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XSEED interview: Touhou & Xanadu underperform; Akiba & Nitro+ do well; more PC coming

Thoraxes

Member
Shame about Xanadu Next, but not surprised given when it hit. I totally adore the game too, and hope more people pick it up.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
+1 on the Xanadu Next recommendation. It's really fucking good, one of Xseed's better release, and I'm very sad it didn't do well.

Starting to wonder if this game is only known on GAF or what. :(
 
Vita has been dropped by its manufacturer and it's harder to localize sth if that something dont have much to localize from your parent company.

I'm talking about this year because we were talking about a trend, which is dropping Vita and focusing PS4/PC. When you talk about an upcoming trend, you generaly focus on what's next.

Sorry mate, you've lost me. You say it's harder to localize if you don't have titles from your parent company; so I pointed out a host of titles from their parent company, but suddenly we're not talking about that anymore because it only matters if they came out this year?

Shrug. I don't get it.
 

Eolz

Member
Unfortunately, I'll end up moving away from XSEED if good games like Xanadu fail and garbage like Akiba do well. But I'm happy for them.

To be fair, if you're a new user and looking at both, Xanadu is an old game and not that appealing to the majority of people. It's not really something saying one game is deemed better than the other.
 

Nabae

Unconfirmed Member
XSEED, in the past, has said that they don't want to be seen as "that company that brings over ecchi games", so I can only assume that - while they're fine with continuing to bring over Senran Kagura, because that ship has sailed and they're already on it - they didn't want to touch Valkyrie Drive. Might be a similar reason why they haven't done Uppers.
Got a source for that? I have seen people on other boards accusing XSEED of being that publisher that's gone full ecchi since Senran Kagura happened. At some point Siliconera even joked about XSEED being the likely publisher to bring over Gal Gun.
 

Brazil

Living in the shadow of Amaz
To be fair, if you're a new user and looking at both, Xanadu is an old game and not that appealing to the majority of people. It's not really something saying one game is deemed better than the other.

The distinction is very clearly between old-school-oriented Japanese games, and ecchi crap. I don't see how a game's age matters in this case. No one will buy Senran Kagura over a Trails game because it looks "newer".

XSEED releases more of the latter than the former nowadays, either due to the fact that other companies are snagging away releases like Ys VIII and Tokyo Xanadu, or due to the failure of titles like Xanadu Next.

The direction they'll be heading towards in the future seems pretty obvious.
 
Sorry mate, you've lost me. You say it's harder to localize if you don't have titles from your parent company; so I pointed out a host of titles from their parent company, but suddenly we're not talking about that anymore because it only matters if they came out this year?

Shrug. I don't get it.


We were having, Shizuka and me, a conversation about XSeed strategy going forward, aka why they're pushing for more PC (and PS4) and less Vita. Of course that if we're talking, forward, I'm not going to talk about last year.

You pointed that something out of context, but I 'ever said they dont matter. I actually gave you an explanation on why some of these titles have been ignored by XSeed, for reasons beyond "Vitaphobia". I know some of you like the Vita and may be unhappy that the support is dropping while assisting, in your own words, to a PCPCPCPC shift. But there are actual reasons more than a phobia from Xseed and more because of business reasons, which are related to XSeed size, their parent company output in Japan on Vita and the difficulty to localize some titles, like Net High.


I hope that now, it makes more sense to you.
 

Dio

Banned
It's a huge shame when Akiba's Trip does well and Xanadu Next doesn't.

It's not unsurprising.

Akiba's Trip has a greater mass appeal than Xanadu Next.

An anime game where you strip people and has wacky otaku references will reach a much larger audience than a Nox-like isometric action RPG from 2005.
 

Theswweet

Member
Got a source for that? I have seen people on other boards accusing XSEED of being that publisher that's gone full ecchi since Senran Kagura happened. At some point Siliconera even joked about XSEED being the likely publisher to bring over Gal Gun.

Unfortunately, I do not. I want to say it was Tom mentioning something in passing on the official forums at one point, but I could be wrong.
 

Nyoro SF

Member
Yeah, definitely. I hope every title they release turns out a profit, even if it's something I really dislike.

I just hope that they'll still be able to throw people like me a bone once in a while, like they just did with Story of Seasons 2, for example. I'm really looking forward to TitS3, and I'll be relieved when they announce CS3 as well.

Same here! As long as XSEED keeps at least trying to localize the stuff I enjoy I don't mind if they reach out to the more, uh, unusual side of the game market... (I did give Akiba's Trip a chance, but I didn't like it).

