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Square Enix’s "Tokyo RPG Factory" sees a 244 Million yen loss

C

CCIE

Banned
Pretty sure most of that is from the costs associated with setting up a new studio. Setsuna didn't do that badly, and I expect to see it on mobile soon enough to offset costs
 
Z

ZombiePlatypus

Member
Leona Lewis said:
When you announce a game with concept art this epic...

Project-Setsuna_EDIIMA20150617_0246_5.jpg

uncharted-4-pushing-1080p60-playstation-4-14059462082432.jpg


...and then release this for $40 when half your iOS games look better at half the price...

s8gif.gif


...the result is not terribly surprising.

No one seems to learn from Epic Mickey's mistakes. Don't lead your marketing with concept art unless you intend to match it.
Click to expand...

I dunno, I think the game still looks great.
 
I

Iva Demilcol

Member
S-E didn't treat this game as something important for them, let's see:

-They announced they were working on a game project known as Project Setsuna... "But we can't tell you anything about it" ( We announce that we have nothing to announce about Project Setsuna) in their E3 presentation of 2015(?).
-After that, they "revealed" the game during a Sony conference on... Gamescom? TGS?, with like 10 seconds of footage of the game.
-Then, they didn't say anything about it for months.
-The game was released.

That was pretty bad. I was kind of interested in this game but in the end it looked kind of bland and decided to skip it, after all my gaming time is very limited and I prefer to use it to play things that appeal more to me.
 
1

120v

Member
when the studio first started they teased to move onto established IPs (SaGa, mana, ect) down the line. really hoping things work out for them, i miss classic jrpgs
 
N

NipplesAndToes23

Member
Did I Am Setsuna really release back in February in Japan?

I thought the game released simultaneously worldwide.In all that time I thought there would've been leaks and people posting impressions of imports, but I didn't hear any of that.
 
A

antitrop

Member
True Fire said:
Setsuna was terrible, so I'm not surprised.
Click to expand...

I didn't think it was terrible, but I thought it was really weird that they looked at Chrono Trigger's nice, speedy battle system and then were like "OK, now how do we take that and make it slow and tedious?".
 
G

Granjinha

Member
Leona Lewis said:
When you announce a game with concept art this epic...


...and then release this for $40 when half your iOS games look better at half the price...



...the result is not terribly surprising.

No one seems to learn from Epic Mickey's mistakes. Don't lead your marketing with concept art unless you intend to match it.
Click to expand...

this post guys

don't make a post like this
 
T

theMrCravens

Member
The thing I hate about all of this is that SE will still view old-school jrpg as crappy side-projects because of the reception of a game that is considered a little unpolished with lack of overall content.

We just need that one, single dream team to deliver and strike big on old-school stuff.
 
johntown

johntown

Banned
Please Square Enix give us a PC upscaled version of Chrono Cross and Chrono Trigger to make up for these poor sales numbers.
 
Z

Zedark

Member
This isn't that alarming, is it?

- This probably includes the start up costs, development costs and marketing costs;
- data is for the first week of Japanese sales, which means it includes all expenses but only some revenue;
- Japanese sales have risen since the first week, and Western sales should be added to it, so it likely already (nearly) broke even or made profit.

Seems to me like a good start for a first game, new IP no less, of a new studio.
 
T

TLS Lex

Member
The general consensus on this game seems to be that it's overpriced, was badly marketed, and either looks fairly mediocre or just probably isn't worth it - which is all fine, and a good indication as to why this financial loss occurred.

The real, worrying thing about it is Square's ability to now falsely justify a claim that classic-style jRPG inspired gameplay doesn't sell because it's classic-style jRPG inspired gameplay, and not because they chose the wrong price point and didn't market it well enough. Le sigh.
 
S

Scrawnton

Member
It would've been a instant buy for me at $20 or $25. At $40 it's a no and by the time it goes on sale I wouldn't even care anymore.

I really think they screwed up the pricing.
 
R

Robert at Zeboyd Games

Banned
antitrop said:
I didn't think it was terrible, but I thought it was really weird that they looked at Chrono Trigger's nice, speedy battle system and then were like "OK, now how do we take that and make it slow and tedious?".
Click to expand...

As someone who has looked at Chrono Trigger battles extensively, CT's battle system isn't very fast, other than skipping the transition to a separate screen. I was actually surprised at just how slow most moves in battle are since I remembered it being much faster (and compared to FF6, I guess it is a little faster). You want fast RPG combat, look at stuff like Atlus' 1st person perspective games like Etrian Odyssey.

CT's battle system & leveling were very straightforward and accessible though, and I hear that's not the case in Setsuna.
 
