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Youkai Watch 2 coming out on July 10, will come in 2 versions

L~A

Member


***
So, looks like the cat's out of the bag! Youkai Watch's just been announced in the CoroCoro magazine; it's for the Nintendo 3DS by the way.

The May issue of Shogakukan's Monthly Corocoro Comic magazine is announcing on Tuesday that Level-5 will release its Yōkai Watch 2 game for Nintendo 3DS on July 10 — in two versions.

Yōkai Watch 2 will reveal the secret origin of the mysterious Yōkai Watch that gave the franchise its name. Keita and company will travel back in time to Sakura New Town in the Showa era, thanks to the power of a mysterious yōkai (Japanese spirit or demon). The key to the story will be Keizō, a boy from the past who looks like Keita, and Dekanyan, a cat yōkai with an amazing secret.

Yōkai Watch 2 will also have new events such as climbing the school flagpole to better find yōkai, and bicycle races. If players have already gone through the first Yōkai Watch game, they can make friends with special yōkai in Yōkai Watch 2.

Looks like Level-5 really loves time travelling! Game is coming out in two versions :

The limited edition of Yōkai Watch 2: Ganso (Founder) will be the only way to obtain the ultra rare silver "Jibanyan Medal Nyaiiin" Z Medal, while the limited-edition Yōkai Watch 2: Honke (Head) will be the only way to obtain the ultra rare "Jibanyan Medal Komanyachi" Z Medal.

Source : ANN
 

Shengar

Member
So I see that they've taken the Pokemon route. But I'm glad that they release the sequel on handheld not mobile.
 

L~A

Member
So I see that they've taken the Pokemon route. But I'm glad that they release the sequel on handheld not mobile.

I don't think there was any chance Youkai Watch 2 would be on mobile ever. Maybe a spin-off or something, but not the main series.
 

Alrus

Member
The milking begins... Seriously the original isn't close to done in terms of sales. They should have waited. Level-5 will never learn it seems.
 

disco

Member
They want to strike whilst the iron is hot. Was it even a year since the release of the first one!? EDIT: 3 days short of a year according to wikipedia.
 

L~A

Member
I have to admit, I'm really surprised... this is announced barely 3 months until release. I really thought they were gonna ride on the great sales of the 1st game till the holiday season (since they won't have Inazuma Eleven this year).

And yup, looks like the milking has beung *sigh*
 
Wonder if they wrote off the first game as a lost cause before the miracle-legs happened, and accelerated the development of the second.
 

Alrus

Member
This is coming out a year after the original and they probably need new content for the toy line and anime lol.

The anime has only started airing a few months ago and the bulk of the original sales came after it started. I can't help but think a few of the buyers will feel a bit irked at the fact that a sequel is coming so soon... Guess we'll see.
 

Hellraider

Member
The milking begins... Seriously the original isn't close to done in terms of sales. They should have waited. Level-5 will never learn it seems.

They manage to make a hit like this every other attempt. It seems so easy for them to make huge sales-wise titles like this they might as well milk the hell out of them.


Hope for a localisation before 2020.
 

Kouriozan

Member
That's way too soon, it's going to kill the first one legs almost immediately :s
Oh well, Level 5 need the money I guess.
 

Shengar

Member
Yeah I agree that this is too soon. The first still have decent legs for about another a month or even two months since the anime still airing. Now they just killed their chance to maximize Youkai Watch maximum profitability by this announce.

Though I suspect that they will empty the same strategy where they use cross media promotion in order to sell the game. I expect Youkai Watch 2 the animation this Winter 2014 or maybe Fall 2014.
I don't think there was any chance Youkai Watch 2 would be on mobile ever. Maybe a spin-off or something, but not the main series.

Well, I don't really know about the game besides from vague overall impression, which I assume this game would be fine on mobile platform.
 
The milking begins... Seriously the original isn't close to done in terms of sales. They should have waited. Level-5 will never learn it seems.

