Sonic 4: Episode II is the 5th best selling PSN game last month


Sony has put up their chart for the top 20 best selling PSN games of last month. I actually thought Sonic 4: Episode II was going to at least come in at the top 3, but actually came in at number 5. Recently Sonic brand manager Ken Balough stated that Sonic 4: Episode I actually sold best on PSN, then XBLA and lastly Wii (which this one is not available for).

Want to see the top 20 list? Hit the jump. Note this is from the US Playstation blog, so probably only counts for US PSN.

1. The Walking Dead
2. Journey
3. PixelJunk Shooter
4. I Am Alive
5. Sonic The Hedgehog 4 Episode II
6. NBA JAM: On Fire Edition
7. Grand Theft Auto IV Digital
8. inFAMOUS Festival of Blood
9. Datura
10. PixelJunk Eden
11. PixelJunk Monsters
12. Flower
13. PixelJunk Racers 2nd Lap
14. Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City
15. Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock
16. Dead Rising 2 Off The Record
17. Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale
18. Castle Crashers
19. Gotham City Impostors
20. Fight Night Champion 

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20 responses to “Sonic 4: Episode II is the 5th best selling PSN game last month

  1. The Dead Skin says:

    Ken Belogough?! 8P

    Were you in that much of a hurry, George?

    • George says:

      Hahah I forgot what his last name was a put a place holder forgetting to edit it. Went out to smoke and came back to this.

      Now its edited. Sorry.

  2. Crazytails says:

    Feedback never proved a point. I hope this does, especially how well taxmans sonic cd did

  3. -nSega54- says:

    I’m not really expecting this to be a big-seller. Episode 1 I feel did well as an experimental download, (“hey, Sonic 4, I remember that, I’ll try it out”) but I didn’t expect many people to be compelled to return for the continuation, especially after such a long wait and bad word of mouth for part 1.

    Sega should have, for Sonic 4, released it from the start as a big retail title, of Episode 2’s quality, the size of 4 of these episodes. The Episodic structure was an interesting idea but I don’t think it really worked out for them, especially after what many saw as the poor quality of Episode 1.

  4. Aki-at says:

    For reference, Sonic 4: Episode 1 came in number 1 for PSN way back in October. I expect Episode 2 to be a bit of a letdown.

  5. SeanNOLA says:

    I think the real interesting (although not very SEGA-related) story here is what populates 6-20. I mean Flower is STILL in the top 20? Amazing.

  6. -nSega54- says:

    This is also why I don’t understand why there are some out there who think that Digital is the definitive solution for Sega….if their biggest franchise can’t even breach the Top 3 on a major digital service, then I dunno.

    • Aki-at says:

      You are not looking at other issues and just willing to accept only your viewpoint on the matter. Sonic 4 Episode 2 has been hit with bad reviews, mixed fanbase reaction and still feeling the effects of how terrible Episode 1.

      Compare this to Sonic CD, which had love and care put into it, excellent reviews and universal love from the fanbase, guess what happened? It was PSN’s number one seller for December 2011 and only left the chart towards the end of April.

      And just last week on Xbox Live, Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown entered the charts at 4th, with SEGA Bass Fishing coming in at 13th, Streets of Rage Collection at 15th and Sonic 4 Episode 2 was at 19th. Furthermore The House of the Dead 3 came in 3rd for February and 14th for March whilst The House of the Dead 4 came in at 5th for April.

      So far, outside of a few blips, this digital road SEGA has gone down has proved successful enough for them already.

    • CrazyTails says:

      Yeah, I think it took a long while, but the times where any crap sonic game would easily sell in the millions are over I think. SEGA and maybe more specifically sonicteam have been really careless with the franchise. This was always my greatest worry as I have always considered the bigger picture in my mind when I expressed myself about an average sonic game which I actually may have enjoyed to certain extents. In a way I think it’s good as it will pressure the company to do better, but on the other hand it is worrysome because it may not easily win back all the lost consumers when they finally do better.

      I understand the people that say, “as long I enjoy it I dont care”. Sadly things arent that simple. And at the end of the day, a high quality top notch unforgettable sonic game would be beneficial for everyone.

