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Media Create Sales: Week 29, 2016 (Jul 18 - Jul 24)

Ōkami

Member
  1. [PSV] Toukiden 2 - 151
  2. [PS4] Toukiden 2 - 107
  3. [3DS] Puzzle & Dragons X: Kami no Shou - 99
  4. [3DS] Yo-kai Watch 3 Tempura - 86
  5. [3DS] Puzzle & Dragons X: Ryuu no Shou - 81
  6. [3DS] Yo-kai Watch 3 Sushi - 78
  7. [PS4] The Idolm@ster Platinum Stars - 55
  8. [PS4] The Idolm@ster Platinum Stars [Limited Edition] - 29
  9. [PS3] Toukiden 2 - 24
  10. [WIU] Minecraft: Wii U Edition - 20
  11. [3DS] Pokémon AlphaSapphire - 16
  12. [PSV] Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana - 15
  13. [3DS] Sumikko Gurashi: Mura o Tsukurundesu - 15
  14. [3DS] Pokémon OmegaRuby - 14
  15. [PSV] Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition - 12
  16. [3DS] Kirby: Planet Robobot - 12
  17. [3DS] Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns - 11
  18. [PSV] Toukiden 2 Treasure Box - 10
  19. [PSV] Strawberry Nauts [Limited Edition] - 10
  20. [3DS] Taiko no Tatsujin: Don Don! Mystery Adventure - 9
Terrible for Pazudora X, though we knew already.

Pokémon at 517 points at preorders.
 

Ryng_tolu

Banned
Ōkami;212053341 said:
11. [3DS] Pokémon AlphaSapphire - 16
14. [3DS] Pokémon OmegaRuby - 14

Pokémon at 517 points at preorders.

tumblr_n6yp5mDFOF1ttdkobo1_r1_400.gif
 
Looks like YSO were bang on the money with their Toukiden prediction. Yeesh, not sure where the IP goes from here. The one positive is the PS4 version is doing better than I expected it would, although probably not to sustain the series going forward unless it grew substantially without the Vita version.

Puzzles and Dragons... wow lol. What happened?
 

Sterok

Member
02./00. [3DS] Etrian Odyssey IV: Denshou no Kyojin <RPG> (Atlus) {2012.07.05} (¥6.279) - 97.142 / NEW

That EOV number looks good. Odd how Atlus might have two growth games back to back.

What are the odds that Sun & Moon have the best launch week ever? I think BW opened higher than DP.
 

Vena

Member
YSO predictions

01. [3DS] Etrian Odyssey V: The End of the Long Myth < 115k (average 110k)
02. [3DS] Dragon Ball: Fusions < 80k (average 70k)
03. [3DS] Yo-Kai Watch 3: Sushi / Tempura < 60k (average 50k)

EOV going to open well above its predecessor if this holds true, could see a healthy growth from entry to entry, and this time we're not getting barraged by EO-lites (which probably helps).

YW3... lol

Looks like YSO were bang on the money with their Toukiden prediction. Yeesh, not sure where the IP goes from here. The one positive is the PS4 version is doing better than I expected it would, although probably not to sustain the series going forward unless it grew substantially without the Vita version.

Well, if the data from last week is accurate... not very well.

YSO predictions

01. [3DS] Puzzle & Dragons X: God Chapter / Dragon Chapter < 130k (average 115k)
02. [3DS] Yo-Kai Watch 3: Sushi / Tempura < 105k (average 95k)
03. [PSV] Toukiden 2 < 90k (average 80k)
00. [ALL] Toukiden 2 < 160k (average 150k)

The sum of the PS3 (probably 10-30k at most) and the PS4 (by remainder, 60-40k), aren't exactly compelling numbers when you burned the Vita audience while also increasing your budget (seemingly). This seems more like the end than anything else. The PS4 as it is can't sustain this series, we lost/spent how much to gain to... 50k (average) sales? That's a terrible "transfer" of your audience.
 

Ryng_tolu

Banned
I really hope NPD sheds some light on what Pokemon did this month in the US, lol. But I now expect nothing from the NPD threads.

