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Oct 26, 2017
20,440
Okay so here's my thing with Labo.

1. It looks too complicated for little kids. Nintendo seems to agree as they don't feature small (8 years or younger) children in any of the ads.
2. The cardboard stuff looks like it would be mocked by teens (though I may not understand modern teens, I will admit! I'm too old)

That leaves the audience as pre-teens only which seems pretty narrow.
 
Oct 27, 2017
42,700
And yet, there are some few publishers that prefer to sell at loss than support a main console from Nintendo (oh, hi Falcom!).
This shit never made sense to me. Some devs seem to almost want to keep relying on a single company to stay afloat instead of diversifying. I get some are small and don't have the resources for lots of ports, but there's no reason for the smaller scale Japanese devs not to do at least PS4/NSW/PC, yet a number of them would prefer PS4/Vita, not realizing the latter is on its way out and they should be cultivating their fanbase on platforms that are still alive and growing. Oh well
 

Aters

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
7,948
So we have a dilemma: Sony doesn't care about Japan, but wants their games. In contrast with that, Japanese developers that want to sell their games on their domestic market can't do that because Sony doesn't care about the domestic market, only the international one. And yet, there are some few publishers that prefer to sell at loss than support a main console from Nintendo (oh, hi Falcom!).

So, what to do? The strategy PS4/Switch for them seems to work in some cases (with generally the Switch versions being sold out for weeks and PS4 versions resting in the shelves), but I doubt that the japanese gaming market will continue to be sustainable in that scenario.

Also I said dilemma? More like the Riddle of the Sphinx.
A lot of Japanese companies are just like Sony: sell console games to the west and make mobile money in Japan.

Bamco is usually the most "domestic focused" company in Japan. In 2016 they sold about 3.5M copies in Japan in total. DS3 alone sold more than that globally.

This is what makes things interesting: usually with collapsing market, companies will panic and try every option they have. But These Japanese companies are not panic, they are enjoying record high profit and they are selling more games than ever. Nippon Ichi is one company I can think of that is in a really shitty position. Their games haven't sold well for a while and they are bleeding talents. Not surprisingly they jump onto Switch quicker than anyone else. You will see KT's support for Switch coming in fast and strong, because it's a another company on its way out.
 
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AniHawk

No Fear, Only Math
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,163
man ps4 is doing really well. first two million seller on a traditional console in over a decade and sales are way up year over year. really pushing traditional japanese franchises and games too. sega should be happy with valkyria chronicles 4. and level-5's probably excited that a niche game like ni no kuni ii is doing almost as well as an established franchise like far cry.

nintendo switch though - down from last year at this time and last week as well. i thought kirby was supposed to be a big system seller. really hard to see the future for this thing when it relies on just the same four titles to keep it going and no major releases until the end of the year with smash bros.
 
Oct 25, 2017
15,172
This was the week I went through several regions of Japan and I can tell you nothing was out of stock. From the big stores in Akihabara and Nippombashi to the smaller stores in Otsuka and Uji.
 

Rainrir

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,337
So we have a dilemma: Sony doesn't care about Japan, but wants their games. In contrast with that, Japanese developers that want to sell their games on their domestic market can't do that because Sony doesn't care about the domestic market, only the international one. And yet, there are some few publishers that prefer to sell at loss than support a main console from Nintendo (oh, hi Falcom!).

So, what to do? The strategy PS4/Switch for them seems to work in some cases (with generally the Switch versions being sold out for weeks and PS4 versions resting in the shelves), but I doubt that the japanese gaming market will continue to be sustainable in that scenario.

Also I said dilemma? More like the Riddle of the Sphinx.

They can be "export only". I personally think it's nonsense and even less sustainable, but Sony's sales reality is bringing JP3Ps down that path.

I haven't seen any knowledge industry thrive on a strictly export only model, the only industry (knowledge or not) that work that way is the raw material/resource exporters.
 

