Insomniac's Wolverine hits 1.9 million sales despite controversy, becomes Sony's top first-party game of 2026
TweakTown
Insomniac's Wolverine hits 1.9 million sales despite controversy, becomes Sony's top first-party game of 2026
Despite the harsh criticism, Sony's new Wolverine game may have sold tremendously well, achieving nearly 2 million sales in just a few days' time.
Idiots will buy anything.
Well…they won’t buy Concord.
Concord was a brand new IP, this is an established popular IP. The brand recognition alone probably sells a million units.
Damn… even idiots know that game sucks.
It must sting for the devs.
Lesson learned! You need a licenced character on the cover if you want idiots to buy it!
Which is weird, because when I was a kid, having movie/tv/comic tie in games usually meant a rushed/bad game, and thus should be avoided.
I guess LJN had to go out of business eventually.
Idiots will pre-order anything. There were probably a lot of sales before the controversy even started.
This right here.
I am sure a shit load of those sales were pre-release sales made by consumers that assumed the goodwill of Insomniac would translate to a win.
There is no reason to preorder a game especially on a platform that doesn’t regularly offer refunds.
Sony sell games now?
Doesn’t sound like it’s a bad game, it’s just not anything amazing
I won a copy so I will play it one day
How did you win it?
I work in the gaming industry, our studio has draws for new games, I have won other ps5 games previously
Well it is a game for idiots
I mean sometimes you want to just zone out and play something dumb. You don’t get any gamer credibility but nothing wrong with having fun.
You’re paying $60 (or is this 70?) for “something dumb”, though. If there’s no passion for it, why buy now? I might buy Sonic 06 for $5 and have a laugh, but at launch there’s no way (even if Wolverine is less “bad” and more “easy”, point still stands)
Well not me, I will pay about $5 for a shitty game with good graphics and/or a big open world map to explore.
Your “just have fun” stance ensures companies make poor quality experiences because people will still buy it. The capitalist love people that just want to zone out.
I understand your point but that feels a bit like a zero sum game.
If people like zone out action games, and those games are made and sell reasonably well, and people enjoy them… Isn’t that fine?
Yeah maybe it’s shit quality for the amount of money/talent behind it and it could have been better etc… But that feels a bit like people who play every cod version ever complaining about indie games having “bad graphics” or being too hard etc. They’re different games for different audiences.
This is a great example of misinterpreting what’s being said with an emotional response.
“I like this thing and defend its faults, and anyone who is against it is disingenuous”
In this specific instance that statement is entirely accurate
Why do you have to be so toxic at all times?
Accurately identifying garbage isn’t being toxic, you’re just butthurt as usual
Let people have fun. Maybe even try it yourself.
Such a telling and disheartening message…
What does it tell you?
That you don’t understand that the fun your referencing has a cost and the cost is paid by others in various ways. A lot of suffering involved with “fun”.
What suffering? What are you talking about? Unethical sourcing of materials for consumer electronics??
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a proud snob
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You’re not because I’m not playing it.
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Yes, because has Sony released so many successful first party games in 2026…
Lol I had to double check because I couldn’t remember any.
We got…
And this.
woof
Literally no reason to open a PS5 in the big 26’
i haven’t turned mine on at all this year. which reminds me i should at least once a year.
Yeah ours is unplugged and in a cabinet. Haven’t played it since final fantasy rebirth. Now that Revelation is going straight to Steam there isn’t a reason to put in the PS5.
i’m still waiting for naughty dog’s first game this generation. I tried rebirth, but it had been so long that i forgot everything from part 1 and just couldn’t get into it again
I think you’ll be waiting until the PS6. Sony fucked up by putting them on live service instead of TLOU3. Now they scrapped years of work and started something different. Shame shame.
i think so too. But I choose to believe otherwise haha
I bought rebirtg on launch.
Yesterday I dedusted the controller wondering why I stopped playing.
I left the controller after having to go over several gold saucer mini games.
So. Much. Padding.
BTW, is revelations going to steam? I thought it was only on epic and piratebay.
It’sa very long and padded game. I enjoyed it but we came back to it and took breaks many times.
The game is also blurry on PS5 performance mode. Didn’t love the graphics compromises just to get it to run at 60 fps.
It is steam idk anything about epic because I don’t use it.