I'll ask to Aqua if she can tell us how did some old Pokémon games in July, maybe we will have some numbers to share.
 

horuhe

Member
Rakuten Books Sales Ranking Week 30, 2016 (Jul 25 - Jul 31)

01./02. [3DS] Yo-Kai Watch 3: Tempura <RPG> (Level 5)
02./01. [3DS] Yo-Kai Watch 3: Sushi <RPG> (Level 5)
03./03. [3DS] Yo-Kai Watch 3: Sushi / Tempura Set <RPG> (Level 5)
04./00. [PS4] Toukiden 2 <ACT> (Koei Tecmo)
05./00. [PSV] Toukiden 2 <ACT> (Koei Tecmo)
06./04. [3DS] Sumikko Gurashi: Mura o Tsukurundesu <ETC> (Nippon Columbia)
07./00. [PS4] Idolm@ster Platinum Stars <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games)
08./00. [3DS] Puzzle & Dragons X: Dragon Chapter <RPG> (GungHo Online)
09./06. [WiiU] Minecraft: Wii U Edition <ADV> (Microsoft Game Studios)
10./10. [3DS] Kirby: Planet Robobot <ACT> (Nintendo)
11./00. [3DS] Puzzle & Dragons X: God Chapter / Dragon Chapter Set <RPG> (GungHo Online)
12./00. [3DS] Puzzle & Dragons X: God Chapter <RPG> (GungHo Online)
13./07. [PSV] Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana <RPG> (Nihon Falcom)
14./08. [PSV] Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana (Limited Premium Box) <RPG> (Nihon Falcom)
15./05. [3DS] Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns <SLG> (Marvelous)
16./12. [3DS] Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games <SPT> (Nintendo)
17./00. [PS3] Toukiden 2 <ACT> (Koei Tecmo)
18./09. [WiiU] Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games <SPT> (Nintendo)
19./22. [3DS] Pokémon Alpha Sapphire <RPG> (Pokémon Co.)
20./00. [PS4] Dragon Ball: Xenoverse [Welcome Price!!] <FTG> (Bandai Namco Games)
21./00. [PS4] Toukiden 2 (Treasure Box) <ACT> (Koei Tecmo)
22./23. [3DS] Pokémon Omega Ruby <RPG> (Pokémon Co.)
23./20. [3DS] Taiko Drum Master: Doko Don! Mystery Adventure <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games)
24./00. [PSV] Toukiden 2 (Treasure Box) <ACT> (Koei Tecmo)
25./15. [WiiU] Splatoon <ACT> (Nintendo)
26./17. [PS4] Grand Theft Auto V [New Price Edition] <ACT> (Take-Two Interactive Japan)
27./13. [PSV] Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition <ADV> (Sony Computer Entertainment)
28./11. [3DS] Culdcept Revolt <TBL> (Nintendo)
29./26. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf [Nintendo Selects] <ETC> (Nintendo)
30./00. [PS4] Idolm@ster Platinum Stars (Platinum Box) <ETC> (Bandai Namco Games)

Rakuten Books Pre-Orders Ranking Week 30, 2016 (Jul 25 - Jul 31)

01./00. [PS4] Yakuza 6 <ACT> (Sega)
02./06. [3DS] Pokémon Sun / Moon Set <RPG> (Pokémon Co.)
03./10. [PS4] Final Fantasy XV <RPG> (Square Enix)
04./15. [3DS] Etrian Odyssey V: The End of the Long Myth <RPG> (Atlus)
05./12. [PS4] Tales of Berseria <RPG> (Bandai Namco Games)
06./16. [3DS] Dragon Ball Fusions <RPG> (Bandai Namco Games)
07./13. [PS4] Persona 5 (20th Anniversary Edition) <RPG> (Atlus)
08./44. [PS4] Wasteland 2: Director's Cut <RPG> (Spike Chunsoft)
09./03. [3DS] Pokémon Sun <RPG> (Pokémon Co.)
10./19. [PS3] Tales of Berseria <RPG> (Bandai Namco Games)
11./02. [3DS] Pokémon Moon <RPG> (Pokémon Co.)
12./05. [3DS] Pokémon Sun / Moon (Double Pack) <RPG> (Pokémon Co.)
13./17. [PS4] Persona 5 <RPG> (Atlus)
14./26. [PS4] Ratchet & Clank: The Game (Super Special Limited Edition) <ACT> (Sony Computer Entertainment)
15./47. [PSV] Macross Delta Scramble (Run Pika Sound Edition) <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games)
16./01. [PS4] Gravity Rush 2 (Limited Edition) <ADV> (Sony Computer Entertainment)
17./27. [PSV] World of Final Fantasy (Limited Edition) <RPG> (Square Enix)
18./24. [PS4] The King of Fighters XIV (Limited Edition) <FTG> (SNK Playmore)
19./28. [PS4] World of Final Fantasy (Limited Edition) <RPG> (Square Enix)
20./22. [PS4] Fate/Extella (Regalia Box) <ACT> (Marvelous)