Laplasakos

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,275
man ps4 is doing really well. first two million seller on a traditional console in over a decade and sales are way up year over year. really pushing traditional japanese franchises and games too. sega should be happy with valkyria chronicles 4. and level-5's probably excited that a niche game like ni no kuni ii is doing almost as well as an established franchise like far cry.

nintendo switch though - down from last year at this time and last week as well. i thought kirby was supposed to be a big system seller. really hard to see the future for this thing when it relies on just the same four titles to keep it going and no major releases until the end of the year with smash bros.

Third-World-Skeptical-Kid.jpg
 

konoka

Member
Dec 20, 2017
387
Screenshot_20180411-131709.png

Screenshot_20180411-132050.png

Both are showing in stock now as well as sold out, so I'd assume it means that those listed in stock are in stock.
That english display is surprising.
If you can check japanese version website, you notice there are "在庫あり" and "お取り寄せ".
"在庫あり" means it's in stock.
"お取り寄せ" means waiting for a stock.
 

Deleted member 2793

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
15,368
A lot of Japanese companies are just like Sony: sell console games to the west and make mobile money in Japan.

Bamco is usually the most "domestic focused" company in Japan. In 2016 they sold about 3.5M copies in Japan in total. DS3 alone sold more than that globally.
They're not the most domestic focused. Selling more units =/= having a bigger focus on the domestic market.

The AA/niche companies are the ones that need Japan doing well as they take a huge part of their revenue from the domestic market. And no, it isn't healthy for these companies to have a dead home market.

man ps4 is doing really well. first two million seller on a traditional console in over a decade and sales are way up year over year. really pushing traditional japanese franchises and games too. sega should be happy with valkyria chronicles 4. and level-5's probably excited that a niche game like ni no kuni ii is doing almost as well as an established franchise like far cry.

nintendo switch though - down from last year at this time and last week as well. i thought kirby was supposed to be a big system seller. really hard to see the future for this thing when it relies on just the same four titles to keep it going and no major releases until the end of the year with smash bros.
lmao
 

sinonobu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,027
man ps4 is doing really well. first two million seller on a traditional console in over a decade and sales are way up year over year. really pushing traditional japanese franchises and games too. sega should be happy with valkyria chronicles 4. and level-5's probably excited that a niche game like ni no kuni ii is doing almost as well as an established franchise like far cry.

nintendo switch though - down from last year at this time and last week as well. i thought kirby was supposed to be a big system seller. really hard to see the future for this thing when it relies on just the same four titles to keep it going and no major releases until the end of the year with smash bros.
Far Cry sold like what? 5m First week?

Ni No Kuni 2 tracking similar to Far Cry means that it should be at around 3~4m range. Absolute success from Bamco and Level 5.

Going for high end graphics on consoles/pc definitely helped.
 

Deleted member 32018

User requested account closure
Banned
Nov 8, 2017
7,628
man ps4 is doing really well. first two million seller on a traditional console in over a decade and sales are way up year over year. really pushing traditional japanese franchises and games too. sega should be happy with valkyria chronicles 4. and level-5's probably excited that a niche game like ni no kuni ii is doing almost as well as an established franchise like far cry.

nintendo switch though - down from last year at this time and last week as well. i thought kirby was supposed to be a big system seller. really hard to see the future for this thing when it relies on just the same four titles to keep it going and no major releases until the end of the year with smash bros

This is an interesting spin on the information...
 

DecoReturns

Member
Oct 27, 2017
22,003
man ps4 is doing really well. first two million seller on a traditional console in over a decade and sales are way up year over year. really pushing traditional japanese franchises and games too. sega should be happy with valkyria chronicles 4. and level-5's probably excited that a niche game like ni no kuni ii is doing almost as well as an established franchise like far cry.

nintendo switch though - down from last year at this time and last week as well. i thought kirby was supposed to be a big system seller. really hard to see the future for this thing when it relies on just the same four titles to keep it going and no major releases until the end of the year with smash bros.
I always enjoy when you do this lol
 

Laplasakos

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,275
That english display is surprising.
If you can check japanese version website, you notice there are "在庫あり" and "お取り寄せ".
"在庫あり" means it's in stock.
"お取り寄せ" means waiting for a stock.

