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Thanks for the answers. Interesting to see the different views on Vita's future. With relevant i'm thinking about that its still being supported/produced and sold.

This generation, we're probably looking at ~25 million handheld systems sold in Japan. Unless Sony think that this market will drop like crazy in the next year or that they dont feel that they have any good idea that can catch on, i think they will try to capitalize on this market.

 

[Nightengale]

Thanks for the answers. Interesting to see the different views on Vita's future. With relevant i'm thinking about that its still being supported/produced and sold.

This generation, we're probably looking at ~25 million handheld systems sold in Japan. Unless Sony think that this market will drop like crazy in the next year or that they dont feel that they have any good idea that can catch on, i think they will try to capitalize on this market.

I don't doubt Vita's support continuing, but I think it'll be tilted heavily into a Japan-focused product.

I've said it before, but Vita's longetivity is actually more than important for Sony in Japan, especially in light of games being multiplatform (Vita/PS3). With PS4 not getting that many games early on, Sony needs to leverage those existing multiplatform approach and get devs to either do Vita/PS4 or Vita/PS3/PS4 multi-SKU approach to bulk up the number of PS4 releases on the platform in Japan.

 

[Bitanator]

I don't think the 3DS will make past much more than 20 million. Vita will be lucky to reach the Saturn's 5.9 million sales in Japan. It has two more good years in it, I think the next Nintendo handheld will be out in 2016 and Vita will have that one year left in the tank. 15-20 thousand baseline is not something to be excited for in a handheld that has not done enough to gain traction three years into its life.

 

[metalslimer]

All those niche developers will probably go mobile before a Nintendo handheld. But nintendo better be working on consolidating the remains of the handheld market.

 

[Arzehn]

I imagine there's a problem with the amount of releases being pumped out (four releases in less than 2 years). It's an issue facing the series on its home platform too:

PS3 : Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland ( Gust ) { 2009-06-25 } - 47,456 / 75,063
PS3 : Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland ( Gust ) { 2010-06-24 } - 72,836 / 104,711
PS3 : Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland ( Gust ) { 2011-06-23 } - 100,722 / 137,764
PS3 : Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk ( Gust ) { 2012-06-28 } - 75,874 / 102,145
PS3 : Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of Dusk Sky ( Gust ) { 2013-06-27 } - 58,169 / 91,538
PS3 : Atelier Rorona Plus: The Alchemist of Arland ( Gust ) { 2013-11-21 } - 15,575 / 15,575

Not sure if it's like this for anyone else, but I look at this list of releases and I just don't understand. Is someone supposed to look at this and know what order to play them in? Is there an order to play them in? They change 1 or 2 words randomly in the title is what it looks like... it's the worst naming scheme for a series I have seen. How would someone new get into this series when it's so confusing.

You listed the release dates here, but when I see them listed without I don't even know which one of this series they are talking about.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

Not sure if it's like this for anyone else, but I look at this list of releases and I just don't understand. Is someone supposed to look at this and know what order to play them in? Is there an order to play them in? They change 1 or 2 words randomly in the title is what it looks like... it's the worst naming scheme for a series I have seen. How would someone new get into this series when it's so confusing.

You listed the release dates here, but when I see them listed without I don't even know which one of this series they are talking about.

The games are always named: Atelier *Name of the Main Character*

So far on PS3 the order is:
Arland Saga:
Atelier Rorona
Atelier Totori
Atelier Meruru

Dusk Saga:
Atelier Ayesha
Atelier Escha
Atelier Shallie(This is the 16th game of the series and it comes out tomorrow in Japan btw)

If you want to get into the series you can use google and it won't take you more than several minutes to know about it. Every "Saga" resets and the story and it's in another world/setting so you don't have to play all of them.

 

[L Thammy]

All those niche developers will probably go mobile before a Nintendo handheld. But nintendo better be working on consolidating the remains of the handheld market.

I'm honestly wondering why this wasn't stated last page. Aside from being unable to sell their products at full price, there shouldn't be many obstacles for certain games.

