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LittleBigPlanet Takes ELSPA Gold

Rob Crossley's picture

By Rob Crossley

January 7, 2009

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LittleBigPlanet has been given gold status by industry group ELSPA, a milestone for games which sell over 200,000 copies in the UK.

Already described by Sony as an ‘evergreen’ game, LittleBigPlanet’s UK launch saw the title debut at fourth in the all-format top ten, sitting behind Fallout 3, FIFA 09 and Gears of War 2. Edge’s chart history shows that the title then fell out of the top ten just seven days later, casting an unflattering light on the title’s mainstream appeal.

Yet the game continues to sell steadily, with a TV spot campaign lifting sales of the game through the holiday season. ELSPA’s gold status is given to games which sell between 200k-300k copies in the UK, while our sources tell us that LittleBigPlanet – which was awarded the highest score in Edge and subsequently received the Best Game of 2008 award – is likely to enter platinum status (300k-600k sales) soon.

On each of ELSPA’s sales groups, each title represents a single-platform version, so while the 360 version of Fallout 3 makes gold, the PS3 version stays in silver. Other notable updates to ELSPA’s gold status list are the 360 version of Far Cry 2, and the PC boxed-retail edition of Wrath of the Lich King. Lionhead’s Fable 2 has reached platinum, while Wii Music and Resistance 2 keep to silver.

Back in November, both Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit joined ELSPA’s select group of diamond sellers, a standing for games that sell over one million units. ELSPA’s compiling of game sales began back in 1999, meaning the likes of Tomb Raider 2 and Ocarina of Time miss the list.

Garsync's picture
On January 7th Garsync said:

Two confusing statements here or I am missing something:

"is likely to enter platinum status (300k-600k sales) soon."

"Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit joined ELSPA’s select group of platinum sellers, a standing for games that sell over one million units . "

So how many does it have to sell to get to become Platinum?

Also what is the silver banding, 100k - 199k?

Rob's picture
On January 7th Rob said:

The record industry used to define a platinum seller as 1 million units until they started churning out garbage and no one would buy it. Then they dropped the requirements for "platinum" sales. They grade themselves on a curve now.

Rob Crossley's picture
On January 7th Rob Crossley said:
Thanks for the spot, Garsync. Here we are: "Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit joined ELSPA’s select group of diamond sellers, a standing for games that sell over one million units." http://www.elspa.com/?l=saleaward You're correct about the silver banding, though it may stretch to 200k, with gold beginning at 200,001.
Kimblebrook's picture
On January 7th Kimblebrook said:

My experience with LBP so far has been play for a while, put down for a while, pick up again and play some more, etc. I think I'll be going back to it for some years to come. It's a different value proposition to Fallout 3, which saw me locking the doors for a weekend and taking a Monday off. It's another part of what differentiates the game.

gyak's picture
On January 7th gyak said:

"LittleBigPlanet’s UK launch saw the title debut at fourth in the all-format top ten [...] Yet the game continues to sell steadily, with a TV spot campaign lifting sales of the game through the holiday season."

And it will last for years if MM brings us the good DLCs -- the MGS pack just showed what will come in 2009. Don't want compare sales with the mighty Gears 2, and don't want to sound like a douche fanboy, but frankly: that's the exact opposite as a business model. A Gears 2-type game enjoys high, short-term impact and fast decay. On the other end, LittleBigPlanet has lesser impact with a longer tail. (And this is what people like to forget when they talk about the game's 'failure'.) Can't wait how it will deliver in the long run.