Namco Bandai has announced that its games based on the popular Manga / Anime Naruto have passed a combined 10 million shipped worldwide. North America is the biggest region with shipments of 4.3 million, followed closely by Europe with 3.8 million. Japan and Asia account for the other 1.9 million.
According to VGChartz the best selling Naruto game is Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game has sold a combined 1.66 million copies. The PlayStation 3 version sold 1.02 million copies, while the Xbox 360 version sold 644,000.
The next game in the franchise, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja STORM Generations, is due to release for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on February 23. Namco Bandai will be doing a worldwide tour to celebrate the milestone starting in February which will include developer talk sessions, tournaments and other unannounced events.
16 Comments
No surprise there. Naruto has exploded in popularity in NA (even if the manga has sort of run its course in Japan). It will probably never match the popularity of DBZ in its prime, but it's doing quite well.
Heck,I doubt any anime will ever match the popularity of DBZ in its prime,in NA at least.
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One Piece might have had a shot if the English dub wasn't so bad.
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If they focused on Rock Lee and Gai Sensei rather than the main character in Naruto (What's his name again?), then it would no doubt be at least 8 times more popular than DragonBall Z ever was. If only... :P
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Smeags, I've never agreed with you more. Rock Lee and Gai are awesome! The very fact that they are used less in Shippuden brings the whole series down.
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It's not the whole Naruto franshise, it's pretty much just the Ultimate Ninja series if we only talk about the games published by Namco Bandai.
Meanwhile I'm still waiting on a good One Piece game. Wan Piss Musou better be good.
I've played all the Clash version both on GC and the Wii, they are really great. for the Ultimate I've played only NS : UNS 2 on the XBOX 360 and the adventure mode was so great. Now I'm looking forward to Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja STORM Generations and there's no boubt it's gonna be great too. My Wish is Takara Tomy will make huge Naruto Game on the Wii U.
I am a fan of Naruto, both the ultimate series and the manga. I will most likely get STORM generations. It looks very cool and well polished.
That's not a lot... Naruto is the currently most popular anime/manga in the world except for Japan where it is One Piece the most popular.
Can you name another anime franchise which has reach similar levels and is not called Dragon Ball Z?
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Only manga. The Naruto or One Piece anime can't be considered most popular in the world by any measure. They get beat out by several in terms of DVD/Bluray sales and TV ratings.
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@Simulacrum, DBZ has shipped much more than Naruto as a gaming franchise.
I'm just glad that NUNS2 sold so well, and made 1 million on PS3. Really looking forward to Generations. And I don't even watch/read the series; my boys do though.
But for manga/anime series to get this popular on gaming, thats suprise. I mean Naruo is indeed 1 of most popular manga but DBZ/One piece/Bleach are as popular but haven't sold/shipped anywhere near that.
I'm sure DBZ has shipped much more than that. Still, great news for many people.
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Naruto is the most popular manga/anime franchise in the USA so it's no surprise that the games would do better here than in Japan (where One Piece actually reigns supreme).
In France, Naruto was the first manga seller until last year and One Piece is the best seller now.
... unless I'm mistaken there are in fact over 40 games based on Naruto. So average of 250k? That's not great.
Most of them were never released in the US or Europe, and some are really low profile or minor games that we should not use to define the average.
And we can say that this gen in particular did wonders to the series. CC2 nailed it with UNS, that seems to please the fans most. That motivated them to make two sequels, so it sure was worth for them.
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The article only talks about the games from Namco, so maybe about 10 games.
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A doff of my cap to you Raido. You are in fact right. Still if Choas is right and it's 15 titles it's still a pretty substantial amount.
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But for manga/anime series to get this popular on gaming, thats suprise. I mean Naruo is indeed 1 of most popular manga but DBZ/One piece/Bleach are as popular but haven't sold/shipped anywhere near that.
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