Boom Blox doing better than first thought?

Following a not so impressive first month on retail shelves, EALA and Steven Spielberg's physics-driven puzzle action title Boom Blox has sold over 450,000 copies since launch, publisher Electronic Arts revealed today.

[ElementX]

Boom Blox is really a fun game. It's not the most challenging so far (only 30 levels into the game) however I don't regret purchasing it.

[SL1M DADDY]

Playing it alone is not what makes this game fun IMHO. I bought it the other day and have to say that it makes for a great game for couples or parties. It is a blast to compete with and it is easy enough that even those that don't play games can pick it up and enjoy making for great times with friends.

[TheColbertinator]

450,000?Look thats a good number and all but the Wii has sold 25 million systems.450,000 is still considered a failure because the attach rate is way too low.Still its a good game.

[ElementX]

Sold better than a lot of PS3 games.

[orakga]

So full of class you are.
Are you a Republican?

[TheColbertinator]

@Element X Why did you mention the PS3?I was'nt talking about that.I was talking about Boom Blox and the Wii

[Fernando Rocker]

So, tell me: Is God of War 2 a failure?

It sold less than 2 million, with an intall base of 120 million.

[deeznuts]

Subtract the amount of copies spielberg bought, that's your real number

[orakga]

Oh snap dude... nice catch there.
GoW2 only did 2 million?

Ahh yes, I guess that's kind of a shame too.
And yes, I would say that that would be considered a non-success (or an almost-non-success) simply for the same reason (that's a 1.8%-ish conversion rate).

Hear me out just for a sec.

Think about when GoW2 was released. By then, many gamers had moved on from their PS2s and were not buying PS2 games simply because it was on "the old machine". I sure as hell didn't play it, and it was obviously my fault for not doing so. But that doesn't change the fact that GoW2 was not able to sell itself to as many people as it might have had it come out a few years earlier (say 2003?) when many gamers were still paying great attention to their PS2s. In fact, out of all my "gamer" buddies (by that I mean people around me who own 360s and PS3s), only one person played GoW2.

Or... maybe the other way to look at it is... the 120million "install base" terminology is misleading. Perhaps the "active userbase" was much much smaller than 120 million (40 million?), and by that measure, GoW2's conversion rate would be about 5%, which would make it a "decent success".

Sorry, it's really early in the morning right now. I hope my logic makes sense. =)

[MK_Red]

Even though it's not much compared to sales of other lesser Wii games, it's still great to see this game doing not so badly afterall.

Definitly one of the best games I've seen, up there with Super Mario Galaxy, Zack & Wiki and Metroid Prime 3.

[Chubear]

I'm sorry but I think that statement is nonsensical. I have no clue how the gaming media and the Nintendo fanbase can tout this game as anything more than a basic 6.5/10 type game.

Yeah, thumb me down all you want but I'll state it clearly. This game is simply a parlour party game and not anywhere near what core gaming does in entertainment for gamers.

[orakga]

With all due respect, I actually think Boom Blox is one of the best games for the Wii. Yes, it's a party game, but that alone shouldn't mean that it's bad. It's a party game that's actually UNIQUE, and beyond the carnival/mini game shovelware crowd.

It's still a shame that it only sold to 2% of the Wii crowd though... this game deserves to be at least in the 5% range (that would be... mm.... 1 million units I guess).

[MK_Red]

Well said Orakga.

Chubear, I'm not a Wii fan. Most people on N4G know how much I hate Wii and crappy casual games from Wii Fit to Carnival Games but Boom Blox is NOT like them. I swear. It's a well made game that has appeal to both casual and hardcore. 1UP gave it 10/10 and they are right. They game takes the best advantage of Wii-mote in any game.

[Polluted]

I don't know much about the game, but I hear it's good and it's good to see any quality software doing well on the wii.
The problem isn't the amount of shovelware being produced for the wii. I mean that's to be expected with any runaway success. The problem is the amount of uninformed people buying all the shovelware and ignoring quality titles like this.
Hopefully Boom Blox has legs otherwise why would anyone other than Nintendo bother making a quality game anymore?

[poopsack]

I hate this game, not because its only another mini game fest, based off of a concept of creating a game out of a physics engine demo. But because I was forced to play this with my little nephew,who actually thinks its the best game ever. Not mario, not any other wii game that could go on as 'ok' to me, this, this game is the best game ever.

[Smacktard]

Great success! Boom Blox shows that casual games can be tons of fun for hardcore and casual gamers alike. Some challenges, lots of fun, lots of stuff to do, and oodles upon oodles of different modes of play, topped off with a level creator! I'm glad it's selling well. It's one of those casual titles that you can tell a lot of effort was put into.

Gotta admit, the goddamn AI pisses me off sometimes. :P

[Voiceofreason]

Would have done a lot better with a proper ad campaign going.

[Wildarmsjecht]

It had proper ad campainging here in the states. and the commercials still show sometimes. Just..u know. 3rd party software on Wii stuff. those 450,000 are probably the nintendo wii followers of various gaming sites. not the ones who buy the system and dont play it after a short time.

[ChickeyCantor]

I did not see one here in the netherlands...
Yet people love it.

So no, there was no "proper" campaign

[Voiceofreason]

Them waiting a month then running 1 commercial a day during Transformers is hardly on the same level as the ad campaign for any other major title out there. Even Redsteel had more TV exposure then this game. When I talk about a proper ad campaign I am not talking about 1 commercial at 8am and then nothing. I am talking about ads on Raw, Ads on Sci fi channel, Ads during major television shows. Boom Blox didnt get the ad campaign it deserved.

[MrWegman]

I am enjoying the game with my wife....

[Prismo_Fillusion]

Sir, I thoroughly enjoy your supermarket.

[andron]

It would be a shame if this game bombed. Wii needs quality games like this.

[zzyzx]

Time will tell, but this could be a good sign for the Wii.

The Wii's biggest problem was that it was dismissed early on. And why not? Nintendo was fresh off of two lackluster entries into the console market, and the Wii had everything going against it, since it went directly against the industry trend of bigger, faster, multimedia machines.

So what happens next? Nintendo releases first-rate first-party titles. As you'd expect, seeing as their console's survival depended on it. But 3rd parties didn't see the point in investing in developing titles for a sinking ship. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy. Most 3rd party titles weren't any good, and didn't sell. Developers, seeing poor sales, didn't find it a good risk to spend resources developing quality titles for uncertain reward. So the perception was (and is) that the Wii is little more than a money-printing device meant to continue big N's profitable franchises.

Now that's it's obvious to anyone who's read a gaming website or business magazine in the last year that the Wii is *not* sinking, the question is whether developers will change their mind about devoting time to producing quality Wii titles or whether they'll continue shoveling out garbage. For anyone who owns and enjoys a Wii, and wants it not to be irrelevant in 2-3 years . . . the fact a 3rd party title w/ high production values is actually selling is very good news.

[humus]

all it is, is extreme jenga with explosions