As a huge fan of the franchise Sakura Wars 2019 not being on Switch was absolute sabotage by Sega. The first new game in 14 years for a dormant franchise that was arguably SEGA's biggest in Japan in the mid 90s to early 2000s. It not being on the console dominanting Japan was such a bad idea.
Also that release date with Persona 5 Royal, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Trials of Mana Remake, Resident Evil 3 Remake, Xenobalde Chronicles Definitive Edition in same month. Yes it was a sabotage, like Valkyria Chronicles 4 (same dev team) in the same week with Dragon Quest XI, and Monster Hunter World in Japan. This game should be multiplatform, not only PS4 ekslusive. Yes it was a sabotage. Thank you Toshihiro Nagoshi from RGG Studio, and Hideo Baba for destroying franchise.
The studio behind Visions of Mana was not closed because of the game. It was closes because the owners wnated to step down from Japan, so they were only finishing the contract work. And Square-enix was happy enough with the game that they hired the game director some weeks after the game released.
Fuga is actually doing pretty well for CC2's original IP releases. Outside of .hack back in the day they didn't really get that much over 100k sales each, but Fuga as a series so far passed 450k sales. I can see with the 3rd game and the upcoming physical release of all 3 getting the series to around 700k to 800k which is about as well as one of the sets of games from the .hack series did. I wish it was doing better, but since CC2 is pursing self publishing of their original games going forward renewed word of mouth about the quality, stories, and characters of their original games will probably help Fuga in the long run. I'm kind of hoping they can eventually get one of their original games/sets of games above 1 million in sales as it's a real shame that they get so heavily overshadowed by their anime games which are getting up to 8-12 million in sales for just one game. I'm also hoping they can bring .hack back as well since Fuga is a new entry in their more niche Little Tail bronx series, and .hack will probably have quite a bit more mainstream appeal. Hopefully Bandai will either support that series returning or let CC2 do a spiritual successor to it through their self publishing.
Earthbound is one of the most interesting case studies here. Despite the poor sales, it had an 'enormous' influence on the indie scene, including games like Undertale (which sold close to 10 million copies, from what I recall). It really is quite important in that regard, especially since it was the only officially localized game back then; the entire series sold less than 2 million units in Japan, so it wasn't a huge hit there either, but its influence really is outsized.
A lot of gamers never ever played a Sakura Wars game, because it was confined to one platform. If they had ported it to the PC, I think it would have done a lot better. My heart breaks for Harvestella, because it's really a good game. Sure - It was marketed badly, but there was also a huge controversy on Steam because the main male character (you can choose to play as male or female) was not "manly" enough, so the whole "wokiewokie" crowd jumped on it and posted negative post after negative post. The game never got a fair chance in my opinion. I really loved the first Mana game, but honestly was not gripped by the second game. It might sound a little childish (and it probably is), but the thought you are fighting to keep characters alive, only to be offered and loosing their life in the end, did not sound very appealing to me. Also the game has some protection that the first game did not had, and I feel too uncomfortable to spend money on that. The Star Ocean Devine Force game was nice, but not exceptional. I still bought it, but I can imagine that people where not that excited. The other Star Ocean game suffers the problem I have with all these kind of remakes. They do a great job with the improved backgrounds, but leave all the characters completely pixelated. Why the hell? Please give those characters the same graphical upgrade as you did with the backgrounds. I am a gamer for many, many years (since I played Asteroids on the Acorn Atom in 1980), and I was happy to get rid of all that pixelated stuff (using the first Voodoo cards). You probably can imagine I was not waiting for downgraded pixelated graphics in a brand new game in 2024.
Still it sold 300k copies on PS4 (before release date in the West), but most of this sales are from Japan and Asia. Release date was insane. They released Sakura Wars with Persona 5 Royal, and in same week with FF VII Remake. Dead on Arrival, like So Long My Love in 2010 on PS2, who was also released in ... same week with FF XIII on PS3 (but by NISA, not Sega). Sabotage, like Valklyria Chronicles and Skies of Arcadia (games from Sakura Wars developer). Someone in Sega really hates this dev team (Team Sonic and Sonic The Hedgehog fuck you). Sega just need to stop release their games only on one platform, and not in worldwide realease date (first Japan, X years later in the West, like they did with Skies of Arcadia, and Valkyria Chronicles).
