News LittleBigPlanet sales continue to disappoint

it's a great game, but the fact that the game had to be played with more than 2 players to have fun is a bit off putting.

bundle in a cheap controller or two i'd buy it asap

 

Unfortunate. This was a killer game. More fun than I've had since playing pretend TMNT when I was a kid.

 

It would have sold boat loads on the wii, but if it was on the wii would it be half as good as it actually is?

The adverts ive seen on TV a rubbish imo 'hi im blah blah creator of the janice planet, you start in her frozen heart and die' WTF ok so being able to build pretty much what you like is a core part of the game but there must be a better way to market it than that!

Its a shame because from what ive seen/played its a great game, and its a refreshing break from all the majority of drivvle on the ps3.

 

Which is funny: I have a Wii and thought: "My look what a nice game. Oh crap it's PS3. Well bad luck, another day"

 

goes to show how bloody stupid the majority of ps3 owners are, tbh.

 

I would have bought it if I didn't rent it and complete it in a few hours (not 100%, but as much as I would have wanted to). I'll buy it and get more in to it when its £15 or so.

I'm waiting for the ad "This is my planet. It took me 56 hours to make, and lets face it, its still a little bit pants"

 

QFW "I think the problem of LBP is that it's a hardcore game marketed as a casual one. So hardcore gamers that would be interested in it only see a childish game from the ads."Narishma

Why is it all of a sudden everyone cares about the casual market? They have never really supported sony like us hardcore gamers... so why are they kissing there ass?

 

There are (potentially) millions more of them than there are of us. If Sony can successfully turn non-gamers into casual gamers, they'll be rolling in money, like Nintendo. And once that happens, you can bet that they'll forget the hardcore market even exists. Like Nintendo.

 

Are we talking about the same game here? LittleBigPlanet is selling fine. It's total sold is equal to that of two EA games at this point (Dead Space, Mirror's Edge). Where are the articles on those two games? When are sales good enough? Does every game have to sell 2 million in a day to be considered a success? A new IP, based almost entirely on user generated content, selling 1.1 Millions copies in two months world wide on the ailing PS3 is hardly a dissapointment.

And for comments about 360 games selling better, that may be true, but the margin isn't that huge in the long run. 3 million copies of Assassin's Creed for PS3 sold next to 5 million given the user base difference is great on both fronts. DMC4 sold better on PS3. CoD4 is inching on 4 million on PS3 so far, seriously you guys are blowing things way out of proportion.

 

perhaps if so many other games didn't come out at the same time, us hardcore gamers might have given it a shot near it's release.. but we for some reason are drawn to action based shoot up games (fallout3, left 4 dead)... the cute and cuddly mario-esk games can wait...

 

I would have thought the PC was the ideal system for LBP, what with the number of dedicated modders out there on PC. Most Wii players might buy it for the platforming and try some simple decoration, but I can't see a lot of them putting in the hours to make a great level.

Maybe if the platforming game were released on Wii and the level editor were released on PC, with levels downloadable on the Wii, it would all come together.

 

Difference is Sony had pinned hopes on LBP shifting boxes not just copies of the game, MS has halo and the fact that its cheap to do that. I don't disagree, the sales are fine for just another game but this was going to be the new face of the PS3, if Super Mario sold to this level Ninty would be disappointed.

 

Except Mario and Halo aren't new IP anymore. Nintendo can repackage Mario for anything and it will sell on name alone.

 

The sales numbers are worse than disappointing for a triple A class release.. they are shocking. Compare them to sales of other triple A titles like COD4 , COD 5, Halo, Mario Games, and the LBP numbers are out by hundreds of thousands, if not a million.. Specifically compare over the 1st two months of release.

As for the Wii.. Two points here :

1) The game would have to dumbed down (probably 2D rather than 3D) to work ok on the Wii. And who knows how the wacky controller would end up working.
2) 3rd party titles on the Wii still have a habit of not selling anyway.

... my wife's sister is a perfect example. She bought a Wii for the 'kids'. The most complex game they have played is carnival funfair (shovel ware at its very best). The kids dont even respond when the LBP adverts have been on TV. Go figure.


3) Why would anyone in their right mind make an exclusive game nowadays ? Its a sure fire way to reduce your own sales by a massive proportion if you target the console that has sold the least overall !

 

iirc media molecule originally intended to sell LBP as a wii game, but then sony came in and offered them a whole bunch of money to distribute it as a PS3 exclusive. can't remember where i heard that.

i agree with previous commenters saying this game hasn't been marketed well. the ads are hilarious, but they don't sell the game. you see the ad, then laugh and forget what it was for. both serious and casual gamers like sidescrolling platformers, and this is a very good one, but the ads all seem to purposely hide the genre. why not tell people what it is? i haven't seen a single ad for LBP that gives any indication of the gameplay.

 

Sony has the worst advertising campaign in the history of the world.

In the past year of watching TV i've seen maybe 5 or 6 PS3 commercials. About 3 or 4 of them for MGS4. Thats in the past 12 months! Just 6 commercials!



But even still, LBP has been selling good anyways.

Sales up to Dec 06

 

Why didn't they run the ads that were doing the rounds on the net 'geeing up'/hyping lbp?

They certainly made me excited about the game.

As supertoad said, the ads don't really indicate what the game is all about. Whilst they depict that it could be fun, it's not exactly selling itself.

 

Are you kidding? The original PlayStation was the first casual console since the old Ataris. It was the advent of style over substance gaming and marketing, except few people seemed to notice because most of it was in 3D and therefore 'better' and "Ooh, shiny". They weren't splashing the name and logo everywhere to appeal to the traditional market. The PlayStation name was seen in as widely divergent areas then as Red Bull is now, trying to bring in the outsiders by tempting them with a brand. The PlayStation 2 may have been more "hardcore" (for want of a better term) but only because Sony then had a brand which had a loyal audience and it could therefore afford to pursue the rest of the market.

 

I've seen the ads a few times and it looks cool but I don't know what you actually do in the game

 

The game is fun without doing any of that, biggest problem is the piss poor advertising, if this was on wii or 360 MS and Ninty would of marketed the **** out of it with clever ads etc, Sony needs to hire the same ad companies as theres is bollox.

Its a class title, OK, personally I don't think it deserves all its hype if you take the creation side out of it but the fact it make the missus piss her pants etc, its worth it.

I have to say though I reckon some of these companies/analysts need to take a good look at the market, just because it hasn't done 2 mill in a week doesn't make it poor, i'm sure MM will do OK if it only does 500k by Christmas and another 500k next year.