Whatever happened to these developers?

[Xeogred]

Ugh, is that Mirror of Fate - Lords of Shadow related? If it's not 2D count me out.

It's a Metroidvania in the Lords of Shadow continuity. I believe it's 2.5D like Dracula X Chronicles. Since it's not the main continuity you can count me out (give us Castlevania 1999 dammit!)

So basically no Koji Igarashi... yep, count me out!

[MrNash]

Atlus has been doing great, especially on handhelds. Konami seems to be focusing on Metal Gear nowadays. Capcom seems to have lost the plot of late. Square-Enix has been pretty lackluster in my eyes for quite some time. I'm not even sure what they're doing at Gamearts anymore. What's the last game they put out? A portable Lunar of some sort, wasn't it?

[dreamcups]

When Persona made it to the last generation in the shape of a fighting game, i started to wonder what will be the future of electronic rpg. Maybe the same thing that happened to space shootemups.

[isiolia]

When Persona made it to the last generation in the shape of a fighting game, i started to wonder what will be the future of electronic rpg. Maybe the same thing that happened to space shootemups.

Eh, that's just a spinoff. They're porting Persona 4 to the Vita as well.

[dreamcups]

yep, sure... but hey, Persona 4 is not a new game, and its being released to a mobile console, so, we still cant say Persona made it to modern consoles in the way some might expect it. And i guess its not the only case.

[isiolia]

yep, sure... but hey, Persona 4 is not a new game, and its being released to a mobile console, so, we still cant say Persona made it to modern consoles in the way some might expect it. And i guess its not the only case.

Not yet, but Persona 5 was announced for the PS3.

There's also the free to play MMO, perhaps, though that's not on consoles.

[dreamcups]

Not yet, but Persona 5 was announced for the PS3.

ah, now its the real deal. i dint know bout that, thanx.

[TheBrick]

Atlus will be around for a while. They're one of those companies that get obscure Japanese games to come to America. Other companies like that would be XSeed, Working Designs, Aksys, Ignition, and NIS America. There's definitely a market for those kinds of games; it's just not a big one, so seeing their games in the wild is less common.

[ZeroAX]

I think the "Japaneseness" of those companies when it comes to console games was hurt by the lack of a hardcore console with a big install base in Japan.

Think about it, till the PS3 dropped to a reasonable price it wasn't selling at all (and what it sold after the price drop, still doesn't even come close to PS2 sales), and that happened in like 2009?

So they weren't developing any niche games for a console that was a niche itself. The 360 was a no-go in Japan, the Wii was plagued by the same problems it was plagued by western publishers too (no one got it right, except a few specific developers).

So the only viable platforms for them to make games for were the handhelds and their huge ass install bases.


So because the PS3 wasn't a viable platform to begin for niche Japanese games (aka, being able to make a profit just with the Japanese sales), they never made any of those games, that would attract even more niche gamers to the platform (a vicious cycle or self fulfilling prophecy if you will), to make them even more viable.

So those games were stuck on handhelds with nowhere to go. And I am afraid it will stay like that. The PS Vita seems like a failure, the PS4 will probably again cost a lot of money (they didn't seem to learn their lesson with the PS Vita so why should they learn it now?), like the PS3 at launch.

So the 3DS will probably again have all the Japanese support of niche games. I just wish they would start making more, cause currently even there it's kind of barren (at least in Europe) when it comes to unique games.

[Solus_Emsu]

Suikoden, Breath of Fire, and Wild Arms all had their "5" releases in 2003-2007 for PS2. I would love to see one of these games make a come back as much as the next fan but honestly I just don't see them selling very well these days. Plus they would inevitably fall into the "doesn't fulfill old fan expectation" and/or "doesn't attract new players" area and just be a failure all around.