Marvel’s Wolverine is having a much stronger launch than the online backlash around the game might suggest. Insomniac Games’ latest PlayStation exclusive has entered the top five best-selling games in more than 50 PlayStation Store regions, with the game currently sitting at No. 1 in markets including the UK, India, Mexico and Singapore.
The game launched on September 15, and the early player response on the PlayStation Store has also been notably positive. Marvel’s Wolverine currently holds a 4.84 out of 5 rating from more than 18,000 ratings on the US PlayStation Store. PlayStation says ratings and reviews come from verified owners of the game or item.
That is interesting because the game has received a much more mixed response from critics. Marvel’s Wolverine currently has a 77 Metacritic score, with criticism focused on its linear structure, repetitive combat and lack of the open-world freedom seen in Insomniac’s Spider-Man games.
But players are clearly still turning up for Logan. The Twitch numbers recorded by Techlomedia Gaming provide another indication of the attention around the launch. Marvel’s Wolverine currently has around 11,794 viewers watching 1,067 live channels, while its 24-hour and all-time peak has reached 220,418 viewers. That puts the game in a strong position on the streaming side as well, although Twitch viewership should not be treated as a direct measure of game sales.
The difference between the critic response and player activity is probably the most interesting part of Wolverine’s launch. The game has been criticised online for things such as its heavy objective guidance and some design choices, while other players appear to be more interested in the actual experience of playing as Wolverine. The game is built around a linear, single-player campaign with brutal combat and cinematic set pieces rather than the open-world formula used by Spider-Man.
There is also a simple factor that should not be ignored: Wolverine is one of Marvel’s most recognisable characters. A dedicated single-player Wolverine game from the studio behind Marvel’s Spider-Man was always going to attract significant attention, even if it did not completely match expectations.
The early PS Store rankings and Twitch numbers do not tell us how many copies of Marvel’s Wolverine have been sold. Sony and Insomniac have not announced official sales figures yet. However, they do show that the online criticism has not stopped players from buying, playing, and streaming the game.
