Why did Gen 5 sell so poorly (compared to other Pokemon games)?

Because it's the shittiest gen.

>>30580079
It's the Gen that nearly killed Pokémon (again). Everywhere you go outside of here, most people shit on Gen 5, whether it's deserved or not is completely subjective.

>>30580079
Didn't have Charizard and friends, so the normies didn't care. Plus, why buy a sequel when you didn't even play the first game?

>>30580079
>Pokemon Black/White in the top 5
?

>>30580131
I said Gen 5, not BW.

>>30580079
DS Flashcards. The race for the ROM leak was particularly memorable (thanks Cory).

Sure, we have 3DS Hacking as well but normies aren't as informed about it. People still raise eyebrows when I say I modded my 3DS. But DS flashcard? Who doesn't have one?

>>30580131
This is an old list. Xy outsold bw

>>30580079
>First Game in Gen 5 is fifth place
>SEQUEL is the second highest "third version" behind Yellow

File: 3245546.png (183KB, 708x520px) Image search: [Google]

183KB, 708x520px

>>30580079
Ds flashcards which literally everyone had, also the 3ds came out like 4 months later.

You have to be retarded to ask why.

>>30580168
DS pirating wasn't as prominent as you think, especially since it cost money which put a lot of people off.

3DS hacking isn't big either but at least it's free to do.

>>30580201
see>>30580176

also if you do the math Gen 5 is definitely the worst selling Gen, no matter how you spin it

>>30580079
Because Pokémania was on a downswing. The fact that RB and GS were still in the top two slots of the list really should have been a tipoff.

>>30580079
Wasn't Black and White the best selling game in the first week before XY and SM?

>>30580079
The series decline in Popularity over time and it reached a lowpoint with black and white. Add to that that third versions (which a lot of people assumed BW2 were just third versions split like first sets to scam more money out of players) tend to sell less than their predecessors and XY were on the Horizon as BW2 came out.

XY made a jump in sales because of the big jump to 3D, and Sun and Moon did so well because of a combination of Pokemon Go bringing in more people, and really good marketing.

>>30580211
No it didnt people just used Desmume or the other emulator, besides everyone was freaking out put at first for not being able to gain experience

>>30580269
Sun / Moon was the first Pokemon game in years to actually fucking market to kids again

And it reaped the rewards because of it

The games were to "different" for old fags and too outdated for newfags

>>30580290
it "reaped" because of go

>black and white
You can hear the genwunners crying once that title was revealed.
>REALLY? THEY ALREADY RAN OUT OF COLORS?

It was made worse by
>Black 2 and White 2
>REALLY? THEY'RE JUST NUMBERING THEM NOW?

Honestly I think GF's retarded naming conventions cost Gen 5 at least 1m sales.

Cuz genwunner witch hunts were at its peak and genwunners still buy current games.

Also, some people find it redundant to buy sequels of the generational games.

>>30580237
Without counting remakes and only the main versions in a Generation, Gen 3 is the worst selling one

>>30580108
>>30580119
>>30580304
All of these are correct.

Gen V was the worst gen. It had some great new Pokemon and PWT, but that doesn't make up for the abundance of shit in that gen.

>gen V is my favorite gen
>poor sales mean we're not going to get a repeat performance
Whelp

>>30580079
DS flashcarts were abundant, easy to use and readily available. Literally everyone I know had one by the time BW was out. Also, there were working emulators, the game leaked very early and it only took like 1 week to have a working fan translation. You do the math.

This is also why I believe SM won't sell as well as gen 6 despite strong initial sales (which BW also had btw). Any retard can softmod their 3DS and pirate any game they want directly from Nintendo's servers. It's not a rocket science.

>>30580201
They figured out they could squeeze more sales by splitting the game in two thanks to autists who collect all Pokemon games. Best part is, the fanbase actually took the bait so if gen 7 ever gets a third version it will almost definitely be a "sequel" featuring two extremely similar games.

People were confused and disappointed it wasn't on 3DS and not 3D.

>>30584375
>They figured out they could squeeze more sales by splitting the game in two
B2W2 has more content than SM, XY, DPPt, RBY, and arguably ORAS/RSE. BW hardly has less. Whether or not all of that content was good is up for debate. I don't think Gen V's problem was getting split in two.

>>30584430
This.

>>30584342
While it's true about hacking the 3DS, a lot of people are buying SM because of the pokehype generated by Pokémon GO. And those people don't know shit about "hacking", so those numbers will compensate, and probably even break the XY sales.

>>30580079
Genwunners.

>>30584535
BW has significantly less content than B2W2, what are you on about? Not to mention the far more railroady and in-your-face story than ever before, as the issue with story in the series was its sparsity rather than the actual fucking writing (which might just be at its worst in the series in BW).
The games tried some new stuff which they should be credited for but ultimately BW aren't even worth playing thanks to B2W2 not only taking place in Unova, but improving the region significantly from their predecessors. What's the point in an actual sequel when it ends up functioning exactly like the third versions we got before?

Obviously none of the above has to do with sales, I just wanted to reply to your stupidity.

>>30586105
>The games tried some new stuff which they should be credited for but ultimately BW aren't even worth playing thanks to B2W2 not only taking place in Unova, but improving the region significantly from their predecessors

Hahahahaha.

