Mega Man’s return to the gaming world is off to a great start

For almost a decade, one of Capcom’s most beloved franchises had laid dormant without any new major releases. This finally changed last year with the advent of Mega Man 11, the series’ first entry in roughly 8 years, and along with it, the Mega Man X Legacy Collections, which debuted a few months prior.

Dedicated fans who wished to show their support to these games, both by purchasing them for themselves as well as spreading the word to others, have spent several months wondering if this revival was going to stick; now, with the reveal of these games’ sales figures, it appears the franchise is once again here to stay.

Capcom has revealed to their investors that Mega Man 11 managed to sell roughly 870,000 copies across all platforms since its launch in October of last year. While this number isn’t exactly ground-breaking, the company has expressed their satisfaction with the game’s performance.

Mega Man 11 was released as a budget title and managed to appeal to long-standing fans with it’s traditional difficulty, while also not being too rough for newer fans to get into thanks to the game’s chip system. In addition, the newly-introduced double-gear system proved to be a fun mechanic that added a new dimension to the gameplay, while also being entirely optional for those who didn’t wish to rely on it. The game’s balance of sticking with tradition without being held back by it has definitely paid off.

The Mega Man X Legacy Collections,  meanwhile, have cumulatively sold 920,000 copies since their mutual release in July. Again, Capcom have taken this figure positively, meaning that the franchise’s two big releases for last year have been a financial success.

The X Legacy Collections were also budget titles due to their more retro content, with one half of the X series included in each Collection. While the game content was distinct, the included gallery content, such as music, artwork and merchandise information, was kept the same for both titles, meaning one didn’t have to buy both versions to see all of the extras. That being said, it seems that many fans chose to collect the set, if not for completion then for the sake of seeing what the deal was with X7.

These sales figures have been credited to the Mega Man franchise’s “dedicated fan base and strong brand capabilities.” Fandoms can be a very mixed-bag, but there’s no denying that Mega Man still has plenty of fans out there who want to see the games continue. On that note, Mega Man 11’s producer, Kazuhiro Tsuchiya, has stated that 2019 will be spent preparing for the next step in the franchise.

Fingers and toes around the world are currently crossed for Mega Man X9. Mine certainly are.

A big thank you to Protodude of Rockman Corner for their translation of the information released by Capcom.