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[kswiston]

This is the latest thread in a series that I started last spring, examining the sales of Japanese games on Steam via Steamspy numbers.

I know that several people here are interested in the sales fates of Japanese games on PC for various reasons. While we often get threads based on the sales of a specific game or series of games, this series aims to provide a more comprehensive snapshot of ownership for both new and legacy Japanese titles.

I had originally planned to do this installment closer to the end of the month, but in light of a few recent threads here, and the fact that the winter sale wrapped up, I thought this thread might be timely. Because month-to-month sales are slow, I plan on waiting 3-4 months between most installments, giving 3 or so updates a year. The next will be in April or May.

Previous Threads:

May 2016: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1223091
October 2016: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1303379


SOME NOTES:

1) All Steam numbers below reflect total owners on Steam, as reported by Steamspy on January 5, 2016. For those of you not familiar with Steamspy, keep the following in mind:

- These numbers are total owners on Steam and not sales through the Steam store specifically. Steamworks titles purchased on Amazon, Gamersgate, Green Man Gaming, the Humble Store, at retail, through key sellers, in bundles, or as promotions with video cards or other hardware are included in the figures.

- The numbers are all approximate. If you go to steamspy.com you can see the confidence intervals for each title. E.G. 10.000 +/- 2.000 would mean 8.000 to 12.000 owners. You will note that some titles seem to have lost owners since the last thread. This is due to the old and updated sales falling into the same confidence intervals. Basically, sales since October were probably negligible.

- Low selling titles (under 30k?) tend to be less accurate than higher selling titles. Because numbers are approximate, I have rounded all figures to the nearest 1000.

- Steamspy has a lag of about 3 days. Games that were released within the past few weeks, or games that were heavily discounted over the weekend are most likely to be impacted.


2) I have listed games by Steam publisher with a few noted exceptions. Series with more than 2 entries have been separated to make comparisons between entries easier. Otherwise publishers are listed alphabetically and games are listed in descending order of sales/owners.


3) I have tried to include all of the major and notable minor Japanese publishers/localization companies that I know of (the list below contains about 200 titles from over 25 pubs). If I have made any glaring omissions, post the numbers below and I will add them to the OP. I omitted a few series (like Pac Man) on purpose as they differ widely in target audience from most other titles listed.

ADDENDUM: Steam has a billion visual novels. I have added some of the more notable titles based on requests in past threads. A small handful of these have been deleted due to no movement on very low ownership (<4k). If you are going to request more visual novels that even 95% of GAF is unaware of, please pick titles that have at least 10k owners. Also stick to games that received a retail release in Japan.


4) With a couple of exceptions, I left the Japanese indie scene alone. I am not knowledgeable enough to pick out Japanese indie titles from the Western indie devs making the same stuff, and I don't really think there is a meaningful regional difference between indie devs.


5) Thanks to Sergey Galyonkin for creating and running steamspy.com for all of our benefits.


NEW FORMAT:

I have decided to keep ownership numbers from the last update (Oct 2016) for all legacy titles in brackets. This will make comparisons easier if you want to look at sales/ownership growth. Please remember that Steamspy numbers are approximate. The website lists confidence intervals (+/-) or all games. If a game has dropped slightly in ownership, it probably had negligible growth between updates. Almost all of the Sega games are down. I'm not sure if this is due to most of the games being in the same Humble Bundles, or some adjustment in the Steamspy Algorithm.

The new format is as follows:
Title - current numbers (Oct 2016 numbers)




JAPANESE GAME SALES/STEAM OWNERSHIP BY PUBLISHER:


ACCESS GAMES

Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut - 212.000 (211.000) (published by Rising Star)
D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die - 80.000 (81.000) (published by AGM Playism)



ARC SYSTEM WORKS (multiple Steam publishers)

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger - 195.000 (185.000)
Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extended - 79.000 (72.000)
BlazBlue: Chronophantasma Extend - 75.000 (46.000)

Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- 90.000 (78.000)
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R - 82.000 (31.000)
Guilty Gear Xrd - Revelator - 14.000 (NEW)
Guity Gear 2 -OVERTURE- 7.000 (7.000)
<note: X2 and Isuka were removed from the Steam Store>

Melty Blood: AACC - 39.000 (42.000)
River City Super Sports Challenge - 21.000 (13.000)
UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late - 15.000 (13.000)
Arcana Heart 3: Love Max - 13.000 (10.000)
Battle Fantasia - 7.000 (5.000)
Inferno Climber - 2.000
XBlaze Code: Embryo - 1.000
Getsuei Gakuen -kou- 1.000
XBlaze Lost: Memories - 1.000 (500)



