Microsofts 2008 RPG gambit - success or failure?

[ClaudeLv250]

Godot said:
Lost Odyssey wasn't a success at 780k. The game certainly lose money with the marketing they had and the cost of the game. However, the studio has the financial backing of Microsoft so it's not a problem for Mistwalker.

As for Tales of Vesperia, it's the highest budget for any Tales game and yet it's the one that sold the worst in Japan. I won't call that a success.

Don't get me wrong, I bought a 360 to play JRPGs but I think Microsoft is paying to have RPG to prevent PS3 to do good on that front. There aren't many RPG fans on Xbox console but those that are there are happy.

This.

One problem with moneyhatting RPGs is that moneyhatting a sequel becomes useless because the first game already had it's (tiny) intended impact on the install base. This is exactly why thenext mothership Tales title is already slated for Wii. It's going to backfire because it's temporary, only so few Japanese developers can afford to kamikaze the Japanese market on the 360 and the smaller developers who Microsoft isn't looking to moneyhat will have no choice but to go to another platform where their game isn't destined to fail in their homeland.