Rakuten Books Sales Ranking Week 29, 2016 (Jul 18 - Jul 24)

* Note: Games on the Rakuten Books Rankings are only based on sales at Rakuten Books and does not count games sold by other retailers at Rakuten.
** Note 2: Games on the Pre-Orders Ranking are counted as net sales, so it might possibly affect the games listed on the Sales Ranking.
*** Note 3: Rakuten Books Rankings official website: http://books.rakuten.co.jp/ranking/weekly/006#!/
 

casiopao

Member
Week 31, 2016 (Aug 01 - Aug 07)

YSO predictions

01. [3DS] Etrian Odyssey V: The End of the Long Myth < 115k (average 110k)
02. [3DS] Dragon Ball: Fusions < 80k (average 70k)
03. [3DS] Yo-Kai Watch 3: Sushi / Tempura < 60k (average 50k)

EO seems to outperform its last title there. Guess, Atlus seems to be able to overturn the decline Etrian faced before from overexposure of their IP.

db numbers seems bad.TT and here i hoped it will do well as Fusion madness seems to be something many old fans would had dream to happen here.

YW lol.TT
 

Eolz

Member
Woah, that'll be nice if EOV gets to this number. Deserves at least that much.
Previous games have been hurt by releasing one after another, it's nice that they let it breathe a bit again, those are long games after all.
 
EO seems to outperform its last title there. Guess, Atlus seems to be able to overturn the decline Etrian faced before from overexposure of their IP.

db numbers seems bad.TT and here i hoped it will do well as Fusion madness seems to be something many old fans would had dream to happen here.

YW lol.TT

Fusions seems just fine I think, it's only a bit below the Heroes games and those had OUTSTANDING legs.

I think it's better than Extreme Butoden also.
 

horuhe

Member
I think Puzzle and Dragons first week is going to be even worse than we expect here. The first day sales were relatively great (being the type of game it is), but the game didn't move much during the weekend it seems. Also Splatoon (don't know why) is not having the presence that had before and the campaign with Tower Records ended some days ago.

Edit: Important to note that Yo-Kai Watch 3 is being discounted around 20% at some stores.
 

Square2015

Member
I have COMGNET preorders for FFXII from 2006. Eight weeks from release the number was 1,087. Compare that to FFXV today at 199.

FFXII right before launch had 3,425 pre-orders (and went on to debut with 1.8m sold week 1 IIRC).
 
I think Puzzle and Dragons first week is going to be even worse than we expect here. The first day sales were relatively great (being the type of game it is), but the game didn't move much during the weekend it seems. Also Splatoon (don't know why) is not having the presence that had before and the campaign with Tower Records ended some days ago.

Edit: Important to note that Yo-Kai Watch 3 is being discounted around 20% at some stores.
Wow discounted at such a fast rate, damn, I kind of feel bad.

Do you think this will benefit sales for YW3?
 

Ōkami

Member
20% off after 3 weeks isn't so bad, specially when there are games that are 50% off the day they came out.

Pazudora X is also around 20% off in some places though, and that is not good.
 

Ryng_tolu

Banned
Find out about Minecraft Wii U Edition also. We never got its first month numbers from NPD I believe.

She said that Minecraft on Wii U did way better than expect.

I have COMGNET preorders for FFXII from 2006. Eight weeks from release the number was 1,087. Compare that to FFXV today at 199.

FFXII right before launch had 3,425 pre-orders (and went on to debut with 1.8m sold week 1 IIRC).

Final Fantasy XV won't sell 1 million lifetime. It's gonna bomb way harder than Yokai Watch 3.
 

Sandfox

Member
EO seems to outperform its last title there. Guess, Atlus seems to be able to overturn the decline Etrian faced before from overexposure of their IP.

db numbers seems bad.TT and here i hoped it will do well as Fusion madness seems to be something many old fans would had dream to happen here.

YW lol.TT

The decline was from spinoffs and remakes so it seems fans were just holding out for the fifth game I guess.
 

horuhe

Member
Wow discounted at such a fast rate, damn, I kind of feel bad.

