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[Yasumi]

I think it's the most logical direction. The Sony versions target Japan, the Nintendo ones target the west. The series can exist on both worldwide no problem.

Baba just has trouble seeing that I guess. He seems to not care about Symphonia's huge and still untouched success in the west on GC. I don't know why.

Graces I think could've decided it once and for all if they localized both, including the vanilla Wii version. As long as it was cheaper ($10 or more cheaper than the PS3 version) and was 100% polished (without any of the problems that affected the JP release), I think it would've been a fair competition.

Actually DOTNW was $39.99 IIRC when it came out. That would've been perfect for Graces Wii. It was $59.99 on PS3 right?

I don't think this would really work. The western Nintendo audience hasn't been relevant to Tales success since Symphonia, and a major part of the GameCube audience has moved away from Nintendo hardware.

Symphonia did well because the GameCube was utterly barren of JRPGs, and it just came at the right time. It then became a Player's Choice title and sold even more. Similar case with Abyss 3DS, it was the only real full JRPG at 3DS launch, so it sold fairly decently.

Nobody would've wanted the Wii Graces. Besides the lack of consumer confidence after news of how the Japanese version turned out, it was extremely short without the additional R content. To simultaneously release a version of the game (requiring its own separate programming and testing) would've been *extremely* illogical, and absolutely would've lost them money. Even at a lower price, nobody would want to buy a content-light release of an RPG. Between that and the JRPG audience having long since moved to PS3, it'd hit the bargain bin at lightspeed. I know you like your Nintendo consoles, but this was never going to happen.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

As per before, and this was part of the discussion I had with Zhuge and probably everyone else in the e-mail chains, I am able/willing to pay for a very large sum of the order if we do want to pick-up the next White Book.

The book is available to order on the website.

http://www.m-create.com/order/

Also it's possible to use Tenso to ship worldwide, in this regard.

http://www.tenso.com/

Someone PM me when you decide and I might be able chuck some money towards getting the book.

 

[Vena]

I don't think this would really work. The western Nintendo audience hasn't been relevant to Tales success since Symphonia, and a major part of the GameCube audience has moved away from Nintendo hardware.

Symphonia did well because the GameCube was utterly barren of JRPGs, and it just came at the right time. It then became a Player's Choice title and sold even more. Similar case with Abyss 3DS, it was the only real full JRPG at 3DS launch, so it sold fairly decently.

I think he's looking at this from the view of the "Nintendo audience" in its entirety, so when you factor in the 3DS you probably end up with the largest jRPG audience in the west between the systems and one that's been "fed" for some time on the handheld side with both first and third party titles for years.

All in all the west is kind of silly anyway, since Zestiria and #FE are comically close on console given Aqua's ballpark on the latter (and a port of Xenoblade on the N3DS has outsold both by a margin). And I don't think any jRPG has passed XCX on console until P5 or FFXV come out (though feel free to correct me).

 

[Aters]

Yes, confirmed here directly by Deep Silver, besides the press release.

Of course, Deep Silver is not to blame here, they are just publishing the game for EU territories at the last moment, it all comes down to the initial lack of vision from Sega. For once, I wish SIEE draw inspiration from Nintendo when it comes to localize third party franchise (Nintendo Europe translates Monster Hunter, Dragon Quest or Level-5 stuff).

Weird. I can get why they keep the English text, but why English dub too? Do Europeans (excluding British) prefer English dub to Japanese dub?

 

[MacTag]

Right but they did well, not amazing (as Symphonia did) and its not like their sales blew away the last few on PS3(/PC).

Edit: Also Abyss bombed in Japan. Namco wanted 250k sales.

DONTW did 230k and Abyss 3DS did 220k in the west. They actually outsold all the PS3 Tales except Xillia outside Japan, and came in right after the top 3 (Vesperia 270k, Xillia 320k, Symphonia 740k, NPD+GFK).

Not to mention they're an escort game and an old port. The most comparable thing on PS3 is Symphonia Chronicles and that did only 140k in the west despite Symphonia's overwhelming popularity. Meanwhile Abyss 3DS far outsold the PS2 original (70k, but NPD only).

Similar case with Abyss 3DS, it was the only real full JRPG at 3DS launch, so it sold fairly decently.

Abyss 3DS released nearly a year after launch outside Japan.