CAPCOM

Resident Evil 6 - 1.031.000 (923.000)
Resident Evil 5 - 847.000 (810.000)
Resident Evil Revelations 2 - 770.000 (700.000)
Resident Evil 4 - 668.000 (622.000)
Resident Evil Revelations - 609.000 (599.000)
Resident Evil HD - 288.000 (254.000)
Resident Evil 0 Remaster - 136.000 (69.000)
Resident Evil: Operation Racoon City - 123.000 (111.000)
Resident Evil Umbrella Corps - 11.000 (8.000)

DmC: Devil May Cry - 893.000 (867.000)
Devil May Cry 4 - 291.000 (291.000)
Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition - 219.000 (215.000)
Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition - 176.000 (175.000)

Ultra Street Fighter 4 - 734.000 (767.000)
Street Fighter V - 240.000 (205.000)
Street Fighter x Tekken - 129.000 (129.000)
Street Fighter IV - 101.000 (104.000)

Lost Planet 3 - 462.000 (490.000)
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition - 454.000 (444.000)
Lost Planet 2 - 165.000 (162.000)
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition - Colonies Edition - 42.000 (47.000)

Dead Rising 3 - 506.000 (455.000)
Dead Rising 2 - 502.000 (486.000)
Dead Rising 2: Off the Record - 262.000 (250.000)
Dead Rising - 29.000

Dragons Dogma - 644.000 (426.000)
Strider - 420.000 (442.000)
Dungeons and Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara - 124.000 (129.000)
Megaman Legacy Collection - 78.000 (59.000)



CARPE FULGUR LLC

Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale - 473.000 (466.000)
Chantelise - 174.000 (181.000)
Fortune Summoners: Secret of the Elemental Stone - 130.000 (132.000)
This Starry Midnight We Make - 4.000 (4.000)



CFK CO.

Princess Maker 2 Refine - 13.000 (10.000)
Wonder Boy Returns - 1.000 (NEW)
Starry Nights: Helix - 1.000 (NEW)



D3 PUBLISHER

Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair - 93.000 (70.000)
Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon - 66.000 (69.000)
Onechanbara Z2: Chaos - 13.000 (8.000)



DRACUE (PUBLISHED BY PLAYISM):

Armored Hunter GUNHOUND EX - 22.000 (20.000)



GHOSTLIGHT LTD

Agarest: Generations of War - 211.000 (199.000)
Agarest Zero - 77.000 (67.000)
Agarest: Generations of War 2 - 53.000 (47.000)

Way of the Samurai 4 - 64.000 (63.000)
Mugen Souls - 20.000 (18.000)
Way of the Samurai 3 - 15.000 (12.000)
Elminage Gothic - 8.000 (10.000)
Mugen Souls 2 - 3.000 (3.000)



GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE INC

The Silver Case - 5.000 (NEW)



DEGICA:

Mushihimesama - 36.000 (30.000)
DARIUSBURST Chronicle Saviours - 19.000 (13.000)
Deathsmiles - 18.000 (15.000)
Muv-Luv - 12.000 (10.000)
DoDonPachi Resurrection - 10.000 (8.000)
Code of Princess - 9.000 (9.000)
Hero and Daughter - 6.000 (7.000)



GUNGHO ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT

Grandia II Anniversary Edition - 68.000 (63.000)



IDEA FACTORY

Hyperdimension Neptunia Re:Birth 1 - 342.000 (327.000)
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re:Birth 2: Sisters Generation - 185.000 (155.000)
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re:Birth 3: V Generation - 157.000 (126.000)
Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed - 85.000 (67.000)
Megadimension Neptunia VII - 51.000 (29.000)
Hyperdevotion Noire: Godess Black Heart - 30.000 (23.000)
MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies - 28.000 (16.000)

Fairy Fencer F - 129.000 (119.000)
Amnesia - 57.000 (54.000)
Trillion 15.000 (NEW)



JAST USA

Sonicomi - 13.000 (8.000)



