The reason of the change in the Japanese gaming business (information)

[Trippled]

Did not hear about the bolded.

The end is truly nigh

Well fail is an overstatement. It just didn't do great or good, just okay.

[Aki-at]

Well fail is an overstatement. It just didn't do great or good, just okay.

Yeah it did okayish, I doubt it's meeting SEGA's expectation though if they wanted Ishin to do 500,000...

But hey if Yakuza 5 crossed over a million that gives Yakuza 0 hope yet, probably why they were so interested in getting into the Chinese market.

[inthesky]

Power struggle, KojiPro is on the bad side of it (of course, unfortunately) but apparently he will be promoting the game in a very limited capacity

There's not been much for me to root for. They clearly won't make another Castlevania, not even 3D (and I'd love to try Lament of Innocence, even if apparently reception was lukewarm!) no Bomberman, no nothing. What this sort of suggests is that...it's ugly there. Igarashi gone, Love Live devs gone, =P

Better hope Silent Hill sets the world on fire

Did not hear about the bolded.

The end is truly nigh

it's not so much outright failing, as it is being fairly disappointing and leaving Sega with no obvious answers regarding what to do next with the franchise

[MadeManG74]

Yakuza 0 failing? TA WAS RIGHT!

For real though, sad news. I wonder what it was that caused it to struggle compared to the last title?

I hope you'll all join me in becoming pessimistic old men and not caring about gaming beyond playing 10 year + old PC & console games that I haven't gotten around to yet and the occasional 'indie' or 'under the radar' gem like Hotline Miami 2.

This is the future we chose.

[Aki-at]

My reasoning for it selling below par is simple:

- Gameplay isn't as progressive as previous titles. Yakuza 5 had 5 cities and characters, 0 only has 2 of both.
- The minigames aren't as expanded as previous versions
- A big one and Yakuza 5 spoiler: [spoiler]Game ends on a cliffhanger.[/spoiler]
- Franchise fatigue
- Japanese gaming market is contracting, traditional market is as big as it was in 1991.

[pirovash88]

The fuck is Konami going to do without Kojima?

I hear they've removed the "A Kojima Productions Game" From the MGS title..

He's either playing us for fools, or he's actually leaving.

[CrazyT]

Evolution Studio getting layoffs, Yakuza 0 failing, Nintendo opening to mobile games and now this.

What a week. WHAT A WEEK.

That surely means good news for tomorrow, like Shenmue 3 helmed by Nagoshi, Suzuki and Kojima and SEGA re-enters the console market.

Right guys, right?

: (

when you put it like that... Holy shit

I think more may follow. What a sad time

[MadeManG74]

Are you guys really surprised though? As Sega fans I thought we'd have known what's up already.

Look on the bright side, you can finally work on that Back Catalogue of games while all your previous favourite publishers make mobile phone junk.

[Aki-at]

Are you guys really surprised though? As Sega fans I thought we'd have known what's up already.

Look on the bright side, you can finally work on that Back Catalogue of games while all your previous favourite publishers make mobile phone junk.

Surprised about Kojima being forced out of Konami?

Come on, how could you not be surprised about that. Nintendo making mobile games was expected, but Konami dropping everything and their tailsman for mobile gaming was something no one saw coming, even if all the hints were there.

(Also SEGA still has loads of console/PC games coming, why you got to hate on [spoiler]Ha[/spoiler]T[spoiler]sun[/spoiler]e M[spoiler]iku [/spoiler]b[spoiler]r[/spoiler]o :< )

[MadeManG74]

I guess I'm just not so much surprised as indifferent. Never really played a Kojima game and I'm half surprised that Konami still exists in any capacity rather than moving to mobile phones. What do they even publish anymore apart from MGS which comes out once every seventeen years anyway?

Sega may have lots of Console/PC releases, but most of it I don't care about, or is just a title that's been published/bought from someone else or an established series before they got involved (and in some cases have nearly killed my interest through filthy monetization).

[Aki-at]

I guess I'm just not so much surprised as indifferent. Never really played a Kojima game and I'm half surprised that Konami still exists in any capacity rather than moving to mobile phones. What do they even publish anymore apart from MGS which comes out once every seventeen years anyway?

Pro Evolution Soccer is their only other major series. Still it's shocking regardless since Metal Gear is pretty much Kojima's creation.

Sega may have lots of Console/PC releases, but most of it I don't care about, or is just a title that's been published/bought from someone else or an established series before they got involved (and in some cases have nearly killed my interest through filthy monetization).

I suppose I could see it with Total War but if EA bought them The Creative Assembly would be closed a long time ago, so there's the other side.

Besides I'm not really going to go into the SEGA DNA thing. Shining Force and Streets of Rage were made via third party/spunoff teams but I still liked them a lot, as long as the games good that's cool. I feel as long as they've put up the cash than it's as good a SEGA game as any other, it just happened to be they constantly made/had a hand in the best games I was a fan, rather than a encompassing SEGA style and now their quality has dipped with the occasional great game here and there.

(And yes I consider Hitman, the original Batman Asylum etc, Square Enix products)

[CrazyT]

Unrelated to the thread but more about the stuff happening overall this week. I wouldnt be surprised more lay offs happened in the coming months in other places. The AAA environment is just so toxic imho. And you know what, you could see it coming from miles away. Great visuals has also taken away a great deal of focus towards gameplay in videogames while at the same time making games costing more effort to reach certain "created" standards.

Its really sad because for all the potential a gen like this has, it just isnt sustainable. The only way is if some revolution happened in developing tools.

[Happy Cat]

Unrelated to the thread but more about the stuff happening overall this week. I wouldnt be surprised more lay offs happened in the coming months in other places. The AAA environment is just so toxic imho. And you know what, you could see it coming from miles away. Great visuals has also taken away a great deal of focus towards gameplay in videogames while at the same time making games costing more effort to reach certain "created" standards.

Its really sad because for all the potential a gen like this has, it just isnt sustainable. The only way is if some revolution happened in developing tools.

It has nothing to do with the tools, well except maybe for the JP devs who refuse to use western engines. The modern day game engines are the most advanced they have ever been and super easy to use (for a developer). It's more so companies suffering from poor management and decision making.

[George]

I have to agree, I think the whole 'Xbox 360' PC focus that got popularity along with shooters really destroyed Japanese business' confidence in their IPs. You see what the newest entries for Namco's Ridge Racer, Hudson Soft's weird Bomberman (really Konami) reboot on 360, and so on.

IGN did a OK article on the thing.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/01/12/the-westernization-of-japanese-games

Lots of Japanese developers gave up on making their own types of games and tried to follow trends in the western market and compete with them. Do you think developers like Smilebit sat and wondered "Maybe we shouldn't make the game based on Tokyo, have bright cartoon graphics and very wacky world because Americans might dislike it."

That sort of thinking from upper management is what is killing Japan.

[pirovash88]

I think it's hard to pinpoint where the issues are happening in Japan. You've got developers catering to the West and not doing well and on the other side you have companies like Nintendo who are too stubborn to change.