"Volatile" Holiday Market Partly To Blame For LittleBigPlanet Sales

Early sales on Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet didn't quite set the world on fire. The game moved a solid if unspectacular 215,000 copies in the United States during its debut month of October — just four days, really — and 69,000 units during its first two weeks of availability in Japan. In the UK, it dropped quickly to nineteenth place on sales charts in its second week. Over a quarter million copies in a few days isn't bad, but it might not be the killer app exclusive emotionally invested PlayStation fans or Sony executives were hoping for. In the U.S., LittleBigPlanet got trounced by a bunch of sequels — Fable II, Fallout 3, Saints Row 2 and Sony's own SOCOM Confrontation. PlayStation UK spokesman David Wilson tells GamesIndustry.biz that's one of the reasons sales of the game might be struggling in comparison to expectations. "LittleBigPlanet has broken this stereotype by not only being brilliant and original but also by selling really well on a global basis," Wilson told GI.biz. "There are some games that are hardcore experiences that the kudos lies in getting it first." He expects positive word of mouth to contribute more to sales. As for LBP's chart placement? "This is an incredibly volatile time of year and the chart reflects that," Wilson said. Perhaps when things die down a bit in December — after Gears of War 2, Resistance 2, Call of Duty: World At War and rest of the attention grabbing sequels have their time to shine — we'll see how things shake out. LittleBigPlanet "would be a clear number one" any other time of year [GamesIndustry.biz]