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From the looks of things, Sackboy still hasn't quite caught on at retail.
Curious how Little Big Planet is doing sales-wise, what with its total disappearance from the NPD charts in November? The NPD Group divulged the game's retail numbers to Gamasutra over the weekend, and despite a heavy marketing push from Sony during the busiest shopping months of the year, things aren't looking so great for Media Molecule's creative platformer.
According to Gamasutra, Little Big Planet failed to even crack to top 20 in November, selling approximately 141,000 copies. Following the game's already lukewarm October debut of 215,000 units, these numbers are hardly encouraging -- especially for a game that associate producer Eric Fong billed as "a hardware seller."
Sony's response to October's slow sales seems even more applicable here: New IP is struggling in the face of competition from blockbuster sequels. The best-selling games of November included proven franchises like Gears of War, Call of Duty, and Mario Kart -- all of which sold at least five times as well as Little Big Planet. With so many humongous releases permeating the last two months, you have to wonder how a game like Little Big Planet would have faired if it had launched during some of the slower months earlier this year.
That's not to say Sackboy won't get another chance to regain his momentum. The bulk of the Little Big Planet's ad campaign didn't officially kick off until December, and the constant stream of downloadable content -- both paid and user-generated -- has the potential to give this do-it-yourself platformer a very long tail.
