While we pretty much always wrote about the top scoring games and how well/badly they are selling, I thought I'd have a wee look at the crap games, and see how they've sold.
I went with a single system approach, because that was the easiest way to get review data for the current generation. and of course with multiplats VGC doesn't even provide total sales across all platforms as a single figure. I chose PS3 because that's the only current gen system I own, so it's the one I'm most interested in looking at from a sales perspective.
The other partameters: I used Game Rankings as the basis for the review score, partly because Game Rankings includes VGC reviews in it's aggregate score, and because Game Rankings has a better search function for this sort of "research". The only games on this list are those with 10 or more reviews, with a score below 50% (50% is a pass mark right, so if a game gets over 50% it should't appear in the list of worst games). I deliberately left out those games with fewer than 20 reviews with a review score above 45%, because a single decent review would probably put them above 50%, whereas games below 45% would probably need a couple more decent reviews at least to get above 50%. The only notable (I think) games below 50% I left out for that reason were Sonic the Hedgehog and Clash of the Titans.
So here we go:
First table ordered by total sales
| Game | Critic Score | Sales | Regions Tracked |
| Iron Man | 44.22% | 619280 | A, E |
| Tony Hawk Ride | 48.77% | 484191 | A, E |
| Terminator Salvation | 47.04% | 421278 | A, J, E |
| Naughty Bear | 44.28% | 249292 | A, E |
| Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes | 44.38% | 243659 | A, E |
| Iron Man 2 | 43.67% | 242989 | A, J, E |
| The Golden Compass | 40.85% | 220017 | A, E |
| Turning Point: Fall of Liberty | 45.15% | 206094 | A |
| Rock Revolution | 40.67% | 201692 | A |
| Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire | 35.68% | 184208 | A, J |
| G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra | 43.04% | 175129 | A, E |
| Prison Break: The Conspiracy | 39.06% | 169322 | A, E |
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 | 39.79% | 153692 | A, E |
| Pure Futbol | 44.20% | 138470 | A, E |
| Quantum Theory | 45.96% | 113808 | A, J, E |
| Kung Fu Rider | 41.59% | 112757 | A, J, E |
| Golden Axe: Beast Rider | 44.15% | 104626 | A |
| Stormrise | 49.64% | 103752 | A, E |
| Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer | 49.38% | 97700 | A |
| Rogue Warrior | 28.50% | 88667 | A |
| NFL Tour | 48.45% | 79924 | A |
| ShellShock 2: Blood Trails | 36.00% | 76310 | A, E |
| X-Blades | 49.54% | 68962 | A, J |
| Damnation | 37.43% | 67792 | A |
| Last Rebellion | 48.15% | 55236 | A, J |
| Vampire Rain: Altered Species | 32.21% | 36262 | A, J |
Second table ordered by Game Rankings Score:
| Game | Critic reviews | Sales | Regions tracked |
| Stormrise | 49.64% | 103752 | A, E |
| X-Blades | 49.54% | 68962 | A, J |
| Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer | 49.38% | 97700 | A |
| Tony Hawk Ride | 48.77% | 484191 | A, E |
| NFL Tour | 48.45% | 79924 | A |
| Last Rebellion | 48.15% | 55236 | A, J |
| Terminator Salvation | 47.04% | 421278 | A, J, E |
| Quantum Theory | 45.96% | 113808 | A, J, E |
| Turning Point: Fall of Liberty | 45.15% | 206094 | A |
| Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes | 44.38% | 243659 | A, E |
| Naughty Bear | 44.28% | 249292 | A, E |
| Iron Man | 44.22% | 619280 | A, E |
| Pure Futbol | 44.20% | 138470 | A, E |
| Golden Axe: Beast Rider | 44.15% | 104626 | A |
| Iron Man 2 | 43.67% | 242989 | A, J, E |
| G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra | 43.04% | 175129 | A, E |
| Kung Fu Rider | 41.59% | 112757 | A, J, E |
| The Golden Compass | 40.85% | 220017 | A, E |
| Rock Revolution | 40.67% | 201692 | A |
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 | 39.79% | 153692 | A, E |
| Prison Break: The Conspiracy | 39.06% | 169322 | A, E |
| Damnation | 37.43% | 67792 | A |
| ShellShock 2: Blood Trails | 36.00% | 76310 | A, E |
| Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire | 35.68% | 184208 | A, J |
| Vampire Rain: Altered Species | 32.21% | 36262 | A, J |
| Rogue Warrior | 28.50% | 88667 | A |
Third Table ordered by regions tracked, then by sales:
| Game | Critic Score | Sales | Regions Tracked |
| Terminator Salvation | 47.04% | 421278 | A, J, E |
| Iron Man 2 | 43.67% | 242989 | A, J, E |
| Quantum Theory | 45.96% | 113808 | A, J, E |
| Kung Fu Rider | 41.59% | 112757 | A, J, E |
| Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire | 35.68% | 184208 | A, J |
| X-Blades | 49.54% | 68962 | A, J |
| Last Rebellion | 48.15% | 55236 | A, J |
| Vampire Rain: Altered Species | 32.21% | 36262 | A, J |
| Iron Man | 44.22% | 619280 | A, E |
| Tony Hawk Ride | 48.77% | 484191 | A, E |
| Naughty Bear | 44.28% | 249292 | A, E |
| Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes | 44.38% | 243659 | A, E |
| The Golden Compass | 40.85% | 220017 | A, E |
| G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra | 43.04% | 175129 | A, E |
| Prison Break: The Conspiracy | 39.06% | 169322 | A, E |
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 | 39.79% | 153692 | A, E |
| Pure Futbol | 44.20% | 138470 | A, E |
| Stormrise | 49.64% | 103752 | A, E |
| ShellShock 2: Blood Trails | 36.00% | 76310 | A, E |
| Turning Point: Fall of Liberty | 45.15% | 206094 | A |
| Rock Revolution | 40.67% | 201692 | A |
| Golden Axe: Beast Rider | 44.15% | 104626 | A |
| Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer | 49.38% | 97700 | A |
| Rogue Warrior | 28.50% | 88667 | A |
| NFL Tour | 48.45% | 79924 | A |
| Damnation | 37.43% | 67792 | A |
So there you go. The winners out of the losers. Any sruprises? Any disappointements? Any games that you know definitely deserve it's sales ("good" or bad)?
“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” - Bertrand Russell
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."
Jimi Hendrix
