| ironmanDX said: So... you're agreeing with me that install base doesn't really matter, then? |
It has not been the primary factor in any generation. JRPGs were bigger on the SNES than on the NES, despite the NES having a larger install base. The best selling Final Fantasy game was on the PS1, not the PS2, despite the PS2's larger install base. Final Fantasy XIII sales on the PS3 trounced its sales on the 360 in North America even though 360 has a huge advantage there.
Unless you are making shovelware or something that is extremely mainstream you don't just want to hit the platform with the largest install base. You want to hit the platform where your audience is.
| ironmanDX said: That is 3 games from the top of my head that I remember playing or my friends playing. There was a Golden era, I was there. This year I played Lost Odyssey on the 360, the first jrpg I'd played in years... Friends I know who played jrpg's like me n longer do or it is a rare occurrence like me. If you still play them, it probably just feels like they're still as popular as they ever were. Sales I've shown indicate otherwise. Especially when stacked on top of the Final Fantasy sales too. |
The plural of anecdote is not data. Right now you have only established that Square has declined, which is something we already know. They ruled the roost in the '90s in a way they just don't anymore. But to prove that there is a decline of JRPGs and not just of Square-Enix you would have to show that total sales are down despite the fact that there are more JRPGs now being released across a wider variety of platforms. Have big budget JRPGs declined? Definitely, again mostly down to the fall of Square and the genre moving primarily to handhelds. Has the genre as a whole declined? I'm not at all sure that's the case. It looks to me like the average JRPG has always been niche, they have always sold the same (a few hundred thousand units or less), and there are more of them being made now than ever.
It's not even particularly useful to talk about how JRPGs perform when we are talking specifically about Final Fantasy here. It has always performed far, far ahead of other JRPGs. "People don't care about JRPGs anymore" isn't really a great argument for not making Versus exclusive to this or that system. Neither is, "The PS4 is not the PS1." It's mere handwaving. If you're right and the biggest JRPG of them all is trending niche not just because of Square's ineptitude with the series but because JRPGs themselves are on the wane, then making it multiplatform doesn't really help. You might as well suggest that they just stop making big budget Final Fantasy games altogether and stick to cheap handheld or mobile games.
