Can Level 5 DETHRONE S-E?

[Onyxmeth]

Words Of Wisdom said:

Onyxmeth said:

4. The sales number analysis with current FF games are way off, because that tapering off effect happened during the PSOne era also, only to show rejuvenation once the series started back up on new hardware. Did the writer seriously miss the decline in sales from FF VII to FF VIII, the decline from FF VIII to FF IX, and then the jump from FF IX to FF X?

5. If we want to talk further into bias, let's all note the writer putting his personal thoughts about FF XII into the article and having them represent all gamers' feelings on the game.

When I sit down around other gamers who don't visit gaming websites in their free time, I actually hear a lot of them say they consider FFIX to be a low point in the series with X being much better.   I would strongly disagree with that, but after hearing it so many times in "the real world" I feel like I'm in the minority.  FFX may have been a disappointment for me but a lot of people were quite fond of it as well and it shows in its sales and fan following.  I don't think the hardware refresh is entirely responsible for FFX's success but the trend helps it at least. 

At the same time, the author is definitely showing a high degree of bias in this area and several others of the article.  FFXII may not have been well received but there is sales data showing that so whether its stale hardware or just the game itself, there's some validity in that opinion... somewhere.  It's a bit like doing the math all wrong but getting lucky enough to pull out the right answer anyway.

Well it could be looked at in different ways. In Japan, where FF XII was released without the impending next generation looming overhead, the total sales of the game only dipped 500 thousand below FFX. Not exactly a huge loss. In America and Others it directly competed with two console launches and a series of new games to play on them and dropped 2.5 million between both regions. When FF XIII is released, it will benefit from being launched on current generation hardware and a large install base in everywhere but Japan, which may take a hit in lifetime sales.

Also to note, FF IX was swallowed alive itself by the fact that FF X media had been readily available well before the FF IX launch which took anticipation away from the game, plus the Playstation 2 was already released by the time the game came out. In addition, it was only affected again in Others and US regions as FF IX sold comparitively well to FFX in Japan.

So let's look at this:

1. Both FF IX and FF XII were released in their worst selling regions either right before or after next generation hardware was introduced that would play known future entries in the series.

2. Both FF IX and FF XII were released after media hype had begun on the next entries in the series(FFX and FFXIII). Would you expect GTAIV to sell well if 6-12 months beforehand Rockstar introduces the sequel with trailers and hoopla? It was a cannibalizing situation for both games, and the sales are evident that tactics like these do not work outside of Japan.