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[Nirolak]

What is Sony's investment in Colopl Rune Story?

They distribute the game in Taiwan. They presumably don't get any of the Japanese earnings from the game.

 

[barybll]

Yes.

What makes you so sure?
There is no way to gauge the interest growth for the franchise in the west since ps2 emulation became a thing and digital sales for p3fes and p4 on the ps3 arent known

The only guideline we have is p4 golden, which admittedly did very well, over a very long time.
But some of the later numbers for the west have been odd, didnt bloodborne, a game highly anticipated, sell not much beyond 1 mill?

 

[Sterok]

Why not?

I think, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is a good example. Also, "niche"

Spoiler

JRPG.
Bandai Namco shipped over 1.1 million copies worldwide as for March 2014.

I don't have Japan LTD numbers, but according to Dengeki:
1 week – http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=32961277&postcount=370

2 week – http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=33160454&postcount=311


and can't even find this game in top20 on 3rd week – http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=33310646&postcount=518

Didn't most of Ni No Kuni's JP sales come from the DS version?

 

[dracula_x]

So Atlus will start giving Persona 5 for free like Ni no Kuni?

that doesn't explain the announce of Ni No Kuni 2

Didn't most of Ni No Kuni's JP sales come from the DS version?

No. With DS version it was 1.7 shipped. 1.1 million just for PS3 – https://www.engadget.com/2014/03/08/ni-no-kuni-shipments-pass-1-1-million-series-clears-1-7-million/

 

[Chris1964]

that doesn't explain the announce of Ni No Kuni 2

What does this have to do with what I said. Ni no Kuni topped 1 million shipment at west for a specific reason.

 

[Lynx_7]

that doesn't explain the announce of Ni No Kuni 2



No. With DS version it was 1.7 shipped. 1.1 million just for PS3 – https://www.engadget.com/2014/03/08/ni-no-kuni-shipments-pass-1-1-million-series-clears-1-7-million/

I know they're aiming NNK 2 more towards the west but it's weird how they're not capitalizing on those 1.7 million DS buyers by releasing a 3DS or NX version.

 

[dracula_x]

What does this have to do with what I said. Ni no Kuni topped 1 million shipment at west for a specific reason.

What reason?

 

[Takao]

According to Capcom's view of gaming history, Wii U's launch was more important than any handheld platform's lol

I know they're aiming NNK 2 more towards the west but it's weird how they're not capitalizing on those 1.7 million DS buyers by releasing a 3DS or NX version.

It was 600k, and a huge amount were sold at bomba bin prices.

There's nothing stopping Level-5 from releasing an NX version of NNK2.

 

[Aters]

They're college grads that are hired about ~100-150 per year, so they're learning on a lot of these small projects you see like Project Palm and Megumi Meguri.

I imagine that Monster Hunter Stories tie-in mobile game was also newer staff given it's a match 3 title.

After that there's just a lot of people who are going to be doing art asset creation for something like Resident Evil 7. Resident Evil 6 had 150 Capcom staff and 450 contractors, so I imagine there's a much higher Capcom number involved now.

Makes sense. Didn't so many contractors worked on RE6, maybe that's why the game looked bad.

 

[Lynx_7]

According to Capcom's view of gaming history, Wii U's launch was more important than any handheld platform's lol



It was 600k, and a huge amount were sold at bomba bin prices.

There's nothing stopping Level-5 from releasing an NX version of NNK2.

That's what I get for reading it too fast. Makes sense, then.

 

[Oregano]

Makes sense. Didn't so many contractors worked on RE6, maybe that's why the game looked bad.

It's commonplace for AAA productions. Naughty Dog has like a dozen contracted studios making art assets and no one would say their games look bad.

 

[Aters]

It's commonplace for AAA productions. Naughty Dog has like a dozen contracted studios making art assets and no one would say their games look bad.

So why Capcom is expanding the internal team?

 

[Chris1964]

I know they're aiming NNK 2 more towards the west but it's weird how they're not capitalizing on those 1.7 million DS buyers by releasing a 3DS or NX version.

Speculation (or explanation from Level 5, I don't remember) back then for not releasing the DS game at west was the book.

 

[Oregano]

So why Capcom is expanding the internal team?

Well as Tsujimoto says it's good to foster and develop internal talent because contractors/external developers can easily stop working with the publisher. Definitely not the only reason but an obvious one.

 

[Jarod McChicken]

By next week, software sales of PS4 in 2016 will already be higher than total software sales in 2015.

Woah nice

So let's play this.

PREDICTION LEAGUE OCTOBER 2016

Predict how much these titles will sell in the month (from Sep 26 to Oct 30)

[3DS] Monster Hunter Stories (23 days) - 180,000
[WIU] Paper Mario : Color Splash (18 days) - 60,000
[PS4] Battlefield 1 (13 days) - 100,000
[3DS] Mario Party : Star Rush (11 days) - 50,000
[PSV] Macross Delta Scramble (11 days) - 35,000
[PS4 + PS3 + PSV] Berserk Musou (4 days) - 55,000
[PS4 + PSV] Sword Art Online : Hollow Realization (4 days) - 80,000
[PS4 + PSV] World of Final Fantasy (4 days) - 50,000

 

[Takao]

So why Capcom is expanding the internal team?

So they won't have to list 50k sellers as financial highlights in their quarterly reports anymore.

 

[Nirolak]

So why Capcom is expanding the internal team?

Well as Tsujimoto says it's good to foster and develop internal talent because contractors/external developers can easily stop working with the publisher. Definitely not the only reason but an obvious one.

To be clear, the mobile contractor concern is a separate thing, where you have lots of highly in demand independent game studios that make the entire title themselves.

