Re: Square Enix Loses Big

On 5/1/2024 2:02 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

 

Except for Nintendo, all the big names that once dominated
the video game marketplace are treading water at best, if not slowly
sinking into irrelevance: chasing crypto, pachinko, or endless
re-releases of classic games from four console generations back.

Sony's making a hell of a profit too.  2.4 billion as of last *quarter*
Maybe only the console makers can make a profit.

And it's just baffling to me that this is happening, because - in the
rare time they do release something new - their games seem to have the
same degree of fun and quality that made these developers so beloved
in the 80s and 90s. So why are they having such a hard time? Have
players tastes changed so dramatically? Are the costs of game
development so much higher in Japan? Is Japan just unable to market to
foreign gamers? Why aren't Japanese studios the biggest names in the
game anymore?

Yeah, I think tastes have changed.  JRPGs just haven't kept up with the times.  Even Japanese don't want turn based rpgs anymore, it's all real time action now.  Going to pachinko is the wrong way to go.
Even with those that aren't JRPG makes, a lot of them are losing their edge.  Dragon's Dogma 2 apparently had only some graphical improvement and the game is even more barren and bereft of content.  Of course the same can be said of certain big names here *cough* Bethesda *cough*
Of course mobile games really seem the way to go, but you don't need much to churn out mtx ridden garbage, and maybe the tide is starting to turn on that.
--
-Justisaur
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