Team Andromeda
Member
We still don't know the budget, very rare do we know what any game actually cost to produce and before you start jumping into fanboy and condescending mode. I never made out Yakuza or Nier didn't sell, I've been a fan of SEGA since 85 and a big clue is in my name; I've loved everything the Panzer Dragoon team did both at their stint on the Saturn and then while at Smilebit and then joining with AV, Kikuchi-san is the best producer anywhere in Japan and I've been a fan of the series since the very 1st PS2 game (Yakuza 2 is my fave of the entire series).Because Yoko Taro himself said that they didn't even had enough budget to make any DLC for the game. .
All I'm saying is that it's never really pushed on in terms of sales No single Yakuza title sold better than Shenmue 1 which is a shame for series that really should be selling more than a million units each title, each Yakuza title takes hundreds of SEGA staff. That's totally different to saying the game is rubbish and a flop.
You know the Panzer team could say JSRF was niche it used a small team and was made in less than 14 months and didn't take a lot of money to produce It still sold poor and that costs the team the fans any hope of a sequel.
They don't need to sell 1 million copies to be profitable, since the RGG studio members are masters of reusing assets and working on a budget. In the past 12 years since the series was first created, SEGA has released 13 mainline and spin-off Yakuza/RGG games, and is planning to release 2 more next year. You don't release 13 games over the course of 12 years (15 in 13 years), if you are not making profit.
Again never said otherwise, but the yearly sequels are part of the reason why the game is getting a little stale witch each game looking and playing very much the same so you have to refuse so many assets and mode rather than be able to protype and test out new ones. I would like to see the team given 2 to years 3 to make each new entry. It's getting a lot like COD or Assassin's Creed when each new games feels pretty much like the last one. Read that doesn't mean they are terrible games as I also enjoy all the AC and COD games too. They all keep getting sequels, yet people still point out COD sales compared to the last, it's the double standards that get me; Capcoms already said RE7 covered its costs, you think Capcom not going to make RE8?. RE7 sold right up there with the likes of Horizon Zero Dawn a game that it's self used hundreds of staff was in development for years and that's a stunning success, while RE 7 isn't?. Like I said DR 4 I get but I really don't see how anyone can make out that RE7 hasn't sold well and made Capcom money myself.