Bionic Commando Sales Underwhelm, Shifts 27K In U.S.

by Mike Bendel June 15, 2009 @ 11:53 am

bioniccommando
According to NPD data obtained by Gamasutra, Capcom’s Bionic Commando reboot is falling short of expectations at retail, having shifted a meager 27,000 units in May, its debut month. That figure represents both Xbox 360 and PS3 unit sales of the title.

Given the hype Capcom has been pumping into this one, the low sales do not stem from a lack of marketing, at least in our view. For comparison purposes, Bionic Commando: Rearmed, the retro remake of 1988’s NES classic sold 130,000 units in its first week as a digital-only effort. Granted, Rearmed was released across three platforms and carried the palatable price of $10 on XBLA and PSN. Still, that doesn’t quite explain the large gap in sales.

Clearly, interest is there, why did this reboot of a classic franchise perform so poorly? The reasons could be various. First, May was a rather sluggish month for the industry, as figures from NPD have revealed. Second, general consensus is that the multiplayer demo of Bionic Commando failed to impressed, which could have swayed once potential buyers into neglecting to pick up the title. It’s safe to say that both of these issues put a significant dent in sales.

Perhaps Capcom should look into releasing a single-player only demo for those that were turned off by the multiplayer aspect.

Capcom, Grin’s Bionic Commando Sells A Meager 27K in U.S. [Gamasutra]

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