Japanese Sales up! How boring... :'(

[Kenny]

FinalEvangelion said:

Sullla said:

FinalEvangelion said:

Yeah. I'm starting to think jRPGs and hardcore Japanese games is going to be the big loss this generation. The younger generation wants cooking, housekeeping, pet, and various daily routine simulators, while the older generation that likes jRPGs is waning off.

Or... maybe the publishers of JRPGs should try putting them on the platform that's selling like hotcakes before crying over terrible sales. There's been two RPGs of any note on the Wii: Super Paper Mario and Dragon Quest Swords. Neither one really fits the mold of a traditional RPG, and neither one was exactly top quality. Both sold more than 500k copies (in Japan only) - more than any game released on the PS3 so far.

I mean, the Gamecube didn't exactly sell RPGs too well last generation either in Japan (unless you count Animal Crossing, which is really a stretch). Paper Mario was the best at 458k, and the next-best after that is FF: Crystal Chronicles (358k) and Tales of Symphonia (314k).

The second-place console in Japan just doesn't sell much software, period. It's not a genre thing. (Another quick example: the DS and PSP seem to be selling RPGs just fine.

Of course Mario and Dragon Quest will sell alot.

or take a look at (Japanese quality games on Wii):

 

Zack and Wiki - 30k

No More Heroes - 40k

 

It's sometimes better to put these kind of games on the 360 over there.

There is this problem also...

 

 

I think we will know where Japanese devs stand on the Wii at E3 and TGS. Right now, I don't think there is very much incentive to put quality stuff.

No More Heroes was aimed at a western audience (hence its much improved sales outside of Japan - in fact, worldwide, it's Suda51's best selling game of all time, IIRC).  As for Zack and Wiki, well, I firmly disagree that it would have sold any better on the XBox 360, or even the PS3, all other things equal.  I believe there were other factors, such as a complete lack of hype and advertising, which were much more significant contributing factors to its poor performance than the fact that it was only available on the Wii.  What you're seeing on the chart there is more a consequence of the fact that developers have yet to even test the waters for the presence of demand for the established genres they know and love.  If the DS precedent is to be believed, 3rd parties can and will make inroads on that graph once they get with the program.