 

[Takao]

Total Puzzle & Dragon Z (3DS) shipments surpass 1.5 million units: http://www.4gamer.net/games/212/G021265/20140717008/

 

[ArtHands]

The atelier series isn't going to last through next year under the current release pattern. They have run out of ps3 atelier title to port to vita after the inevitable escha and logy plus in Nov and shallie plus in March

 

[TaiKH92]

Ugh poor Wii U it keeps dropping, it's almost near PS3/PS4 levels :/ and with Mario Kart :/ I guess one game alone can only do so much

 

[MisterGrey3000]

Ugh poor Wii U it keeps dropping, it's almost near PS3/PS4 levels :/ and with Mario Kart :/ I guess one game alone can only do so much

Yeah...I don't think there is much that can be done until the 9th gen comes around, and it's very possible that Nintendo/Sony's future countermeasures (for their consoles) could be completely useless against Japan's rapid shift towards mobile by that point in time.
Everything looks pretty bleak for the future of home console gaming in that country right now.

 

[Koppai]

My copy of Taiko 3DS 2 hasn't arrived from Play-Asia and it shipped on June 25th. Never taken this long before during summer...

 

[casiopao]

Total Puzzle & Dragon Z (3DS) shipments surpass 1.5 million units: http://www.4gamer.net/games/212/G021265/20140717008/

I would say, Gung-Ho should be feeling very good for that here. Not many games can even achieved that number.

Now, western release?T_T

 

[ohlawd]

just wait for that new Onechanbara game to drop.

judging PS4 before that game comes out is preposterous.

 

[Takao]

Phantasy Star Online 2es (iOS/Android) has surpassed 500k downloads: http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20140717_658362.html?ref=twitter

And while this is global stuff, Bandai Namco's latest F2P PS3 games (Soul Calibur Lost Swords + Ace Combat Infinity) have both topped 1 million downloads: http://www.bandainamcogames.com/company/news.html?news_id=190

 

[saichi]

With the success of YW2, I think it's safe to say we will see at least YK8... both Layton and IE11 concluded with 6 main games (Layton 7 is announced but MIA so far and 6 was supposed to be the last game). YW has higher peak than those 2 so it should last a little longer even with the yearly release schedule. L5 has 6 years to find their next big cross media hit. ^^

 

[CapHarlock]

Look at the Mario Kart 7 and Animal Crossing come back up in sales because of YW2. Those new 3DS owners must be picking up the games they missed.

Is there anything keeping YW2 on the 3DS or can it jump ship to another system like the Vita?

 

[jwhit28]

Look at the Mario Kart 7 and Animal Crossing come back up in sales because of YW2. Those new 3DS owners must be picking up the games they missed.

Is there anything keeping YW2 on the 3DS or can it jump ship to another system like the Vita?

I'm guessing Nintendo are going to be in whatever plans Level-5 has of bringing the series west.

 

[Anth0ny]

yooooooooooo

kai watch went OFF. Absolutely incredible numbers. Pokemon 2.0.


Not sales related, but I'm officially interested. I just picked up a Japanese 3DS, and I'm just about ready to buy Yokai Watch 1.

Just a few questions:

1. Is the game actually good? Sales doesn't neccesarily = quality, of course. I haven't really seen much video of it, only heard impressions from 8-4 and such. Worth the 5000 yen?

2. I have a grasp on the Japanese language equal to a kindergartener. Probably worse. (I can read katakana, hiragana and know only the most basic vocabulary and sentence structure). Is this game import friendly? I played Pokemon Crystal in Japanese and didn't have too much of a problem.

Also, it looks like the Mario Kart 8 "bump" is officially over for Wii U. Onward to Zelda Musou!

 

[zeromcd73]

yooooooooooo

kai watch went OFF. Absolutely incredible numbers. Pokemon 2.0.


Not sales related, but I'm officially interested. I just picked up a Japanese 3DS, and I'm just about ready to buy Yokai Watch 1.

Just a few questions:

1. Is the game actually good? Sales doesn't neccesarily = quality, of course. I haven't really seen much video of it, only heard impressions from 8-4 and such. Worth the 5000 yen?

2. I have a grasp on the Japanese language equal to a kindergartener. Probably worse. (I can read katakana, hiragana and know only the most basic vocabulary and sentence structure). Is this game import friendly? I played Pokemon Crystal in Japanese and didn't have too much of a problem.

Also, it looks like the Mario Kart 8 "bump" is officially over for Wii U. Onward to Zelda Musou!

1. Yes. It's amazing.

2. It is import friendly. Since the game is aimed at children lots of the vocabulary is very simple and easy to understand. Also has furigana above the Kanji to make it even easier.

 

[SwiftDeath]

Always late to Media Create threads

YW2 had an amazing opening. Makes me wonder what is possible in regards to other games if positioned correctly on the 3DS.

