I have to say I have been completely blindsided by the low sales of LittleBigPlanet. It’s not that they are terrible as LBP has now sold 735k units worldwide and should easily cross the million barrier before the end of the year.
And we have always said that a million units is the magic mark where a game suddenly becomes successful.
But I honestly did expect a much better response from the community to LBP, I was sure that it was going to break the million barrier on it’s first weekend.
So what has gone wrong and can Sony reverse it before Sackboy fails to become the new PS3 mascot?
The only thing I can put it down to is marketing and price. I was in a games store over the weekend and while the entire shop was covered in posters advertising Xbox 360 price cuts, Wii specials and Guitar Hero World Tour there wasn’t a single LBP poster or Sackboy to be seen. If he is meant to take over the reigns as PS3 mascot then Sony are going to have to start splashing the cash and getting him some more air time… or shop time.
The other big problem Sony has is the price of the PS3, casual gamers are not going to pick up a PS3 if they can get a Xbox 360, 4 games and a stand alone Blu-Ray player for the same price. Especially in the dark days of a recession.
The rumours are starting up that we can expect a price cut in March but will that possibly be to late?
Last Updated: November 25, 2008
baba
November 25, 2008 at 07:50
Ster Kinekor must have a look at their pricing strategy concerning 1st party titles here in SA. There is no way I’m gonna pay more than R850 for Resistance 2. For that price I can buy 2 x 360 or 2 x Wii games.
janrik
November 25, 2008 at 08:06
Also this game only has 4 hours of game play.. if you do not have internet at home…
Fred
November 25, 2008 at 08:29
LBP is great , it just was released at a time when there was so much else coming out. I think it has much more than 4hrs , i already put in about 5 hrs and i’m only halfway through , unless i’m just crap at platformers.
morris
November 25, 2008 at 08:42
I doubt you could finish the ‘story mode’ in 4 hours on your first playthrough. It is fairly short though, but has so much replay value (still referring to the story mode here), especially if you play with friends in local multiplayer. Depends what you expect from the game really. I have easilly put in more than 15 hours on the story levels, playing with different people and trying to collect everything. If you not really a fan of platformers however you would probably get over the game shortly.
I must agree that you do miss out on a lot if you not online though.
Evilredzombie
November 25, 2008 at 09:01
Jip.. If it was 650 it would hav sold more and faster.
baba
November 25, 2008 at 10:45
I haven’t finished the story yet, because I find myself going back to earlier levels to try and get all the collectables!
Wolfy
November 25, 2008 at 15:57
sony should of build up some hype like sackboy mascots at game stores and make figurines.. make a little short film for the kiddies and heck maybe throw t-shirt with the game.
Marketing is the name of the game