KOEI-TECMO

Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends - 197.000 (196.000)
Romance of the Three Kingdoms 13 - 148.000 (134.000)
Romance of the Three Kingdoms Maker (untranslated) - 116.000 (99.000)
Attack on Titan Wings of Freedom - 56.000 (41.000)
Nobunaga's Abition: Sphere of Influence Ascension - 50.000 (not tracked last list)
Dynasty Warriors 8 - Empires - 34.000 (31.000)
Samurai Warriors 4-II - 34.000 (26.000)
Nobunaga's Abition: Sphere of Influence - 29.000 (24.000)
Toukiden: Kiwami - 22.000 (17.000)
NOBUNAGA'S AMBITION: Souzou (Traditional Chinese version) - 18.000 (16.000)
Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z - 10.000 (8.000)
Bladestorm: Nightmare - 9.000 (7.000)
Arslan: The Warriors of Legend - 6.000 (5.000)
<DoA5 is now F2P and will no longer be tracked>


KONAMI

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - 1.251.000 (1.147.000)
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - 773.000 (699.000)
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance - 658.000 (621.000)

Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 - 145.000 (not tracked last list)
Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 - 100.000 (not tracked last list)



MAGES.INC

Steins;Gate - 24.000 (14.000)



MANGAGAMER

Higurashi When They Cry - Ch.1 Onikakushi - 70.000 (62.000)
Higurashi When They Cry - Ch.2 Watanagashi - 19.000 (18.000)
Higurashi When They Cry - Ch.3 Tatarigoroshi - 8.000 (6.000)
Higurashi When They Cry - Ch.4 Himatsubushi - 6.000 (3.000)

Go! Go! Nippon! ~My First Trip to Japan~ - 171.000 (172.000)
eden* - 73.000 (64.000)



MASTIFF

Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure - 77.000 (75.000)



MOSS (PUBLISHED BY H2):

Raiden IV: Overkill - 36.000 (29.000)
Raiden III - 22.000 (22.000)



NAMCO

Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition - 2.800.000 (2.783.000)
Dark Souls III - 1.328.000 (1.130.000)
Dark Souls II - 1.054.000 (1.024.000)
Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin - 996.000 (888.000)

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja STORM 3 Full Burst - 547.000 (538.000)
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja STORM Revolution - 302.000 (301.000)
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja STORM 4 - 282.000 (205.000)

Dragon Ball Xenoverse - 644.000 (622.000)
Ace Combat Assault Horizon - 288.000 (290.000)
Tales of Zestiria - 274.000 (227.000)
One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 - 196.000 (165.000)
Tales of Symphonia - 166.000 (149.000)
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 - 164.000 (NEW)
God Eater 2: Rage Burst - 112.000 (58.000)
Saint Seiya: Soldier's Soul - 29.000 (26.000)
One Piece: Burning Blood - 28.000 (16.000)
Ray Gigant - 5.000 (5.000)



NIS AMERICA

Disgaea PC - 109.000 (90.000)
Cladun x2 - 15.000 (13.000)
Stranger of Sword City - 14.000 (11.000)
Phantom Brave - 12.000 (9.000)
Yomawari: Night Alone - 11.000 (5.000)
htoL#NIQ: The Firefly Diary - 9.000 (5.000)



SEGA

Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed - 823.000 (844.000)
Sonic Generations - 676.000 (720.000)
Sonic Adventure DX - 517.000 (541.000)
Sonic Adventure 2 - 403.000 (420.000)
Sonic CD - 305.000 (315.000)
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 ep1 - 247.000 (255.000)
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 ep2 - 232.000 (237.000)
Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing - 227.000 (233.000)
Sonic Lost World - 121.000 (128.000)

Jet Set Radio - 1.628.000 (1.670.000) (previous massive giveaway)
Valkryia Chronicles - 908.000 (884.000)
Binary Domain - 689.000 (683.000)
Crazy Taxi - 284.000 (301.000)
Nights Into Dreams - 263.000 (273.000)
Sega Bass Fishing - 262.000 (281.000)
Space Channel 5 part 2 - 262.000 (280.000)



SEKAI PROJECT

NEKOPARA Vol. 1 - 314.000 (278.000)
NEKOPARA Vol. 0 - 285.000 (252.000)
NEKOPARA Vol. 2 - 191.000 (149.000_

planetarian ~the reverie of a little planet~ - 39.000 (4.000)
CLANNAD - 35.000 (26.000)
The Fruit of Grisaia - 29.000 (26.000)
CLANNAD Side Stories - 7.000 (2.000)
Idol Magical Girl Chiru Chiru Michiru Part 2 - 6.000 (4.000)
Root Double -Before Crime * After Days- Xtend Edition - 5.000 (4.000)
The Labyrinth of Grisaia - 5.000 (3.000)




