Support NeoGAF

[jarrod]

Not so much publishing because I don't think square ever published any of their own games in America until recently(not sure if they even do now, i remember they had a deal with EA). But more along the lines of promoting through advertising. Nintendo has never had a campaign for a square game like sony had for FF7 and subsequent FF's in the states.

Nintendo did promote FF1 heavily though... maybe not to the same degree SCEA pushed FF7, but then Nintendo was a dramatically smaller company than Sony, in a comparably fledgling market. I expect the heavy western advertising push was probably part of the deal for luring Square to PlayStation as well. FF7 was *huge*, and Sony was *key* in that... but it shouldn't diminish Nintendo's efforts years earlier either, which were much more than had ever been done for RPGs previously (or since really, up to Sony's FF7 blitz).

Also, Square selfpublished their other NES, SNES & GB stuff (and even picked up Capcom's Breath of Fire). On PS1/PS2 they partnered with EA for distribution until the Enix merger (now they completely selfpublish again).


Anyway, rounding up 1st party published Square games...

Nintendo of America
-Rad Racer (NES) 1987
-Final Fantasy (NES) 1990
-Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES) 1996
-Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (GBA) 2003
-Sword of Mana (GBA) 2003
-Final Fantasy Crystal Chonicles (GC) 2004
-Final Fantasy I&II: Dawn of Souls (GBA) 2004
-Final Fantasy IV Advance (GBA) 2005
-Mario Hoops: 3-on-3 (DS) 2006
-Children of Mana (DS) 2006
-Final Fantasy V Advance (GBA) 2006
-Final Fantasy VI Advance (GBA) 2007

Sony Computer Entertainment America
-Tobal No.1 (PS) 1996
-Final Fantasy VII (PS) 1997
-Bushido Blade (PS) 1997
-Final Fantasy Tactics (PS) 1998
-SaGa Frontier (PS) 1998
-Einhander (PS) 1998
-Final Fantasy XI: Online (PS2) 2004

 

[shifty100]

Yes GTA is a playstation franchise .......... MS are such an ugly proposistion they had to pay alot of money for rockstar to get into bed with them.

Bill must of got sick of the sloppy seconds. :lol :lol

 

[neptunes]

"Is GTA Playstation franchise?"

It may have been Perceived as one a few years back (and even calling it one back then was a bit of a stretch)

but it sure as hell isn't now

 

[Byakuya769]

Not at all.

 

[nomster]

At any rate, EA Sports, for example, used to be synonymous with the Sega Genesis, then it was the PS2 and now the Xbox 360. Times change. I forsee the 360 version outselling the PS3 version in NA. As for Europe? Probably the PS3.

Exactly, would anyone have predicted that at the outset of this generation? I would have said ps3 by a mile if you asked me where all the Madden gamers would go.

 

[gtj1092]

Nintendo did promote FF1 heavily though... maybe not to the same degree SCEA pushed FF7, but then Nintendo was a dramatically smaller company than Sony, in a comparably fledgling market. I expect the heavy western advertising push was probably part of the deal for luring Square to PlayStation as well. FF7 was *huge*, and Sony was *key* in that... but it shouldn't diminish Nintendo's efforts years earlier either, which were much more than had ever been done for RPGs previously (or since really, up to Sony's FF7 blitz).

Also, Square selfpublished their other NES, SNES & GB stuff (and even picked up Capcom's Breath of Fire). On PS1/PS2 they partnered with EA for distribution until the Enix merger (now they completely selfpublish again).


Anyway, rounding up 1st party published Square games...

Nintendo of America
-Rad Racer (NES) 1987
-Final Fantasy (NES) 1990
-Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES) 1996
-Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (GBA) 2003
-Sword of Mana (GBA) 2003
-Final Fantasy Crystal Chonicles (GC) 2004
-Final Fantasy I&II: Dawn of Souls (GBA) 2004
-Final Fantasy IV Advance (GBA) 2005
-Mario Hoops: 3-on-3 (DS) 2006
-Children of Mana (DS) 2006
-Final Fantasy V Advance (GBA) 2006
-Final Fantasy VI Advance (GBA) 2007

Sony Computer Entertainment America
-Tobal No.1 (PS) 1996
-Final Fantasy VII (PS) 1997
-Bushido Blade (PS) 1997
-Final Fantasy Tactics (PS) 1998
-SaGa Frontier (PS) 1998
-Einhander (PS) 1998
-Final Fantasy XI: Online (PS2) 2004

Whoa Mario had a bball game made by square. Have they made any other sports games?

