Aliens: Colonial Marines, subject of a lawsuit and universally panned – still one of Sega’s best sellers

A game whose infamy has now outgrown it, Aliens: Colonial Marines has been hit with everything from terrible reviews to class action lawsuits. TimeGate studios, the company who shared the development of the game with Gearbox have filed for bankruptcy and reportedly laid off there staff. So Aliens was a certified flop right?

Actually, Aliens: Colonial Marines was one of Sega’s best selling titles of the last financial year, which ended 31st March, with 1.31 million copies sold.

The rest of Sega’s financial report shows an annual profit of around £215 million – Sega hope to increase this to £310 million for the next financial year by focusing more on “ the field of digital game software, we will endeavor to shift our business structure with a view to adapting to changes in the business environment, including greater focus on the development of the field of digital game software for mobile phones, smartphones and PC downloading.” With their free-to-play online RPG Phantasy Star Online 2 garnering more than 2.5 million registered users and exceeding monetary forecasts, one can only wonder if the future for Sega involves free-to-play versions of their biggest franchises.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed was Sega’s best performing tile of the year, shipping 1.36 million copies. Not too many more than Aliens: Colonial Marines and, being released in November, it had a sizable head start.

The debate surrounding Aliens: Colonial Marines rumbles on – with what can only be considered strong sales, one has to wonder whether the review embargo in conjunction with Aliens well established IP meant that the game would sell regardless of how rubbish it was.

You can read about what the class action lawsuit against Aliens: Colonial Marines says about gamers here.

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