SNK PLAYMORE

Metal Slug 3 - 607.000 (607.000)
Metal Slug X - 229.000 (216.000)
Metal Slug - 149.000 (139.000)
Metal Slug 2 - 33.000 (36.000)

The King of Fighters XIII - 412.000 (403.000)
The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited - 115.000 (112.000)
The King of Fighters 98 Ultimate Match Final Edition - 104.000 (110.000)

Baseball Stars 2 - 24.000 (29.000)
Shock Troopers - 21.000 (23.000)
Twinkle Star Sprites- 20.000 (22.000)
The Last Blade - 7.000 (1.000)
Shock Troopers 2nd Squad - 6.000 (1.000)



SPIKE CHUNSOFT

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc - 99.000 (83.000)
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Dispair - 87.000 (72.000)
Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma - 27.000 (20.000)
Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars - 19.000 (15.000)
Mystery Chronicle: One Way Heroics - 8.000 (5.000)



SQUARE-ENIX

Final Fantasy VII - 1.090.000 (1.064.000)
Final Fantasy XIII - 635.000 (631.000)
Final Fantasy VIII - 611.000 (590.000)
Final Fantasy XIII-2 - 389.000 (381.000)
Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster - 336.000 (213.000)
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII - 291.000 (209.000)
Final Fantasy IX - 245.000 (164.000)
Final Fantasy III - 168.000 (152.000)
Final Fantasy IV - 155.000 (147.000)
Final Fantasy Type-0 - 151.000 (141.000)
Final Fantasy VI - 84.000 (72.000)
Final Fantasy IV: The After Years - 79.000 (74.000)
Final Fantasy V - 57.000 (56.000)

The Last Remnant - 874.000 (880.000)
Dragon Quest Heroes - 36.000 (34.000)
I am Setsuna - 35.000 (27.000)



TREASURE

Ikaruga - 110.000 (96.000)



VISUAL ARTS

Tomoyo After ~It's a Wonderful Life~ English Edition - 6.000 (3.000)
Harmonia - 5.000 (4.000)



XSEED/MARVELOUS

YS Origin - 262.000 (245.000)
YS I & II - 173.000 (169.000)
Ys: The Oath in Felghana - 168.000 (154.000)
Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim - 55.000 (43.000)

Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky - 213.000 (201.000)
Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC - 37.000 (26.000)

Half-Minute Hero - 450.000 (448.000)
AKIBA'S TRIP: Undead & Undressed - 85.000 (79.000)
Half-Minute Hero: Second Coming - 84.000 (88.000)
Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus - 77.000 (51.000)
Corpse Party - 18.000 (12.000)
Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel - 10.000 (NEW)
Xanadu Next - 3.000 (NEW)
Little King's Story - 2.000 (3.000)

 

[hamchan]

Poor Xanadu Next.

 

[Nightengale]

Nekopara doing cat god's work.

Low number for Trails SC will never cease to make me tense up a bit in my disappointment of the human race.

 

[Grim Patron]

Poor Xanadu Next.

 

[TheBryanJZX90]

Damn Dragons Dogma outsold SFV?

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Nekopara doing cat god's work.

Low number for Trails SC will never cease to make me tense up a bit in my disappointment of the human race.

It's unfortunate, but there's no reason to buy SC without having first completed FC, which the majority of people who bought FC will never do.

 

[Nyoro SF]

Poor Xanadu Next.

It's a crime I say...

On another topic, it seems like the "drop Japanese game on Steam and walk away" tactic is really starting to lose whatever is left of its allure. The marketplace has become hyper-competitive.

 

[Fularu]

Some games "lost sales"?

How does that work?

 

[kswiston]

Some games "lost sales"?

How does that work?

Explained in the notes

 

[Kieli]

Poor Xanadu Next.

I was never really fond of Falcom's technical graphics. Very low resolution textures + extremely basic geometric complexity.

Granted these games are old, but they don't look good at all. :\

 

[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

Nekopara doing cat god's work.

Low number for Trails SC will never cease to make me tense up a bit in my disappointment of the human race.

The writing was on the wall. Around the time that SC came I believe only about 11% of people who own FC actually got the achievement for completing the final chapter. Trails is an amazing series, but it's also a huge commitment.

 

[chaosblade]

It's a crime I say...

On another topic, it seems like the "drop Japanese game on Steam and walk away" tactic is really starting to lose whatever is left of its allure. The marketplace has become hyper-competitive.

