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[DKHustlin]

well they could've branched out when they made d3 but they didn't, that sucks for them but that's business.

I loved d1, d2, phantom brave, and the other games like disgaea they put out during the ps2 days, but its not like they needed to stay on ps3 for what d3 was. I don't hope they go out under but I won't be sad if they do.

thanks for the great games in the past tho

 

[QaaQer]

None. But we know that Ethan Carter sold more than 70k and Shovel Knight sold more than 100k on Steam.
Considering that Valkyria Chronicles seems to have sold more...

Nice. It's too bad that team didn't get to make another.

Slightly OT, but if anyone is interested in the behind the scenes, the Udon book VC Design Archive has lots of great interviews, notes, stories etc. The interviews are so un-western; like how one artist talked about being terrified of getting tendinitis because of the 14+ hour days he puts in and talking about how he keeps a couple old cans of tuna on his shelf as a memorial to his dead cat. Great stuff.

 

[Give War A Chance]

That is extremely poor timing on their part, and that's a really sad thing. I'll do my part when it comes west, but I don't have high hopes for the survival of NIS, which is a huge bummer. Disgaea is one of my favorite series.

R.I.P. NIS; thanks for the memories.

 

[baconcow]

Have picked up every Disgaea handhelds. Looking forward to D5.

 

[Shizuka]

Another company should buy NIS instead of having the developer get shut down. Kadokawa, Koei Tecmo, Bandai Namco or even Idea Factory.

 

[Busaiku]

I regularly see PS3 titles getting outsold by their PS4 versions in Japan.

Western games outsell their PS3 counterparts, but the Japanese games have always done worse.

 

[Celegus]

Didn't they say the same thing about Disgaea 4? But coming out the same day as Bloodborne... oof.

 

[Usobuko]

Why would Sony buy them?

I don't even think they manage their own Japan Studio well.

 

[erpg]

I feel like the Japanese market just isn't big enough to sustain these small development studios. Especially when all they do is similar sequels and fresh ideas turn out to be duds.

I remember reading about how they didn't want Hundred Knight to be graphically inferior to other games. Makes me laugh.

 

[Escalario]

They wouldn't had this problem if they would release their games on the only relevant platform in Japan. Their own fault for making games exclusively for Sony.

 

[DeviantBoi]

If NISA keeps Disgaea 5 out of a crowded month, then I'll be picking it up.

Early August is a good date. Once you start heading into September, that's when the big games start releasing and it'll get lost in the crowd.

 

[Usobuko]

They wouldn't had this problem if they would release their games on the only relevant platform in Japan. Their own fault for making games exclusively for Sony.

Yeah, they should have gone mobile.

 

[May16]

Nippon Ichi Software (Shinkawa Sohei):

Niikawa, not Shinkawa.

It was stated earlier this year that the company is targeting 150k copies of Disgaea 5. May God help their poor souls.

Is that just in Japan or worldwide?

 

[Escalario]

Yeah, they should have gone mobile.

Indeed. Japanese 3rd parties not making mobile games/ports are just leaving money on a table. Look at how succesful SE is with their FF/DQ games on mobile.

 

[Balb]

I feel like the Japanese market just isn't big enough to sustain these small development studios. Especially when all they do is similar sequels and fresh ideas turn out to be duds.

I remember reading about how they didn't want Hundred Knight to be graphically inferior to other games. Makes me laugh.

It can sustain small studios on handheld/mobile. The console market is another story though. Even the biggest Japanese third party studios are relying on the first parties to help fund their games with only a few exceptions. It's pretty scary actually.

 

[Eteric Rice]

Yeah, I feel like they should have focused Disgea on the 3DS and Vita. Which sucks to say, because I know quite a few console people who prefer it on the consoles.

It's getting impossible to be a small Japanese developer these days.

 

[Shengar]

I feel like the Japanese market just isn't big enough to sustain these small development studios. Especially when all they do is similar sequels and fresh ideas turn out to be duds.

I remember reading about how they didn't want Hundred Knight to be graphically inferior to other games. Makes me laugh.

Decaying demographic and stagnant economy makes everything worse.

 

[Rflagg]

I will be doing my part. I hope they make it.

This.
The grinding and leveling up your weapon is stupid.
Same with rebirth/mentor BS.

Just give us a straight forward, less grindly, shared EXP game.
People play the Disgaea series for the humors and the characters....the overall gameplay sucks.

This please

 

[Tempesta di Fuoco]

Nippon Ichi is barely one step above Compile Hearts/Idea Factory at this point. The only thing that keeps them above them right now is the Disgaea series.

Other than Disgaea, their output in the last 8 years has been hideous. Which sucks, because their PS2 output was so amazing.

 

[InfiniteNine]

Nippon Ichi is barely one step above Compile Hearts/Idea Factory at this point. The only thing that keeps them above them right now is the Disgaea series.