Thank you konoka, for properly translating all this. It's hilarious how some people are using translating machines only to prove otherwise when we have one here that properly knows the language and for the past hours has been desperately trying to correct them.
 

Rainrir

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,337
man ps4 is doing really well. first two million seller on a traditional console in over a decade and sales are way up year over year. really pushing traditional japanese franchises and games too. sega should be happy with valkyria chronicles 4. and level-5's probably excited that a niche game like ni no kuni ii is doing almost as well as an established franchise like far cry.

nintendo switch though - down from last year at this time and last week as well. i thought kirby was supposed to be a big system seller. really hard to see the future for this thing when it relies on just the same four titles to keep it going and no major releases until the end of the year with smash bros.

19d.gif


:)
 

Raijinto

self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
10,091
man ps4 is doing really well. first two million seller on a traditional console in over a decade and sales are way up year over year. really pushing traditional japanese franchises and games too. sega should be happy with valkyria chronicles 4. and level-5's probably excited that a niche game like ni no kuni ii is doing almost as well as an established franchise like far cry.

nintendo switch though - down from last year at this time and last week as well. i thought kirby was supposed to be a big system seller. really hard to see the future for this thing when it relies on just the same four titles to keep it going and no major releases until the end of the year with smash bros.

Well when you're right, you're right right?

Can't sum things up any better myself.
 

Andri

Member
Mar 20, 2018
6,017
Switzerland
So we have a dilemma: Sony doesn't care about Japan, but wants their games. In contrast with that, Japanese developers that want to sell their games on their domestic market can't do that because Sony doesn't care about the domestic market, only the international one. And yet, there are some few publishers that prefer to sell at loss than support a main console from Nintendo (oh, hi Falcom!).

So, what to do? The strategy PS4/Switch for them seems to work in some cases (with generally the Switch versions being sold out for weeks and PS4 versions resting in the shelves), but I doubt that the japanese gaming market will continue to be sustainable in that scenario.

Also I said dilemma? More like the Riddle of the Sphinx.

The big problem i see with sonys focus on the west(basically turning the Japanese gaming market into a export machine) is that if the market in japan continues to shrink, who would be the future developers developing games for export, if they didnt play any of the games themselves.

For example, say Franchise "X" sells 90% of its copies outside Japan, that means that the chance a future developer played franchise X is quite slim.
How is the developer market in Japan anyway ? I highly doubt that many forginers work at Japanese Studios.
 

fiendcode

Member
Oct 26, 2017
24,926
A lot of Japanese companies are just like Sony: sell console games to the west and make mobile money in Japan.

Bamco is usually the most "domestic focused" company in Japan. In 2016 they sold about 3.5M copies in Japan in total. DS3 alone sold more than that globally.

This is what makes things interesting: usually with collapsing market, companies will panic and try every option they have. But These Japanese companies are not panic, they are enjoying record high profit and they are selling more games than ever. Nippon Ichi is one company I can think of that is in a really shitty position. Their games haven't sold well for a while and they are bleeding talents. Not surprisingly they jump onto Switch quicker than anyone else. You will see KT's support for Switch coming in fast and strong, because it's a another company on its way out.
Falcom is another company whose sales are dropping and their output declining. When are they going to jump to Switch in desperation?
 

Rainrir

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,337
The big problem i see with sonys focus on the west(basically turning the Japanese gaming market into a export machine) is that if the market in japan continues to shrink, who would be the future developers developing games for export, if they didnt play any of the games themselves.

For example, say Franchise "X" sells 90% of its copies outside Japan, that means that the chance a future developer played franchise X is quite slim.
How is the developer market in Japan anyway ? I highly doubt that many forginers work at Japanese Studios.

No corporation cares about scenarios that far ahead. Not Sony, Not Nintendo.
 

