Here it is 2011 a new year and my first chance to reflect on the releases of last year. I compiled a top ten list , but one thing struck me about it during my deliberation process, by far out of all the developers Platinum Games had by the best and worst of years. 
They started the year with the great Bayonetta which was an amazing feat of  both programming and visual style, the combat with its crazy over the top style and fantastic combo system blended with a world that just looks stunning made this game instantly enjoyable , unfortunately its competition came in the form of Mass Effect 2, Darksiders, No More Heroes 2 and MAG just to name a few and although it sold moderately well it (1.1 million copies according to SEGA) it deserved so much more.

Platinum then rounded out the year in break neck fashion with the superb shooter vanquish which currently holds an aggregate score of 85.1% on Gamerankings, the introduction of the Rocket Sliding to the standard cover based shooter instantly made it stand out from the pack but again the game didn’t sell as it should.

Both of these games have won numerous awards from Best Debut from Giantbomb for Bayonetta to Best Mechanic and Best game No One Played at Gamespot  for Vanquish.
 
Why are people not buying them, advertising? style? some sort of irrational hatred of really fun games?I just don't get it.

 Here it is 2011 a new year and my first chance to reflect on the releases of last year. I compiled a top ten list , but one thing struck me about it during my deliberation process, by far out of all the developers Platinum Games had by the best and worst of years. 
They started the year with the great Bayonetta which was an amazing feat of  both programming and visual style, the combat with its crazy over the top style and fantastic combo system blended with a world that just looks stunning made this game instantly enjoyable , unfortunately its competition came in the form of Mass Effect 2, Darksiders, No More Heroes 2 and MAG just to name a few and although it sold moderately well it (1.1 million copies according to SEGA) it deserved so much more.

Platinum then rounded out the year in break neck fashion with the superb shooter vanquish which currently holds an aggregate score of 85.1% on Gamerankings, the introduction of the Rocket Sliding to the standard cover based shooter instantly made it stand out from the pack but again the game didn’t sell as it should.

Both of these games have won numerous awards from Best Debut from Giantbomb for Bayonetta to Best Mechanic and Best game No One Played at Gamespot  for Vanquish.
 
Why are people not buying them, advertising? style? some sort of irrational hatred of really fun games?I just don't get it.

Well Platinum and Clover seem to have a history of making neat games that don't sell well, it's probably because they are a Japanese company trying to penetrate the western market. It's really hard to do. Also their style of games doesn't suit everybody, they're very in-your-face, for as fun as they are. 

I hated Bayonetta and Vanquish didn't wow me.

Just because some people like the games, it doesn't mean everyone will. These games are not aimed at everyone.

Kamiya and Mikami's post-Devil May Cry & Resident Evil 4 games don't have a lot of mass appeal to begin with, and the recent "all Japanese games suck" attitude found amongst Westerners who base their opinion of the entire Japanese games industry on JRPGs (that is to say, most Westerners) doesn't exactly help. Just look at videos and articles about Vanquish. Every single one of them has about a hundred comments saying something along the lines of "Japanese Gears/Halo clone lol, it must suck".

Too Japanese for a large Western audience, too Western for a large Japanese audience. Making the kind of art you want to make doesn't always result in popularity, in fact it oftentimes doesn't. Still, I hope they keep it up as they're making some of the most interesting games to come out of Japan (even the extraordinarily dumb Infinite Space had some great gameplay mechanics).

 
 
Played the demo of bayonetta and i really want to get it, i liked devil may cry and it seems like a logical illogical extension to that 
 
i played the demo of vanquish and bought it and its fantasic, hope they both get sequels and do well 
 
i didnt realise bayonetta did 1.1m, thats still pretty good also didnt know much about platinum games but i'll definitely look out for their name in future 

the reason vanquish didn't sell was because it was released at the busiest time of the year, if they released in the summer or something they would have done much better.

You're also forgetting the awesome Infinite Space game. 

I endorse this thread. Platinum made two, perhaps three, excellent games this year and more sales would only be deserved. At least those kinds of sales aren't entirely disastrous, although did they make up for those numbers with sales in Japan? I was under the impression that Bayonetta and Vanquish weren't hits there either, which is worrying.

I own both games, so I really can't help. I love Vanquish; it's delightfully insane, but I haven't gotten around to playing Bayonetta yet. It seems interesting though. I think most people in this thread have already done a good job of pointing out why these games don't sell well, and I agree with you guys about the hope for their next game's to get more mass-market penetration.

I concur.  Platinum makes some quality stuff and I loved what Clover cranked out.  Support good devs!

Do their games sell well in Japan? I'm curious because they're trying to appeal to the west, and I wonder if that affects their sales in japan.  Guess it's time for my lazy ass to visit google. 

Blame it on Sega. They couldn't market their way out of a paper bag.

Well, I did my part, bought Bayonetta and Vanquish day 1. And for good reason, because they are damn fine games. I don't really pay too much attention to sales figures, but 1.1 million is pretty good, isn't it? Not everyone can pull COD numbers.

Vanquish was my 2010 GotY. It was awesome. Unfortunately sales are everything, not just how good the game(s) they have made are.