

The first major 2017 Japanese PlayStation VR exclusive didn’t turn out to be so major after all. Sony Interactive Entertainment and Acquire’s No Heroes Allowed! VR pushed just 5,462 units at retail in Japan in its debut week of sale, according to the latest Media Create report. This represents a complete collapse from the prior three physically released entries in the franchise:

[PSP] No Heroes Allowed! – 29,262 / 173,724

[PSP] No Heroes Allowed! 2 – 58,806 / 217,627

[PSP] No Heroes Allowed! 3D – 33,920 / 100,308

In addition to these main entries, the series has inspired multiple i-mode mobile phone titles, a PlayStation Mobile spinoff, and two free-to-play downloadable spinoffs on PlayStation Vita. Sony’s Forward Works division is currently developing another spinoff, No Heroes Allowed! DASH, for iOS and Android devices. The virtual reality outing has been the first time the franchise has been available on a home console and sales suggest it might be the last.

No Heroes Allowed! VR’s commercial failure comes in spite of the game’s viral appeal in Japan. Badmella, the teenage daughter of the overlord Badman, has enamored netizens with her cuteness. Tweets featuring clips from the game have garnered tens of thousands of retweets. The response has prompted Sony to rebrand the franchise’s official Twitter account to promote Badmella as the company offers design documents. Even Sony Interactive’s President of Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, decked out his Twitter account to support the title.

The release is the latest in a series of Sony’s under-performing handheld to home console. Ports of LocoRoco, Patapon, Tearaway and Gravity Rush were met with tepid sales. The latter’s PS4-exclusive sequel is having its online components shut down less than a year after launch. To say the company’s software has struggled in the Japanese market as a result of their exit of the handheld business would be an understatement. The game’s failure also raises the question of the market viability of VR-exclusive releases. If a first party title in a once successful series that received internet appeal and saw a promotional campaign couldn’t sell well, what can?

Sales data retrieved from Geimn.net

Note: Prior to the third PSP entry, the first two games in the series were localized as Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do To Deserve This? and Holy Invasion Of Privacy, Badman! 2: Time To Tighten Up Security! before being renamed What Did I Do To Deserve This, My Lord? with its sequel adding a number.