[quote name='MSUHitman']I just wonder if Sony really cares about the JRPG market anymore. I think they are only interested in "mainstream" and online-only gamesales while Microsoft is more interested in having the best overall library.[/quote]If they didn't care, then why are they publishing White Knight Story and published Folklore (which is somewhat RPG)? Sony themselves have never been big RPG developers. It's just that Squaresoft, Enix, Namco, etc. CHOOSE to previously bring their RPGs to Sony's platform. Sony didn't moneyhat these developers either, they chose (Sony just handed a PS2 development kit and devs instantly jumped on).
The problem is, let's just say Sony tried encouraging these developers to develop on PS3. If they just say "no thank you, we rather develop on handhelds, rather make a game for Wii, or rather make it on 360 because it's much easier/cheaper to developer for", then what exactly can Sony do. The PS3 itself (hardware) is perceived by Japanaese devs the same way the original Xbox was, which was part of the reason it didn't get much support (it was seen as big, too much power, and too ahead). Most Japanese developers are behind on tech (like the articles have said) and many prefer platforms which are cheaper/easier to develop for.
Here's the main issue with JRPGs. Many publishers themselves have stated that in order to break even on most, you gotta sell 500k. Now just in the Japanese market alone, what RPG series can still sell at least 500K? Only Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, and Dragon Quest. That's why fewer developers these days are even bothering bringing next gen RPGs (see how DQIX went to DS, Suikoden to DS, several Tales of DS and PSP, etc.).
You're talking to someone that has over 130 PS1/2 games and loved how Sony helped RPG's become a viable game type in America, but I'm not above facing the fact that Microsoft is valuing these titles more than Sony right now. Microsoft is making special bundles in Japan for almost all of these JRPG releases, and the promo for the 360 version of ES (faceplate) was really cool.
Sony made special bundles too for just about every major game that came out in Japan too. DW6, Kenzan, MGS4, and many other games got special bundles. Heck, basically every big PS3 release gets a special bundle. The FFXIII demo that comes with FFVII: AC is getting a special demo. Look at PSP. Just about every major game release like Tales of the World: RM, Star Ocean: FD, Crisis Core, FF Dissidia, etc. has gotten or is getting a special bundle.
Here's how it goes:
1 year
360 has Enchanted Arms
PS3 has Enchanted Arms + Folklore
2 year
360 has Blue Dragon + Eternal Sonata
PS3 has Disgaea 3 + Eternal Sonata + Valkyria Chronicles
3 year
360 has Culdcept Saga + IU + Lost Odyssey + Operation of Darkness + Spectral Force 3 + ToV + Zoids + LR
PS3 hasn't even been out 3 years
PS3 already has White Knight Story coming out next year, Cross X Edge has been mentioned to come stateside. Last Remnant will come to PS3 next year (UE3 issues held back the PS3 version). If PS3 matches or tops what 360 has next year, it's right on track.
Again I'm glad ES is coming to Sony but I wonder if more RPG developers will go with M$ or Sony this gen. M$ seems to have a HUGE lead right now and I'm not sure PS3 can catch up.
Sony has the 10 year plan for PS3. Some developers like Gust, Atlus, Konami, Banpresto, etc. haven't even moved to next gen consoles for their RPGs. NIS plans to make an SRPG for PS3 yearly (or I'd think, because they said they have another PS3 game which will be announced soon). Gust has been looking for PS3 programmers for a while. There's still Level 5 who is close to Sony and can crank out a decent number of games (I consider Level 5 is to Sony like Mistwalker is to MS).
I know lots of people who are huge RPG fans with PS2's that refuse to get PS3's because of the cost, then seeing that M$ is getting all the RPG's makes it a no-brainer for them. It's a significant market I feel Sony is ignoring to its detrement.
If it was significant, then explain to me why any RPG that wasn't Square Enix struggled to sell stateside last gen? I mean Disgaea did good, Odin Sphere did good, and so on, but most all RPGs are niche 50k sellers. There were still a minority of PS2 fans (most PS2 fans if anything were GT, SOCOM, etc.).
I think the question of where the RPG's on PS3 will be one of the great questions on this generation of console games, right up there with all the M$ dependability issues, and who's buying all these Wii's and why are they not buying any other games for it.
If anything, most RPGs will be going handheld. The reason they went PS2 last gen was because it already had a huge lead early on (with no RPGs) and just kept building. Right now, DS and PSP are getting the majority of sales in Japan. which explains why most RPG announcements in Japan go to DS (many do not come stateside). Also for the fact handheld development is much cheaper than console development (and the greatly percentage of Japanese developers don't really push consoles at all) is why most RPGs will go that way. I do see the Wii being the console with the most, but the results of that probably won't be seen until 2009 (Marvelous Interactive, one RPG developer, is basically Wii/DS exclusive). Sony can't tell a developer to develop on PS3 when development kits are expensive (
Hudson who makes some RPGs said that and so did
SNK).
Sony themselves has already lost close to
$3 Billion on PS3 development, and they can't easily suffer more loses by paying every Japanese developer to make a PS3 game to lift up its initial development.
[quote name='pete5883']Unless you have an actual source, I'm going to say you don't know what you're talking about. You don't need a dev kit to start developing a game.[/quote]You can plan a storyline and draw the art, but you can't actually develop the gameplay engine in some cases or even the graphic engine. The developers of ToV started right after TotA came out in Japan, which was December 2005, and the majority of developers had no PS3 development kits (but had 360). Their choice was to make another Tales game on PS2 or go next gen on 360. They wanted better graphics, so they went with 360. Everyone familiar with Japanese development at GAF even said the same thing (I'm talking those who bring us the Famitsu news and such).
Again, outside of Madden, most games across all genres take ~3 years to develop.
It varies to he honest. Most music games, fighters, and so on don't take all that long to develop (it's mostly the balancing and perfecting that take time). RPGs take a while since you gotta design several dungeons, equipment, enemies, characters, etc. Most FPS only have like 15-20 enemy types. RPGs have hundreds of enemy types.
Also, it doesn't help for there aren't that many people in Japan in the high tech graphic development, according to Yoshida (SCE World World):
Speaking to VG247, Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida has said that Japanese developers are making “slow progress” compared to the West thanks to a generational shift in technology power to the US and Europe.
“What’s happened since the days of PS2; technology becomes more sophisticated, and more and more intense graphics technology [has appeared],” he said.
“The technology base has shifted from Japan to the US and Europe.”
Geography and the intrinsic needs of creating graphic-heavy games have led to a struggling Japanese games tradem the exec said.
“There are also talented people, engineers… in the US and Europe, and it’s relatively easy to form a large team that required to create this generation of games,” he added.
“That’s not the case in Japan. Because they don’t have a large base, like the movie industry; there aren’t [a lot of people] in the high end of computer graphics. That’s making the many great developers in Japan make slow progress.”
Yoshida pointed to the obvious examples of Metal Gear and Gran Turismo as ongoing Japanese success stories, but said the rest of the industry in Japan was not so fortunate.
“It’s amazing that some teams like Kojima-san’s team and Polyphony Digital are still creating such immense games,” he said. “But that’s not [indicative] of the core Japanese software industry, unfortunately.”
Yoshida was speaking at Games Convention in Germany.
http://www.videogaming247.com/2008/...-has-shifted-from-japan-to-the-us-and-europe/
I don't really want to continue this argument to be honest, but this is pretty much all the stuff I've picked up from being around several forums, news sites, etc.
Yes, you can. You obviously can't finish, but you can start without dev kits.
ing cheap to buy this at $60 when it's going for $30 or less on 360.
