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Media Create Sales: Week 16, 2017 (Apr 17 - Apr 23)

Draxal

Member
How is that Fire Emblem performance?

Seems pretty good for a quick remake and for a entry that isn't as popular as Marth's games. Think it could hit a million worldwide?

Tbh, I think its horrific. My only hope is alot more Valentia edition were sold (as it is not on the tracker), but that's me be being delusionally optimistic.
 
People have been fantasizing about FEW for almost a decade now. Only Nintendo could fuck this up. And I trust they won't especially after the success of Hyrule Warriors. They know what they are doing.

Fire Emblem is also at its peak in terms of popularity and brand awareness.

Don't look too much into the recent Musou bombas.
They didn't carry Nintendo's name or hype.

Hyrule Warriors did a million. I don't see why Fire Emblem Warriors couldn't do the same.
 
Tbh, I think its horrific. My only hope is alot more Valentia edition were sold (as it is not on the tracker), but that's me be being delusionally optimistic.

What were your expectations?

I was expecting something like what we got. Its a remake that's not being treated like a mainline entry, not much hype around it and just a quick project the team cooked up.

Honestly think this will at least hit a million worldwide.
 
Ōkami;234837958 said:
Because regular Fire Emblem games barely do that and Zelda is a much bigger brand.
I understand that. Maybe it won't do a million, but half a million should be good. Is Fire Emblem bigger in Japan? Maybe FEW will sell less in the west compared to HW, but sell a little more in Japan because it's on a handheld.
 

Xbro

Member
I understand that. Maybe it won't do a million, but half a million should be good. Is Fire Emblem bigger in Japan? Maybe FEW will sell less in the west compared to HW, but sell a little more in Japan because it's on a handheld.

It's on two handhelds.
 

Gradivus

Member
Tbh, I think its horrific. My only hope is alot more Valentia edition were sold (as it is not on the tracker), but that's me be being delusionally optimistic.

Well, there's always digital sales, DLC and golden week to help it do better than the previous remarks.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Honestly I don't think people want older style Fire Emblem.

Even beyond the whole waifu/husbando thing, the newest games mixed things up a lot and try to be flashy to make them more appealing to modern audiences. I would expect the next mainline game to continue that trend.

This was a remake of a legacy title, and it received legacy sales. Even with modern amenities, people are going to associate this with the titles they found uninteresting prior to Awakening, and land us where we are.

I talked about the importance of making a product seem exciting when explaining why I felt Bravely Second would go way down and Fire Emblem Fates would maintain sales or go up, and Echoes is a product that falls squarely in the unexciting bucket.

If you want some similar Western titles, this would be like Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Batman: Arkham Origins, Gears of War: Jusdgment, or God of War: Ascension, where the product felt like it was made to fit a business goal of the developer (usually filling in the line-up until the actual sequel is ready) instead of capitalize on what the audience was looking for.
 
Honestly I don't think people want older style Fire Emblem.

Even beyond the whole waifu/husbando thing, the newest games mixed things up a lot and try to be flashy to make them more appealing to modern audiences. I would expect the next mainline game to continue that trend.

This was a remake of a legacy title, and it received legacy sales. Even with modern amenities, people are going to associate this with the titles they found uninteresting prior to Awakening, and land us where we are.

I talked about the importance of making a product seem exciting when explaining why I felt Bravely Second would go way down and Fire Emblem Fates would maintain sales or go up, and Echoes is a product that falls squarely in the unexciting bucket.

If you want some similar Western titles, this would be like Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Batman: Arkham Origins, Gears of War: Jusdgment, or God of War: Ascension, where the product felt like it was made to fit a business goal of the developer (usually filling in the line-up until the actual sequel is ready) instead of capitalize on what the audience was looking for.

I think this sounds about right. It's a shame because I just can't get into the newer games. I guess the old ones aren't going anywhere so I can always replay them.

I wonder when we'll get more details about the switch version of fire emblem, seems quite a distance away right now.
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
Honestly I don't think people want older style Fire Emblem.

Even beyond the whole waifu/husbando thing, the newest games mixed things up a lot and try to be flashy to make them more appealing to modern audiences. I would expect the next mainline game to continue that trend.

This was a remake of a legacy title, and it received legacy sales. Even with modern amenities, people are going to associate this with the titles they found uninteresting prior to Awakening, and land us where we are.

I talked about the importance of making a product seem exciting when explaining why I felt Bravely Second would go way down and Fire Emblem Fates would maintain sales or go up, and Echoes is a product that falls squarely in the unexciting bucket.

If you want some similar Western titles, this would be like Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Batman: Arkham Origins, Gears of War: Jusdgment, or God of War: Ascension, where the product felt like it was made to fit a business goal of the developer (usually filling in the line-up until the actual sequel is ready) instead of capitalize on what the audience was looking for.

This might be kinda like BS where it could do significantly better in the west because Fire Emblem is hotter over here at the moment and its a remake of a game we never got.
 
Honestly I don't think people want older style Fire Emblem.

Even beyond the whole waifu/husbando thing, the newest games mixed things up a lot and try to be flashy to make them more appealing to modern audiences. I would expect the next mainline game to continue that trend.

This was a remake of a legacy title, and it received legacy sales. Even with modern amenities, people are going to associate this with the titles they found uninteresting prior to Awakening, and land us where we are.

I talked about the importance of making a product seem exciting when explaining why I felt Bravely Second would go way down and Fire Emblem Fates would maintain sales or go up, and Echoes is a product that falls squarely in the unexciting bucket.

If you want some similar Western titles, this would be like Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Batman: Arkham Origins, Gears of War: Jusdgment, or God of War: Ascension, where the product felt like it was made to fit a business goal of the developer (usually filling in the line-up until the actual sequel is ready) instead of capitalize on what the audience was looking for.

Which sucks because the older artstyle is so much better and Echoes artsyle is much better than Fates.

I don't know but Fates artstyle seems so generic in comparison to previous games and Echoes.
 

Rob2K19

Member
I guess this might be the last week KH charts in MC. If so, it was awesome seeing KH in the charts from January to now. Good times.
 

AniHawk

Member
Why Atlus?

i guess because no p5 right away.

but i mean, they're doing an smt, and their us branch has been really on top of it.

i can definitely attest to hearing about 'wait and see' approaches from some other places though. it's frustrating but us branches will push the japanese branches to get on board like they did with ps4.
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
DS:Overclocked was the closest Atlus has ever been to having a launch title, it missed it by what, six months?

I think they missed an opportunity by not doing something like a TMS port, but other than that I think they are on the right track.
 

Unknown?

Member
i guess because no p5 right away.

but i mean, they're doing an smt, and their us branch has been really on top of it.
That's kinda a stupid thing to say. Atlus doesn't put games on systems based solely on popularity. Otherwise PS4 would have mainline SMT and pretty much no exclusive Nintendo games from them. Also it's pretty dumb to say about the other companies because it's still too early to gauge long term success whereas the 3DS has a sizable installment.
 

ldar247

Banned
https://www.technopro-careers.com/archives/921

okay apprantly there was job listing for creating music application for new handheld game device?

Is Vita 2 really happening?

Don't understand Japanese, was it by Sony? I wonder if they'd be able to fit PS4 in a handheld form factor within the next few years. That would basically be dream handheld, especially since Switch doesn't seem to be getting much of the third party support I want.
 

NeonZ

Member
Honestly I don't think people want older style Fire Emblem.

Even beyond the whole waifu/husbando thing, the newest games mixed things up a lot and try to be flashy to make them more appealing to modern audiences. I would expect the next mainline game to continue that trend.

This was a remake of a legacy title, and it received legacy sales. Even with modern amenities, people are going to associate this with the titles they found uninteresting prior to Awakening, and land us where we are.

I talked about the importance of making a product seem exciting when explaining why I felt Bravely Second would go way down and Fire Emblem Fates would maintain sales or go up, and Echoes is a product that falls squarely in the unexciting bucket.

Thinking about it now, in a way I guess this might have been an experiment of sorts. In presentation, unlike Shadow Dragon and New Mystery, Shadows of Valentia probably is higher than any of the existing titles (battle animations redone and improved again, more detailed models, full voice acting for the main story). It also has casual mode, so the accessibility is there.

However, it lacks the avatar and shipping aspects of recent titles - there are supports, but they're very limited in number and romantic pairs are pre-defined. In a way, this basically weights how much presentation and accessibility count compared to those features. Although, this seems like a weird game to do a trial like that, considering how it's based on a game infamous for its map design and odd progression among the older fanbase, and they did nothing to fix that.
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
Eh, they put a lot of effort into the remakes of 1 and 3. People just didn't want them that badly, especially not Shadow Dragon in the west!
 

Passose

Banned
i guess because no p5 right away.

but i mean, they're doing an smt, and their us branch has been really on top of it.

i can definitely attest to hearing about 'wait and see' approaches from some other places though. it's frustrating but us branches will push the japanese branches to get on board like they did with ps4.
I thought P5 was gonna be a playstation exclusive, and people said that Sony had made an exclusive contract with Atlus or something
 
Don't understand Japanese, was it by Sony? I wonder if they'd be able to fit PS4 in a handheld form factor within the next few years. That would basically be dream handheld, especially since Switch doesn't seem to be getting much of the third party support I want.

In an alternative universe, Sony handhelds would have the same third party supports like their home consoles.
 

Maxinas

Member
Don't understand Japanese, was it by Sony? I wonder if they'd be able to fit PS4 in a handheld form factor within the next few years. That would basically be dream handheld, especially since Switch doesn't seem to be getting much of the third party support I want.

"Independent embedded software development company with many achievements in home electronics and game machine development", so it could be Sony, it could even be Nintendo working on a future Switch SKU.

Even so, i don't see how a new Vita would do well for Sony, when they've continuously been outplayed by Nintendo in the handheld/portable sector.
 
Don't understand Japanese, was it by Sony? I wonder if they'd be able to fit PS4 in a handheld form factor within the next few years. That would basically be dream handheld, especially since Switch doesn't seem to be getting much of the third party support I want.
Just use Google Translate. The job description covers a lot of devices, including music application equipment for next gen portable game machines.

"Independent embedded software development company with many achievements in home electronics and game machine development", so it could be Sony, it could even be Nintendo working on a future Switch SKU even.

Even so, i don't see how a new Vita would do well for Sony, when they've continuously been outplayed by Nintendo in the handheld/portable sector.
It mentions embedded software development for BD players, cameras and car audio.
 

Snakeyes

Member
That's kinda a stupid thing to say. Atlus doesn't put games on systems based solely on popularity. Otherwise PS4 would have mainline SMT and pretty much no exclusive Nintendo games from them. Also it's pretty dumb to say about the other companies because it's still too early to gauge long term success whereas the 3DS has a sizable installment.
Nintendo handhelds have been significantly more popular than PS home consoles in Japan for close to a decade.
 

Maxinas

Member
It could also just be a random company making a music app.

I am convinced, the Switch has done a weird things to people.

What other companies in Japan have "many achievements in home electronics and game machine development" besides Sony and Nintendo? You could be right though, who knows, this isn't really newsworthy.
 
I can only speculate, but I guess Atlus think the main fanbase for Persona is on PlayStation systems. Spinoffs aside.

Like the Tales series, I guess.
 
Why Atlus though? They're making that SMT HD game right?
So are Capcom and Level 5 with their respective franchises, but their support is coming later than expected. Atlus is pretty late too.

If they had games ready for launch or launch window they'd be collecting some good coins now.

Don't at me with Disgaea and Setsuna sales lol. Those two are pretty irrelevant. On Switch or anywhere else.
 
It could also just be a random company making a music app.

I am convinced, the Switch has done a weird things to people.
It's possible. The application reads like a job within the company to me. I figure if Nintendo were looking for someone to make a Switch music player they'd get someone internally, hire in Kyoto or get someone at NERD to make it - like Pharrell Williams.

I mean, this could all be a wild goose chase. Hell, maybe Panasonic are working on a new portable 3DO.
 

Shengar

Member
I wonder if (Hidari drawn) Genealogy of the Holy Wars remake will perform close to post Awakening FE. That game after all, have the popular elements that was taken and reintroduced in Awakening namely pair, marriage, and children. Unlike Gaiden who was poorly remembered by old fans, Genealogy seems to be among the most favorite classic title.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Thinking about it now, in a way I guess this might have been an experiment of sorts. In presentation, unlike Shadow Dragon and New Mystery, Shadows of Valentia probably is higher than any of the existing titles (battle animations redone and improved again, more detailed models, full voice acting for the main story). It also has casual mode, so the accessibility is there.

However, it lacks the avatar and shipping aspects of recent titles - there are supports, but they're very limited in number and romantic pairs are pre-defined. In a way, this basically weights how much presentation and accessibility count compared to those features. Although, this seems like a weird game to do a trial like that, considering how it's based on a game infamous for its map design and odd progression among the older fanbase, and they did nothing to fix that.
I think you're thinking a bit small scale actually. This might be easier to explain through the lens of Western games.

So, the four Western titles I listed (Gears of War: Judgement, God of War: Ascension, Batman: Arkham Origins, and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel) actually all did a good job of maintaining the feature sets and production values of their previous entries, and all of them added new features too.

We can even look at a game like Arkham Origins on paper and see that it sounds pretty impressive. There's a whole new cast of villains. The map is twice as large Arkham City. It follows Batman's Year One storyline with what was largely considered notably better writing. It had a new multiplayer mode. The combat upgrades were well received. It seems to fit all the checkmarks. Despite all this, it didn't have any features that really captured people's imaginations, and after already playing two lengthy games of this formula, people didn't want what still felt like too similar an offering.

Arkham Knight's massive scale increase, shiny new graphics, and batmobile seemed like a far more compelling proposition to people, even if it was a shorter list of new features. (I also like the batmobile example here as it shows that features don't necessarily have to pan out to be good to seem conceptually exciting.) Warner Bros understands this, and the next Batman game makes major change-ups to the formula if rumors are to be believed.