FW is doing okay I think?

3DS hardware did great as would be expected I imagine. Vita did well too from i guess some type of value packs?

Wii U baseline around 8K then?

PS4 maybe a 7k baseline? Wonder how low it will get in the next couple of months

 

[ZSaberLink]

Always late to Media Create threads

YW2 had an amazing opening. Makes me wonder what is possible in regards to other games if positioned correctly on the 3DS.

FW is doing okay I think?

3DS hardware did great as would be expected I imagine. Vita did well too from i guess some type of value packs?

Wii U baseline around 8K then?

PS4 maybe a 7k baseline? Wonder how low it will get in the next couple of months

It's hard to tell baselines at this point. Let's wait a couple weeks...

Awesome job to YW2!

So the Wii U's JP lineup is now this iirc? At least they are all exclusive titles. These at the very least are pushing different genres than the Wii U has thus far (especially in Japan) and are all more Japanese oriented titles. What other Japanese console titles are releasing on PS3 or PS4 in the next couple months to compare?

7/17 - Wii Sports Club Retail
8/14 - Zelda Musou
9/20 - Bayonetta 2
9/27 - Fatal Frame V

 

[AniHawk]

It's hard to tell baselines at this point. Let's wait a couple weeks...

Awesome job to YW2!

So the Wii U's JP lineup is now this iirc? At least they are all exclusive titles. These at the very least are pushing different genres than the Wii U has thus far (especially in Japan) and are all more Japanese oriented titles. What other Japanese console titles are releasing on PS3 or PS4 in the next couple months to compare?

7/17 - Wii Sports Club Retail
8/14 - Zelda Musou
9/20 - Bayonetta 2
9/27 - Fatal Frame V

ps4 side of things:
september 4 - sengoku musou 4
september 18 - omega quintet

wii u also has a sort of dragon quest x compilation thing coming out. i don't expect it to help much, but it can't hurt.

 

[AniHawk]

I definitely agree with those people saying that GUST, Falcom and NIS will stick to PSV/3/4.

i think the companies who currently make things for two platforms will at least give nintendo a look if they don't simply just go mobile. mostly for those updated ports that come out years later like with disgaea 4 and the recent arland updates. if nihon falcom plans on making games for two platforms aside from the pc, they'll probably give it a shot if the specs are enough to their liking.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

I read your entire post, but it's a flawed post, because you fail to address that major issue. The platforms they're focusing on are either struggling or the end of the line. You touched on the end of the line for Sony handhelds, but what say you on the decline of Sony consoles (and consoles in general)? Companies like NIS and Gust and Falcom and such will have to look to Nintendo's handhelds, unless they're happy going to mobile, which I suppose is possible.

My entire post essentially detailed how these companies and their main franchises perform best on Playstation home consoles. I even provided evidence in some cases for this.

Since Playstation home consoles are here to stay, I said NIS/Falcom/GUIST/Compile Heart etc will instead just focus on PS4 if PSP3 does not exist. I said you can see this since NIS, Falcom, Compile Heart and GUST all have games being developed for PS4, indicating where they want to go.

Niche companies don;t really need to pay attention too much to consumer base since the most of their sales are in the range of 100k-200k. PS3 struggled and still got the support. PS4 is struggling and is still getting the support. What matters is software sales and those games that I mentioned may be considered as the test.

ps4 side of things:
september 4 - sengoku musou 4
september 18 - omega quintet

wii u also has a sort of dragon quest x compilation thing coming out. i don't expect it to help much, but it can't hurt.

From Gamefaqs

07/17
Murdered: Tamashii no Yobu Koe

07/31
Valiant Hearts: The Great War

08/07
Sniper Elite III

08/21
Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition
The Last of Us Remastered

08/28
Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

09/04
Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare
Sengoku Musou 4
The Amazing Spider-Man 2

09/11
Destiny

09/18
Omega Quintet

10/09
Dragon Age: Inquisition

10/23
Psycho Break

11/06
The LEGO Movie Videogame

11/13
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Subtitled Edition)

11/20
Assassin's Creed Unity

I don;t know where Guilty Gear is and god knows when Deep Down is coming. GTA V this year as well isn't it?

 

[Metallix87]

My entire post essentially detailed how these companies and their main franchises perform best on Playstation home consoles. I even provided evidence in some cases for this.

