-
SaGa Frontier Remastered Physical PS4 Release Cancelled, Switch Release Still Planned
-
Man, I don't know what to make of the Playstation market in Japan right now. On one hand, the demand for the PS5 is NUTS. There's not enough supply just like everywhere else and there's been some stories about stores getting mobbed when they get retail stock. Obviously the brand aint dead.
But you look at the retail sales charts there every week, Playstation is SUCH a distant second. It's not rare for the entire top 10 software to be Switch games. So when I see news like this that a fairly niche release is choosing to only put out their physical version that can be sold at retail on Switch... yeah. That makes sense. I would probably do the same thing.
And this is from Square Enix! They have HISTORY with the Playstation brand.
Anyway not to blow this out of proportion or anything. It's one niche game getting only the physical version canceled in a single release territory. It's still coming out on PS4 digitally everywhere and that's where most of the sales are going to be for something like this.
But man, it's been YEARS of Switch dominance in the Japan market now. I would expect to see more stuff like this going forward, especially while we're in the awkward transition period where the PS4 is old tech but the PS5 isn't widely available.
ID: gqr1pbdID: gqr2emxThis whole thing (what you described, not just this one story in isolation) makes me feel... really uncomfortable as someone who grew up on Japanese games and generally finds them to fit in my “favorites of all time” lists. I’m biased, I like a weird, unpolished anime game more than a massive AAA “prestige” title 9/10 times. I also understand I’m in a minority of modern Western gamers who share that opinion. I can’t help but remember just 20 years ago when Japanese games were the mainstream releases- everyone with a PlayStation played Resident Evil, FFVII, MGS1, etc, and those were the standard when it came to sales and critical acclaim. Nowadays it feels exceedingly more and more like Japanese games are just developed for a niche, and the budgets get smaller and the pandering/desperation of the niche developer gets worse. These are other conversations entirely, but they are trends that concern me.
The stuff you’re describing is a very real problem, at least for people who like the kinds of games that those of us on this subreddit tend to like. Since Uncharted/TLOU/Horizon/GoW blew up in the last decade, these big, safe, mainstream, accessible, highly polished blockbuster titles became Sony’s focus, as evidenced by the fact that they moved their headquarters to California.
Oh, and the fact that they alienated a huge part of their Japanese player base by switching the X and O buttons in Japan. For Japanese players, that seemed to be a big deal. It isn’t so much about “oh, now they have to undo their muscle memory”. The button mapping itself isn’t a huge issue, practically speaking. But rather, it’s something of a symbolic betrayal to that audience. X and O weren’t arbitrary symbols when they were chosen- in Japan, they use an X the same way we do to say “cancel” or “incorrect” (like the X button to close a window in Windows), but they use a O to mean “confirm” or “correct” where we might use a check mark. They chose those symbols and placed them where they did (to emulate a SNES with its A/B placement) on purpose, and the Japanese audience intrinsically understood it. Maybe they’re overreacting, maybe I’m overreacting, but it’s undeniable that these changes are being made and are alienating a core audience.
Let’s not even get into the fact that they all but gutted Japan Studio because it wasn’t profitable enough, with the only remaining team being Asobi, the developers of Astro’s Playroom. That means no more Gravity Rush, because Toyama left and Team Siren along with him. No more collaborations with other Japanese developers, like the ones that gave us Bloodborne or Shadow of the Colossus.
It just sucks. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that America and Western Europe are Sony’s target audience exclusively now. They don’t seem to care about the Japanese market and, more crucially for us western English speakers, they don’t seem to care about Japanese developers either.
I bought my PS5 like right before this stuff started becoming more apparent to me, right before the massive Japan Studio layoffs and right before I learned the stuff you mention and the other things I listed above. I... kind of regret it now. It’s a great console, but frankly, if we’re about to reach a point where Japanese games continue to be pushed to the side as a weird niche product, I’m not sure if there’s going to be much left for me on PlayStation by the end of this generation. I just can’t make myself care about Horizon or GoW 2.