The reason they're using less art outsourcing houses and Western developers for their console games is that it's cheaper to make games internally due to Capcom's relatively low salaries.

 

[Edge_Maverick]

Square-Enix FY 2016 Annual Report is *finally* out: http://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/pdf/ar_2016en.pdf

 

[Nirolak]

Ugh, Square Enix wants me to dig through 74 pages of Square nonsense after 56 pages of Capcom nonsense. : (

 

[Aters]

To be clear, the mobile contractor concern is a separate thing where you have lots of highly in demand independent full game studios.

The reason they're using less art outsourcing houses and Western developers for their console games is that it's cheaper to make games internally due to Capcom's relatively low salaries.

Everything clicks now. Thanks.

 

[DriftingSpirit]

Be the hero we need, Niro.

 

[Man God]

Ugh, Square Enix wants me to dig through 74 pages of Square nonsense after 56 pages of Capcom nonsense. : (

More mobile in there though, so more interesting stuff.

 

[DrWong]

Be the hero we need, Niro.

Just check the nx part. Easy.

 

[Oregano]

Just check the nx part. Easy.

Well there's a part where Matsuda says it's not really worth developing handheld titles if they are not also available on mobile...

 

[horuhe]

Btw, FIFA 17 will be huge since adds J-League.

 

[Nirolak]

Well there's a part where Matsuda says it's not really worth developing handheld titles if they are not also available on mobile...

This is getting its own thread in a moment, but here's the context of what Oregano mentioned:

1) Enhancing our offering of premium apps for smart devices

Currently, the global market for smart device games is dominated by F2P (free to play) games, and the
market for premium games that players pay to purchase is practically nonexistent. However, our Group
has for some time been offering premium games for smart devices, including brand new titles. When
viewed across the Group, these offerings represent a considerable volume of earnings.

F2P games have achieved remarkable growth thanks to their massive download numbers and
significant active user bases that generate fee revenues. Many companies entered the market
because of the perception that F2P games cost less to develop than traditional console games while
also offering the potential for significant earnings. As a result, the market as a whole saw major growth,
but competition reached excessive levels. Meanwhile, marked advancements were made in smart
device performance, and consumers of F2P games grew more demanding. As such, the market
ceased to provide major returns for low-budget development.

However, the picture for premium games is different. Initial development costs for both F2P and
premium games are roughly the same as or even higher than those for new games for dedicated
handheld game machines. In other words, the level of investment required cannot be considered low
risk. The risk involved in F2P games is even higher than for premium games because of the need to
spend on ongoing operational and additional development efforts.

F2P games generate massive download numbers because basic play is free. They thereby
establish significant active user bases and present major earnings potential. Premium games, meanwhile,
offer the advantage of generating purchases over a long period of time after their initial development
costs have been fully depreciated.

Premium games naturally need to be modified to keep pace with frequent OS updates and require
ongoing marketing spending to generate user awareness. However, smart devices still provide a
better platform for playing greatly loved games for many years than dedicated game consoles do
because of the latter’s issues with backward compatibility.

Continuing the comparison with dedicated handheld game machines, we note that significant
advances have been made in both the specs and operability of smart devices and that this evolution
is likely to continue unabated. Moreover, smart devices have a much greater installed base globally
than dedicated handheld game machines. The smartphone-native generation already sees smart
devices as all-in-one game consoles.

For these reasons, it makes sense for game manufacturers such as ourselves to supply
games that we have traditionally developed for dedicated handheld game machines not only for
such consoles but also for multipurpose smart devices.

We believe that the operability of smart devices makes them a good match for turn- and
simulation-based RPGs, among other games. We see turn-based RPGs as a style or format of
game and do not believe them to be outdated at all. The development of such RPGs is something
that our Group has exceled at for some time.

By releasing new RPGs not only for dedicated handheld game machines but also for smart
devices, we hope to develop the premium game market into a pillar of our business on a par with
the F2P market. In so doing, we believe that we can enrich the portable game market in the
broader sense in order to respond to a variety of customer needs.

Edit: Here's the thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1283558

 

[Chris1964]

Btw, FIFA 17 will be huge since adds J-League.

Doubt it.

 

[horuhe]

Doubt it.

Do you think? What do folks expect for this game?

 

[Nirolak]

Okay, Square Enix wants to work in VR/AR and also... make entertainment robots.

2) VR/AR

2016 is being referred to as “year zero” for VR as VR machines, peripherals, and content are finally
making their way to the market in significant volumes. Our Group is also extremely interested in this
domain and already working on developing VR content for some of our projects. That said,
consumers cannot grasp the appeal of VR without having experienced it, so the spread of VR is
currently being driven by supply-side entities such as hardware manufacturers and game
developers. While equipment and other purchases currently demand a significant upfront
investment on the part of users, VR offers never-before-experienced surprises and the possibility
for a variety of applications that extend beyond the world of gaming. We therefore look for VR to
grow into a major market.

Effectively leveraging VR and AR will enrich our Group’s content portfolio, and we also plan to
develop unique VR and AR content. We provide content in a wide range of formats, including not
only consumer game consoles and smart devices but also amusement machines, publications,
and even tangible objects like figurines. We look forward to our creators applying their talents to
generate new chemical reactions by combining new VR and AR technologies with such content.

We note also that VR and AR are catchall terms for technologies that can take on a variety of
forms, and we believe that our Group should offer content that leverages our unique strengths. In
our view, gamers are likely to come to expect a “VR mode” as a standard feature on HD game
consoles. Incorporating VR content into HD games enables us to create a more immersive gaming
experience. We believe this represents the very domain that will enable us to further demonstrate
our Group’s strengths.

