Has Sony abandoned Japan?

[Eddie_Raja]

How? How about that FFXIII is just one game. It's not that we're totally without interest, but the west cares a lot more about WRPGs, not JRPGs. Cold, hard truth. Skyrim sold 17 million copies, not including digital. The entire Final Fantasy XIII trilogy on both systems sold about 11.5 million. Trust me, I wish I could say the west is still interested in JRPGs. They're my favorite genre, and I live in the west. But it just isn't so. The genre is on a massive decline. It hurts, I know, but it's the truth. The genre isn't dead or anything, but it's dwindled in popularity enough that 1st party is supporting it less, and 3rd party entries are fairly scarce too, compared to the SNES and PS eras.

It's very much alive and no where near a niche genre quite yet, but I can't argue that it has lost traction in the west to WRPGs. I would say that's just because those WRPGs are flat out better, though. The JRPGs last gen all paled in comparison to Skyrim in terms of gameplay, with little to no real innovation. Square Enix, the people who have always been at the forefront of the JRPG genre and almost single-handedly responsible for any of the genre's success in the west, released an absolute disappointment with Final Fantasy XIII, and continued it by making it a trilogy with each game getting progressively worse. Not only that, but they were a no-show for arguably the most anticipated JRPG (Kingdom Hearts III), and they moved towards pushing western games like Tomb Raider and Thief rather than put most of their focus on Japanese titles.

Yep.  It's not that Japanese games suck, it's that many Japanese developers are simply sucking.  They just can't seem to grasp how to effectively control an HD budget and release these mega-games in a timely fashion.

 

Though there is some hope.  All these studios need to do is follow the likes of From Software and Kojima Productions.  They don't follow genres, they create them!