Why aren't shmups coming to PS3?

[noiseredux]

^more for me to look into!

[wip3outguy7]

Sadly, this doesn't only apply to shmups. Other niche genres and titles have settled into the 360's library while the PS3 has remained largely ignored. In some cases the titles may be released as digital downloads available to the 360's worldwide audience, but the disc based releases remain difficult to obtain.

It's kind of a sick joke that this generation we finally have a region free console that anyone can easily obtain (PS3) and I'm hard pressed to find games worth importing from Japan.

like what? I can't think of any other genre that's under-represented on PS3 while abundant on 360?

360 seems to have the Treasure market cornered as well.. Guardian Heroes anyone? Although some people claim moneyhatting..

Yeah, Treasure is a big one.

I also find it amusing that some games that have been released on nearly every platform BUT the PS3.

Metal Slug XX is on the PSP, DS (in the form of MS7) and even the 360. Where the hell is the PS3 version?

Even more frustrating are games like Rayforce. It's available through XBLA in the US and Japan. It's on the PSN in Japan. Where the hell is the US PSN release?

What about all the SNK releases on the 360? We have the "Neo Geo Station" on PSN. Yet, no Samurai Shodown II, KOF 98 UM, KOF 2002 UM or Mark of the Wolves. Hell, 3 of those titles were released in some form on the PS2. One of them on the Wii.

These are not developers that are partial to Microsoft. There just isn't really any explanation for it... other than money hatting. But c'mon. For Niche titles like this? Other than preventing the other guy from releasing them on their console, which seems like an awfully poor business strategy for these less lucrative titles. And it's not like there aren't any oddball or niche titles on PSN/PS3. There just seems to be no reason for these lopsided releases.

[noiseredux]

you know it's VERY easy to buy Japanese PSN games, right?

But I do agree with you that some of the omissions are baffling.

[dsheinem]

I think the devotion of those to the genre works to support this as well. Shmup fans happily pay premiums for ganes, and Cave, etc. know they can sell small print runs at high prices without worrying about market saturation, price cuts, etc. In other words they know fans will pay for a 360 and full price for the game, and that exclusivity helps perpetuate the profits...

I don't know if I get what you mean. If they put it on PS3 and made an LE, I would buy it. And others would to. Or are you saying that they figure most shmup fans will just buy whatever the fuck Cave tells them to?

I guess I mean that

A) there aren't a lot of shmup devs
B) there aren't a lot of people (in Japan) with with a 360
C) those who develop shmups know that they will have a small following BUT that their following is loyal (and thus own a 360) and will buy almost anything they make at full price right away

This allows them to print and sell their entire production run at $60 a piece and KNOW that they will sell out of product and make a certain predictable profit. They sell to a niche market where they already have a base instead of trying to break into a market where their base might not exist (PS3) and where they would risk poor sales/price reductions/etc.

[noiseredux]

^I guess I get that. I'm just surprised they don't at least dip their toes into PSN to see how many PS3 owners are interested.

[wip3outguy7]

you know it's VERY easy to buy Japanese PSN games, right?

True.

[dsheinem]

^I guess I get that. I'm just surprised they don't at least dip their toes into PSN to see how many PS3 owners are interested.

as others have said, it is probably cost prohibitive for devkits, psn licensing, etc. porting takes time and money, so it probably isn't worth their investment to take the gamble, especially since companies like Cave aren't working with a huge safety net of money if things go amiss. It's working for them on the 360, it's working for them in iOS, but it obviously isn't an attractive financial setup to do it on PS3.

[wip3outguy7]

^I guess I get that. I'm just surprised they don't at least dip their toes into PSN to see how many PS3 owners are interested.

as others have said, it is probably cost prohibitive for devkits, psn licensing, etc. porting takes time and money, so it probably isn't worth their investment to take the gamble, especially since companies like Cave aren't working with a huge safety net of money if things go amiss. It's working for them on the 360, it's working for them in iOS, but it obviously isn't an attractive financial setup to do it on PS3.

I think that (as already stated) in Cave's case it began as money hatting and now is just the easy model to follow. Many indie and small-time developers haven't been shy in talking about the difficulties they have had while working with Microsoft. So I think the difficulty of releasing or porting something to the PS3 these days is looking more and more like a myth, or at least an old issue.

[swiftzx]

Why not just get over it and know that each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Owning both ps3 and 360 is a win-win situation.

[wip3outguy7]

Why not just get over it and know that each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Owning both ps3 and 360 is a win-win situation.

You really don't want to go there...