Nintendo doesn't really the big Japanese 3rd parties, it would be nice to get a Monster Hunter, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Metal Gear Solid, Nier etc. But obviously if Sony is buying exclusivity Nintendo already has a backup with indies and PC Devs.
Japanese 3rd parties on the other hand can they really miss out on putting everything they can on a system that will sell 25M+ in Japan and 100M+ World Wide?
Unless they actually want to fade into irrelevance on their home soil - they need to start to invest a lot more into bringing a lot more value to the owners of the ecosystem.
Since this thread is focused on the Japanese market, I just want to bring up a question I had months ago... where are the 3rd party titles focused on women on the Switch to coincide with the Animal Crossing launch? Miku 6 months into the year... I mean at some point I'm starting to thing all these companies are run by morons.. If I was Konami or Sega, I'd be working together with Ghost Town Games on finishing Overcooked 3 in time for the Animal Crossing launch.. they've known Animal Crossing will launch eventually and what will happen especially in Japan... yet no planning or foreseight - its a sad sight
I mean I anticipated this frustration back in January.. and Japanese 3rd Parties definitely didn't dissapoint
noshten said:
They don't really need to beat 2nd half line up to do better They only need a price drop and a Animal Crossing themed Switch/Switch Lite. Animal Crossing demand will be constant hardware driver for a while after it releases. We know nothing about 2nd half of 2020 in terms of 1st Party titles. I know I've said that every year but it never lived up to expectations, but 2020 will hopefully change this and we will finally get a Japanese 3rd Party 1M seller on the system. I though Yo-kai 4 would do it this year, but I guess Level-5 aren't able maintain a successful IP. I think based on Ring Fit and that other Boxing game the 1M seller won't be a big budget game but rather - something that resonates with an audience. If I was a Japanese 3rd party right now, I'd be thinking about a complimentary game to Animal Crossing with small budget, something that would be attractive to a female audience. Since I'm neither Japanese or a women, I can't really think of something but that would be a smart idea. But Japanese 3rd parties are so far behind the curve that I think maybe a smaller indie dev might eat their lunch at this point. Hell, Human Fall Flat platform-puzzle video game developed by a single Lithuanian has probably sold more digital copies than any 3rd party game not named Minecraft. I don't think I've ever seen that game exit the top 10 in Japan since releasing. The game had sold 5M copies world wide across all platforms by Feb 2019, I wouldn't be surprised if it's close to 1M in Japan with it's lower price, constant promotions and constant place in the Top of the Digital Charts in the last few years. Overcooked 1/2 is another one I'd say has been doing pretty well in Japan and Japanese 3rd Parties are simply not doing enough and experimenting enough. Obviously if a new Monster Hunter does end up on the Switch I expect that to easily sell more than 1M but judging from Capcom's output on the system so far, I will believe it when I see it. |
