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Trunkin on 19 November 2015
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WC4Life said:
Trunkin said:

I would say 3D platformers are very niche today, while 2D platformers definitely aren't. Most JRPGs are niche outside of Japan, except for outliers like Final Fantasy, and... Final fantasy. Lol


3D platformers could be said niche at the moment, however I'd say the demand is still there just not the games. Mario is always success but there is a lot of hype for Mirror's Edge and of course for a new Crash Bandicoot. There are so many jrpg's coming I gotta wonder why companies would target this so called niche-audience with such big investments. How can games like Pokemon, FF, DQ, KH, Persona, Dark Souls belong in niche-genre, those are all big sellers and behind those the 2nd tier looks strong as fuck.

 

For fighting games there are Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter and Tekken, all of those can sell in the millions.

I'd say mario is the excepttion, not the rule, unfortunately. Even then, 3D mario doesn't even come close to 2D Mario sales. Mirrors Edge is a new type of platformer, but even then fans had to beg for a sequel. As for Crash, we'll just have to wait to see if the hype exists outside of "niche" gaming forums like this one. ;)

To be honest I forgot about Pokemon and KH. Souls is such a western styled series that I dont even think of it as a JRPG -- even most of îts sales are from the West. DQ may be huge in Japan, but everywhere else it's very niche. Same goes for Persona. The reason you see so many JRPGs coming out is that theres a dedicated, albeit small, market for them. The size of said market is exactly why the majority of Japanese RPGs these days are made for cheap. They oftentimes don't even come close to 1mil sales, yet are able to turn a profit because they budget accordingly.

Fighting games definitely aren't niche, though. Sure, there are niche fighters, but the genre as a whole, and the franchises you mentioned, are far too big to be called niche, imo.