It is speculation, but the least improbable kind. What do Tokyo Xanadu and Ys 8 have in common? They were originally Vita-only games from Falcom. They're also the first new Falcom games in nearly a decade to be published in the west by someone not named XSEED. XSEED has been skipping Vita-only games from their partners and even their parent company.



Yes, I'm sure a company that publishes Senran Kagura and Oneechanbara would find VD objectionable ...

I see, but If you follow XSEED's Brittany on Twitter you know that they aggressively campaigned for Ys VIII and lost, so it's much more likely that they got even more aggressively outbid by NISA rather than any shying away from platforms in that specific case.

I won't blame XSEED for being cautionary about Vita exclusive titles, but given that Falcom is a publisher close to them, I'd rather assume that they were just pushed out by Aksys and NISA willing to drop big guarantees and price them out.

Got a source for that? I have seen people on other boards accusing XSEED of being that publisher that's gone full ecchi since Senran Kagura happened. At some point Siliconera even joked about XSEED being the likely publisher to bring over Gal Gun.

That was a long time ago XSEED made that statement. And unfortunately it kind of became true, because of the series XSEED got labeled as an ecchi publisher for years. Even though it makes up a small part of their publishing library. Reputation view can get skewed like that. Thankfully, that's not the case anymore, GAF has started acting more mature in threads and we can talk about Kiseki and Xanadu Next in peace. :p
 
Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is a neat little game

It's not like particularly good or anything but it's got a charm to it. Was happy when they brought it over, really liked how it looked from the original Japanese reveal

Shame it didn't meet expectations....but I also wonder what their expectations were in the first place. It's a weird little thing that no one would really know what it is (I know nothing of Touhou, just looked like Ys x World Of Final Fantasy or something)
 

Durante

Member
Xanadu Next is easily the best game mentioned in the OP, and one of my favourite games of 2016 (well, as much as you can call it a 2016 game).

So of course it underperformed, because people suck.
 

Theswweet

Member
I see, but If you follow XSEED's Brittany on Twitter you know that they aggressively campaigned for Ys VIII and lost, so it's much more likely that they got even more aggressively outbid by NISA rather than any shying away from platforms in that specific case.

I won't blame XSEED for being cautionary about Vita exclusive titles, but given that Falcom is a publisher close to them, I'd rather assume that they were just pushed out by Aksys and NISA willing to drop big guarantees and price them out.

You know, I'm actually kinda worried for XSEED now that Falcom doesn't seem to be nearly as much of a guarantee as they once thought. Ys especially was a HUGE franchise for them. I can't help but feel that it might've been a better idea for XSEED themselves to tackle games like Valkyrie Drive and Uppers themselves, rather than let PQube eat what could've been their pie. Is Story of Seasons, Senran Kagura, and some smaller Japanese indie games really enough to bank on?
 
I really want to play Xanadu Next, but I've just had too many other games that I want to play more atm. I just hope the poor sales doesn't deter them from publishing more of Falcom's games on PC. I really liked the Ys Games and I'd love to see more of their games on PC.
 

Seda

Member
I'm going to second a bunch of replies in here and agree that Xanadu Next is great. My favorite game last year.
 

Tohsaka

Member
It's a huge shame when Akiba’s Trip does well and Xanadu Next doesn't.

I bought Xanadu Next day one and liked it, but it's very dated in terms of graphics/UI and controls, especially if you're using a controller. I'm not really surprised that it didn't sell well, most people on Steam want modern RPGs. I'm sure Tokyo Xanadu will sell significantly higher, despite the gameplay not being similar.
 

Tizoc

Member
Xanadu Next is on sale until the 17th of March on Steam
Feel free to make a giveaway of the game to spread the love.
 

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.
Xanadu Next is amazing, my God. Everyone buy it when you get a chance.

I'll buy it
if DotEmu ports it Ike what they did for Ys Origin.
 
I hope that now, it makes more sense to you.

Sort of, but it's more that I just don't understand why you're trying so hard to deflect away from the conversation I'm trying to have with you.

XSEED have been (in my words, thanks for that :p) "PCPCPC" for more than just this year. They released a load of titles last year, which is the very reason why I'm able to make this thread, since they're talking about their successes and failures on PC with those titles.

During that period, they had Vita titles readily available for localization and they chose to localize exactly zero of them. Now yes, I know, they've come up with some excuses for quite a few of them which include "there's no cheerleader on the team for this series" (Luminous Arc); "licencing problems" (IA/VT) and "difficult to localize" (Net High).

That still leaves Valkyrie Drive, Uppers and for argument's sake, Tokyo Xanadu (since Falcom games were solely localized by XSEED for what, 10 years?) I can't really buy the "too risky" argument for Valkyrie Drive because of Senran Kagura. I can't really buy the "poor sales in Japan" argument because of Onechanbara.

