SoulCalibur VI Has Shipped 2 Million Copies

Bandai Namco just announced that its popular fighting game SoulCalibur VI has passed a sales milestone.

[FallenAngel1984]

After seeing how Soul Calibur V nearly killed the franchise, it's very nice to see Soul Calibur VI come to the rescue and save the franchise and perform so well

You can really feel the passion that was put into this game. Motohiro Okubo immediately took up leading Project Soul to make VI not for any monetary reason, but because the other members had such passion for the series and he didn't want it all to disappear, which would render all that hard work worthless. This is especially notable in that Okubo had no prior experience with the Soul series at all, only co-producing Tekken 7 with Harada. Said passion definitely shows considering how much effort and dedication is clearly being put into the game to revitalize the series once again. The amazing visuals and music are all products of a team putting so much into a game that was once considered dead.

[blackblades]

Considering how good it did hopefully theres a new game in the works with a better budget

[FlavorLav01]

Still looked and felt like an Xbox360 game to me. Not horrible, just no real evolution in such a long time, which made it feel very unexciting to play. I still dig the over the top outfits but this game needs more realism and grounding as the series progresses. I would be ok letting this series take a hiatus unless they plan to change it up in a substantial way for any further entries.

[zarbor]

There in lies the problem. Namco is not willing to put the money into it nor take the risk to "change it up substantially" so they will keep rolling out the same game with minimal changes as long as people buy it. Its why I cannot support any of these games anymore.
My hope is companies like Sucker Punch after doing Ghost would consider taking on the fighting genre. The fighting duel matches were not as complex as other fighting games but I bet Sucker Punch can take it beyond what we are getting from the likes of Namco and Capcom.

[FallenAngel1984]

@ black

Considering the game did well enough to garner a season 2 of DLC when the devs didn’t expect that, it’s a given that there will be more SC in the future

@ Flavor

The game looks as spectacular as a game making full use of Unreal Engine 4 and the power of current-gen ought to be, especially when running at 4K. Everything from the detailed character models, the fluid movement and animations, the gorgeous environments that each stage presents, and the effects are all top-notch. Nothing about it seems like a game that can run as well on 7th gen.

On top of the game being technically proficient, the art, courtesy of longtime lead character illustrator Takuji Kawano, is also worthy of praise. While predominantly based on Soulcalibur, the designs expand and improve the visual concepts of that game into a new modernization, even drawing upon elements from across the entire series as an extra flourish. Just compare Nightmare in SCI; the knight in generic blue armor, to Nightmare in VI; the fearsome Azure Knight with the badass cape. Giving each character a distinct background motif in their official art is also a nice touch.

Outside of Kawano's contributions, mention must also be made of the gorgeous artwork that accompanies the narration and character interactions throughout the Soul Chronicle Story Mode, provided by notable SNK illustrator Hiroaki. It's so true the SC style, yet so unique and distinct to Hiroaki, that it works very well. Hiroaki's art is also a notable step up from the drab, brown and lifeless storyboards of V, what with the use of colors, details, general flow, and having a clear picture that gets everything across while giving audiences something nice to look at. All in all, a standout example of how art can be used as a way to tell a story.

Soul Calibur has always featured High Fantasy mixed with historical fiction and “realistic magic.” What reason would they have to forsake the roots of this series and tone all of that down? Dead or Alive 6 tried to tone down its sexy appeal and performed worse than Soul Calibur VI as a result critically & commercially, showing that you shouldn’t go against what appeals to series fans..

This series already had a hiatus. VI released in October 2018, nearly seven years after V was released in January 2012. This makes it the longest gap between mainline SC games in series history. It doesn’t need another one especially after how well received and commercially successful the latest entry has been.

[aragon]

Best one I’ve played since 2, please season 3 please or part 7 announcement.

[gamer7804]

The game was decent but the story mode was pretty awful. Combat and characters were good.

[SugarSoSweet]

2 million in three years (2018) sucks though Tekken has sold like 7 million in four years (2017)

[DaniMacYo]

That’s some picture.

[CobraKai]

A million shipped for each.

[Tapani]

That lady has really bad back problems. I hope she sees someone regularly for it.

[CrimsonWing69]

I really enjoyed this game. It brought me back to the Dreamcast days. I miss how games were back in the day.

[akurtz]

Just plain o fun games. Not some way of trying to get more and more money out of you

[Lexreborn2]

I’m going to put something out there. Soul Calibur 6 shipped 2 million on three devices. And it’s considered a success. SFV sold 5.5 million copies on 2 platforms now the second highest selling street fighter.

Somehow the gaming community has convinced itself SFV was a failure. Let that sink in

https://www.capcom.co.jp/ir...

[Kurt Russell]

SFV wasn't a commercial failure. But when stacked against the 9 million copies of SF4 sold... it was pretty far off the mark. The other thing to consider outside of sales it how the game is regarded. SV5 just didn't hit expectation.

Meanwhile Soul Calibur 5 was bad enough it could have killed the franchise, instead SC6 brought it back from near extinction.

Theeeeen, you have to take the brands into consideration. SF is a franchise with a larger fanbase to SC, with a larger demographic. It seems that SC and Tekken managed to eat into that dominating fanbase this time around with two excellent releases.

[Lexreborn2]

You should look at the list again from capcom on their platinum games. And understand that Street fighter 4 did not sell 9 million from capcoms direct figures. It sold 3.4 million.

And this is a declaration of what is successful for capcom not me or you. But from their own investors page:

“In the home video game market, sales of more than one million units is the generally accepted standard for a major hit. Since Capcom's inception, we have created many of these titles, including Street Fighter and Resident Evil. With over 100 titles that have sold more than one million units, Capcom stands alone in the video game industry. This page lists these hit titles by sales volume, and includes box art, video, screenshots and other information about these games.“

Capcom separates the entire SF4 franchise as skus where others attempt to combine it. As a stand-alone product without revision. SFV is the second most successful SF game next to SF2 by CAPCOMS standards.

[Kurt Russell]

Apologies Lex. Reading my source again it says 9 million sold but including all versions of SF4, not just the base version which did in fact sell 3.4 million as you have pointed out.

[Lexreborn2]

It's cool Kurt, it's just a matter of perspective. I won't discount the collective amount as 9 million with all versions and seperate releases is still 9 million. But, pitting a version that is 1 version across the board and no need to buy additional skus is a point Capcom views.

SFV is clearly a mass success for the SF franchise as an individual release. And, the thought process that it was a dude with the amount of support is a bad rumor in gaming news. If 1 million is Capcoms standard of success SFV did 5 times their consideration. It's a successful entry.

[BlaqMagiq1]

SC6 was a return to form. Best SC since SC3 by far.