In a report detailing the Q3 earnings of Namco Bandai, the Japanese publisher has stated that only 460,000 copies of Enslaved: Odyssey to the West have been sold since the game was released in October 2010. Despite a strong critical reception, Namco Bandai already indicated in November that the game was not performing as well as the company had expected. The original expectations stated that the action/adventure by Ninja Theory would have sold in excess of 1 million copies around that time.
Square Enix, which also published the financial results for the period of October – December 2010, announced that Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days has so far managed to move more than 1 million copies. The critical reception of Dog Days was considerably less positive than Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. Square Enix further announced that profits have taken a sharp decline, but added this was primarily due to the fact that the same quarter in 2009 saw the Japanese release dates of Dragon Quest IX and Final Fantasy XIII.
Did Uncharted sell well when it first came out… not really, but it had lingering sales. It is now a greatest hit.
I expect the same thing to happen to Enslaved.
It’s a mini disappointment, but I know Enslaved will go down as one of those games that’s just a hidden gem. Think of Beyond Good & Evil. Cult classic is written all over Enslaved.