Square-Enix’s Trials of Mana remake was released shortly after the highly-anticipated Final Fantasy VII remake – but this hasn’t stopped it from being a big hit.
At least, that’s what can be gathered from a recent Square-Enix sales briefing. In the said briefing, it was reported that Trails of Mana had “exceeded [their] plan” with sales “so strong that they have significantly surpassed [their] expectations.”
Alongside FFVII Remake, the report gave credit to ToM for raising sales and profits in their HD Games sub-segment.
This may be a surprise to many, given the title’s release just one month after FFVII Remake. Credit can be given to a higher percentage in digital sales, likely due to worldwide lockdowns during COVID-19.
Trials of Mana is a 2020 remake of the original SNES game released in 1995. In Japan, it is known as Seiken Densetsu 3 and hadn’t been officially released in the West until 2017’s Collection of Mana. Following the release of said compilation, demand for a remake grew, leading to the game released today.
The Trials of Mana remake was notable for learning from the mistakes of its remade predecessor. Kotaku criticized the 2017 Secret of Mana remake for “taking several steps back from 1993” and by fans for feeling like a cheap mobile game. In an interview with Kotaku, the developers said they realized from this feedback that”the fans have really high expectations and desires towards titles in this series.” This, in turn, prompted bigger production on the sequel.
Masara Oyamanda, who produced ToM, claimed in an interview with USGamer that he would really like to ” see this series continue based on fan feedback” to the game. Given the sales of the remake, this could well be the case since it shows there’s a big market for the franchise.