To reiterate, I know this doesn't fall in your definition of "going forward" for the company, but they made the decision to pass on these games when they were looking to their future as a heavily-invested-in-PC publisher, back at the end of 2015 when they would've made the decision. So that really has no bearing on the fact that there haven't been any titles from their parent company in 2017.

Btw, I can completely understand from a business perspective, but I still think it's a short-sighted view. Yes, they'll get longer tail from their PC sales and Vita only has a year or two left in it, but if it was such an issue then we wouldn't see a year where other companies still have a tonne of stuff lined up for it.

And really, they only had to pick the strategy of either one of their competitors. Look at IFI - localize their Japanese games no matter of what platform they're on (PS4/Vita) then port them to PC when they get chance. Discount and promote the PC release. And they've made major bank from it, judging by Steamspy numbers.

Or look at what NISA is doing. Localizing their Vita games, but making sure there's a day-and-date PC port to go along with it. Prioritizing important partnerships (grabbing Ys from Falcom) by catering around their needs.

I know XSEED is a small company, but we're not talking about going up against giants with IFI and NISA anyway. Yet both those companies manage to satisfy two fanbases fairly well - getting the small but dedicated buying base of the Vita and the longer sales-driven tail of Steam sales.

Heck, XSEED are capable of doing it (see: Nitro+) :p
 

Ogawa-san

Member
XN is near the top of my Steam wishlist and all, but this is a hard sale in 2017. You need some mighty word of mouth to convince you that this PS2 game is awesome.
ss_e4c1aca8e8d029f1c1ab1694c0e1fae435fb7c55.1920x1080.jpg
 

Durante

Member
XN is near the top of my Steam wishlist and all, but this is a hard sale in 2017. You need some mighty word of mouth to convince you that this PS2 game is awesome.

Well, first of all, it's not a PS2 game, it's a PC game.
Secondly, I thought GAF was all about the gameplay, and not graphics.
Thirdly, it's a game which can be likened to taking some of the best of Ys (of the best era, that is Origin/Felghana) and adding more RPG elements into it. It's awesome.
 

Theswweet

Member
Well, first of all, it's not a PS2 game, it's a PC game.
Secondly, I thought GAF was all about the gameplay, and not graphics.
Thirdly, it's a game which can be likened to taking some of the best of Ys (of the best era, that is Origin/Felghana) and adding more RPG elements into it. It's awesome.

I'd liken it as "Ys, but slower and with more Diablo influence"
 

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.
Valkyrie Drive wasn't even localized by a seed, that's PQube (they also localized Steins;gate).

To be honest, they along with Atlus (outside the given internal titles like SMT and Persona), dropped the ball when localizing great stuff this gen, only to be picked up by like say... NISA.

Their localizations last year were so much more and better than their stuff this year.
 

ezodagrom

Member
Well, first of all, it's not a PS2 game, it's a PC game.
Secondly, I thought GAF was all about the gameplay, and not graphics.
Thirdly, it's a game which can be likened to taking some of the best of Ys (of the best era, that is Origin/Felghana) and adding more RPG elements into it. It's awesome.
It's not the graphics, but the art style that may be a turn off for people unaware of how good it is, or at least for me it's a turn off and I wouldn't have it on my wishlist if it wasn't for the praise that steamgaf gives it (will buy it eventually, just other games take priority for me right now).

It's no surprise that it didn't sell much really. x-x
 

Theswweet

Member
Valkyrie Drive wasn't even localized by a seed, that's PQube (they also localized Steins;gate).

To be honest, they along with Atlus (outside the given internal titles like SMT and Persona), dropped the ball when localizing great stuff this gen, only to be picked up by like say... NISA.

Their localizations last year were so much more and better than their stuff this year.

I'll break the rules a bit and say that Atlus has been fine this gen, especially on Vita. Lost Dimension, Dungeon Travelers 2, SMT: Soul Hackers (yeah that's a 3DS game), the upcoming Utawarerumono games (!), etc.

Seriously though, more people need to play Lost Dimension.
 

Eolz

Member
That date was decided before Nier's was announced

Info on the PC version of Nier didn't start coming out until just recently

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1343365
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1349247

Unfortunate timing though

On top of that, I'm not sure it will do as well as SV.
SV was a port of a vita game (so looks and performs better on PC) and had all the DLC included, whereas EV will not get improvements as big, nor the DLC, which disappointed a lot of people that were ready to double dip. For a new audience though it will still work, Nier is not really a competitor.
 

Nyoro SF

Member
It's not the graphics, but the art style that may be a turn off for people unaware of how good it is, or at least for me it's a turn off and I wouldn't have it on my wishlist if it wasn't for the praise that steamgaf gives it (will buy it eventually, just other games take priority for me right now).

