Kresnik said:
Fair enough then. But, doesn't that mean that this will be a test game for exactly what I was describing? If Oreshika is an externally-developed; Japan-Studio-had-no-hand-in-it but SCEJ published game, like Wild ARMs/Dark Cloud, then it doing well could mean more of them? In which case, I'd love that - from the sounds of it, my perception of Sony's JRPG stable has been built up completely from third parties rather than Sony themselves like I believed. But that also swings back to my first point of: why were these games stopped in the first place? Why do we have to prove it again now? Sony consoles have proved to be a breeding ground for JRPG's for 3 generations and now we're getting "better support this one chaps!" Uff.
|
In that regard, every game is a test game. If consumers buy it, companies will make more of it. If not, then it may fall out of favor.
If I had to make an educated guess, I'd say probably what happened is that Sony had to split its resources between the PS3 and the PSP, and since JRPGs made more sense on the PSP due to its popularity in Japan and its specifications being closer to the PS1/PS2, that's where they largely went. In the bigger picture, last gen probably had the most tumultuous transition between generations ever with the move to HD. Japanese developers were understandably in no hurry to leave behind the near-ubiquitous PS2 to start making exponentially more expensive games for new systems with much lower install bases, and by the time the PS2 finally died at retail, they had mostly transitioned to handhelds and never looked back.
Then there's the fact that those Japanese developers who did show up kind of psyched themselves out over how much "better" their formerly PC-centric western counterparts were, and their lack of confidence manifested itself in bastardized attempts to appeal to western gamers that royally fucked over Japanese gaming's reputation in a lot of people's eyes. Between that and Microsoft buying up all the early seventh gen JRPGs, it's a small wonder that the "JRPGs don't sell anymore" perception set in. And while it's easy for us who have nothing at stake to say, "Sure they do!" it's a lot different for Sony who (a) was desperately trying to cling to relevance in a market where the biggest things going were Halo and Call of Duty and (b) actually has to put real money behind real games.
But with the PS4 looking to be the market leader again and Sony proudly flying the flag of "variety" (mostly indie games, no less, which was a hugely ballsy move), I think it's a hopeful sign that they will make Japanese games a bigger focus this gen than they were last gen. Especially with Shu Yoshida in charge, since I think it's been shown by now that the guy is a real gamer who is incredibly accessible for fans and who truly listens to their input - which, don't forget, is why we're getting Oreshika at all.