P

PHOENIXZERO

Member
Topic title really needed that number to be converted into USD. ~$2.4M is nothing for Square-Enix in what's likely going to be a longish term investment and the game will eventually make money if it really hasn't yet.

That said, I had a passing interest in it but after seeing the price it'd be and reviews I'm gonna wait until the price is much lower before giving it a shot. I still have several JRPGs in my backlog on a mountain of everything else.
 
A

antitrop

Member
Robert at Zeboyd Games said:
As someone who has looked at Chrono Trigger battles extensively, CT's battle system isn't very fast, other than skipping the transition to a separate screen. I was actually surprised at just how slow most moves in battle are since I remembered it being much faster (and compared to FF6, I guess it is a little faster). You want fast RPG combat, look at stuff like Atlus' 1st person perspective games like Etrian Odyssey.

CT's battle system & leveling were very straightforward and accessible though, and I hear that's not the case in Setsuna.
Click to expand...

It's fast compared to Setsuna, which actively encourages you to just sit there and do fucking nothing.
 
W

Wagram

Member
Good. Companies that shamelessly plagiarize and then change mere words to make ideas fit don't deserve success.
 
Shifty1897

Shifty1897

Member
Shame, Setsuna had me more interested than FFXV at this point, though that price tag was about twice as much as I would pay for it.

Sale soon?
 
N

noctis_pls

Banned
There's not a big market for turn-based games nowadays anyway, probably didn't help that no one knows about this game... good job squeenix
 
ULTROS!

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
It's not bad at a first attempt of a new IP. Not a perfect game but not terrible either.

I hope their next game is more original and their dungeons are more exciting. Setsuna's dungeons look the same, as in Tales of Xillia sea port the same.
 
C

casiopao

Member
Asd202 said:
What? Why do you think SE dropped localizations for 3DS? Everything is published by Nintendo for a few years now.
Click to expand...

S-E is different monster though. Even when BD did very well on the west, they still don't publish BSe by themselves there.
 
F

Fisico

Member
Regarding the LTD sales here are the last numbers for Japan


Retail until end of June
[PS4] Project Setsuna <RPG> (Square Enix) {2016.02.18} (¥4.800) - 48.675
[PSV] Project Setsuna <RPG> (Square Enix) {2016.02.18} (¥4.800) - 40.113

Digital estimates for February
[PS4] Project Setsuna <RPG> (Square Enix) {2016.02.18} - 10.527
[PSV] Project Setsuna <RPG> (Square Enix) {2016.02.18} - 5.949

So current LTD numbers are probably around 110-120k
 
D

DangerMouse

Member
Really like the game so far.

Zedark said:
This isn't that alarming, is it?

- This probably includes the start up costs, development costs and marketing costs;
- data is for the first week of Japanese sales, which means it includes all expenses but only some revenue;
- Japanese sales have risen since the first week, and Western sales should be added to it, so it likely already (nearly) broke even or made profit.

Seems to me like a good start for a first game, new IP no less, of a new studio.
Click to expand...

Agreed.

With newer sales and western sales it seems like it'll do fine, it may have even already now.

And getting them up and running is known to have been something important to the CEO, he said right from the beginning the new studio was going to be built mostly from scratch so it's not like they weren't planning for startup costs.
 
G

Gxgear

Member
So essentially 2mil+ to develop I Am Setsuna then? Can't imagine getting the studio up and running taking up a significant portion of that money.
 
Z

ZeroX03

Banned
It's a weak game, but it'll have legs with Steam where it was very expensive for what it was. People might actually care for $10-20. All of this information seems pretty meaningless as many have pointed.
 
C

Champion

Member
So Square decided to...

1. Create a team to develop a new JRPG IP for consoles.

2. Announce the new IP....using concept art

3. Then show off the game and not only does it have a low budget, but it looks like something that could run on mobile/handhelds

...can't say I'm surprised.
 
D

DistortionOfReality

Member
Enjoying the game so far, about 3-4 hours in. Has it's faults though of course, the SP system having you wait around was an odd design choice. Hope they reevaluate after including western sales, would love to see the studio improve on this with their next retro project.
 
Eolz

Eolz

Member
TLS Lex said:
The general consensus on this game seems to be that it's overpriced, was badly marketed, and either looks fairly mediocre or just probably isn't worth it - which is all fine, and a good indication as to why this financial loss occurred.

The real, worrying thing about it is Square's ability to now falsely justify a claim that classic-style jRPG inspired gameplay doesn't sell because it's classic-style jRPG inspired gameplay, and not because they chose the wrong price point and didn't market it well enough. Le sigh.
Click to expand...

Well it justifies continuing the Bravely series. It did well in the west, with classic gameplay too.
 
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