Do you think this will benefit sales for YW3?

Of course not. Two weeks selling at price point and start discounting it, would be so bad for the brand... I didn't think I would say this, but Yo-Kai Watch 3 won't reach the 1.5 million mark unless something really special happens.

&#332;kami;212067822 said:
20% off after 3 weeks isn't so bad, specially when there are games that are 50% off the day they came out.

Pazudora X is also around 20% off in some places though, and that is not good.

Well, I would see it not from that point of view, but more also on how much has been shipped, around half a million left to sell, is going to be quite hard. I don't think GungHo shipped more than 300k copies of Puzzle and Dragons.
 
It seems like Japan stores in general are starting to lose faith in video games already if discounts come that often.

I'm sure something will be done to recover YW3 sales by the holidays. Here in North America, Level-5 is already planning changes in marketing tactics to have YW2 sell here, the marketing for YW1 in the U.S. was pretty bad.
 

Sandfox

Member
It seems like Japan stores in general are starting to lose faith in video games already if discounts come that often.

I'm sure something will be done to recover YW3 sales by the holidays. Here in North America, Level-5 is already planning changes in marketing tactics to have YW2 sell here.

They have the movie in December, but I doubt that will do much of anything.
 

Square2015

Member
She said that Minecraft on Wii U did way better than expect.



Final Fantasy XV won't sell 1 million lifetime. It's gonna bomb way harder than Yokai Watch 3.
Geez that's unfortunate, the first mainline FF to not break a million (Since FF2), that makes me concerned for the future of the series.

BTW feel free to bump the classic NPD thread with questions/comments (I wish more ppl would bump the thread).
 
I have gotten into the Final Fantasy series as of recent. I just started playing FF7 and FF6, and I'm now more interested in playing the other games.

It's unfortunate that FF15 could be performing badly in Japan with all of that hard work going to waste.
 

Square2015

Member
I have gotten into the Final Fantasy series as of recent. I just started playing FF7 and FF6, and I'm now more interested in playing the other games.


Speaking of FF15, it's unfortunate that FF15 could be performing badly in Japan with all of that hard work going to waste.

Yeah. I'm just playing around with my COMGnet database and it looks like FFXV is on track to sell 710,000 opening week, and that's using an optimistic formula. Geez, meaning it's on track to likely perform worse :(
 

Ryng_tolu

Banned
Yeah. I'm just playing around with my COMGnet database and it looks like FFXV is on track to sell 710,000 opening week, and that's using an optimistic formula. Geez, meaning it's on track to likely perform worse :(

700K retail is amost a crazy prediction, if you include digital then is not impossible but still very hard.

400-600K first week at retail. I say a bit over 500K, about what FF XIII-2 sold.
 
700K retail is amost a crazy prediction, if you include digital then is not impossible but still very hard.

400-600K first week at retail. I say a bit over 500K, about what FF XIII-2 sold.

700k first week is not crazy prediction in any way. You really think just going by gomgnet points that we are going to see drop from 1.5 million first week to bit over 500k first week? I mean the decline will be there but no way in hell it will be that severe.
 

Vena

Member
700k first week is not crazy prediction in any way. You really think just going by gomgnet points that we are going to see drop from 1.5 million first week to bit over 500k first week? I mean the decline will be there but no way in hell it will be that severe.

I don't think you can say that in the wake of what we just saw of YW3.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Geez that's unfortunate, the first mainline FF to not break a million (Since FF2), that makes me concerned for the future of the series.

BTW feel free to bump the classic NPD thread with questions/comments (I wish more ppl would bump the thread).

To me, the issue isn't Japan. You can have a AAA open world action RPG sell 20+ million copies while selling zero copies in Japan.

However, I'm really not convinced the game is going to light to world on fire in the West either.

For starters, the game is in a huge vice for mass market products, which for the type of sales they want, is a notable concern. Final Fantasy titles are very frontloaded, so I'm including to about a month and a half out.

August 23rd: Deus Ex 4, Madden 17
September 20th: Destiny: Rise of Iron
September 27th: FIFA 17
September 30th: Final Fantasy XV
October 7th: Mafia 3
October 11th: Gears of War 4
October 21st: Battlefield 1
October 28th: Titanfall 2
November 4th: Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
November 11th: Dishonored 2
November 15th: Watch Dogs 2, Gran Turismo Sport
November 18th: Pokemon Sun/Moon

I left out a lot of things that appeal to similar audiences in that same timeframe like World of Final Fantasy, Skyrim Remastered, and South Park: The Fractured But Whole, or even things like The Last Guardian or Dragon Ball XenoVerse 2 that hit the Japanese game fan in potentially reasonable numbers. I'm sure people will quote this section to mention I (intentionally due to size) left out things like SMTV:A and DQVII that share appeals as well.