Since Playstation home consoles are here to stay, I said NIS/Falcom/GUIST/Compile Heart etc will instead just focus on PS4 if PSP3 does not exist. I said you can see this since NIS, Falcom, Compile Heart and GUST all have games being developed for PS4, indicating where they want to go.

Niche companies don;t really need to pay attention too much to consumer base since the most of their sales are in the range of 100k-200k. PS3 struggled and still got the support. PS4 is struggling and is still getting the support. What matters is software sales and those games that I mentioned may be considered as the test.

I don't think that's a wise outlook, given that the vast majority of consumers in Japan are abandoning consoles. Sure, the PS home consoles are here to stay, but why force consumers to buy overpriced hardware for niche content when they can put that content on platforms the consumers already own or will own?

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

I don't think that's a wise outlook, given that the vast majority of consumers in Japan are abandoning consoles. Sure, the PS home consoles are here to stay, but why force consumers to buy overpriced hardware for niche content when they can put that content on platforms the consumers already own or will own?

Its a pretty logical outcome.

As a Disgaea fan, Atelier fan or Neptunia fan you know what console the games will be on. They were on PS2, then PS3 and surprise surprise they are going to be on PS4. These companies are just following their fan base.

With Falcom they usually have handheld SKU's. Its evident they are going with PS3/V/4 for the coming 2-3 years and trying to build a PS4 audience. Whether they can transfer most of their sales to home consoles is something we will see later on.

 

[AniHawk]

I don;t know where Guilty Gear is and god knows when Deep Down is coming. GTA V this year as well isn't it?

guilty gear is late this year and it's another cross-gen game. gta v will probably be november or so- about a month after whenever it drops in western markets.

2016 is when things will really get cooking when final fantasy xv, deep down, and metal gear solid v all hit.

 

[zeromcd73]

guilty gear is late this year and it's another cross-gen game. gta v will probably be november or so- about a month after whenever it drops in western markets.

2016 is when things will really get cooking when final fantasy xv, deep down, and metal gear solid v all hit.

Come on 20XV Japan release for FFXV

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

guilty gear is late this year and it's another cross-gen game. gta v will probably be november or so- about a month after whenever it drops in western markets.

2016 is when things will really get cooking when final fantasy xv, deep down, and metal gear solid v all hit.

GTA V might be PS4's biggest game.

I'm expecting MGSV out by 2015 as well as Deep Down.

I occasionally dream of FFXV in 2015

 

[Yoshi]

Considering all the talk about there not being a PSP3, despite the lack of sales is there any indication for that? Afaik, Sony has been profitable with PSV, and it being ignored by their western branch isn't exactly a big change compared with PSP past the inital years. Are there any indications that Sony is willing to drop handheld business?

 

[AniHawk]

Considering all the talk about there not being a PSP3, despite the lack of sales is there any indication for that? Afaik, Sony has been profitable with PSV, and it being ignored by their western branch isn't exactly a big change compared with PSP past the inital years. Are there any indications that Sony is willing to drop handheld business?

cutting costs pretty much everywhere means no resources towards vanity projects like a dedicated handheld with a userbase of maybe 12-15 million. surely, the return on investment could be higher elsewhere.

 

[hiska-kun]

It begins! I didn't see any sold out last weekend or this past tuesday, when i took the MH4G and Frozen photos.

But today thursday is different.

Shinjuku Bic Camera, Youkai Watch 2 Sold out (完&#22770

Shinjuku Yodabashi Camera, Youkai Watch 2 Sold out (品切れ&#20013

Ikebukuro Bic Camera, Youkai Watch 2 Honke Sold out, Ganso still available

Ikebukuro Yamada Denki, Youkai Watch 2 still available, but not for a long time...

Sammy asked me if MH4 was available in Yodabashi Shinjuku. It was, it's been sold for 2.490 yen and pushed by the new entry. The deal is buy now a cheaper copy, and transfer the data when the new game is out.

Not discount in Bic Camera, still being sold at 5.120 yen. But the deal is the same: Transfer your data.

Big release of the week... Frozen??? lol

Real big release of the week: Oreshika 2

Atelier Shallie

Gundam Tri Age

Murdered

Wii Sports Club

 

[GreenMakoEyes]

GTA V might be PS4's biggest game.

I'm expecting MGSV out by 2015 as well as Deep Down.

I occasionally dream of FFXV in 2015

I don't think FFXV will be out by 2015. I think SE will announce Type-0 HD at TGS for Japan and this will be thier FF game in 2015.

