Bad news, for Japanese AAA games future .
When PS2 almost 3 years old, it sold 12.5 million in Japan.
When PS4 almost 2 years old, it sold less than 2 million in Japan. That's Bad.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/...
Will there be AAA Japenese games after FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE? Will FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE be AAA game? PS4 sales in Japan, determines the future of AAA JPRGs, Japanese AAA games.
Is there future for AAA Japanese Games exclusive to the PS4 home Console? TGS 2015 show us trend of Big Japanese Developer abandoning AAA game development for Indie Budget Games.
So who else going to develop AAA JRPGs like FINAL FANTASY 7 beside Square Enix? Would SEGA make another Resonance of Fate? MistWalker Last Story 2 coming to PS4? SONY? Konami? Capcom? Koei Tecmo? Namco Bandai? Who?
Sales History.
PS3 lifetime sales sold less than 11 million in Japan and caused the worse drought of AAA Japanese Game and JRPGs during PS3 lifetime. So many Japanese Game Fans oblivious about the importance of PS4 sales Japan relation to the future AAA Japanese Games. AAA Japanese games Investment Decision relies on PS4 sales in Japan, The Risk, Developer Anxiety about making AAA games for the PS4. The Low PS4 Sales in Japan clouds Japanese Developer judgement about the demand for make AAA games. Is Square Enix the Last Japanese AAA developer?
Current PS4 Sales Trajectory & The Seduction of Indie Budget Games. Big Developer abandonment of AAA games development for Indie Budget Games.
Umbrella Corps "competitive shooter", Resident Evil IP future as AAA game is probably no more. As Seen at TGS 2015, so many Japanese games on PS Vita, Why? Vita sold more than 4 million in Japan compare to PS4 which sold less than 1.8 million. Would FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE even be a AAA game? Depends on PS4 Sales in Japan. WII U, 3DS, PSVITA selling very well in Japan, why would investor want to invest on Home Console PS4 AAA JRPG that selling not as well? Without Multi-million PS4 sold before 2017, Japan Big Game Company would lean to making Indie Budget games, I repeat, Indie Budget Games instead AAA games. Even Platinum Games have lean to making Indie Budget Games instead making more AAA games. Japanese game developer won't start investing in AAA JRPGs exclusively for PS4, if PS4 install base in Japan less than 4 million in 2017. Even WII U, PS4 Sales Gap last month in Japan are minuscule, future of Japanese AAA looks bad.
Few people can hate on Square Enix, but they still stands their ground on delivering AAA JRPGs to fans. Will other Big Developers stand them, probably. Konami probably gone senile. Koei Tecmo, Namco Bandai, Capcom leaning Indie budget games. Aside Square Enix and SONY, who else dares, who else have the courage to make AAA games in Japan? PS4 sales trajectory is way to low to encourage for Big Game Developer to develop AAA Japanese games. Look at the drought of Japanese games during PS3 era simply because it sold less than 11 million in Japan.
Looks what happen to RESIDENT EVIL, Umbrella Corps "competitive shooter" WTF?!!! BIG JAPANESE STUDIOS MAKING INDIE BUDGET GAMES !!! Square Enix AAA investment is tethering in the in Edge of a Cliff, looking down at those seductive looking Indie Budget Japanese Games down in the Oblivion. If SONY don't ramp up PS4 sales in Japan many times more, You could say goodbye to FINAL FANTASY VII remake!
The Need for Encouragement.
Game Investor decision making depends heavily on the platform sales. SONY's Japan Studios decision to make Gravity Rush 2 PS4 exclusive is Great, but it is not enough. SONY have to give as much as they did with Uncharted series and Last or US or maybe even more. SONY should produce at least 4 AAA JRPG before 2017, to increase PS4 sales in Japan, to convince Big Japanese Developer to invest and develop AA JRPGs or FINAL FANTASY XV could be the Last AAA JRPG. You could Forget FINAL FANTASY VII remake, if SONY doesn't start making many AAA JRPGs that as good or superior than FINAL FANTASY VII, before 2017. Does anyone still remember DEEP DOWN?
ScaleBound Exist because Microsoft pays for it. SONY should do that too. Japanese AAA games future depends on SONY. SONY should encourage Japanese Game Developer to make AAA games by making their own AAA Japanese games and drive up PS4 at encouraging number, like 4 million Ps4 sold in Japan before 2017.
SALES, SALES, SALES, PS4 sales in Japan determines the future of Japanese AAA games
JRPGs
JRPGs Fan are thirsty for AAA JRPGs like FINAL FANTASY VII, but it won't be quench if PS4 sales aren't enticing developers to develop AAA JRPGs in the first place. It's SONY great job to make AAA JRPGs exclusively for PS4 to sell more PS4 in Japan, thus attracting developers to make AAA JRPGs like FINAL FANTASY VII exclusively for the PS4. Just Look at how many JRPGs on Vita shown at SONY TGS 2015. VITA sold 4 million in Japan and very attractive to JRPG developers. JRPGs fans want AAA JRPGs like FANTASY FANTASY VII with Great Graphics displayed on large TV !
