Falcom has announced that its Legend of Heroes: Trails franchise has now topped 7 million sales. The RPG series has been around for close to two decades, and it's always been somewhat popular in its homeland of Japan — but in recent years, the property has also started to catch on here in the West.
7 million is a respectable figure, and Falcom will be expecting sales to continue on an upward trend, especially now that NIS America is publishing the games overseas. Indeed, Trails from Zero is just days away from its Western release, and then its sequel, Trails to Azure, arrives in 2023 alongside Trails into Reverie, and The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails.
Meanwhile, Falcom itself is busy in Japan. Kuro no Kiseki kickstarted a new generation of Trails games last year, and Kuro no Kiseki II: Crimson Sin launches at the end of the month. Both of these games are very likely coming West as well.
So yeah, it's a good time to be a Trails fan. Are you glad to see the series doing well? Write your own legend in the comments section below.
[source falcom.co.jp, via gematsu.com]
Comments 20
Awesome news, still need to play cold steel 2-4 but very much enjoyed the first one and looking forward to trails from zero.
That's some impressive numbers honestly for what used to be a niche series (can't really say that anymore).
Curious to know how big a % the west adds to that number. Especially considering marketing for the games in the west has been... Not great.
This Is pretty good i hope one of these days we can get both the rest of the Ys games and the Gagharv trilogy added to the ps plus classics list.
@rawzeku I would imagine the Western % is still a minority, but if it follows trends of other Japanese properties that have started going much heavier in the West (stuff like Yakuza comes to mind, or even Monster Hunter) then we could soon see the % shift quite dramatically.
The next couple of years for Falcom and Trails will be very interesting.
N.i.c.e. falcom trail series is amazing.its one of the best series in video games history.word up son
Good news! Glad to see the series is catching on with folks. I'm so ready to finally get my hands on Zero!
Need to get through Cold Steel 3 myself. The start of those games is always a real slog, but then they usually just go full speed after you get past the opening hours
Got into the series for the first time this year with the ps4 version Trails of cold steel 1, and I have to admit that I had to force my way through it, there was just so much reading, lore, and so much going on it was hard keeping track of all the characters and remembering who they was. The graphics weren't great either and thank god the game had a speed up mode when out in the field.
But, towards the end the story was getting quite good and I did enjoy the battle system, so on the last playstation store sale I bought the second game which I plan to start around December. I can guess the graphics don't improve until the third game.
Really hoping these games comes to PS Extra, like in Japan. For some time I wanted to start them, but couldn't get one yet.
@UltimateOtaku91 Yeah the first 2 games on PS4 are just slightly better looking versions of the PS3 games. 3 and 4 were made for that console gen so definitely look better!
Sadly 7 mill. accross 9+ games and skews of the same game is not how much I would have liked the franchise to sell but at least it's an upward trend.
Hopefully they can reach a mill. per game soon. I think they only need more awareness since the products themselves are top-notch. Wishing them all the best!
Thats actually pretty good. When the western releases are completed it’ll probably be close to 1M per game. That’s about where Yakuza was a few years ago before it started to slowly increase with western breakthrough.
I’m guessing the budget of a trails game is way less than a Yakuza game.
I bought all 4 Cold Steel games on disc, but I won't play them, too much time required. Ys on the other hand is a day 1 buy and play.
Im still waiting for Zero to drop so it will be my first in the series .
Very happy for Falcom and the series, extremely deserved. But what worries me is that with the popularity of the west, over time Falcom may feel obliged to change some things, and make the series less Japanese. I don´t know, ending the turn based system, or changing some anime tropes. I know I shouldnt be complaining about that..haha..sorry. But I hope they never change, the series is so charming.
@SuperSilverback Totally agree. First few hours start a bit slow but then pick up. That’s where I’m at, too—need to get through Trails of Cold Steel 3.
7 million people have good taste. 7.9 billion do not.
@bigcalsworld @UltimateOtaku91 I'm not sure any Falcom game has ever been accused of being a looker.....
you betcha! i'm willing to dish out close to $100 for getting store special goods in Japan for Kuro no Kiseki II. i'll probably have to wait 2 or 3 weeks before i actually get to play it, but hey it beats having to wait 2 or 3 years amirite?
Well... still waiting for reverie and kuro 1-2.
@Mauzuri I remember running across an article on Trails in the Sky in the PSP days and I happen to buy a copy after reading it. Was thoroughly impressed and felt Falcom could've fit in with any of the major 90s jrpg developers. Been a major fan since and my fav rpg developer. Happy to see them continue to build the fanbase
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