Beyond that, at least based on how people have summarized the large quantity of previews of the title to me, it sounds like it works like an open world game circa 2010. You have a big set piece starter mission, this is followed by going around and doing a bunch of ho-hum collection/monster slaying/etc side quests until you reach X widgets, and then you get another set piece mission that transitions you to the next open world hub area where you do the same thing. Open worlds are really common these days, and I feel the expectations surrounding what one should be like have raised over the past six years. Even with a brand the strength of Fallout, you started seeing blowback on Fallout 4 (and decidedly less impressive legs than Skyrim) due to the audience feeling the mission design was too formulaic and old school. Maybe this is just a miscommunication or misunderstanding, but if that's what it's like, I don't think it's going to generate a lot of good word of mouth.

Finally, the YouTube interest in the game isn't blowing me away, to be frank. I usually check that every so often as games are announced or near release to see what kind of viewership the media is getting, as it tends to have a reasonable correlation to how much interest there is in the actual final product, and Final Fantasy XV's stuff is on par with a pretty tame release. Maybe they'll have some amazing demo right before launch that garners up a lot of interest, but I don't think what they've been releasing there has been super helpful thus far, and usually those work best for multiplayer focused games.

The game just strikes me as yet another Square Enix console title that's going to see sizable declines from the previous product. They had a series of strong releases last gen with Final Fantasy XIII, Just Cause 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Hitman Absolution, and Tomb Raider, and they seem to have failed to really capitalize on any of them (yes, I'm also being pessimistic about Mankind Divided). All of those are products that sold quite well, but needed some good reinventing to really succeed this generation, and they all seem to have their own bag full of problems instead.

Mind, Square Enix has seemingly been much better at controlling their budgeting and marketing expenditure on most of the games (this probably relates to their less than astonishing current iterations), so it's entirely plausible they're still making money on most of this. They didn't even seem upset at Tomb Raider's massive decline, and have been reporting good income, but at the same time their AAA product line-up feels progressively more like a THQ or a mid-last-gen Capcom than a major publisher.
 

Sandfox

Member
FF has completely moved away from being the series I liked and the demo for XV wasn't fun for me.

If this game underperforms I'm curious to see what SE does in response.
 

casiopao

Member
I've personally seen more FFXV hype in Japan, but that's just based on one Famitsu Most Wanted games list I could recall.

Ehh. That's kinda shocking. Most of the friends i had told me that they had little hype for FFXV actually. Most of them are taking wait and see approach here as they don't want to get burn just like FF13 saga. The demo also does not really help a lot there.T_T

Fusions seems just fine I think, it's only a bit below the Heroes games and those had OUTSTANDING legs.

I think it's better than Extreme Butoden also.

I thought the anime Super is going to bring the number bigger here especially when they are playing the fusion trump card here. Well, lets see how good the legs will be this time.^_^ As, the current 3DS condition, is not really friendly with both launch week numbers nor legs numbers.T_T

The decline was from spinoffs and remakes so it seems fans were just holding out for the fifth game I guess.

Ohhh, i know that. I just feel that the over exposure of the IP had chance of damaging the IP a bit there. But it seems no such thing happen which is a great thing.^_^
 
Ehh. That's kinda shocking. Most of the friends i had told me that they had little hype for FFXV actually. Most of them are taking wait and see approach here as they don't want to get burn just like FF13 saga. The demo also does not really help a lot there.T_T



I thought the anime Super is going to bring the number bigger here especially when they are playing the fusion trump card here. Well, lets see how good the legs will be this time.^_^ As, the current 3DS condition, is not really friendly with both launch week numbers nor legs numbers.T_T



Ohhh, i know that. I just feel that the over exposure of the IP had chance of damaging the IP a bit there. But it seems no such thing happen which is a great thing.^_^
I heard that Final Fantasy XIII was the worst FF out there. This new FF is EXTREMELY promising with all the details and its expansion of its universe with the anime, movie, etc.

I find it very difficult to see why FFXV is not getting the hype in Japan.
 