Well to be fair, the last Youkai Watch didn't take off seriously until just recently. They probably didn't expect it to blow up as it has atm. But yeah, they could at least push the sequel back in response to that, but Level-5 gonna Level-5 anyway.
 

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Its a damned good game, so much obvious care went into making it and impressed with the detail of the world (city). Thought the whole roulette thing for catching bugs / fishing drove me insane.

Cant wait for the second one as the first was awesome.

Wonder if they wrote off the first game as a lost cause before the miracle-legs happened, and accelerated the development of the second.

It wasnt really a miracle considering the anime didnt start till this year. Game came out last year July. Well I suppose if we think about it in the sense that the anime was popular enough to continue to drive the sales to the numbers we have now then yeah the miracle comment does work afterall. Still, folks need to understand the general timeline with the connected forms of media to the IP.
 

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
I really hope they'll translate it to the West!
And don't forget Fantasy Life too!
Happy about the good and great results of those two series: I hope this will push them in continuing support the 3Ds, considering how I liked both Inazuma and Layton series...
 

L~A

Member
Hope for a localisation before 2020.

Well, at least they've already shown some interest in bringing the game to the West. Nintendo + Level-5 partnership for the win, I hope!

Well to be fair, the last Youkai Watch didn't take off seriously until just recently. They probably didn't expect it to blow up as it has atm. But yeah, they could at least push the sequel back in response to that, but Level-5 gonna Level-5 anyway.

It's true the game didn't sell gangbusters until the holidays season, but until them, it just kept selling steadily for months, and it managed to stay in the Top 20 lots of weeks. Looks it's somewhat like what they planned, because if they really were not expecting such huge success after the initial sales, they could've simply delayed YW2 until the Holidays or something.

But god knows what goes on in Akihiri Hino's head!
 
It's true the game didn't sell gangbusters until the holidays season, but until them, it just kept selling steadily for months, and it managed to stay in the Top 20 lots of weeks. Looks it's somewhat like what they planned, because if they really were not expecting such huge success after the initial sales, they could've simply delayed YW2 until the Holidays or something.

But god knows what goes on in Akihiri Hino's head!

Yeah, it was steady but in an Inazuma Eleven kind of way, rather than a Professor Layton 1 kinda way, though it doesn't really matter anyway since both got yearly updates haha. Level-5 have a knack for creating hits but they really don't protect their IPs' longevity.
 

wrowa

Member
I really hate it when sequels go the two versions route when the first game wasn't. Reeks so much more like unnecessary milking that way.
 
yesssssssssssssssss

milk it till it's dry and the franchise is a withered piece of crap level 5, that's always worked gangbusters for you in the past
 

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
I really hate it when sequels go the two versions route when the first game wasn't. Reeks so much more like unnecessary milking that way.
It would be fine if there were only two versions, but we know they'll have a third ultimate version of the game ready for this Holiday season xD
 

Cipherr

Member
The milking begins... Seriously the original isn't close to done in terms of sales. They should have waited. Level-5 will never learn it seems.

Yeah they could have delayed this. The first Yokai is killing it in Japan. A second wind provided by the anime or something, but it was well on its way to eventually doing 800k man. May fall short now depending on how consumers react. It might still make it though since it'll hit 700k this upcoming week, but still man...
 

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
yesssssssssssssssss

milk it till it's dry and the franchise is a withered piece of crap level 5, that's always worked gangbusters for you in the past

I continue seeing GAFfers hating on L5...
I can understand if Gundam fans would hate them, but for the others... :D

It is clear that they are an entertaining company that often tries to go for cross-media projects (partnering with other companies sometime, like Bandai-Namco for the toy-aspect of their projects for example), at least from their Nintendo DS days.

They have a particular approach to their series: it is different from many other companies, but I don't see it as the "evil within" as others do.

There are companies that milk their franchises in a similar way, without the same "new IP" direction that L5 has.
There are companies that don't milk their IPS in the same way of course, but usually those are also just videogame IPs or just videogames companies.
There are companies that defend their IPs better, but that don't present big brand new IPs with the same pace of L5 too.

