Square Enix tells us what to expect from now on.

[Weltall]

If FF14 2.0 is well received in Japan, it will do extremely well considering most of them are console gamers.

[Xno Kappa]

Yeah, it was the stubbornness of the Japanese that kept the PS2 support for FFXI alive well after it's expected life-span iirc.

[Aristio]

How many of them are on the PS3?

Only one I can think of is Defiance, but correct me if I'm wrong.

[Kohan]

Mobile games though, really? I always saw them as more of a distraction between big game releases. It's obviously only profitable for them because their big games are generally pretty shitty though, which is sad.

A conversation about this topic started in the FFXIV forum's dev thread, and I participated, so I'm going to copy and paste all of that here.

But SE can fuck off with those mobile games. I have a pretty good smartphone but I don't use it for gaming. I'm not a fan of small screen gaming. Anything on a phone or a handheld console is ignored from me no matter how good it may be. Haven't even played FFVII Crisis Core and given my username that will probably surprise people.

An established MMO (FFXI) and mobile games (cheap to develop) are incredibly profitable for them. You may notice that the charts in that report show high sales of home and portable console titles, but that their operating income also declined severely after 2010. That won't happen again if they focus on mobile and keeping FFXI running. That's why they're doing it. It's a perfectly sound business decision, even if it means that people who like their regular RPGs won't be seeing much of them in the future, except on smart devices.

I could be reading all that junk wrong, but the bar graph stuff shows 'Game Consoles' section not really going up or down. So at least they're not reducing the quantity of games, unless I'm missing something.

The only graph that specifies "Game Consoles" is on the "Diffusion and Further Growth [...]" slide, which is simply their forecast about where the industry is going in terms of consumer presence. It basically reveals that consoles are not going noticeably upward, while smart devices are skyrocketing. That's true. Also, the people in the NeoGAF thread who don't believe Square Enix's assumptions about smart devices having billions in growth, they're incorrect—smart devices have a greater presence in the world than home computers, not to mention consoles, some of which aren't even available in countries that are meanwhile saturated with phones.

[Don Katsu]

Yeah, it was the stubbornness of the Japanese that kept the PS2 support for FFXI alive well after it's expected life-span iirc.

It would have also lasted longer in the US except for the fact that:

1) The game already looked dated before it was released in the US in 2003 (FFXI on the PS2 looked worse than Grand Theft Auto 3)
2) The PS2 version required you to spend $99 for the game itself on top of having a $20 network adapter, the entry price now is half of this because the PS3 has a hard drive and network adapter
3) The PS2 slim came out in August 2004 which did not support the HDD so no FFXI for those buyers (this was 4 months after the launch of XI)
4) The game was finally released on the Xbox in 2006 and was rated poorly because the game was even more dated and the number of people in Japan with an Xbox is laughable.

Only one I can think of is Defiance, but correct me if I'm wrong.

That game is getting slammed at the moment. The other one is DC universe but that was never released in Japan.

Will FFXIV: ARR do well? By just reading the reviews about the FFXIV:ARR Beta, I can already tell you it's a better game than DC universe online and Defiance.

[Jakson]

Isn't the video game playing public pretty much already saturated with smart phones or other handhelds? I thought I read somewhere that most of the growth of smart phones are older folks and businesses getting into it because older, cheaper phones are getting harder to find, access, or just aren't all that much cheaper, with the point being that virtually everyone likely to buy a video game title already has a smart device or two. This leads me to wonder if the spin on smart device sales is an assumption or spin by marketers/analysts/whoever to blur the difference between billions in sales of devices and billions in sales of software for those devices.

[Eleven19]

Isn't the video game playing public pretty much already saturated with smart phones or other handhelds? I thought I read somewhere that most of the growth of smart phones are older folks and businesses getting into it because older, cheaper phones are getting harder to find, access, or just aren't all that much cheaper, with the point being that virtually everyone likely to buy a video game title already has a smart device or two. This leads me to wonder if the spin on smart device sales is an assumption or spin by marketers/analysts/whoever to blur the difference between billions in sales of devices and billions in sales of software for those devices.

I was thinking something similar. I mean how many people out of those who have a smart device are going to play any games on them, let alone get 'expensive' SE titles.. Vs people who buy consoles/PC's specifically for the purpose of gaming. Smart device must simply outnumber them by that much. Like Kohan said, lots of people in other countries.

Hard to imagine what this could actually lead to in the long term.

[Correction]

If FF14 2.0 is well received in Japan, it will do extremely well considering most of them are console gamers.

It will have to do extremely well for many years to recoup the development costs. XIV is without any stretch of the imagination the most expensive game SE has ever produced. It'll be a unique challenge to keep their audience hooked long enough for them to reach that break even point without also sinking a lot more cash into generating the kind of content updates an MMO needs to thrive.

[Shiyo]

If game developers understood that flashy graphics and "omg so realistic" don't make a good game anymore, we would stop getting shit games like Dead Space 3.

Every game developer/invester should be forced to watch zero punctuation and extra credits every week.

Games should be PS2 graphics at the most, and focus on good combat, good story, good boss battles, good music, good side-missions, good classes(if applicable), good skill trees(if applicable), good skills, etc. I don't give a fuck about cutscenes, flashy movie shit, godly HD 1080p graphics, just give me good games in the most basic "visually acceptable"(PS2 graphics) available.

