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Nippon Ichi wants To Broaden Disgaea’s Appeal with next game, more

P

Pooya

Member
Interview

Siliconera caught up with Nippon Ichi Software president Souhei Niikawa
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Where do you want to take the Disgaea series next? Can you give us a keyword or a concept for Disgaea 5?



[Laughs] I don’t know if I can say it yet… We have started working on it. What I can say now is we want Disgaea to appeal to a broader audience so we can expand our fanbase beyond the niche audience we have now. We are working on a story that can be enjoyed by a wider user base as well as different characters that will be enjoyed by them.
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so, it's not gonna be same exact game again? cool :p
on a serious note, maybe they're not hit that bad after recent staff exodus rumors and facts.

other bits

The Witch and the Hundred Knight wasn't profitable, he says they're in red but sold what they expected...

about their platform priority

From our standpoint, since portable devices aren’t really doing well outside of Japan. It’s better for us to release the game on console first because consoles do well in and outside of Japan and then go from there.
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he also comments about Criminal Girls future if you care about stuff like that..

Read more at http://www.siliconera.com/2013/10/0...-broaden-disgaeas-appeal/#J6vXh8UMkUo704Oc.99

lock if old.
 
DryvBy

DryvBy

Member
Do they need me to buy two copies of Witch and the Hundred Knight? I want to make it profitable. Just let me try!
 
H

HolyBaikal

Banned
Different characters?
Well, as long as the types of characters I like from them don't end up getting upstaged, I guess I'll be fine.
 
R

Rocky

Banned
So are they still going to release Witch and the Hundred Knight in the west next spring or not?
 
R

Raidensoul

Banned
Vita releases please. Hell, release on Vita AND 3DS and you'll get your profits - Disgaea isn't exactly graphics intensive.

I find I can't sit in front of my TV and play a tactical RPG, but Disgaea 3 Vita has over 200 hours put into it on my system. I'd prefer to play anything on my beautiful OLED screen, but I could handle a 3DS version too.
 
E

erpg

GAF parliamentarian
w1gglyjones said:
did you change your username?
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Yup, a short while ago.
TheChaos0 said:
Except PC is not particulary big in Japan. Although, someone has to start. :)
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They wouldn't be targeting Japan here. They'd just be going after the quick Steam sale impulse buyers. Would be a smart source of income, considering how much they're likely hurting after Witch. And there isn't much of a SRPG library on PC.
 
P

Prince Vultan

Banned
Raidensoul said:
Vita releases please. Hell, release on Vita AND 3DS and you'll get your profits - Disgaea isn't exactly graphics intensive.

I find I can't sit in front of my TV and play a tactical RPG, but Disgaea 3 Vita has over 200 hours put into it on my system. I'd prefer to play anything on my beautiful OLED screen, but I could handle a 3DS version too.
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They tried Disgaea 1 on DS but seemingly it sold like ass, so they never went back with the series.

I'd be surprised if they tried the series on 3DS at this point. If it couldn't sell on DS, it probably won't sell on the 3DS, which isn't nearly as big as it's predecessor was.
 
F

Fularu

Banned
The real question is, will NIS still be alive to release a new Disgaea game?

Their refusal to support the one selling handheld is mindboggling to say the least.
 
J

Jucksalbe

Banned
"We want to appeal to a broader audience" is rarely a good sign. But on the other hand I kinda lost interest in Disgaea since the games are so similar and there are too many games in the series to fully explore (=spent hundreds of hours on) each entry. I even ignored the newest game, and that's coming from someone who bought a PS3 to play Disgaea 3.
 
E

erpg

GAF parliamentarian
Fularu said:
The real question is, will NIS still be alive to release a new Disgaea game?

Their refusal to support the one selling handheld is mindboggling to say the least.
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See:
Prince Vultan said:
They tried Disgaea 1 on DS but seemingly it sold like ass, so they never went back with the series.

I'd be surprised if they tried the series on 3DS at this point. If it couldn't sell on DS, it probably won't sell on the 3DS, which isn't nearly as big as it's predecessor was.
Click to expand...
 
A

ATXAlchemy

Member
One that point, they also tried to revive Marl Kingdom's Doll Princess on the DS. And that one is more than just a port as it changed the entire battle system and added scenes/scenario as well. Also redid the artwork.

From the looks of things, it didn't do well, since they never bothered with the second and third games.

I didn't even know about it until a few months earlier when I was playing the PSN/Game Archive versions of Doll Princess of Marl Kingdom and Little Princess -Doll Princess of Marl Kingdom 2-.
 
T

TheChaos0

Member
erpg said:
Yup, a short while ago.

They wouldn't be targeting Japan here. They'd just be going after the quick Steam sale impulse buyers. Would be a smart source of income, considering how much they're likely hurting after Witch. And there isn't much of a SRPG library on PC.
Click to expand...

Basileus777 said:
He specifically talks about targeting platforms (consoles there) that can reach gamers outside of Japan to broaden their audience.
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Putting their current catalog onto Steam would make sense. And porting to PC in general. Less words more actions, guys.

Fularu said:
The real question is, will NIS still be alive to release a new Disgaea game?

Their refusal to support the one selling handheld is mindboggling to say the least.
Click to expand...

Just because something is popular doesn't mean the audience for your product is there. That's why some genres will sell better on Vita and PS3. You can of course try to grow your audience on a platform but that's not always easy.
 
S

Santiako

Member
Prince Vultan said:
They tried Disgaea 1 on DS but seemingly it sold like ass, so they never went back with the series.

