Sega encouraged by Vanquish sales

Publisher Sega has issued cautious optimism regarding the success or otherwise of its recently released new IP Vanquish.

Developed by cult studio Platinum Games under the stewardship of Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami, the game has received rave reviews from critics and is a great example of a Japanese-developed title being sculpted very much with the Western market in mind.

However, the game failed to break into the UKIE GfK Chart-Track All Formats Top 40 this week, managing just 12th place.

It’s been in the marketplace for two days, we’ve seen the day one numbers and we’re reasonably encouraged, but I think we need to see the rest of week one and probably week two just to see how it’s going to play out,” Sega West president and CEO Mike Hayes told IGN.

The challenge is that it’s a new franchise and that it’s releasing head-to-head with a lot of established franchises in the busiest time of the year.”

New IP traditionally has a rough time in the market, and Vanquish is not the only title in recent weeks to face a tough fight in the battle for commercial success.

Namco Bandai’s Enslaved was also popular with critics and did manage to break into the UK Top Ten in its first week, but sales have quickly tailed off leading to open disappointment from some execs at the publisher.