This game came out back in April 2023 after a year-long delay due to unforeseen geopolitical circumstances, and that delay almost certainly helped cause [these lackluster sales figures](https://workingcasual.com/zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-super-mario-bros-movie-catapult-nintendo-results-to-record-highs-in-2024-q1/), in addition to being released only a few weeks ahead of Tears of the Kingdom and only a few *days* before Xenoblade 3’s Future Redeemed expansion.
The game reportedly sold 400K copies within its first week, but I can’t find a reliable source to corroborate that figure. And this wasn’t an eShop-only title like the Famicom Detective Club remakes either, this got a full retail release. In general the Advance Wars series was never a high seller, with the sales peak in the West being the GBA original with 700K copies sold (according to VGChartz so take with a massive grain of salt). It also has virtually no presence in Japan, both due to repeated cancellations and extremely limited availability. Not even this package is coming to Japan.
As a fan of the series and this remake, this is disheartening, though not terribly surprising given the circumstances surrounding the initial release. Seeing the mixed reactions to the new art style, plus the $60 price tag for a relatively niche IP, plus Fire Emblem Engage still being fresh in people’s minds, *and* Zelda and Pikmin ready to take the summer by storm altogether ensured that this was not going to take off. It sounds cliche, but you hate to see it. I wouldn’t be surprised if the big delay and the whatever sales numbers convince Nintendo to not invest in the series again for a very long time.
by Asad_Farooqui
37 Comments
I’m not surprised honestly. The game was dumped a month ahead of TotK, had really cheap-looking graphics, and should have been $40 or $50 – not $60. And not even bothering to bring it over to Japan? Clearly even Nintendo could see the failure a mile away.
Safe to say this franchise is going back on the shelf, and hopefully the next time Nintendo gives it a chance, they don’t hand it off to WayForward.
They sent this one out to die
It didnt even come out in Japan
The delay killed it everyone is mentioning price point and art style but most of it was the delay and the lack of marketing after
I think the game looks pretty good and forms a solid package. WayForward did a fine job overall, IMO, tho it would have been great if Nintendo budgeted for more expansive online features.
While $50 instead of $60 msrp woulda been nice, feels like Nintendo did not want to put much effort into marketing it.
I imagine the delays made people forgot about its existence. The fact that it didn’t even release in Japan is just confusing as well.
This is why people who keep saying “NINTENDO *NEEDS* TO BRING BACK X/Y/Z GAME SERIES BECAUSE I *KNOW* IT WILL SELL WELL” don’t know what they’re talking about.
My preorder got canceled from Target it took so long to come out and I just never bothered to get it after that wonder if anyone else did the same
A massive delay, downgrade in the pixel art style (imo), and 30 fps cap kept me away, so far. I still plan on getting it, but I’m not in a rush.
Delay is what killed it. I was super hyped when it first announced, but a year on the shelf killed any excitement I had.
No online matchmaking is a real killer for me
This game is not of higher value than the Metroid prime re release. I’m sorry. I’d buy if it were $30-40
Ngl I didn’t even know the game came out
it didn’t release in Japan
>plus the $60 price tag
That’s why I held off on purchasing. I see AWRC as a $40 title.
One criticism I haven’t seen mentioned is how poor the UI turned out. I really like Reboot Camp, I’m having fun with it as a stroll down memory lane and as a more casual game I can sort of pickup whenever. I’m not saying the core game design should be overcomplicated with excessively detailed UI, either – but there are tons of buttons that straight-up don’t do anything in-game and sometimes there is no way to access or compare information…in a turn-based strategy game…
I’m a huge AW fan and I didn’t buy it.
Why remake the originals…? Why not include a new campaign? Or even new war room maps?
Just absolute nonsensical. I just played thru my AW2 rom and saved $60.
