- Rise of the Ronin and Dragon’s Dogma 2 were both recent releases from Japanese studios.
- The former managed to outperform the latter’s physical sales in Japan.
- This discrepancy is interesting since the critical reception has been in the latter’s favor.
Rise of The Ronin and Dragon’s Dogma 2 are two of the biggest Japanese releases in 2024. Team Ninja took a different approach with its game, nailing the combat system, but it failed to provide AAA production values in the process.
Meanwhile, Capcom’s latest release was instantly bombarded with negative reviews, mainly because of microtransactions and performance issues. While both games had ups and downs, critical reception has been on Capcom’s side.
Therefore, it is interesting that Rise of the Ronin has outperformed Dragon’s Dogma 2’s physical sales in Japan.
Why it matters: Capcom is arguably Japan’s biggest third-party gaming publisher after releasing several hits back to back.
Famitsu has shared the physical sales of both games from Mach 25 to March 31, and Rise of the Ronin is ahead by a high margin. It managed to sell 20,139 copies in less than a week, whereas Dragon’s Dogma 2 sold only 9,172 units.
The same trend was observed in the second week, where Rise of the Ronin led by around 10K copies. Both games were launched on the same day, so it seems the Japanese market preferred the Team Ninja release.
One interesting point about this comparison is the fact that Dragon’s Dogma was an already established IP. Meanwhile, Team Ninja introduced a new IP this year, which was quite different from the developer’s recent output.
Previously, Japanese fans showed that they enjoyed Rise of the Ronin more than the West. Therefore, this appreciation appears to have translated over to the sales.
In the West, the results appear to have been reversed. Capcom confirmed 2.5 million sales for its release, while Team Ninja has yet to announce any milestones.
Overall, it seems Team Ninja has successfully recreated the Japanese era it tackled. This makes the game more interesting for fans in the country. However, both games have plenty of enjoyable content for those willing to look past their problems.
Team Ninja set out to sell 5 million Rise of the Ronin copies, so we look forward to an update from the publisher on this target.
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[News Reporter]
Obaid is pursuing a Law degree, while working as a content writer. He has worked as a gaming writer for over a year because of his passion for the medium and reporting the latest updates in the industry. Having played hundreds of games, Obaid finds himself coming back to Elden Ring and Red Dead Redemption 2, with these games being among his favorites. He has also been mentioned on highly regarded websites, such as Wccftech, Metro UK, PS Lifestyle, GamePressure, VGC, and Gamespot.