Anything that doesn't immediately stick out as interesting for one reason or another is probably going to struggle at this point. A game like Xanadu Next probably would have done better a few years ago, but now it seems like a tough sell. It's kind of rough looking and the gameplay doesn't look all that good at a glance.

At least Trails SC is chugging along slowly but surely (and Ark of Napishtim, for that matter). Will be interesting to see how 3rd does.

 

[Purple Cheeto]

The writing was on the wall. Around the time that SC came I believe only about 11% of people who own FC actually got the achievement for completing the final chapter. Trails is an amazing series, but it's also a huge commitment.

I bought the first Trails game but I've barely played it. High encounter rate, battles take a long time and are brutal. Hasn't clicked for me. Also it doesn't work well with Steam Link.

 

[Abilidebob]

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc - 99.000 (83.000)
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Dispair - 87.000 (72.000)

Damn impressive how little of a drop there was from Danganronpa 1 to 2. Usually there's quite a massive drop from sequels. I think what really helped was the close release to each other, just 2 months difference. So if releasing their old catalog on Steam I think it's a good idea to release the sequels close, even better with a discounted package.

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

Did some of those Sega games actually lose sales? o.o

I have to say now that I've got my feet wet with japanese games on steam (with FFIII and KOF 2002), I might just have to keep on coming back. Maybe someday I'll give danganronpa a look.

 

[walking fiend]

Darn. Visual Novels sales are so low :-(

 

[Knurek]

Darn. Visual Novels sales are so low :-(

Here's how Steins;Gate sold on Steam: 24.000 units
Here's how Steins;Gate sold on PC in Japan: Steins;Gate placed 13th in sales during its first week of release with 16,434 copies sold, 28th on its second week with 4,253 copies, and 26th on its third week with 6,095 copies, totaling 26,782 copies by October 29, 2009.

Taking into account the fact that it's an extremely late Steam release, I wouldn't really call these numbers low.

 

[Ratrat]

Here's how Steins;Gate sold on Steam: 24.000 units
Here's how Steins;Gate sold on PC in Japan: Steins;Gate placed 13th in sales during its first week of release with 16,434 copies sold, 28th on its second week with 4,253 copies, and 26th on its third week with 6,095 copies, totaling 26,782 copies by October 29, 2009.

Taking into account the fact that it's an extremely late Steam release, I wouldn't really call these numbers low.

It was selling at $60~$70 in Japan though. Bunch of other factors too, but the steam numbers arent bad.

 

[timmyp53]

How the hell did resident evil hd sell so bad.

 

[R10Neymarfan]

Did some of those Sega games actually lose sales? o.o

Obviously payback to the Yakuza and Persona 5 news

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Nekopara doing cat god's work.

Low number for Trails SC will never cease to make me tense up a bit in my disappointment of the human race.

Well, it's posted a pretty nice increase from last time 26k to 37k, which definitely is a move in the right direction.

It just needs to continue to sell at that rate.

 

[Dog Problems]

Treasure needs to get on the ball and put more games on PC.

 

[jj984jj]

Thank you for continuing to do this.

It's a crime I say...

On another topic, it seems like the "drop Japanese game on Steam and walk away" tactic is really starting to lose whatever is left of its allure. The marketplace has become hyper-competitive.

XSeed is really bad at marketing these games before release though. I mentioned this when the date for Xanadu Next was announced, it was far too close to the release and had no fanfare. I had hoped it wouldn't bomb, but... as we can see...

 

[Taruranto]

Man, FF numbers feel all over the place. VII sold 1m, VIII 600k but then you got IX, another mainline, at 290k. FFXIII is at 630k but then Type-Zero only sold 150k.

Darn. Visual Novels sales are so low :-(

DR1 and 2 are pretty high, and 70k for Higurashi are not bad. VN are a super niche genre, plus a lot of these things have been translated for years.

 

[fluffydelusions]

Damn Dragons Dogma outsold SFV?

Nothing shocking about that really. Fighters are more a console thing

 

[Tizoc]

I was never really fond of Falcom's technical graphics. Very low resolution textures + extremely basic geometric complexity.

Granted these games are old, but they don't look good at all. :\

Xanadu Next looked fine IMO. The PSX-like graphics have a nice little charm to them.

 

[Sad Affleck]

Very informative, thanks!

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

Man, FF numbers feel all over the place. VII sold 1m, VIII 600k but then you got IX, another mainline, at 290k. FFXIII is at 630k but then Type-Zero only sold 150k.

