False.  Books and movies have ZERO freedom and they still sell millions.  People want stories.

It has nothing to do with open world environments and freedom.  JRPGs don't sell as well as Call of Duty for the same reason Braveheart or Dances with Wolves or A.I. doesn't sell out like the next Fast and the Furious.  Because the vast majority of the public are intellectually challenged shallow ADHD buttheads easily distracted by flashy neon lights and 'splosions and testosterone and steroid injecting "im too cool for myself" one liner spouting dude bro heroes with goatees and guns that can't sit still more than 5 minutes at a time. 

And we expect them to play, let alone comprehend, an 80 hour game that requires philosophical thinking?  And god forbid... might cry and lose their man card!  And what if someone walks in and SEES THEM playing a KIDDY GAME OH NOES THEIR LIFE IS RUINED!  Ni no Kuni has been known to make your wang rot and fall off if you are older than 14 and you play it.  What?  You didn't know that?  If a grown man cries playing Ni no Kuni, he will grow boobs and never be allowed to play Call of Duty or Madden ever again.

Lets not get started on Bravely Default.  Dude... I mean ... bro... theres a fairy in it!  You'll turn into a 6 year old girl if you play dat sheeit!1!

Because RPG's are awesome.

They never left. They just went onto the mobile platform, DS, PSP, Vita, and 3DS. Though I believe they only disappeared from consoles because the Wii (with few RPGs, best ones towards the end of its life), and the later mini 360 fad (known mainly for sports and shooters) that the genre had no where to go. But with Sony taking the lead again I think theres high potential for the genre to come back to consoles again

Havent noticed.. Then again i dont really care for rpgs exect fallout, ni no kuni and lately south park... I want strategy games to come back into the spotlight. Bring out a decent command and conquer or age of empires.

I wouldn't call it a huge comeback but I noticed this small spike in popularity for Rpgs. Ni no Kuni, Fire Emblem Awakening, Tales series, Bravely Default and even the smaller franchises like Rune Factory (RF 4 to be exact) all did moderately well or better than they had expected to. Not to mention the hype for Dark Souls 2.

It may be possible that these games are benefitting from the downfall of Final Fantasy.

Legend of Mana, Suikoden,  Tales of Destiny, Tales of Destiny 2 (Eternia), Lunar Eternal Blue, Saga Frontier 2

RPG games are usually great, yet overshadowed by CoDs, GTAs, and Sports Simulators.

JRPGs are still rare....

WRPGs are booming though and heres a hint why. Skyrim has sold over 20 million copies. Thats an insane number and shows there's huge demand for rpgs in general

Because of Skyrim's success.

I don't know about JRPGs, but WRPGs have never been more ubiquitous on consoles than they are now. Starting with the XBox, it was still niche on consoles. XBox had Jade Empire, Fable, and Elder Scroll. With the PS3 and 360 we had Fable, Elder Scroll, Fallout, Mass Effect trilogy, Witcher, Alpha Protocol, Dungeon Siege, Diablo, Dragon Age, and the start of WRPGs MMOs on consoles with DCUO and Free Realms, along with other WRPGs that I must have forgotten. For PS4 we already have Witcher, Elder Scroll Online, Dragon Age, DCUO, Diablo, Evequest next, Planet Side 2, Kingdom Come, along with rumored ME remake and sequels, Fallout and ES new entries, GG WRPG IP, etc.

WRPGs are thriving, why aren't JRPGs? I honestly do not know, competition is a lot tougher and JP developers have opted to prioritize mobiles for now. I am hoping the PS4 will sell really well and the JRPG scene will have a period of renaissance. SE can get the ball started by porting/remaking some DQ on PS4, start with DQX and DQVII HD port.