How did Ape Escape sell 40 Million?

Hey Guys!

We were asked my a user named "Miki" on our e-mail about how Ape Escape sold 40 million copies. According to "Uniqlo", the description for the T-shirts (that also feature a free copy of Ape Escape: Trapped in Space and Time until August) says the T-shirt designs were based on the original game that sold '40 million'.

Now, 40 million is an amazing feat by any game, especially for a small title like Ape Escape who had no major franchise to back it's debut on the PlayStation back in 1999. Well, we have asked ad have found how Ape Escape managed to pull those incredible figures for such an incredible game.

1. Firstly, a few months before Ape Escape came out, manufacturing of the original PlayStation controller stopped and only DualShock controllers were being produced. Originally the DualShock controller was only sold to give people an option while playing games. You could use the Joysticks if you preferred, but if you wished to use the new Analog sticks, you could pick up a DualShock controller and you could have the alternate control scheme. However, all games made before the DualShock won't register the Analog sticks and won't pick up the controller at all, and asks you to insert a PlayStation controller. Sony decided to release Ape Escape with a free DualShock controller that also had backwards compatibility to previously released game that didn't originally work with the DualShock. Because of this, the sales of Ape Escape were huge. It sold millions in it's first year alone. It was also released separately as well. This was one of the reasons why Ape Escape sold abnormally well.
2. The second reason is that in 2007, the game was released to PSN due to popular demand. That added another million copies to the overall sales.
3. In 2004 the "On The Loose" port for PSP was released, and many people bought the title as it was very good for PSP games released around the time. It was critically reviewed for the lack of Analogue controls, and many people just went and bought the original game on the PlayStation as it was available until 2005. That's more sales adding up.
4. Ape Escape for the PS was available until 2005, where it was released for the last time. Since then, Ape Escape had become a franchise, and many people who bought other titles in the franchise, bought the original to try and play from the start of the series.
5. Lastly, Ape Escape was just a good game and according to IGN, it is the "Best Platformer on the PlayStation. Hands Down!"

We hope that gives you a rough idea of how the game sold abnormally well. We all know it's a good game, but even the best of the best usually don't sell that amount. We hope that clears some things up for you guys.

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