I haven't played BW, but BW2 is my favorite game in the series. The Pokémon selection and difficulty has made me replay it tons, and I just finished my nuzlocke run literally the other day. I think the problems the game has are so fucking exaggerated here, it makes me pretty sad.

Sure there are some shit Pokémon. But there are shit Pokémon in LITERALLY every gen, and BW2 really put in the most effort as to keep the selection fresh. There were just enough options from older gens, but it was still primarily gen 5.

I can agree that the graphics are bland and ugly (besides the moving Pokémon sprites). And the region is mediocre. But goddamit /vp/, all of these gen 5 b8 threads are fucking stupid and all lead to the same responses.

>>30586165
Honestly what do you get from BW that you can't in BW2.

>>30580079
Basically it was the end of the DS' life cycle and followed up from the worst gen yet that put a sour taste in people's mouths.

That's why GF went all out and did some major damage control with things like eviolite. They were trying to recover

The ROM for Black Version got downloaded more than any Gen 4 ROM

>>30580211
By the time of BW there weren't any DS games that weren't emulated perfectly bar maybe HGSS.
Piracy was far more prominent then with even Joe getting caught doing it.

>>30586223
The beginning routes have a lot of different Pokémon between gens. Also, more Pokémon like rufflet, vullaby, and pawniard are usable in BW2 because of its higher level scaling.

Not sure if challenge mode is in BW, but that was super fun too

>>30586258
Everyone knows the eviolite was born because of all the higher level evolutions exclusive to gen 5

>>30580079
Probably because it was the worst generation.

>>30586290
Tell that to all of the cross gen complaints and Megas.
It was damage control any way you look at it.

Also only two mon in unova had a high enough ceiling to make it worth while

>>30580079
Because most people were using flashcarts by the time they came out. Black 2 was one of the better Pokemon games I've played though

>>30586317
The only one not worthwhile was mandibuzz

>>30580079
Because HGSS was supposed to set the standard for all subsequent Pokemon games. Coming immediately after it with half the features left a bad taste in everyone's mouth.

>>30580079
>all the numbers of sales are correct.
>except the sales of ORAS, which outsold HGSS back in September.

the anti ORAS bias of /vp/ is laughable.

>>30586405
Other way around dude.

There are a few rules to establish first.
>First paired versions of a generation sell the most (RG+B, GS, RS, DP, BW, XY, SM)
>Remakes sell the second most (FRLG, HGSS, ORAS)
>Third versions sell the least (Crystal, Emerald, Platinum, B2W2)
>All of Generation I along with Gold and Silver were PokéMania at its biggest, so sales are far higher
>Blue is often grouped with Red and Green for convenience outside Japan
>The newer the game, the longer it has left to accumulate sales (so Sun and Moon still have a long road, and Gen VI isn't done yet)
>Generation I is available on Virtual Console, so that may contribute to sales
>Quality of a game isn't always depicted in sales rankings

So the question becomes why
RG+B > GS > DP > RS > BW > XY > SM
HGSS > ORAS > FRLG
Yellow > B2W2 > Platinum > Emerald > Crystal
when the current hardware install base is
>DS+DSi > GB+GBC > GBA > 3DS

You'll notice the trend of declining sales with each new generation, with the exception of DP outselling RS, which makes sense given the DS' huge install base. SM will most likely buck this trend as well. But that does raise a very good question of why BW sold less than DP, given that the install base for the DS was far larger 4 years later, significantly passing 100 million. There are a few good reasons. I remember BW being preordered like crazy even back when it was only in Japanese. Not everyone wanted to double dip when they came out elsewhere. Six months also make a pretty big difference when your handheld is running on steam at 6 to 6.5 years old. The 3DS had already come out by the time BW were released outside Japan, and the age of the DS was really showing. Not to mention that piracy had really hurt third-party support for the DS post-2008. If there's any in-game reason why BW sold less than DP, it's probably that people heard it was only new Pokémon until post-game. B2W2 sold more than other third versions because it had two versions.

>>30587390
GEN IV AND V were hurt significatively by pirqcy, especially GEN V

>>30587390
I should also mention that the "not wanting to double dip with different languages" has been something cited by Game Freak themselves. It was one of the reasons Pokémon games are now released simultaneously worldwide. I believe Masuda said something along the lines of players outside Japan knowing practically everything 6 months in advance of their locale's release, and by the time the game comes out internationally, they've already gotten their fill and are less likely to buy.

>>30587459
It is true. I remember attempting to emulate Platinum September 2008. Didn't run the greatest because DS emulators still needed a lot of work at that time. By the time BW came out, DS emulation had significantly improved, as had the availability of homebrew devices such as R4s. I still remember the fervor on /vp/ back in late summer 2010 for BW ROMs, and the constant Cory in the House fakes (which did technically originate on /v/, but BW cemented it in /vp/ "culture").
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-KDkV1vZBI

And because of the 6 month gap between releases, fan translations were given much time to prosper. I've said it before, but when a Pokémon game comes out, crazy things happen. Whether it's finally pushing the 3DS hacking scene to truly hack the 3DS, or having a fan community translate the entirety of a text-heavy JRPG in a month. The scene for doing stuff like this was much larger in 2010 than it was in 2006 (we had fully entered Web 2.0 by that point and made huge advancements in technology, relaying information to others, ease of learning, and our understanding a (by then) 6 year old device). Playing with easily available fan translations gave many people the fix they were looking for months in advance.