 

[KillerMan91]

I think he's looking at this from the view of the "Nintendo audience" in its entirety, so when you factor in the 3DS you probably end up with the largest jRPG audience in the west between the systems and one that's been "fed" for some time on the handheld side with both first and third party titles for years.

All in all the west is kind of silly anyway, since Zestiria and #FE are comically close on console given Aqua's ballpark on the latter (and a port of Xenoblade on the N3DS has outsold both by a margin). And I don't think any jRPG has passed XCX on console until P5 or FFXV come out (though feel free to correct me).

Type-0 HD shipped 1 million units during its launch quarter.

 

[Jarod McChicken]

Weird. I can get why they keep the English text, but why English dub too? Do Europeans (excluding British) prefer English dub to Japanese dub?

But everyone in the West (US and EU versions) will be condemned to the english dub ! This is again a testimony of Segatlus greatness. John Hardin (Atlus USA) said they will try to add the japanese dub later with a DLC, but it looks like it's harder to include japanese dub when you are Segatlus, for some reason.

 

[horuhe]

It seems that Overwatch got some boost on sales during this week, due to Obon.

 

[casiopao]

Tales is at a continued fall after Xillia and next one that there won't be a PS3 version will be worse if there aren't drastic changes.

Thats is what going to happen when u keep pumping more or less the same game as fast rate without any effort trying to improve the game.

Good.

Watch them not learn their lesson for the next game and instead keep this messy path.

Namco-Bandai is a mess with their franchises T-T

This is Bamco lol. They would rather launch a new unproven new IP rather than investing more into a stagnating IP.

 

[Sandfox]

Thats is what going to happen when u keep pumping more or less the same game as fast rate without any effort trying to improve the game.



This is Bamco lol. They would rather launch a new unproven new IP rather than investing more into a stagnating IP.

There was a two year gap between Graces and Xillia as well as a three year gap between Xillia 2 and Zestiria.

 

[Hero of Legend]

DONTW did 230k and Abyss 3DS did 220k in the west. They actually outsold all the PS3 Tales except Xillia outside Japan, and came in right after the top 3 (Vesperia 270k, Xillia 320k, Symphonia 740k, NPD+GFK).

Not to mention they're an escort game and an old port. The most comparable thing on PS3 is Symphonia Chronicles and that did only 140k in the west despite Symphonia's overwhelming popularity. Meanwhile Abyss 3DS far outsold the PS2 original (70k, but NPD only).


Abyss 3DS released nearly a year after launch outside Japan.

There you go!

Thanks for the numbers MacTag!

 

[casiopao]

There was a two year gap between Graces and Xillia as well as a three year gap between Xillia 2 and Zestiria.

Hmmm i guess the localization is making me feel that Tales is yearly product here........ or, the fact that the game is made with miniscule budget gives out that cheap feeling.T_T

 

[Vena]

Type-0 HD shipped 1 million units during its launch quarter.

I was thinking strictly west where we actually know sold-through (ish) but fair enough.

 

[Yasumi]

I think he's looking at this from the view of the "Nintendo audience" in its entirety, so when you factor in the 3DS you probably end up with the largest jRPG audience in the west between the systems and one that's been "fed" for some time on the handheld side with both first and third party titles for years.

Uhh, no. He specifically mentions "Symphonia's untouched success", he's obviously talking home consoles. He's also talking about the Wii/DS generation, and Bamco's inaction in capitalizing on that success, leading to no multiplat Tales games on current Nintendo hardware.

 

[Sammy Samusu]

I wonder if Namco will continue to ignore Nintendo for the next Tales of releases.

This time Nintendo has NX, supposedly a handheld capable of running PS4 games.

 

[Hero of Legend]

Basically I'm referring to how BN largely ignored the Nintendo audience despite Symphonia's success and 3DS' major JRPG audience (Bravely, FE, Pokemon obviously, etc), and as mentioned above Xenobloade Chronicles X on Wii U did surprisingly well in the west (over 200k first month in NPD IIRC), so there's that also.

 

[Man God]

They really fucked up on the DS in the west. They only sorta fucked up the Wii over here not bringing over Graces or even the simple step of porting Symphonia to Wii.

 

[horuhe]

For those interested on CY 2015, there's a comment I made some months ago. It's the Top 30, not complete.