Other than Disgaea, their output in the last 8 years has been hideous. Which sucks, because their PS2 output was so amazing.

Hold up man ZHP doesn't deserve to be thrown under the bus here!

 

[Arion]

DAMMIT Japan. Have some kids and make em play video games.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

I hope Disgaea 5 does well enough to help NIS, but why in the world are they releasing it on the same day as Bloodborne? WHY?

 

[Parakeetman]

Their problem is they had released way too many shitty third party games when instead they should have been focusing on their previous titles that did better. Also too many re-releases / ports wasnt the brightest idea.

 

[Puru]

Nippon Ichi is barely one step above Compile Hearts/Idea Factory at this point. The only thing that keeps them above them right now is the Disgaea series.

Other than Disgaea, their output in the last 8 years has been hideous. Which sucks, because their PS2 output was so amazing.

ZHP, Prinny and Hotaru no nikki are all pretty decent games.

 

[King Gilga]

Could not care less about NIS, haven't touched any of their shit since Disgaea 2 and that prinny PSP game.

If this takes down NISA with it though, I'd be very sad.

Pretty insane they need to sell 150k on a PS4 exclusive, especially on the same day as Bloodbourne, they might as well start digging their grave now.

 

[Parakeetman]

Could not care less about NIS, haven't touched any of their shit since Disgaea 2 and that prinny PSP game.

If this takes down NISA with it though, I'd be very sad.

Pretty insane they need to sell 150k on a PS4 exclusive, especially on the same day as Bloodbourne, they might as well start digging their grave now.

then you better give a shit since nis is the parent company

 

[Momentary]

I think Disgaea is quite unique. Not the individual games but the series. Anyway, my favourite game of theirs is actually Phantom Brave. Which is very unique.

As for budget, I really think that a large portion of the Steam audience doesn't care much.

I wonder if a 6 year old port like Valkyria Chronicles getting to #1 on Steam tells them anything about what they should do with their huge catalog of SRPG titles.

If they put a compilation on Steam, I would gladly give them $110 for 5 games. $50 for the new, $20 for 4, $15 for 3, $15 for 2, and $10 for 1.

 

[Raticus79]

How about a Kickstarter for a PC release?

 

[TheSeks]

Their problem is they had released way too many shitty third party games when instead they should have been focusing on their previous titles that did better. Also too many re-releases / ports wasnt the brightest idea.

Ports to portable was a good idea, the problem is putting them on low selling portables.

(Meanwhile not porting to PC bit them in the ass. :|)

 

[Magnus]

The release can't be changed this far out? especially if it's as dire as it seems.

 

[MLH]

It quite worrying to me that they would bet everything on a PS4 exclusive console game being successful in Japan. We've seen what happened to Free Radical and Factor 5 last gen when they went big budget exclusive on PS3. The current market conditions just aren't suitable; user bases are fragmented. Some Disgaea fans are on PS Vita and have no intention of buying a PS4 mostly because other devs and similar genres are on mobiles & handhelds in Japan.

I hope they are successful.

 

[Skyfireblaze]

Oh god please no :/ I'm really behind on Disgaea games because of their ridiculous amount of content but I still buy them for support, if NIS goes... I don't want to think about this, as far as Japanese developers go they would leave a "big" hole in the niche section seeing how they also are involved in the Neptunia games and all plus I think a lot of talent would get lost. Not to mention the impact it might have on western distribution for games.

Honestly, reading this news the first thought I had was a NeoGAF and Reddit joint "Save NIS!" campaign if the number they need sold is indeed worldwide and not Japan only but I wouldn't even know how to start something like this properly :/

 

[Fate_Shirou]

Wow, well I will be buying this day one, digital, won't play it but dont wanna see them gone

 

[sora87]

Hopefully someone steps in and buys them out.

 

[thelatestmodel]

PS4 exclusive. I can't help them.

Hopefully buying Disgaea 4 on Vita does at least something.

 

[Paracelsus]

This reminds me of the Kamitani story, and I believe it's about time the gates to Kickstarter are opened to Japan. We've seen crazy sh. and even worthless sh. get millions of dollars, there is no doubt if you start associating these low budget companies to a PS4/PC/(PSV?) mindset the niche fans will come. It makes no sense for them to bomb and die if there's clearly other means to make revenue.

 

[GravityMan]

AFAIK, the only Disgaea game that has only done well commercially is the first one, on PS2. It's been slowly downhill ever since. I think the chances of Disgaea 5 hitting that 150K target are slim to none.

Nippon Ichi should seriously consider putting one or two of their Disgaea games on PC (Steam). I think they would sell quite respectably. Valkyria Chronicles's recent PC release has shown that there is a PC market for J-SRPGs.

