Sonic Boom, the latest game in SEGA's Sonic The Hedgehog series, has flopped in the UK after failing to crack the entire Top 40 UK Video Game Chart.
Neither the Wii U's Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric or 3DS's Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal managed to make a dent in the all-formats software charts, despite Rise of Lyric debuting at No.3 in the single-format Wii U chart. Shattered Crystal entered at No.10 in the 3DS chart.
Official sales figures have yet to be announced.
Sonic Boom's failure is the latest in a string of disappointments for SEGA's much-loved mascot, and follows shortly after last year's underwhelming Sonic Lost World. The game currently holds a 38 Metacritic rating on Wii U.
It's also the first major home console Sonic game developed by a third-party developer and the final game in Nintendo's three-title exclusivity deal.
SEGA has yet to announce where Sonic may head to next.
Source: GfK Chart-Track
User Comments
BrySkye
It's broadcast on Cartoon Network, so it's not like it's hidden away on an obscure channel.
For us in the UK, I'm pretty sure the Pokémon cartoon started broadcasting on CITV many months before the Gameboy games appeared, so it had huge momentum. Generally speaking, most people here thought it was a cartoon with a video game adaptation, rather than the other way around.
Anyway, to wash away some of this dirty feeling, I had to record a vid of Sonic Generations which I've dropped in the "Got a Youtube Channel?" topic.
PC version, 1080p an 60fps (viewable on YT at 60fps if you have a suitable browser) and a couple of mods.
Sonic replaced by the considerably less vocal Metal Sonic and the Unleashed Project mod, which puts the day stages from Sonic Unleashed into the Generations engine.
wesleynintendo
MJTH@ BrySkye
EverTheOptimist
Regardless, that hedgehogs reputation is in tatters.
MichaelPortillo@ BrySkye
BrySkye
Off the back of the fantastic Sonic Generations, it would have seemed a great idea, but Sega subsequently, and astoundingly, abandoned everything which made that game fantastic.
No doubt there are other factors. The Wii U doesn't have a particularly large install base of course but that didn't stop Mario Kart 8 entering the UK charts at number two across all systems (yes, less XBOs and PS4s at that time).
Still doesn't account for this big a gap.
Disappointing Lost World, huge negative reaction to the character redesigns, that Wii U gamers have alternatives likes Mario 3D Worlds, THE FACT THAT THE CARTOON IT IS BASED ON IS ONLY BEING BROADCAST IN FRANCE AND THE US (great tie-in work there, Sega...)
If you want a good Sonic game, get Sonic Generations on PC. At 1080/60, it looks as beautiful and vibrant as anything on Xbox One or PS4.