Media Create Sales 2015 CY Top 30 {2014.12.29 - 2016.01.03}

01./00. [3DS] Monster Hunter X # <ACT> (Capcom) {2015.11.28} (¥6.264) - 2.521.859
02./00. [3DS] Yo-Kai Watch Busters: Red Cat Team / White Dog Squad <ACT> (Level 5) {2015.07.11} (¥4.968) - 2.124.427
03./00. [3DS] Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer # <ETC> (Nintendo) {2015.07.30} (¥4.320) - 1.301.227
04./00. [WiiU] Splatoon # <ACT> (Nintendo) {2015.05.28} (¥6.156) - 1.153.989
05./00. [3DS] Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King <RPG> (Square Enix) {2015.08.27} (¥6.458) - 801.043
06./00. [WiiU] Super Mario Maker # <ACT> (Nintendo) {2015.09.10} (¥6.156) - 726.885
07./00. [3DS] Monster Strike <RPG> (Mixi) {2015.12.17} (¥4.860) - 699.436
08./00. [3DS] Rhythm Heaven: The Best+ <ACT> (Nintendo) {2015.06.11} (¥5.076) - 620.782
09./00. [PSV] Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition <ADV> (Sony Computer Entertainment) {2015.03.19} (¥2.592) - 584.717
10./04. [3DS] Yo-kai Watch 2: Shin Uchi <RPG> (Level 5) {2014.12.13} (¥4.968) - 577.779 / 2.616.984 (-78%)
11./00. [PS3] Dragon Quest Heroes <RPG> (Square Enix) {2015.02.26} (¥7.344) - 442.854
12./00. [3DS] The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D # <ADV> (Nintendo) {2015.02.14} (¥5.076) - 427.697
13./00. [3DS] Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright / Conquest <SLG> (Nintendo) {2015.06.25} (¥5.076) - 417.060
14./00. [PS4] Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain # <ADV> (Konami) {2015.09.02} (¥9.072) - 415.820
15./03. [3DS] Pokémon Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire <RPG> (Pokémon Co.) {2014.11.21} (¥4.937) - 412.517 / 2.695.861 (-85%)
16./00. [PS3] Tales of Zestiria <RPG> (Bandai Namco Games) {2015.01.22} (¥8.715) - 378.602
17./07. [WiiU] Mario Kart 8 # <RCE> (Nintendo) {2014.05.29} (¥6.156) - 335.794 / 1.187.570 (-72%)
18./05. [3DS] Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS <FTG> (Nintendo) {2014.09.13} (¥5.616) - 330.135 / 2.332.070 (-86%)
19./00. [PS4] Dragon Quest Heroes # <RPG> (Square Enix) {2015.02.26} (¥8.424) - 327.389
20./00. [PSV] God Eater 2: Rage Burst <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games) {2015.02.19} (¥6.145) - 299.945
21./00. [3DS] Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition <RPG> (GungHo Online Entertainment) {2015.04.29} (¥4.320) - 288.718
22./00. [3DS] Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon <RPG> (Pokémon Co.) {2015.09.17} (¥5.076) - 288.585
23./00. [PS4] Call of Duty: Black Ops III # <ACT> (Sony Computer Entertainment) {2015.11.06} (¥8.532) - 266.459
24./00. [3DS] Disney Magic World 2 # <ETC> (Bandai Namco Games) {2015.11.05} (¥6.145) - 252.344
25./16. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf # <ETC> (Nintendo) {2012.11.08} (¥4.800) - 242.094 / 4.110.542 (-10%)
26./00. [3DS] Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam <RPG> (Nintendo) {2015.12.03} (¥5.076) - 198.315
27./11. [WiiU] Super Smash Bros. for Wii U # <FTG> (Nintendo) {2014.12.06} (¥7.776) - 197.319 / 668.555 (-70%)
28./00. [PS4] Star Wars: Battlefront # <ACT> (Electronic Arts) {2015.11.19} (¥8.424) - 192.475
29./00. [PS4] Bloodborne # <RPG> (Sony Computer Entertainment) {2015.03.26} (¥7.452) - 190.631
30./00. [PS3] Yakuza 0 <ADV> (Sega) {2015.03.12} (¥8.845) - 189.203

 

[Hero of Legend]

They really fucked up on the DS in the west. They only sorta fucked up the Wii over here not bringing over Graces or even the simple step of porting Symphonia to Wii.

They even did do a GC to Wii port with that SD Gundam Gashapon Wars game. Really bizarre that they chose that over Symphonia.

