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Forums - Sales - Mikami: JRPG's were never popular in the west -- is he rite?

jarrod on 10 June 2010

Well, I wanted to argue against this, but literally every million selling JRPG in the west this gen has had "Pokemon", "Final Fantasy" or "Mario" in the title. :/

  • Pokemon Diamond/Pearl (DS) Nintendo
  • Pokemon Platinum (DS) Nintendo
  • Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver (DS) Nintendo
  • Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness (DS) Nintendo
  • Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team (DS) Nintendo
  • Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (DS) Nintendo
  • Final Fantasy III (DS) Square Enix
  • Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia (DS) Nintendo
  • Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (DS) Nintendo
  • Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP) Square Enix
  • Super Paper Mario (Wii) Nintendo
  • Pokemon Battle Revolution (Wii) Nintendo
  • Final Fantasy XIII (360/PS3) Square Enix


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darthdevidem01 on 10 June 2010
jarrod said:

Well, I wanted to argue against this, but literally every million selling JRPG in the west this gen has had "Pokemon", "Final Fantasy" or "Mario" in the title. :/

 

  • Pokemon Diamond/Pearl (DS) Nintendo
  • Pokemon Platinum (DS) Nintendo
  • Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver (DS) Nintendo
  • Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness (DS) Nintendo
  • Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team (DS) Nintendo
  • Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (DS) Nintendo
  • Final Fantasy III (DS) Square Enix
  • Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia (DS) Nintendo
  • Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (DS) Nintendo
  • Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP) Square Enix
  • Super Paper Mario (Wii) Nintendo
  • Pokemon Battle Revolution (Wii) Nintendo
  • Final Fantasy XIII (360/PS3) Square Enix

 

Last gen it wasn't all that different.

You had SO3, TOS (but SO4 is like basically at 1 Million combined)



All hail the KING, Andrespetmonkey

jarrod on 10 June 2010
darthdevidem01 said:
jarrod said:

Well, I wanted to argue against this, but literally every million selling JRPG in the west this gen has had "Pokemon", "Final Fantasy" or "Mario" in the title. :/

 

  • Pokemon Diamond/Pearl (DS) Nintendo
  • Pokemon Platinum (DS) Nintendo
  • Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver (DS) Nintendo
  • Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness (DS) Nintendo
  • Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team (DS) Nintendo
  • Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (DS) Nintendo
  • Final Fantasy III (DS) Square Enix
  • Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia (DS) Nintendo
  • Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (DS) Nintendo
  • Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP) Square Enix
  • Super Paper Mario (Wii) Nintendo
  • Pokemon Battle Revolution (Wii) Nintendo
  • Final Fantasy XIII (360/PS3) Square Enix

 

Last gen it wasn't all that different.

You had SO3, TOS (but SO4 is like basically at 1 Million combined)

SO3 and TOS actually didn't manage it.  Neither does SO4 combined even (it's like 450k short).

For last gen, it's...

  • Final Fantasy X (PS2) Square Enix 
  • Final Fantasy XII (PS2) Square Enix
  • Kingdom Hearts (PS2) Square Enix
  • Final Fantasy X-2 (PS2) Square Enix
  • Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (PS2) Square Enix
  • Kingdom Hearts II (PS2) Square Enix
  • Yu-Gi-OH! Duelists of the Roses (PS2) Konami
  • Dark Cloud (PS2) Sony Computer Entertainment
  • Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire (GBA) Nintendo
  • Pokemon Fire Red/Leaf Green (GBA) Nintendo
  • Pokemon Emerald (GBA) Nintendo
  • Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA) Nintendo
  • Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team (GBA) Nintendo
  • Yu-Gi-OH! The Eternal Duelist (GBA) Konami
  • Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (GBA) Square Enix
  • Golden Sun (GBA) Nintendo
  • Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (GBA) Square Enix
  • Yu-Gi-OH! The Sacred Cards (GBA) Konami
  • Pokemon Colosseum (GC) Nintendo
  • Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (GC) Nintendo
  • Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (GC) Square Enix


.jayderyu on 10 June 2010

I agree with the statements to an extent. Westerners as a mass consumer aren't interested in the combat grinding cinematic experience. That's the same offering of most JRPG's. meh little I can add that the original statements don't cover.



Squilliam: On Vgcharts its a commonly accepted practice to twist the bounds of plausibility in order to support your argument or agenda so I think its pretty cool that this gives me the precedent to say whatever I damn well please.

RLPComboKing on 10 June 2010

Nintendo's Japanese games are good. Super Mario Galaxy 2 anyone?



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Hynad on 10 June 2010
RLPComboKing said:

Nintendo's Japanese games are good. Super Mario Galaxy 2 anyone?


You missed the whole point of this topic. ^_-



SaviorX on 10 June 2010
RolStoppable said:

Mikami is spot on. Aside from a few exceptions that were marketed heavily (Final Fantasy, Pokémon and Kingdom Hearts) or JRPG spinoffs of the already popular Mario franchise, there is nothing you can point to that really put up impressive sales numbers. Dragon Quest, the de facto definition of the JRPG, still has a hard time to put up respectable sales in the Western markets. That fact says it all.


But....but... Japan is games!



Leatherhat on July 6th, 2012 3pm. Vita sales:"3 mil for COD 2 mil for AC. Maybe more. "  thehusbo on July 6th, 2012 5pm. Vita sales:"5 mil for COD 2.2 mil for AC."

Kasz216 on 11 June 2010

I think he's right.

JRPGS never were popular.

Final Fantasy, sure.


But JRPGS?  Has another JRPG ever even topped a million in the US?

Oh yeah... Pokemon and KH.

Pokemon is just bloody brilliant though... it combines simplicity, with a potato chip like mentallity and a great theme/idea. 

While KH has the boosting of TWO huge franchises.



Ferryarthur on 11 June 2010

My glass world just broke :'( Jrpg`s were never that popular except for Nintendo en SE games :P But although I`m a rpg lover, I haven`t really seen many rpgs i want this gen:P Except for SE games >_> And some namco bandai games who just won`t appear on the ps3.



megaman79 on 11 June 2010
badgenome said:

You forgot the part where they shoot themselves in the foot. I am starting to doubt your expertise.


I would agree with this, but then i realised how shitty Resident Evil 5 was, and that game pretty much defines the definition of "westernising" a japanese series.



“When we make some new announcement and if there is no positive initial reaction from the market, I try to think of it as a good sign because that can be interpreted as people reacting to something groundbreaking. ...if the employees were always minding themselves to do whatever the market is requiring at any moment, and if they were always focusing on something we can sell right now for the short term, it would be very limiting. We are trying to think outside the box.” - Satoru Iwata - This is why corporate multinationals will never truly understand, or risk doing, what Nintendo does.