The Force Unleashed Breaks Sales Record Despite Low Review Scores

The Force Unleashed broke two sales records this week by becoming the fastest-selling Star Wars title as well as the fastest selling Lucasarts title in the history of the company.

Despite a Metacritic average of a measly 72 (of a possible 100) for Xbox 360 and 69 for the Playstation 3 it has managed to push out a massive 1.5 million copies in it’s first five days on the shelves. Not only does this give us all a good display of how powerful a brand can be, but also how brands and marketing are able to trump review scores almost every time.

I reviewed the game on Xbox 360 for this site and I can honestly say that I am glad that people are buying it, mostly because I think that it’s a fine game and one that a casual console gamer will easily enjoy. The fact of the matter is that review scores can only go so far and to be honest, most of the consumers out there don’t read game reviews.

It’s only the hardcore gamers that keep themselves up to date with review scores, not the casuals. In this day and age, which has gaming taking over as the largest entertainment industry we have to realise that the casuals are overtaking us regular gaming folk. Then again, how many people rush out to watch new movies without taking a look at the review scores either, I know I do.

Games cost a ton more than movie tickets though, which means that an impulse-buy could sting significantly more if the game is not all that you had hoped.

source: 1UP

Last Updated: September 26, 2008