Poor Sonic. The speedy varmint cannot seem to catch a break.
Sega has just revealed that Sonic Boom, the latest entry in the Sonic franchise, sold a paltry 490,000 copies. This includes both Wii U and 3DS versions, Rise of Lyric and Shattered Crystal.
The game got off to a rocky start when early last year new character designs were revealed for the game. This included longer limbs, scarfs, and bandages wrapped around shoes. It was odd to say the least.
Many online were relentless in making fun of the silly designs.
There sure is something different about you today Sonic : pic.twitter.com/ThNxx16hAX
— GamesRadar+ (@GamesRadar) February 6, 2014
@JoshGrilli if they're gonna do this to us they better make stretchy limb sonic toys pic.twitter.com/zowKFhJZi8
— caitlin rose boyle (@rattusRose) February 6, 2014
https://twitter.com/qualiathepurple/status/431528093530849280
Sonic Boom was panned critically and is currently sitting at 32 on Metacritic. It was developed by new developer Big Red Button Entertainment. The studio opted to make the game a slower puzzle platformer versus the usual speed-filled romp fans are used to. Many reviews felt the game was incomplete, buggy, and boring.
It seems that Sonic has been on a downward trend. Sonic Lost World sold 710,000 units in 2013 and 2012’s Sonic Generations sold 1.36 million. The latter title was a call-back to old-school Sonic games, and was reviewed favorably. It seems that creating Sonic games that feel like Sonic games are what works best for Sega.
Here’s hoping that the new Sonic game for mobile devices will be better.