Analyst: U.S. Galaxy sales a 'borderline failure'
Having already suffered from lower-than-expected sales in Japan, we thought Super Mario Galaxy fared better in the U.S., where it shifted 500,000 copies in its first week. Indeed, Nintendo was happy to crow about the records the game set, pointing out that Galaxy was the best-selling Mario title ever in its first week, as well as the strongest one-week debut of any Wii game to date.
But look, here comes RealMoney.com columnist Michael Comeau to spoil the party. Despite describing the game as "the best $50 I've spent this year on a videogame," Comeau argues that more should have been expected from Galaxy in raw commercial terms, and then compares it (unwisely, in our humble opinion) to the opening week sales of Halo 3.
"Nintendo says [Galaxy] sold 500,000 copies in its first week, which makes for a great headline. But in my eyes, that's a huge, borderline failure," Comeau told TheStreet.com. "I think it's an incredible disappointment when you consider [...] that Halo 3, for example, sold 3 million copies."
We can't entirely disagree with Comeau's assertion that the plumber's game should have sold more copies stateside, but we do find the Halo 3 comparison slightly iffy, and for a few reasons.
Firstly, it should be noted that at the time each game was released, U.S. homes still contained fewer Wiis than Xbox 360s, while Bungie's game was also supported by the mother and father of all marketing campaigns. And let's not forget that shooters are probably more to the taste of U.S. audiences, or that Halo 3 launched a full month and a half before Galaxy, at a time when there was less competition, and when the usual avalanche of top-quality holiday titles had yet to be triggered.
Mind you, he gets brownie points for describing Galaxy as "at least six times better than Halo 3."
[Via NeoGAF]