We can also look at God of War: Ascension, which had no excitement, versus God of War 4, which actually has excitement. God of War: Ascension basically offered "Yep it's another God of War game." with a multiplayer mode that seemed like something you would try for a couple hours and never play again. God of War 4 tries to reinvent the entire series to modern day tastes with a new setting, art style, new narrative angle, and what appears to be a very heavily changed up gameplay experience and game structure.

Assassin's Creed is also a great example of lots of different potential outcomes based on what type of game you make.

The first game was conceptually ambitious, but really rough. However, people were very excited for conceptual ambition in the early part of the generous, and bought a zillion copies of the game despite its flaws.

The second game was a major budget increase over the first, and tried to really achieve everything all the first game's potential and respond to the critical feedback about it. It sold a zillion copies.

Assassin's Creed 2 was so good that people were willing to buy a game that was a marginal enhancement of it with a few new features. Brotherhood kept something like 70%+ of AC2's audience.

However, people were not especially willing to do that twice, and Revelations collapsed in comparison, especially in terms of average selling price.

Assassin's Creed 3 heavily changed up the formula and offered lots of ambition, even if people debate if they liked it more than Assassin's Creed 2. Regardless, it was very exciting to audiences. I believe this is still the best selling Assassin's Creed game to date.

Assassin's Creed 4 is mostly predicated on Assassin's Creed 3's formula, but it offered enough exciting new things (new setting, all the water and pirate stuff) that it kept like 85-90%+ of the previous game's audience and was very well received.

Where Ubisoft really messed up was in Assassin's Creed: Unity. The game's offering was basically "We have improved graphics, but we took out a bunch of features, and our main new feature (co-op) is only usable on side missions." This was basically a straight regression of the franchise, and the new feature was implemented in a way that was not compelling for most co-op centric gamers, so the sales went way down.

Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, while doing a good job of making sure the core game felt more fun, was basically an unambitious game built on top of Assassin's Creed: Unity's base. They even thought it was a good idea to cut Unity's main new selling point instead of improving it. People didn't like Unity, so no one wanted a game that was a small iteration on top of that. This was, IIRC, even a worse seller than Revelations, or at least close to it.

These days, Ubisoft is back to rebooting the entire series again a la God of War, because that's what is needed to get people interested.

(You will notice a trend here that people are pretty much willing to put up with one straightforward-ish iteration on a successful formula, assuming it does a good job of reaching the formula's true potential, but want another significant leap/change-up by the third game.)

So, wheeling this back to Fire Emblem, they essentially put out something that fit with the unexciting sequels of the Western gaming world, and received a sales drop in kind. It's easy to forget these kinds of impacts in Media Create threads because most of the games we discuss are very niche products selling to 100-150K people, and at an audience that small, it's easier to keep 70%+ of them even with a game that doesn't change much. However, once we get to these better selling games that hit a more broad audience, these factors really start to come into play.

Or, put way more simply, I don't think the issue was the lack of supports/romances (though removing or lessening popular features definitely hurts and they should definitely have strong supports/romances in the next game), but rather the lack of new and exciting features and ambitions. Given Fates was already the "improve everything" version of the Awakening formula, people were very ready for something new, so this was a double whammy, and led to the sales drop we see.
 

ZSaberLink

Media Create Maven
So are Capcom and Level 5 with their respective franchises, but their support is coming later than expected. Atlus is pretty late too.

If they had games ready for launch or launch window they'd be collecting some good coins now.

Don't at me with Disgaea and Setsuna sales lol. Those two are pretty irrelevant. On Switch or anywhere else.

Honestly though Atlus is a part of Sega now, and Sega launched with Puyo Puyo Tetris S and has two Sonic games (mania and Forces) releasing later this year. Maybe they are just spreading things out. Keep in mind that Atlus has only ever made 2 HD games thus far (#FE & Persona 5) and they're incredibly slow with those thus far.
 

random25

Member
Honestly though Atlus is a part of Sega now, and Sega launched with Puyo Puyo Tetris S and has two Sonic games (mania and Forces) releasing later this year. Maybe they are just spreading things out. Keep in mind that Atlus has only ever made 2 HD games thus far (#FE & Persona 5) and they're incredibly slow with those thus far.

PS3 games are HD though, and they made several.
 

jj984jj

He's a pretty swell guy in my books anyway.
Honestly though Atlus is a part of Sega now, and Sega launched with Puyo Puyo Tetris S and has two Sonic games (mania and Forces) releasing later this year. Maybe they are just spreading things out. Keep in mind that Atlus has only ever made 2 HD games thus far (#FE & Persona 5) and they're incredibly slow with those thus far.

That's only their RPG output. Even if you don't count the Arc Sys Persona spin-offs there's still Catherine. They are slow but they're not that big and did go through that buyout during this time. I guess pushing out 3DS ports is still easier than moving to just HD output.
 
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