PSP Loco Roco Bombs in Japanese Debut (News)

GamePro staff, GamePro

08/08/2006 11:27:47

Sony's colorful Loco Roco, a puzzle game that made a big splash at the 2006 Game Developers Conference, has made a disappointing debut in the Japanese game market.

TheStreet.com describes the PSP puzzler as "dead-on-arrival" in a recent report on Nintendo's success in the Japanese market. Describing Loco Roco as "a methodically constructed copy of a typical Nintendo title," TheStreet.com notes that the game debuted to "barely 30,000-unit weekly sales" in Japan. Another quirky PSP game, Bleach, debuted to similarly disappointing sales.

The game's poor showing is "particularly galling" to Sony, the article writes, as the game was carefully designed to mimic Nintendo's bright, fun, friendly look and feel. But as the article mentions, Japanese consumers "aren't buying the Sony-in-Nintendo's-clothing act."

There's more bad news for Sony on the Japanese front: the article describes how the PSP has been left on "life support" from older franchises like Monster Hunter and Wipeout. And the DS Lite's explosive sales this summer are likely to "hammer the last nails into PSP's coffin," the article concludes.

Loco Roco was release here in Australia in June, and there is no word yet on how well the games has sold on our soil. Stick with GamePro.com.au for more on this worrying trend.