If we look at their recent series we have:

Professor Layton: it was a well-studied "Brain Training" epigon, developed with a cartoonish style trying to attract a variety of target ages following the enigma-fever and the touch-generation fever of the DS. It debuted slowly, but continued to grow. They decided to almost annualize the series (wasnt' exactly 1 each year) also because they understood that those fevers (enigma and touch) wasn't going to last forever (they understood it even better then Nintendo probably :p )
The games suffered a decline after some incredible peak. I'd say that it's normal, and that other "touch generation" games suffered even more. With a very similar stucture and the recycle of engines, I'd say that also the 300k (in Japan) of the recent 6th game are enought financially for them. Without counting also western sales (stilll very positive). Don't know how many Japanese games sell as much as the Layton series even after the decline. Postponing the releases of the games would have benefit the series? I highly doubt it.

Inazuma Eleven: planned as a cross-media IP, the game debuted slowly, and started to sell after the cartoon release. Then they started to annualize it following the annual TV cartoon series. Each new season saw a new game. And they continued with the GO series. Similarly to Layton, these games saw a peak and then a decline. Still able to sell 350K (in Japan)? Once again: not that bad. We could count the games able to sell those quantities. Without counting European sales (always good in Italy, Spain and maybe even France/Ger, but I'm not sure). This is a videogame based on an Anime (TV cartoon): cartoons popularity lasts (with exceptions, of course) some years, usually. They chose the right path in annualizing a videogame series based on a TV Cartoon.

Little Battlers: very similar to Inazuma, with in addition the toy side of things. So, videogame, tv cartoon and toys. I can really confirm you (I work in the toy market) that the most common thing for kids products (especially for TV cartoon based lines) is to present a novelty every year. This help you in selling-in your products, because you can present the "new" aspect as part of your promotional push to the line. The games sold well, than faded. But I think that the most negative part wasn't the annualization of the series, while the wrong choice in terms of platform (in terms of target age): they created consufion among the consumers about this line presenting too many version of the same game with small additions on a variety of different platforms. Probably, they shuold have chosen the 3DS right after the initial PSP debut, in the transition from last gen into this gen.

Yokai Watch: we all are seeing the success of this line, once again based on anime-manga-game. The game sold well from the beginning, then theanime aired and the sales went up, to stay stable so far. They now present the new game that will be probably followed by the new TV Cartoon later in the year.

A lot of those IPs were strictly bonded to cross-media projects: cartoons and toys for kids are normally treated as temporary successes: the popularity of bands among kids in the entertainment segment lasts some years (later they can be re-launched as well, of course, when a new generation of kids born and grows). They create the "phenomena" and then support it with big "PR" investments (the cartoons) trying to create turnover on the products (videogame or game).

Financially, it is a good direction.
You have also to consider the profit linked to the licenses rights.
You are in trouble if you see your benefit decreasing from the decline of popularity of your franchises, of course.
But if you launch new brands (with the money made on those successfull IPs) looking for the new "good one" as they did so far, everything is ok.

They created Layton, and benefit a lot from that.
Then they decided to try the cross-media strategy with IE. Great success.
They invested in Little Battlers: good results but the comrpomised it with costumer confusion.
They tried with Yokai and they succeded (it is already obvious that this IP is a good one for them)

In between, they also launched several new IPs: most of them failed to attract the right target (Cinderella RPG for example), while other performed well (considering that it was "just" a videogame without huge investment for cartoon/toy development, Fantasy Life perfomed really well: it sold around 300k I think, and if we compared 3DS development costs with the actual Japanese sales, I'd say that this was positive)

So:
financially it worked for them
quality of their games among the same brand weren't impacted by the annualization (at least for Layton and Inazuma)
IPs new proposals continued with a good pace

At least, those are my two cents
 

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
I continue seeing GAFfers hating on L5...
I can understand if Gundam fans would hate them, but for the others... :D

It is clear that they are an entertaining company that often tries to go for cross-media projects (partnering with other companies sometime, like Bandai-Namco for the toy-aspect of their projects for example), at least from their Nintendo DS days.

