Xenoblade Chronicles struggled on its initial release but picked up over time.
Xenoblade Chronicles for the Nintendo Wii first released in Japan in June 2010 and did not get a worldwide release without the help of a fan petition. It finally became available outside of Japan, starting with the EU market in August 2011 and rolled out around the world over the next months. Over time it became a popular JRPG for the Nintendo Wii, and the game eventually received a 3DS port in April 2015.
An open-world JRPG with an emotional sci-fi story and a unique setting
Xenoblade Chronicles takes place on the bodies of two warring Titans, Mechonis and Bionis. The people of Bionis are organic beings like Homs (human-like) and Nopons, while Mechonis was home to machine entities. Even after the battle of Bionis and Mechonis ended, the war between their peoples went on, and our main characters find themselves in the middle of the chaos.
Battles are done in realtime, but using special actions is done by choosing from interactive panels and menus. Bionis and Mechonis consist of vast open-world areas that encourage exploration and discovery in its structure.
Off to a hot start
Re-releasing the Nintendo Switch game under the title Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition turned out to be a great decision for developer Monolith Soft and publisher Nintendo. Despite its rocky history, the visually enhanced Definitive Edition released worldwide and topped the UK charts for physical game sales, and has already sold double its original Wii launch sales.
The sales data only includes boxed game sales and does not count digital downloads from the Nintendo eShop.
XCDE sitting at number 1 means that Animal Crossing New Horizons was finally pushed down to number 2 in the UK charts as it had been at the top for the past three weeks.
Here’s the week’s top ten all formats sales chart:
Last Week This Week Title
New Entry 1 Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition
1 2 Animal Crossing: New Horizons
3 3 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
4 4 Grand Theft Auto 5
5 5 FIFA 20
Re-Entry 6 Days Gone
9 7 Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
11 8 Minecraft (Switch)
Re-Entry 9 The Last of Us: Remastered
30 10 PlayStation VR Worlds
Monolith Soft’s Definitive Edition re-release offers improved visuals, numerous gameplay changes and tweaks, and remastered music throughout, as well as an all-new epilogue chapter. Series veterans who do not wish to go through Xenoblade Chronicles’ story repeatedly have the option to jump straight into the Epilogue.
We’re keeping an eye on how Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition’s sales numbers will shape up over time, but it’s definitely off to an excellent start.
Image used courtesy of IGN/YouTube Screenshot