The new Samurai Shodown released last week and has been doing very well in Japan, with SNK reporting shortages in stores. This week, they celebrated the 40,000 sales milestone in Japan, with a free PS4 theme releasing mid-July.
Out of the 40,000, and likely partially because of the shortages, digital sales made up 25% of the sales. The Deluxe Pack and Season Pass early buyer’s bonus likely helped contribute to this as well.
SNK President Kouichi Toyama commented in a press release:
“The Samurai Shodown series was created in Heisei 5 (1993), in the midst of the fighting game boom. Since then, various games have released, and this year it reaches its 27th anniversary. We believe that this Samurai Shodown that fans have been waiting for can help revive the fighting game boom in this Reiwa period, and contribute to Japanese eSports.”
Producer Yasuyuki Oda commented:
“This Samurai Shodown is the first new game in 11 years. We’ve received good reviews not only from diehard Samurai Shodown fans, but also many newcomers who have praised the freshness of the gameplay, and this has been very encouraging to our staff. I hope that we will be able to continue spreading the message of Samurai Shodown’s appeal to a wide range of users.”
Here’s a look at the PS4 theme:
In other news, we have a comment from SNK Community Manager Krispy Kaiser, who mentioned that casual lobbies improvements and other fixes are on the way:
The team is currently fixing the problem where exiting a match results in it being treated as a rage quit/disconnect. Additionally, we’re improving casual lobbies. All we ask is for your patience and understanding. We will continue reading feedback to improve the game. Thank you!
— KK@SNK (@krispykaiser) July 5, 2019
Samurai Shodown is available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It’ll release for Nintendo Switch and PC this winter. Check out our playtest here.
