Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect - "MARVEL'S WOLVERINE SOLD 1.9 MILLION COPIES IN THREE DAYS, DESPITE MASSIVE CRITICISM"

Episode Date: September 29, 2026

Linktree: ⁠https://linktr.ee/Analytic⁠Join The Normandy For Ad-Free NME, Additional Bonus Audio And Visual Content For All Things Nme+! Join Here:⁠ ⁠⁠https://ow.ly/msoH50WCu0K⁠ In this segment of Notorious Mass Effect, analytic dreamz examines Marvel's Wolverine sales and launch performance after its September 15, 2026 release. Alinea Analytics estimates 1.9 million copies and about $130 million in three days, including roughly 1 million digital pre-orders and 22.9% of revenue from physical copies. Sony and Insomniac have not confirmed the figures. The breakdown compares Wolverine with other 2026 PlayStation releases, Death Stranding 2, and Spider-Man 2, then covers mixed reviews, a 77 Metacritic score, audience markets, PS Store rankings, physical-media implications, and possible later catalysts. Strong opening demand is clear; lifetime results remain unproven.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/analytic-dreamz-notorious-mass-effect/exclusive-contentPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Shepard, promise me you'll tell them to subscribe for free content. Now, of course, when getting into the short man, when knobs coming out of his knuckles, I mean, getting into the respectful, the iconic Marvel legend that is Wolverine. As of course, I do have my jokes about Wolverine, but at the end of the day, if you're a connoisseur of notorious mass effect, you already know that I have a huge superhero nerd. So you're probably wondering to yourself. Well, have you played the game? And ladies and gentlemen, of course not.

Who in the world? Why don't you ask me that? I feel so disrespectful. You know what I'm saying? When it comes to the disrespected nature of me looking at no Spider-Man 2 DOC, I just say to myself, I mean, time and time again. You know what I'm saying? The state of gaming is that I need my Spider-Man 2-D-L-C expeditiation.

All right, now with that out the way, ladies and gentlemen, I have not had hands-on-times with Wolverine. When it comes to notorious mass effect, of course, we get into the gaming and music IPs that notoriously affect the masses. So we get into the analytical reviews, but we get into the analytical sales roundup and, of course, the review round-ups. But usually my personal hands-on-time is like an additive, right? And with a superhero game like Wolverine, you would definitely expect me to play it.

But of course, I just told, hey man, I just told y'all. Because when you beat E-Folk, what do they do? We beat them. Because when you look at PlayStation specifically, of course, they've had a lot of interesting marketing tactics.

Let's just put it like that. One of the more interesting marketing tactics I've ever seen in the gaming industry, they said, no more disc. You know what I'm saying? They just came out and said, oh, you like owning things? Well, guess what? If you want to own it,

you can still buy a divinely. you can still buy the CD but not for the game for the soundtrack you guys see that's the problem of course with Wolverine this does not

apply to that but in totality PlayStation going towards the digital only route had a lot of people upset even myself I've covered it and talked about it as far as why PlayStation not having physicals is such a big deal but hey we're here to talk about

Wolverine, but I believe that all plays a part, which is why I even mentioned it. As of course, when I covered it, July 5th, 2026, as far as PlayStation ending, physical disc production for all new games, this is the type of outcome that I definitely foreseen, foresaw, anyways, basically, I knew that this type of venture all was going to come for a game if it was mediocre coming out of the PlayStation exclusive umbrella, because you notice, this is one of the first PlayStation exclusive games to come out since that whole debacle. I mean, it's a big deal. I mean, even PlayStation reached out to developers talking about the whole physical aspect. And I think they ran like a whole poll as far as PlayStation asking developers how they felt

about no physical copies. And none of them loved it. I mean, when they talked about them, I think it's right here. So basically, when you look at physical sales, it's 22.9% of revenue, according to Alenia, Alenia analytics. Hopefully. I'm saying that right. But basically showcasing that physicals aren't just obsolete. Sony just doesn't want you to own anything. They may say like, oh, it's just because of budget cuts or it makes sense from a logistic standpoint. 22.9% is a lot of your overall revenue and it's all from physical copies. So when you look at Wolverine having a physical copy, some would say that would make, you know, bygones be bygones. Maybe Wolverine wouldn't catch the victory or all that Sony is catching

