Fable II, Banjo Kazooie Sales Are Chalk & Cheese

Kotaku writes: "Microsoft released three first-party games towards the end of 2008. Gears of War 2, we know, is a smashing success. But what of the other two games, Fable II and Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts?

Sales data released by the NPD Group today reveals that the games' experience on store shelves couldn't have been more diffierent. Fable II was a surprising success, by January 1 selling a respectable 1.2 million copies in the US. Not too shabby.

But Banjo? Seems Rare's stab at innovation by introducing customisable vehicles to the game was a flop with consumers, as the game had only sold a meagre 140,000 copies by new year's day."

[Cyrus365]

Wow only 140 K sales for Banjo in the USA up and until Jan 1st...

Do 360 fans not like platformers?

[crck]

Yeah that is pretty bad. Especially considering the game only retailed for $39.99 to begin with. Is Rare next on MS's chopping block? I hope not. I actually like their games.

[I_LOVE_MYSELF]

Nuts and Bolts is visually stunning... The art is fantastic... But hey a game is not good by visuals alone (cough cough killzone2)... Come to think of it I grew tired of Gears2 and Fable2 quickly... Oh my god do I even like any games?

I love my 360 and love platformers... I think the best game this gen is a platformer... Banjo N&B doesnt feel like a platform game at all and the gameplay is kinda sucky

[DARK WITNESS]

awesome... so next time someone asks what the opposite of a AAA is.... well its Banjo or zzz ! lol

to be fair i didn't play either of those games. i bought fable 2 but it never even left the case it was in before i took it back and swapped it. After i heard about all the bugs in the game i just could not be bothered. i think i ended up taking it back for mirrors edge, which i finished in a week and swapped for R2, which i finished in a weekend and got a credit note back for the full price.

but ya, not supprised. I only know two people on my friends list that bought nuts and bolts.

[jahcure]

Fable II sells 1.2 mil and it's ok.. LBP a brand new IP sells just under a mil and it's a flop in sales? Given the install base of both platforms, lbp has the better ratio. Also what happened to Banjo? I remember masses here going crazy for it. Did you guys not buy it?

[PirateThom]

Of course no one bought it, it's too kiddy. Remember... it's a better game than Too Human, but because it's a cartoon bear, it sells a lot less.

It's not about quality, it's about "t3h murd0r"

Dark Witness - I think you made a mistake with Fable 2, it has its fair share of bugs, but it's still a solid game. If you can find it again cheap, you should reconsider.

[jkhan]

Funny nobody is mentioning MSFT is doomed because of Banjo, while Sony is doomed because LBP only sold a million or two (I know I will get a lot of disagrees).
I didn't bought Banjo, i thought it was ok, the graphics nor the gameplay felt anything to get excited about. I love platformers but I don't know, it didn't feel like a game to buy.
I played Fable 2, it was alright, the graphics were not that great, lightening was pretty cool in the game. The combat was alright. It wasn't really what it was hyped for. I didn't really encountered any game breaking bugs. The game was alright. It was like OMG Fable 2 is the RPG of 2008.
Gears 2 was pretty amazing, apart from some issues, I really enjoyed the game. I think it sold well to its merit. Its a pretty great game. Infact the best game on 360 this year.

[CAPT IRISH]

Banjo Kazooie NaB is not a platformer.

[La Chance]

bp = hyped like the god of all games : 1 million worldwide. fable 2 = no crazy out of control hype : 1.2

[belal]

LBP SALES AND RESISTANCE SALES, WHO BOTH MANAGED TO SELL 1 MILLION EACH

[Hiruma Youchi]

LAME! those game took what 2months atleast to get to 1million. Gears and Fable did that in a few weeks. GEARS2 3Million in 4weeks. You cant tell me NUFFIN!

[Sez]

the problem with your logic. was R2 and LBP was hyped to sell alot. and they failed to do so. hell LBP was said to be a system seller and it didn't. and the last time i checked R2 didn't even make NPD report since nov. so if it did sell 1 mil most of the sells came from EU.

