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Japanese visual novel Clannad outranks Call of Duty on Steam charts

Danny Cowan
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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.

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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.

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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.

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