts.
Not only that but in less than a week it’s already become the fifth biggest Kirby game ever in the UK, and at launch sold 2.5 times more than current best-seller Kirby Star Allies.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that much though, as the franchise remains a minor one for Nintendo, even outside of the UK, with the launch still coming in below that of last year’s Metroid Dread.
However, Kirby’s success was still enough to keep Borderlands spin-off Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands from the number one spot, with the game selling less than 10% of Borderlands 3 during its launch week.
With digital sales included it may have beaten Kirby overall but it’s clearly been an underwhelming launch, with 2K refusing to send out review code at launch to many sites, including us – and even those that did get it on time were only sent the PC version.
It’s already seeming unlikely there’ll be a Wonderlands 2 but Ghostwire: Tokyo has performed even worse, only managing a debut at number 11.
Although technically a multiformat title, since it’s also on PC, the game is a timed exclusive for PlayStation 5, which was organised before Microsoft bought publisher Bethesda.
Xbox owners aren’t missing out on much though and with physical sales 80% lower than 2017’s The Evil Within 2, the previous game from developer Tango Gameworks, it seems obvious the game has been a disappointment even with digital sales included.
As usual, publisher’s nonsensical scheduling has only made things more difficult for everyone, with all three games coming out on the same day, despite there being plenty of slower weeks before and after.
In fact, there was a fourth new entry as well, with Nintendo Switch exclusive Rune Factory 5 debuting at number 12 and selling 80% more than 2020’s Rune Factory 4 Special – a minor remaster of a much older 3DS title.
Releasing so many new games in the same week seems especially stupid given how almost the only major release during April is next week’s Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, with nothing of note scheduled for the usually busy Easter holidays.
Email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk, leave a comment below, and follow us on Twitter
MORE : Gran Turismo 7 still UK number one despite controversy – Games charts 19 March
MORE : Gran Turismo 7 off to a slow start in the UK as Elden Ring retains pole
MORE : Elden Ring enjoys biggest launch of a Souls game ever in UK charts
Follow Metro Gaming on Twitter and email us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk
For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.
