Who Bought Balan Wonderworld? One Person In The U.S. This September

Here is a sentence I never expected to type: two different games sold exactly one new copy in the US last month. One of them is Balan Wonderworld. Yes, that Balan Wonderworld.

The one-copy wonder

According to Circana analyst Mat Piscatella, who shared the stat on Bluesky, Square Enix platformer Balan Wonderworld moved a grand total of one new copy in the US in September. He painted a very specific picture of that purchase:

"Somebody made the conscious decision to pick up that game (maybe even ask an associate to open the case), then looked at it, thought, yes, yes I must have this, took it to a register, had it run up, exchanged money for it and carried it home!"

Balan Wonderworld has been fighting gravity since launch in 2021. It failed to crack the top 30, or even top 40, sales charts in Japan, North America, or the UK. The hook was whimsical: two magical kids, costume changes that grant abilities, and a mission to spread good vibes. Mechanically, it is not far from Nintendo's 2024 release Princess Peach: Showtime!, which also leans hard on costume-driven powers.

Behind the scenes, things got messier. Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka led the project but later sued Square Enix in 2022 over what he said was an attempt to remove him as the game's director. Around that time, in machine-translated comments, he claimed co-developer Arzest and publisher Square Enix "do not care about games and game fans." Naka was eventually arrested for insider trading.

Also selling exactly one

In the same September tally, Piscatella said Imagine Babyz sold one new copy in the US too. He described it as a 2007 Nintendo 3DS sim, which is a funny platform-year combo on its face, but the gist is clear: a very old babysitting game popped up on the retail radar. If you never played it, you act as teen babysitters handling bathtime, wrangling tiny sneakers, the whole deal.

Meanwhile, PlayStation is doing just fine

For a little perspective: Piscatella also noted that in just five years, PS5 has already outsold a full decade of PS3 sales in the US. And it managed that without fresh entries from franchises like Valkyria Chronicles, MotorStorm, or LittleBigPlanet. Hardware momentum is up even if some of the old tentpoles have been quiet.

By the numbers

• Balan Wonderworld: 1 new copy sold in the US in September (Circana, via Mat Piscatella on Bluesky)
• Imagine Babyz: 1 new copy sold in the US in September
• PS5 vs. PS3: PS5 surpassed a decade of PS3 US sales in just five years