 

[hiska-kun]

Tsutaya's Ranking Week 32 2016

01./03. [3DS] Yo-Kai Watch 3: Sushi <RPG> (Level 5)
02./04. [3DS] Yo-Kai Watch 3: Tempura <RPG> (Level 5)
03./02. [3DS] Dragon Ball: Fusions <RPG> (Bandai Namco Games)
04./01. [3DS] Etrian Odyssey V: The End of the Long Myth <RPG> (Atlus)
05./05. [PSV] Toukiden 2 <&#65362;(Koei Tecmo)
06./00. [PS4] Ratchet & Clank (Ultra Special Limited Edition) <ACT> (Sony Computer Entertainment)
07./07. [3DS] Puzzle & Dragons X: God Chapter <RPG> (GungHo Online)
08./06. [PS4] Toukiden 2 <ACT> (Koei Tecmo)
09./08. [3DS] Puzzle & Dragons X: Dragon Chapter <RPG> (GungHo Online)
10./12. [3DS] Kirby: Planet Robobot <ACT> (Nintendo)
11./00. [PS4] Ratchet & Clank <ACT> (Sony Computer Entertainment)
12./15. [WIU] Minecraft: Wii U Edition <ADV> (Microsoft Game Studios)
13./23. [WIU] Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games <SPT> (Nintendo)
14./26. [3DS] Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games <SPT> (Nintendo)
15./17. [PSV] Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana <RPG> (Nihon Falcom)
16./24. [PSV] Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition <ADV> (Sony Computer Entertainment)
17./20. [3DS] Sumikko Gurashi: Mura o Tsukurundesu <ETC> (Nippon Columbia)
18./10. [3DS] 12-Sai. Koisuru Diary <ADV> (Happinet)
19./18. [3DS] Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns <SLG> (Marvelous)
20./25. [PS4] Overwatch <ACT> (Square Enix)

 

[Mory Dunz]

hm, decent hold for YW3?

Bad hold for EOV?

....hold hold for dbz?

 

[hiska-kun]

hm, decent hold for YW3?

Bad hold for EOV?

....hold hold for dbz?

This week is Obon. Sales should increase for typical leggy games, and good drops should be expected for the ones released few weeks ago.

EOV isn't the type of game that benefits from holidays, though.

 

[Lumyst]

Symphonia did well because the GameCube was utterly barren of JRPGs, and it just came at the right time. It then became a Player's Choice title and sold even more. Similar case with Abyss 3DS, it was the only real full JRPG at 3DS launch, so it sold fairly decently.

There was a thread a long time ago where an insider(Harker I think?) gave his perspective on this. He said Symphonia was successful in the West because it was appealing to kids and younger players.

 

[Chris1964]

Damn Zestiria had zero legs even by Tales game standard...

Comparing to Zestiria, Xillia 2 entered bomba bins almost from day 1 and gives the illusion it had better legs. Namco had expaectations similar to Xillia for Xillia 2.

Type-0 HD shipped 1 million units during its launch quarter.

That game was massively overshipped, 1 million is far from what it sold.

 

[1st Course]

People trying to argue that Type 0 underperformed yet again?

Shipped = sold to retailers anyway. Square got their money and said they are very happy about its performance in the earning report.

Just get over it already.

 

[Chris1964]

People trying to argue that Type 0 underperformed yet again?

Shipped = sold to retailers anyway. Square got their money and said they are very happy about its performance in the earning report.

Just get over it already.

It's denial or ignorance for those who think history finishes after a game is shipped at retailers especially when SE is hurt from overshipping and has stated it at reports.

 

[duckroll]

Shipped is not sold to retailers in every territory. It is true in Japan, and that is why Type-0 HD sefinitely didn't ship anything close to a million in Japan. Lol.

 

[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

01./00. [PS3] Tales of Xillia # <RPG> (Bandai Namco) {2011.09.08} (¥8.379) - 525.605 / NEW <87,12%>
01./00. [PS3] Tales of Xillia 2 <RPG> (Bandai Namco Games) {2012.11.01} (¥8.380) - 364.439 / NEW <78,09%>
01./00. [PS3] Tales of Zestiria <RPG> (Bandai Namco Games) {2015.01.22} (¥8.715) - 340.891 / NEW <89,52%>

Tales is a dumpster fire.

It hurts seeing a series I like go down this path. They really need to bring the fire with the PS4 exclusive entry.

 

[ULTROS!]

It hurts seeing a series I like go down this path. They really need to bring the fire with the PS4 exclusive entry.

They need to improve the quality too.