My current favorite games are all on PSP and 3DS, and I think a lot of games can be made on these that turn out to be fantastic because they don't cost as much to make as a HD AAA game.

[Pikarya]

Yeah, it was the stubbornness of the Japanese that kept the PS2 support for FFXI alive well after it's expected life-span iirc.

Stubbornness had nothing to do with it. Electronics are expensive in general.

[Alkar]

You really have to wonder if they have any unnanounced HD titles to show at E3 or at their separate, private conference. It might just be 2 hours of Thief 4 and XIV ARR footage.

Sure they do. There's the PS4 FF game which is technically unannounced at this point (even if we all know it's likely XV).

[Elcura]

If game developers understood that flashy graphics and "omg so realistic" don't make a good game anymore, we would stop getting shit games like Dead Space 3.

Graphics had nothing to do with why Dead Space 3 sucked. In fact, it rarely has anything to do with why any game is terrible. Games are bad because they're made by and/or highly influenced by idiots, not because they're pretty.

[Enkidu]

If FF14 2.0 is well received in Japan, it will do extremely well considering most of them are console gamers.

Well yeah, the MMO scene in Japan will probably play XIV exclusively. I just don't think it's a very big scene. I don't think it'll do that well in US/Europe and really doubtful it'll do well in the East aside from Japan.

I think Japan is the only country in the world that would buy/be excited for a console MMO anyways, so in my opinion that doesn't matter too much. Especially since the PS3 is nothing special compared to an average computer out right now much less a couple months from now.

[Hyan]

Well yeah, the MMO scene in Japan will probably play XIV exclusively. I just don't think it's a very big scene. I don't think it'll do that well in US/Europe and really doubtful it'll do well in the East aside from Japan.

I think Japan is the only country in the world that would buy/be excited for a console MMO anyways, so in my opinion that doesn't matter too much. Especially since the PS3 is nothing special compared to an average computer out right now much less a couple months from now.

DQX has like 300k subs? And that's a PS2-quality game for a dead platform...

The one thing people always overlook is that SE has a much bigger fish to catch than the "MMO scene". Get the FF demographic hooked and they got themselves a cash cow. Hell, do you think MMO players are playing DQX or rather DQX fans? It's not really that great if you compare it to any real MMO...

That's the challenge though, I think ARR needs to press the right buttons to overcome the mindset of the game being a spin-off/somehow inferior to the offline games and at the same time justify the sub fee. Selling the box at a reduced price is a good move.

[Aristio]

Graphics had nothing to do with why Dead Space 3 sucked. In fact, it rarely has anything to do with why any game is terrible. Games are bad because they're made by and/or highly influenced by idiots, not because they're pretty.

It was more of a blanket statement. Less money being spent on flashy graphics and more money into solid gameplay.

[Vandalhart]

Games should be PS2 graphics at the most, and focus on good combat, good story, good boss battles, good music, good side-missions, good classes(if applicable), good skill trees(if applicable), good skills, etc. I don't give a fuck about cutscenes, flashy movie shit, godly HD 1080p graphics, just give me good games in the most basic "visually acceptable"(PS2 graphics) available.

My current favorite games are all on PSP and 3DS, and I think a lot of games can be made on these that turn out to be fantastic because they don't cost as much to make as a HD AAA game.

There's a reason I keep throwing in SNES games from time to time and playing them through. I agree wholeheartedly.

[Scythiroth]

I'd be all for PS2 graphics or less again if they spent more money on the things that actually matter. Xenogears being my favorite game ever and pretty much SNES/PS1 graphics works perfect for me.

[Elcura]

Less money being spent on flashy graphics and more money into solid gameplay.

Still doesn't guarantee games will be better. Less focus on graphics means games will cost less or be faster to develop for, not that they'll be good.

Personally I like good graphics, I like to see what I'm doing has impact and looks cool because that's far more satisfying than not. I like seeing unique environments and set pieces come to life in a way no other medium can do, all that shit adds to the experience and rarely ever takes away from it.

[Dantrag]

They could... you know... just remake VI and it would sell like fkn hotcakes. Don't change the fighting engine, update the graphics and make it a bit faster. Other than that leave it.

[Weltall]

Well yeah, the MMO scene in Japan will probably play XIV exclusively. I just don't think it's a very big scene. I don't think it'll do that well in US/Europe and really doubtful it'll do well in the East aside from Japan.

I think Japan is the only country in the world that would buy/be excited for a console MMO anyways, so in my opinion that doesn't matter too much. Especially since the PS3 is nothing special compared to an average computer out right now much less a couple months from now.

I don't know how big the scene is, but I just got back from Japan and the hotels I stayed at actually had laptops for rent with FFXI installed. There were fliers on our bed when we got in the rooms for FFXI laptops...lol.

I think 14-2 will do extremely well across the board, and I haven't even played the beta. I have several IRL friends that never touched 11, but they are loving 14 beta.

If they want to make a chunk of money relatively quickly, SE needs to remake FF1-7 with current gen graphics. I know it is still expensive to produce, but at least the characters, storyline, etc are all complete for the most part. It is for sure cheaper than creating FF 15 and 16 over the next 3 years. Any FF fan would buy every single one.