Throughout the years, Square Enix has had its fair share of negative reviews, especially for its more recent remakes. However, fans of the Mana series can rejoice knowing that Trials of Mana was able to surpass the company’s sales expectations.
For those who aren’t in the loop, Trials of Mana is a remake of a once Japan-exclusive game for Super Nintendo. It was originally entitled Seiken Densetsu 2, but it was localized to Secret of Mana in Europe and North America. Unfortunately, Seiken Densetsu 3 never made it out of Japan, but players still found a way to play the game by translating it to English and releasing it online for other players to access.
It was only renamed to Trials of Mana after it was released on the Nintendo Switch. The game also received a full remake and was released for other systems such as Steam earlier this year.
We are pleased to find out that the hype for the Mana series still hasn’t died down. In fact, Square Enix revealed in a recent Q&A with an investor that Trials of Mana surpassed their sales expectations.
Q: Other than “FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE,” how are new and catalog HD games selling?
A: Sales of “TRIALS OF MANA” are so strong that they have significantly surpassed our initial expectations. In regards to
catalog titles, we are seeing growth in digital sales from our library, especially of titles featuring our core IP, and this is
despite not engaging in any special promotions. In addition, unrelated to HD games, revenue generated from one-off
sales of smartphone games also grew in 1Q
If you really think about it, it’s amazing that the game was able to do as well as it did, given the fact that it was released around the same time as the Final Fantasy VII remake. What’s more, Square Enix didn’t promote Trials of Mana as much as they did FFVII, and yet, they were still able to sell more than they thought they would.
That being said, what does this mean for Square Enix’s other older games? Well, given how well their remakes have been so far, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if they also open up the possibility of creating remakes for the beloved classics such as Chrono Trigger.
If wish to play Trials of Mana, it’s available for purchase on PC, PS4, and on the Nintendo Switch.