I mean the latest Tales entries felt like half-asses to me.

 

[Sandfox]

Given how long it taken Namco to make a console Tales titles these days we might very well be in 2019 when the next game hits.

 

[Nirolak]

Given how long it taken Namco to make an console Tales titles these days we might very well be 2019 when the next game hits.

I'm now imagining a game with graphics somewhere between the PS2 and PS3 being a cross-gen game on PS4 and PS5.

 

[casiopao]

People trying to argue that Type 0 underperformed yet again?

Shipped = sold to retailers anyway. Square got their money and said they are very happy about its performance in the earning report.

Just get over it already.

Japan is different from outside region. Shipped does not guarantee sold to retailers outside of Japan.

I'm now imagining a game with graphics somewhere between the PS2 and PS3 being a cross-gen game on PS4 and PS5.

I am actually quite confused here lol. Why can Monolith Soft come out with a much better graphics for Xeno X here vs Tales when Tales had such a headstart on HD development. It just does not make sense. It should not be budget problem too especially when Nintendo themselves does not give Xeno X the AAA budget there. They seems to operate on much smaller budget from Iwata Ask. Is it simple incompetent by Baba team?T_T

 

[Sandfox]

I'm now imagining a game with graphics somewhere between the PS2 and PS3 being a cross-gen game on PS4 and PS5.

I don't really know what's going on with this franchise because outside of Vesperia, which I'm sure MS had a hand in, they clearly can't make make an HD game on par with previous titles whether it's due to budget, rushing titles, being dishonest, or the rise of DLC making them want to test what they can cut. Even Graces Wii was broken at launch and had to be recalled.

Unless something crazy happens I don't see the franchise ever recovering.

 

[zeromcd73]

YSO predictions

01. [PS4] Tales of Berseria < 155k (average 140k)
02. [PS3] Tales of Berseria < 100k (average 85k)
03. [3DS] Yo-Kai Watch 3: Sushi / Tempura < 40k (average 35k)

2016 savagery continues. Basara's turn next.

 

[casiopao]

2016 savagery continues. Basara's turn next.

After that MH Stories is going to be the next victim and many more........ till the arrival of our Lord and Saviour SIEG PIKACHU.^_^

 

[Kresnik258]

Are we really having a discussion about moving the Tales fanbase across platforms on the basis of these numbers?

I've bought every recent Tales game (that's released in the west) from Graces onwards. I can tell you now, there's some fundamental problems in the way these games are being made that won't be fixed by a hardware shift.

I've had varying degrees of enjoyment from the latest games, but they've started suffering from trappings of much more niche JRPG's. There's heavy asset reuse that while not quite as extreme as something like the Neptunia games, isn't far off. While it doesn't spoil the experience, it certainly makes the titles feel a lot more low budget when you run through towns with the same buildings; fields with the same generic rocks and cliffs.

Zestiria attempted to alleviate some of the problems with this thanks to its new, bigger open areas that ended up being a chore to run through since they were so desolate.

In addition, I don't think any one recent game has nailed all the elements at once (Combat; Dungeons; Exploration; Story). Xillia completely lacked in story which I felt Xillia 2 improved upon, yet the experience was far too familiar with revisiting all the same areas (in addition, both suffered from terrible dungeon design). Zestiria managed to do a crap job of both combat (too simple) and story (too simple) - I really don't understand how it could've been in development for so long to turn out like it did, although dungeons were an improvement.

Finally, I think every recent Tales game has suffered from the same problem which is it falling apart in quality in the second half. Zestiria is the worst offender for this, with an already-barely existent story becoming absolutely nothing by the end and the quality of the zones taking a serious dive (versus the beautiful opening sections in both the sky-town and the malevolence-filled village). The previous games all suffered from this to lesser degrees which suggests that the quick-turn around of multiple sequels has caused them to be shoved out the door without them taking the time to resolve the things they set up from the start of the games.

_________________________________________________________________________

While I'll continue buying the games because nothing else offers a similar couch co-op experience (so I guess I'm part of the problem), I can absolutely understand why there's been such an audience drop off so far and I don't understand at all why a shift of hardware or the addition of a different manufacturer's hardware is gonna fix. Sure, you'd see an immediate up-tick just like you did with the shift to Sony, but I don't think it'd do anything to sustain the series long-term.

(I'm of the same mind as Vena that the strong Steam sales of Zestiria were due to the novelty of the situation and not something that's going to be sustained over multiple entries. Maybe I'm wrong on that).