They have a particular approach to their series: it is different from many other companies, but I don't see it as the "evil within" as others do.

There are companies that milk their franchises in a similar way, without the same "new IP" direction that L5 has.
There are companies that don't milk their IPS in the same way of course, but usually those are also just videogame IPs or just videogames companies.
There are companies that defend their IPs better, but that don't present big brand new IPs with the same pace of L5 too.

If we look at their recent series we have:

Professor Layton: it was a well-studied "Brain Training" epigon, developed with a cartoonish style trying to attract a variety of target ages following the enigma-fever and the touch-generation fever of the DS. It debuted slowly, but continued to grow. They decided to almost annualize the series (wasnt' exactly 1 each year) also because they understood that those fevers (enigma and touch) wasn't going to last forever (they understood it even better then Nintendo probably :p )
The games suffered a decline after some incredible peak. I'd say that it's normal, and that other "touch generation" games suffered even more. With a very similar stucture and the recycle of engines, I'd say that also the 300k (in Japan) of the recent 6th game are enought financially for them. Without counting also western sales (stilll very positive). Don't know how many Japanese games sell as much as the Layton series even after the decline. Postponing the releases of the games would have benefit the series? I highly doubt it.

Inazuma Eleven: planned as a cross-media IP, the game debuted slowly, and started to sell after the cartoon release. Then they started to annualize it following the annual TV cartoon series. Each new season saw a new game. And they continued with the GO series. Similarly to Layton, these games saw a peak and then a decline. Still able to sell 350K (in Japan)? Once again: not that bad. We could count the games able to sell those quantities. Without counting European sales (always good in Italy, Spain and maybe even France/Ger, but I'm not sure). This is a videogame based on an Anime (TV cartoon): cartoons popularity lasts (with exceptions, of course) some years, usually. They chose the right path in annualizing a videogame series based on a TV Cartoon.

Little Battlers: very similar to Inazuma, with in addition the toy side of things. So, videogame, tv cartoon and toys. I can really confirm you (I work in the toy market) that the most common thing for kids products (especially for TV cartoon based lines) is to present a novelty every year. This help you in selling-in your products, because you can present the "new" aspect as part of your promotional push to the line. The games sold well, than faded. But I think that the most negative part wasn't the annualization of the series, while the wrong choice in terms of platform (in terms of target age): they created consufion among the consumers about this line presenting too many version of the same game with small additions on a variety of different platforms. Probably, they shuold have chosen the 3DS right after the initial PSP debut, in the transition from last gen into this gen.

Yokai Watch: we all are seeing the success of this line, once again based on anime-manga-game. The game sold well from the beginning, then theanime aired and the sales went up, to stay stable so far. They now present the new game that will be probably followed by the new TV Cartoon later in the year.

A lot of those IPs were strictly bonded to cross-media projects: cartoons and toys for kids are normally treated as temporary successes: the popularity of bands among kids in the entertainment segment lasts some years (later they can be re-launched as well, of course, when a new generation of kids born and grows). They create the "phenomena" and then support it with big "PR" investments (the cartoons) trying to create turnover on the products (videogame or game).

Financially, it is a good direction.
You have also to consider the profit linked to the licenses rights.
You are in trouble if you see your benefit decreasing from the decline of popularity of your franchises, of course.
But if you launch new brands (with the money made on those successfull IPs) looking for the new "good one" as they did so far, everything is ok.

