Hello VGC,
As per title. I know I should have put "bomba" in there to get more hits, but I am not the Daily Mail and neither should you be.
Inspired by Meret's love for yelling "BOMBA" on the wall of every Vita game, no matter what the sales, I decided to investigate what were actually the biggest bombs of 2013.
I made this topic specifically separate to the other one because I feel a lot of people don't actually follow Japanese sales threads, so I could bring up some different games that maybe will get a few more votes than in the other thread where you can just vote for the big titles which bombed. Though, I'm going to have to include some big-name titles in this thread just because of their performance and I fully expect them not to be objectively assessed and voted on purely because of what system they're on.
I submit to you some suggestions. Feel free to add and explain your own if you think there's anything I've missed.
# Gaist Crusher (3DS)
Developed by: Treasure. Published by: Capcom.
2013 sales: 11,263 (Japan only)
For those who aren't in the know, this was Capcom's attempt to make a Monster-Hunter esque game for a younger audience. It was part of a cross-media project which included manga and anime adaptations. As you can see, despite being on sale for 4 weeks and selling to the entireity of 3DS' userbase, it failed to break any noticable amount of sales.
Definitely a massive disappointment so far for Capcom and unless it develops legs from absolutely nowhere (and the holiday season has given it bugger all of a boost), it's undoubtedly a commercial failure.
For some evidence of the game's early ambition, read this Siliconera article:
http://www.siliconera.com/2013/04/01/gaist-crusher-is-a-major-new-i-p-from-capcom/
# Gran Turismo 6 (PS3)
Developed by: Polyphony Digital. Published by: Sony Computer Entertainment.
2013 sales: 1,860,790 (Worldwide)
Looking at the sales of this game in a vacuum it's hard to believe I've included this game. Pushing 2 million copies worldwide with the promise of Gran Turismo-esque legs to come surely means this game didn't bomb right?
Well, sort of. I feel like I should include it because compared to Gran Turismo 5, the game is massively down in every region despite the PS3's inflated user base now compared to then. Compared to what Polyphony could have been doing - developing a launch title for the PS4; trying to breath some life into the Vita; it seems a waste to have put this game on PS3 and sales seem to reflect that.
Stuff like UK first week sales being 20% of GT5 just add fuel to the fire:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-12-09-gran-turismo-6-launch-sales-were-just-a-fifth-of-gt5s
# Gyrozetter (3DS)
Developed by: Square Enix. Published by: Square Enix.
2013 sales: 44,737 (Japan only)
As with Gaist Crusher, Gyrozetter was an ambition cross-media project aimed at kids, this time by Square Enix. The game has arcade machines as promotion, as well as manga and anime series. As with Gaist Crusher, the project as a whole never really took off and sales completely slumped; again despite 3DS' sizeable userbase.
Square Enix recently announced the arcade machines would be shut down, a sure sign of underperformance:
http://www.siliconera.com/2013/10/02/well-thats-square-enixs-gyrozetter/
# Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (PS3; X360)
Developed by: Square Enix. Published by: Square Enix.
2013 sales: 405,324 (Japan only)
As with Gran Turismo 6, compared to some of the other games on the list we're really measuring a different league of bomb here. Lightning Returns sold very well in Japan, over 400,000 copies which blows most of the other games on this list out of the water.
It's just, it's a Final Fantasy game, one of the biggest brands in gaming for such a long time. The sales drop off is massive from the previous game, XIII-2, which itself was a massive drop off from XIII. And recently, Final Fantasy X/X2 HD, a low effort remake for the PS3 & Vita managed to outsell the lifetime sales of LR in just two weeks.
Definitely not the performance Square Enix could've been hoping for.
http://www.siliconera.com/2013/11/27/lightning-returns-lowest-opening-sales-final-fantasy-xiii-game/
# Little Battlers eXperience: Wars
Developed by: Level-5. Published by: Level-5.
2013 sales: 88,737 (Japan only)
2013 was a great year for Level 5. They launched Wonderflick, their new coming-to-everything IP on smartphones; they launched Youkai Watch on 3DS to sales with incredible legs (with an anime coming next year) and released an update to their surprise hit of 2012, Fantasy Life. And yet, all wasn't great for their old IP's. Layton has been milked into oblivion; Inazuma Eleven sales are way down on previous entries and Little Battlers, it seems, is kaput.
