Sonic Boom sold just 490,000 copies on 3DS and Wii U

News from Sega hasn't been too cheerful of late, with the recent announcement that it's cutting jobs and shifting its focus to PC and digital games. The gloom continues with the publication of its quarterly earnings report, which reveals that Sonic Boom's combined sales amounted to just 490,000 copies on Wii U and 3DS.

This makes the game one of the poorest selling major releases in Sonic the Hedgehog's long history; as Polygon points out, the figures are even worse than 2013's Sonic: Lost World - another Nintendo exclusive, which sold 640,000 copies on the Wii U and 3DS.

The Wii U's relatively low install base compared to its predecessor certainly hasn't helped; by contrast, Sonic Colors, released for the much more successful DS and Wii in 2010, managed to shift more than 2m copies. But Sonic Boom's hostile reviews and bug-ridden release, particularly in its Wii U incarnation, surely contributed to its slow sales.

It was recently announced that the franchise is going mobile with the free-to-play infinite runner, Sonic Runners, which seems to chime with Sega's stated intention of withdrawing from the console market. Could this be the last big-budget game we'll see from Sonic? With Sega's current financial struggles, it's likely to be some time before it considers taking the franchise back to the drawing board again.

A sequel to the well-received and thoroughly enjoyable Sonic Generations could, however, be just the boost the series needs. Here's hoping we hear some good news from Sega soon.

Polygon