So Final Fantasy XIII has been released in Japan to pretty good sales, though not as high as some expected. And now the final Dragon Quest remake for DS is coming, and expected to do yet another million in sales or more just like its predecessors. But this brings up a dilemma for SquareEnix. Final Fantasy XIII has been hyped and marketed for nearly 5 years, yet its barely surpassing the sales of remakes for NES and SNES titles on the DS, which hardly needs any hype or marketing. In fact, compared to Final Fantasy XIII, which relies on tons of expensive CGI and nationwide ad campaigns including billboards, busses and promotional stunts at live events extended almost over 2 years back, Dragon Quest VI only recently put out another rather cheap and cheesy commercial in Japan. Yet its still guaranteed to selll over a million or more.
So this is where the problems set in. Its obvious that, at least in Japan, SquareEnix can make way more money simply by releasing a Dragon Quest title than a Final Fantasy title. So why do they work so hard and spend so much money on development and marketing of titles like Final Fantasy XIII when they do not produce as big of a profit as other games? Arguments can be made that Dragon Quest is more popular in Japan and FFXIII is selling less because its on the PS3. But if you look over the history of the two series, this has been how they have been heading. Dragon Quest has always been rising in sales, while Final Fantasy has been falling in sales after Final Fantasy VII. Yet every subsequent title, they seem to put more time, money and advertising into their major Final Fantasy title and get less bang for their buck. At least from the Japanese market.
The only thing this leads me to conclude is that SquareEnix is trying to keep Final Fantasy alive by force. A major marketing blitz and 'bigger and better' set of graphics and cutscenes every time. But in the end, is this really going to help? Are they betting on the wrong horse? Are the American sales really going to make up the difference for FFXIII what a second Dragon Quest game couldn't do in half the time and 1/10 the development cost? I guess only time will tell, but as Wada said a while ago, FFXIII is really going to make or break his company. And while I don't think they'll go under if FFXIII doesn't sell 5 million in America...I do think they're going to have a completely new outlook on how they make games in the future. Considering their strongest fanbase has always been the Japanese market, betting everything on the western sales is not exactly a good strategy in my opinion.
Six upcoming games you should look into:
