The demo for Balan Wonderworld will be removed from the Switch eShop and digital stores across all consoles today, it's been confirmed.
The news comes from the official Balan Wonderworld Twitter account, which notes that the demo will be discontinued at 23:59 JST on 14th April; the Steam version will also be taken down a couple of hours later. Costumes that were promised to those who played the demo will be distributed to consumers at a later date (thanks, 4Gamer / Siliconera).
With poor reviews and more than one controversy surrounding its release, it's perhaps not all that surprising that the game has sadly flopped worldwide.
The poor quality of the demo caused a large chunk of the damage when it first released, putting potential buyers off before the game had even launched, so maybe it's for the best that it vanishes from stores – the game's day-one patch aimed to address some of the problems seen in the demo, so it's no longer representative of the final product.
Either way, if you were hoping to give the demo a whirl, you're sadly out of luck.
[source twitter.com, via 4gamer.net, siliconera.com]
Comments 70
Good night sweet prince 😔🙏
inb4 arguments in the comments section
Why is it sad that it flopped?
@bozz
Because many people had hopes it would be great
Unfortunately, they decided not to delay it and polish it
It probably did more damage than good to be honest.
I was interested up until that point. Though the instant the reviews came out I would've been put off
It is pretty embarrassing to have a demo that runs better than the final product
@bozz I suppose the person who wrote it is sadden by how the game turned out all around, critically and sales wise
If you want to go ahead and preserve that demo for its infamy, I'd go and download it now.
As a reminder, you can always download demos (or purchase games) via the official Nintendo site and have them download to your linked Switch system in sleep mode.
https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch/BALAN-WONDERWORLD-1843111.html
Balan as left the chat.
Every other demo on the switch: * Starts partying *.
Honestly, what was their plan for this demo anyway?
Releasing the demo was probably their biggest mistake (aside from making the game in the first place). They seemed to try their best to hide how bad the game was at launch but the damage was already done by then as everyone already knew how bad it was from the demo.
Balan for Smash!
Did they ever say the demo was a limited thing? I don’t remember but if they didn’t this feels a bit deceitful, like they’re trying to trick people into buying the game without being able to now play the demo first to see how poor it is.
This is worse than losing Mario 3D All Stars and Mario 35 put together!
@jump
Balan for trash!
@KoiTenchi That's the idea. That demo did not help them at all. Also, it should be noted that removing it will probably add to the lack of word of mouth they themselves caused.
LOL, I think the strategy is just to forget this game ever existed.
Good idea, this way they could fool someone when this game will be on sale....
Well, guess it's a 'good' thing that I already downloaded the Demo then!
@BenAV really bizarre to me that they released the demo.
How could they believe that people would come away from the demo and want to buy the game at launch. Total opposite approach to the devs of cyberpunk who did their best to hide the problems their game was having on PS4 xbox1 (or whatever the older Xbox is called)
From a business perspective it was a terrible decision
@F_T_Wolf Emphasis on good, on quotes.
@meeto_1 Yeah, it was strange. It's almost like they didn't realise just how bad it was but I don't know how that would be possible. They at least caught on by launch, going by how there were no critic reviews at launch and Metacritic was just full of fake user reviews, but word had already spread about how bad the demo was so it was too little, too late if they wanted to trick a lot of people into buying it.
Good call. I was hyped for the game until the demo killed it
If you switch the letters it still describes the game! Wailin’ Blunderworld
There was a time when I wouldn't believe it would come to this. Hiding already built demo to trick people into buying a poor quality game.
This is so ethnically low, I'll take note of team involved and make sure not to get invested in any of their future projects (there is simply no customer-dev trust anymore).
@jamesthemagi Delay and polish wouldn't have fixed this game. The sheer amount of boring useless power-ups for example.
It sucks that this game turned out to be garbage because I was really looking forward to it because all the 3D-Ppatformers to come to the Switch as of late have been amazing.
(GO PLAY A HAT IN TIME)
@meeto_1 I haven’t really followed this, but have heard from several people after the demo that it should be delayed to work out the rough edges.... if nothing else, they should have worked out the rough edges.
The Balan Wonderworld demo removes itself from the eShop “when it feels like it”.
I just played the demo. It looks great but plays like a 1990s platformer — which puts it a quarter-century behind in game-play.
I do plan to buy it ... when it is 67% (or more) off.
they forgot to take the game with them
I honestly can't tell if this was an earnest attempt to make something with charm and personality or a shameless cash grab made with spite. But with how poorly the game turned out, I'm leaning towards the latter.
(not referring to minor gameplay issues that could have been resolved with more development time - I'm talking about the overall presentation. It feels like the game was made to appeal to children.)
Bellend Blunderworld
There are plenty of atrocious games out there on the Switch - why do you have a bee in your bonnet for this one? I mean, I know it’s bad but Christ, I haven’t seen so many stories for one game.
If not for the demo I probably would have bought the game so this is probably a good move
thank you, balan wonderworld.
We will always remember you... as Balan WonderLand.
@Flashlink99
You joke about this based on phonetics, but the word Balan literally is the medical prefix referring to the glans of the male genitalia.
https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/balan-
@RupeeClock I know that, that's what makes this game so interesting really. Always thought that the name was dumb, but sadly it was the smartest thing about this game overall, after playing it a bit
Nowhere near as bad as its made out to be.
Should of sold for £19.99.
The full price, and issues really sank this game.
@SmogHobbit
Because this game has a high profile developer.
Just when I thought the spectacle of dissapointment was over!
Just downloaded it just to say that I have it despite it being gone lol
They should take the whole horrible game away. Bloody dreadful.
Without demo, maybe someone will buy it 😁😁
I feel sad about this.
@bozz Because the game deserves better. It's a shame the game ended up being a pretty bad game... 😔
@T317
Considering that you only get to play as the interesting looking titular character in a QTE minigame there does some seem to be some bit of spite going on.
Farewell, T-poses.
@SarahStellie Why does it deserve better, is this some beloved character or IP done wrong? It's a poorly-made game priced at an exorbitant price relative to the quality. To me that doesn't really deserve anything more than the criticism it received.
The whole saga of this game really saddens me, because I was really hoping (before seeing the demo) that this game would signal the triumphant return of Yuji Naka as a significant creative force in gaming.
I remember how amazing Sonic was when it was new, as well as Nights. He helped change gaming in such an amazing way. I really hope he has another awesome project up his sleeve in the future.
Hooray, hooray! (I guess.)
This whole situation is worse than Sonic 06. Search your feelings, you know it to be true.
@bozz And that's completely fair. Though, from my perspective, I kind of see it as a project that could have gone places but was squandered because of various factors both outside and within the devs' control. That's how I look at the whole situation.
bye awsome and very useful console exclusive costume
The very idea that people thought that a game from the makers of Sonic would have been any good...
It’s a sad thing day when you realise Naka-San is washed up and bereft of good ideas.
Maybe it will at least inspire a 'tophat with eye holes' fashion trend.
Are they taking the entire game down next? 😆
@SmogHobbit When you have Main devs who worked on the Sonic Franchise from its inception and one of the largest AAA publishers in Japan, expectations will be raised, deservedly or not
@BloodyMurder Beats me. The latter had a domino effect on a whole franchise. The former is most likely to fade into obscurity outside of some niche groups.
@jamesthemagi That's a different thing, though. You're saying it's sad the game turned out to be bad - the other guy is asking why it would be sad for a bad game to flop.
Which it's not. Just deserved.
@mike_intv Actually, platformers from the 90s play great. Some, at least. The problem with this game is that it was rushed and that the team did a poor job.
@Guitar_bard I agree and I hope so as well.
This is terrible news, means some poor parents will get tricked into buying it for their children without testing it out first.
Unethical business practice.
@BlueOcean True. And those that are great are great. This one plays like one on the Jaguar, however. I probably should have been a bit more specific in my comparison.
Still, for $20 it would be a fun play for me.
@mike_intv The sad thing is that the director is able to do much better but he allowed this to happen. I was very excited about this game before release .
@BlueOcean Agreed. You can see the potential. Then you plan the demo and see what does not work - and it is reminiscent of games by DDI on the Wii.
Huh... I guess I got lucky as I was able to download this just before it was removed.
Damn.. I was really looking forward to not playing this.
Its so disappointing this game was super awful. But there so many better games than god awful game like super mario odyssey.
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