With E3 2021 behind us, GameStop has announced the top ten video game pre-orders from the event. Several major announcements were made at E3 2021, including Starfield’s built-in-engine teaser video, and now some of the biggest merchants are letting the public know which ones drew the most attention (and their wallets).
Amazon did something similar only a few days ago when it revealed that Metroid Dread was the most pre-ordered game in numerous nations, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Now, a week after E3 2021 concluded, GameStop, which has enjoyed a stock market-fueled rebirth this year, has released its top ten pre-orders list. And, spoiler alert, it’s nearly all Nintendo games.
Following E3 2021, an official GameStop press release highlights the top-10 pre-ordered games in decreasing order from most pre-ordered to least pre-ordered. While it does not specify the actual amount of pre-orders, it does list them in descending order from most pre-ordered to least pre-ordered. The entire list is as follows:
- Metroid Dread
- Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword HD
- Mario Golf Switch
- Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shiny Pearl
- Mario Party Superstars
- Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
- Far Cry 6
- Dungeons & Dragons Dark Alliance
- Madden NFL 22
- Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Halo Infinite, developed by 343 Industries, received an honorable mention and has yet to get an official release date (at the time of writing). A few things take away from the lists, but the most important looks to be that Metroid Dread has topped another major retailer’s pre-order list, indicating that the game will have a strong first week when it launches in October.
Aside from Metroid Dread, other Nintendo games make up the remainder of the top five. While Nintendo’s E3 2021 presentation did not include Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, the other top-5 games were announced. Mario Party is one of Nintendo’s most popular franchises, so it’s no surprise that Mario Party Superstars and its 100 iconic minigames beat out other big names like Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and Ubisoft’s Far Cry 6.
Nintendo’s announcements at E3 2021 appeared to be a hit with the crowds, as evidenced by store feedback. There are many noteworthy takeaways from the preceding list, such as Far Cry 6’s low price. Is it possible that this is due to the fact that the games above it were so good? Is it possible that fan enthusiasm for the game is so low that it has dropped to GameStop’s 7th most pre-ordered game? It’s difficult to determine clearly which is the case without actual statistics. At this time, it’s safe to conclude that Metroid Dread appears to be the “winner” of E3 2021.