Slam Tilt

Member
Jan 16, 2018
5,585
man ps4 is doing really well. first two million seller on a traditional console in over a decade and sales are way up year over year. really pushing traditional japanese franchises and games too. sega should be happy with valkyria chronicles 4. and level-5's probably excited that a niche game like ni no kuni ii is doing almost as well as an established franchise like far cry.

nintendo switch though - down from last year at this time and last week as well. i thought kirby was supposed to be a big system seller. really hard to see the future for this thing when it relies on just the same four titles to keep it going and no major releases until the end of the year with smash bros.
You really need your tag from the old place.
 

Andri

Member
Mar 20, 2018
6,017
Switzerland
man ps4 is doing really well. first two million seller on a traditional console in over a decade and sales are way up year over year. really pushing traditional japanese franchises and games too. sega should be happy with valkyria chronicles 4. and level-5's probably excited that a niche game like ni no kuni ii is doing almost as well as an established franchise like far cry.

nintendo switch though - down from last year at this time and last week as well. i thought kirby was supposed to be a big system seller. really hard to see the future for this thing when it relies on just the same four titles to keep it going and no major releases until the end of the year with smash bros.

Did you invent Beyblade ?
 

KratosEnergyDrink

Using an alt account to circumvent a ban
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,523
man ps4 is doing really well. first two million seller on a traditional console in over a decade and sales are way up year over year. really pushing traditional japanese franchises and games too. sega should be happy with valkyria chronicles 4. and level-5's probably excited that a niche game like ni no kuni ii is doing almost as well as an established franchise like far cry.

nintendo switch though - down from last year at this time and last week as well. i thought kirby was supposed to be a big system seller. really hard to see the future for this thing when it relies on just the same four titles to keep it going and no major releases until the end of the year with smash bros.

Alternative facts! So the rumors are true and Trump has an era account all the time!
 

Aters

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
7,948
They're not the most domestic focused. Selling more units =/= having a bigger focus on the domestic market.

The AA/niche companies are the ones that need Japan doing well as they take a huge part of their revenue from the domestic market. And no, it isn't healthy for these companies to have a dead home market.
I mean among the big ones. Compared to SE, Capcom and Konami they certainly focus more on Japan
 

Eliseo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
580
man ps4 is doing really well. first two million seller on a traditional console in over a decade and sales are way up year over year. really pushing traditional japanese franchises and games too. sega should be happy with valkyria chronicles 4. and level-5's probably excited that a niche game like ni no kuni ii is doing almost as well as an established franchise like far cry.

nintendo switch though - down from last year at this time and last week as well. i thought kirby was supposed to be a big system seller. really hard to see the future for this thing when it relies on just the same four titles to keep it going and no major releases until the end of the year with smash bros.
You should ask for your old tag lol.
 

Vena

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,454
Thank you konoka, for properly translating all this. It's hilarious how some people are using translating machines only to prove otherwise when we have one here that properly knows the language and for the past hours has been desperately trying to correct them.

Said poster also tried to use Dengeki's report of improving supply as a sign of supply issues that would explain this drop. We've been running circles around these supply discussions for months on a mature console, at some point supply is not the reason

Clearly most everyone in here has no idea what's actually going on.
 

Rainrir

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,337
I like it when people don't read and expose themselves.
 

schuelma

Member
Oct 24, 2017
5,901
Said poster also tried to use Dengeki's report of improving supply as a sign of supply issues that would explain this drop. We've been running circles around these supply discussions for months on a mature console, at some point supply is not the reason

Clearly most everyone in here has no idea what's actually going on.

And at most we're probably quibbling over 3-5K sales.
 

Umibozu

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
414
Thank you konoka, for properly translating all this. It's hilarious how some people are using translating machines only to prove otherwise when we have one here that properly knows the language and for the past hours has been desperately trying to correct them.
Konoka gave a link with sites they said had stock issues. I looked and saw that some of the sites had shown in stock and pointed it out.
Even Vinnk who speaks Japanese had noticed it too.
konoka is probably right that it's a translation issue.