 

[gtj1092]

Exactly, would anyone have predicted that at the outset of this generation? I would have said ps3 by a mile if you asked me where all the Madden gamers would go.

What what was the best selling version of madden the past two years? Does anyone know if the Ps2 is still the best selling version?

 

[MightyHedgehog]

Yes GTA is a playstation franchise .......... MS are such an ugly proposistion they had to pay alot of money for rockstar to get into bed with them.

Bill must of got sick of the sloppy seconds. :lol :lol

Well, AFAIK, Sony also made deals to secure its exclusivity on PS2 and Take 2 are the ones that negotiated changes to facilitate XBOX releases at a later date (coinciding with PC releases), but apparently, people within MS had a shot for exclusivity, but made the wrong decision. I don't think Take 2 has a problem with X360 at all. Ugly proposition, right. All Take 2 wants is to sell as many as they possibly can and you don't do that by being exclusive for long.

 

[OldJadedGamer]

Exactly, would anyone have predicted that at the outset of this generation? I would have said ps3 by a mile if you asked me where all the Madden gamers would go.

I think it was just assumed as well that all the official Madden tournaments would go PS3 as well since all the old tournaments last gen were for the PS2.

I was kind of shocked to see the official Madden tournaments move exclusively to 360.

 

[gtj1092]

Well EA cosigned 360 for Madden from the beginning. Their officials tournaments that came on Espn all had 360's. I mean what else could they be on when Ps3 wasn't set to launch for over a year.

 

[MobiusPigeon]

What what was the best selling version of madden the past two years? Does anyone know if the Ps2 is still the best selling version?

iirc the 360 version outsold the ps2 version

 

[nomster]

iirc the 360 version outsold the ps2 version

http://www.*******.com/2007/09/13/august-npd-madden-and-wii-on-top-but-not-together/

August 07 NPD had the 360 version ahead by 250k. Don't know overall.

 

[Grayman]

It's all over GTA IV video during ultimate fight night sponsored by.......

Spoiler

GAMESTOP

Spoiler

The 360

logo does stick out more on a black page though!

 

[Haunted]

GTA4 PC hasn't even been announced yet. Betrayalton total.

 

[Grayman]

GTA4 PC hasn't even been announced yet. Betrayalton total.

Buy 2 copies of GTA4 then. How was the timing for the other ones? Was it before or with the xbox versions?

 

[domokunrox]

Did I really write "red ring true"? Freudian slip. Funny.

As I wrote, in a peculiar early morning run-on-sentence kind of way, was indeed that I prefer the PS3 because of the technical superiority of the console. I was writing that I could NOT tell somebody that there is NO REASON to buy a 360 over a PS3. Another clearer way of putting it for those who have challenges with interpretation would be "I could tell somebody that there is still a reason to buy a 360.".

I've been working full time with the title of Senior Software Developer for the last 7 years, I think I qualify as techie by now, thank you very much. What do you do for a living that qualifies you as the lord and judge of tech worthiness?

Misread your run on post. I got laughs tho. You got laughs. Its a win - win here.

But if you were seriously wanting to know what I do for a living. Its alot of things. I own a recording studio, I'm a FOH engineer for a couple of bands, I build computers from parts, I design and build signal processing gear from scratch, I install studio gear, I install PA systems, and once in a while someone wants me to install a custom surround sound system.

 

[MercuryLS]

Before last gen, GTA was more of a PC franchise...it sold like shit on PS1.

The sales/exclusivity on PS2 is what made it a PS franchise. This time Sony doesn't have the userbase advantage and they don't have exclusivity anymore either. This gen it'll either be a Xbox franchise or PS franchise or both, it's all based on marketing and sales.

Right now casuals associate GTA with PS, but a bit of marketing advertising it's availability on X360 could change that. Pricing is really important too, cause the very casual gamers that buy a console for GTA are going to be looking for the cheapest system to play it on. That's X360. But brand loyalty could sway some people over to the PS3.

