The Last Story--Its performance and its future

[NoirSon]

Darth Tigris said:

jacks81x said:

Darth Tigris said:

See!  It wasn't the 360's fault.  Blue Dragon opened bigger than this.  Japanese gamers don't want new IP's.  Why is so much focus put on them???

 

Because every studio wants to create that next great money-making franchise.  It's not that Japanese gamers don't want new IP's.  It's that Japanese developers haven't come out with any truly great new IP's lately.  Remember, all great game  franchises started out as new IP's at one point in time.  Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Pokemon, Monster Hunter, etc were all new IPs once.  So obviously it's not accurate that Japanese gamers don't like new IP's.  

I just edited my statement to be more clear.  I was referring to why put so much focus on Japanese consumers, not new IP's.  New IP's are the future and lifeblood of the industry.

Sales trends show that Japanese gamers as a whole are driven by nostalgia for classic franchises far more than new IP's.  How many RPG's really sell other than DQ or FF?

Agreed, Japanese gamers don't hate new IPs, they are just like Western gamers and are notorious bandwagon jumpers. 

So far TLS is doing on par with most other RPGS, outside of the massive popular stuff, most RPGs sell a few hundred thounsand in Japan and then disappear after 2-3 weeks from the top ten. While Last Story was hyped amount the Wii audience, Japan's Wii gaming hasn't exactly been stellar, outside of MH Tri, almost every game save a few casuals usually wind up doing this, good debuts but crappy legs.