[chidori666]

LMAO... banjoflop! RARE IS DIED IN OLD NINTENDO 64.... fact!

[Ryuk]

Confirmed... Your no older that 12 cause ""RARE IS DIED IN OLD NINTENDO 64"" LMAO!! Kinda like Lair/Haze and flop ps3 killed factor 5/free radical. Or in your language..Lair/Haze Died on old ps3 console
Haha

[BLUR111]

lol you people are silly

[Hiruma Youchi]

KOTAKU! The deal is BANJO KAZOOIE SUCKS! if it was as good as the previous ones people would have been intersted in it. I know I dont care about it and even if the game was at a 10$ price tag I wouldnt buy it. I'd rather save the 10bucks to get me a PS3(roflmao)

[jay2]

Well BK 4's in the works so let's hope Rare sorts it out.

[jemmo]

The problem with Rare is people have grown up. I played the first Banjo and it was all right Killer Instinct was good and GoldenEye. So gamers expected good games but to have a legacy and now the only games you hear about is viva pinata and Banjo come on. To me the name speaks for themselves Rare, Rare games and Rare Memories

[Jdoki]

Yeah, at one point everything Rare touched was Gold.

It went far beyond their more popular IP's. Sure GoldenEye was awesome, B&K was awesome, KI was great. But there was also so much more... Conker, Blast Corps, Jetforce Gemini... The list just goes on and on, right back to when they were called Ultimate Play the Game.

I think it's no coincidence that Nintendo were so happy to sell their share in Rare to MS when they did - I think Nintendo knew the talent had started to leave.

I hope Rare can reclaim their glory days. I like Viva Pinata and Kameo was a good launch title, but nothing they have done has been AAA and the writing was on the wall when they launched Starfox Adventures.

[Mr Banjo]

It's a really fun game. And I hope that Rare isn't cut next, that would suck.

[Dick Jones]

Rare has been making crap if not just passably mediocre games this whole hardware cycle. Microsoft is not in the busines to lose money, I can't see them letting Rare continue like this for much longer, change is coming, be it blood or pink slips.

[PirateThom]

I hope Rare don't get cut because they do have some good IPs and ideas, but I think very highly of Rare and always have, which is why, like a teacher who knows their student can do better, I don't accept Viva Pinata, Nuts and Bolts or Perfect Dark Zero as the best they can do.

There was a time when Rare were untouchable, but now it's a case of if they weren't first party, they would have gone the same way as Free Radical. They need more focus, they need to go back to the drawing board and scrap Viva Pinata and making avatar systems and focus on things like Killer Instinct and Battletoads and Conker, their more adult oritentated titles.

[devilhunterx]

And Fable 2 PC aka complete version is coming to the pc.

[militant07]

Lion Head denied the PC port.

don't expect to see PC port any time soon.

http://www.joystiq.com/2009...

[AJBaldwin]

I own both Fable 2 and Banjo, and love them both.

I was very pleased to see Banjo at a budget price ($69.95 AUD) like Viva Pinata, but the level of polish and amount of content is much better than most full-priced titles. I've enjoyed it a lot because I was aware it wasn't a regular platformer and didn't compare it to one, I enjoyed it for what it did do.

Fable 2 was brilliant and deserves every sale, but really Banjo should be right up there in numbers based on quality and it's just another case of consumers complaining about no innovation in new titles and then won't buy any that try (take a look at Mirror's Edge's sales numbers too).

Also: colours = no sales. Ever wondered why Killzone 2 is getting so much attention? It's not because of its bright primary colours, haha! (before I get disagrees, I'm very excited about Killzone 2 and own both consoles)

I guess Banjo 3 will sink down to keep company with Beyond Good & Evil, and Psychonauts. Brilliant games that most people know are great, but when you ask if they actually own it will look off into the distance and whistle while waiting for Generic EA Sports Game 2010.

[Siesser]

How does anything in this article have ANYTHING to do with the Playstation 3?

[PirateThom]

The original source, Gamespot (which should have been used) lists PS3 games as well.

[robotnik]

rofl, xbox 360 exclusives are flops that don't sell, what a surprise.

