Melty Blood: Type Lumina crossed the 600,000 units sold mark in December 2025, a milestone that feels almost impossible for a niche anime fighter released over four years ago. Project Lumina announced the achievement on December 21, marking a 100,000 unit increase since hitting 500,000 copies in June 2024. For a fighting game series that started as a doujin passion project in 2002, these numbers represent something special.
The Slow Burn Success Story
Type Lumina launched on September 30, 2021 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam. The game arrived at a perfect moment when anime fighting game fans were hungry for something after Guilty Gear Strive’s release earlier that year. The initial launch exceeded expectations with around 13,000 concurrent players on Steam, a strong showing for what many considered an ultra-niche title based on the Tsukihime visual novel remake.
The sales trajectory tells an interesting story. The game moved 270,000 units by March 2022, just six months after launch. By March 2023, that number grew to 400,000 units. The pace slowed considerably afterward, reaching 500,000 in June 2024 and now 600,000 in December 2025. What makes these numbers remarkable isn’t the total, it’s how French-Bread achieved them while giving away content for free.
Free DLC That Actually Matters
French-Bread took an approach that fighting game publishers rarely embrace. After launching with a solid roster, the studio released multiple DLC characters over two years at exactly zero dollars. Every addition from Powered Ciel to Dead Apostle Noel came free to all players. Balance patches continued well after the DLC stream ended, with updates arriving as recently as late 2024.
This generosity stands in stark contrast to the typical fighting game business model where each character costs between five and ten dollars. The studio’s sister series Under Night In-Birth has released four separate home console versions over the years, each priced between 50 and 70 dollars, largely recycling assets from nearly 15 years ago. Type Lumina chose a different path, and the slow but steady sales growth suggests it worked.
Deep Discounts Drive Discovery
The game’s pricing strategy played a massive role in reaching 600,000 units. Ten months after launch, Type Lumina dropped to 35 percent off at roughly 32 dollars. By the following year, it hit 50 percent off at 25 dollars. As of December 2025, you can grab the complete game with all DLC for just 15 dollars during sales. Given that 100,000 units sold in 2024 and another 100,000 in 2025, a huge chunk of the player base likely bought in during these aggressive discounts.
This raises questions about profitability. Creating 21 characters with entirely new sprites and animations isn’t cheap, even for a small studio. When you factor in revenue splits with Type-Moon who owns the IP, the various platform holders who take their cuts, and partners like Tamsoft involved in development, the margins get tight. French-Bread operates with just 14 employees according to 2021 figures, which keeps overhead low, but selling half your total units at 70 percent off four years post-launch makes sustainability tricky.
The Neco Arc Phenomenon
Anyone who spent time online between 2022 and 2024 couldn’t escape Neco Arc. The bizarre cat version of protagonist Arcueid became an internet phenomenon, spawning countless memes, videos, and remixes of her distinctive “Burunyuu” voice line. While impossible to quantify exactly how many sales the meme generated, it undeniably pushed Type Lumina into mainstream gaming consciousness in ways the franchise never experienced before.
The meme wave brought curious players who had never heard of Tsukihime or Melty Blood. Some stuck around for the deep mechanics and excellent netcode. Others bounced after getting their Neco Arc fix. Either way, it represented free marketing that money can’t buy, helping a super-niche anime fighter based on a Japanese visual novel reach audiences who would never normally touch the genre.
The Cross-Play Problem
Despite doing so much right, Type Lumina stumbled on one critical feature: cross-play. In 2025, multiplayer games without cross-platform functionality face serious disadvantages. The fighting game community naturally gravitates toward PC for better performance and faster updates, which splits the player base and creates dead zones on consoles. Players who bought the Switch or PlayStation versions often find fewer opponents online, leading to longer queue times and frustration.
This creates a self-fulfilling prophecy where the lack of cross-play makes the game feel more niche than it actually is. Potential buyers see low player counts on their preferred platform and skip the purchase, further reducing the pool. French-Bread isn’t a massive studio with unlimited resources, and implementing cross-play isn’t as simple as flipping a switch, but the feature’s absence definitely cost sales.
What Happens Next
The game hasn’t received major content updates in over a year, leading some fans to joke that Type Lumina might set the record for longest gap between fighting game updates. The most likely scenario for new content ties to the eventual release of Tsukihime Remake Part 2, the second half of the visual novel that Type Lumina is based on. Given Type-Moon’s notoriously slow development pace, that could mean waiting until 2030 or beyond.
French-Bread isn’t sitting idle though. The studio also develops Under Night In-Birth 2, which continues receiving active support. Type Lumina exists in a comfortable position as a complete package that players can jump into whenever they want. The sales prove there’s sustained interest even years after launch, something incredibly rare in the competitive fighting game space where most titles lose their player base within months.
FAQs
How many copies has Melty Blood Type Lumina sold?
Melty Blood: Type Lumina has surpassed 600,000 units in combined physical shipments and digital sales worldwide as of December 2025. This represents 100,000 additional units sold since reaching 500,000 in June 2024.
When did Melty Blood Type Lumina release?
The game launched on September 30, 2021 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam. It released simultaneously across all platforms worldwide.
Does Melty Blood Type Lumina have paid DLC?
No. French-Bread released all DLC characters completely free over two years of post-launch support. Characters like Powered Ciel, Aoko Aozaki, and Dead Apostle Noel were added at no charge, along with continued balance updates.
Who developed Melty Blood Type Lumina?
French-Bread developed the game in collaboration with Type-Moon, who created the Tsukihime visual novel that the game is based on. Arc System Works published the title, with additional development support from Tamsoft.
Is Melty Blood Type Lumina beginner friendly?
Type Lumina features a simplified battle system compared to previous Melty Blood entries, with streamlined mechanics that newcomers can learn quickly. The game includes multiple combo paths and systems designed to be accessible while maintaining depth for advanced players.
Does the game have cross-play?
No, Melty Blood Type Lumina does not support cross-platform play. Players can only match with others on the same platform, which has divided the player base and created concerns about finding matches on less-populated platforms like consoles.
How much does Melty Blood Type Lumina cost now?
The base price is around 50 dollars, but the game frequently goes on sale for as low as 15 dollars during major platform sales events. Since all DLC is free, buying the base game gets you everything including all additional characters.
Will there be more content updates?
No new content updates have been announced. The most likely scenario for additional content would coincide with the release of Tsukihime Remake Part 2, which doesn’t have a release date and could be years away given Type-Moon’s development timeline.
Conclusion
Melty Blood Type Lumina’s journey to 600,000 units proves that niche fighting games can thrive with the right approach. Free DLC, aggressive discounts, excellent netcode, and a viral meme cat combined to create sustainable success for a franchise most people had never heard of. The lack of cross-play remains a missed opportunity, but French-Bread built something special here. Whether the studio can replicate this model for future projects remains uncertain, but Type Lumina stands as proof that treating your audience right and pricing intelligently can keep a fighting game alive long after the initial hype dies down.