Facebreaker fails to break expectations, sells only 52,000
It’s a knockout for EA’s comical boxing title, Facebreaker (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii). The execs are more likely doing facepalms right now because of the poor sales the title has garnered since its September launch, even when both the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions’ sales are summed up.
Looks like we’ve now got a clear candidate for one of those games that Electronic Arts will be “killing” in pursuit of maintaining high-quality titles: Facebrewaker. Unfortunately, it didn’t deliver as much power in its punches as the creators originally hoped for.
Reports have now come in from the NPD Group confirming that the comical boxing title from EA sold a measly 52,000 units in September – and this was for both the Xbox 360 and PS3 platforms combined. Clearly, and we’d have to agree, this is “disappointing”, as UBS analyst Ben Schacter would describe.
The significance of Facebreaker (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii) for the company could have been huge given that it was one of the first original IPs that EA produced under the new company direction. To add to the burn, Michael Pachter said he had low expectations for it right from the start.
It’s really an irrelevant title. Mercenaries, Spore and Warhammer all exceeded expectations, and EA is a portfolio of titles. They got some right, and they got some wrong. Dead Space is kicking butt, so it’s hard to criticize them for underperformance from their smallest game.
Ouch. Oh well, the Wii version is yet to come out anyway next month. Maybe then it’ll make a comeback of sorts? But it’s quite hard pressed to expect a “comeback” for a game that’s crashed and burned even before it arrived, right?
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Via GameDaily