Doom for Switch Sells an Estimated 81,000 Units First Week at Retail

The first-person shooter from publisher Bethesda Softworks and developer id Software - Doom - sold 80,897 units first week at retail on the Nintendo Switch, according to VGChartz estimates.

[EddieNX]

not bad, not bad all! I'll probs get it for cheap

[zaherdab]

How is thst not bad ? What r u comparing it to?

[MVGeneral]

It's horrible. Good bye 3rd party support in the future. Nintendo fans proving once again that they are closed minded to only Nintendo games

[EddieNX]

there's lots of things you're not considering. I'm sure Bethesda will be very happy with over 100k and it's not finished selling just yet. the Switch is 9 months old, the game is old and it's still selling. this isn't a flop by any means for a late port.

[DrJones]

It still did better than Knack 2

[ABizzel1]

It's not bad considering the game launched much later, and was an inferior version in every way outside of portability and sold a bit less than half of the XBO version on a device not known for 3rd party support, strong shooter support, and about 1/3 of the user base at the XBO.

PS4: 455,607
XBO: 205,127
NSW: 81,000

It's not great, but it's not bad either. The PS4 and XBO versions of the game went on to sell 5x their launch sales putting the game at over 2m for PS4, and over 1m for XBO. If Switch stays on the same track that'll be over 400k which is a much needed start for Switch to continue to receive 3rd party support.

[InTheLab]

In its defense, the game is too expensive for its age. The sensible thing to do would be to launch at $29 but corporate greed never accounts for good will and word of mouth.

With that said, I doubt switch owners really care about Doom or other 3rd party titles. Same with the wiiu, wii, and gc..... hardcore games don't sell on the system.

[TallonIV]

Thank you "ABizzel1" for saying it like it is.

[bouzebbal]

lol that guy is an absolute joke..
1000 sales and he would still think the same.

"there's lots of things you're not considering"
name 3 of these things..

[trooper_]

That's terrible, lol.

[michellelynn0976]

Let's face it. We should just all be Sony fans so they won't get upset and troll articles. They hate competition it seems.

[Vits]

Not very good when compared with the original release - 455.607 on PS4 and 205.127 on XOne. But as we have no idea how many units Bethesda expected to sell, 81,000 might be a reasonable number for them.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Are those first week numbers for those two systems?

[Vits]

Yes, the source is this very article.

[galmi]

i think its good, cuz most pple have probably played it already

[Protagonist]

So you are saying that Bethesda should not have bothered to port it to the switch.

[DrJones]

Plus it's more expensive on the Switch

[Lon3wolf]

"Not very good when compared with the original release "

But not bad when you consider the difference in user base.

Edit: And it is a year later than the original release.

[Vits]

That's true.
It's a weak performance, but not one without a solid cause.

[michellelynn0976]

That is not counting eshop were it sold nearly 38k as well. So it sold nearly 118k in two days. Not bad at all.

[Vits]

Yeah, but those other numbers also don't account for sales on Xbox Live and PSN, so yeah...

[EddieT]

PS4 sold more than double the sales of the Xbox, surprising really as I thought Doom would be a game that appealed to the Xbox fan's taste.

[Kiwi66]

Perhaps Xbox fans just weren't as interested in the game as PS fans

[Imalwaysright]

FPS games in general are the best selling games on the PS4 as well.

[kevnb]

You are thinking last gen, this gen the PlayStation user base ate much of the user base that were on 360 last gen.

[gangsta_red]

PlayStation fans like more dude bro shooters, it's why CoD is so popular on the system.

[FallenAngel1984]

How much were you actually expect game like this to sell on NS

[nitus10]

From VGChartz (sales to date)
Doom(2016) - PS4 - 2.2 million - Released 13th May 2016
Doom(2016) - XB1 - 1.1 million - Released 13th May 2016
Doom(2016) - Switch - 0.08 million - Released 10th November 2017
http://www.vgchartz.com/gam...

[DrJones]

TO DATE yes. This is week one sales only, and it doesn't count digital sales.