It helps that IX only just came out this April. VII's been on steam since 2012/2013. Big-time head start there.

(Plus it's VII.)

Square have taken their time with the FF ports. It was only in 2014 or so that they started ramping up.

Obviously payback to the Yakuza and Persona 5 news

Okay, this got me. LOL

 

[Alrus]

The MGS V and Dark Souls sales number really make me baffled as to why japanese pubs still tiptoe around releasing their major games on PC in a timely manner.

 

[GhostTrick]

The MGS V and Dark Souls sales number really make me baffled as to why japanese pubs still tiptoe around releasing their major games on PC in a timely manner.

Day and date release is important. A lesson SE may learn someday.

 

[Kumubou]

I'll give results for some random Japanese doujin/indie releases that are more or less arbitrarily picked by me (yell at me if I missed anything obvious). Games already on the list (like Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale) aren't included and neither are games . I'm also trying to pick indie/doujin games that have had at least some movement on Steam, and I'm generally giving a pass on any straight visual novels (but I included Hatoful Boyfriend and Umineko because I can. :x). Format is game name - developer - publisher - sales (as of January 3rd) and the numbers in parentheses are from October 31st.

100% Orange Juice - Orange_Juice - Fruitbat Factory - 283,000 (264,000)
99 Spirits - TORalKI - Fruitbat Factory - 74,000 (81,000)
Acceleration of Suguri X-Edition - Orange_Juice - Rockin' Android - 32,000 (31,000)
ALLTYNEX Second - SITER SKAIN - Nyu Media - 35,000 (40,000)
Astebreed - Edelweiss - Playism - 122,000 (122,000)
Blade Arcus - Studio Saizensen - Degica - 3,000 (3,000)
*Blue Revolver - Stellar Circle - Stellar Circle - 4,000 (3,000)
Bunny Must Die! Chelsea and the 7 Devils - Platine Dispositif - Rockin' Android - 35,000 (32,000)
Cave Story - Studio Pixel - Nicalis - 774,000 (757,000)
Cherry Tree High Comedy Club - 773 - Nyu Media - 100,000 (100,000)
Cherry Tree High I! My! Girls! - 773 - Nyu Media - 63,000 (63,000)
Cherry Tree High Girls' Fight - 773 - Sekai Project - 1,000 (1,000)
Code of Princess - Studio Saizensen - Degica - 9,000 (9,000)
Crimzon Clover: World Ignition - YOTSUBANE - Degica - 120,000 (117,000)
Croixleur Sigma - souvenir circ. - Nyu Media - 30,000 (35,000)
**Downwell - Moppin - Devolver Digital - 217,000 ()
Ether Vapor Remaster - Edelweiss - Nyu Media - 71,000 (65,000)
eXceed: Gun Bullet Children - Flat Software - Nyu Media - 68,000 (70,000)
eXceed 2nd: Vampire REX - Tennen-sozai - Nyu Media - 58,000 (60,000)
eXceed 3rd: Jade Penetrate Black Package - Tennen-sozai - Nyu Media - 66,000 (68,000)
Fairy Bloom Freesia - Edelweiss - Nyu Media - 152,000 (147,000)
***Galak-Z - 17-Bit - 17-Bit - 201,000 (182,000)
Gigantic Army - ASTRO PORT - Nyu Media - 76,000 (80,000)
GundeadliGne - Platine Dispositif - Rockin' Android - 59,000 (53,000)
Gundemonium Recollection - Platine Dispositif - Rockin' Android - 55,000 (54,000)
Hitogata Happa - Platine Dispositif - Rockin' Android - 55,000 (52,000)
Hatoful Boyfriend - Mediatonic, Hato Moa, The Irregular Corporation - Devolver Digital - 260,000 (250,000)
La-Mulana - NIGORO - Playism - 253,000 (255,000)
KAMUI - SITER SKAIN - Nyu Media - 39,000 (43,000)
Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae - Zenith Blue - Playism - 166,000 (181,000)
One Way Heroics - Smoking WOLF - Playism - 392,000 (383,000)
QP Shooting: Dangerous!! - Orange_Juice - Fruitbat Factory - 45,000 (47,000)
RefleX - SITER SKAIN - Nyu Media - 52,000 (58,000)
Sayonara Umihara Kawase - Studio Saizensen - Degica - 9,000 (8,000)
Sora - Orange_Juice - Fruitbat Factory - 10,000 (6,000)
Suguri - Orange_Juice - Rockin' Android - 28,000 (28,000)
The House in Fata Morgana - Novectacle - MangaGamer - 3,000 (2,000)
War of the Human Tanks - Yakiniku Banzai - Fruitbat Factory - 59,000 (57,000)
Umihara Kawase - Studio Saizensen - Degica - 7,000 (7,000)
Umihara Kawase Shun - Studio Saizensen - Degica - 7,000 (6,000)
Umineko (Question Arc) - 07th Expansion - MangaGamer - 3,000 (2,000)
Yatagarasu - Yatagarasu Dev Team - Nyu Media - 15,000 (16,000)

