During its
first four days on sale in the US,
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure sold approximately 30,000 copies. A week later, it had
added 15,000 to that total. Hardly breathtaking figures in a nation with over
3.7 million Wiis in its bedrooms and living rooms, and the game also
struggled to leave a mark in its homeland, where it is known as
Takarajima Z: Barbaros no Hihou. There's no doubt about it:
Capcom's splendid piratey adventure has, as much as it saddens us, flopped.
On the face of it, the game's commercial failure might seem odd. After all,
Zack & Wiki earned
eye-catching scores from a number of reviewers, while IGN's Matt Casamassina loved it so much, he
frothed and raved about it non-stop for four months, before slapping a 90% on it come review time. Its
bright, attractive visuals,
cute character design, and
puzzley action were seemingly the perfect ingredients for massmarket appeal. Ultimately however, it sank faster than a holed galleon.