[WickedLester]

You have to extrapolate that over the size of the userbase though. 455,607 units sold to a 70 million userbase is roughly .7% attach rate. 205,127 units sold to a 30 million usebsse is also .7% attach rate. 81,000 units sold to a 10 million userbase is roughly .8% attach rate. Thats slighly better than how it sold on PS4 and Xbox One.

[WickedLester]

LMAO @ at those who "disagree" with pure math.

[michellelynn0976]

Wrong. They do count. NPD usually don't count Nintendo online but theu do Sony and Microsoft? So yeah...

[michellelynn0976]

Very good. My brother got it the first day.

[EddieT]

Not bad for a game that most people probably already bought and played.

[Kosic]

Also for a game that's roughly £10 on Xbox, pc and PS4. So going for the switch port is an expensive choice out of the 4.

[Protagonist]

If the reason being that the switch choice is too expensive, then 3rd party games/LATE PORTS will never do well on the switch.

[PhantomS42]

I think I'm inclined to agree as it had a year on other systems so a lot had already played it and it was a full priced released whereas the other systems have had it discounted for some time not to mention the many sales it's been in. Do we know how this compares to Skyrim's Switch version in its first week yet? Wolfenstein 2 will be pretty interesting to see how that does too.

[CorndogBurglar]

DOOM was out on PS4 and Xbox One for a year and a half before Switch. Also, both of those systems had a much larger user base when it released than the Switch did when it released there.

I don't see why this is hard for people to see.

[FallenAngel1984]

Switch is Doomed!

[michellelynn0976]

Not you too! Lol

[Prince_TFK]

Edmix, where are you? I thought no one buy Doom on the Switch?

[michellelynn0976]

I know. Remember? He insulted me saying I was dumb when I told him it sold nearly 120k in two days (counting digital and online sales).

[bluefox755]

I don't think he said no one would buy it, that would be silly, I think he said that not many would buy it, and it looks like he was right, lol.

[Prince_TFK]

455.607 units were sold on PS4 which has 70mils user base compared to 80.897 on the Switch which has 10mils user base.

I know, it takes the brain of a mad scientist (almost borderline Einstien level) to see that more userbase= more sale, and release the game one year later=less sell.

[Minimox16]

@Kun_ADR im pretty sure that PS4 wasn't at 70mil user when doom released last year um... don't have to be a mad scientist to know that :P

[Knushwood Butt]

More userbase = more sales

Hmmm, hundreds of Wii titles disagree with you.

[gangsta_red]

Prepare for 8 paragraphs talking about the Vita, then about CoD, then asking questions no one mentioned or brought up followed by a ton of emojiis.

[chris235]

ouch. and they are ok with it?

[michellelynn0976]

Yes. Two day sales of over 118k (counting online). Bathesda was veey happy with this news.

[DrJones]

Can you give me the source to where they were happy?

[gangsta_red]

Is there a source where they're not happy?

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Well, considering it's coming out a full year or more after the original release, on a growing fanbase that still isn't really into shooters as much as the PS4 and XB1 fanbases are, I'd say that that's pretty solid for a first week.
Of course, that's not including digital, and sales down the road could boost numbers.

It'd be pretty silly to expect it to match up to just ONE of the other versions at this point. If it does it at all, it'll be as time goes on, not right away.XD

[Prince_TFK]

Why would they not be ok with it, considering that this is a port of a game from one year ago?

If it was made from the ground up for the Switch then you are right, but its not. This is a respectable amount of sale on a console with lower fanbase compared to other, especially considering that N4G (i.e. people like you) always claim that Nintendo owners don’t buy third party games, and that the Switch only has kiddies games.

[Xx_Pistol_xX]

Lets be honest it a ok at best number. This isn't going to make 3rd party devs run and develop for the Swtich. Especially when it comes to newer titles.

[bass4g]

If the number plus digital makes it around 100,000 then that's not too bad. It's anecdotal, but from my experience of trying to pick up a copy over the holidays, Doom was the only switch game that was consistently sold out or in low stock. So either it sold decently or Bethesda didnt expect high sales anyway.

[DrJones]

Do you think they made a profit?