Oh man, I remember the Sakura Wars gacha. That one made a few small ripples in the Fate/Grand Order community because it was made by the same developer (before Nasu bought their dev team and opened his own dev studio). They even hired some big name Vtubers for their reveal event. The next thing I heard from the game was the End of Service anouncement half a year later.
This gacha game was a dog shit, and had 0 connections with Sakura Wars franchise. It was just FGO clone without Sakura Wars key elements (different art style, no original characters, no Koubu, no romance sim, no Taisho era etc.). For those 30M $ they could easly remade older games ...
You're probably spot on about why Fuga hasn't sold well. I am Very Not Interested in playing a furry, and no amount of great gameplay will overcome that. And I suspect I am not unique in this regard.
I think that's an okay way to think since there are already too many games vying for our attention. You can't play everything so the more lines you draw the easier it is to pick what you actually want to play. I say keep skipping art directions you don't care for even if its critically acclaimed because for every one you skip, there is a game with an art direction you do like that you haven't played.
CC2 still doesn't really have proper international distribution for their physical releases yet. Unlike their anime games where Bandai or Sega would handle all of that they're doing this all on their own. I'm at least happy they are doing a physical release and it is multilingual too. I will definitely be getting the collectors edition and the only barrier is the pretty high shipping cost that will come with importing these games.
A lot of these like Sakura Wars I do blame their financial failure on not being the Nintendo Switch. However more important I remember growing up we would see maybe 1 or 2 really cool JRPG in a given year. Now it feels like there is a new amazing game every 2-3 months and it’s kind of impossible to keep up.
I heavily disagree on blaming a studio closing down for lack of pre-orders. people shouldn't pre-order. period. If they need pre-orders to survive, then the game must fail.
I'm always trying to recommend Fuga and Harvestella whenever i have the chance. Those game are amazing, at least we're going to get closure for Fuga with a third entry, and i admire how passionate is Cyberconnect2 about Fuga and the little tail bronx franchise (the other titles are some that i need to play someday); and last but not least, let's remember that Cyberconnect donated part of the sales of one of the games to children in need. I know Fuga's aesthetic can be well, uncomfortable due the furry stuff, but i can say the game doesn't do any weird fanservice and the kids act as kids.
Besides Baten Kaitos that unfortunately failed to find an audience it sucks that all of these great games failed due to mismanagement, I'm really hoping Visions of Mana gets a second chance of Switch 2, it runs like butt on my PC so I had to refund it.
Calling visions a flop isn't accurate at all. It sold really well for the kind of game and series it was and SE scooped up most of the devs which i don't know if they would have had visions actually been a flop.
Yeah, I would love to play Sakura Wars but I totally agree. The reason I can't is that I don't have a Playstation...I'll be honest the Playstation exclusive games drive me insane, especially years later.
I think if visions of mana had released on switch and ps4 it would have done better. I know it was available on ps4 in europe but those copies are hard to track down now and doesnt look like they will be printing more.
I don't know if i would call JRPG's a niche genre anymore, we live in a world where Pokemon RPG's have sold more games than Call of Duty...But it is an over saturated genre....I can only play that many 60hrs jrpgs a year...
Maybe the studio see Fuga as AA games but I threat it as an Indies game after I tried the Demo. So, I am still waiting Fuga hit like 70% off or coming to PS Plus or Gamepass
That's a really toxic mindset. Indie games are the ones that need sales the most. Waiting for the lowest possible price just means less money for the studio to reinvest in making more games. At least with Gamepass they do get a nice cheque for putting the game on the service.
@PenguinProvincial-c2v Called it what you want. With so many Subscription (Ps Plus, Gamepass, Netflix, Disney + etc), I only buy games when it has very Deep Discount. I do buy and play a lot "cheap" Indies games. That's sound "support" Indies to my ear, maybe not yours.
Sakura Wars not flopped, at least in Japan (141k physical sales in first week in Japan, second best selling PS4 game from Sega in Japan, except Like a Dragon Yakuza who sold 155k, still it was second worst selling game in series, because best sellling game in series Sakura Wars 2 debiuted with ... 507k on Sega Saturn). It sold 300 000 copies before western release. It's still one of best selling Visual Novel games on PS4. But i agree, if this game would be also on Switch and PC it should sell much better, even in 1M copies. The real flop was mobile gacha - Sakura Revolution. Sega spend 30M $ on this ,,game'' (more than Like a Dragon Yakuza budget). Hideo Baba basically killed this franchise, like he did nearly with Tales of Zestiria..