A lot of negativity, a lot of doomsaying, and yeah, I’m well aware that we will still have Japanese games in the future on PS5. The market exists still, even if it’s shrinking. It’s just a broader cultural shift that really rubs me the wrong way and has me a bit concerned for the future.
ID: gqqvg6jOn one hand, the demand for the PS5 is NUTS. There's not enough supply just like everywhere else and there's been some stories about stores getting mobbed when they get retail stock. Obviously the brand aint dead.
gotta look at it with context. there is demand. but at the same time, sony so far has allocated such a tiny amount of PS5s to the japanese market, its almost laughable.
the writing is on the wall. the Switch has already sold twice as many units as the PS4 did in its entire lifetime in Japan. Japan is moving away from Sony and Sony is moving away from Japan.
bit of a bummer if you ask me.
ID: gqr1mjdJapan is a mobile market now. I'm surprised the other brands haven't gotten in on that yet.
ID: gqqw7roPlaystation is an American brand now, and with that everything that follows.
ID: gqrhrsvPhysical collectors are also just way more drawn to Switch than PS4 for quite awhile now.
ID: gqqy48zAnd this is from Square Enix! They have HISTORY with the Playstation brand.
Oddly enough, though, they have a longer history with the Nintendo brand.
-
Is the digital still a go for Sony systems?
ID: gqqtenzYes, you can pre order now for a bonus PS4 theme.
-
My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.
-
I was getting this on Switch anyway, but that sucks for PS4 gamers.
-
Damnit!!
-
Thank God that I have both a PS4 AND a Switch.
-
What regions will have a physical version? Just Asia? Japan doesn't even have a physical version.
ID: gqrc9p6Tbh, I have no idea because it's not even on Square Enix' Japan e-store. Square Enix doesn't have an Asian localization/publishing team so their games are usually distributed by other publishers.
-
How would this experience be for someone who never played the originals?
ID: gqrumb9This is probably the most accessable SaGa title aside from maybe the one localized as "Final Fantasy Legend III" in the US, which was a fairly traditional JRPG done by the Mystic Quest team with minimal involvement from SaGa creator Akitoshi Kawazu. SaGa games are a bit different in that they are designed as non-linear or at the very least not traditionally linear and have progression systems and mechanics more akin to tabletop or early pc rpgs. This remaster adds back a ton of cut content, which makes it the definitive way to play the game.
ID: gqrh76lI dont know too much about this remaster, but from what I heard there's only some few improvements and additions, reviews may imform you better.
If you feel like playing it be sure to have a guide, that's what everybody talks about this game
-
Cancel Culture ruining yet another video game release. Kappa
ID: gqqzwa0Quit trying to start shit where there’s nothing to be started. Read the article. Has nothing to do with your nonexistent boogeyman.
ID: gqr47k1Well perhaps T260G should have thought about that before he jerked off in that plant in Baccarat.
引用元:https://www.reddit.com/r/JRPG/comments/m3rd2q/saga_frontier_remastered_physical_ps4_release/
A part of me hopes that Sony will one day try again with the Japanese market, they can do it if they try. The Ps Vita which is considered a failure by many, sold almost half of its 13 million units in Japan, its sales are pretty close to the PS4, if it was actually supported I have no doubt it would've surpassed the PS4. And the PSP did very well in general. And to be fair, the PS5 is selling out in Japan, yes it is way behind the switch in Japan but's partly due to Sony barely giving Japan any units, they give Japan what, 50-100k units every now and then, but those all sell out. And while Sony's only Japanese studio has been re organized and will almost definitely not put out an JRPGs, most companies will still put their JRPGs on PlayStation since its the largest gaming brand worldwide if that's of any reassurance. I'm still pissed they gave up on Japan, again, they could do well if they tried, and I hope that one day, even if its far away, they do try again. But that probably wont happen unless the heads of PlayStation get replaced by someone who is willing to give the Japanese market a second try, but the current heads won't be replaced for a long while.