AI (artificial intelligence) is another field undergoing significant innovation. We intend to
leverage our advanced research in the realm of gaming AI and believe that gaming AI technology
we have developed in entertainment contexts will likely be applied in fields such as the development
of robots. We feel certain that once robots expand from the B2B realm to the B2C realm, consumers
will expect their robots to be entertaining. Our gaming AI technology and insights may help in that
realm. We intend to look for ways to become involved in robot AI technology from the perspective
of entertainment.

 

[theprodigy]

Dengeki is the most generous on Persona 5 sales, they say 300k just the PS4 version.

Terraria just 1.256 units, digital doesn't show a hot performance either.

Recore is not on the Dengeki chart, but given XB1 software sales it must have been around 1k.

DQVIII on 3DS is back on their chart too, 915k, should be above 950k with digital, it might just make it to 1m.

Also, more than 12m physical PS4 games have been sold in Japan. Wii U still below 11.5m.

By next week, software sales of PS4 in 2016 will already be higher than total software sales in 2015.

About 5m.

Wait how come we aren't getting Dengeki charts any more?

 

[Nirolak]

Okay, the rest of the report covers:

1.) Square Enix's corporate management philosophies as expressed through gaia-isms.
2.) Repeated information from their end of year report.
3.) Square Enix's expansion into emerging markets (BRIC and the Middle-East).
4.) Square Enix's audit practices and corporate governance.
5.) Do you know how based all of our products are? So based.

I'm going to assume no one wants me to pull these out, but if they do, I can do so.

 

[Aters]

Okay, Square Enix wants to work in VR/AR and also... make entertainment robots.

And people were wondering how they greenlit NieR: Automata. It all makes sense now!

 

[barybll]

Okay, the rest of the report covers:

1.) Square Enix's corporate management philosophies as expressed through gaia-isms.
2.) Repeated information from their end of year report.
3.) Square Enix's expansion into emerging markets (BRIC and the Middle-East).
4.) Square Enix's audit practices and corporate governance.
5.) Do you know how based all of our products are? So based.

I'm going to assume no one wants me to pull these out, but if they do, I can do so.

Pull it out for me
I want to see it if its not very big

 

[Nirolak]

Pull it out for me
I want to see it if its not very big

As you wish.

1.) Corporate Governance:

Management Guidelines

These guidelines reflect the foundation of principles upon which our corporate philosophy stands, and serve as a standard of value for
the Group and its members. We shall strive to achieve our corporate goals while closely considering the following:

1. Professionalism

We shall exhibit a high degree of professionalism, ensuring optimum results in the workplace. We shall display initiative, make continued
efforts to further develop our expertise, and remain sincere and steadfast in the pursuit of our goals, while ultimately aspiring to forge a
corporate culture disciplined by the pride we hold in our work.

2. Creativity and Innovation

To attain and maintain new standards of value, there are questions we must ask ourselves: Is this creative? Is this innovative?
Mediocre dedication can only result in mediocre achievements. Simply being content with the status quo can only lead to a collapse
into oblivion. To prevent this from occurring and to avoid complacency, we must continue asking ourselves the aforementioned questions.

3. Harmony

Everything in the world interacts to form a massive system. Nothing can stand alone.

Everything functions with an inevitable accord to reason. It is vital to gain a proper understanding of the constantly changing tides,
and to take advantage of these variations instead of struggling against them. We shall continue to work towards harmony and serve as
an integral part of this ever-fluctuating system.

In order to achieve ideal performance levels, we as individuals, shall aim for a mutual respect amongst our coworkers, remain conscious
of the duties assigned us, and place an emphasis on teamwork.

As a corporate organization, we shall work diligently to maintain an optimal balance culminating in the ultimate satisfaction of all our
stakeholders, including customers, shareholders, counterparties, and employees.

As a business entity, we shall contemplate what functions we are to perform within the realm of industry, while acting in a manner
that ensures the mutual harmony and benefit of all parties within it.

Finally, as a member of society, we shall comply with laws and regulations while fulfilling our civic obligations, including community
involvement and environmental conservation.

2.) Repeated Information:

Digital Entertainment Business Segment

In the fiscal year ended March 2016, games for smart devices continued to demonstrate strong
growth in the Japanese market, driving overall Group earnings. New titles released in the first half of
the fiscal year ended March 2016, such as “MOBIUS FINAL FANTASY” and “KINGDOM HEARTS
Unchained ,” which leverage key IP (intellectual property), delivered brisk performances throughout
the fiscal year. Titles such as “HOSHI NO DRAGON QUEST,” “FINAL FANTASY BRAVE EXVIUS,” and
“Grimms Notes” released in the second half of the fiscal year were also strong performers right out of
the gate. With this accumulation of new titles, the percentage of total Digital Entertainment Business
Segment sales accounted for by games for smart devices saw significant year-on-year growth in the
fiscal year ended March 2016. Some are quick to point out slowing growth and increased competition
in Japan’s smartphone game market, but it remains a market in which new titles can succeed by
delivering new gaming experiences, and new titles frequently make their way to the upper end of the
sales rankings. As device technology advances at a furious pace and consumers grow increasingly
discerning, how companies go about delivering new gaming experiences has become the key
determinant of success in a market where the true value of content is evaluated. We will also target
further growth by rolling out titles that offer a variety of gaming styles and that run the gamut from
derivatives of big franchises to brand new IP.

We also released a wide range of HD (high-definition) games in the fiscal year ended March
2016. These included the latest installments in the major franchises from our Western studios such as
“Rise of the Tomb Raider,” “JUST CAUSE 3,” and “HITMAN”; “DRAGON QUEST BUILDERS,” which
offers a new way to enjoy the world of “Dragon Quest”; and “I Am Setsuna,” which leverages newly
developed IP to bring a fresh sensibility to the turn-based JRPG (Japanese-style role-playing game)
genre. All of these offerings serve to make our Group’s game portfolio richer.

