The Senran Kagura series has always been seen as quite niche, but it’s doing rather well for Marvelous Entertainment.
Today Producer Kenichiro Takaki shared on Twitter that the series has sold a cumulative total of 1.65 million copies. He also mentioned that initially no one expected it to sell more than 30,000.
こないだのイベントで言い忘れたのですが、3
万本売れたら凄いね、と言われながら始まった閃乱カグラは5年間でWWシリーズ販売累計165万本突破してました。売り上げが全てではないですけど、伸びれば嬉しいです。…お小遣いもらってもいい感じじゃないですかね？ pic.twitter.com/MhSJdNpdon— 高木 謙一郎 ©シノマス事前登録中！ (@kenichiro_taka) August 13, 2017
More information comes from Marvelous entertainment’s recently released financial results for the first quarter of the fiscal year, ended on June 30th.
The company as a whole had lower sales than in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year (4,882 million yen, down 22.3%), but operating income was higher (708 million yen, up 11.1%). The company also mentioned that the first half of 2017 was positive in the Japanese home video game market for the first time in three year, thanks to the introduction of new console models.
The Home Console business (which also includes PC) specifically saw lower sales year-on-year (1,338 million yen, down 13.2%), but much higher profit. (271 million yen, up 119.5%). While there was no new release on the domestic market, repeat sales of Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash for PS4 and Fate/EXTELLA: The Umbral Star for PS4 and PS Vita (the Switch version was not yet released in the period examined in the results) launched in the previous quarter kept selling well.
On the western market, Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns for 3DS and Senran Kagura: Estival Versus for PC, performed “strongly” with catalog sales, despite having been released in the previous fiscal year.
Moving on to the outlook for the rest of the fiscal year, specifically for the Home Console business, Marvelous plans to actively promote the popularity of its own IPs both in Japan and in the west, while also focusing on creating new IP and supporting new platforms.
Speaking of the Senran Kagura series, Marvelous recently hosted an event in Tokyo, where Producer Kenichiro Takaki announced Peach Ball: Senran Kagura alongside the debut of the first gameplay of ShinobiRefle: Senran Kagura, the brand new PS4 game Senran Kagura 7EVEN: Shojo-tachi no Kofuku, the PS4 Remake Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal, and the mobile game Senran Kagura: New Link.