Support NeoGAF

[Phife Dawg]

I think a steady stream of games would do wonders. At least 3 decent games each month.

The way it's now Japanese people will just forget about their PS3 between releases..

With inflated development budgets and such a low userbase this won't happen - the financial risk involved is too big. It's not neccessarily a bad thing though. Big budget games will still be made for PS3 and 360 will never ever "endanger" PS3's position in the market.

In all likelyness PS3 will never be more than a distant second in Japan though, maybe people still have a hard time accepting that.

There are too many western developed titles on PS3 and most of these are FPS. The ironic thing is that even the most niche Japan-developed PS3 title like SIREN manages to sit on Media Create top 5 ranking during its first week whereas their western titles can't even achieve this.

What Sony need in Japan is consistent stream of quality Japan-developed titles not one-off resurgence like MGS4.

While I agree that Sony focused on the western side of things (probably because they thought they had Japan in the bag with customer loyalty and BR), but what you claim about the games is not true.

Japan developed titles don't automatically make the Top 5 (or Top 10 for that matter), as FolkSouls, Bokuno Natsu Yasumi (allthough that did make the Top 10), Genji and The Eye of Judgement (one of the biggest bombs ever) have shown us.

Likewise Lair did make the Top 5 and Heavenly Sword missed it by two spots.

Also Siren did manage to sell over 100k on PS2 (Siren PS3 is a retelling of the first one afaik) it's not ultra-niche or anything.

Success can't be measured by looking at whether a title made the Top 5 anyways.

Ugh!

Weird wording in the article then.

No, not at all - these are the NA release dates.

Just look at the numbers, they back me up.

Then look at the Wii, how many JRPG's does it have?

Then look at the 360, how's its JRPG library?

Hm, Pokemon is the best selling game on DS (combined) and that insane number will only rise with Platinum. Then there's Pokemon MD, DQMJ, DQ and FF remakes. DQIX will blow DQ VIII's numbers out of the water, just because the Tales series is on a decline doesn't mean JRPGs don't have the pull they used to anymore.

Remember that only FF and DQ pulled these huge sales on PS2 as well and we haven't seen a new entry in those series on the current gen systems yet. JRPGs take time to develop, that's why we haven't seen a lot on Wii yet. Just as in the west developers were hesitant with their approach on Wii. Just look at the DS, only recently it came to its own as the new plattform for RPGs. Now that doesn't mean we'll ever see a lot of JRPGs on Wii - developers may just stick it out on DS.

And I don't even like JRPGs :lol .

 

[vesp]

Basically, the PS3 needs Monster Hunter 3.

Truth

Spoiler

but it has to be released with a psp version that links to it

 

[ymmv]

Some might not think (which I think is the reason) that the main reason SO4, ToV, AC6, etc. went to 360 was because there were no PS3 development kits out when development started. Developers had a choice between developing on PS2 or 360, and many of them wanted to go next gen. Atlus chose to stick with PS2 while Namco chose to go 360.

I see this theory for the surprising number of Japanese 360 exclusives bandied about quite often, but I doubt it's the real reason. All western devs wanting to go next gen got their 360 dev kits at least a year before their PS3 dev kits. Despite having substantially less experience with the PS3 hardware within a year's time they were getting 360 and PS3 versions of their games out the door at the same time. 18 months down the rare it's even rarer.

JRPGs take a long time to create but that's because of the story pre-planning, the designs, creating all the assets. Porting a 3D engine from the 360 to PS3 doesn't take as long as writing one from scratch.

 

[supermackem]

:lol 150k PS3's....for a demo. This is the 360 you're talking about...



For some perspective, MP8 has outsold every JRPG this gen......thats Mario Party, the only JRPG that will outsell it in the foreseeable future is FF13, maybe VS13.....yeah, really, MP8.

Lol doint you get what hes saying, you said jrpgs dont matter anymore in japan well a jrpg has just boosted the sales of a dead in the water western console in japan past the home team banker of ps3.

I would say that given those end of world situations of the 360 outselling anything in japan would mean a good jrpg can still do wonders for a console in japan and do still mean alot.

 

[NemesisPrime]

PS3 and 360 are marginal systems in Japan at the moment. They are usually at the back of the stores or on the "second floor". It seems like the battle of the "HD" consoles is in Europe and USA. In Japan Nintendo won about 1 year ago. The 360 has a lot of JRPGs so they might do well as a "cult" system... but nothing super big IMHO. The PS3... hmmm.. well... maybe FF.

 

[thuway]

I think consoles themselves are dead in Japan.

 

[favouriteflavour]

No amount of ascii art is going to make you any more right.

Wii sells to a different crowd than the typical RPG players. That doesn't mean anything though. RPGs would bring the Wii to even new heights, like it did for the the DS. To say they are irrelevant is plain wrong.

In western countries JRPGs are hardcore gamers. Not so much in Japan. Wii crowd in Japan is the JRPG crowd in Japan.

