Initial sales data for Marvel’s Wolverine has been shared by PlayStation, and it might be a cause for concern when looking ahead to future X-Men projects from Insomniac Games. Long before Wolverine ever released, leaks stemming from Insomniac suggested that the PlayStation studio already had broad plans for a trilogy of X-Men titles. While this series would begin with Wolverine, the franchise would continue in the years to come with two sequels simply known internally as “X-Men 2” and “X-Men 3”. And although these plans could still be in place at Insomniac, sales for Wolverine could prompt PlayStation to rethink this approach.
As of this week, PlayStation revealed in its latest financial report that Marvel’s Wolverine has currently sold 2.4 million copies in total. Broadly speaking, PlayStation seemed to be pleased with how Wolverine has done, but as the brand’s biggest PS5 exclusive of the year, it’s hard to not think that these sales are a bit softer than anticipated.
To put these sales for Wolverine into further context, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 sold a whopping five million units less than two weeks after its launch in 2023, with the original Marvel’s Spider-Man topping the three million mark in mere days. Although Spider-Man is easily a much more popular character than Wolverine, and the T rating for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 makes it a more accessible title to younger audiences, it still shows just how large the gap is between Insomniac’s superhero games.
Moving forward, Wolverine could end up having strong legs, especially with the holiday season approaching. Still, based on how it has performed out of the gate, it’s already quite apparent that the game likely won’t reach the same heights as other PS5 exclusives such as God of War Ragnarok, Horizon Forbidden West, and Ghost of Yotei.
With this in mind, it will be curious to see what PlayStation decides to do with Insomniac and its long-term X-Men strategy. Given how costly AAA development has become, PlayStation is at a point where it needs all of its biggest releases to sell at an incredibly high rate in order to turn a profit. This is even more true for games like Marvel’s Wolverine and Marvel’s Spider-Man, as these titles are licensed franchises and necessitate PlayStation paying Marvel a fee to work on them to begin with. As a result, the margins on a game like Marvel’s Wolverine are almost certainly much slimmer than normal, and if PlayStation expects that future X-Men games could be the same, it might decide to move away from investing time and money into these projects to begin with.
How do you feel about these sales so far for Marvel’s Wolverine? And do you expect Insomniac to still develop its upcoming X-Men games? Let me know for yourself down in the comments section.