 

[duckroll]

GTA V might be PS4's biggest game.

I dunno if people are dying to upgrade, especially if they've already played the game and most of them probably don't have a PS4 though. I really don't see a reason why it would sell over 400k. Unless you're not counting Knack... lol.

 

[Mpl90]

I don't think FFXV will be out by 2015. I think SE will announce Type-0 HD at TGS for Japan and this will be thier FF game in 2015.

And that day, we'll all laugh histerically for hours and hours. Not for the game per se (it was great on PSP IIRC, and it's finally coming here!), though, but for the whole context.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

I dunno if people are dying to upgrade, especially if they've already played the game and most of them probably don't have a PS4 though. I really don't see a reason why it would sell over 400k. Unless you're not counting Knack... lol.

Oh my how I could I ever forget about the mega hit Knack. That attach rate is insane.

I should of said during the holidays but now that I look at GTA V could overtake MGSV GZ and do 120k +.

I wonder how Advanced Warfare and Destiny will do as well.

 

[ArtHands]

My entire post essentially detailed how these companies and their main franchises perform best on Playstation home consoles. I even provided evidence in some cases for this.

Since Playstation home consoles are here to stay, I said NIS/Falcom/GUIST/Compile Heart etc will instead just focus on PS4 if PSP3 does not exist. I said you can see this since NIS, Falcom, Compile Heart and GUST all have games being developed for PS4, indicating where they want to go.

Niche companies don;t really need to pay attention too much to consumer base since the most of their sales are in the range of 100k-200k. PS3 struggled and still got the support. PS4 is struggling and is still getting the support. What matters is software sales and those games that I mentioned may be considered as the test.



From Gamefaqs

07/17
Murdered: Tamashii no Yobu Koe

07/31
Valiant Hearts: The Great War

08/07
Sniper Elite III

08/21
Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition
The Last of Us Remastered

08/28
Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

09/04
Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare
Sengoku Musou 4
The Amazing Spider-Man 2

09/11
Destiny

09/18
Omega Quintet

10/09
Dragon Age: Inquisition

10/23
Psycho Break

11/06
The LEGO Movie Videogame

11/13
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Subtitled Edition)

11/20
Assassin's Creed Unity

I don;t know where Guilty Gear is and god knows when Deep Down is coming. GTA V this year as well isn't it?

The "best on PlayStation home console" point is useless, because those series are nearly exclusive to ps3/PS vita in the first place.

Neptunia series is only on ps3 and vita
Disgaea series is exclusive to PlayStation systems too, save for an old port of the first game on ds
Atelier series is exclusive for the PlayStation platforms too except for a couple on the DS which performed as well as the ports on the vita. The DS has got no established fan base for the series too. And Atelier series is declining fast on the PlayStation platforms due to high rate of milking

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

The "best on PlayStation home console" point is useless, because those series are nearly exclusive to ps3/PS vita in the first place.

Neptunia series is only on ps3 and vita
Disgaea series is exclusive to PlayStation systems too, save for an old port of the first game on ds
Atelier series is exclusive for the PlayStation platforms too except for a couple on the DS which performed as well as the ports on the vita. The DS has got no established fan base for the series too. And Atelier series is declining fast on the PlayStation platforms due to high rate of milking

I was talking about PS home console vs PS portable.

Whole point being that they do much better on PS home console hence if there's no PS handheld they will focus more on the home console.

 

[Nightengale]

Considering all the talk about there not being a PSP3, despite the lack of sales is there any indication for that? Afaik, Sony has been profitable with PSV, and it being ignored by their western branch isn't exactly a big change compared with PSP past the inital years. Are there any indications that Sony is willing to drop handheld business?

cutting costs pretty much everywhere means no resources towards vanity projects like a dedicated handheld with a userbase of maybe 12-15 million. surely, the return on investment could be higher elsewhere.

Maybe not a dedicated handheld, but I'd say depending on the marketplace, there's room for a dedicated microplatform.

Low cost dual SKU with a $99 microconsole and a $150 handheld (Primarily for Japan), and expanding said platform across as many compatible Xperia phones as possible. And all games built for said platforms will also be playable on the main console.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

It's hard to tell baselines at this point. Let's wait a couple weeks...

Awesome job to YW2!

