Square Enix and Arzest’s Balan Wonderworld is reportedly a global sales flop; failing to break top 30 and even top 40 charts on launch.
As reported by Nintendo Life, the game’s initial review scores from critics has been poor. Across all platforms on Metacritic, the game’s Metascore (the aggregate of reviewer scores out of 100) is 50 or less; with a cross platform average of 41.6 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].
In spite of this however, Metacritic user reviews are above 6 out of 10, with some platforms having it reach the 8s. However, both Nintendo Life and GameRant were quick to mention these reviews seemed suspicious.
Along with usernames “that look more like someone choking on Alphabet Soup than real handles,” many of these reviews also feature broken English, and negative user reviews being downvoted by the community. On Steam, the game has a user review score of Mixed, with 67% of the 70 user reviews being positive.
The negative reviews, poor reception to an earlier demo (despite insistence that a day one patch would address some of the issues raised), and possibly the epileptic seizure risking bug that had to be fixed with the day one patch likely all contributed to the games reportedly poor sales.
Famitsu‘s Japanese sales’ charts for the week of March 22nd to 28th show that the game did not make it into the top 30 in its opening week. PlayStation Lifestyle also cited claims from Twitter that the game sold less than 2,100 copies in Japan during its first week. PlayStation Life also report the game failed to make the top 30 on Nintendo eShop in Japan and North America.
They also report the game failed to break the top 40 in UK retail charts, with Nintendo Life noting the game being outsold by titles that have available for over 100 weeks.
The launch week saw the launch of Monster Hunter Rise on the same day; selling over 5 million globally just over a week after launching, and highly recommended in our review. Other char-toppers during or near Balan Wonderworld‘s launch include Outriders, FIFA 21, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury.
Balan Wonderworld is available now on Windows PC (via Steam), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. A demo is available. You can expect our review soon.
Image: YouTube