[DrJones]

Nintendo fanboys need to buy more third party games for their own system's sake. I bought Doom on e-shop day one

[NotoriousWhiz]

I'm of the belief that most owners of a Nintendo Switch also have either a PS4/X1. While some may have chosen to double-dip on Doom, it's obvious that most chose not to. If 3rd parties want their Switch games to sell, they need to release at or near the same time as the other versions. Ubisoft's Mario & Rabbids has proven that 3rd party games can sell on the Switch. Even Capcom's cash grab of Ultra Street Fighter 2 did pretty good.

[DrJones]

Mario and Rabbids were exclusive on the Switch and featured Mario as main character

[Tazzy]

The console is doing just fine lmao

[DrJones]

If they want it to do more than just fine, strong third party demand is a big plus

[CorndogBurglar]

I already have Doom on PS4, which is a superior experience to the Switch version.

I also have a Switch, but I see no reason to get it again, especially at full price. When a 3rd party game comes out that I want, I will buy it for Switch. But I bought a Switch mostly for the Nintendo Exclusives. Pretty much any 3rd party games that are also on PS4 will have a better experience on PS4.

Sorry. I'm not a fanboy of any consoles. I'm a video game fanboy. So I'll buy my games on the system I can expect the best experience on, thank you.

[DrJones]

No third party support for Switch then

[cheameup]

this. The game wasn't that great to start with, why would i buy it twice?

I'm prepared to sacrifice some performance for the portability. but I'm not planning on re buying games i have already played that weren't that great anyway

[gangsta_red]

Exactly how much more should they buy?

Considering the install numbers and the fact that not all Switch users are Doom fans. Also the devs have more than likely already put a forcast on how much this game would sell on Doom.

Or do you think we here at n4g have insider knowledge about third party games on Nintendo systems?

[CorndogBurglar]

I'm pretty sure developers and publishers recognize that DOOM is a game that released 18 months earlier on other consoles and that DOOM is a somewhat niche title (meaning parents won't be buying it for kids, which is a big deal because a lot of kids are on Nintendo consoles).

When a 3rd party game releases for all 3 consoles at the same time? That is the time to support it on Switch also. Not some game that came out 18 months ago that everyone already owns if they wanted it.

You have to keep things in perspective. Also, despite what Nintendo nay-sayers are saying on this thread, 81,000 copies in 2 days is NOT bad. Not when its a game that released 18 months ago on the other systems, and considering the smaller user base of Switch right now.

PS4 and Xbox One had a much larger install base at the time DOOM released on them. They had 3 years worth of people buying their systems. Switch had 7 months. So comparitively, the numbers are not bad at all and devs/publishers are not idiots. They will recognize that.

[Tazzy]

The Wii didn't really have any third party support and it outsold PS3 and Xbox 360 by over 10 million which is a lot Nintendo will be just fine I see the Switch replacing the the 3DS. When Nintendo launches their next console its going to be very powerful they're working with Nvidia their next console should be as powerful as a 1070 or even close to a 1080.

[DrJones]

"their next console should be as powerful as a 1070 or even close to a 1080" Total nonsense

[Tazzy]

Its not nonsense look at Nvidia graphic cards compared to whats in the Xbox One and PS4 by AMD Nvidia owns the PC market with their graphics cards and I'm sure they're going to beef up the next Nintendo console they have a 20 year deal.

[shaenoide]

Not bad for a late money graber port.

[PygmelionHunter]

I'm actually surprised it sold better (attach-rate wise) on Switch compared to PS4, considering the price, how late it came out, AND the myth about how Nintendo users don't buy 3rd party games.

Kudos to Bethesda and id Software for this late (and portable) success!

[thesoftware730]

Not bad at all, consider the digital sales as well.

I'm sure its still shifting units considering how much new Switch owners there are every week. I myself did not buy it, I opted for Skyrim in the week apart that they came out. I will get Doom maybe next week and considering its a good port, I will get Wolfenstein : The new Colossus on the Switch. I am currently playing the New Order on Xbox to catch up on the story, got it on sale for $10 lol.

what was my point again? Oh yeah , Doom did good on Switch, and I'm gonna buy it soon lol.

[kevnb]

vgchartz eh...

[Elda]

To be expected knowing most gamers that are fond of Doom played it a year before releasing on the Switch on PC,PS4 & XBO.