 

[Christhor]

then you better give a shit since nis is the parent company

Maybe some people can go join Idea Factory. N1 and NISA employees already left for both Idea Factory and Idea Factory International, they probably want some reunions.

 

[ys45]

Il make sure to buy their game then , we need companies like NIS/XSEED/Atlus/Aksys to stay so we keep getting those Japanese niche games .

I did not really checked but has the game localization been confirmed ?

 

[Protag]

Damn, i need to get D2 then, i bet prices will shoot up.

Had no idea this was the case for NIS.

Im not even interested in Bloodbourne atm, and probly wont be. Dis5 on the other hand.

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

Let's be fair here, NIS and

Spoiler

especially

its subsidieries are pretty ass.

 

[thelatestmodel]

Nippon Ichi should seriously consider putting one or two of their Disgaea games on PC (Steam). I think they would sell quite respectably. Valkyria Chronicles's recent PC release has shown that there is a PC market for J-SRPGs.

If they could do this, I reckon it would save the company. Whether they've got the resources to do all the porting etc... I don't know.

 

[bomblord1]

Resolution of those sprites is far lower than the ones in D4 though.

Why can't they be compressed?

 

[aspiegamer]

If I recall, they said the exact same thing before Disgaea 4. It's a little sensationalist but also probably has some truth behind it.

But seriously, you idiots, why the hell is that your release day? Unless it's being forced by Sony I have no idea what you're thinking.

 

[Uncle Rupee]

I'm a fan of turn-based strategy RPGs but NIS style isn't to my tastes at all. And their games still look like they were made on the PS2. Maybe if they had used some of their profits from earlier games to diversify or improve their technical abilities their games would catch more attention.

 

[Wyndstryker]

AFAIK, the only Disgaea game that has only done well commercially is the first one, on PS2. It's been slowly downhill ever since. I think the chances of Disgaea 5 hitting that 150K target are slim to none.

Nippon Ichi should seriously consider putting one or two of their Disgaea games on PC (Steam). I think they would sell quite respectably. Valkyria Chronicles's recent PC release has shown that there is a PC market for J-SRPGs.

I for one would welcome disgaea on steam

 

[wildthing2022000]

I'm not getting why people think they could of branched out. If it was an American company sure I could see it but we're talking about a small Japanese company here. To reach the biggest market they could on a small budget they put games on the most popular system which was Sony's. Nintendo's systems were under powered compared to Sony's, the DS couldn't even play a PS2 era Disgaea 1 without stripping out features. The Xbox was never an option due to the tiny install base they have there especially with the smaller budgets that they're working with.
The only non-Sony game they've made themselves was Disgaea for the DS the other 3 were just published by them.

As for putting 5 on PS4 only, it's basically following a trend of putting games on the now current console a year or two after the console debuts and with one near the end of the console's lifespan. Not to mention with the features that they're putting into the game the PS3 can not handle it hence why there is no PS3 port.

Playstation 2 released in early 2000, Disgaea 1 released in 1/2003, Disgaea 2 released in 2/2006
Playstation 3 released in late 2006 Disgaea 3 released 1/2008, Disgaea 4 released 2/2011, D2 released 3/2013
Playstation 4 released in 2014(Japan) Disgaea 5 release date 3/2015.

If they are leaving then they are going out with a bang since 5 is their PS4 debut and can only be played on the PS4.

 

[Eternal Gamer]

NIS should put their games on PC, a couple of offers on Steam/Humble Store could save them, however I don't know if they even have the money to port them.

 

[FireCloud]

delay it from Bloodborne day what are you doing!

release Disgaea on PC, I bet it'd do great!

PLEASE NIS DON'T GO I NEED YOU IN MY LIFE

This!

I really hope they have some amount of flexibility in moving the release date to sometime where there is less competition for what I see is the same audience.

I just pre-ordered something the other day directly from the NISA store. I hope that small amount of revenue can tide them over for a while. It was an "invitation only" sort of thing. Since I was "invited", I figured I'd show my support.

It will be a real shame if NIS/NISA go under. They have shown the Vita as much love as anyone. I'm not big on SRPGs and haven't gotten very far in any of the previous Disgaea games I've played but will consider picking up Disgaea 5 to show my support.

One of the NIS America team named a character "Amir0x" and then took a photo of the screen and put it in the manual

That's awesome!

 

[Firestorm ZERO]

People keep saying release to PC. But think about that for a sec.

Their games are built on PS hardware. It would take considerable amount of effort (and cost) for a small company to port. The only easiest would be Disgaea 5 since PS4 is like a PC. 2nd their fanbase is definitely on Playstation (they tried DS and bombed). It also targets a specific type of audience. 3rd, the Japanese PC market is small. So they would have to rely solely on the Western PC market on very niche genre.

I don't think they would take a gamble like that.