Comparing Mario & Luigi: Dream Team’s sales, and the possible Pikmin 3 effect
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team sold just 99,972 copies in its first week in Japan with a sell-through rate of 25.49%. This is quite low given the performance of the series’ previous title.
To compare, Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story moved 192,945 units in its first week with a 86.75% sell-through rate. Not only did the DS game sell more, it also did so with a smaller shipment. Consumers who purchased Bowser’s Inside Story were made up of a large audience – including grade school students and people in their thirties.
In its weekly report, Media Create mentions how Pikmin 3 launched one week prior to Mario & Luigi: Dream Team and was also a highly-anticipated release from Nintendo. That may have negatively impacted the word of mouth of the 3DS title.