I'd be surprised if they tried the series on 3DS at this point. If it couldn't sell on DS, it probably won't sell on the 3DS, which isn't nearly as big as it's predecessor was.
Click to expand...

The 3DS is basically what PSP was, so it should do ok if they chose to release it there in addition to the other versions.
 
1

1st Course

Member
It's not just Disgaea, niche/otaku games in general almost always sell better on PlayStation platforms for some reason. This is not fanboyism btw, this is pure fact. The 3DS install base is ~8x the Vita install base in Japan and yet multiplatform otaku games always end up selling much better on the Vita.
 
A

ATXAlchemy

Member
Jucksalbe said:
To be fair: Disgaea DS was the third version of the same game (after the PS2 original and the PSP port), so most people probably already bought the game on a different platform, plus it wasn't a particularly good port.
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That's the point.

They were looking for new audience on the DS platform.

So the people who didn't buy them because they already bought them before would already be in their "current audience/fanbase" - in short, they don't count.
 
2

2San

Member
ATXAlchemy said:
That's the point.

They were looking for new audience on the DS platform.

So the people who didn't buy them because they already bought them before would already be in their "current audience/fanbase" - in short, they don't count.
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We are in a new generation cycle though. I reckon a lot of the PSP owners switched to 3DS. I also think a significant amount of PS2 Jrpg fans have a 3DS now as well.
 
P

Pooya

Member
if they really want to broaden their audience, I think maybe it's time to change the character designs...
 
F

fatgamecat

Member
Well it's already a grind heavy sandbox RPG with lots of fanservice. That's about as popular as a Japanese strategy game gets (also see Fire Emblem's new found popularity). Unless they overhaul the entire game structure I'm not sure what they can do to 'broaden the appeal'.
 
S

Skelter

Banned
TheChaos0 said:
Except PC is not particulary big in Japan. Although, someone has to start. :)
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So it's up to From Software and Xseed. They are releasing games on PC maybe it will wake up some Japanese devs when they realize that Steam is as much a contender as any console market.

XSEED wants to bring more games to PC, especially JRPGs, due to Ys sales Hell Xssed is bringing Trails In The Sky to PC.

Dark Souls did well for a crappy port even. Come on Niikawa!

c_l1365732815_11umso0.jpg
 
B

Basileus777

Member
Skelter said:
So it's up to From Software and Xseed. They are releasing games on PC maybe it will wake up some Japanese devs when they realize that Steam is as much a contender as any console market.
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There's also Ghostlight. Agarest seemed to do well if the Steam sales charts are any indication.
 
R

redlemon

Member
Disgaea is already pretty accessible I think. I haven't played 3 but I don't think you need to grind to beat the main story in any of the games apart from the first one.
 
cj_iwakura

cj_iwakura

Member
Disgaea DS didn't sell badly because of the platform, it sold badly because it was a horrible version, whereas Disgaea PSP was pretty much PS2 perfect.


And I don't like where this is going, Disgaea's always been fine before. It's been successful enough in its niche to get four+ games.
 
T

Takao

Banned
Smiles and Cries said:
smartphones win another round?
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I'm pretty sure NIS has released a few smartphone games, including a port of the first Disgaea. Given the lack of any followup announcements I'm going to assume that wasn't a vastly successful venture.

PureGone said:
Come to PS4 + Vita Cross Buy and PC.
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Cross Buy is a horrible option for NIS. The fanbase for their games have routinely shown they'll be willing to double dip on PlayStation handheld ports after buying the console release a few years prior. Cross Buy would just be burning what is effectively easy money for the company.

Fularu said:
The real question is, will NIS still be alive to release a new Disgaea game?

Their refusal to support the one selling handheld is mindboggling to say the least.
Click to expand...

When you're a smaller company you don't take your fanbase for granted and go for the expected route to appease them. The biggest successes for NIS have typically (if not always) been on PlayStation hardware, so it's no surprise they continually support those platforms. Given this next Disgaea is meant to broaden the appeal of the franchise beyond the current fanbase, maybe they will try a different platform.
 
M

Mondriaan

Member
cj_iwakura said:
Disgaea DS didn't sell badly because of the platform, it sold badly because it was a horrible version, whereas Disgaea PSP was pretty much PS2 perfect.


And I don't like where this is going, Disgaea's always been fine before. It's been successful enough in its niche to get four+ games.
Click to expand...
They were constrained by the limits of the hardware- most of the criticism is really about how the talky audio bits were removed to make the game fit on a DS cartridge.

Frankly I would see going to mobile a more natural fit for their srpgs than it would be for the 3DS, though, because there wouldn't be any need to tack on 3D.
 
P

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
The Witch and a Hundred Knights didnt sell because the game was fucking poorly designed garbage...

I own the LE version and seriously what could have been awesome was just well not even worth playing.
 
F

Fularu

Banned
Takao said:
When you're a smaller company you don't take your fanbase for granted and go for the expected route to appease them. The biggest successes for NIS have typically (if not always) been on PlayStation hardware, so it's no surprise they continually support those platforms. Given this next Disgaea is meant to broaden the appeal of the franchise beyond the current fanbase, maybe they will try a different platform.
Click to expand...

That's a flawed logic and it led them to their current situation. Most of their PSP games bombed, many as hard (if not worse) than Disgaea DS. Their current choices are only bringing them one step closer to closing down.

If MH went the 3DS route successfully (despite beeing seen as a PSP franchise), then NIS can. Your anbase will follow you, that'S how it works but it sure as hell won't expand on the Vita. (Which is probably why Falcom is starting to do dual PS3/Vita releases of their games)
 
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