Steady sales help Boom Blox beat anti-hype
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 8:00am by Derek
Boom Blox failed the midterm, but it just might pass the final.
Sales tracking Web site VGChartz is reporting Boom Blox, Electronic Arts’ critically acclaimed Wii exclusive, has sold approximately 250K copies worldwide in its first two months on store shelves.
The figures also suggest Boom Blox may have long legs at retail. It has sold no less than 11,000 copies each week in North America, a clear indication of David’s influence on the general populous.
Boom Blox’s steady eight-week worldwide figures are shown above relative to those of Zack and Wiki and Carnival Games, the minigame collection that eventually slow-cooked 1.7 million sales worldwide.
Boom Blox was released in North America and Europe this May. It is scheduled to hit Japanese shores July 17.
July 8th, 2008 at 8:15 am
Hey Mr Spielberg! You’re welcome!! (I’m sure it had nothing to do with Penny Arcade gushing about the game, too.)
Really, though, this is good/expected news. Just wait till the price drops ten or twenty bucks and the sales will definitely increase!
July 8th, 2008 at 10:06 am
I agree with David - This looks like a $30 title at which point I think sales will really pick up. Z&W was moving fast when it was readily available at $20. Although it was hurt by lack of stock for months.
July 8th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Hmm. No kidding…
Counterpoint: Boom Blox Didn’t Fail Nothin’
July 8th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Three quick thoughts:
(1) The sales for Boom Blox seem to be trending down. The game should sell decently, but it’s too early to say that it has really “beat” the anti-hype.
(2) Zack & Wiki sales don’t look as terrible as people were saying, assuming that those numbers are accurate and sales didn’t just stop after 8 weeks. I don’t think anyone expected the game to be a milliion seller, although it’s hard to say how many sales are “worthwhile” from Capcom’s point of view.
(3) Boom Blox should be $30? Sure, and a brand new 80 GB PS3 should be $300… unfortunately that’s just not gonna happen. I doubt that the price of Boom Blox will drop by 40% unless EA decides that it’s a failure and moves the game to clearance pricing. (That said, I do agree that $40 would’ve been a much nicer price point, but if you’ve played the game then you know that it isn’t a low-budget title… so why do people expect it to be priced as such?)
July 8th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Once people thinking that every game is like MSG4 or Halo 3 - an extremely well marketed and hyped game that millions of people buy on the first day, play, and forget - they will cease to be surprised by games that sell slowly over a long period of time.
July 8th, 2008 at 11:05 am
I just get my EA games for free yo, they arn’t really worth cash anyways.
Now Reggie + Spandex, that’s worth something!
July 8th, 2008 at 11:07 am
I agree that lower prices certainly help these title (as does any positive PA mention, natch). But I think the cause is the overall price sensitivity of the wii market, and not an evaluation of the product’s worth. Carnival Games is still $40 on Amazon.
If this is the case, lower priced products will attract the aggregate wii audience (as opposed to the xxx audience, who are typically either early adopters or know what they want to pay for a game) faster than obscure top notch productions that drop slowly.
I’d say that, outside of Nintendo brands and Guitar Hero, the aggregate wii audience wants games that make intuitive use of the controls. Following this logic, I’d expect big beach sports to sell well despite a mediocre start (it also has a clear summer sport competitor though, which the others don’t- but i do expect the first wii cricket game to do well)
also, i bet the presence of multiple different games within a game, as opposed to different modes of one type of play, generally suggests more value to the avg wii consumer. also, and here’s a crazier theory, as the economy struggles, avg consumers will look for games with more value- so games with many minigames, the wiisports model, have a nice shot. this might explain why bblox sales are tailing off a bit whereas cgames has remained oddly strong. on the other hand, i’d expect more holiday advertising for bblox, so maybe it comes back in nov? cgames sure had an amazing holiday (week 14)- lord knows why.
July 8th, 2008 at 11:34 am
You want Cricket for the Wii?
Better hope EA isnt making it, haha.
July 8th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Unfortunately data from VGchartz is all made up.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
I agree with Mr. RE4 above me there, recent revelations about VGchartz deflate any statement that contains VGchartz.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
“recent revelations about VGchartz ”
Do tell! Have their numbers actually been debunked, or are people still just complaining without any evidence to back up their claims?
July 8th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
haha- i don’t care about cricket. i just think it could sell. it’s one of the beach games, and i think they need to promote that it is in the game (make it more obvious on the cover maybe).
maybe not for most of the US, but a lot of the world is thinking wii cricket would be great. i’d link to the forums requesting it, but it’s always a hassle to get links published.
July 8th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Agree that VGchartz is not a reliable source, but that doesn’t change the fact that Boom Blox is selling steadily.
The market is changing. The majority doesn’t scour the internet, anticipating a game for 2 years, then buy millions of copies on launch day. The online gamersphere must accept that they are a very vocal niche now. The old market is dead. Evaluating the current market using last-gen techniques is an exercise in futility.
July 8th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
I know Cricket sells, just hope that EA isnt making it, back in ‘05 I was working at EA Canada and I had to test that game, the end product was a buggy mess.
A quality Cricket game would be nice, but I would rather see a new Rugby game.
July 9th, 2008 at 12:49 am
haha- wii rugby should be full contact in the living room! (either great for or terrible for dates… i can’t decide)