[Asuka]

Game is a year old on 3 other platformers idk what anyone was expecting, but regardless it isn't that bad for a downgraded port.

[jojo319]

One reason. $60 while being $20 or less on every other platform. Most people don't JUST own a Switch.

[kangolkyle]

Y'all are really tripping acting like these aren't decent numbers. Compare the number of consoles on the market for PS4 when DOOM released there vs the number of Switches out there right now. Look at the attach rate. There were *40 million* PS4s out there when DOOM came out. Compared to what, 10 or 12 million Switches? And the game's over a year old!

[DankSinatra]

Plus this is only the first week sales figures, it's been out for 2 months now so it's bound to be over 80k at this point.

[jmc8888]

They don't seem like decent numbers. The PS4/XB1/missing PC numbers were only about 20 percent of what was eventually sold. If Switch numbers are similar and it sells about 400-500k, then it would be close to decent numbers. Not very encouraging though.

Numbers like Doom 2016 launch are a bit unusual, when many games sell by far the most in the first week or two and then drop off. It was able to 5x it eventually. Many games are like movies, you make most of your money off the first couple of weeks.

But is it going to maintain that steam, and 5x it's first week numbers when there wasn't much competition on Switch in terms of games? PS4/XB1 had a couple years+ of games. People weren't starved for content. On Switch, many are. Especially since it's a very underused genre on Nintendo platforms. There was no Call of Duty, Star Wars: Battlefront 2, Destiny 2, Wolfenstein 2, Assassin's Creed, or Middle Earth: Shadow of War to draw people away from it. FPS and/or TPS or bloody violent game.

But of course one game could just be one game. It'll be interesting to see what Skyrim's numbers are. Afterall, if we're going to use the year old+ game for Doom excuse already, I can't wait to hear it for a 6 year old Skyrim.

While both are old games, both were praised by many and must have read hundreds of times on this site alone that people were either they were going to double dip to get it 'to go', or they play NIntendo mostly and never had access to it.

It should have done better.

I mean, Doom VFR probably has about the same in sales (maybe more) and that's just on Vive and PSVR (No Oculus) and it came out weeks later. There's about 26k on Steam and likely that much or more on PSVR. I could easily see 50k since PSVR is literally half the VR market, and Vive isn't. While a guess, that's pretty ballpark to the first week on a much bigger platform, Switch vs 2 of the 3 VR devices.

It's also not a full game, and has a crazy teleport system, unlike Doom for Switch.

[Rude-ro]

Anyone else remember the days of when how many copies sold was not news at all... just games that were available.
God marketing has turned us into fighting sheep over nothing of consequence. And I am guilty as heck as well.

EVERYONE knows Nintendo consoles are bought for Nintendo games. Games like this are never big hitters on their console. But the fact it is offered only opens the doors to more games on the console for those that have it.

I have said it before, Nintendo will never rule the market. Even if the switch sold 100,000 units this year... it will have zero effect on the AAA third party games available on all consoles.
They may win the “sales” chest thump like the wii... but it will do very little for the multiplat market. With complete dominance with the wii.. it literally had no effect of controlling said market.
So why worry about any of the sales numbers for Nintendo? Let them do their thing and have third party games for their console.
Bethesda has taken great pride in making their game engines scalable to the point of getting version running on phones as well. That is the part that is awesome. It also does not take a lot of man power to dial down a product on a game that has already made its money to support said console.

[jmc8888]

If Nintendo can only sell Nintendo games on Nintendo consoles/handhelds, then they will miss about 90+ percent of the gaming market. If that's all they can offer to people who are thinking of buying their piece of hardware, they will miss out on a ton of sales. That's what's been happening for most of the past two decades.

The simple fact that Nintendo is 3rd place and having to combine their handheld and console populations is because the most popular games and the most profitable games for most of the industry aren't sold on Nintendo devices.

People know that. Accepting it as some fact and being ok with that is a massive problem. Switch wasn't designed powerful, but it was designed where a couple of engines could work for it.

I want Nintendo to succeed, but they cannot succeed alone. Just remember they once had a handheld+console population of about 250 million to sell to. Wii U+3DS had shrunk it to about 85 million. Nintendo has basically lost 2/3rd of it's audience in about 10 years.

