Marvel’s Wolverine has seemingly gone through the ringer. The critical reception was quite low for Insomniac Games and players have mocked it endlessly on social media, calling out its aggressive signposting and cherry-picking glitches to poke fun at. However, it appears as though it is selling relatively well, despite everything.
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According to estimates from gaming data firm Alinea Analytics, Marvel’s Wolverine has so far sold 1.9 million units on PS5 โ a total that combines both physical and digital sales โ and earned around $130 million. Around 22.9% of these sales were physical, which, at least at this point, probably bolsters PlayStation’s argument of games primarily being sold digitally.
This number makes more sense when juxtaposed against other PlayStation titles. It has already outsold Death Stranding 2: On the Beach on PS5, despite releasing over a year later, since that Kojima Productions title has reportedly only moved around 1.8 million units. Marvel’s Wolverine has bested other games like MLB The Show 26 (1.5 million on PS5), Saros (510,000 on PS5), Marathon (1.8 million on all platforms), and Marvel Tลkon: Fighting Souls (740,000 on PC and PS5).
Marvel’s Wolverine Sales Are Starting Off Strong
There are still questions, though: Do these sales hold somewhat steadily and what were PlayStation’s expectations? Given the aforementioned soft reviews, it’s possible sales begin to fall off faster than normal as the die-hards become more and more scarce. Insomniac has also committed to patching up the game and listening to feedback. Community and marketing director James Stevenson said the studio was “cooking hard,” implying that the oft-criticized “fart gas” scent trails are going to be toggleable. It’s possible that, with changes, reception for the game might improve a little, but it also entirely within the realm of possibilities that the original launch-era sentiment holds.
But, as previously stated, PlayStation’s expectations are going to have a considerable impact on whether or not the game is considered a success, at least within PlayStation. Moving around 1.9 million units in just a few days sounds solid, but, according to a leak from 2023, Marvel’s Wolverine was forecasted to cost around $300 million. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 โ which, according to that same leak, had a similar budget โ sold 2.5 million units in just 24 hours and became the “fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game in PlayStation history.” And despite that milestone (and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 continuing to sell well), Insomniac saw layoffs only a few months later.
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Image Courtesy of Xbox Game Studios
