With EA's Crysis 2 mostly regarded as the better game by gamers and the gaming press alike, that positivity hasn't translated into actual sales if sales data is to be believed.
Crysis 2 has a Metacritic rating of 84 on Xbox 360 and slightly higher on PS3 at 85 out of a maximum of 100. Whereas THQ's Homefront has a respectable rating of 70 on Xbox 360 and PS3.
Although Homefront has been in the chart for one more week than Crytek's shooter (as of the 16th April 2011), the figures speak for themselves. The Xbox 360 version to date (after 4 weeks of data) has sold in the region of 692,037 units, averaging at around 60,000 per week. Whereas Homefront proudly garners 1,046,013 sales after 5 weeks of chart data.
Looking at the PS3 versions and the differences aren't as stark, for example Homefront has sold 489,632 units and Crysis 2 a similar amount at 452,503 units.
It's interesting to see that THQ's shooter has performed more favourably on the Xbox 360 platform, and even more of a conundrum as to why it has sold more despite being rated lower than its rival. One possible reason for this is timing, whereby Homefront managed to release at a crucial point when there were no other new games other than Crysis 2 to challenge it. The other reason is THQ really pulled out all the stops leading up to the game's release with huge amounts of publicity for its new IP. This paid off and got people interested in their product, and in comparison the Crysis 2 publicity whilst still very visible, just was not as much. It just goes to show that clever marketing can tactical release scheduling counts for a lot in today's current climate.
Subject: Homefront kills Crysis 2 in sales totals 
Sat Apr 30, 2011 7:54 am