They created Layton, and benefit a lot from that.
Then they decided to try the cross-media strategy with IE. Great success.
They invested in Little Battlers: good results but the comrpomised it with costumer confusion.
They tried with Yokai and they succeded (it is already obvious that this IP is a good one for them)

In between, they also launched several new IPs: most of them failed to attract the right target (Cinderella RPG for example), while other performed well (considering that it was "just" a videogame without huge investment for cartoon/toy development, Fantasy Life perfomed really well: it sold around 300k I think, and if we compared 3DS development costs with the actual Japanese sales, I'd say that this was positive)

So:
financially it worked for them
quality of their games among the same brand weren't impacted by the annualization (at least for Layton and Inazuma)
IPs new proposals continued with a good pace

At least, those are my two cents

applause-gif.gif


Now this is the kind of post I like to see and not the usual bullshit. Good job.
 

BinaryPork2737

Unconfirmed Member
Looks like Level-5 really loves time travelling! Game is coming out in two versions :

God dammit, Level-5, I want to play Time Travelers and Fantasy Life. This would be great to play, too, along with the first game. I bought Weapon Shop to show I would support bringing these titles west. I'm so salty right now.
 

Metallix87

Member
I continue seeing GAFfers hating on L5...
I can understand if Gundam fans would hate them, but for the others... :D

It is clear that they are an entertaining company that often tries to go for cross-media projects (partnering with other companies sometime, like Bandai-Namco for the toy-aspect of their projects for example), at least from their Nintendo DS days.

They have a particular approach to their series: it is different from many other companies, but I don't see it as the "evil within" as others do.

There are companies that milk their franchises in a similar way, without the same "new IP" direction that L5 has.
There are companies that don't milk their IPS in the same way of course, but usually those are also just videogame IPs or just videogames companies.
There are companies that defend their IPs better, but that don't present big brand new IPs with the same pace of L5 too.

If we look at their recent series we have:

Professor Layton: it was a well-studied "Brain Training" epigon, developed with a cartoonish style trying to attract a variety of target ages following the enigma-fever and the touch-generation fever of the DS. It debuted slowly, but continued to grow. They decided to almost annualize the series (wasnt' exactly 1 each year) also because they understood that those fevers (enigma and touch) wasn't going to last forever (they understood it even better then Nintendo probably :p )
The games suffered a decline after some incredible peak. I'd say that it's normal, and that other "touch generation" games suffered even more. With a very similar stucture and the recycle of engines, I'd say that also the 300k (in Japan) of the recent 6th game are enought financially for them. Without counting also western sales (stilll very positive). Don't know how many Japanese games sell as much as the Layton series even after the decline. Postponing the releases of the games would have benefit the series? I highly doubt it.

Inazuma Eleven: planned as a cross-media IP, the game debuted slowly, and started to sell after the cartoon release. Then they started to annualize it following the annual TV cartoon series. Each new season saw a new game. And they continued with the GO series. Similarly to Layton, these games saw a peak and then a decline. Still able to sell 350K (in Japan)? Once again: not that bad. We could count the games able to sell those quantities. Without counting European sales (always good in Italy, Spain and maybe even France/Ger, but I'm not sure). This is a videogame based on an Anime (TV cartoon): cartoons popularity lasts (with exceptions, of course) some years, usually. They chose the right path in annualizing a videogame series based on a TV Cartoon.

Little Battlers: very similar to Inazuma, with in addition the toy side of things. So, videogame, tv cartoon and toys. I can really confirm you (I work in the toy market) that the most common thing for kids products (especially for TV cartoon based lines) is to present a novelty every year. This help you in selling-in your products, because you can present the "new" aspect as part of your promotional push to the line. The games sold well, than faded. But I think that the most negative part wasn't the annualization of the series, while the wrong choice in terms of platform (in terms of target age): they created consufion among the consumers about this line presenting too many version of the same game with small additions on a variety of different platforms. Probably, they shuold have chosen the 3DS right after the initial PSP debut, in the transition from last gen into this gen.

Yokai Watch: we all are seeing the success of this line, once again based on anime-manga-game. The game sold well from the beginning, then theanime aired and the sales went up, to stay stable so far. They now present the new game that will be probably followed by the new TV Cartoon later in the year.

