Aphrodi leads the team in Inazuma Eleven Victory Road.
Image by Operation Sports

Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road Hits a New High as Series Popularity Skyrockets

Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road has had a very successful launch. The game received “Overwhelmingly Positive” reviews on Steam, which just goes to show how much love it got from the community.

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But what’s even crazier is the numbers it’s pulling. It’s sitting at around 30K concurrent players, with a 52K all-time peak. That might not sound big for other games, but for an indie anime JRPG, this is a big deal.

Just to put it into perspective, Captain Tsubasa, which is more or less similar to Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road, only hit around 5-6k concurrent players.  Sure, the Inazuma Eleven game is much better and more polished, but this big of a difference is astounding.

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It’s mainly because this is a very niche genre with a relatively small community. These numbers represent that the game has broken into the mainstream and is quickly racking up players.  

Why Is Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road Getting So Much Success?

Image: SteamDB

Well, the first thing is the IP of Inazuma Eleven. Even if you aren’t a big anime fan, you might have heard of this show. It aired on different channels back in the day, and a lot of gamers have fond memories of this anime.

Then, there is the game itself. It’s polished, offers a good storyline, the football mechanics are quite innovative yet intuitive, and the cutscenes are brilliant. MAPPA animated the cutscenes for this game; it’s the studio known for Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack on Titan Final Season, and Chainsaw Man

Level 5 has somehow managed to surprise everyone with Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road. The studio nailed every aspect of the game (apart from the English Dub), which is why it’s getting the attention. 

Both the main story and the online mode are fun, and they are what keep players hooked. Plus, they are not stopping, as they recently confirmed the manga for this game. Overall, Inazuma Eleven fans are happy.

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Burair Noor
Burair covers all things racing at Operation Sports Gaming. Whether it’s tearing up the track in F1, drifting in Forza, or testing the limits in sims, Burair loves diving into the thrill of motorsport games and sharing that passion with fellow fans.