Skip to main content

Japanese visual novel Clannad outranks Call of Duty on Steam charts

visual novel clannad beats call of duty in steam sales header
Image used with permission by copyright holder
A recently released localization of Japanese visual novel Clannad briefly unseated Activision’s multi-million dollar epic Call of Duty: Black Ops III from the Steam sales charts this week, demonstrating the genre’s growing popularity in the western world.

Upon its release, Clannad ranked in at third place on Steam’s sales charts, surpassing the hourly-tallied sales numbers of popular games like Grand Theft Auto V and Call of Duty: Black Ops III. For several hours, Clannad trailed only Fallout 4 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in the service’s global sales charts.

Black Ops III has since reclaimed its spot at third place in the Steam charts. Currently, Clannad still ranks in ahead of GTAV at fifth place.

Clannad‘s sales success follows up on a successful Kickstarter campaign, in which publisher Sekai Project earned over $540,000 in backer pledges. The campaign covered the cost of an English-language localization of Clannad, which had never seen a western release in the decade following its initial launch in Japan.

Released in 2004, Clannad is a story-driven adventure game in which players control a high school delinquent who works through his issues by getting to know his classmates. The game earned a dedicated following among fans of the visual novel genre, and multiple manga and anime adaptations premiered in the years after Clannad‘s debut.

Clannad surpassed all of Sekai Project’s announced stretch goals, funding the inclusion of HD art assets and other bonus material. In the months after Clannad‘s launch, Sekai Project will develop and release a PC port of Hikari Mimamoru Sakamichi de, a collection of Clannad side stories that were originally released as audio-only drama CDs in Japan.

The Kickstarter campaign additionally funded an all-new Clannad anthology manga, which is set to launch in western territories in the coming months.

Clannad HD Edition is now available on Steam, and early adopters can pick up a copy for $43 during its launch week. Clannad is normally priced at $50.

Danny Cowan
Danny’s passion for video games was ignited upon his first encounter with Nintendo’s Duck Hunt, and years later, he still…
Volgarr the Viking 2 will take you back to your Ghosts ‘n Goblins days
A viking slashes a tree in Volgarr the Viking 2.

Developer Digital Eclipse is working on a surprising project: Volgarr the Viking 2. The 2D retro sequel will launch on August 6 for PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

The news is an out of left field reveal. The first Volgarr the Viking game released in 2013 and was made as an ode to 1080s classics like Ghosts 'n Goblins. Despite being a small release, it sold over 1 million copies over the past decade. As revealed during today's Guerrilla Collective stream, the series is coming back with a new sequel by Digital Eclipse, the team behind this year's Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story.

Read more
3 Days of Play PS Plus games to try this weekend (June 7-9)
Key art for Streets of Rage 4.

June 2024 is shaping up to be a pretty great month for PlayStation players. Not only are we coming off an entertaining State of Play showcase, but a new Days of Play initiative surrounding all the video game showcases this month is bringing a lot of new PS Plus additions with it. Many of those games hit PS Plus this week, and three in particular stand out to us.

For owners of Sony's oft-neglected PlayStation VR2, the first game is one of its rare exclusives that take full advantage of the headset's eye-tracking by seeing how often players blink. The next is a new PS Plus Essential game that's a revival of Sega's classic beat-'em-up series for the modern gaming era. Finally, the last title is an atmospheric and eerie fishing game that should entice fans of Lovecraftian horror.
Before Your Eyes

Read more
3 first-party Xbox Game Pass games to try this weekend (June 7-9)
Gears 5 Kait Hero Close Up

Microsoft will hold an Xbox Games Showcase and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Direct. this Sunday. These shows will provide a much better idea of what to expect from Xbox over the course of the next year or two. That's really needed right now, as Microsoft has struggled to keep online discussions around Xbox positive as it went multiplatform with some games, laid off thousands of developers, and outright shut down the developers of Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall. Based on leaks and my personal expectations for the showcase, there are three games you can play on Xbox Game Pass this weekend to prepare for the event.

The first is the latest first-person shooter in a long-running series by id Software that might be getting a medieval-set spinoff. After that, we have the fifth entry in a sci-fi Xbox series that still looks fantastic on Xbox Series X/S even though it came out in 2019. Finally, you can prepare for Avowed with the latest RPG from Obsidian Entertainment, a satirical sci-fi game where player choice is critical.
Doom Eternal

Read more