OH SHI-
Oh man...The game was lacking in content so those low sales are understandable, 6 hours Campaign, almost no unlockables, and no MP.
I'm pretty sure Multiplayer would have helped the game greatly.
This was supposed to be a game appealing to the west, yet it sold lot less than Bayonetta which was Japanese through and through 
I guess you should just concentrate on making good games rather than appealing to the west.
Timing had a lot to do with it, Vanquish went up against literally the biggest names in the industry. Bayonetta had a very good release schedule with it's only real major competition being DarkSiders. I do think multiplayer would have helped the game sell a lot though, even a tacked on one would have. It worked for Stranglehold!
To me, the design just feels as if they purposely did not finish everything they wanted to do, so that a sequel would be able to improve on a lot without seeming like a pointless second release, I feel Bayonetta had somewhat similar design. If you think about that for a moment, it is actually really brilliant, instead of just wasting all of your resources on making the best game possible you make a damn fine one and leave room to make one that improves but does not make the original pointless.
I bet this just really blows Inafune's mind right now. Everything he think he knows is falling apart right in front of him. That is the only good thing about Vanquish failing.
