{"id":54057,"date":"2025-11-18T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=54057"},"modified":"2025-11-18T17:13:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T08:13:14","slug":"trails-in-the-sky-1st-chapter-saw-the-biggest-response-on-steam-nihon-falcom-ceo-says-the-steam-demos-impact-was-enormous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/trails-in-the-sky-1st-chapter-saw-the-biggest-response-on-steam-nihon-falcom-ceo-says-the-steam-demos-impact-was-enormous\/","title":{"rendered":"Trails in the Sky 1st\u00a0Chapter saw the biggest response on Steam, Nihon\u00a0Falcom\u00a0CEO says. \u201cThe\u00a0Steam\u00a0demo\u2019s impact was enormous\u201d\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Two months following the launch of\u00a0<strong>Trails in the Sky 1st\u00a0Chapter,<\/strong>\u00a0Nihon\u00a0Falcom\u2019s\u00a0CEO Toshihiro Kondo\u00a0has shared some insights about how the remake has been performing\u00a0so far, both in terms of feedback and sales.\u00a0Talking to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dengekionline.com\/article\/202511\/57153\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dengeki Online<\/a>,\u00a0Kondo\u00a0says that the\u00a0overall response has been \u201cextremely positive,\u201d far surpassing\u00a0even\u00a0what the developers had been expecting.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWith remakes, companies always worry about how far\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0supposed to take things, but\u00a0the majority\u00a0of\u00a0the feedback\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0received\u00a0has been\u00a0positive about\u00a0the\u00a0approach and scope\u00a0we chose\u00a0for Trails in the Sky\u00a01st\u00a0Chapter\u2019s remake.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0astonished\u00a0by how positive the reactions have been.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1350\" height=\"756\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1350px) 100vw, 1350px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/20251118-54057-001.jpg\" alt=\"Trails in the Sky 1st chapter\" class=\"wp-image-54062\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/20251118-54057-001.jpg 1350w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/20251118-54057-001-380x213.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/20251118-54057-001-768x430.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Notably, the remake launched simultaneously worldwide across Steam, PS5 and Switch&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;&nbsp;and&nbsp;Kondo says&nbsp;overseas reception&nbsp;is on par or even better than in the domestic market. Aside from North America and Europe, he highlights&nbsp;China, where sales have been remarkably strong, among the best in the Trails series\u2019 history.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As for platforms, Kondo\u00a0says the game saw the biggest response\u00a0on Steam.\u00a0It seems the demo Nihon\u00a0Falcom\u00a0released for Trails in the Sky<sup> <\/sup>1st<sup>\u00a0<\/sup>Chapter<sup>\u00a0<\/sup>one month\u00a0ahead of launch\u00a0played\u00a0a\u00a0big\u00a0role\u00a0in generating interest\u00a0for\u00a0the\u00a0game. \u201cWe did a user survey, and the\u00a0number one\u00a0reason people gave for\u00a0purchasing\u00a0the game was, \u2018Because I played the demo.\u2019 And the platform where the demo was played the most was Steam.\u00a0So\u00a0in that sense,\u00a0I think Steam\u00a0had\u00a0an\u00a0enormous impact.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1352\" height=\"758\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1352px) 100vw, 1352px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/20251118-54057-002.jpg\" alt=\"Trails in the Sky 1st chapter\" class=\"wp-image-54063\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/20251118-54057-002.jpg 1352w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/20251118-54057-002-380x213.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/20251118-54057-002-768x431.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While Nihon&nbsp;Falcom&nbsp;generally finds&nbsp;it tricky to handle simultaneous global releases and Steam&nbsp;ports on its own, being a remake,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nihon-falcom-was-able-to-give-trails-in-the-sky-1st-chapter-a-simultaneous-global-release-date-because-they-already-had-a-finalized-script\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Trails in the Sky 1st&nbsp;Chapter&nbsp;presented&nbsp;the&nbsp;studio&nbsp;with a rare opportunity<\/a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;commit&nbsp;to the&nbsp;endeavor. \u201cWe felt that if we didn\u2019t do a simultaneous worldwide release now, then when would we ever do it?\u201d That said, the workload involved was still quite challenging for Nihon&nbsp;Falcom.&nbsp;Thankfully, it seems to have paid off.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related:&nbsp;<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/trails-in-the-sky-1st-chapter-debuts-a-nihon-falcoms-most-successful-steam-release-to-date\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter debuts as Nihon Falcom\u2019s most successful Steam release to date<\/strong><\/a><strong><\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/nihon-falcoms-in-house-game-engine-is-called-fdk-we-ask-ceo-toshihiro-kondo-about-the-technology-behind-trails-in-the-sky-1st-chapter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Nihon Falcom\u2019s in-house game engine is called \u201cFDK\u201d. We ask CEO Toshihiro Kondo about the technology behind Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter<\/strong><\/a><strong><\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nihon Falcom president Toshihiro Kondo shares insights about Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter&#8217;s performance across regions and platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":54060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-54057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Trails in the Sky 1st\u00a0Chapter saw the biggest response on Steam, Nihon\u00a0Falcom\u00a0CEO says. \u201cThe\u00a0Steam\u00a0demo\u2019s impact was enormous\u201d\u00a0 - 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Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54057"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54064,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54057\/revisions\/54064"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}