@@TheGamingShelf i guess it is kinda hard to see them as a series. Episode 1: Riviera, Episode 2: Yggdra Union, Episode 4: Knights in the Nightmare, Episode 9: Gungnir.
I swear JRPGs are an odd genre. It's the most well known niche genre in gaming with a ton of the most passionate fans and some of the greatest games ever made. Yet it is not as mainstream as games like Fortnite. I ask HOW?!
Neo the world end with you lacks everything that made the first one an original game, the transition from 2D to 3D has failed and some game mechanics didn't made it to the new one. And while the first game had a well written story this one is based on time travel. Always avoid time travel. Visions of mana is a generic action RPG, nothing more. No deep fighting mechanic. And about the story, was there any writter working on this game? Fuga lacked marketing, this game realy deserved to sell more. No physical release, it may have hurt the sales. Star Ocean: the divine force is a game that i whish i could have loved. The combat is absolutely broken against bossses, and like most games of the list it had a mid story.
Like Fist of The North Star: Lost Paradise (also PS4 ekslusive, from Sega). At least they ported now Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Shodown on Steam (also PS4 ekslusive), so there is still hope for PC port of this game.
Great video Taylor, Visions was always sad to me what happened with the studio, but either way i loved my time with it! 100k on the way this year! 🙏🏾♥️ you more than deserve it
Lesson: Make your JRPGs multiplatform. Seriously, I might have bought some of these games, like Jeanne d'Arc, if they weren’t locked behind the terrible PlayStation ecosystem. Put this stuff on Steam, and do it on day one-you’ll get sales. PlayStation, in particular, is no longer a great place for JRPGs. You've got the Fortnite/ Call of Duty audience, which isn’t interested in these games, and the Sony-exclusive audience, which also doesn’t care about them. Besides, more and more gamers are realizing that PlayStation doesn’t really have an endgame beyond "sticking with it because that’s where my digital library is." There are no real unique selling points anymore, so releasing games there feels like sending them to their death, IMO.
I wanted The World Ends with You - Final Remix for Steam, 'cause I never had the chance to play it on the past. Maybe that's why some other people didn't buy the NEO one, plus Epic exclusivity when it came out :v Sakura wars exclusive on PS4 Jeanne d'Arc exclusive on Sony platforms Baten Kaitos Remasters exclusive launch on Switch, and when it came out on Steam time after, publicity of it was non-existant. Conclusion, console exclusive RPGs hurt franchises.
Sakura Wars were system sellers on Sega Saturn, and Dreamcast in Japan, but i agree esklusive only hurts to IP's who are not from Sony or Nintendo now.
Yep and Fuga has some not so subtle but at the same time vague references to .hack throughout it too. I'm hoping this means they might do a new .hack series or a spiritual successor to it in the near future.
JRPGs just have a bad time overall, in the past not many people played them and if they were on certain consoles that did not have many JRPGs in total they fell through the cracks. For example, after the N64 which had almost zero JRPGs I just stopped getting nintendo consoles as PlayStation had tons more JRPGs. One of the biggest mistakes JRPGs always made was exclusivity, which with an already low player base diminished it even more. The problem JRPGs are running into most nowadays, I imagine is just oversaturation of games. Even the smallest turn off that wouldn't of affected someone in the past is now a "nope I will pass or wait for a steep discount" only to forget about it because 20 other games came out. I know I have become way more picky with games due to this reason, and just don't have the time to play games that don't completely fit what I want in a game. Now as someone who only plays JRPGs mainly, I have played most of these and some I just did not like at all, mainly the Square Enix ones minus Harvestella. To me, Square Enix has just kind of become the Japanese Ubisoft where the majority of their games just lack the oomph to keep me interested the whole way through.
@@steveguymanI reckon he means that exclusivity as a concept is ridiculous today in comparison to previous generations, pre the PS2 & Xbox era where there was no same game from console to console.
