These are the games that made retailers cry

Retailer compiles list of games that failed to meet expectations in 2009.

2009-12-02 18:31 / Anoop Gantayat / 3 Comments

Multiplayer fights against classic Square Enix summons should have been a sure thing!

2009 saw lots of major releases. Some sold at or above expectations (Dragon Quest IX). Others failed to achieve their expected sales (see below).

One game shop has set out to compile a list of games that fall in the latter category. The shop is asking other retailers to send in their top five list of games that sold less than expected.

The shop calls this list the "Kuso Game of the Hanbaiten," or "Shitty Game of the Retailer." It will present the full results in a future update.

For the shop that's compiling the data, the list reads:

1: Blood of Bahamut: Completely torn apart by Dragon Quest IX, and wasn't even supported properly by Square Enix.
2: Monster Hunter 3 (standard version): The bundle version had a high sell-through, but Capcom's "fraudlike shipping methods" caused problems. While the standard version didn't take a loss, you apparently had to sell about 50 units to make a profit of ¥4,000.
3: Taiko Drum Master Wii 2: There's still the chance for a comeback during the holiday sales rush, but the game is in a state where some shops are trying to get rid of it even at a loss. The big problem is apparently the space required for storing the game.
4 & 5: Mario & Sonic Vancouver DS/Wii: The sell through is "extremely bad," particularly for the DS version.

The top five was followed by Gran Turismo, Dynasty Warriors 6 Special (PSP), Dragon Ball Tenkaichi Daibouken (Wii), Tamagochi no Narikiri Channel, and Persona.

The blog notes that games whose first entries sold better than expected had issues for their sequels. Examples include Mario & Sonic, Tamagotchi, Dorabase, and Penguin no Mondai.

[Seen at My Game Flash]