[Hiruma Youchi]

are you even serious? Gears....Halo....Bioshock at the time... Mass effect....Fable.... they dont sell? those games flops? I think you lost your mind into that fanboy logic.

[dustgavin]

Fable was on the first xbox and Bioshock is multplatform.

So...that leaves you Halo, Mass Effect(soon on PS3), and Gears of War. All of which can be purchased for PC.

[Baka-akaB]

I'm not rejoicing at this news . However it shows that those "soooony iz gonna dye!!" prophets , or those shouting "LBP flopped" should stfu .

People welcome less innovative platformers , and it's not longer a leading genre . Especially with so many action or adventure games borrowing platform mechanics and ideas

And some rather just buy a sonic game or whatever , regardless of it's quality :p

[kewlkat007]

I think I saw like one....

It's not like platformers are flying off the shelves...really. They do ok but not like Shooters and such.

Some games just come out at the wrong time. Same, like Mirrors Edge. How much have that sold?

When a game sells great, some on the other side of the fence do not like to keep bringing up them sale numbers. When the numbers are bad, they celebrate.

[Baka-akaB]

Exactly Mario and and sonic are the only ones flying of shelves . other good performers like Ratchet and LBP always got a crappy start and sells over the year .

gamers should be sad to only see mario really succeed in the genre , isntead of glorifying stupid war scores

[Lombax]

Maybe now Rare will make a REAL B&K GAME!

I'm talking about a game that can be called Banjo Threeiee. You know what I mean? Because N&B was not a real B&K game.

[Hiruma Youchi]

http://au.gamespot.com/news...

"Unfortunately for Sony, its first-party PS3 exclusives didn't fare quite as well. Despite substantial hype and solid reviews, Media Molecule's quirky platformer Little Big Planet sold only 611,000 units in the US--just less than half its global 1.3 million total. Insomniac's Resistance 2, which wowed critics as much as rival Gears 2, sold only about 600,000 units in the US"

[RGB]

lol & lol. in europe LBP only got advertised in late december, way after the release. Resistance 2 had no advertisement besides video game stores.

Bioshock on 360, now heres a lol. are you dumb or what MS bullsh1ted about this MS claimed 5+ million sales, but 2k games said that they didn't even put 5 million copies in production.

Fable is a flop for MS standards. Fable 1 did many millions & Fable 2 with 28 million 360 in use to only do 1,3 million is a epic fail.

[anubis12]

what happen to banjo what do you mean??? banjo sold more than socom....do ps3 games not like socom?...sad gay article

[kewlkat007]

.

[Anon1974]

It's mainly a downloadable game off the PSN. No one but Sony knows how many times it's been downloaded. And even the retail version sold over 1/2 million in the US. That crushed Banjo.

Dude, check your facts.

[anubis12]

yeah it did LOL

[Fakes]

Fable 2 sucked,played it and man was it overhyped.Choppy framerate,last gen graphics and just plain poor story.Sorry Peter but that game is far from revolutionary.

[Anon1974]

I didn't have an issue with the graphics. There was some slowdown but it was nothing too severe. Bottom line, if you liked the first Fable there's a good chance you'll love Fable 2. This was one of my favorite games of 2008.

[Lombax]

Until I realized nothing I did mattered at all, AT ALL. I played it as evil as possible. Then I played it as good as possible with no difference in gameplay or story.

I mean come on a game about good or evil and you are never truly good or evil till the very end of the game. Where it flat out asks you to pick. FU*KIN WEAKSAUCE

[anubis12]

im sure everyone agrees with you....not

[beavis4play]

hardly.
and i didn't buy socom - wasn't interested in it. but where are you getting your info on sales of socom vs. banjo sales? since you're so insistant about this; it would be nice if you provided the source for your information.

[Anon1974]

anubis12 is just flat out wrong. Socom sold over 1/2 million units in retail in the US (not even counting how many times it's been downloaded). Banjo sold about 140,000 in the US according to NPD numbers. It's not even close.

