Valkyria Chronicles' sales increased 400% in April

by Alexander Sliwinski on Jun 9th 2009 12:00PM

Sega America's official blog noted that sales of Valkyria Chronicles skyrockted 400 percent from March to April. The site states the game is now in "tens of thousands" of brand new homes. The sales spike was likely a confluence of post-holiday word-of-mouth, a temporary price drop, the addition of DLC and some evangelical moments by outlets to get at least one Sega franchise out of the rabid blue hedgehog's shadow.

The Sega site fully recognizes that a quadrupling of sales for a game six months after launch is not exactly the norm. Hopefully this means Valkyria Chronicles isn't a full-blown flop anymore in North America and its possible sequel may actually make it across the Pacific.

[Thanks Aaron]

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Tags: rpg, sales, sega, squad-7, valkyria, valkyria-chronicles

Reader Comments (91)

when have dubbed anime voices never been annoying?

(I'm looking at you, Neon Genesis Evangelion)

Well, truth, although the only time I found dubs being better than the original voices was for Dragon Ball, the spanish (mexican) cast was just so much better

Hopefully ADV doesn't get the rights to it, I would hate to see Greenfield once again shoehorn in Tiffany Grant....

problem: AMERICANS HATE READING

Has it occur to anyone that maybe the anime of Valkyria Chronicles may have fuel sales of the videogame?

Yes, the _anime_ of some game that sold like crap suddenly drove new sales. You've got to be kidding.

actually, that makes sense. Why's that so unreasonable, Erwos?

It'd be like the anime of, say, Ar Tonelico 2 suddenly driving sales through the roof. Totally implausible.

It was the price drop, nothing more.

It was probably a combination of the price drop, anime and DLC that released. It created the perfect storm of public awareness and people gave it a shot.

I picked it up in April. I haven't played it much, but I'll get to it - someday...

Awesome game. My feeling is that this is the sort of game that may not burst from the gate with big sales, but over its lifetime it will have a respectable total. Word of mouth is the best thing for a game like this.

"temporary price drop"

Aah, just like on STEAM. Pricing can do miracles.

you do realize this game is a PS3 exclusive, right?

hmmmm, appears I misread your post

ma bad

Hopefully, this will, indeed, bring forth a sequel because this has been one of my favorite games this generation. i paid $50 the day it came out at the now defunct circuit city, and it was definitely worth it. it's a beautiful game that actually allows you to connect with the characters.
best video game news i've heard today!

I guess it helps that EB/Gamestop was selling this for $20 during that sale that last little over a month. I picked up too only to post it up for trade on Goozex and got $60 dollar trade credit for it thanks EB/Gamestop :D

Your Mom's Box...

Screw a sequel, Give us Yakuza 3

Two completely different games, different genres, different audience, different teams...

Sega would have an even tougher situation with Yakuza in the US, not only because the NA market is crowded with sandbox games, but because the PS3 userbase is not as in demand of Action/Adventure games as it is of RPG's in general.

Unfortunate really, but if Sega decides to release it, hopefully it pays off for them, they deserve it ;(

I have been hoping for localization of Yakuza 3 since it was first announced. I loved Yakuza 1 & 2 and the demo for was brilliant. There is a pretty comprehensive translation guide of it on GAME FAQs from a guy called ThePatrick who is really good with translations of Japanese games. If we don't get news of a localization I'm going to import it at some point. The translation guide covers the main quest and he is adding all the side quests now.

from 10 to 40?

People buy all kinds of shitty games, but wouldn't pick this up for full price. Ugh.

SEGA of America, this is not enough. Just serve us Initial D and Sakura Taisen already!

I wanted to like this game, I really did. It looks gorgeous and everyone goes on and on about how awesome it is, so I downloaded the demo. I realize the demo isn't representative of the total experience, but it didn't do anything for me. I just cannot get into turn based battle systems- outside of Onimusha Tactics, that is. If I could though, this game would be a wet dream...

i've downloaded all the subbed anime episodes so far and have them on my PSP. and i've A ranked all the missions i've done so far in the game (only about halfway through though). i love valkyria ^_^

I'm not really a fan of this sort of game, but I'd glad it's doing well, the developers are really talented. Now bring us Skies of Arcadia 2 :)

Wow Skies of Arcadia 2 would be awesome.

Instead of DLC next time I hope they could just release a damn trophy patch. But yea the game is a masterpiece and one of the best RPGs this console gen for any system.

Actually, the game sold much better outside of Japan.

I doubt the cartoon would increase sales all that much, but they would probably be double of what they are if it came to both consoles.

I believe Sony helped to fund the product so you won't see it on anything but Playstation. I would just eat up a PSP version with more of a tactics and situational approach that a continuation of the story.

I believe VC sold the best in Japan. Mind you that I got the numbers from VGChartz, but those numbers do give a rough estimate. Besides, the whole marketing push is wholly focused in Japan right now with the anime and merchandising.

In my opinion, being on both consoles will not necessarily guarantee double sales. Keep in mind that many hardcore RPG fans who are also PS3 owners probably own a 360 as well since most of the mainstream RPGs come out first or exclusively on the 360.

Really, congrats to SEGA on making such a great game that is outselling some of it's more publicized competitors.

The game has sold better in Japan than it has outside of Japan. It sold 141,000 copies there in 2008.

Put the full version on PSN, much like Burnout: Paradise... I bet you'll see another jump...

I am a huge fan of the game but I would like to shed some light on this news. I work at gamestop and it just so happens that this increase in sales was because it was part of our Gamers day sale and it was marked down to 30 dollars. I personally was trying to tell people at my store to buy it not only because I thought it was the Okami of its time but also because it was quite a bargain.

I couldn't find a copy in San Diego county during the price drop. I've also noticed there is an anime series of the same name out. Wonder if that has a slight draw?

Valkyria Chronicles is a great game, I just don't understand why it didn't sell better.

Because Sega generally treats the former Overworks studio like a redheaded stepchild. They either refuse to release their games at all in the west(Sakura Taisen) or neglect to spend any money marketing them. Remember when Skies of Arcadia came out and SEGA blew all the DC ad budget for that quarter on Space Channel 5 and Crazy Taxi?

If SEGA put effort into marketing their GOOD games, that would take attention away from the festering corpse of a blue mascot. Can't have that, now can we?

I don't even have a PS3 and I'd be thrilled to see a game like this sell well. It's beautiful, unconventional, and judging by many reviews, pretty darn good. Seeing something this unique do well might encourage publishers to release something more than the usual first-and-third-person shooters.

Just in case no one mentioned this, sales also probably rose because of the anime based on the series

The Anime, blogs and sites like cheapassgamers.com all contributed to increase sales for that month.

If a sequel is made, I hope it's not quasi-turn based anymore. There needs to be a Rainbow Six-style Valkyria Chronicles. Turn-based anything is doomed to market obscurity.

Good, can we get that Trophy patch now?

第七小隊、出撃する！

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Valkyria Chronicles' sales increased 400% in April

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