right now because of them not having physical copies at least wolverine has it right ladies and gentlemen that did not stop them from hating as of course when it came to the scent trail analytic dreams video on spotify to see the video along with the audio because there's a particular video shout out to this content creator i think it's skill up no do i have him on here i don't have him on here um but anyways uh skillup had a review and basically he showcased a scent trail and ladies and gentlemen when i tell when i tell you that's one of the anti-insomniac marketing tactics I've ever seen. Because of course, from a skill of perspective, he's just telling the truth. But what it turned into was something even bigger than him as far as people using that

solid critique from people who had from a person that had hands on time with the game to push a different agenda as far as insomnia completely being inadequate of making a solid Wolverine game. because you look at the game, I'm showing gameplay right now, but you look at the game, there's nothing about the game that just says it's just straight up atrocious. Now, of course, is it an 8, 9 out of 10? Maybe not, right?

But when you look at the game, a lot of people are talking about the visual aspects of a game, and for me, looking at it, I'm like, this is not a, this is not trash? Why are everybody killing it? You know what I'm saying? Of course, you can see why people would critique it, but from a visual aspect,

a lot of people was killing it, like it was just some type of PlayStation 2 game, like the scent trail just didn't make any sense in the world, wherein every single Wolverine video game adaptation, his senses have to be exaggerated to showcase that is above everybody else's. It's not like to, it's not normal. You know, this man be sniffing everything from across the planet. Well, not planning it, but you get the point.

So the reason why I say that is because me as a superhero nerd, I was already not going to play this because I had my own gripes with Insomnia. They did not finish the Spider-Man 2 DLC. But when you look at the Wolverine game in totality, I did not have hands on time, but from a masses perspective, apparently the game is solid and does not deserve the hate that it's getting,

but also, it's not like it's a game of the year contender. I think because we're in the year of such tremendous games, whether it's Pragmata, whether it's Onimusha, I'm trying to think of other ones. What's some top-tier games as far as a game of the year? I mean, 007 was solid, but I don't know if it was game of the year. Of course, JETs,

six is coming out. I guess you definitely have to say Resident Evil Requiem. I'm trying to think of other games. I can't think, I mean, that's just off the top of my head. But basically, we're in a very pack year. I mean, let me just go to the charts right now because that was one of the things I was going to bring up. Because of course, on PlayStation, they have like 60% of the console market share, right? So this is basically a depiction of where all the ball and gun games are playing, right? So when the branching out playing Wolverine, this is a tremendous game to them. But to all the people who actually play other games, I think

they start to realize that Wolverine's just not cutting it when comparing it to those type of games. Oh, I even forget a game that just came out, Control Resonant. Apparently that's a game of the year contender. So when you look at Wolverine, people are who are in the gaming community

as far as the variety of games, they are basically saying that it's not shaping up to be one of the game of the year type of installments that they was hoping from Insomniac. I think their expectations was a little too high. I don't think the scent trails was too crazy. A lot of people blew that out of proportion, in my opinion.

Wolverines heightened sense is like a thing that needs to be obviously showcased. So the handholding from Insomniac makes sense because, fun fact, I did play all the Spider-Man games, obviously. I'm a huge Spider-Man fan. But when it came to the Spider-Man, games. There's a lot of handholding. That game is very easy. I always play Spotted Man on the hardest difficulty now because, oh, I'm just a sweat trying to beat the game at as high as to get the achievement. It's just because the game's very easy.

