Soundwave said:
Their fiscal briefing specifically cites "Nintendo platforms" first as the platforms they are expanding multiplatform to, even ahead of the Playstation 5 which is probably not a random thing. They need to make Final Fantasy big in Japan again and that isn't going to happen without Switch 2. Plain and simple. They went from selling 3+ million an installment in Japan to selling a few hundred K, they've sewered the franchise there first and foremost. FF7 Remake even at 7 million (PS4 + PS5 + PC combined) is still disappointing ... something like Luigi's Mansion 3 is selling double that, it's hard to believe. They need to get younger people in to the series, it's becoming a dying brand for 40 year old farts. FF16 and FF7 Rebirth just did worse but even 7Remake is a dissapointment sales wise. |
Honestly I don't think Japan is their primary concern. It will continue to come second to the much bigger western markets which has allowed Monster Hunter to sell 20m, and the last 3/4 resident Resident Evil games to comfortably hit 10m etc.
There's a strong demonstration of RPGs in the west having big sales potential, Japan however has been a much harder market for the genre. You essentially have very average sales outside of Monster Hunter and Zelda. Although their next steps should absolutely include the Switch 2 and appealing to younger audiences, I don't think japanese audiences are what will shape or be the focus of their strategy.