Are Japanese bored about RPG?

Oops I think the reason that Capcom and Sega are targetting Western markets is pretty obvious (just look at the chart below).  As for Square Enix, like any business they're simply looking to expand.

(Media Create LTD   Wii - Dec 2nd, 2007)          Publisher       Games     Total        Median

1      Nintendo         17     8 294 000       487 882

2      Namco-Bandai     10       658 000        65 800

3      Square-Enix       1       477 000       477 000

4      Capcom            4       266 000        66 500

5      Konami            5       221 000        44 200

6      SEGA              6       216 000        36 000

7      Hudson            7       199 500        28 500

8      Takara-Tomy       2       136 000        68 000

9      MMV               3        82 000        27 333

10      Koei              5        81 000        16 200

11      Tecmo             2        76 000        38 000

12      Ubisoft           3        58 000        19 333

13      Banpresto         1        56 000        56 000

14      AQ Interactive    1        53 000        53 000

15      E.A Japan         5        52 000        10 400

nintendo is a monster

The popularity of FFVII certainly isn't what it used to be, and from what I have played of the downloaded import on my hacked PSP I'm not very happy with Crisis Core. However, 1.5 million or so world wide is possible I would say. Even 2 million isn't impossible. Still, look at the sales of Crisis Core compared to even their remakes of games on the DS. DQIV outsold Crisis Core's lifetime Japan sales in 3 weeks.


Unless you can understand the Japanese language thoroughly, AND come to terms for the way they speak in their own language as compared to English, you would probably enjoy the US version(when it comes out) more. Besides SE improves on its games sent to America in a way that we can enjoy it better. Specifically the difficulty, gameplay and extras among other things. The voice acting usually doesn't see an improvement.


To your comment about DQIV outselling CC: DQ has pretty much always been preferred over FF in Japan(just barely though). DQ hardly sells in the US though from my knowledge.

naznatips said: swyggi said: from totalwar23 Final Fantasy 7 was what, 10 years ago. The audience has dropped considerably since then. You also forget that Sony was launching the PSP slims then. Crisis Core was a helping factor but to say that it was solely responsible for the sales increase is inaccurate. I suspect Crisis Core won't be as much of a hit here as it was in Japan. I wouldn't be too sure about that. If anything, its popularity has risen since. Some gamers have dropped FF7 as a game they like, but many more have come into the game at the same time. CC is a very highly anticipated title for the PSP and many people in the US have been waiting on it since launch. The popularity of FFVII certainly isn't what it used to be, and from what I have played of the downloaded import on my hacked PSP I'm not very happy with Crisis Core. However, 1.5 million or so world wide is possible I would say. Even 2 million isn't impossible. Still, look at the sales of Crisis Core compared to even their remakes of games on the DS. DQIV outsold Crisis Core's lifetime Japan sales in 3 weeks. Square has 4 million sellers on the DS. They'll have 5 when FFXII:RW launches in others and 6 when FFIV launches in America. They don't have a single million seller on the PSP. Not even close. Although again Crisis Core will be eventually, but considering how much more expensive it is to develop PSP games than DS games I doubt they make more money on that than even 500K sellers on the DS.

Comparing the Dragon Quest franchise to Final Fantasy is a bit unfair, Naz. Although I think that CC:FFVII sales were seriously inflated by the newly launched PSP model and the lack of RPGs on PSP, especially Square-Enix or quality ones.

Does this mean SE will get into the Bald Space Marine market soon?

Bald Space Marine market? LOL!

swyggi said: The popularity of FFVII certainly isn't what it used to be, and from what I have played of the downloaded import on my hacked PSP I'm not very happy with Crisis Core. However, 1.5 million or so world wide is possible I would say. Even 2 million isn't impossible. Still, look at the sales of Crisis Core compared to even their remakes of games on the DS. DQIV outsold Crisis Core's lifetime Japan sales in 3 weeks. Unless you can understand the Japanese language thoroughly, AND come to terms for the way they speak in their own language as compared to English, you would probably enjoy the US version(when it comes out) more. Besides SE improves on its games sent to America in a way that we can enjoy it better. Specifically the difficulty, gameplay and extras among other things. The voice acting usually doesn't see an improvement. To your comment about DQIV outselling CC: DQ has pretty much always been preferred over FF in Japan(just barely though). DQ hardly sells in the US though from my knowledge.

My issue with Crisis Core was with the combat system, which was stiff and relied too much on luck. The plot I don't care about anyway, as I really disliked FFVII. It's one of my least favorite Final Fantasy games (VI and IX being my favorites). Any appeal that game would have had for me was in the gameplay. Since I was not impressed with the gameplay, it's reasonable for me to say that the game doesn't have much appeal for me.  

As far as comparing FF to DQ goes, it's true that DQ is bigger than FF in Japan, but not by that much. That's a ridiculous difference in sales. Especially for a remake vs. a whole new ground-up game. If you would prefer we could compare the sales to FFIII on the DS which sold more than a million in Japan and destroyed CC:FFVII in sales. Or even on the PSP as well Monster Hunter Freedom 2nd sold more than twice as much in Japan. CC:FFVII was a huge sales disappointment.

Oh and I do have a small grasp of the Japanese language and I am very good at telling the difference between good and bad voice acting in Japanese from years of watching sub'd anime.  The voice-acting was mid-range for the record.

I say let SE continue believing that the core market is that matters and not the casual. We'll see them emerging again with random company to try to recoup losses for creating an extremely high tech game since apparently that's what they think is what people want.

CC:FFVII was a huge sales disappointment.


Why would 770,000 units sold be a disappointment? Look MHF2 is a good example on your part for Japan. But you forget that the other FF's were on the DS, which is all the rave in Japan. I'm not arguing the PSP vs. the DS FF's in Japan (they're remakes but then again they're still on the DS), I'm arguing that CC:FFVII will sell very good world wide. The best way SE can sell even more is by advertising their product, they haven't advertised many of their games lately. There is however a US trailer on youtube that looks like a commercial for the game.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=iQoLYigS_6g