Nintendo’s New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe may be a port of a Wii U launch title, but it has done well around the world—such as in the UK, or in Japan. It also did well in Germany, where it was the top selling game for the month at retail, reports Gfk-Tracker. It managed to come in ahead of Resident Evil 2 and Kingdom Hearts 3, which were second and third placed respectively.

The release timing for these games may have played a role in their rankings—New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe launched in mid-January, Resident Evil 2 launched with a week to go, while Kingdom Hearts 3 literally launched two days before January ended. Maybe if all three games had an equal amount of time on the market, the final rankings might have been different.

The rest of the charts are predictable—Red Dead Redemption 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, FIFA 19, Battlefield 5, plus Nintendo evergreens such as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Pokemon Let’s Go all featured in the charts. You can see the full charts below.

1. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
2. Resident Evil 2
3. Kingdom Hearts 3
4. FIFA 19
5. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
6. Super Mario Party
7. Red Dead Redemption 2
8. Battlefield 5
9. Super Mario Odyssey
10. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
11. Grand Theft Auto 5
12. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
13. Landwirtschaft Simulator 19
14. Pokemon Let’s Go, Pikachu!
15. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
16. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
17. Pokemon Let’s Go, Eevee!
18. Fallout 76
19. Splatoon 2
20. Minecraft

Sony’s PSN terms and conditions are not the best. There’s no refunds offered (unlike on Xbox Live), not even on pre-orders and pre-payments (which, to be clear, is you putting down money on an intangible good that literally doesn’t exist yet). Something like this is bound to fall afoul of customer protection laws somewhere in the world- and to no one’s surprise, it looks like that is what is happening in the European Union.

GamesIndustry reports that the Consumer Association of North Rhine-Westphalia (Verbraucherzentrale NRW) in Germany has filed a complaint regarding Sony’s terms and conditions that it imposes upon customers using the PSN Store. These include the lack of withdrawal for the customer, as mentioned, plus prepaid funds uploaded to PSN expiring after 24 months if they go unused. Sony is also being taken to task regarding holding parents responsible for any charges that are accrued by younger kids playing the games, that they may not even be aware of.

NRW has made it clear that it will take Sony to court unless its cease and desist is followed by Sony. Hopefully, Sony follows these instructions- their policies are explicitly customer hostile (that’s the right word to use), and I am glad they are being taken to task for them.

Germany has decided to take a stance against retailers and video game publishers taking your money for something that doesn’t exist yet, and may well not exist for years, if ever. German news site Heise (translated by Eurogamer) reports that the Higher Regional Court of Munich has ruled that retailers can no longer accept any pre-orders for video games that do not have release dates announced.

Technically, the ruling covers all products, not just games, but we’re going to focus on games here and consider the implications. This means that as of now, in Germany, you can no longer pre-order Death Stranding, The Last of Us Part 2, Ghost of Tsushima, Metroid Prime 4, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Halo Infinite, Gears 5, Cyberpunk 2077, and any game that doesn’t have a release date attached to it yet.

While this may to many seem excessive, there is precedent for pre-orders going wrong. For instance, someone who pre-ordered Duke Nukem Forever in 1997 would have had to wait 13 years for the game to come out. Crackdown 3 fans will have waited five years for the game by the time it is out. Don’t even get me started on Final Fantasy 7 Remake.

The Nintendo Switch continues setting sales records worldwide; having sold over 14 million units in nine months (which means it outdid the entire four and half years’ worth of Wii U lifetime sales in less than a year), not a week goes by when we don’t hear about it having broken or set a new record in some place or the other around the world.

Its newest record is in Germany- Nintendo has confirmed that the Switch sold 650,000 units in Germany in its first year, which makes it the fastest selling Nintendo system of all time in the territory, outdoing the Wii, which was Nintendo’s previous record holder. That said, the Switch still did not beat the PS4’s record, which sold a staggering 1 million units in 11 months in Germany- one of the few places in the world where the Switch played second fiddle to Sony’s console.

Going forward, with a stacked lineup of exclusives and third party games, and initiatives like Labo, it will be interesting to see how well Nintendo manages to maintain momentum for the Switch in its second year.

[via GoNintendo]

Whether or not the Labo propels Nintendo’s Switch into the stratosphere as Nintendo so clearly seems to hope it will remains to be seen, but right now, it seems like their hybrid console is doing pretty damn well for itself. We already know it’s the fastest selling system of all time in the US, and in Spain, and also Italy and France, and that it is outpacing even the PS2 in Japan.

Now, we also know that it is outpacing the Wii in Germany. Nintendo has confirmed that the Switch has sold 600,000 units in Germany since launch, which makes it their fastest selling system there, ever. This pretty much confirms that the Switch is, at this point, doing fantastically well in every major territory except for the UK- where it’s doing okay, but not great.

Whether or not the Switch maintains its- you know what, you get it. It’s clear it’s going to maintain its momentum at this point. Let’s see how it does that.

Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was the top selling game in all of Germany in March, beating out not just rival exclusive Horizon: Zero Dawn, but also several multiplatform games such as Ghost Recon: Wildlands and Mass Effect Andromeda along the way (with the other three titles charting in the nest three positions respectively)- which is truly impressive when you consider that it launched on a console with a disengaged and small userbase (the Wii U), and a newly launched one (the Switch).

Zelda was also the highest ranked Switch launch game by definition- 1, 2, Switch was ranked 7, and NieR Automata was sadly at twelfth place. That apart, For Honor, the highest selling game last month, dropped down to ninth place, while GTA5 and FIFA 17 all dutifully made their presence in the Top 10 felt.

You can check out the full list, courtesy of Bild, below. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is available on Nintendo Switch and Wii U.

1. (neu) The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
2. (neu) Horizon Zero Dawn
3. (neu) Ghost Recon: Wildlands
4. (neu) Mass Effect: Andromeda
5. (3.) GTA V
6. (4.) Fifa 17
7. (neu) 1-2-Switch
8. (neu) Lego Worlds
9. (1.) For Honor
10. (13.) Mafia 3
11. (5.) Battlefield 1
12. (neu) Nier: Automata
13. (9.) Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
14. (2.) Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
15. (17.) Call of Duty: Black Ops III
16. (11.) Minecraft
17. (neu) Super Bomberman R
18. (neu) Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 & 2.5 Remix
19. (16.) Pokémon: Sonne
20. (14.) Landwirtschafts-Simulator 17

Looks like Sony’s Jim Ryan wasn’t lying when he said that demand for the PlayStation VR was outpacing production. If reports are to be believed, then it seems like in Germany, at least, the PlayStation VR has totally sold out, within hours of its launch there earlier today.

The report comes to us courtesy of German newspaper NOZ (translated by NeoGAF) are noting that the headset is sold out at all major retailers in the country. Prospective buyers looking to buy one have no recourse but to get one from eBay, or other similar auction sites, where the PlayStation VR is currently going for as high as 1,000 Euros, an absurd 250% markup from its standard 400 Euro price point.

As of right now, it looks like the PlayStation VR will indeed live up to its billing, and be the breakout VR device. Whether or not Sony can sustain this kind of momentum in the long run, however, is the question that remains to be answered.

With this week having been Gamescom week – which is Europe’s largest games convention, and which takes place in Germany – this news (via NeoGAF) is perhaps exceedingly pertinent. You see, it seems like, in spite of Microsoft’s best efforts to appeal to continental Europe with the Xbox One, they have been unable to break into the market.

According to this report, lifetime sales of the Xbox One in Germany stand at only 710,000 units- this is far less than the PlayStation 4’s staggering 3 million units sold there, but also less than Nintendo’s Wii U, which has managed to sell a neat 750,000 units there.

The performance of the Xbox One isn’t getting any better there, either- this year, for instance, the Xbox One has managed to sell only 105,000 units so far, while the PlayStation 4 has sold 460,000 units- meaning the PS4 is outselling the Xbox One by a ratio of over 4:1. At least the Xbox One managed to eke out a win over the Wii U this year- that console is estimated to have sold 60,000 units in Germany this year. The Wii U slowdown, however, makes sense- what with the NX launching next year.

For now, Microsoft will no doubt be hoping that the Xbox One S and Scorpio help reverse their flagging fortunes in Europe a bit.

In just one year, the PlayStation 4 has gone ahead and sold a million units in Germany, becoming, far and away, the most successful console in the country. This is an enormous accomplishment for Sony’s newest console, and highlights its incredible popularity in the German region.

Of course, this isn’t news to us. earlier this year, we had reports that the PlayStation 4 was the most successful next generation console in Germany with over 500,000 units sold (at the time), with Wii U in a healthy second place, and Xbox One in a struggling last. Apparently, the German people have gone ahead and thrown even more of their weight behind Sony’s vision for the next generation since then.

Worldwide, the PlayStation 4 has sold 13.5 million units in the year since its launch. It is leading the next generation console race, with Xbox One in second place, having sold nearly 10 million as of the beginning of November. The Wii U is in last place, bringing up the rear with 7.2 million units sold worldwide.

A patent dispute between Microsoft and Motorola has resulted in an injunction banning several Microsoft products from distribution in Germany, including Xbox 360.

This ban also extends to the distribution of Windows 7, Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player in the country.

The development follows last week’s news that the duo were locked in a legal battle in the US courts.

The disagreement stems over Microsoft’s use of H.264 video compression technology.

Microsoft seemed to anticipate this ruling, however, and  moved its European distribution centre from Germany to Holland last month.

“This is one step in a long process, and we are confident that Motorola will eventually be held to its promise to make its standard essential patents available on fair and reasonable terms for the benefit of consumers who enjoy video on the web,” said a Microsoft spokesperson

“Motorola is prohibited from acting on today’s decision, and our business in Germany will continue as usual while we appeal this decision and pursue the fundamental issue of Motorola’s broken promise.”

A eventual agreement between the companies seems likely, however, with Motorola facing very high legal costs if it wishes to maintain its injunctions.

Source: MCV