Will Switch even hit 85 million? If it doesn't, they would have combined their two divisions and still shrunk. That's not good. It's probably they could make the numbers work, but it's not good.

Being thought of as a Nintendo only device is not a good thing for Nintendo. It's a very, very, very, very, very bad thing.

Being concerned about how much something sells isn't marketing. It's an indication of if a franchise they like is going to continue to be made, or if it will disappear.

It also gives us insight into how particular pieces of hardware are doing.

In this instance, people care because only idiots don't want more games for their system (not saying you). Everyone should want as many games as possible. This is one of those games that could literally make or break the system. There are a few others.

But if 3rd party games don't work out, then Switch will be seen as a Nintendo only device, and if anyone wants Nintendo to succeed, they CANNOT be viewed as such.

These are not encouraging numbers. What 3rd party can look at this and say they can make money by putting a game out on Nintendo's system?

Because also remember Doom was about the best test case scenario Switch has for these types of games. Doom can easily run at 120-160 FPS on a decent PC at very high or ultra settings. Even 200 FPS isn't hard to hit.

So this is about the best performing game like this you can get from a 3rd party with Switch's power level. UE4 games are not very common. UE4 is not UE3. People ditched UE3 and didn't go back to UE4. Most games aren't scalable like this.

Most games are going to need a special version, because most games don't use engines that are scalable to Switch.

So in order to showcase that larger projects can be done, they need to see good sales on projects like Doom and Skyrim.

People generally forget that there was some pretty huge support for Wii U the first year. Then games sold decent, but not well, and support was largely shut down. Wii U's sales was obviously a large reason for that too, but sitting at 10-12 million units, the Switch is still nowhere near a self-sustaining size for 3rd party publishers.

[zugdar]

For a game 3X the cost of other platforms I would think that's an expected figure. I bet it would have some legs too as the holiday season had many new Switch owners.

[unknownbystander]

To be fair, PS4 and Xbox One had an install base well over +60 million and +20 million respectively when DOOM first launched, while the Switch had barely even hit 8 million. Other factors include this being a game launched last year, meaning numerous players may have already purchased the game and you can buy it cheaper in other platforms.

[slavish0]

This should have been 19.9o

[slavish0]

This should have been 19.99

[Exvalos]

That's what happens when you release an inferior version of an old game at full price.

[Kyizen]

Come on Nintendo fans! 3rd parties are trying and this is an amazing port of a game I thought would never run on Switch. Then you will complain about game droughts and no 3rd party love...

[corroios]

its realy very bad and not a good thing for 3rd party support.

[michellelynn0976]

Um it sold over 200k in November. I don't know why it scares you that third party games are selling on the Switch now. Doom will end up selling 500k. Considering the Switch's install base of 12-14 million. That is great. Why does it scare you? Sony will always get third party support.

[corroios]

Because this was one of the biggest 3rd party games on the switch. There arent that many. No, its not great. Not even close, its bad and not good for the future. The switch cant have just big numbers on exclusives.

[SR388]

That's good!... People on here forget... The switch is not even a year old and it's sold what? 10-11 million? Ps4 has been out for 4 years and has sold like 70 million lol think!

[babadivad]

This is respectable for a Nintendo console.

[michellelynn0976]

Let's face it. No positive Nintendo article can be enjoyed without upset Sony fans to crash it and cry on it. You were erong. Get over it. Doom sold, Skyrim did 190k in two days worldwide. So it should be good news, but Sony fans will not let anyone (unless it is in their group) be happy.

[3-4-5]

* Some of you guys saying it's terrible are either trolling or you just don't know what your talking about.

Some of your precious sony RPG's only sell that much sometimes and you praise it but now Nintendo does it and it's bad?

This is a niche game and that is a decent amount for that time. If this was it's only initial release, then yes it would be bad, but it's not. It's just extra profit for them at this point.

[TheOttomatic91]

To be expected a gimped version of a fantastic game that you can get on more powerful hardware for about the same price isn't particularly a good sell. The Switch needs to focus in more indie games and lower budget games as opposed to AAA games.

[Moonman]

This is vgchartz and they don't actually know shit..they guess about crap.....lol.