EA: Boom Blox approaches 500,000 sold
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 at 7:46am by Jack
To bomb or not to bomb, that is the question. In Boom Blox’s case, popular opinion said it was a failure.
Pundits still stuck in the old 1990’s video game mindset said it was an epic fail when it didn’t sell 1,000,000,000,000 units in its first week, and then EA fired back, saying it was pleased with the modest sales, and expected more in the future.
Now the publisher is more than pleased, pleased as punch even, as it announced Tuesday the plucky Steven Spielberg branded title has sold 450,000 units to date (courtesy of EA’s quarterly conference call). Infendo saw it coming a while back, so why is everyone else so surprised? Personally, I will never again cite anything Pacific Crest analyst Evan Wilson says, ever again.
July 30th, 2008 at 7:58 am
It has sold 450,001. I bought a copy just now
Judging from gameplay videos and reviews this game is more fun than just about any other casual title out there. I predict it will continue to sell.
July 30th, 2008 at 8:06 am
By end of year it will be a Million seller. People need to realize that games like this take time to rack up sales it is not the GTA formula where the sales are made in the first week and everything else is a bonus.
July 30th, 2008 at 8:46 am
I’m happy to see it’s selling well, as I love this great game.
What I’m even happier about is that EA continues to be pleased by its sales. Top quality 3rd party games + happy 3rd party publishers = more top-quality 3rd party games in the future.
July 30th, 2008 at 9:21 am
I sometimes wonder how long it will take analysts to realize that the Wii can’t be held to these simple sales models. Not all titles blow their load on the first week of sales.
July 30th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Actually, it’s looking more and more like that analyst was right.
He said,
“Boom Blox was a true test of the potential for third-party success on Nintendo Wii.”
The only part he was wrong about was his analysis of whether or not it FAILED the test. It appears it actually passed with flying colors. I second the notion that this will be a million seller before it’s all over.
July 30th, 2008 at 10:54 am
What I’m very curious about are the current sales trends. Is Boom Blox selling at a constant rate right now? Is it trending up or down over time?
Carnival Games was odd because it trended up over time and ended up selling ridiculously well. Boom Blox is a better game in my opinion, but it remains to be seen if it can follow a similar sales pattern.
Here’s hoping that by the end of this year, Boom Blox reaches that 1,000,000 mark and gets a small price drop to be introduced to even more homes.
July 30th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Current sales for Boom Blox are gradually slowing.
http://vgchartz.com/games/game.php?id=13684®ion=All
July 30th, 2008 at 11:32 am
I think I’ll be picking up a copy soon too. They should start ads up again. like the simple cheap stuff.
July 30th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Thanks for the link, retodd.
July 30th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
@retodd
their numbers are off though when compared to the EA statement. Hard to say if it is trending down, but likely it is. The casuals will likely fit the industry expectation that games are not sold during the summer I think with some advertising around Christmas or even early fall they can hit 1M easy.
July 30th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Hey, the 360 version of CoD4 stayed on the top 10 lists for at least 6 months didn’t it?
It’s not just casual games, or games for a Nintendo platform, but any game that’s sufficiently good but also isn’t overly hyped and has appeal beyond the hardcore group that’s been waiting for it since it was announced.
Anything that’s a pleasent surprise will slow burn as long as copies can still be found. Psychonauts, as an example, did terribly at launch, but they sold every single copy that they made within a year or two. Word of mouth does spread, even if it’s too late sometimes for it to do much good in terms of getting a sequel or keeping a company afloat.
August 5th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
It’s a great game,but it’s not worth fifty dollars.I bought it almost right after it came out just because I needed something to play.I’d already beaten the games I had!