Astral Chain Sold More Copies Than Expected

Astral Chain director Takahisa Taura has revealed that the Nintendo Switch game sold significantly more copies than originally expected. Speaking to Famitsu (thanks to Ryokutya2089 and Video Game Chronicle for translating), he was quoted as saying “Astral Chain has sold above expectations”, although he didn’t go into details regarding actual sales figures. However, we do know that Astral Chain sold over 46,000 copies in Japan in its first week, which is certainly an impressive amount.

Developed by PlatinumGames and published by Nintendo, Astral Chain takes place in the year 2078, with an elite police task force known as Neuron being assigned to hunt down and destroy creatures known as Chimeras, which pose a threat to humanity. The game received mostly positive reviews, with praise being aimed at the stylish anime visuals, the fluid and responsive combat, and the deep and engaging story.

While it’s not unheard of for a first-party Nintendo game to perform strongly in terms of sales, you have to remember that Astral Chain is a new IP without any connection to a pre-existing franchise, so it wasn’t guaranteed to be a hit. However, thanks to strong reviews and a decent marketing campaign, it was able to hold its own against other major releases which hit shelves around the same time.

The fact that Astral Chain sold above expectations should be enough for Nintendo to green light a sequel. However, you’ll need to keep in mind that PlatinumGames are currently working on various other projects, including Bayonetta 3, which will also be published by Nintendo, so a sequel may be a long way off. Either way, a follow-up is still bound to happen now that we know the game was a success, so hopefully we can look forward to returning to the world of Astral Chain at some point in the future.

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