Support NeoGAF

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Nintendo appears to have changed the way Nintendo eShop store rankings work – rather than being ranked based on the total number of downloads, games are now ranked based on total revenue – as pointed out by X user naruki. This revision seems to be addressing the structural issue that allowed low-quality, low-priced games and shovelware to easily enter the rankings and gain attention.

Up until now, the Nintendo eShop's ranking system is believed to have been based purely on the number of downloads, regardless of a game's price. While this system is relatively standard, it hasn't always functioned ideally, as it also enabled cheaper pricing to equal more visibility.

For example, some publishers would set a high original price for their games, then offer them at deep discounts, like 90% off, which would make it easier to climb the rankings. Even after the "sale" ended, a game could linger on the rankings and create the impression that it was a best-seller. Other games simply set an extremely low base price to attract attention. Some publishers likely used both tactics, and it's fair to say the system was being exploited, leading to dissatisfaction about the store's rankings often displaying "cheap slop."

Now, with the release of the Switch 2 approaching, Nintendo has updated the eShop's ranking system, switching from download count to revenue-based rankings. More specifically, the rankings now appear to be determined by "total sales revenue over the past three days." This has already led to big changes in how the rankings look – with the Japan eShop currently dominated by comparatively more expensive title like The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy and Lunar Remaster Collection while cheap, heavily discounted shovelware titles are nowhere to be seen.

This revenue-based system is similar to how Steam's sales rankings work, where big-budget, pricier titles easily rise to the top. On the flip side, this makes it harder for inexpensive and unique indie games to gain visibility. Steam addresses this by offering various curated categories, like "Popular New Releases, " so that smaller titles can stand a chance too. Perhaps we can expect new curation options from Nintendo too as the Switch 2's launch approaches.

Nintendo makes shovelware less likely to enter charts with revision of eShop ranking system - AUTOMATON WEST

The Nintendo eShop's revised ranking system bases popularity on total revenue, rather than number of downloads, making it harder for "slop" to enter charts.

automaton-media.com

 

[tkscz]

Assuming this was mostly for the switch 2 as it shouldn't have taken 8 years to clear it out.

 

[Woopah]

Will make it a bit harder to judge unit sales now, but it's good for publishers I think.

 

[Kenneth Haight]

Meanwhile at PlayStation store homepage

 

[RoboFu]

It seems that beside some sorting changes Nintendo just changed the yellow orange theme to shades of red.
Not the eshop update I was looking for

 

[Honey Bunny]

Bad news for Majora's Mask fans

 

[Robb]

A very welcome change for me, but I imagine this change got to suck for indies.

 

[AJUMP23]

What about Shovel Knight can it still make the rankings?

 

[Kacho]

This has already led to big changes in how the rankings look – with the Japan eShop currently dominated by comparatively more expensive title like The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy and Lunar Remaster Collection while cheap, heavily discounted shovelware titles are nowhere to be seen.

Good change.

 

[IFireflyl]

Conspiracy theory here:

So the company introducing $80 base games is now sorting by revenue instead of sales, effectively ensuring that their games will be showcased (since people seem to be perfectly fine with Nintendo gouging them) until other publishers also increase the price of their games.

 

[Soodanim]

I'm sure it will ensure their $80 first party titles stay to of the list, but the cheaper the price the worse this will be for your game.

All of a sudden that AA $40 game needs to sell twice as much to get the recognition it deserves.

If they really want shovelware to go they should stop selling shovelware.

 

[Robb]

What about Shovel Knight can it still make the rankings?

Any game can, but sounds like it'll be a lot more difficult if you have a low price.

I interpret it as a game being sold for $10 will have to sell 8 copies to match just one $80 copy of Mario Kart World, for example. So a 8:1 relationship instead of the previous 1:1 relationship going by number of downloads, which were valued equally.

Although I guess the past system was less advantageous for expensive titles.

 

[cireza]

Good, because the eshop is absolute garbage and I never use it to search for games because of this. Which totally annihilates its most important feature, next to buying a game.

 

[Sojiro]

I am glad they are at least doing something, because fucking hell the eShop is loaded with pure garbage. I never understood why they went away from people being able to review the games they purchased like on the Wii U, with the 5 star rating system. It wasn't perfect, but it at least was something to try and curb the garbage, and was a hell of a lot better than what they were doing.

 

[HercRaato]

It doesn't sound perfect, but at least it's a step in the right direction.

 

[jshackles]

Valve's essentially always done this with Steam for forever, and it's fine. It does mean that smaller / indie games have to be HUGE sellers to break into the top charts, and to help with that they introduced "trending" and "recently trending" sections that use a weighted algorithm. Curious to see if Nintendo expands on discoverability here, or if this section will just be totally dominated by Mario Kart for the entire generation.

 

[Zacfoldor]

Nintendo continues to hold up this greedy industry with their virtue.