HD games are at the heart of our Group’s content portfolio, and we believe that continued
investment in this domain bolsters our Group’s enterprise value in a variety of ways, including by
helping us to acquire the latest technology and enhance our brand value. Moreover, leveraging the IP
assets derived from our HD games in a diversity of ways provides us with further earnings opportunities,
which is another reason why we see continued investment in HD game development as vital.

In the MMO (massively multiplayer online game) domain, “DRAGON QUEST X” and “FINAL
FANTASY XIV” continued to help generate stable earnings. We released new content for both of those
titles in the fiscal year ended March 2016 via the launch of expansion packs. Player retention is a key
earnings indicator in the MMO business, and the release of these expansion packs played a significant
part in helping us not only retain existing players but also attract returning players and new players.
We have no plans for expansion pack releases in the fiscal year ending March 2017, but we intend to
continue to strive for customer satisfaction in the operation of our MMO games, with the aim of
retaining existing players and welcoming new ones.

The Digital Entertainment segment consists of planning, development, distribution,
and operation of digital entertainment content, primarily in the form of games.

Digital entertainment content is offered to meet customer lifestyles across a
variety of usage environments such as consumer game consoles (including
handheld game machines), personal computers and smart devices.

During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2016, in the area of content for
platforms such as smart devices and PC browsers, existing games are
continuing to show strong performances, coupled with successful launches of
new game titles for smartphones such as “MOBIUS FINAL FANTASY,” “HOSHI
NO DRAGON QUEST,” “FINAL FANTASY BRAVE EXVIUS” and “Grimms Notes.”

Among console game titles, “JUST CAUSE 3” and “Rise of the Tomb Raider”
made solid starts. Revenues from operation and expansion disc sales of
massively multiplayer online role-playing games such as “FINAL FANTASY XIV”
and “DRAGON QUEST X” are sustaining their strong performances.

Net sales and operating income in the Digital Entertainment segment
totaled ¥158,964 million (an increase of 42.0% from the prior fiscal year) and
¥27,456 million (an increase of 58.9% from the prior fiscal year), respectively

3.) Emerging Markets:

3) Expanding into emerging markets

We have cited expansion into emerging markets as a target for the past several years, but
unfortunately have not produced sufficient results. During that time, emerging markets have
continued their steady growth, and it goes without saying that taking advantage of the growth in
those markets needs to be a key focus under our Group’s growth strategy.

China is a leading country in terms of gaming and online and mobile gaming, in particular.

As such, it is a key market on a par with those of Japan and the West. We believe that partnerships
with local companies will prove effective in developing our content business there and intend to
continue to collaborate with key players.

The Middle East and Latin America (especially Mexico and Brazil) are growing rapidly as
consumer markets. Language localization is critical to supplying our games to these countries. To
date, our localization efforts have focused primarily on the so-called EFIGS languages (English,
French, Italian, German and Spanish). However, to improve access to our games for large populations,
we believe that we also need to localize into Chinese (simplified), Arabic and Portuguese.

Our Western studios have produced multilingual offerings for some time, but we believe that
our Japanese studios urgently need to develop the capacity to localize into these major languages
at any given time and are working to ensure that at the moment. We also believe that by localizing
our globally strategic titles, we should be able to enhance our presence in the relevant regions, thus
laying the groundwork for our emerging markets strategy.

This is how our businesses performed in the fiscal year ended March 2016 and what we
expect for the fiscal year ending March 2017 and beyond. In the fiscal year ended March 2016, our
net sales exceeded ¥200 billion for the first time, and we set a new record at the profit attributable
to owners of parent line as well. By implementing the aforementioned initiatives, we intend to strive
for further growth in our sales and profits.

Dividends will serve as the centerpiece of our shareholder return policy, and we will target a
consolidated payout ratio of 30% while giving consideration to the appropriate balance between
investing and distributing our profits. From VR through AR to AI, we are seeing a constant stream
of new investment and business opportunities. We believe that such opportunities should not be
missed and that investments in future growth should be made in a timely fashion.

We look forward to your continued support.

4.) Corporate auditing practices:

Start on page 22 (24 of the PDF) and continue on for a while.

 

[Vena]

Well there's a part where Matsuda says it's not really worth developing handheld titles if they are not also available on mobile...

At the rate their burning through all of their properties, western or eastern, they'll be no point in developing any titles if they aren't also available on mobile.

There's only so many TRs and DXs you can bomb and still try and say "everything is fine" while at the same time also nuking your auxiliary brands with half-baked revivals.

 

[Kresnik258]

Judging by the prediction league posts so far, everyone is expecting nearly universal megabombs in October, huh?

 

[Ryng_tolu]

PREDICTION LEAGUE OCTOBER 2016

Predict how much these titles will sell in the month (from Sep 26 to Oct 30)

[3DS] Monster Hunter Stories (23 days) - 200,000
[WIU] Paper Mario : Color Splash (18 days) - 60,000
[PS4] Battlefield 1 (13 days) - 125,000
[3DS] Mario Party : Star Rush (11 days) - 70,000
[PSV] Macross Delta Scramble (11 days) - 40,000
[PS4 + PS3 + PSV] Berserk Musou (4 days) - 65,000
[PS4 + PSV] Sword Art Online : Hollow Realization (4 days) - 150,000
[PS4 + PSV] World of Final Fantasy (4 days) - 50,000

 

[Aters]

3. Harmony

Everything in the world interacts to form a massive system. Nothing can stand alone.