So whenever the opinions get to be inconsistent, you start to realize that I think they have an agenda against Insomnia, which brings me back to my point about Insomnia facing a lot of vitriol that I don't think is warranted. Because remember, they went through an entire league in December 2023, which I have a lot of. was a huge deal when it happened. It still is a huge deal. I think it's one of the main reasons we didn't get Spider-Man 2 DLC. But basically, employees, passports, addresses were exposed, employees were doxed for no reason, mind

you. Wolverine plot was showcased that, you know, you can literally have a playable build, early build back in 2023. That's how bad the leaks got. So, and then you came to realize their entire roadmap was showcased. as far as Spider-Man 3, an X-Men trilogy, new Ratchet and Klank game, Marvel licensing slash financial terms,

were leaked entirely. This leak was one of the biggest things we've ever seen in the gaming industry. Well, no, we're not talking about CyberLeak versus Rockstar because he was shaping up to be a Joker-level villa, but he ended up being like the wheel from Spider-Man. You know, shout to my Spider-Man fans out there. But basically, he didn't shape up to be what the leakers

from Insomniac ended up doing. So to continue, they had delayed their plans because of industry, security overhauls needing to happen because they hacked everything. Massive spoilers for multiple games. People called Wolverine Trash back then. And that was an early build of the game. That wasn't even something that was even thought of to be showcased yet. Imagine three years before this final product and you see in the game. I mean, everybody was judging it like it was the first.

full game out. So when you look at that and the sense of insomniac receiving eye, I feel like unfair criticism, just unfair vitre of from gamers. For me, you know, personally, I have my personal gripes with them, you know, as far as no Spider-Man 2, DLC,

but I think there's a clear distinction in somebody who has a gripe, like myself, and just says it, moves on, versus people who hammer home the point time and time again. Day after day, week after week. It's almost like they pay their bills off of hate the way that they had this

whole hate train for Insomniac. I'm not even caping for them because, of course, I'm going to keep it reiterating. I didn't play Wolverine because they didn't finish Spider-Man, too, so I had my own gripes. But guess what? I just didn't play it. You know what I didn't come out on notorious mass effect trying to capitalize off of Wolverine coming out. I'll be like, hey, man, look at me. I'm not playing it. Centrail Wolverine trash. Insomnia don't know what they're doing. Like when it comes to hate, I think there's a clear agenda being pushed whenever there's people coming out and hopping on the popular way of criticizing the scent trails and showcasing how the game is just not up to what they thought it was going to be, right? Even though it was a solid game, people would review this game like it was just straight up garbage. So that leads me to my next point.

A lot of the Sony vitriol that's been happening is. warranted, right? Like Sony has a brand. Because then you look at Kojima. Kojima, if you don't know, he made the game Death Stranding back in 2019. Then he made Death Stranding 2 in 2025.

This is a 30-year partnership between Kojima and PlayStation. And then Fisint was announced with Sony January, 2024. And basically, when it comes to that specifically, Sony ended funding for his game with no reason.

given. You guys. See, that's the problem. I mean, I just know Kojima was just sitting back saying to himself because at the end of the day, Kojima is one of the more respected figures in the gaming industry.

So not only is Sony coming off of ending physical disc, not only are they coming off having a very messy breakup with Kojima and also, if you don't know, he joined Xbox. So he found a new girlfriend pretty quick. And then, of course, you have this Wolverine debacle I mean, PlayStation is going through it, and I think Wolverine was just one of the casualties of the PlayStation were going on right now.

So with that being said, ladies and gentlemen, the sales are still phenomenal. I kid you not. As I already showed you where it ranked as far as PlayStation specifically, it's the fourth most play game on PlayStation as you can see right now. Analytic Dreams video on Spotify to see the video along with the audio. But as you can see, it's still the fourth most play game on PlayStation. So as far as all of the word of mouth, not being the most positive, it's still selling pretty solid. I think people look at certain reviewers and they start to see the agenda being pushed and they just want to try it out for themselves because for themselves. Because Wolverine is a very beloved character.

I would argue he's definitely number two. But I would argue that he's right after Spider-Man because Spider-Man is number one by far. Like people talk about Big Three and Marvel. I posed that question before it. I couldn't really come up with a big three for Marvel in today's age. I think there's Spider-Man and the rest of the league. I think Spider-Man is like a superstar in the Marvel franchise, and Wolverine is probably like a consistent all-sword.