I don't get the logic. Most of these flopped for being below par. Harvestella and Star Ocean being prime examples of games just not being anywhere good enough.
that's something I never understand. saying something is bad within a couple of weeks of release and having poor sales in those two weeks. i loved Star Ocean DF and I don't understand the mid reviews. It should have sold way better. but people just assume it's bad if it's not some FF triple A title... super bizarre.
As a huge fan of the franchise Sakura Wars 2019 not being on Switch was absolute sabotage by Sega. The first new game in 14 years for a dormant franchise that was arguably SEGA's biggest in Japan in the mid 90s to early 2000s. It not being on the console dominanting Japan was such a bad idea.
Right!? I’ll never understand why they didn’t port it.
Also that release date with Persona 5 Royal, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Trials of Mana Remake, Resident Evil 3 Remake, Xenobalde Chronicles Definitive Edition in same month. Yes it was a sabotage, like Valkyria Chronicles 4 (same dev team) in the same week with Dragon Quest XI, and Monster Hunter World in Japan. This game should be multiplatform, not only PS4 ekslusive. Yes it was a sabotage. Thank you Toshihiro Nagoshi from RGG Studio, and Hideo Baba for destroying franchise.
I played Neo TWEWY last year
It was a really good game but yeah i didn't even know that was a thing until recently, never saw any kind of marketing
The studio behind Visions of Mana was not closed because of the game. It was closes because the owners wnated to step down from Japan, so they were only finishing the contract work. And Square-enix was happy enough with the game that they hired the game director some weeks after the game released.
The reason is simple why those games flopped: NO MARKETING, BAD RELEASE DATE, AND NO MULTIPLATFORM
Fuga is actually doing pretty well for CC2's original IP releases. Outside of .hack back in the day they didn't really get that much over 100k sales each, but Fuga as a series so far passed 450k sales. I can see with the 3rd game and the upcoming physical release of all 3 getting the series to around 700k to 800k which is about as well as one of the sets of games from the .hack series did. I wish it was doing better, but since CC2 is pursing self publishing of their original games going forward renewed word of mouth about the quality, stories, and characters of their original games will probably help Fuga in the long run.
I'm kind of hoping they can eventually get one of their original games/sets of games above 1 million in sales as it's a real shame that they get so heavily overshadowed by their anime games which are getting up to 8-12 million in sales for just one game. I'm also hoping they can bring .hack back as well since Fuga is a new entry in their more niche Little Tail bronx series, and .hack will probably have quite a bit more mainstream appeal. Hopefully Bandai will either support that series returning or let CC2 do a spiritual successor to it through their self publishing.
Earthbound is one of the most interesting case studies here. Despite the poor sales, it had an 'enormous' influence on the indie scene, including games like Undertale (which sold close to 10 million copies, from what I recall). It really is quite important in that regard, especially since it was the only officially localized game back then; the entire series sold less than 2 million units in Japan, so it wasn't a huge hit there either, but its influence really is outsized.
I wanted to buy visions of mana SO BAD, but 70 Euros? No way maguey... Most new games are so expensive...
A lot of gamers never ever played a Sakura Wars game, because it was confined to one platform. If they had ported it to the PC, I think it would have done a lot better. My heart breaks for Harvestella, because it's really a good game. Sure - It was marketed badly, but there was also a huge controversy on Steam because the main male character (you can choose to play as male or female) was not "manly" enough, so the whole "wokiewokie" crowd jumped on it and posted negative post after negative post. The game never got a fair chance in my opinion.
I really loved the first Mana game, but honestly was not gripped by the second game. It might sound a little childish (and it probably is), but the thought you are fighting to keep characters alive, only to be offered and loosing their life in the end, did not sound very appealing to me. Also the game has some protection that the first game did not had, and I feel too uncomfortable to spend money on that.
The Star Ocean Devine Force game was nice, but not exceptional. I still bought it, but I can imagine that people where not that excited. The other Star Ocean game suffers the problem I have with all these kind of remakes. They do a great job with the improved backgrounds, but leave all the characters completely pixelated. Why the hell? Please give those characters the same graphical upgrade as you did with the backgrounds. I am a gamer for many, many years (since I played Asteroids on the Acorn Atom in 1980), and I was happy to get rid of all that pixelated stuff (using the first Voodoo cards). You probably can imagine I was not waiting for downgraded pixelated graphics in a brand new game in 2024.
