Steins;Gate Visual Novel Receives Strong UK Debut

Joshawott

Joshawott

Monsieur Monster
AUKN Staff
2015-06-08Steins;Gate%20Vita.png


Last Frday, the video game publisher pQube gave visual novel fans in Europe the chance to experience one of the most critically acclaimed stories in the genre with their PlayStation 3 and Vita release of 5pb. and Nitroplus' Steins;Gate. Four years may have passed since White Fox's television anime adaptation drew international audiences to the gripping science fiction story, but the love for the Future Gadget Laboratory has endured.

This morning, the UK Interactive Entertainment Association (UKIE) published their Top 40 entertainment software chart for the week ending 6th June 2015, which taking into account the niche audience of visual novels, has shown a strong debut for the cult game, which features a universally acclaimed scenario by Naotaka Hayashi (Bravely Default, Robotic;Notes).

In the All-Format Chart, which combines the different console versions of a title into a single entry, Steins;Gate made a comfortable debut at #18 - with the game being the highest selling PlayStation Vita game that week, as well as the third highest selling PlayStation 3 title, behind only FIFA 15 and Grand Theft Auto V.

Manga Entertainment UK previously released White Fox's anime adaptation on DVD and blu-ray in 2013, before making the series available on the Netflix streaming service.

Source
 
While there was admittedly no big releases last week, I'm still surprised that the game ended up being as high as it was in the charts. I wonder how importation factored into that though, considering that North America doesn't have a release date yet and Rice Digital were always emphasising how they can ship the El Psy Kongroo Edition internationally.

I'm also very happy to see that Splatoon didn't experience a drastic drop after its #2 debut last week; unlike about every other Wii U game before it.
 
I'm pretty certain this doesn't take in to account copies sold through Rice Digital (source:neogaf) so it looks like S;G could have been even higher. very good start :)
 
Steins getting a top 40 start is very good! In many ways i felt like this was to be expected. If a visual novel was to stand out really, i think that was it. As much as i'd like to see that hitting top 40 next week, i fear it'll probably drop down. But you never know. Elder scrolls online is the only new major seller next week, if you can call it that, so it might be able to keep stable. That's the hope. And maybe i could buy myself a copy too...

EDIT: Oh splatoon was still high too! Yeah i was expecting that. I've not heard so much praise for a title from Nintendo in a good while. I know there was a lot of uncertainty on how it'd sell, but i had a feeling it'd be strong. I'd imagine it'll start to slow down next week though.
 
Splatoon moved around 7,766 units this week, which is a 50% drop from last week. Low numbers compared to the 145,000 units it did in Japan on launch, but the UK games market has been pretty bad as of late, especially for Nintendo. Still, overall good numbers I'd say considering the market and the fact that this is a new IP. Great game and deserves the sales, so congrats to Nintendo there, they actually marketed the thing! I don't think Steins;Gate numbers will be all that great in actuality given its position on the chart, but a Vita game charting at all is nice to see, and a VN at that.
 
Still waiting on my copy, Royal Mail appear to have lost it :(, Amazon are fully sold out too so if I have to go replacement it might take a while :x
 
Hopefully this spurs on more visual novel releases in the UK in the near future - and proves to Sony that the Vita isn't quite dead in the water in the West yet.
 
Lutga said:
Hopefully this spurs on more visual novel releases in the UK in the near future - and proves to Sony that the Vita isn't quite dead in the water in the West yet.
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Haven't you heard? The Vita™ is a 'legacy platform' outside of Asia now :p But seriously, as nice as it is that it charted, the numbers could be in the triple digits knowing the state of the UK market.
 
I wonder when the re-mastered version for PS4 will be out.

I'm kind of interested in trying some visual novels but my platform availability and buying habits don't seem to go well with that sort of thing.
 
Might get it my Brother and play it after him hehe.

Are there screenshots of the game online and that? Would like to make sure he'd like it.

Also, Japanese or English language?
 
Thanks!

He's played Danganronpa, you think he'd like this?

Looks good. I just can't get it for me since has has all the consoles :p
 
-Danielle- said:
He's played Danganronpa, you think he'd like this?

Looks good. I just can't get it for me since has has all the consoles :p
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He might. I haven't actually played Steins;Gate myself (However I love the Anime) but from what I can gather it's style of game play is like Danganronpa without the Courtroom gameplay. Since the bulk of Danganronpa is just the Visual Novel stuff, he probably would like it.
 
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