This version of Little Battlers, which is looking to be the final in the series, did suffer from being a genre shift over the previous games which surely didn't help sales. Which were never that strong to begin with (200k for the PSP entry). With the anime apparently cancelled and its timeslot given to Youkai Watch, it seems that Little Battlers is on its way out.
http://www.siliconera.com/2013/11/11/little-battlers-latest-victim-waning-popularity-japan/
# Puppeteer (PS3)
Developer: Japan Studio. Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment.
2013 sales: 149,201
I'm really not sure what Sony were going for with this game. A strange 2D platformer about a theatre where you change heads often and have a magical pair of scissors, the game released to decent reviews but abysmal fanfare on the PS3.
Managed to leg its way up to 150k sales, but it's hard to see where it goes from here. Too niche to make a franchise; it'll probably get PS+'d and that'll be the last we hear of it. Really strange decision to devote Japan Studio's resources to something so small. That they clearly weren't interested in advertising, either.
http://www.siliconera.com/2013/10/01/sony-bundles-puppeteer-ps3-holidays-japan/
# Sonic: Lost World (3DS; Wii-U)
Developed by: Sonic Team. Published by: SEGA.
2013 sales: 421,430 (Worldwide)
As with Wonderful 101, this game seemed to have a bigger forum presence than actual real world sales. Sonic, the blue hedgehog who used to vie with Mario for the platforming mascot title, launched on 3DS and Wii-U last year to middling reviews. And it seems, disappointing sales too.
In a vacuum, again, they seem very good. But the 3DS did all the heavy lifting with the sales, and the Wii-U version seems to have underperformed (although if we do a proportional-to-userbase thing it seems a little better).
Given that some were hyping it as a system seller, that definitely seems not to have been the case. And the game was DOA in Japan. But I don't think this is the biggest bomb on the whole list.
http://www.siliconera.com/2013/10/30/this-week-in-sales-little-by-little-blazblue-is-growing/
# Tales of Hearts R (PSV)
Developer: Namco Bandai Games. Publisher: Namco Bandai Games.
2013 sales: 87,690 (Japan only)
Despite Meret flinging Vita's bomb-ness at every opportunity, I actually found it pretty difficult to single out a game which vastly underperformed compared to publisher expectations on the console. Because it isn't selling as well as 3DS, big publishers tend to ignore it and you only get small publishers with small sales expectations, who often tend to hit their goals.
Tales of Hearts R is a remake of a Nintendo DS game which sold 244k lifetime. It's also part of the Tales series, which is pretty damn successful in Japan. Given this, I thought Hearts R was a good candidate as it's failed to crack even the 100k barrier; there's no whisper of Tales of Tempest R coming to Vita any time soon and the game was recently ported to iOS. Maybe this isn't a massive bomb, but it certainly seems to have underperformed.
Given that Tales of Symphonia + Symphonia 2 on PS3 sold only 110k in Japan in 2013, though, perhaps the Tales fanbase just doesn't take too kindly to remakes.
http://www.siliconera.com/2013/10/09/tales-hearts-r-arrives-ios-devices-japan/
# The Wonderful 101 (Wii-U)
Developed by: Platinum Games. Published by: Nintendo.
2013 sales: 132,079 (Worldwide)
Oddly, probably the most well known of all the titles I'm going to list on this by virtue of it having a huge internet presence for a title that sold so poorly. Rumblings that the game cost 1.5 times what Bayonetta cost (although that may be part of Kayima's "humour") make this seem even worse.
What's oddest about W101 is that Nintendo salvaged poor sales on a number of their titles by combinations of bundling & marketing but this game didn't receive any of that, which seems strange. Perhaps the appeal of the game was too limited, but it certainly seems like the kind of title which could've benefitted from some bigger exposure.
Obligatory siliconera article:
http://www.siliconera.com/2013/08/19/the-wonderful-101-will-launch-with-just-30000-copies-in-japan/