A lot of those IPs were strictly bonded to cross-media projects: cartoons and toys for kids are normally treated as temporary successes: the popularity of bands among kids in the entertainment segment lasts some years (later they can be re-launched as well, of course, when a new generation of kids born and grows). They create the "phenomena" and then support it with big "PR" investments (the cartoons) trying to create turnover on the products (videogame or game).

Financially, it is a good direction.
You have also to consider the profit linked to the licenses rights.
You are in trouble if you see your benefit decreasing from the decline of popularity of your franchises, of course.
But if you launch new brands (with the money made on those successfull IPs) looking for the new "good one" as they did so far, everything is ok.

They created Layton, and benefit a lot from that.
Then they decided to try the cross-media strategy with IE. Great success.
They invested in Little Battlers: good results but the comrpomised it with costumer confusion.
They tried with Yokai and they succeded (it is already obvious that this IP is a good one for them)

In between, they also launched several new IPs: most of them failed to attract the right target (Cinderella RPG for example), while other performed well (considering that it was "just" a videogame without huge investment for cartoon/toy development, Fantasy Life perfomed really well: it sold around 300k I think, and if we compared 3DS development costs with the actual Japanese sales, I'd say that this was positive)

So:
financially it worked for them
quality of their games among the same brand weren't impacted by the annualization (at least for Layton and Inazuma)
IPs new proposals continued with a good pace

At least, those are my two cents
Amazing post. I never understood all the L-5 hate myself. They tend to make excellent games.
 

Mecha

Member
I'm not sure why Level 5 gets heat for not making kids franchises that stand the test of time. Only a handful ever have reached that status, and it requires a perfect storm to achieve. Many attempts at kids franchises flop, Gaist Crusher, Gyrozetter, Hero Bank, etc, being more recent examples. Only a few franchises gain popularity for a short period of time, then maybe one or two trickle into long-standing popularity every decade or so. Level 5 has a great success rate for kids franchises, beyond what most publishers/developers in Japan could dream of.
 

squall23

Member
I continue seeing GAFfers hating on L5...
I can understand if Gundam fans would hate them, but for the others... :D

It is clear that they are an entertaining company that often tries to go for cross-media projects (partnering with other companies sometime, like Bandai-Namco for the toy-aspect of their projects for example), at least from their Nintendo DS days.

They have a particular approach to their series: it is different from many other companies, but I don't see it as the "evil within" as others do.

There are companies that milk their franchises in a similar way, without the same "new IP" direction that L5 has.
There are companies that don't milk their IPS in the same way of course, but usually those are also just videogame IPs or just videogames companies.
There are companies that defend their IPs better, but that don't present big brand new IPs with the same pace of L5 too.

If we look at their recent series we have:

Professor Layton: it was a well-studied "Brain Training" epigon, developed with a cartoonish style trying to attract a variety of target ages following the enigma-fever and the touch-generation fever of the DS. It debuted slowly, but continued to grow. They decided to almost annualize the series (wasnt' exactly 1 each year) also because they understood that those fevers (enigma and touch) wasn't going to last forever (they understood it even better then Nintendo probably :p )
The games suffered a decline after some incredible peak. I'd say that it's normal, and that other "touch generation" games suffered even more. With a very similar stucture and the recycle of engines, I'd say that also the 300k (in Japan) of the recent 6th game are enought financially for them. Without counting also western sales (stilll very positive). Don't know how many Japanese games sell as much as the Layton series even after the decline. Postponing the releases of the games would have benefit the series? I highly doubt it.

Inazuma Eleven: planned as a cross-media IP, the game debuted slowly, and started to sell after the cartoon release. Then they started to annualize it following the annual TV cartoon series. Each new season saw a new game. And they continued with the GO series. Similarly to Layton, these games saw a peak and then a decline. Still able to sell 350K (in Japan)? Once again: not that bad. We could count the games able to sell those quantities. Without counting European sales (always good in Italy, Spain and maybe even France/Ger, but I'm not sure). This is a videogame based on an Anime (TV cartoon): cartoons popularity lasts (with exceptions, of course) some years, usually. They chose the right path in annualizing a videogame series based on a TV Cartoon.