It's really hard to tell what's going to happen other than the game selling like gangbusters across the board.

 

[NintendosBooger]

A majority of consumers don't really associate non-mascot game franchises with consoles, and history has shown that those gamers who do aren't really inconvenienced by switching consoles. If such were the case, Final Fantasy VII, Dragon Warrior VII, etc sales would have performed comparatively much worse on the PSX.

 

[lupinko]

It's a PC game, the best versions of every GTA are on PC. So PC wins.

PC PC PC PC

This.

I really don't know how people played last gen's GTA on consoles with all the performance issues/hardware limitations. :lol

 

[xs_mini_neo]

Just like people thought GTA 3 was the first GTA despite the 3 in the title people thought FF7 was the first FF and were trying to figure out why they started at 7 like it had some special meaning. FF7 on PS made FF popular here in America. After 7 I discovered FF3 which was FF6. But FF was not a big series here and surely wasn't a system seller. FF7 made FF and rpgs for that matter big in america for the first time.

No, those type of fanboys DID know of FF before that. They just made fun of it or called it boring. It wasn't surprising when they forgot they trolled it and got duped into buying "that CG game". If not for that CG Ad-Up-UR-Ass campaign by Sony, FF7 would've sold as well as FFVI, if not slightly better. They also had the same tactic to sell the masses FF8, but they didn't call the Ads "You Will Be Ripped Off", so I could've avoided buying it.

 

[jarrod]

Whoa Mario had a bball game made by square. Have they made any other sports games?

Square's made other sports games, but Mario Hoops is the only one for Nintendo. It has FF characters in it too iirc.

 

[gtj1092]

No, those type of fanboys DID know of FF before that. They just made fun of it or called it boring. It wasn't surprising when they forgot they trolled it and got duped into buying "that CG game". If not for that CG Ad-Up-UR-Ass campaign by Sony, FF7 would've sold as well as FFVI, if not slightly better. They also had the same tactic to sell the masses FF8, but they didn't call the Ads "You Will Be Ripped Off", so I could've avoided buying it.

Why am I still arguing this topic. I thought it was pretty well accepted that FF7 made FF and rpgs to some extent huge here in the states. Even if you choose not to accept it the sales before and after 7 say otherwise. I guess the only fanboys are the ones on here trying to cling to the notion that somehow FF was huge on SNES here in America, and are still burning from the fact that it never came to the N64 or the DD64 drive thing. If it was so big why did we only get three of the six here if people just had to have FF before FF7.

Any way this whole convo has nothing to do with the topic. Sorry for the derail but this is NeoGaF

 

[Skenzin]

Everyone knows mario has always been an Atari franchise and always will be!!! The average person will always associate mario and luigi with Atari and American made consoles! It doesnt matter if they ever go multiplatform. People will buy Jaguars just toget their mario fix!

 

[MisterHero]

Everyone knows mario has always been an Atari franchise and always will be!!! The average person will always associate mario and luigi with Atari and American made consoles!

3rd-Party Nintendo confirmed

 

[Flakster99]

For me, GTA 4 = 360. The past is the past.

Why am I still arguing this topic. I thought it was pretty well accepted that FF7 made FF and rpgs to some extent huge here in the states. Even if you choose not to accept it the sales before and after 7 say otherwise. I guess the only fanboys are the ones on here trying to cling to the notion that somehow FF was huge on SNES here in America, and are still burning from the fact that it never came to the N64 or the DD64 drive thing. If it was so big why did we only get three of the six here if people just had to have FF before FF7.

Any way this whole convo has nothing to do with the topic. Sorry for the derail but this is NeoGaF

Popularized is a loaded term, but I'll go with it.

Correction. FFVII popularized cinematic Japanese style rpg's in the states, yet, said genre was still regarded as a nerdy thing to be into, just not as much as before.

I am ever grateful towards Sony and their marketing department, the rpg floodgates after FFVII were quite varied, and all in all fantastic, but to not give credit where credit is due is disingenuous. SquareSoft built their legacy in previous generations, and the journey they undertook to get from point Nintendo to point Sony, and everything in between, was and continues to be key.