Manhunt 2 Sells Paltry 19,000 Copies

Filed in archive News on December 17, 2007

Remember Manhunt 2? The game IGN's Matt Casamassina hyped for months on end, because it was the most violent game on Wii. Not most fun, mind you, but hey, I guess some of us judge potential hits on body count.

Just like the original Manhunt, the game sold like total crapola. 19,000 units moved makes even Zak and Wiki look like a huge, mega hit (and by all means please BUY ZAK AND WIKI).

Here's a quote from the Gamespot article:

As for titles that didn't sport great performances, Divnich noted Manhunt 2 for the Wii, saying its sales of under 19,000 copies "should not be considered a victory for those groups who protested its release, but rather a victory for industry and gamers who did not fall for the market hype of what can only be described as a poorly executed title."

I disagree. If this were an Xbox 360 game, then maybe Divnich is right. But what you have on Wii are more families, more people with kids, and hence less people interested in a violent game. I think the coverage on the various cable news outlets actually hurt this title, as opposed to what was the conventional wisdom: the hype would move units. It didn't.

The lesson once again: games should be fun first, everything else second.

Read.