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Monday, August 17, 2009

Scribblenauts demolishes preorders of DS software, surprises absolutely no one

Scribblenauts is a pretty popular game, though this probably isn't very new to you, eh? What tipped you off? Was it the 40+ awards won at E3? The many ways it's found itself snuck into people's "MUST BUY" lists? Was it seeing people hyped for a god damned rooster hat?

Well, if you still need harder evidence than the above, Amazon has your back.

According to the Amazon listing of the game, Scribblenauts is #1 in all DS sales right now, and in fact #51 out of the entire video game department. That's huge, given this is a DS game, which typically do not sell in the same volume as console or PC games.

Kicking it up a notch, VGChartz lists Scribblenauts as being 23rd in all presales in America. That's huge. How huge? Well, Maxwell and his notebook is currently beating Guitar Hero 5, Kingdom Hearts for the DS, Mass Effect 2, and New Super Mario Bros. And it's coming dangerously close to knocking off Splinter Cell and Left4Dead 2.

Whoa.

Still, though these numbers are impressive, is anyone really surprised? Both Drawn to Life and Lock's Quest, two previous titles of 5TH Cell, went on to sell oodles of copies despite never reaching the level of hype and popularity Scribblenauts currently has. It's a no brainer it'll sell well. Will this game hit a million copies? Oh yeah. No question. Indeed, the real question, the one whose answer might actually surprise people, is whether or not Scribblenauts can go neck and neck with the big boys. The console AAA titles. Will innovation win over big budget?

4 comments:

  1. Wow, I was planning on just buying the game from Costco on September 15th, but I guess I'll HAVE to pre-order just to be safe.

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  2. I jsut dont agree with one fact:
    "...given this is a DS game, which typically do notsell in the same volume as console or PC games."

    This is not true. Just check the sales charts. Usually DS games occupy about 7 or 8 places from first 10 positions. It is very common that DS games are best selling titles from all platforms. Even ones like "cooking mania" can oversell titles like "GoW", "KZ2" etc. So that Scribblenauts is best selling now is not so surprising.

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  3. True enough, Anon2. However, as you said, most charts show DS games towards the bottom of any top 10, and if you compare a "big" DS game with a "big" console or PC game, the console tends to sell in bigger volumes.

    DS games have long legs, but tend to not sell in a huge burst at launch. Usually

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