 

[Tenbatsu]

:lol :lol :lol

 

[legend166]

I was about to say "wow, the battle for 2nd place is really heating up!" in a snarky manner. But then I realised, it's not even a battle for 2nd place. It's a battle for 4th.

 

[Mr. Pointy]

Sony need an exclusive Capcom game that utilises the PS3 strengths in some way.

Because Nintendo kneecapped them and took MH3.

 

[tahrikmili]

Looks like Japanese people only play handhelds. HD consoles seem to be lost on them.

It probably has more to do with lack of space needed to enjoy these visuals than anything imo.

 

[thuway]

The majority of posters in this thread seem to think that a string of JRPGs will save the PS3 in Japan. The Japanese market is moving towards an era where handhelds, casual games, and gimmickery are the hallmarks of consumer interest. Generic RPGs won't win over Japan. Cutesy Pokemon rip-offs won't win over Japan. Level-5 and Metal Gear won't do anything for you in the long term.

Nintendo's philosophy is pure genius when it comes to milking Japan out of Yen. In Japan, the Wii sells based on the same premise that Guitar Hero sells in the USA. The Wii is an experience that speaks volumes both in terms of retail and universality across demographs. The only game I can think of that comes close to that sort of appeal is Little Big Planet.

Sony has yet to offer an experience that cannot be had anywhere else. However, the one thing Sony does have going for itself is online. Sony still has an oppurtunity to become the premiere online network in Japan and unify both PSPs and PS3. The way I see PS3 winning over Japan is through PSP. I'm still a little surprised Sony has not went out of their way to develop a first party online Japanese centric PSO / Monster Hunter / Pokemon title and have elements where it has some sort of connection to your PSP. With the successes of PSO / MH3- it should be an easy giveaway as to where the country is going in terms of gaming.

Spoiler

This is all completely opinion. I have never lived in Japan, I don't speak Japanese, and I'm Middle Eastern. So I will eat crow if I'm completely off.

 

[hteng]

they should fucking bring SO4 and Tales to PS3 (go moneyhat!!), i mean seriously, those are already established franchises and are widely popular in Japan, those games can't possibly flop and worth investing.

 

[Phife Dawg]

I think consoles themselves are dead in Japan.

So with Wii outpacing PS2 I guess consoles have been dead before? Also with Wii outpacing PSP both hard- and software-wise I guess PSP was dead as well?

Judging anything at the success of the DS will paint a misleading picture. That thing sold more than PS2 already and still sells briskly, all while not having one price-cut, but indeed a raise in price on the way.

Looks like Japanese people only play handhelds. HD consoles seem to be lost on them.

It probably has more to do with lack of space needed to enjoy these visuals than anything imo.

What? HD adoption rate is actually a lot higher in Japan than in Europe. If anything you need more space to enjoy some of the games that sell well in Japan (WiiSports, WiiFit).

The majority of posters in this thread seem to think that a string of JRPGs will save the PS3 in Japan. The Japanese market is moving towards an era where handhelds, casual games, and gimmickery are the hallmarks of consumer interest. Generic RPGs won't win over Japan. Cutesy Pokemon rip-offs won't win over Japan. Level-5 and Metal Gear won't do anything for you in the long term.

Nintendo's philosophy is pure genius when it comes to milking Japan out of Yen. In Japan, the Wii sells based on the same premise that Guitar Hero sells in the USA. The Wii is an experience that speaks volumes both in terms of retail and universality across demographs. The only game I can think of that comes close to that sort of appeal is Little Big Planet.

Sony has yet to offer an experience that cannot be had anywhere else. However, the one thing Sony does have going for itself is online. Sony still has an oppurtunity to become the premiere online network in Japan and unify both PSPs and PS3. The way I see PS3 winning over Japan is through PSP. I'm still a little surprised Sony has not went out of their way to develop a first party online Japanese centric PSO / Monster Hunter / Pokemon title and have elements where it has some sort of connection to your PSP. With the successes of PSO / MH3- it should be an easy giveaway as to where the country is going in terms of gaming.

Spoiler

This is all completely opinion. I have never lived in Japan, I don't speak Japanese, and I'm Middle Eastern. So I will eat crow if I'm completely off.

There's still enough interest outside of what you mentioned to be considered a viable market. A couple of JRPGs won't make a difference in the sense that PS3 will become the market leader, that I agree with. Then again I don't think there's any (realistic) way for PS3 to become the market leader.

LBP's appeal is unproven. It may have that universal appeal or may not - we'll see. To put it next to GH (which only has that huge impact in NA anyways) or popular titles on Wii is a bit premature.

PS3 winning through means of online service is a far cry imo. MH is popular because of the ad hoc local multiplayer, just like WiiSports is poular because of the local multiplayer. Focusing on online functionality for such titles would be missing the point. PSUP is successful because it took a page out of MH for PSP, not because they tried to bring the PSO concept to PSP.