Oh dear. Bayonetta 2 is out in Japan, and it looks like a terrific game. The early buzz on it is super positive. Shame that not many people are buying it. Blame the Wii U for that?
As My Game News Flash points out, when the first Bayonetta game was released on the Xbox 360 and the PS3, it sold around 200,000 copies in the first week. That’s terrific.
But Bayonetta 2? According to 4Gamer, the Wii U exclusive sold just 38,828 units in its first week on sale in Japan. That’s not so terrific. Platinum Games said they were working to have Bayonetta 2 played by more gamers than the first game. That might be difficult in Japan… on the Wii U, at least.
There are commenters online in Japan saying the game “bombed”. A few are spamming Bayonetta‘s creator Hideki Kamiya, telling him “congrats”. That isn’t cool. At all.
Maybe it’s because everyone is busy buying Super Smash Bros for 3DS? Maybe! That game just sold 321,363 copies in the same week. Or maybe the reason is the Wii U. Then, it’s not really Platinum Games’ fault, as the game was bankrolled by Nintendo. Just be glad the sequel exists, no?
But if the game doesn’t do well outside Japan, a third entry in the series might not even happen. Talk about depressing.
Update: Yikes, Dengeki Online’s sales figures are lower than 4Gamer’s. According to Dengeki, Bayonetta 2 sold 28,825 copies in its first week on sale.
『ベヨネッタ2』は前作を超える数の世界中のユーザーの方々に遊んで頂けるよう頑張ります！」 → 前作初週約20万本、今作3.8万本 [My Game News Flash]
Comments
39 responses to “Bayonetta 2’s Sales Are Depressing”
I really don’t understand the hype around this game. I played the first one and honestly, it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.. It was good, just not worth a hyped sequel in my opinion
I only ever played the demo. Didn’t seem to do anything differently to the Devil May Cry games. Did people buy it for the protagonist?
It’s DMC’s gameplay with the camp turned up to 11 with a fair dose of insanity. You’ll either ‘eh’ or love it.
Yeap. It is technically just Devil May Cry with a sexy hot character. But I played on PS3 with frame rate issue so it kinda put me off given that it requires smooth gameplay. Will be picking it up to play the entire series in one go.
Hopefully this game does better in the west. I’m definitely grabbing a copy as soon as it releases here.
Is it the Wii U? Most likely. I own one, I think it’s a great machine but outside Nintendos first party support and a few select developers, there’s not much coming for it at this point it seems. Just hope this picks up.
It’s a sequel that came out on a console that less people own, ofcourse the numbers are going to be disappointing in comparison. The PS3/Xbox had more consoles out there and people didn’t know what Bayonetta was about.
Also let’s wait for the other countries release before we get depressed about its sales.
2 days of sales.
Surprising no one is picking up on that
The same amount of time it took for the first to hit 200,000.
First as in the one that was on xbox360 and ps3?
Wonder how many 360 copies were in that original number.
64K according to wiki.
That sucks. Hopefully the European and North American markets lap it up to cover it.
It released around Super Smash Bros.. Which is ballsy.
If someone released a new movie the week a new Harry Potter film came out then you would see poor results for that week/s..
Indeed. Releasing a Nintendo-console-exclusive the same week as a Smash Bro’s game doesn’t seem like a good idea, regardless of how different you think your target demographic is.
Even if you half that number, it’s still sold 2 thirds less.
I’m not terribly surprised, given that the original was on Xbox 360 and PS3. Hopefully for them it would pick up soon, but I can’t see it taking off big on the Wii U, good on Nintendo for funding it though.
I fucking loved the first one.
Not ONE WEEK of sales ONE day!
I have a wii u but I won’t be buying this. The first one was mediocre. If this were coming out on pc/xbox/ps4 it would be just another mediocre release but because it’s a mature title on the wii u it’s over hyped.
*In your opinion.
87 PS3/ 90 Xbox metacritic score and hovering around 8 user average doesn’t sound so mediocre.
People have a problem separating their perspective from full blown fact.
At least it sold more than the xbone in it’s first week,,,??
I for one can’t wait for this game, I’m more excited for this than anything else so far this year.
Counting the days for this one! Extreme hype! Also looking forward to giving the original a replay on Wii U as well.
hey idk… lets release this game on a console barely anyone owns and expect good results.
seems legit.
better then no results as it wasn’t going to launch on any other console.
Really? If there were minimal to no costs involved in developing a game then sure, why not. But that’s not the case. If they don’t sell many copies then it could ruin the developer.
I hope it does well, but it’s honestly not that surprising. It did middling well as far as sales go back when it was released on both consoles (and anecdotally, I actually rarely saw it for sale in JB/EB after the initial launch).
Now it’s out solely for the console with the smallest install base, so I can’t see it hitting the previous sales. Over to you, Wii U owners. Please surprise me.
When I tried to track a copy down of the original bayonetta to play on a siblings xbox I had to go to 3 different stores before one could tell me where I could pick up a pre-owned one on the other side of sydney. But I hope it does well to, if 2 is anything like 1, I will hope for a 3rd.
I actually pick Bayonetta 1 up from EB Games recently. It was on sale for $15. It’s an absolutely great game. I also managed to pick up Ninja Gaiden 2 for the same price. I’m not sure how good that one will be.
I’d like this game to do well in the west.. if only to point and laugh @ sega later. But it’s not going to happen.. mid october release is probably the worst time + wii u.
I for one am super hyped about this game, however it does have to compete against smash. bros. in peoples gaming budget. If I had to choose between smash and bayo 2, smash is the choice I would make, even though Bayonetta is one of my all time favourites, smash just edges it out.
A good portion of the reason why i bought a Wii U (that has been gathering dust last 6-12 months) was for Bayonetta. If it was mulitplatform i wouldnt have even touched a Nintendo product.
Aren’t those numbers from two days of sales?
Hold on, this is probably more appropriate here https://twitter.com/PG_kamiya/status/288816739297419265
That’s disappointing. Hoping it picks up and does well in the west! I’m really excited for it, at least!
It was never going to do well on the Wii U. Regardless, I’m buying the game. I loved the first, so I’m tempted to see if there’s anything even more over the top than that final boss battle.
Release it on the other consoles.
none of the other consoles wanted the game.
Not true. None of the other consoles wanted to bankroll the game themselves, but they sure as hell would’ve had it if a publisher wanted to bring it to them.