It's never a nice feeling, getting picked last. But, since middling Square Enix platformer Balan Wonderworld sold only one new copy – total – in the US in September, there really wasn't any other option.
"Somebody made the conscious decision to pick up that game (maybe even ask an associate to open the case)," imagined Circana video game industry analyst Mat Piscatella, who shared the news on Bluesky, "then looked at it, thought, yes, yes I must have this, took it to a register, had it run up, exchanged money for it and carried it home!"
It must have been a joyous day for Balan Wonderworld, which reportedly failed to crack the top 30, or even top 40, sales charts in Japan, North America, or the UK when it launched in 2021. Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka led the doomed project, in which two magic siblings absorb power from theater costumes and work to spread happiness; Nintendo's 2024 Princess Peach: Showtime! functions similarly.
Naka later said in 2022 – around the time he was suing Square Enix for trying to have him removed as Balan Wonderworld's director – that co-developer Arzest and publisher Square Enix "do not care about games and game fans," according to our machine translation. Naka was eventually arrested for insider trading.
Less sordid is the tale of 2007 Nintendo 3DS sim Imagine Babyz, which Piscatella says also sold just a single new copy in September. In that game, players are teen babysitters who do things like give their babyz bathtime and put on their sneakers. I thought it was OK when I was 10, but I preferred Imagine Gymnast.