Still it sold 300k copies on PS4 (before release date in the West), but most of this sales are from Japan and Asia. Release date was insane. They released Sakura Wars with Persona 5 Royal, and in same week with FF VII Remake. Dead on Arrival, like So Long My Love in 2010 on PS2, who was also released in ... same week with FF XIII on PS3 (but by NISA, not Sega). Sabotage, like Valklyria Chronicles and Skies of Arcadia (games from Sakura Wars developer). Someone in Sega really hates this dev team (Team Sonic and Sonic The Hedgehog fuck you). Sega just need to stop release their games only on one platform, and not in worldwide realease date (first Japan, X years later in the West, like they did with Skies of Arcadia, and Valkyria Chronicles).
Fuga 1-2 were both great !
Rip visions of mana😢
Oh man, I remember the Sakura Wars gacha. That one made a few small ripples in the Fate/Grand Order community because it was made by the same developer (before Nasu bought their dev team and opened his own dev studio). They even hired some big name Vtubers for their reveal event.
The next thing I heard from the game was the End of Service anouncement half a year later.
This gacha game was a dog shit, and had 0 connections with Sakura Wars franchise. It was just FGO clone without Sakura Wars key elements (different art style, no original characters, no Koubu, no romance sim, no Taisho era etc.). For those 30M $ they could easly remade older games ...
You're probably spot on about why Fuga hasn't sold well. I am Very Not Interested in playing a furry, and no amount of great gameplay will overcome that. And I suspect I am not unique in this regard.
Fair enough! I think a lot of people feel that way.
I agree, but I ignored my feelings about being furry, and was rewarded with some games I loved.
I think that's an okay way to think since there are already too many games vying for our attention. You can't play everything so the more lines you draw the easier it is to pick what you actually want to play.
I say keep skipping art directions you don't care for even if its critically acclaimed because for every one you skip, there is a game with an art direction you do like that you haven't played.
Not vibing with the story direction that *new* “Sakura Wars” was going.
Tried to give it a fair chance, but could only handle so much of that.
Fuga should release a physical trilogy in the West for switch. I know a japanese copy is coming but the physical trilogy would sell amazing here too.
CC2 still doesn't really have proper international distribution for their physical releases yet. Unlike their anime games where Bandai or Sega would handle all of that they're doing this all on their own. I'm at least happy they are doing a physical release and it is multilingual too. I will definitely be getting the collectors edition and the only barrier is the pretty high shipping cost that will come with importing these games.
A lot of these like Sakura Wars I do blame their financial failure on not being the Nintendo Switch.
However more important I remember growing up we would see maybe 1 or 2 really cool JRPG in a given year. Now it feels like there is a new amazing game every 2-3 months and it’s kind of impossible to keep up.
I heavily disagree on blaming a studio closing down for lack of pre-orders. people shouldn't pre-order. period. If they need pre-orders to survive, then the game must fail.
Switch dominated the console sales in Japan so much that I don't think Japanese orientated games not on Switch had a fair chance.
I'm always trying to recommend Fuga and Harvestella whenever i have the chance. Those game are amazing, at least we're going to get closure for Fuga with a third entry, and i admire how passionate is Cyberconnect2 about Fuga and the little tail bronx franchise (the other titles are some that i need to play someday); and last but not least, let's remember that Cyberconnect donated part of the sales of one of the games to children in need.
I know Fuga's aesthetic can be well, uncomfortable due the furry stuff, but i can say the game doesn't do any weird fanservice and the kids act as kids.
Besides Baten Kaitos that unfortunately failed to find an audience it sucks that all of these great games failed due to mismanagement, I'm really hoping Visions of Mana gets a second chance of Switch 2, it runs like butt on my PC so I had to refund it.
Harvestella stands a chance of coming back evantually imo. World of mouth will help more people understand why its such a hidden gem.
Yeah, I really hope so. I had a great time with the game.
I need a sequel, theres are some plot points that can be expanded and closed.
Calling visions a flop isn't accurate at all. It sold really well for the kind of game and series it was and SE scooped up most of the devs which i don't know if they would have had visions actually been a flop.
Oh they got most of the team? I thought it was just the director. That’s amazing to hear if so!