People here claiming the delay killed it when the cold, hard truth of the matter is that this was *never* going to be a big seller, especially not at this ridiculous price point. It’s a pretty underwhelming remake of two 20+year-old niche GBA hits from a franchise with pretty much zero current mainstream brand recognition, so the target audience almost exclusively consists of fans of the original.
I think people just overestimated how much anyone else would actually care for this.
If a game is interesting enough people will buy it. Totk had less marketing than bite and came with a higher price tag. I know, apples and oranges to a degree but I’m just emphasizing consumers are resilient when they want something bad enough. Speaking of it only the most ardently vocal people wanted this. Jokingly, probably all 400k people.
Marketing was there as well as enthusiasm and was picked up after the delay due to irl geopolitics.
Personally I never heard of this series until I heard someone at a games convention literally screaming for this series to make a return. So make what you will of that. Plus the online frothing once this was announced by surprise.
The original sold about 700k in it’s entire life.
In similar observation Bayonetta games cannot seem to break above 1.5million copies. No matter how much is added or detracted to entice new players. Sometimes a game’s offering is simply not what people want to spend their time on no matter how vocal someone is singing it’s praises.
The game is good but its presentation looks cheap af so ofcourse
Hands down – It’s too expensive. Should be $20-30 max.
Price point is bad, as someone who loves fire emblem and other tactical games there is nothing here from all the marketing I’ve seen (and I have seen a lot) that tells me this is a $60 game. Looks like a $30 game that I would buy when it goes on sale for $20.
Think about it this way:
TOTK
Diablo IV
RE 4
FF XVI
Dead Space
Pikmin 4
Starfield
Alan Wake 2
Forspoken
Baldur’s Gate 3
Advance Wars 1+2
Which one sticks out like a sore thumb from this list? Which of these is least worth a person’s $60-70?
It just needs to go on sale.
As I said a year ago, delaying Reboot Camp will hurt its sales. It was a video game about war, people would have looked past it and just bought it.
A lot of fans forgot about the game and then to release so close to the new Zelda game was very stupid.
The delay and new release window just absolutely killed this one for **so many** different reasons.
Coming a few months after Fire Emblem Engage means most people interested in SRPGs literally *just* played the new tactics game to death.
Coming out two months after GBA games hit NSO meant now we have Nintendo telling us GBA games are free with the NSO subscription; yet, these *other* GBA games are $60. I’d wager 90% of people would have just preferred the original games on NSO for free.
And finally… weeks before TOTK? Yeah right.
The game never had a chance.
Needs a demo
How much did TOTK impact it? It came out right before and most people were probably just waiting for Zelda. Also $70 TOTK probably held back a lot of buyers from dropping another $50 on this.
It’s a strategy game. That’s a niche genre. The IP is too old, so younger Nintendo fans have no attachment to it. It is what it is.
Why don’t they drop the price of anything… I would buy if cheaper…
The mobile game art style killed it for me. I thought the originals looked way better.
I have a copy, not as great as everyone says it is.
>Seeing the mixed reactions to the new art style, plus the $60 price tag for a relatively niche IP
This is it for me. I fucking *loved* AW back in the day, and I’d love to see it revived, but $60 just ain’t it to be honest, especially when the art style is inferior to the original. I’m a WayForward fan for the most part but with AW I have no damn clue what they were thinking. It’s legitimately awful.
The art style did not help either
I loved the Advance Wars games on the GBA and was really excited when I heard they were rereleasing it on the Switch…until I saw the price tag of $60. That’s almost the price for Tears of the Kingdom, not what you can charge for a 20 year old remake. If I were feeling saucy, I’d go to $40 for for it, but I just can’t do it at that price.
They’d probably make twice as much money on it if they lowered it to a more palatable price.
Hated the new art style
Love me advance wars. But the art to the music to the rest of the execution just feel like a downgrade to the originals.
Online is the main appeal and its not up to par.
Catch me playing some spiritual successors by 1 man devs instead!
They made it look like a pay to win mobile game. They could of done better.
Price and art style dosnt help