After Capcom achieved record-breaking success with “Monster Hunter: Wilds,” their recent release of the animated adaptation of “Devil May Cry” last week has garnered praise from both media and fans alike. This enthusiastic reception appears to have boosted game sales, as “Devil May Cry HD Collection,” “Devil May Cry 4,” and “Devil May Cry 5” have all climbed back onto Steam’s global best-seller list over the past week.
At the time of writing, the “Devil May Cry” animation released on Netflix on April 3 ranks fourth in Netflix’s global top ten popular series list and has made it into the top ten rankings in 87 countries. According to Netflix, the first season of this animation has been viewed over 5.3 million times.
Comparing the premiere week performance of the “Devil May Cry” anime with other popular game adaptations underscores its impressive reception. According to Flix Patrol data, the anime garnered an estimated viewing time of 21 million hours, outpacing “Cyberpunk: Edgerunners” (14.8 million hours) and both seasons of “Castlevania: Nocturne” (9.8 million hours and 9 million hours, respectively). The most successful game-adapted animation on Netflix during its premiere week remains the first season of “Arcane: League of Legends,” which achieved 34.17 million hours.
The success of this animation has also led to a significant increase in sales for the “Devil May Cry” game series. SteamDB data shows that around the release time of the animation, concurrent players for “Devil May Cry 5” surged from about 2,000 to over 13,500 within just a few days. Over the past week, sales for “Devil May Cry 4” and “Devil May Cry HD Collection” have similarly spiked.
Last week, Capcom’s CEO communicated to investors about their strategy to grow their brand through multimedia ventures. The success of the “Devil May Cry” animated adaptation—and to a lesser extent, that of the “Onimusha” TV series—demonstrates this strategy in action by extending Capcom’s game IP from consoles to streaming platforms.