Inti Creates’ throwback arcade shooter for the Nintendo Switch, Blaster Master Zero, has managed to move an impressive 80,000 digital units for the Nintendo Switch.
According to Gematsu this was the sales figures for the game as of May 10th, 2017.
Blaster Master Zero originally launched on March 3rd with the launch of the Nintendo Switch. So over the course of three months it’s done close to 100,000 in sales.
According to Takashi Mochizuki from the Wall Street Journal, the game was designed with 35 team members and over the course of six months, so it was a budget-priced game.
Nintendo’s 3rd-party title BlasterMaster earned 80,000 downloads so far, with 6 mo of production by 35 member team #tokyosandbox pic.twitter.com/bebMJMEqkn
— Takashi Mochizuki (@mochi_wsj) May 12, 2017
Some people questioned if this figure was regional based or worldwide. If worldwide it’s not bad, but if it’s Japan only then that’s remarkably good figures for a tiny game like Blaster Master Zero.
According to Mochizuki this figure only applies to the Nintendo Switch version of the game, and not the sales that Inti Creates generated from the Nintendo 3DS version of the game.
Further into the thread some people questioned if the game was profitable or not. Some mentioned that Inti Creates made profit on Azure Striker Gunvolt at 125,000 copies sold.
Of course, as mentioned in the Twitter thread, whether or not this could truly be considered a success depends on what the operating costs were for the game. If 125,000 copies for the 35 member team was considered a success with Azure Striker Gunvolt, then Blaster Master Zero would still need to move 45,000 units before it’s in the same category (unless they’ve already moved that amount for the Nintendo 3DS version of the game).
Blaster Master Zero is currently available right now on the Nintendo Switch and 3DS for $9.99.