So the Wii U's JP lineup is now this iirc? At least they are all exclusive titles. These at the very least are pushing different genres than the Wii U has thus far (especially in Japan) and are all more Japanese oriented titles. What other Japanese console titles are releasing on PS3 or PS4 in the next couple months to compare?

7/17 - Wii Sports Club Retail
8/14 - Zelda Musou
9/20 - Bayonetta 2
9/27 - Fatal Frame V

Now that the news is out with a release date, I have no clue what sales to expect in Japan for Fatal Frame 5

 

[Busaiku]

Stuff like Atelier and Disgaea do better on home consoles because they launch much earlier on PS3 and are then ported to PSP/Vita.
When both versions launch at the same time, they tend to do better on Vita.

 

[duckroll]

Now that the news is out with a release date, I have no clue what sales to expect in Japan for Fatal Frame 5

15-20k first week at best imo! Could be <10k.

 

[ArtHands]

They were surviving off both vita/PSP and ps3 concurrently for the past few years, and ps4 isnt on fire either unlike the ps3.

 

[AniHawk]

the best-selling fatal frame in japan was the fourth one. the fifth one is getting by far the biggest marketing push, but it's on the wii u. it will be interesting if it manages not to be the worst-selling game in the series (barring the xbox stuff).

 

[AniHawk]

Maybe not a dedicated handheld, but I'd say depending on the marketplace, there's room for a dedicated microplatform.

Low cost dual SKU with a $99 microconsole and a $150 handheld (Primarily for Japan), and expanding said platform across as many compatible Xperia phones as possible. And all games built for said platforms will also be playable on the main console.

sony themselves is kind of a crappy developer on the small scale. they don't really know/care how to push that kind of market, so i doubt they'd make hardware to cater to something like that. sony views themselves as producers of premium products that demand premium prices. that's why you get what you get with their consoles (which tend to be fairly powerful) and handhelds (which push console gaming on the go as a concept). it's why their games are big blockbuster affairs. it's why scea's so very very picky about presentation. i think the vita/ps tv is something kind of far out of their comfort zone, and something of a play to make sure the whole vita experiment wasn't a total wash.

 

[Asd202]

I don't think FFXV will be out by 2015. I think SE will announce Type-0 HD at TGS for Japan and this will be thier FF game in 2015.

Yep I could totally see that happening. If Type-0 won't have a release date for early to mid 2015, late 2015 will be a lock. I even don't want to imagine what if that remasters won't come out in 2015...

 

[Aostia]

15-20k first week at best imo! Could be <10k.

but then, the anime will hire, and the game will sky-rocket. FF6 will debut at 1.3 million. deal with it!

 

[wrowa]

15-20k first week at best imo! Could be <10k.

It's crazy that the series is still alive after all these years, despite Japanese sales always being pretty low. Even the fourth episode sold less than 80k, despite being the best-selling entry in the series, if I'm not mistaken. I really wonder if the last few games actually posted a profit or if Nintendo just ate all of the costs, because they literally don't care as long as it improves their standing with Tecmo Koei.

The new game is obviously not a big budget production and achieves a great look by making clever use of a limited budget, but it's still doesn't strike me as a game that's so cheap to produce that it's enough to sell 50k to 100k units to make a profit...

 

[duckroll]

It's crazy that the series is still alive after all these years, despite Japanese sales always being pretty low. Even the fourth episode sold less than 80k, despite being the best-selling entry in the series, if I'm not mistaken. I really wonder if the last few games actually posted a profit or if Nintendo just ate all of the costs, because they literally don't care as long as it improves their standing with Tecmo Koei.

The new game is obviously not a big budget production and achieves a great look by making clever use of a limited budget, but it's still doesn't strike me as a game that's so cheap to produce that it's enough to sell 50k to 100k units to make a profit...

Well, let's be honest, Nintendo is basically losing money on many of these core titles just to try to diversify their lineup more. It certainly doesn't look like it's working very well, but I'm happy to see them waste their money to make stuff which otherwise won't be made just to satisfy a small fanbase.

Xenoblade is certainly not a game which any publisher would really be happy with ~200k in sales. Considering how poorly the WiiU is doing, going ahead with a sequel which looks even more ambitious and expensive is really foolish economically. But as a first party, they're able to not look at that and just commit to a range of titles hoping things work out in the end. If big titles which people are willing to buy can offset the cost, losing money just to create a wider range is a valid strategy in this case. It's similar to how Sony can lose money on stuff like Puppeteer I guess.