*Blue Revolver wasn't actually developed in Japan (the development team was spread out across Europe and the US), but it was sold at Comiket. Does that count? :x

**Developed by a Japanese developer but not really intended a doujin/circle release, and published directly by Devolver.

***Developed by a team of mostly westerners located in Japan, with a more western approach with regards to releases and marketing.

A lot of those games (especially older releases) are bundled, but I didn't really feel like trying to figure out what bundles they were in (and I don't think the data to separate that out exists). There is a stark difference between the older and most recent releases though, yikes. Although I wonder how much price sensitivity matters, as something like One Way Heroics (which is $3.50 list and has been on sale for as little as 87 cents) is very easy to take a flyer on (especially since the odds of not getting good value out of that are very, very low), whereas something like Umineko would be much more difficult to buy into at $25 regardless of how many people tell you how crazy of a visual novel it is (and it is).

It's a crime I say...

On another topic, it seems like the "drop Japanese game on Steam and walk away" tactic is really starting to lose whatever is left of its allure. The marketplace has become hyper-competitive.

It's lost its allure -- 4-5 years ago it would have been very novel and the amount of unfed thirst for anime waifus was unreal. The market has since corrected itself and has become much more competitive now and just being anime by itself is no longer appealing. You need to either have some kind of hook and/or marketing presence (which is very hard for Japanese speaking developers to swing in a western market) or they're going to get lost.

 

[Marmaladefire]

Depraved otaku doing the lord's work, keeping Japanese games alive on steam.

 

[bobawesome]

Those Umineko sales are pitiful. It deserves ten times as much.

 

[Taruranto]

Those Umineko sales are pitiful. It deserves ten times as much.

They make sense when you look at the series history. They are 7-8 years later and most fans didn't stick around because of Chiru.

 

[StereoVsn]

Here's how Steins;Gate sold on Steam: 24.000 units
Here's how Steins;Gate sold on PC in Japan: Steins;Gate placed 13th in sales during its first week of release with 16,434 copies sold, 28th on its second week with 4,253 copies, and 26th on its third week with 6,095 copies, totaling 26,782 copies by October 29, 2009.

Taking into account the fact that it's an extremely late Steam release, I wouldn't really call these numbers low.

Don't forget that Steins;Gate also had a full on release through Jast with a nice physical SE and Download Key. So Steam release is over a year after Jast release.

 

[Rhaknar]

Most of these games launch (and stay at) about 10€ (or $, whatever) too high. I was actually talking about this with Nabs during the sale, I cant tell if they overestimate the demand for certain games, or if they know only a handful of people will buy them regardless so they might aswell charge premium.

Undernight at 15k, game costs 38€ base price is crazy, in fact most if not all the anime fighters are too much on release. Nitroplus Blasterz was ok at 29.99, at least thats a PS4 game that just came out there aswell.

UmvC3, arguably already with a much bigger audience, is launching at 24.99. The fuck are much nicher titles doing charging so much? Unless like I said they know few will buybthem anyway.

Same goes for most jrpgs. Hell, im shocked the FF games are so reasonable, they could easily charge more with that fanbase. Goodguy SE I guess.

This is of course just my opinion, feel free to disagree as I know many will.

 

[thebigmachine]

Great work, thanks for doing this.

Numbers for The Silver Case are making me so damn sad. We won't get anymore classic Suda given the atrocious numbers

Nekopara is a beast, guess the low cost doesn't hurt.

 

[PantsuJo]

GAF, next sales buy Xanadu Next, please, for the love of everything is good in the world.

 

[SilentRob]

Man, Dragon's Dogma is a beast. Give us that sequel, Capcom!

 

[Tizoc]

GAF, next sales buy Xanadu Next, please, for the love of everything is good in the world.

I've made 3 giveaways of the game myself by now
I'll shill it for eternity.

