Imagine a mobile gacha game making a 700-year-old classic the hottest read of the year! When Dante Alighieri debuted in Fate/Grand Order this March, Japanese readers rushed out to buy The Divine Comedy in record numbers. Sometimes, it just takes a hit anime game to give new life to an ancient literary masterpiece.

On the surface, video games and classic literature seem like worlds apart. Sure, we’ve seen ancient myths reimagined—Greek legends in God of War, Norse tales in Hellblade, and Dante’s Inferno giving a dark twist to Dante Alighieri’s vision of hell. But it’s rare for a centuries-old book to become a hot topic because of a mobile game. Now, thanks to Fate/Grand Order, Dante’s 700-year-old Divine Comedy is back atop the bestseller charts in Japan.

For the uninitiated: Fate/Grand Order is one of Japan’s most successful mobile games, earning over $7 billion by August 2023. The game mixes visual novel storytelling, anime flair, and gacha mechanics, letting players summon historical and mythological figures for battle. When Dante Alighieri was added as a playable character in March, it sparked a massive new wave of interest in the poet’s real-life literary legacy.

Divine Comedy Sales Jump 130% Thanks to Fate/Grand Order

Japanese publisher Kawade Shobo Shinsha says that after Dante’s appearance in the game, they had to urgently reprint their full edition of The Divine Comedy, originally published in 1321. Compared to last year, sales shot up 130% in Japan.

In a post translated by Automaton, the publisher openly credited the “Fate/Grand Order effect.” “Even though the book costs 5,900 yen (about €40), I totally get why fans go for the full edition—the illustrations are a perfect match for what you see in the game,” said a company spokesperson, highlighting the visual and thematic connection between the mobile hit and Dante’s epic poem.

As mentioned, this isn’t the first time The Divine Comedy has inspired an interactive project: EA’s 2010 Dante’s Inferno was a loose adaptation of the original work. But Fate/Grand Order has gone further, triggering a commercial renaissance for a medieval classic, something you seldom see in today’s book world.

Source: 3djuegos