This did better than Tokon? That makes me pretty sad
Tokon launch has been a bumpy road & fighting games don’t sell like Sony Marvel IPs
😬 How the mighty have fallen since the PS2 days
Is Tokon classed as a first party? Isnt it technically a second party game, because it is developed by Arc who arent owned by Sony, but published by Sony?
This might be a lot but keep in mind the INSANE budget for this game so despite this it’s still nowhere near breaking even
Even the insane funds, it looks like it was a complete failure.
I suspect you may have seen the video of people going out of bounds in that one area? They were able to find larger portions of cities, small towns and so forth.
It looks like the game was originally meant to be open world or closer to it, but probably due to constraints they bailed on that.
I’m guessing that’s the source of a lot of people’s dislike.
Yeah I’ve seen the OOB areas. But I don’t think people dislike the game because it’s linear. Tho hearing the word “constraints” when talking about a $300mil+ budget is kinda funny.
What other exclusives did they release this year? Saros?
They also put out Ghost of Yotei and Marathon (yikes).
Marvel Tokon too if you count console exclusives that are also on PC.
Edit: Whoops, I forgot Ghost of Yotei was late last year. Unless you’re counting fiscal year starting in October I guess.
Marathon. The best game most people will never play.
It really is very good.
They’re reworking it into something else now in an attempt to salvage it, but for me personally, unless that involves being able to host the server myself, I’m not giving it the time of day.
I don’t know what Bungie was thinking putting all their effort into Marathon. People heard “extraction shooter PVP only” and checked the fuck out. Didnt help they delayed it and had the art theft debacle.
That game was going to struggle no matter how good it was at launch. THEN they stopped work on Destiny 2 right as Marathon came out despite Bungie promising the two games would co-exist and just pissed everyone off.
Masterclass in running a studio into the ground.
Destiny was running the studio into the ground regardless of Marathon. Behind the scenes reporting says it had been a while since Destiny turned a profit, and by the time The Final Shape came out, the damage was already done. The reason they’re not continuing with it is that it just burns through money.
How did they think it would be any different? - when they remove the entire beginning of the game and expect people to just watch ~15 hours of archived gameplay on YouTube to understand what is going on - they were never going to gain new players, even as F2P.
Yeah the whole studio has been run like shit for years. They’re looking to sublet their huge office after firing like half the company.
Way to fuck with classic IP too. I didn’t play back in the day because I didn’t have a Mac, but they were praised highly at the time.
Can you imagine if the id guys came back after 20 years and announced Doom was gonna be a hero shooter because those seem to be popular?
Eh. It was never meant to be a big game. Trying to turn it into a flagship after launch isn’t gonna work. I’m just glad I experienced it at launch and season 2 before they really start to tinker. I think that will have to be enough for me.
I would, but they don’t support my platform. Does that make me one of the “most people”? I am a “Linux Gamer”, therefore I am part of “most people”. We are not a niche platform after all it seems. :D
Marathon is not an exclusive.
True, forgot that abomination got a PC release too.
What are your top3 reasons it qualifies as „abomination“?
Other than the plagiarism, butchering of a classic IP, and fad genre bandwagoning?
It’s a grindy game in a genre that otherwise caters to F2P but comes with an extra $40 price tag. It’s also just plain bland and soulless, which really represents how far Bungie has fallen as a developer. The only thing they can really do is give bad consulting advice to other Sony studios on how to make live service games, which has not worked out yet for even one of them. And Destiny died for this game to happen.
Not to mention that it makes Sony money. Regardless of how defeatist it is or how little the general public cares, they remain on my personal “do not buy” list.
Have you played e.g. marathon 2? Since you haven bought it, I can assume you haven’t played Marathon, so it’s a bit weird you are so opinionated on it? Is it because you are a D2 player? Because i am playing that still. Its as alive as its ever been.
And Xbox.
Seems like an alright $5 buy down the road.
I’m not convinced it’s even worth my time, much less money.
Yeah, comparing to “no game is worth $60”, it is no better to buy a $5 game that will leave you unfazed for 15 hours. That just sounds like being a VG junkie.
For an example, I picked up Duke Nukem Forever for $5 knowing the reviews weren’t great and still felt ripped off.
Gotta save your money for the Stream Frame brudda. Every dollar counts 💀
Use the steam frame to pretend you have a home lab
It’s single player. I’ll pirate it and share it on soulseek for the world.
