NPD: Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts unscrews only 140K (U.S.)

[FinalEvangelion]

Khuutra said:

FinalEvangelion said:

Khuutra said:

FinalEvangelion said:
USA and soon Europe are Shooter and Casual game supporting areas. I've predicted it for quite a while. jRPGs and Platformers (my two favorite genres) don't have too much of a chance in the West.

Are you trying to tell a joke? It is not especially funny.

 

Not really.  I mean R&C: TOD is not something too much to brag about, although sales are ok.

 

If it's not named Final Fantasy or Mario, there are problems.

You may have a point - a small one - with JRPGs, and that primarily with certain ones. I freely acknowledge the problem with JRPG penetration in the West. Nintendo hopes to change that by marketing Dragon Quest IX themselves and I wish them the best of luck.

But the overwhelming majojrity of platformers released in the current gen that has sold a significant amount of copies, especially on the consoles but also on the DS, have sold better in the West than in Japan, often better in America alone. Any of the sonic games, de Blob, Wario Land, every single Mario game, every Kirby game, Castlevania, Mega Man and its spinoffs, Little Big Planet, every Ratchet and Clank, every Jak and Daxter, Patapon... I could go on!

I think your expectations for platformers may be too high if you see them as underperforming in the west. Especially because they are crushing the sales for the same games in Japan.

 

Ok.  Platformers are ok.  They usually have some legs. Compared to FPS, no dice.

 

But for Dragon Quest, I remember Nintendo trying to market Dragon Warrior II (same as Dragon Quest) in America with the NES.  They actually gave a free copy of the game to Nintendo Power subscribers.  That was back in the day, I know.  With DQ8, SE bundled the game with FF 12.  I just don't think the West likes the anime style jRPGs very much.  Valkyrie Chronicles and Tales of Vesperia completely flopped outside of Japan.  They were both excellent games that just were not liked by the typical Bald Space Marine loving Western audience.