  7. -nSega54- says:

    “And just last week on Xbox Live, Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown entered the charts at 4th, with SEGA Bass Fishing coming in at 13th, Streets of Rage Collection at 15th and Sonic 4 Episode 2 was at 19th. Furthermore The House of the Dead 3 came in 3rd for February and 14th for March whilst The House of the Dead 4 came in at 5th for April.”

    Those are all old games, however, being re-released…their newly-developed digital content doesn’t seem to have been met with the same success.

    People may be willing to buy digital versions of old titles, but…

    • Aki-at says:

      Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown is not an old game, it is a port of a year old arcade title that never left Japan, so it should very well be considered a new game.

      But even then, so what? After Burner Climax was arcade only, came out and was a success, Virtual On, Guardian Heroes etc Xbox Live Arcade exclusives that came out and proved successful (One so successful gaining a retail release for its sequel) SEGA has a host of arcade titles that a limited amount of people have played due to the lack of a arcade near their homes, so finding success there is crucial. A lot of the userbase probably never played The House of the Dead 4, they can now.

      Finally, SEGA’s success on EXCLUSIVE digital content has proved to be successful at times, Kingdom Conquest proved so successful it got a retail release in Japan, Spiral Knights enjoys a good solid following, Yakuza GREE has done well enough and the original Sonic the Hedgehog 4 before the backlash was a great seller. Phantasy Star Online 2 points to all indications of being a major title for SEGA.

      In September we will see how Hell Yeah! does followed by the Cave, but early indications show that they are doing much better in digital.

  8. Hitrax says:

    Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown is excellent, it’s the most accessible VF yet but still continues to more extremely the most intelligent fighter out of the entire genra, check out Edge Online’s review of the game, staggeringly beautiful…

    • BigBoss says:

      Agreed, There’s one word that sums up Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown: economy. In the literal sense, it’s great value for money, with the roster, modes, and online features of a full-price game for less than £10. More to the point, though, it flies in the face of modern fighting game conventions – there are no comeback mechanics to deploy, no super meters to manage and no teammate assists here. It uses half as many buttons as Capcom’s recent brawlers, and is easy to understand at a basic level, but despite all that Final Showdown is a fighting game of staggering, endless depth. Stated.

  9. -nSega54- says:

    Isn’t Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown just an updated version of Virtua Fighter 5, or am I just missing something here?

    Anyway, like I said, people seem to have an interest in re-living past Sega titles, that can’t be denied. It will be interesting to see if titles like Hell Yeah and the Cave find similar success, since new games tend to not only be priced higher than re-releases, but they’re not something that’s proven. People already know that they like Virtua Fighter 5, they’ve played it in the past and it’s a safe purchase; they don’t know yet whether they’ll like The Cave or not, and unlike retail, you can’t trade in digital games if you don’t like them.

    • Kesh says:

      Personally, from what I’ve played so far, I feel it’s more of a new game than an update, only thing it has in common really is that it uses the same engine, albeit, a much better fine tuned superior engine, with stacks of new moves and animations and customisation.
      But that’s just my opinion, although I have spoken to more people who also share my views too.

    • Kesh says:

      *Plus at that price, you can hardly complain even if it was an update, it’s good value.

  10. Hento says:

    Me too.

  11. -nSega54- says:

    I don’t think anyone’s saying that the game’s not a good value, the point I’m making is that it’s easy for a game (like Sonic CD, for example) costing $5 to sell well on a digital service. When you’re talking about titles like Hell Yeah and The Cave, though, which will sell for probably 3 times that much, and which are not proven titles like VF5, I worry that Sega won’t have the same success.

    Especially seeing Sonic 4: Episode 2 struggle at that price.

    • Taika says:

      Firstly, Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown has new music, new stages and new characters + stats. It is mostly a new game.

      Second Sonic the Hedgehog 4 struggled because of reasons I pointed out. There is also a reason why Sonic Rush Adventure struggled on the DS, despite it coming off of Sonic Rush.

  12. Aki-at says:

    I have no idea what my name came up like that.

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