But everybody else is around that same level of Wolverine, in my opinion. Now, I do put respect on Wolverine's name because back in the day, I say back in the day like I'm super old. But when it comes to Wolverine being on the X-Men team, as far as the animated show, he was definitely the main draw, and you had that going on, you had the Spider-Man animated show going on,

and there was another one. I forget what the other one was. But basically, X-Men and Spider-Man was running themes for quite some time. Oh, and then there was Hulk. Hulk had a lot of spin-offs and stuff because he was so popular, right? So that used to be the big three.

Safe to say, MCU did air-repairable damage to Hulk. When it comes to Wolverine, he's still as popular as he used to be, but Spider-Man's, just in the league of its own. I mean, somebody just got to say it. So I don't think Marvel has a big three. The reason why I say that is because Spider-Man sold approximately 20 million copies. And that, well, I'm talking about the classic insomnia X Spider-Man that came out in 2018. The biggest PlayStation exclusive ever is God of War from 2018 as well with 23 million copies. I mean, 2018 was a great

time to be a PlayStation owner, which is why I believe they're still leading the console war packed by like 60%. I think that was the start of PlayStation ultimately winning the console war when they had Marvel Spider-Man and God of War back-to-back. I mean, the FOMO was just through the roof. And then, of course, you had God-War, Ragnarck selling 15 plus million copies,

which made it the third best-selling game as far as the PlayStation exclusive. He had Spider-Man 2 and 2023 being a fourth-most play game as far as a PlayStation exclusive selling 11 million plus copies and 1.2 billion lifetime revenue. Still, of course,

increasing as of 2022 going forward and then you have goes to tashima at number five as far as nine to eleven million units now of course the reason why i say that is because wolverine came out the gate and so 1.9 million copies in the verse three games but then you come to realize you guys with everybody hating on it obviously it's not it's not going to have the longevity as these other games as far as a god of war a spider man a ghost of tashima etc so even somebody came out forget i think i have the actual quote so yeah um alinea analysts oh yeah because that's a call back to the alenia analytics i had at the beginning of segment but basically the analyst from that company

rius elliott i think that's his name uh expects wolverine to continue selling but argues his long time performance may not reach spider-man levels because of mixed reception now if you don't know usually the ip can sell itself if it's as big as a character like wolverine but then you come to realize the longevity of the Wolverine game definitely depends upon the word of mouth and it's just not the greatest right now especially with everybody making a big deal over the Central right so in totality Wolverine would end up just being a solid installment into this PlayStation exclusive umbrella but it's not blowing any statistical records out of the water it's basically a mediocre game from an objective standpoint as far as numbers-wise.

But subjectively, I mean, it's up to you to decide that. But subjectively, the masses collectively have said it's either really bad, really good, there's no in between, which is insane. So, well, honestly, the people who say it's really good, they still have the gripe. So I would say it's like in the middle. But you get the point. Like, people are just really opinionated about a video game that you already knew wasn't going to provide too much as far as a unique

or a pushing the envelope type of perspective. Wolverine is literally a brawler with knives coming at his knuckles. I don't know what people expect it. Like they expect them to teleport back and forth. Did they expect Gene to be a playable character for a majority of the game? Like it's titled Wolverine. The leaks for insomnia showcase that they are planning an X-Man trilogy. I think the grace needs to be given to Wolverine

because he's just not, in my opinion, I know they've had a movie tie-in game that was pretty solid as far as from a Wolverine aspect. But this particular game, I believe, whilst the story, from a viewer perspective, because I haven't had hands on time, but I have seen the story in totality, from a story aspect, they could have did a lot more.

I think the aspect of Wolverine not being a part of the X-Men at the start of the game was a huge misstep. If Spider-Man's already established an old and already-be majority of his rose gallery, why does the X-Men not exist? Like, it just doesn't make sense. Like, we're talking about timeline. This Wolverine is in the same universe as the old Spider-Man. Spider-Man may end up being a professor X for the X-Men team.