 

[Aters]

I wonder if Namco will continue to ignore Nintendo for the next Tales of releases.

This time Nintendo has NX, supposedly a handheld capable of running PS4 games.

I was just going to say "nope" then I realized we are talking about JP devs here. You are right. Bamco should not ignore Nintendo.

Spoiler

Because ToH is my secret favorite Tales.

Shipped is not sold to retailers in every territory. It is true in Japan, and that is why Type-0 HD sefinitely didn't ship anything close to a million in Japan. Lol.

Of course. They reported that it shipped a million worldwide.

 

[Celine]

If the NX is a single-screened device like we expect then more Japanese devs should look at going PS4/NX multiplatform. That's the only way these mid-tier franchises like Ys, Tales etc will survive. It makes very little sense anymore to make exclusives unless your game is extremely niche.

If Unreal 4 support NX then PS4/NX/PC (for Steam) is the way to go.

 

[Nirolak]

If Unreal 4 support NX then PS4/NX/PC (for Steam) is the way to go.

I would be fairly surprised if it didn't given both the Tegra K1 and Tegra X1 were unveiled by showing off Unreal Engine 4 tech demos.

 

[KillerMan91]

I was thinking strictly west where we actually know sold-through (ish) but fair enough.

Well it's pretty impossible to know sold trough in west for any game as we get EU numbers so rarely (and even US numbers usually only first month). Not to mention missing digital which has higher share of the total sales for the games compared to Japan.

That game was massively overshipped, 1 million is far from what it sold.

Well kinda hard to know without knowing most regions. If I remember right in US it did about 200k first month (retail) and in Japan something like 150k (?). Add in EU and rest of the world and some digital sales and I am not sure it was ''massively'' overshipped if retailers had something like 200-300k copies worldwide unsold after like first month.

 

[gundamkyoukai]

I'm now imagining a game with graphics somewhere between the PS2 and PS3 being a cross-gen game on PS4 and PS5.

I mean how hard can it be to just use UE4 and take some time to reboot the series.
Huge tales fan but even i don't care any more.
Unless they put some effort into them i won't be buying any more .
It really easy to see the effects of them screwing over the series in Japan .

 

[Oregano]

I would be fairly surprised if it didn't given both the Tegra K1 and Tegra X1 were unveiled by showing off Unreal Engine 4 tech demos.

It really depends whether Epic deems it worthwhile but Japanese handheld developers are probably the last group that don't already use UE4. I assume they'd love to get Nintendo themselves to license it too.

 

[kswiston]

So the Tales series burnt through its resurgence in interest, putting the series back where it was 8-9 years ago?

 

[Zhao_Yun]

I don't think this would really work. The western Nintendo audience hasn't been relevant to Tales success since Symphonia, and a major part of the GameCube audience has moved away from Nintendo hardware.

Symphonia did well because the GameCube was utterly barren of JRPGs, and it just came at the right time. It then became a Player's Choice title and sold even more. Similar case with Abyss 3DS, it was the only real full JRPG at 3DS launch, so it sold fairly decently.

Nobody would've wanted the Wii Graces. Besides the lack of consumer confidence after news of how the Japanese version turned out, it was extremely short without the additional R content. To simultaneously release a version of the game (requiring its own separate programming and testing) would've been *extremely* illogical, and absolutely would've lost them money. Even at a lower price, nobody would want to buy a content-light release of an RPG. Between that and the JRPG audience having long since moved to PS3, it'd hit the bargain bin at lightspeed. I know you like your Nintendo consoles, but this was never going to happen.

It didn't help that Abyss launched in the same month as FFXII in the US and that it was never released in Europe. Part of the reason why the 3DS version sold well in Europe was that it was actually a new game for a large part of the fanbase and not just a simple old port.

 

[Nirolak]

It really depends whether Epic deems it worthwhile but Japanese handheld developers are probably the last group that don't already use UE4. I assume they'd love to get Nintendo themselves to license it too.

Epic's general requirements for porting an engine are that the platform is compatible, and their customers/potential customers tell them they want the engine on the platform (since, you know, they need people to sell it to).

Since the first part is a given, it's basically going to be down to demand.

 

[Oregano]

Epic's general requirements for porting an engine are that the platform is compatible, and their customers/potential customers tell them they want the engine on the platform (since, you know, they need people to sell it to).

Since the first part is a given, it's basically going to be down to demand.