Everything functions with an inevitable accord to reason. It is vital to gain a proper understanding of the constantly changing tides,
and to take advantage of these variations instead of struggling against them. We shall continue to work towards harmony and serve as
an integral part of this ever-fluctuating system.

I see that FFVII influence running through the company's vein.

Spoiler

can't believe they allow this kind of bullshit in their annual report.

 

[Ōkami]

Pull it out for me
I want to see it if its not very big

This sounds weird out of context.

 

[barybll]

This sounds weird out of context.

:^)
You pervert!

 

[kuroneko0509]

Wait how come we aren't getting Dengeki charts any more?

no one bothered to do so after 1st Course (I think?) stopped doing it lol

 

[theprodigy]

no one bothered to do so after 1st Course (I think?) stopped doing it lol

oh that's silly lol

who wants to volunteer to translate the Dengeki charts?

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

What makes you so sure?
There is no way to gauge the interest growth for the franchise in the west since ps2 emulation became a thing and digital sales for p3fes and p4 on the ps3 arent known

The only guideline we have is p4 golden, which admittedly did very well, over a very long time.
But some of the later numbers for the west have been odd, didnt bloodborne, a game highly anticipated, sell not much beyond 1 mill?

Bloodborne sold 2 million in 6 months, before its Old Hunters Expansion. If P4G managed to sell 600k on the Vita, I'm pretty confident P5 on PS3/4 will be 1 million+.

 

[Nirolak]

I skipped last week since I was on vacation, but here's the final Road To TGS.

Bolded are new.

Road To TGS:

3DS:
- Puyo Puyo Chronicle (Sega): This is a full priced Puzzle RPG that reminds me of P&D or Monster Strike when they were turned into full RPGs with the puzzle mechanic as the gameplay. There's 3D graphics, a plotline, cutscenes, a world and towns you wander around in, and more. It's the 25th anniversary title.
- RPG Maker Fes (Enterbrain): It's RPG Maker, but for 3DS. It will have all the game sharing type functionality you would expect to make that actually useful.
- All Kamen Rider: Rider Revolution (Bandai Namco): It's a sidescrolling action game featuring all the Kamen Riders.
- Megami Meguri (Capcom): This is a game where you scan your train card and then the characters in the game talk to you about your riding history. I'm kind of surprised this isn't a mobile game, but I'm guessing the train companies are hoping to make riding the train more exciting for children. This game is f2p.
- Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball Heroes (Konami): This is an easy to play PowaPro baseball game for 3DS, presumably to target kids who aren't playing either the mobile or PS4/PS3/Vita game given we haven't had a 3DS version in a while.
- Sega 3D Fukkoku Archives 3: Final Stage (Sega): This is a 3D-ified retro game collection with After Burner II, Super Hang-On, Streets of Rage II, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Gunstar Heroes, Turbo Outrun, and Thunder Force III. There are also two more games coming. Given the name, this is presumably the last collection for 3DS. There will also be a compilation release containing all three games.
- Kunio-kun Nekketsu Complete Famicom Series (Arc System Works): This is a collection of all Kunio-kun games from the original Nintendo.
- Tank Troopers (Nintendo): This is a class based, competitive third person shooter where everyone is a tank and you can't play online.
- Super Mario Maker 3DS (Nintendo): This is a 3DS adaptation of Super Mario Maker. There are some limitations like not being able to upload courses online or pick courses from the store by course ID. Not all Wii U stages work on the 3DS version.
- Poochy & Yoshi’s Woolly World (Nintendo): This is an enhanced port of Yoshi's Woolly World for 3DS that has every single level from the Wii U version, plus new exclusive levels where you play as Poochy. There are also 30 animated shorts with Yoshi and Poochy being added to the game, and a Poochy amiibo is being released.
- Mario Sports: Superstars (Nintendo): This is a Mario Sports title featuring Soccer, Baseball, Tennis, Golf, and Horse Riding. Each game has a singleplayer mode along with local and online multiplayer. It's probably the first Mario Sports title this generation where I felt the value proposition actually made sense in the modern era, so I'm curious to see how it does.
- Pikmin for Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo): This is a 2D sidescrolling Pikmin game where you use Pikmin to help Captain Olimar progress through the levels. They intend to give it a new name later.
- Momotaro Dentetsu 2017: Tachiagare Nippon!! (3DS): The rumors are true, and Nintendo is now publishing the Momotaro Dentetsu series instead of Konami. This is the first new entry in a while, and the last one had a huge popularity surge when it was on some TV show, so this will probably be quite successful.
- Miitopia (Nintendo): We got a logo with a fantasy vibe about it. That's... about it.
- Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3 Professional (Square Enix): This is the enhanced re-release of Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3 similar to how games in this genre have historically worked.