[gamerdude11]

""Microsoft released three first-party games towards the end of 2008. Gears of War 2, we know, is a smashing success. But what of the other two games, Fable II and Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts?"

GeoW2 is not first-party. Is it?

[Jdoki]

I guess they meant 'exclusive' or 'published by'.

[Baka-akaB]

See ? present case in point ... some troll comparing socom and banjo out of the blue ...

Even if it did matter and was true so what ? Do we even know the sales expectation behind each title ? And how are they even related ...
So whenever a side got a flop the other is going to run among the catalog to find one that did as well ? Even if not even from the same genre and related at all ?

Hell it like a "Firefly" fan laughing at "Dead like me" for being cancelled ... hell actually it would actually even make more sense lol

[Fakes]

Sorry anus err.. Anubis no.13 did not want to disturbe you from sucking Peters anubis.

[LastDance]

.

[DOOMZ]

Would have been awesome...

[ThaGeNeCySt]

Visually, Banjo was breathtaking... when I first played the demo I was completely impressed. But my enthusiasm for the game dropped dramatically when I noticed that the game was moreso building and using vehicles rather than traditional platforming.

Now I'm all for taking games in new directions but they strayed too much from the norm and somewhere along the lines, the game no longer felt like a "banjo" game to me. Now that's not essentiallly a bad thing if it's done right (see Resident Evil 4). I don't know if that's why the game didn't sell well but that was my reason for not liking it after my time with the demo.

[Jdoki]

I believe the game would have sold more if it was packaged up as a new IP.

I think the B&K faithfull kept away because it wasn't a true platformer.

It was also poorly advertised - up until release it was hard to tell what it actually was meant to be... I saw comparisons to LBP. I saw it called a platformer. I saw it called a racing game platformer!

It was hard to define what the game was or wanted to be, so I think MS/Rare decided to slap B&K in to it to give it some familiarity - that was a mistake.

[La Chance]

lbp = hyped like the god of all games : 1 million worldwide. fable 2 = no crazy out of control hype : 1.2 million in USA ONLY

[Jdoki]

The hype for LBP was mostly generated around gaming websites. Outside of that it was yet another case of Sony failing to market their games.

Fable 2 is now a big 1st party Xbox franchise, by a legendary developer and was released when it had almost zero competition.

It's a disgrace that both titles sold fairly low, they deserved more sales and no amount of spinning will make it look any different.

[dustgavin]

It is pretty sad that LBP and Fable 2 are even close in sales at all. I thought a lot of 360 fans said it was "Game of the year"?

[DJ]

Just a slight correction. Any game that's sold over a million copies is pretty much a sales success, especially if it's a low-budget title like LBP.

The Fable 2 sales do seem pretty low for such a renowned series, but thankfully sales don't equal quality. ^_~

[BLUR111]

all this damn time they could have had a new battletoads or killer instinct III hit the market.

Damn rare.
Microsoft should have b!tch slapped them along time ago for making lame decisions but their pansy's though...

[dukadork2]

even the sales are going down, cry xb!tches
they still found 140000 baboons to buy bongo jazooye: impressive!

[Jerk120]

It is pretty sad that LBP and Fable 2 are even close in sales at all. I thought a lot of PS3 fans said it was "Game of the year"?

[DJ]

What happened?

[titntin]

The game just didn't have it..

It wasn't platformer any more, so it couldn't satisfy those who were real fans fo the series (like me), and what it did offer simply wasn't engaging enough to attract a new audience. Bad game = bad sales. Mostly! :)

[BlackIceJoe]

Its to bad Nuts and Bolts has not sold that well at all. I think Rare did a good job on the game. It may not be the best out there but I had some really good fun with the game. I do wish this was a real Banjo game not a spin-off though. Not saying it was bad just I wanted more of the old school version of Banjo. I do think people see what Nuts and Bolts looked like and thought kids game but in reality it would not be a kids game at all. The game is good and it sucks to see not many people play the game.

[belal]

why is it selling still? it must have passed 1 million mark a while ago lol

[jack who]

what teh hell is Chalk & Cheese