Little Battlers: very similar to Inazuma, with in addition the toy side of things. So, videogame, tv cartoon and toys. I can really confirm you (I work in the toy market) that the most common thing for kids products (especially for TV cartoon based lines) is to present a novelty every year. This help you in selling-in your products, because you can present the "new" aspect as part of your promotional push to the line. The games sold well, than faded. But I think that the most negative part wasn't the annualization of the series, while the wrong choice in terms of platform (in terms of target age): they created consufion among the consumers about this line presenting too many version of the same game with small additions on a variety of different platforms. Probably, they shuold have chosen the 3DS right after the initial PSP debut, in the transition from last gen into this gen.

Yokai Watch: we all are seeing the success of this line, once again based on anime-manga-game. The game sold well from the beginning, then theanime aired and the sales went up, to stay stable so far. They now present the new game that will be probably followed by the new TV Cartoon later in the year.

A lot of those IPs were strictly bonded to cross-media projects: cartoons and toys for kids are normally treated as temporary successes: the popularity of bands among kids in the entertainment segment lasts some years (later they can be re-launched as well, of course, when a new generation of kids born and grows). They create the "phenomena" and then support it with big "PR" investments (the cartoons) trying to create turnover on the products (videogame or game).

Financially, it is a good direction.
You have also to consider the profit linked to the licenses rights.
You are in trouble if you see your benefit decreasing from the decline of popularity of your franchises, of course.
But if you launch new brands (with the money made on those successfull IPs) looking for the new "good one" as they did so far, everything is ok.

They created Layton, and benefit a lot from that.
Then they decided to try the cross-media strategy with IE. Great success.
They invested in Little Battlers: good results but the comrpomised it with costumer confusion.
They tried with Yokai and they succeded (it is already obvious that this IP is a good one for them)

In between, they also launched several new IPs: most of them failed to attract the right target (Cinderella RPG for example), while other performed well (considering that it was "just" a videogame without huge investment for cartoon/toy development, Fantasy Life perfomed really well: it sold around 300k I think, and if we compared 3DS development costs with the actual Japanese sales, I'd say that this was positive)

So:
financially it worked for them
quality of their games among the same brand weren't impacted by the annualization (at least for Layton and Inazuma)
IPs new proposals continued with a good pace

At least, those are my two cents
The main problem is that L5 doesn't know when to end things on a good note. They don't give their IPs that they've milked to the ground proper sendoffs and just continue their merry way as if everything's fine and dandy when they're not.

At least for long-ass series like Super Robot Wars, the different trilogies actually have good/satisfying endings. Not every game is related to the one before or after. Literally the only good thing that came out of IEGo is the fact that
Endou married Natsumi
. Even Capcom for all the crap they get about milking franchises actually had good endings for things like Megaman Battle Network, Star Force and Zero series.

It's honestly really sad that Danball Senki Wars is potentially the "ending" of the IP.
 

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
The main problem is that L5 doesn't know when to end things on a good note. They don't give their IPs that they've milked to the ground proper sendoffs and just continue their merry way as if everything's fine and dandy when they're not.

At least for long-ass series like Super Robot Wars, the different trilogies actually have good/satisfying endings. Not every game is related to the one before or after. Literally the only good thing that came out of IEGo is the fact that
Endou married Natsumi
.

It's honestly really sad that Danball Senki Wars is potentially the "ending" of the IP.

Oh, I agree with that, if true. Unfortunately I've got to play just Layton and IE series, among their "milked" franchises (aka I'm missing Danball Senki and now Yokai watch)


Amazing post. I never understood all the L-5 hate myself. They tend to make excellent games.

thank you ;p


So where's that localization of the first game.

basically, HERE is the problem!!!
 
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