PS4:
- Metal Gear Survive (Konami): This is a $30 four player co-op zombie shoooter that takes places between MGS: Ground Zeroes and MGSV, and probably represents the type of games we'll be getting out of the series going forward.
- Miko Gakkou Monogatari: Kaede Episode (xinoro): This is a $10 indie game port.
- Arcade Archives: I'm re-bolding this and editing the entry to reflect that there are basically a variety of older arcade titles for this program announced at TGS and I feel they make more sense as one lump entry.
- * Project Awakening (CyGames): Once upon a time, the director of 3D Dot Heroes (Silicon Studio) started a new company with CyberAgent and CyDesignation called CyGames. He proceeded to make billions of dollars with endlessly successful mobile games, and now he's seemingly directing his own "High End Console Game" along with a bunch of staff he poached from Square Enix, Konami, and related studios.
- * Project Re: Link (CyGames/Platinum Games): Platinum Games is working with CyGames on what appears to be a four player action RPG based on the Granblue Fantasy series. It looks pretty ambitious for what it is. Technically the only platform hinted at so far it the PC, but given it looks like a co-op game instead of an MMO (they noted it was imagined for multiplayer but you can play it in singleplayer as well), I'd be really surprised if it wasn't on PS4, so I'm putting it here for now. Feel free to pelt me with stones if it doesn't show up on PS4.
- Birthdays The Beginning (Arc System Works): This is a new game from Harvest Moon's creator. It's like an old God Game on PC where you shape the environment and related things and the world grows up and evolves based on the various conditions present.
- SkyRide (Mutan): This is some kind of $15 3D shmup.
- Monster Hunter Frontier Z (Capcom): This is the newest update to Monster Hunter Frontier, and the game is getting ported to PS4 to coincide with the update.
- M2 ShotTriggers (M2/Various): This is similar to arcade archives, but for classic shmups from various publishers and developers.
- SG/ZH School Girl/Zombie Hunter (D3/Tamsoft): This is the newest game from the Onechanbara people. It takes place in the same universe, but is a shooter and stars school girls instead.
- Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Road to Boruto (Bandai Namco/CyberConnect2): This is a re-release of the game with all the DLC and the new Boruto expansion pack (which is also available as DLC) included. I felt it was worth including since it's a deviation from the approach of release Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution.
- Last Labyrinth (Tayutau): This is a VR escape-the-house style adventure game.
- Rewrite (Prototype/Key): This is a port of the visual novel with all the bonus content included.
- Headbutt Factory (Gemdrops): This is a VR game about headbutting balls that fly in from various angles.
- V! No Heroes Allowed! R (Sony): This is effectively Sony's newest Badman game, but it's a 3D VR game now.
- Gundam Versus (Bandai Namco): The newest Gundam Versus announced, and this time it's for PS4. This one is not a home port of an arcade game, but rather a new title. The graphics are pretty competent for what it is, and Namco was pretty heavily hinting they intend to do a worldwide release this time around.
- Earth Defense Force 5 (D3 Publisher/Sandlot): Earth Defense Force is back, and is pretty much what you would expect, but with the general additions new hardware can bring.

3DS/PS4:
- * Megaton Musashi (Level-5): To note, these are platforms "under consideration". The game might not come out for several years, at which point it might drop the 3DS version in favor of the NX. Hino noted he wants the game to appeal to both older Super Robot fans, as well as new children, and that he wants it to be on a portable and "as large as a screen as possible".

PS4/Vita:
- Story of the Good Old Days (Daidai): Simulation RPG, budget title.
- Blue Reflection: Sword of the Girl Who Dances in Illusions (Koei Tecmo/Gust): This appears to be a magical girl RPG starring school girls by the Atelier character designer. The actual graphical quality looks surprisingly good for Gust, though everyone looks like a doll.
- Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon (Koei Tecmo/Gust): It sounds like an iterative sequel to the last game.
- Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World- Death or Kiss (5pb): This is a visual novel based on the light novel.
- Sengoku Shura Soul (Lions Film/Creek and River): This is a real-time battle, Sengoku based f2p smartphone title that's being ported to PS4 and Vita. It received over 1 million downloads on mobile and has had okay but far from astonishing performance there, though I imagine for whatever studio Creek and River has set up for the purposes of getting into gaming, it's probably quite healthy, hence the expansion.
- Touhou Koubuto V (Touhou): There were a bunch of Touhou games that had release dates announced for PS4/Vita recently, but I think this is the only new announcement for the time frame Road to TGS covers. It's $30, is a fighting action game, and will support PSVR. The PS4 version has online multiplayer while the Vita one has ad-hoc multiplayer.
- Musou Stars (Koei Tecmo/Omega Force): This is a Musou game starring all your favorite Koei Tecmo characters like Hajime Arima and Opoona. This was a pretty hilarious announcement, but I'm not sure how much broadbase appeal this has versus more so being Koei Tecmo celebrating the fact they have enough IPs to even consider making something like this.
- Itadaki Street: Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary (Square Enix): The newest Fortune Street is coming to Vita and PS4. This was probably one of the more surprising announcements during Road To TGS, but Square Enix seems rather committed to supporting the PS4. The game itself is sort of like Monopoly and it's big among families.

Vita:
- The Princess is Money-Hungry (Nippon Ichi): This feels sort of like a retro-inspired indie game though it costs $60.
- id: Rebirth Session (Entergram): Visual novel.
- Valkyria: Azure Revolution (Sega/Media.Vision): This is also on PS4, but a Vita version of the game was just announced.
- Twin Star Exorcists (Bandai Namco): This is a "battle and adventure" game based on the manga of the same name, centering around an original story.
- Drive Girls (Bergsala Lightweight): It's a game about girls who turn into cars and fight insects.

NX:
- I'll include that Dragon Quest XI (Square Enix) was reconfirmed to be coming to NX, and that all three versions are aiming for simultaneous release. When this game is formally shown, I might change up how this one is written to match the other formatting.

PS4/PS3:
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms 13 with Power Up Kit (Koei Tecmo): This is an expanded re-release.

3DS/Mobile:
- Lady Layton (Level-5): This is pretty similar to a traditional Layton title, but brought into being a mobile era service game. It's probably one of Level-5's most interesting experiments and it will be a good one to follow in terms of performance and Level-5's statements about how it's done.

