Will JRPGs Die Next Generation?

[Kresnik]

No.

Nippon Ichi seemed to manage the move from SD -> HD with Disgaea absolutely fine. I don't see why a move to next gen would affect them at all.

This seems like another great time to bring up Compile Heart too. Sure, their games don't exactly have the highest production values. But they can afford to get by on ~ 60k sales in Japan with their main series'. Maybe if development costs go up they'll need ~80k sales instead. But still, it seems perfectly manageable.

Tales is a tricky one. Things looked pretty rocky for that series at the start of the generation. But once they found the fanbase on PS3 and Xillia sold 500k+ FW, they seemed absolutely fine.

I honestly don't see JRPG's improving that much graphically in the upcoming generation. Sure, Final Fantasy will still continue to strive for insane visuals. But most of the smaller games will just stick to what they're used to, with a few minor improvements here and there. And I don't see that 'killing' JRPG's in any way.

As a side note, I also don't expect many JRPG's to migrate to next gen for a few more years. They'll stick around on handhelds/current gen consoles to squeeze a bit more money out of them before moving on.