Today, Square Enix celebrated Bravely Default II selling over one million copies digitally to date. To commemorate this achievement, Bravely Default II is now on sale for 30% on Steam until Jan. 5, 2022, the same day that Steam’s Winter Sale Event ends. Bravely Default II’s official Twitter is also commemorating the achievement by hosting a lottery for Japanese fans, where they have the chance to win an Amazon certificate worth 5,000 yen.
Bravely Default II was released globally on Feb. 26, 2021, for the Nintendo Switch and was later released for the PC on Sep. 2, 2021. Contrary to its name, Bravely Default II is actually the third main installment in the Bravely series and features a new world with new characters and stories. The reasoning behind the game’s title has to do with Square Enix producer Tomoya Asano’s belief regarding Bravely Default’s sequel Bravely Second: End Layer and its reception among fans and players.
In an interview between Asano and Japanese news site Famitsu, Bravely Default II‘s title and development were brought up, where Asano stated, “Before I talk about the name, I would like to apologize regarding Bravely Second. Despite lots of expectations for Bravely Second, I felt that there were parts that did not meet the expectations of fans.” During Bravely Second‘s initial release, the game sold 100,047 copies, while Bravely Default sold 141,529 copies at the time of its release. After Bravely Second, Asano also expressed concern for the Bravely series in the interview and explained that he decided to produce the game Octopath Traveler because he “felt it would be difficult to continue the Bravely series in the future.” However, the development team continued working on the Bravely series with the spin-off Bravely Default: Fairy’s Effect that released as a mobile game only in Japan and was well-received among fans. As a result of the excellent reception, the development team decided to continue the main Bravely series with Bravely Default II. As a part of Square Enix’s plan to improve from Bravely Second, they released a demo for Bravely Default II before its initial release that allowed fans to submit feedback on the game that the development team would use in consideration for its final release.
Bravely Default II’s success proves that determination and having a good relationship with fans and players are significant aspects to consider in game development. To this day, the Bravely series has shipped and sold over three million copies in total.