Mobile:
- Lost Order (CyGames/Platinum Games): Yasumi Matsuno (Final Fantasy Tactics, FFXII) is back and directing a new Real Time Tactics game developed by Platinum for CyGames. Akihito Yoshida is the art director and character designer on the title. The game is fully 3D, and is Platinum's first mobile title. This game is a good example of what I mean by mobile games in Japan targeting older core gamers a lot more than you see in the West, along with the increasing complexity you see in Japanese mobile titles. Taking a look at a screenshot, this is also the type of game you would have expected as a Vita title in a world where mobile hadn't risen to its current heights. Mind, CyGames is also making significant investments in console games at this point.
- Yo-Kai Watch (Level-5): Enhanced port of original game.
- Yo-Kai Daijiten (Level-5): Quiz RPG, looks high effort for what it is.
- Yo-Kai Watch Geraporhythm (Level-5): Rhythm game, similarly looks high effort for what it is.
- Otome Hero (Level-5): Otome RPG.
- Kamitsuri (Square-Enix): Puzzle RPG.
- Princess Connect Re: Dive (CyGames): It's not really clear what this game is yet, outside of them signing some famous studios and people to handle the anime scenes and plotline. Its genre is "Anime RPG".
- Sevens Story (CyGames): CyGames is rebooting/remaking a 2013 turn based tactical RPG into a new game more fit for the modern mobile market. Based on the screenshots, it looks more like what you'd expect out of an actual tactical RPG, but I'll have to see gameplay to be certain.
- Astro Boy: The Edge of Time (Active Gaming Media): This is a collective card game based on Astro Boy. It has a Kickstarter that looks like it will fail, but as far as I can tell, they're making the game anyway.
- Kingdom: Seven Flags (Bandai Namco): This is a mobile game about simulating battles from the warring states era based on the Kingdom manga.
- Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia (Square Enix/Koei Tecmo/Team Ninja): Team Ninja is making a command/turn based RPG based on Dissidia where you play as popular Final Fantasy characters and fight various monsters with mechanics as inspired by Dissidia. This one has potential to do well, though there's a lot of games of this nature on mobile already. To some extent, I imagine they're trying to cannibalize themselves before someone else does.
- Starly Girls: Episode Starsia (Kadokawa): This is some kind of waifu collection simulator about flying around a spaceship and piloting mechs.
- Akashic Re:cords (Square Enix): We don't know a lot about this yet, but it appears to be one of Square Enix's big mobile reveal for TGS along with the Dissidia game.
- Kakuchou Shoujokei Trinary (Koei-Tecmo/Gust/Toei): This is a mobile game and anime hybrid project where the anime shows the main story and the mobile title is about the combat and dating aspects of the game, and what happens between each episode of the show. I'm not convinced Gust is a big enough player to make this work, but it is an interesting attempt at cross media on mobile.
- Super Mario Run (Nintendo): The day has finally arrived, and Mario is headed to iOS (and later Android) as a level based autorunner. It will be a free demo app where you make a one time in app purchase to unlock all of the content, at least at launch. I could go into more detail about why this is a very prominent announcement, but I don't think anyone needs me to.
- Guardian Codex (Square Enix): This is the newest game by the Guardian Cross team and was announced from day one as a worldwide release. All the announcement information was even in English, including the promotional website and the assets in the game. I don't think Hiroyuki Ito is involved in this given they didn't bother to put him on the website (he was involved to an extent in Guardian Cross), but you never know.
- Akiba's Trip: Festa (Gung-Ho/Acquire/DMM): This is a new browser and mobile game where you play a guy who goes around stripping a bunch of girls in Akihabara. It's fully 3D and looks like a regular mobile game despite also being on browser.
- God Eater Online (Bandai Namco/Asobimo): This is an MMO-ized version of God Eater for smartphones. It plays the same as the God Eater games, but with a lot more people. You can solo missions if you like, though NPCs join you to simulate having other players, presumably for difficulty concerns. I watched some videos and it looks like a fully featured game and probably Namco's most ambitious mobile game to date.
- Egglia: The Legend of the Red Cap (DMM Powerchord Studio/Brownies): This is a new RPG helmed by Kameoka Shinichi, who worked on the Seiken Densetsu series, Magical Vacation series, Mother 3, and Fantasy Life. It looks like it plays like a board game where you roll dice to move along a hex grid and can do actions based on the grid you land in. The battles are also dice based, and you can build a town with the various resources you collect. The art direction is also nicer than you'd normally associate with a mobile RPG like this.
- Toukiden: Mononofu (Koei Tecmo/Omega Force): I'm breaking one of my rules and including a game that was announced (with zero details) a day before Level-5 Vision happened. After watching the TGS trailer, this appears to be Koei Tecmo's equivalent of Monster Hunter Explore, but it looks like it's better designed than that was. I felt this was worth including on the off chance it actually ends up doing better than Monster Hunter Explore.
- Flame x Blaze (Square Enix): This is Square Enix's new 3v3 smartphone MOBA. On the one hand, I think Square Enix has correctly assessed that the MOBA audience in Japan is still available, and that the most likely place to court them is on mobile. That said, I'm not convinced this will be the product to do it. Presumably this is part of Square Enix's initiative to be the biggest eSports company in Japan. The game is produced by the Kingdom Hearts mobile producer, directed by Yuji Abe, who was a battle director on the FFXIII series except for Lightning Returns where he was the #2 director after Toriyama, and has character designs by Gen Kobayashi of TWEWY fame.
- Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress (DMM/TriFort): This is a smartphone and browser game based upon Attack On Traintan. It's a turn based RPG.
- King’s Knight: Wrath of the Dark Dragon (Square Enix): Made by Square Enix Division 2, the team behind such games as Final Fantasy XV and Justice Monsters V, is at it again with this new, definitely Final Fantasy XV related game that's actually a re-imagining of Square's 1986 NES/MSX game. The original was singleplayer, but you can play this one in four player co-op. Noctis and friends play the game during FFXV to help advertise the product similar to Justice Monsters V. As a warning, people didn't seem overwhelmed by their previous mobile game.
- Monster Hunter Stories Drop (Capcom): This is a match-3 RPG tie-in for Monster Hunter Stories that seems to share all the art assets from the main game.