I'd appreciate it without the passive aggressive callout though, lap.
 

byDoS

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,192
man ps4 is doing really well. first two million seller on a traditional console in over a decade and sales are way up year over year. really pushing traditional japanese franchises and games too. sega should be happy with valkyria chronicles 4. and level-5's probably excited that a niche game like ni no kuni ii is doing almost as well as an established franchise like far cry.

nintendo switch though - down from last year at this time and last week as well. i thought kirby was supposed to be a big system seller. really hard to see the future for this thing when it relies on just the same four titles to keep it going and no major releases until the end of the year with smash bros.

I love you
 

Aters

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
7,948
Falcom is another company whose sales are dropping and their output declining. When are they going to jump to Switch in desperation?
Here's the thing: they are not in desperation. Remember, Trails sales didn't drop to the bottom of the sea, it simply went back to what it was. In fact they still sell better than PSP entries.

On the other hand, the company remains the same size throughout these years, they never expanded and they don't have more expenses than 10 years ago. They had healthy financial status back then and they still have healthy financial status now. In fact, they have one more income source than before: selling their games to western publisher, and that came for free.

Falcom never had a deficit in their yearly report since it was founded, I challenge you to find another videogame company in Japan that can do that. They didn't achieve that by aggressively expanding their size and market.

It will take a complete collapse of market for Falcom to jump ship. Remember, they were the very last Japanese company to abandon PC. Don't expect Falcom to leave Sony until PS games are selling like PC games in Japan.
 

Zedark

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,719
The Netherlands
That retread of Triple Deluxe is kind of crazy. But Switch seems to have enough momentum to push past it. But those SSU numbers are going to be hard to match. I'm guessing Squeak Squad is right around the 500k mark that SA should match.
So far, Switch games have had very strong performance in the long term, so it'll be interesting to see how much Star Allies will sell in the end. It could very well sell 1M in the long run.
 

Laplasakos

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,275
Said poster also tried to use Dengeki's report of improving supply as a sign of supply issues that would explain this drop. We've been running circles around these supply discussions for months on a mature console, at some point supply is not the reason

Clearly most everyone in here has no idea what's actually going on.

The user she/he responded too said that Dengeki/MC and Famitsu didn't made a comment on the stock situation and he provided a link with Dengeki. I said that this was old and replied back saying that also the last Famitsu report mentioned ''better PS4 hw sales thanks to some stock improvement''.

I agree though that we don't have a clear picture on this.
 

Rainrir

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,337

Zedark

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,719
The Netherlands
That poster is not wrong.

Falcom has dropped alot since their best days on PS.

https://www.resetera.com/posts/1668991/

Maybe next time educate yourself more beyond a 5 second Google search.

That poster is wrong about the idea that Falcom must jump on NSW though, they don't have the internal resources for it.
The partnership with NIS is a good solution, then, right? Allows their games to sell on Switch while delegating all the work.
 

Peace

Alt Account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
978
France
man ps4 is doing really well. first two million seller on a traditional console in over a decade and sales are way up year over year. really pushing traditional japanese franchises and games too. sega should be happy with valkyria chronicles 4. and level-5's probably excited that a niche game like ni no kuni ii is doing almost as well as an established franchise like far cry.

nintendo switch though - down from last year at this time and last week as well. i thought kirby was supposed to be a big system seller. really hard to see the future for this thing when it relies on just the same four titles to keep it going and no major releases until the end of the year with smash bros.

Nice try, I had to read it twice.
 

Aters

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
7,948
Also, for Falcom, due to their limited resources, they can only "jump ship" instead of expanding their platforms. See how they quickly stopped developing for PC when they jumped to Playstation. They simply don't have the men to sustain multiple different ecosystems.
 

Boiled Goose

Banned
Nov 2, 2017
9,999
Switch is home console to call it weak hardware and a portable to dismiss its sales.

Get with the program people.
 
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