| The Anarchyz said: Japan still loves the JRPG genre, and it's already demonstrated that a new IP can sell better on the PS3 than an established franchise on the 360... In the West, it's not that people don't care anymore about console JRPGs, the thing is that the great majority of console JRPG lovers that have a PS2 have decided to go Wii, go PS3 or stick to the PS2, only a little portion of the fans have a 360 (while the great majority of 360 owners are western-oriented fans, especially of the shooter genre), the only game that is selling really well is Lost Odyssey, and i wonder how much the game would've sold if the cover didn't have "From the creator of Final Fantasy" (i think the game is good BTW)... Meanwhile the franchise that always brings the JRPG boom in the West since the PS1 era is absent, we still don't know about a release date here, hell we don't know a Japanese release date, FF7 was ready 2 years into the PS1 lifespan, FF10 was ready A YEAR into the PS2 lifespan, the PS3 already has 2 years and 4 months in JP and NA, and 2 years in EU, by the time FF13 comes out in JP it will be 3 full years, and in the West it probably would be 3.5 to 4 years, that's not helping the genre either... So my point of view is that the 360 getting the JRPGs is not helping the genre, but it's not the only problem, this gen has a lot of issues that last gen didn't have (like console western-oriented fanbase growing, the PS3 not being dominant, the Wii not being 3rd party choice, the 360 doing all the deals and the handhelds getting main games like DQ9), this caused a lot of confusion, now the genre is still viable, but the companies (from consoles to software) have to wake up of this mess they have caused... |
Well said Anarchyz.
It does seem this generation JRPG studios are trying to force a western breakthrough by publishing their games on 360. Its a massive gamble which isn't paying off because they cut off their meat and potatos market (japan).
Its more odd because if you look at the markets atm (japan, USA, others). you have the 360 massively leading over the ps3 in the US, but in Europe its very even still, and of course japan its 3:1. Developing for ps3 would give them the ability to easily market the game it in japan and Europe. The game might not take off on ps3 in the US but they could use those sales as a market-case for pushing for co-developing the game on 360 for the american market at a later date (ie reasonable ps3 sales means a 360 port would be economically viable).
The core thing is this really. They are JRPG developers making JRPG games. they should market it to their core players, on the platform they are most likely to have or want to buy. Failure in USA but success in Japan and Europe is better then failing in all 3 markets. I really think any developer that jumps onto it right now is in for a really good chance at success, because of this starvation on the platform, because other platforms like DS appear flooded with jrpgs.