It's no surprise that it didn't sell much really. x-x

It's a real shame... the tone of the game is fantastic too. Here's a shot for all you wishlist holders. :p

 

Tizoc

Member
Well, first of all, it's not a PS2 game, it's a PC game.
Secondly, I thought GAF was all about the gameplay, and not graphics.
Thirdly, it's a game which can be likened to taking some of the best of Ys (of the best era, that is Origin/Felghana) and adding more RPG elements into it. It's awesome.
Yo Durante, think you can make a write up of Xanadu Next and post about it on PCGamer or the like?
 

18-Volt

Member
Wonder what's in XSEED's pocket for this year? Senran Kagura and Cold Steel III are pretty much locks but I want more worldwide reveals from them. Marvelous say they have some Switch projects going on but I want the reveals to come from XSEED. It's not hard to do simultaneous worldwide releases anymore. I mean, they're getting pretty close, there were just 3 months between Japanese and western releases of Fate/Extella. They can do much better.
 

Theswweet

Member
Wonder what's in XSEED's pocket for this year? Senran Kagura and Cold Steel III are pretty much locks but I want more worldwide reveals from them. Marvelous say they have some Switch projects going on but I want the reveals to come from XSEED. It's not hard to do simultaneous worldwide releases anymore. I mean, they're getting pretty close, there were just 3 months between Japanese and western releases of Fate/Extella. They can do much better.

Is Cold Steel III really a lock, though? People thought that about Ys VIII and Tokyo Xanadu.
 
Valkyrie Drive wasn't even localized by a seed, that's PQube (they also localized Steins;gate).

The point was more that Xseed passed on it and it went to PQube instead, because the last we heard on Marvelous titles, Xseed had first dibs on them. There was no indicator that VD would sell poorly and PQube has even gone on record multiple times saying that it did extremely well for them. Why did they pass on it? There's really no excuse other than "we made a business decision to skip Vita exclusives", which they continue to say is not the case, despite not doing a single exclusive since EDF 2.

Is Cold Steel III really a lock, though? People thought that about Ys VIII and Tokyo Xanadu.

If it remains PS4 exclusive or Xseed is able to port 1 and 2 to PC, I'd say it is. If another company comes in and ports 1 and 2 to PC (a port of 3 is worthless without 1 and 2 being there), Falcom will likely favor that other company as they can get a port for 3 as well as the PS4 release.
 

Tohsaka

Member
Wonder what's in XSEED's pocket for this year? Senran Kagura and Cold Steel III are pretty much locks but I want more worldwide reveals from them. Marvelous say they have some Switch projects going on but I want the reveals to come from XSEED. It's not hard to do simultaneous worldwide releases anymore. I mean, they're getting pretty close, there were just 3 months between Japanese and western releases of Fate/Extella. They can do much better.

EDF 5 and Schoolgirl Zombie Hunter, according to retail leaks. I don't think XSEED was confirmed as the publisher but they are both D3publisher titles and XSEED localized previous entries in both franchises, so it's pretty much a given.
 

Vamphuntr

Member
Valkyrie Drive wasn't even localized by a seed, that's PQube (they also localized Steins;gate).

To be honest, they along with Atlus (outside the given internal titles like SMT and Persona), dropped the ball when localizing great stuff this gen, only to be picked up by like say... NISA.

Their localizations last year were so much more and better than their stuff this year.

I had no idea what Valkyrie Drive was. Went to youtube and yeah I can see why they didn't touch it. Which games are you expecting from both Atlus and Xseed? I know a lot of people are disappointed with how Atlus handled some PSP games and many hate the child ogling game they've localized but otherwise it seems they are pretty good? You have to take into account that as each company gets bigger they need their localization to sell better.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
I don't know why they expected the Touhou games to do well, when even those familiar with the series weren't that interested in it, much less people who have no idea what Touhou is.
 

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.
I had no idea what Valkyrie Drive was. Went to youtube and yeah I can see why they didn't touch it. Which games are you expecting from both Atlus and Xseed? I know a lot of people are disappointed with how Atlus handled some PSP games and many hate the child ogling game they've localized but otherwise it seems they are pretty good? You have to take into account that as each company gets bigger they need their localization to sell better.

For Xseed, most of the titles I expected them to localize went to NISA (like Danganronpa, the latest Ys) and a bunch of PQube games.

For Atlus' case, they did much more localizations last generation: from Gungnir to Growlanser to 3D Dot Game Heroes to Hexyz Force to Demon's Souls. Maybe the pickings are much slimmer these days and they had to publish random Western titles nowadays?
 
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