Conclusion, in order to give courage for Japanese Developer to develop AAA Japanese games exclusive to the PS4, SONY must first do it by making many Japanese games superior than FINAL FANTASY VII, accelerating PS4 sales to more than 4 million sold before 2017 in Japan, encouraging third party developer to develop AAA Japanese games for PS4. #4TheGamers
Today, Square Enix revealed the next expansion coming for its popular MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, titled "Evercold."
Solo indie developer BeamBrain has announced the release of Guardian Cry, a new free-to-play action adventure game inspired by the SNES classics.
Claims suggest new PS4 and PS5 digital purchases may require a 30-day online check, though Sony has not confirmed any changes.
I did see this this come up as a rumor, but until stated otherwise I guess take it with a grain of salt.
If true I think it is clearly a bug. The whole point of having a primary account is that it automatically resyncs lice ses when connected to the Internet on that device. Having to make Sally log in every 30 days makes no sense.
Funny. I'd rather see a return of middleware. Something that slowly pushes the tech envelope to improve thing, minimum budget with expectations towards minimum sales.
There were a lot of AAA JRPG's from Japan last gen. Just their presentation changed from what was traditional, and their localization decreased for the west if they didn't change. If there hadn't been a rise in their sales, and new found respect for many on the PS3/3DS for the more traditional JRPG's late in the gen due to a few key franchises, then we wouldn't be seeing as many as we do now. The low sales before that could hardly be blamed on the install bases because they simply didn't have access to them.
SE is not the end all be all of JRPG's. They are certainly the most well known and prolific, but have always had big competition from Sega, Namco, Konami(at times), Sony, Nintendo, and every other big Japanese publisher.
Even in the good ol' days of the PS2, most JRPG's were not AAA. There were quite a few of them, but most were the mid-tier variety, and some gained great success to go on to be bigger budget affairs. Last gen this actually helped sell some of the lesser known mid-tier games. The Atelier series is a great example. Always a niche JRPG, but last gen it shined in the west due to low competition from AAA or even mid-tier, and as such, the games became bigger. The Ys series grew big time last gen for the same reason...as well as Falcom doing some amazing work with the games. I remember when if I mentioned the name most people didn't know what I was talking about.
The problem itself isn't really the sales in Japan, it's that these games weren't getting localized as much as before, and instead, the mid-tier, A tier ones are being done by the publishers like Atlus, NISA, or Falcom. The ones the big publishers go for are the ones that aren't in the traditional model of the JRPG, and are styled to what apparently a western audience would want. Basically the AAA JRPG market expanded into new styles, as opposed to maintaining the standard anime tropes which most JRPG fans had become accustomed to in the genre, or that Otaku fans craved...so those games stopped being JRPG's to most people.
FF is not the end all be all of the console JRPG market. Far from it. It may be the most widely known, but it's kind of silly to think that if it's sales tank, the genre is gone. Tales is growing with each release. Image Pooch games have gotten a lot of recognition from JRPG fans. Ys has grown substantially in people's minds. Final Fantasy is still as popular as ever. Persona and Disgaea are bigger than they ever have been. Danganronpa is making a meteoric rise in the charts. Level 5 is well recognized. Then there are the random one-off JRPG's like eternal Sonata or Omega Quintet. Nintendo has whatever variation of the Xeno Universe Monolith decides to do next.
JRPG's will be fine.
Indie games backed and/or produced by major publishers are by definition not indie. Indie is short for independent, not a synonym for small. Further, as Square was recently reminded and as Pokemon and Persona never forgot, westerners will buy JRPG. Sometimes a ****ing lot of them,
Atlus has been making a profit on games selling under 1 million copies for decades and namco-bandai has figured it out as well, No matter what EA tells you, you actually don't need to sell 5 million copies of a game or fill it to the brim with microtransactions to profit. Even if AAA JRPGs mostly go away savvy companies will quickly figure out that full length, modestly budgeted JRPGs can consistently profit just by being half decent and catering to an underserved audience. Japan buying fewer consoles may mean more of them end up on handhelds as well or instead but they aren't going away.
Graphics shouldn't be your worry for games that end up on handhelds. The Vita, which has like half the power of a modern smartphone, can play uncharted and borderlands 2. Since when have JRPGs except FF pushed graphics anyways? What you should actually worry about are things like handheld games being more likely to be designed for shorter play sessions and the impact that has on the games structure should and the generally oversimplified, tap based, dog**** gameplay that is standard for smartphone games.
Ps4 needs more Jrpg's because is lacking hugely in that department.