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Forums - Sales Discussion - Lost Sphear - PS4 vs NS

Mbolibombo on 06 March 2018

That's weird.. it's availible everywhere in Europe, not just the SE store. Would be surprised if the requirements for europe and NA are different.

Are you in just for the games released in NA or does it cut it to get one from europe to cover it up?



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OTBWY on 06 March 2018
TalonMan said:
Mbolibombo said:
That's weird.. it's availible everywhere in Europe, not just the SE store. Would be surprised if the requirements for europe and NA are different.

Are you in just for the games released in NA or does it cut it to get one from europe to cover it up?

I will get physical games if they are released outside the US only, but they must have an English option.

For instance, I've purchased Let's Sing and Syberia because there isn't (and there won't be) a NA release. I won't buy Dragon Quest Heroes though, as it's Japan only and no sub-titles. :( 

 

RolStoppable said:
The most likely scenario is that the initial printrun of the PS4 version was much larger than the initial printrun of the Switch version, so even if the Switch version sold fewer copies overall, it could still manage to sell out long before the PS4 version.

Square-Enix is the company that has been reluctant to publish their 3DS games in America and Europe while they have no problems to make games for other consoles release worldwide. In many cases Nintendo had to provide support for localisation of Square-Enix games, because the "little" Japanese third party publisher couldn't do it alone, unlike a software giant like Atlus. That's why the main factor in the case of Lost Sphear for PS4 vs. Switch has to be a large discrepancy in the volume of the initial printrun.

Another contributing factor are the ratios of physical vs. digital sales on the PS4 and Switch. PS4 owners are much more likely to purchase their games digitally. Switch is a more interesting console for collectors because its games ship on cards instead of discs, so I don't think Switch will ever match the PS4 when it comes to the ratio of physical vs. digital sales. Lost Sphear being exclusive to Square's online store makes it all the more interesting for collectors, because that's a limited physical release of a game.

Right - this is what I was saying about the difference in user base size and the fact that there are likely minimum order requirements when a publisher sends a game into production...

...it sounds like (based on the rest of your post and the tone of your writing) though, you believe this might be a case of the "same old Square" and the bitterness and apathy they've consistently shown towards Nintendo (and Nintendo consoles) in general, since the days of the SNES. And that we can expect more of the "only if we have to" type of support from SE - which is a shame. Maybe this will finally be the generation that Square gets burned for being such arrogant bastards!!! :D

It could be just out of loyalty to Nintendo's main competitor. Sony. Remember that these are Japanese companies. The way they do business can be different, in that they're careful not to burn bridges or whathaveyou. It can happen. 



Train wreck on 06 March 2018

From a cost standpoint, SE makes the most money...

Digital > Disc > Cartridge, so making the least amount of cartridges means the most bang for their buck. The game itself had a very limited budget and I am sure SE was not willing to break the bank on media production.

From a telemetry data standpoint they are seeing that demand for Switch physical for this game is low, so they are treating it on a case by case basis.

Any more than that would be looking at it from a fanboy prescriptive (Prior gaming arrangements, SE shipment/publishing aggrements, the Nin/Sq relationship in the SNES days, etc)



Nuvendil on 06 March 2018
Train wreck said:

From a cost standpoint, SE makes the most money...

Digital > Disc > Cartridge, so making the least amount of cartridges means the most bang for their buck. The game itself had a very limited budget and I am sure SE was not willing to break the bank on media production.

From a telemetry data standpoint they are seeing that demand for Switch physical for this game is low, so they are treating it on a case by case basis.

Any more than that would be looking at it from a fanboy prescriptive (Prior gaming arrangements, SE shipment/publishing aggrements, the Nin/Sq relationship in the SNES days, etc)

If the file size is under 8 gigs, there's no cost difference between disc and cart.  If it's under 6 gigs, it starts to be cheaper than disc.



DreadPirateRoberts on 06 March 2018

I can only offer this as an anecdote, but a local gaming group I am in did a group buy for Lost Sphear off the NA store. 51 Switch copies, 9 PS4.

I am also going to cast a vote for "Square Enix doesn't know how to run an online store".



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Cloudman on 06 March 2018
Nuvendil said:
Train wreck said:

From a cost standpoint, SE makes the most money...

Digital > Disc > Cartridge, so making the least amount of cartridges means the most bang for their buck. The game itself had a very limited budget and I am sure SE was not willing to break the bank on media production.

From a telemetry data standpoint they are seeing that demand for Switch physical for this game is low, so they are treating it on a case by case basis.

Any more than that would be looking at it from a fanboy prescriptive (Prior gaming arrangements, SE shipment/publishing aggrements, the Nin/Sq relationship in the SNES days, etc)

If the file size is under 8 gigs, there's no cost difference between disc and cart.  If it's under 6 gigs, it starts to be cheaper than disc.

What makes this funny is that the game is only 2.4 GB from what I found. So physical copies shouldn't really be a problem I suppose.



 

              

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Acevil on 06 March 2018
DreadPirateRoberts said:
I can only offer this as an anecdote, but a local gaming group I am in did a group buy for Lost Sphear off the NA store. 51 Switch copies, 9 PS4.

I am also going to cast a vote for "Square Enix doesn't know how to run an online store".

I'm going to go jokingly say you bought all the stock. Talon this man is to blame.



 

DreadPirateRoberts on 07 March 2018

Can't speak to everyone else's motivations, but mine were (a) portability and (b) Switch hype train. Even so, I was pretty amazed when I saw the picture of all those copies in one place.

On a game like this, there really isn't much to differentiate between Switch and PS4 on a power or graphics basis. So portability becomes a dominating argument in favour of Nintendo. Also, I think the fact that the Switch is still pretty thin for JRPGs could play a role. There's a bunch of good ones coming, but for right now, it's practically Xenoblade Chronicles 2 or Lost Sphear or bust for new games.



DreadPirateRoberts on 07 March 2018

Well, yeah, but that was obvious, wasn't it? ;)

Also, I prefer physical wherever possible. Though after my experience with Square Enix's customer service, I will never use their online store again.



Cloudman on 07 March 2018
TalonMan said:
DreadPirateRoberts said:
Well, yeah, but that was obvious, wasn't it? ;)

Also, I prefer physical wherever possible. Though after my experience with Square Enix's customer service, I will never use their online store again.

..."never" is a very strong word to use - especially seeing how this particular game is ONLY available through their store. I just checked eBay and it seems the scalpers are well aware of this shortage as they are asking (and GETTING) over $100 for this game now!!!

WOW!!!

 

Yeah, I noticed that as well when I checked amazon. Pretty annoyed that it was only available on their online store.



 

              

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