It's a bit circular though isn't it? Developers will want to use UE4 on NX if UE4 is (well) supported on NX.

The obvious solution for Nintendo to make sure it's supported is to license it themselves, even if they don't actually use it.

If Square Enix wants the PS4 DQXI on NX it'll happen though. SE is/was the biggest UE4 licensee Iirc.

 

[duckroll]

It's a bit circular though isn't it? Developers will want to use UE4 on NX if UE4 is (well) supported on NX.

The obvious solution for Nintendo to make sure it's supported is to license it themselves, even if they don't actually use it.

If Square Enix wants the PS4 DQXI on NX it'll happen though. SE is/was the biggest UE4 licensee Iirc.

No, it's not circular, at least not these days. A publisher is not going to look at a new platform and go "oh, is UE4 available on it yet? if not I'm not going to bother making a game on it". A publisher evaluates a platform based on whether they think they are interested in putting out products on it, and how easy it would be based on comparable hardware specs. If they feel there is potential there, they would do it. If they are doing it, they would then ask all their partners about whether their shit is supported on the new platform, and if not encourage them to get their ass on it.

 

[Nirolak]

It's a bit circular though isn't it? Developers will want to use UE4 on NX if UE4 is (well) supported on NX.

The obvious solution for Nintendo to make sure it's supported is to license it themselves, even if they don't actually use it.

If Square Enix wants the PS4 DQXI on NX it'll happen though. SE is/was the biggest UE4 licensee Iirc.

No, it's not circular, at least not these days. A publisher is not going to look at a new platform and go "oh, is UE4 available on it yet? if not I'm not going to bother making a game on it". A publisher evaluates a platform based on whether they think they are interested in putting out products on it, and how easy it would be based on comparable hardware specs. If they feel there is potential there, they would do it. If they are doing it, they would then ask all their partners about whether their shit is supported on the new platform, and if not encourage them to get their ass on it.

Yes, these kinds of things happen way in advance.

For example, if Bandai Namco wanted to use UE4 for their games and wanted them to be on the NX, they would have simply asked Epic to port the engine when they first found out about the system.

Epic does this with a pretty low amount of requests as well. The Vita and the Wii U got ports of Unreal Engine 3 despite only a few developers asking for it up front. The inbound requests have to be pretty abysmal for them to not engage with a platform (or severe technical hurdles like the 3DS).

That said, Unreal Engine 4 recently hit over 2 million developers, so they could have even just done the port without large publisher requests for their (overwhelmingly large) indie community who might want to release games on it.

 

[Vena]

I would be fairly surprised if it didn't given both the Tegra K1 and Tegra X1 were unveiled by showing off Unreal Engine 4 tech demos.

If Pascal is a valid rumor, the NX is going to be above and beyond the needs of any modern engine and probably above the HD-twins and their successors in terms of strictly built-in feature-sets on the die since it will carry neither the burden of a Jaguar APU (or accommodating it) or of limitations by GCN ~1.1~1.2. The NX will probably be the only machine for years that is going to support FP16, of course only exclusives or first party titles would ever use this functionality as everything else will be built on FP32-only to accommodate the twins.

(This is speaking strictly in terms of on-paper fixed functionality, of course, since the actual TDPs of the machines will be orders of magnitude different and as such so will their throughput.)

Modern engines won't be a problem unless they have a minreq cap that doesn't fit, and haven't we already heard buzz on Nintendo pushing for them from the get-go? I mean, that'd be the logical path of approach.

While I'll continue buying the games because nothing else offers a similar couch co-op experience (so I guess I'm part of the problem), I can absolutely understand why there's been such an audience drop off so far and I don't understand at all why a shift of hardware or the addition of a different manufacturer's hardware is gonna fix. Sure, you'd see an immediate up-tick just like you did with the shift to Sony, but I don't think it'd do anything to sustain the series long-term.

(I'm of the same mind as Vena that the strong Steam sales of Zestiria were due to the novelty of the situation and not something that's going to be sustained over multiple entries. Maybe I'm wrong on that).

Frankly, the last time I thought Tales of was actually good was when Microsoft seemingly paid for it. Which makes me wonder if Microsoft had input on the title or if Bamco was trying to impress given the coffers available back then for such a project, or both I guess.

 

[Sterok]

So assuming Final Fantasy XV does release in 2016, will Pokemon eat its lunch, or will the separate ecosystem keep it safe?