Unspecified:
- Inazuma Eleven Ares (Level-5): I'm going to guess 3DS, smartphones, and maybe the NS, but this one isn't hinted heavily enough to include in a category above.
- Chaos;Child Love Chu Chu!! (5pb.): It's the newest Chaos;Child visual novel. They didn't bother to announce platforms yet, but you can probably guess.
- God Eater 3 (Namco Bandai): All we know is that this is a console title and that they put out a teaser with improved looking graphics that may or may not be representative of the game.
- Nobunaga’s Ambition (Koei Tecmo/Kou Shibusawa Productions): Zero details at all except that a new one is in development.
- The Great Ace Attorney 2 (Capcom): This is the sequel to the previous Ace Attorney spin-off game. There was no platform announced. It's probably 3DS and maybe NX and/or smartphones as well.

Cancellations:
- Crows: Burning Edge (Bandai Namco) had its Vita version canceled and is now only for PS4.

Oddities:
- Kai-ri-Sei Million Arthur VR Game (Square Enix/GREE VR Studio): Announced for "the HTC Vive and others", this is a VR game based on the world of Kai-ri-Sei Million Arthur. Square Enix noted they were considering releasing on "other platforms" and even a global release for the game. It's coming in Spring 2017. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that it's also for PSVR, but they want to wait until Sony's pre-TGS conference to confirm that.

Nirolak's opinion as of this week:
- While there was a ton of small game and lower-mid tier titles announced during the TGS period, the larger and upper mid-tier content were pretty sparse. I get the sense that the PS4's support was largely announced years in advance to try and build confidence in the system, while the NX is suppressing a lot of the Nintendo handheld output. Given the scenarios surrounding this year, I think this was about the best that could be expected, but I can't help but feel at least some disappointment. It will be interesting to see next year, since it has a chance for strong recovery as the announced PlayStation games release, and the NX will most likely be unveiled by then. The two also have a strong chance of sharing much of their library, which could help generate more investment in larger titles given the larger potential audience.

 

[Dash Kappei]

- Arcade Archives: I'm re-bolding this and editing the entry to reflect that there are basically a variety of older arcade titles for this program announced at TGS and I feel they make more sense as one lump entry.
- M2 ShotTriggers (M2/Various): This is similar to arcade archives, but for classic shmups from various publishers and developers.

Any specific titles announced for these two?

 

[ZSaberLink]

Thought folks might find this article about Ace Attorney 6 recently. Seems like they spent a ton of time on the 3D Models in this game vs. the last one.

http://www.capcom-unity.com/zeroobj...nd-scarves-gorgeous-3d-models-in-fluid-motion

 

[Bruno MB]

PREDICTION LEAGUE OCTOBER 2016

Predict how much these titles will sell in the month (from Sep 26 to Oct 30):

[3DS] Monster Hunter Stories (23 days) - 250.000
[WIU] Paper Mario: Color Splash (18 days) - 55.000
[PS4] Battlefield 1 (13 days) - 150.000
[3DS] Mario Party: Star Rush (11 days) - 135.000
[PSV] Macross Delta Scramble (11 days) - 50.000
[PS4 + PS3 + PSV] Berserk Musou (4 days) - 90.000
[PS4 + PSV] Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization (4 days) - 145.000
[PS4 + PSV] World of Final Fantasy (4 days) - 115.000

 

[Fisico]

Thought folks might find this article about Ace Attorney 6 recently. Seems like they spent a ton of time on the 3D Models in this game vs. the last one.

http://www.capcom-unity.com/zeroobj...nd-scarves-gorgeous-3d-models-in-fluid-motion

Yep playing the game I noticed that, the animations and 3d models of most of the original characters look so good that it makes the returning characters from AA5 look bad ! (And they are not by any means)
They also did à lot of things with camera work and that really made the game an even greater watch with the various witness breakdowas.

 

[Oregano]

I was wondering if I missed the final road to TGS. It was a very low profile year this year. God Eater 3 was the only big-ish announcement(well SMM 3DS might be big) and that was devoid of details.

Nirolak's opinion as of this week:
- While there was a ton of small game and lower-mid tier titles announced during the TGS period, the larger and upper mid-tier content were pretty sparse. I get the sense that the PS4's support was largely announced years in advance to try and build confidence in the system, while the NX is suppressing a lot of the Nintendo handheld output. Given the scenarios surrounding this year, I think this was about the best that could be expected, but I can't help but feel at least some disappointment. It will be interesting to see next year, since it has a chance for strong recovery as the announced PlayStation games release, and the NX will most likely be unveiled by then. The two also have a strong chance of sharing much of their library, which could help generate more investment in larger titles given the larger potential audience.

You'd hope so...

 

[Kresnik258]

Out of interest, how does everyone feel about how Spike-Chunsoft are handling the DanganRonpa IP at the moment?

Obviously it's not a massive seller, but it's regularly doing 150-200k per entry now and popularity seems to have been strong for a while now.

I'm finding it quite interesting that they've decided to tie up the now-quite-convoluted storyline from the original games in an anime and then are soft-rebooting with a new game on PS4/Vita.

I'm not quite sure how many new fans they're going to bring in by calling it "V3", though. I have to wonder if the decision was made because they knew they were gonna have to migrate away from Vita eventually and wanted a fresh start for a new line of hardware (PS4).