Hey that also works for me. I haven’t pirated a new game in years and have been itching to give it a go again to see how it is now. It being the piracy process of a new game in the modern day lol
It’s not on PC.
Emulators and time
Yup. I’ll be playing it for the story which ,from what I hear, is pretty solid. But I’m in no hurry.
Where have you heard that? I guess it depends on if you’re a comic book fan or not maybe? But anyone that likes/knows the characters has said (or so I’ve been told, could just be the circles I’m in) that it’s a massive disappointment.
To stay on Marvel games. Midnight Suns was far from perfect but extremely enjoyable… Pretty sure you can get it for 5$ now.
Just barely eking out heavy hitters like Marathon, Marvel Tokon or God of War Sons of Sparta I bet.
buddy of mine bought this and I went over to his place to play it. It’s boring. it holds your hand for everything and it’s impossible to fail QTEs so there’s just no point in doing them.
To be honest, the only good quick time event is the one you don’t have to do.
Flashbacks from Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy
Ah, but what you miss is that the game would be far too hard for DSP to complete otherwise. There will be no complaints of I PRESSED IT AND IT DIDN’T COUNT WHAT A STOOPID GAME and WHAAAT THE GAME DIDN’T TELL ME THAT.
Edit: Here is evidence that the game is way too hard. It tricks players into jumping off a cliff. However, DSP does appreciate that the motorcycle segment can complete itself with ease.
The masses of non passionate gamers don’t care the public perception or what the press has to say about a game. Especially so with popular franchises, see Pokemon, FIFA and Call of Duty as an example.
Do the math. If this game actually cost 300M, selling 2M copies at $70 does not even break even.
This shit flopped.
Proof that gamers have no spine (once again. See also Switch 2 and PS5 sales) and that online discourse holds no prediction of real world value.
What?? 2M is not a good number for a first-party Sony game. For example, God of War 2018 estimated to have sold 4M on PC alone.
They’re just having a shit year overall, so 2M is their best.
You think this id a good number? One of the reasons Sony dropped Kojima is supposedly that DS2 “only” sold 2M.
Tbf all of this bad press and 1.9 mil = maximum $120 million on a $300 million budget IS an extreme $180 million loss (so far)
Who among us can truly know what numbers lie in the hearts of AAA publisher executives? Mark my words, mere consumers can’t even begin to guess the immense scale of these numbers. They are numbers of cosmic magnitude we do not comprehend. Verily, even the executives in question have even vaguest idea of what they are actually asking for, unaware of the true import of their demands.
Spine for what?
The bar is really low…
Atleast a new Hideo Kojima game should be coming soon…
It’s always funny to see people on lemmy calling for boycotts, saying how stupid companies are for not making products they want to buy and predicting how badly things will fail only for the masses to completely ignore all this and spend money on the same shit as always.
I can’t imagine any reason to watch or play a game about american superheroes. Cringe asf.
Wolverine is Canadian.
can you share with the class any Canadian comic book heros?
Wolverine
although I agree with you. their point is that wolverine is an American hero because Marvel is an American company.
I’d like them to at least back up their claims with some evidence.
I mean, if you care that much about character or story in an action game, it’s probably a good idea not to pick it up to begin with, yeah.
The genre typically has bad to mediocre stories because the selling point is the gameplay anyway.
So glad I canceled my pre-order for this. A three minute quick time event where you don’t have to do a damn thing?! No thanks.
wow…shocking
well, not that shocking…
It’s so bad that it’s good in the end
Could be an echo effect. 90% of people don’t really pay attention to gaming media or hate trains - they just see a cool new game in stores while most of their attention is elsewhere.
The “echo” element would be that if most of their knowledge of gaming is from playing things, not reading about them, they may decide “Wow, Sony usually makes great stuff, but last one I bought wasn’t great. I may sit this out.” I sort of saw that with Assassin’s Creed Unity / Syndicate. Unity was shitty and released with terrible bugs, but Syndicate was sort of okay - and Syndicate was the one that saw lots of lost sales.
The level of comments here is no better than Reddit.
gamer culture is toxic as fuck.
yet another reason why I stopped playing multiplayer games.
It’s more or less a remake of the last Wolverine game, right? Even the intro, i remeber falling out of a plane in that one, too