Fils-Aime said the game is "getting close to half a million" copies sold in the U.S. That's no flop, but it's also not a blockbuster. I pushed him on the portrayal of Samus since that's the loudest criticism I've seen of the game. The graphics were very good, the gameplay was a throwback to earlier Metroid games. But Samus, some people just couldn't stand how she was portrayed and complained about it here in Kotaku's comments as well as in reviews in other outlets.
"First off, [I have] nothing but the greatest respect for the development team," Fils-Aime said. "Mr. Sakamoto [co-creator of Metoid] did a wonderful job. His partnership with us in promoting the game was stellar. Team Ninja [is] absolutely fabulous. I'm not going to sit here and criticize a style of the game, but have I read the same feedback that said, broadly, that the portrayal of Samus felt different than how the player in the past had internalized the character? I've heard and read the same feedback. Do I think it's warranted or not? I'm not quite sure yet... I don't yet believe that that is the driving factor to the performance of the game."