I mean, if you want to line up the timelines, when you look at it, it makes no sense Spider-Man than worked his whole Rose Gallery and the X-Men hasn't even formed yet. Like, what's actually going on? You guys. Like, what's going on? See, that's the problem. So at the start of the game, I would have changed the storyline completely. Wolverine needs to be a part of the X-Men. I don't even care if you call it.

Yeah, it could have been an X-Men game. But Wolverine could have easily had his own mission outside of the expansion, but the expansion needed to be there for the entertainment factor. Deadpool needed to be there for the entertainment factor. Why is he not there? Why is Deadpool not being used by Insomniac at all? The World Men never know. Two Spider-Man games, no Deadpoolman.

mission. One Wolverine game, no Deadpool mission. It's almost as if people in the writing room and they're like, you know what, let's just make the most boring story about a short man when now is coming out of his knuckles. Sheppard, just look at the state of gaming. Like, what is going on? So from a story aspect, once again, I haven't played the game, but from a viewer aspect of the story, it could have been way more entertaining because you're working with the X-Men, which is one of the greatest character roster. Like, I'm a huge Master Fx-Fex fan, so I love side characters are just as interest as the main character. X-Man is one of those rare examples where

every individual member of the X-Men team can have his own game. So why exclude them at the start when you already know you're going to try to bring them together? And it seems like you have issues with the story. So shaping it up as, oh, you're going to slow walk into the creation of the X-Men. I mean, we're going to be waiting some time. So unless they do like a time jump, I think a time jump is definitely need it after the reception of this game. So that's my superhero nerd type of suggestion as far as how to fix the story. But getting back into Wolverine as far as the sales. Now, it hasn't blown any records out of water.

But of course, when you look at it being number one itself with markets as far as the UK, India, Mexico, Singapore, as far as PlayStation specifically, it currently be in the fourth-most play game on PlayStation. You come to realize that Wolverine definitely sells itself. far as longevity, a positive word of mouth would have helped it significantly. But definitely with the bad market, like the skillops review, I'm going to keep saying that the skillops review for Wolverine did irreparable damage to the brand. Like it was just insane.

People took the scent trail, like he said, oh, the game is broken. Like, it might as well just been the same words because this man said, oh, the cent trail is too intense right and people heard that and they computed oh the game's completely broken i'm like hold on no one actual you know i'm not the biggest fan of wolverine myself but the cent trail is where y'all y'all stop the presses it i mean goodness tough crowd so anyways um insomnia has a lot to repair because no spiderman two d oc i would like to remind you that the reason why we talk about spiderman well me personally the reason why i talk about Spider-Man 2, D-C, the reason why people are coming back around to say Spider-Man 2 wasn't all that

is because in totality, the best Spider-Man game of all time was given to us from Insomnia. So for them to follow up with Spider-Man 2, and it'd be so lackluster and not only lackluster as far as the third act being rushed specifically, it's almost as if they finished the first two acts of Spider-Man 2 had a phenomenal storyline, right? And then PlayStation was like, oh, start to work on other projects. and then they just rushed the third act and didn't even make DLC. It's almost like they just said,

you want Spider-Man 2 D-L-C? You want us to continue the Carnish storyline? So I think a lot of people, that is the standpoint for why Spider-Man 2 is so disappointing because Spider-Man PS4, you had the heist, right? And that came shortly after the initial game came out. You had Turf Wars that came shortly after the heist. You had Silverlining, the D-L-C,

that came shortly after like basically all these came out in the span of months right and for spider two to have a rush third act and to have no d oc that's why people are saying is disappointing it's not just oh we just want to hate on insomnia it's real reasons why people go at insomnia i just think with wolvering specifically they had expectations too high and not only did they have it too high for a short man with knives coming at his knuckles but also the scent trail is one of his most heightened abilities that it makes him unique was a lose-lose situation for insomnia. You highlight that, people kill you for it.

