Yeah, SoTC takes the kung fu crown and ICO is left looking like a clown.  And I agree with those who say it's even more of a niche game than SoTC.  My brother loved SoTC and he normally sticks to Call of Duty and the Atari something-something of his childhood, and I can't imagine him liking ICO.

But ICO is a puzzle game, and you have to like stories -- it has better but more invasive storytelling than SoTC.  And it did have some significant magic to it, for those who kept playing...

SotC didn't sell so well well because of accibility. It was not an easy game to get into. People buy games by demonstration mostly, not buy cover art. SotC is a crappy game given only 10 minutes of play time. Their is no grab your attention. It's a slow burn to start. So 10 minutes of little to do, reading to get instructions on where to go and difficult controls does not make a game most people will play.

The strongest selling games will be game with arcade like game play. Quick and rewarding. The game can have incredible depth, slow burn stories and rewards, but if the basics of the game is easy to get into and fun then it's a big seller. Like GTA. If you miss the entire opening of GTA and are just playing sandbox in the city it can still be loads of fun. SotC didn't have it.

Because all games and genres are not equal.

I could make the best Cricket simulator game in the world... and nobody would buy it because it has limited appeal.

Dont generalize !

until maybe 18 months ago ive never heard of the two games, so i blame bad advertisement, and the fans for not hyping it enough. I mean come on !! I never heard of them when they were released, and i still havnt played either!

...even Brian Lara Cricket outsold them... 1.26 million....

It's the release of Metal Gear Solid 2 that stole all the thunder of ICO...

Well yeah.  Cricket is actually a pretty popular sport internationally.  I was just using it as an example for Americans.

The point is... games like ICO don't sell.

Well game.  There isn't really another game like it.

18 months ago.........so why havn't u played them yet

1) My PS3 isnt BC

2) My PS2 is set in the basement attached to DDR, and my girlfrend would kill me if i ever used it for anything else

3) I have work and school , and its to hard for me to find the time to play games anymore . I mean shii im at work right now!! ............coming to think of it im always at work when im online.

For the same reason No More Heroes and Madworld have low sales: they are niche titles. Only a small portion of gamers are interested in that style of game, so not many people buy them.

I didn't know much about the game industry back in those days or games that had little marketting. If I didn't catch one of the commercials and thought that the commercial was cool... chances are I would never end up buying it. If those games were to hit now, I would have definatly bought them.

I guess we just have to go with the little faith in humanity answer for this one.