I don't think you can say that in the wake of what we just saw of YW3.

Slightly different situation though. Yokai watch is more of a flash in the pan success that hadn't been around for that long. It's also made by a developer who is known for having collapses in the popularity of its franchises. I think the resurgence of Pokemon might also be having a big effect considering the overlap in audience.

Final fantasy is a much longer running running franchise. I think a drop to 500K opening week would far eclipse the failure of YW3 to me.

No doubt FF will see a drop in Japan and a big drop WW, I'm just not sure it will be that big. At this point it's hard to see SE not moving more and more to mobile only as time goes on.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
FF has completely moved away from being the series I liked and the demo for XV wasn't fun for me.

If this game underperforms I'm curious to see what SE does in response.

I feel the correct answer was to have spun off the successful concepts into their own series as the franchise progressed, instead of creating one series where everyone wants something different. Now they have a situation where each game takes a heroic amount of effort to create, followed by it all being thrown in the garbage bin, and nothing gets iterated upon and improved - at least not sufficiently - in order to serve the audience it found.

I'm expecting Final Fantasy XV to come out as a high 7s/low 8s type of title, and instead of being given three years and $50 million to right all the issues with the game and try to blow people away with a sequel, instead we'll see Tabata get politely demoted to some lower priority project, followed by someone else being told to reinvent the series from scratch for half a decade or more.
 

casiopao

Member
I heard that Final Fantasy XIII was the worst FF out there. This new FF is EXTREMELY promising with all the details and its expansion of its universe with the anime, movie, etc.

I find it very difficult to see why FFXV is not getting the hype in Japan.

Well i am only talking on some of my Japanese friends response here lol so i don't know what the mass of Japanese think about FFXV here, but from what i here and know, the problem is the japanese does not feel that this new FF is actually promising.

While S-E had been expanding the game with movie and anime, some don't even know the anime exist lol. And the more casual just said, i would love to try the game maybe in the future but right now, i am more occupied with my smartphone game lol. So that is that too.T_T


Tolu, u drunky?^_^
 

Sterok

Member
How much truth is there to what people say about JP gamers not caring for open worlds? Are the cross-media efforts actually reaching anyone new? Is Japan having a favorable impression of the trailers and demos? How many Final Fantasy fans are satisfied by the mobile games, or even prefer the direction they've taken? I haven't paid too much attention to FFXV, but to me it seems like it's trying to appeal to western fans without shedding its JP roots. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but Square doesn't seem to have mixed these appeals very well.

I'm also of the opinion that Square isn't very good at managing their console brands (JP or western), even if they've gotten their expectations in check as of late. Thankfully they're doing perfectly fine on mobile, so they're perfectly safe and fine unlike Capcom. Thank goodness for phones.
 

Sandfox

Member
I feel the correct answer was to have spun off the successful concepts into their own series as the franchise progressed, instead of creating one series where everyone wants something different. Now they have a situation where each game takes a heroic amount of effort to create, followed by it all being thrown in the garbage bin, and nothing gets iterated upon and improved - at least not sufficiently - in order to serve the audience it found.

I'm expecting Final Fantasy XV to come out as a high 7s/low 8s type of title, and instead of being given three years and $50 million to right all the issues with the game and try to blow people away with a sequel, instead we'll see Tabata get politely demoted to some lower priority project, followed by someone else being told to reinvent the series from scratch for half a decade or more.
SE is basically throwing the old Final Fantasy to low budget titles of Setsuna and BD, while they try to make the series some weird amalgamation of Japanese and western gaming. I don't expect SE to every get FF "right" again as the company chases what they think western market wants and the smaller games will continue to get the shaft.
How much truth is there to what people say about JP gamers not caring for open worlds? Are the cross-media efforts actually reaching anyone new? Is Japan having a favorable impression of the trailers and demos? How many Final Fantasy fans are satisfied by the mobile games, or even prefer the direction they've taken? I haven't paid too much attention to FFXV, but to me it seems like it's trying to appeal to western fans without shedding its JP roots. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but Square doesn't seem to have mixed these appeals very well.

I'm also of the opinion that Square isn't very good at managing their console brands (JP or western), even if they've gotten their expectations in check as of late. Thankfully they're doing perfectly fine on mobile, so they're perfectly safe and fine unlike Capcom. Thank goodness for phones.

Didn't Japan love Witcher 3?
 
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