If you didn't highlight it, people would have definitely killed you for it. So, very tough crowd when it comes to the Wolverine fans out there, but when it comes to the review roundup, you already know I have it right here. As a lot of people came out and gave pretty solid reviews as far as from a conglomerant standpoint. But of course, we're going to focus on the big ones as far as IGN. IGN gave Wolverine the 6 out of 10 saying,

quote, just like his heroes at a manium core, Marvel's Wolverine is built of sturdy stuff. It just fails to layer something special atop its initially satisfying action, which wears thin well before the conclusion as a result. I wish there was more variety as the combat shows its hand early on, and the level design plays it safe more often than not. That means this 15-hour campaign is largely carried by its story, which while not revolutionary is enjoyable tell with good character work at times and strong portrayal of X-Men's lead

Marvel's Wolverine is okay just a step or two below Insomniac's other superhero efforts. So that's another thing you're going to run into being insomniac. You set the bar making arguably, in my opinion, the greatest Spider-Man game of all time as far as in 2018. So now every time you make a superhero game, I'm not saying it has to be 2018 Spider-Man, but it just can't be Wolverine. And so that you set the bar, but you definitely set the floor as far as your superhero story making or just gameplay-making ability.

GameSpot also gave it this game a 6 out of 10 saying, quote, at best is a fun but forgettable experience that'll entertain you for a few hours at worse. It shows that just because you can make really good superhero content with one character doesn't mean you can make really good superhero games with any character. That's a scathing review.

I'm like, dang. That's actually insane. So anyways, to be fair, I do want to read off one of the solid reviews as Game Informer gave it 8.5 out of 10 saying, quote, and Sonny's latest action opus is beautiful to look and listen

to. And it plays like a dream. Whether you're a fan of the Willie mutant lead or you simply gravitate to taught tightly animated combat like what you'd find in god of war or star wars jad i fall in order wolverine is an intense an unrelenting ride it may not hot it may not hit a lot of notes but like logan himself it nails the vitals when it counts that boy trying to wrong i see what he doing right there

i see what he doing right there and to balance out the positive reviews with the negative let's go to destructory to give it at a eight giving wolverine the eight at a ten and six saying, quote, another well-made narrative-driven superhero story from Insomnia at Games shines as an awesome adventure for a very different iconic Marvel character. It's sometimes repetitive combat cadence aside. Marvel's Wolverine is an epic AAA action-pack adventure chock-full of fun intrigue and exciting Marvel Universe references. So, ladies and gentlemen, when it comes to the negative reviews, when it comes to the positive

reviews. As you can tell, there's really no middle. People are coming out saying it's trash. People are coming out and saying it's really good. As far as Wolverine as a character, personally, I don't think Insomnia is working with a lot. I think X-Men game would have been way more interesting, but as you've seen with the leaks, they're working on the X-Men trilogy, well, supposedly. So they're building up to that, in my opinion. Just like I believe, they're probably building up to a Avengers game, hopefully at some point with Spider-Man included. But if you let Insomnia at Cook repair its mistakes, we could have a great foundation as far as a phase one in a Marvel video game universe. And that's how I'm looking at it. You can't

have every game be a Spider-Man 2018. Just like in the MCU, you can't have every movie be a Captain America Civil War. Some movies got to be at Thor, Love and Thunder. You know what I'm saying? All right, my fault. Was that too much? But basically, for my MCU, you fans out there. Y'all know what I'm talking about. So when looking at Wolverine, the sales are solid. It's not flopping by any stretch of the imagination, which is what the haters will probably lead you to believe is doing because everybody

seems like they hated. But sales are pretty solid. Longevity-wise, as far as comparing it to the biggest PlayStation exclusives currently, as far as the God of War 2018, as far as Spider-Man 2018, as far as Ghost to Shima, I believe it won't reach that longevity as far as the $10 million-plus copies. But as of right now, it's a solid installment, and I believe if you let Insomniac Cook, they can end up building

a great Marvel video game universe. So with that being said, click my link to share in my bio to follow me on my social media. And of course, if you're on Spotify, make sure to comment down below. If you played Wolverine, what was your favorite aspect of the game? And what do you

believe insomniac should focus on next to regain the trust of their audience.