Yeah, I would love to play Sakura Wars but I totally agree. The reason I can't is that I don't have a Playstation...I'll be honest the Playstation exclusive games drive me insane, especially years later.
Such a shame it only released on PlayStation 4.
@@TheGamingShelf Like Fist of The North Star: Lost Paradise
I'm one of those criminals who didn't play a single game shown in this video. Oops?
Basically every Fire Emblem before Awakening 😂
If they put Sakura Wars on something I own I would play it
I think if visions of mana had released on switch and ps4 it would have done better. I know it was available on ps4 in europe but those copies are hard to track down now and doesnt look like they will be printing more.
Here’s hoping it at least comes to Switch 2.
I really wish they would make Fire Emblem remakes or remasters for Switch.
NEO failing makes me want to cry. That game is fantastic!
Not even Final Fantasy lives up to SE expectations anymore
I will definitely pick up Fuga once it's released physically
Sakura Wars is right up my alley, but not for my machine.
I don't know if i would call JRPG's a niche genre anymore, we live in a world where Pokemon RPG's have sold more games than Call of Duty...But it is an over saturated genre....I can only play that many 60hrs jrpgs a year...
Maybe the studio see Fuga as AA games but I threat it as an Indies game after I tried the Demo. So, I am still waiting Fuga hit like 70% off or coming to PS Plus or Gamepass
That's a really toxic mindset. Indie games are the ones that need sales the most. Waiting for the lowest possible price just means less money for the studio to reinvest in making more games. At least with Gamepass they do get a nice cheque for putting the game on the service.
@PenguinProvincial-c2v Called it what you want. With so many Subscription (Ps Plus, Gamepass, Netflix, Disney + etc), I only buy games when it has very Deep Discount. I do buy and play a lot "cheap" Indies games. That's sound "support" Indies to my ear, maybe not yours.
I played a few of them (when they went on sale)
Neo, Sakura Wars, Trials of Mana. Theu were pretty mediocre though and some didn't have any marketing.
I want Star Ocean the devine fore and Visions of Mana on Switch 2, then i will buy them 😂
Sakura Wars not flopped, at least in Japan (141k physical sales in first week in Japan, second best selling PS4 game from Sega in Japan, except Like a Dragon Yakuza who sold 155k, still it was second worst selling game in series, because best sellling game in series Sakura Wars 2 debiuted with ... 507k on Sega Saturn). It sold 300 000 copies before western release. It's still one of best selling Visual Novel games on PS4. But i agree, if this game would be also on Switch and PC it should sell much better, even in 1M copies. The real flop was mobile gacha - Sakura Revolution. Sega spend 30M $ on this ,,game'' (more than Like a Dragon Yakuza budget). Hideo Baba basically killed this franchise, like he did nearly with Tales of Zestiria..
Why no Dept. Heaven series on this list?? Hehehe, anyways its a cool video. Needs actually 20 list instead of 10.
I don’t even know what that is 😅
@@TheGamingShelf i guess it is kinda hard to see them as a series. Episode 1: Riviera, Episode 2: Yggdra Union, Episode 4: Knights in the Nightmare, Episode 9: Gungnir.
I swear JRPGs are an odd genre. It's the most well known niche genre in gaming with a ton of the most passionate fans and some of the greatest games ever made. Yet it is not as mainstream as games like Fortnite. I ask HOW?!
I guess Fortnite is easier to pick and play than 60+ hour games that sometimes don't show their true potential until you played 10 or 20 hours.
Neo the world end with you lacks everything that made the first one an original game, the transition from 2D to 3D has failed and some game mechanics didn't made it to the new one. And while the first game had a well written story this one is based on time travel. Always avoid time travel.
Visions of mana is a generic action RPG, nothing more. No deep fighting mechanic. And about the story, was there any writter working on this game?
Fuga lacked marketing, this game realy deserved to sell more. No physical release, it may have hurt the sales.
Star Ocean: the divine force is a game that i whish i could have loved. The combat is absolutely broken against bossses, and like most games of the list it had a mid story.
Sakura wars they deserves it because they didn't release it on PC or switch
Like Fist of The North Star: Lost Paradise (also PS4 ekslusive, from Sega). At least they ported now Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Shodown on Steam (also PS4 ekslusive), so there is still hope for PC port of this game.
Sega and advertising stuff....yeah they are pretty bad at it at certain times.
