The NPD Group has confirmed that EA's Facebreaker sold just 52,000 units in September across the Xbox 360 and PS3 combined. A Wii version called FaceBreaker K.O. Party is expected to launch in November.
Facebreaker's market performance was labeled "disappointing" by UBS analyst Ben Schachter. We agree. The game was supposed to represent what EA Sports could do with an all-new IP under its Freestyle brand. EA even went the extra step of putting EA Sports boss Peter Moore in the game. Somehow the game's over-the-top characters and arcade gameplay didn't click with consumers.
Ironically, EA Sports earlier this week issued a statement to boast about its improving Metacritic scores, but Facebreaker has an average score of 54 on Metacritic.