“Balan Wonderworld Lives”: Square Enix’s Infamous Flop Achieves a Unique Sales Milestone

In a bizarre and headline-grabbing twist, the highly publicized critical and commercial failure, Balan Wonderworld, reportedly sold a single new copy—total—in the United States during the month of September. The information, shared by Circana video game industry analyst Mat Piscatella, has provided a moment of dark humor for the gaming community.

The analyst’s comment perfectly captured the sheer improbability of the sale: “Somebody made the conscious decision to pick up that game… thought, yes, yes I must have this, took it to a register, had it run up, exchanged money for it. It must have been a joyous day for Balan Wonderworld.” The lone sale serves as a strange, yet fitting, epilogue for a game that has become synonymous with a spectacular video game flop.

The 2021 3D platformer, directed by Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Yuji Naka, was a major commercial disappointment for Square Enix, failing to crack top sales charts in any major region upon its release, with initial sales figures in Japan reportedly under 2,100 copies.

The Curious Case of the Sole September Buyer

The sale, while statistically negligible for Square Enix’s Q3 fiscal report, highlights several interesting facets of the long-tail life of a deeply discounted, widely panned retail game:

• Discontinued Retail Copies: Reports indicate that physical retail copies of Balan Wonderworld have been largely discontinued, meaning the September sale was likely the final, heavily discounted copy unearthed at a retailer—perhaps a collector seeking a physical copy or a player hunting for a curiosity on the cheap.
• The “Mid” Misnomer: The irony of the original headline calling it the “most mid” Square Enix game is lost on no one. In the context of gaming discussion, the low quality of the platformer is often debated—many argue that “mid” is too generous, suggesting it is an outright bad or deeply flawed game, not merely a mediocre one.
• A Collector’s Item: In an era of rampant digital game purchases, acquiring a physical copy of a game this notoriously poor can become a badge of honor for collectors or YouTubers specializing in “so bad it’s good” content.

The legacy of Balan Wonderworld remains a complicated one for its director, Yuji Naka, who reportedly left Square Enix shortly after the game’s release amid alleged internal conflict over its quality and was later arrested on charges of insider trading unrelated to the game.

Industry Context: The Long Tail of Sales and Competition

The single sale of Balan Wonderworld stands in stark contrast to the massive digital sales volume reported for new releases in September 2025. The same month saw:

• Hollow Knight: Silksong reportedly selling over 4 million copies on Steam alone, becoming a multi-million-dollar breakout.
• Borderlands 4 pulling in massive revenue as the top-grossing new title on Steam.
• A host of other indie and AAA titles achieving strong revenue growth.

The solitary transaction for Balan Wonderworld—years after its launch and with a full understanding of its critical reception—is less a sign of renewed interest and more a quiet indicator of the unpredictable nature of video game sales data at the far end of a product’s life cycle. It proves that even the most maligned games have at least one dedicated buyer, no matter how long after release.