Sega advertising Sonic and Yakuza in the West in nutshell.
Great video Taylor, Visions was always sad to me what happened with the studio, but either way i loved my time with it! 100k on the way this year! 🙏🏾♥️ you more than deserve it
Though i don't think sales really mattered to the situation. Their fate was sealed well before that.
Appreciate the love! Yeah Visions of Mana was excellent. So sad more people didn’t play it.
Lesson: Make your JRPGs multiplatform. Seriously, I might have bought some of these games, like Jeanne d'Arc, if they weren’t locked behind the terrible PlayStation ecosystem. Put this stuff on Steam, and do it on day one-you’ll get sales.
PlayStation, in particular, is no longer a great place for JRPGs. You've got the Fortnite/ Call of Duty audience, which isn’t interested in these games, and the Sony-exclusive audience, which also doesn’t care about them.
Besides, more and more gamers are realizing that PlayStation doesn’t really have an endgame beyond "sticking with it because that’s where my digital library is." There are no real unique selling points anymore, so releasing games there feels like sending them to their death, IMO.
100%. I think teams are learning
I wanted The World Ends with You - Final Remix for Steam, 'cause I never had the chance to play it on the past. Maybe that's why some other people didn't buy the NEO one, plus Epic exclusivity when it came out :v
Sakura wars exclusive on PS4
Jeanne d'Arc exclusive on Sony platforms
Baten Kaitos Remasters exclusive launch on Switch, and when it came out on Steam time after, publicity of it was non-existant.
Conclusion, console exclusive RPGs hurt franchises.
Totally agree! It's a shame that more people didn't get to experience those amazing games because of their limited platforms.
Sakura Wars were system sellers on Sega Saturn, and Dreamcast in Japan, but i agree esklusive only hurts to IP's who are not from Sony or Nintendo now.
Btw CyberConnect2 is also well known for being the devs of the entire Dot Hack series.
And Asura's wrath.
@axel88er19 that I didn't know
Yep and Fuga has some not so subtle but at the same time vague references to .hack throughout it too. I'm hoping this means they might do a new .hack series or a spiritual successor to it in the near future.
Fuga has flopped?… how it managed to spam a whopping two sequels then?
They were relatively cheap to make is my guess.
JRPGs just have a bad time overall, in the past not many people played them and if they were on certain consoles that did not have many JRPGs in total they fell through the cracks. For example, after the N64 which had almost zero JRPGs I just stopped getting nintendo consoles as PlayStation had tons more JRPGs. One of the biggest mistakes JRPGs always made was exclusivity, which with an already low player base diminished it even more.
The problem JRPGs are running into most nowadays, I imagine is just oversaturation of games. Even the smallest turn off that wouldn't of affected someone in the past is now a "nope I will pass or wait for a steep discount" only to forget about it because 20 other games came out. I know I have become way more picky with games due to this reason, and just don't have the time to play games that don't completely fit what I want in a game. Now as someone who only plays JRPGs mainly, I have played most of these and some I just did not like at all, mainly the Square Enix ones minus Harvestella. To me, Square Enix has just kind of become the Japanese Ubisoft where the majority of their games just lack the oomph to keep me interested the whole way through.
man, yall deserve persona 5.
the common denominator with alot of these games is they were exclusives. which is ridiculous in 2025.
what’s ridiculous?
@@steveguymanI reckon he means that exclusivity as a concept is ridiculous today in comparison to previous generations, pre the PS2 & Xbox era where there was no same game from console to console.
Earthbound generally sucks I don’t get the hype for that thing.
I don't get the logic. Most of these flopped for being below par. Harvestella and Star Ocean being prime examples of games just not being anywhere good enough.
Star Ocean not being good enough???
Star oceans marketing killed it. Games was great but had no backing.
@@NickzstuffThat and the performance on older gen consoles seemed to weigh in on a lot of reviews.
that's something I never understand. saying something is bad within a couple of weeks of release and having poor sales in those two weeks. i loved Star Ocean DF and I don't understand the mid reviews. It should have sold way better. but people just assume it's bad if it's not some FF triple A title... super bizarre.
Sorry man but radiant dawn and path of radiance there isn’t flop
They were the reasons Nintendo told Intelligent Systems that if the next games did do well then Fire Emblem would end.