Metroid Prime 4 only sold 3,000 physical units in Japan last week.

The Metroid series hasn't been one of Nintendo's big sellers. It currently ranks 17th among the company's major franchises, behind Wario, Duck Hunt, and Game & Watch. It's no surprise that Nintendo's social media activity has been quieter ahead of Metroid Prime 4.

While the marketing has certainly ramped up and ads are popping up all over the world, Nintendo seems to be chasing a lost cause. In its second week of release in Japan, Metroid Prime 4 only sold 3,000 physical units. This is significantly less than previous Metroid titles and less than many other Switch titles.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Sales is already struggling in Japan.

Samus was crouching as an explosion sounded in Metroid Prime 4 Beyond.

Japan was never a dominant market for Metroid Prime. Since domestic gamers generally don't prefer FPS games, the Prime series has always struggled there. But Metroid Prime 4's sales may be at a new low.

As Genki_JPN discovered on Twitter, Metroid Prime 4 only sold 3,381 physical units in Japan in its second week of release, bringing the total physical sales for the two weeks to 32,382 units. There is a lot to unpack.

Metroid Dread sold over 86,000 physical units in Japan in its first week, and an additional 22,000 units in its second week, bringing total sales over the two weeks to 108,000 units. That's three times what Prime 4 managed. Kirby Air Riders, the sequel to the often-overlooked GameCube game, sold approximately 240,000 physical units in Japan in its first two weeks of release. Donkey Kong Bananza managed 180,000 units in two weeks.

During its first two weeks, Metroid Prime 4 sold less than Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 3 in its first week in Japan. Sure, digital copies of these two games weren't popular when they were released, but that's not a good sign.

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Metroid Prime 4's cut content reveals that its companions are intended to be even more annoying.

They were originally going to be much more chatty.

The development process for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was very difficult. First released in 2017, development resumed in 2019 with a change of developer to Retro Studios. It would take another six years for the game to see the light of day, with a release date of December 2025.

Naturally, the Prime 4's development costs would have been quite large, and it's hard to imagine that the 32,000 units it managed in Japan will only scratch the surface when it comes to recouping it.