 

[120v]

The MGS V and Dark Souls sales number really make me baffled as to why japanese pubs still tiptoe around releasing their major games on PC in a timely manner.

i expect FFXV to be the last 'big' japanese release not Day 1 PC. or one of the last

i think they've caught on

 

[HyperZone<3]

wish most of those shumps were doing better, and some of XSEED's releases too for that matter.

but it is heartening to see how some VN's have some decent looking sales on there, even if it is a bit baffling to see how some succeed and others don't.

 

[TP]

Higurashi When They Cry - Ch.1 Onikakushi - 70.000 (62.000)
Higurashi When They Cry - Ch.2 Watanagashi - 19.000 (18.000)
Higurashi When They Cry - Ch.3 Tatarigoroshi - 8.000 (6.000)
Higurashi When They Cry - Ch.4 Himatsubushi - 6.000 (3.000)


My prediction for the last chapter is 12 to 15 owners on steam

 

[Lemstar]

A lot of those games (especially older releases) are bundled, but I didn't really feel like trying to figure out what bundles they were in (and I don't think the data to separate that out exists).

If you want to pick through it, isthereanydeal has ok historical tracking on bundles (although I'm not sure how accurate it is as you go further back)

Here's how Steins;Gate sold on Steam: 24.000 units
Here's how Steins;Gate sold on PC in Japan: Steins;Gate placed 13th in sales during its first week of release with 16,434 copies sold, 28th on its second week with 4,253 copies, and 26th on its third week with 6,095 copies, totaling 26,782 copies by October 29, 2009.

Taking into account the fact that it's an extremely late Steam release, I wouldn't really call these numbers low.

1. I'm not sure if you realized, but S;G was originally a 360 game; that's the release you're citing

(for reference, at that time, there were 1.1 million 360s sold in Japan, compared to, what, 100+ million Steam accounts?)

incidentally, the game apparently sold 300k+ copies in Japan the week after the PSP port was released but before the PS3/PSV versions, which implies that it had sold something in the vicinity of 140k on PC at that point

2. S;G the 360 VN was an original product being sold at full price; S;G in English has the benefit of years of word of mouth about both the VN being one of the best available and the anime being one of the most popular series out there

we don't have any figures about what JAST sold, but when they put it in a bundle with a bunch of other stuff for the same price as MSRP, it didn't move a whole lot of copies; draw what inferences you will from that

 

[Marmaladefire]

wish most of those shumps were doing better, and some of XSEED's releases too for that matter.

but it is heartening to see how some VN's have some decent looking sales on there, even if it is a bit baffling to see how some succeed and others don't.

Doesn't generally just come down to name recognition (game or studio), whether or not it's "censored" and the ability to patch it into and uncensored version, and the "it's been 82 years" factor on some games (Clannad, Muv-Luv, etc. I consider Kiminozo to range inbetween an unintentional comedic masterpiece and pretty gross, and even I'm going to support that finally getting an official release.) Otome game fans are usually willing to buy whatever they can get their hands on too.

 

[bobawesome]

They make sense when you look at the series history. They are 7-8 years later and most fans didn't stick around because of Chiru.

Yeah, I get most people probably downloaded a torrent and have no intention of buying it. Still deserves to sell more. 3k sales for one of the biggest visual novels in VN circles is absolutely pathetic.

 

[Mechazawa]

I wanna say I hope Arc is feeling the burn with the quality and price of that last Guilty Gear port, but realistically, it probably just means they'll stop dumping them on Steam.

And yeah, rip Xanadu, you're too beautiful for this world.

 

[GhostTrick]

I wanna say I hope Arc is feeling the burn with the quality and price of that last Guilty Gear port, but realistically, it probably just means they'll stop dumping them on Steam.

And yeah, rip Xanadu, you're too beautiful for this world.

If that kind of sales were a problem, they'd stop making these games.

 

[Shadowplay1979]

SC and TC are going to be slow burners...its the nature of pretty much every sequel on this list but especially when they are so tied to previous games in the series.

One thing they may be able to do about this is offer some discounts to people who have completed FC and later SC. It may encourage purchases of the older games and maybe get people completing earlier chapters and grabbing new ones.

and yea i know achievements can be unlocked with trickery...but either way people would be buying the titles.

 

[FLD]

It's pretty depressing that even Conception II sold better than Xanadu Next. Hell, it's depressing that Senran Kagura sold better than Xanadu Next. And I actually like Senran Kagura...

XSEED really need to rethink their approach with these releases. Xanadu Next deserved so much better. It's a fantastic game.