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[chokotoureiki]

Right, games that aren't on Switch don't sell very well on Switch. That's not a reason to leave Switch (soon Switch 2) out of your multiplatform strategy.

Especially for SE.

We don't know the exact number of third party sales on Switch but it's at least over 500 million. Probably a lot more in total. It's good for publishers to get a slice of that pie.

Switch is an entirely different beast compared to the other systems though, and presents a huge challenge in of itself to many devs as they have to figure out ways to make it work on a lesser powered system (assuming Nintendo continues to avoid the graphics race) without making huge sacrifices along the way. Some devs even have to build entire new teams designed specifically for Switch development, and that takes money and resources. The question is if devs believe its worth the time, money, and effort to make all these accomodations for Switch, and historically, many third parties have continually treated the Switch as a low priority.

 

[SHAKEZ]

Square finally learning what Sega learnt years ago.

What most japanese third-parties learned, even Atlus and Vanillaware. Square got way too dependant on Sony money.

 

[Bloody Crow of Cainhurst]

The biggest problem for Square has been product quality and appeal, as long as they don't fix that, they will never succeed.

There are console/PC exclusives that break out, there are day 1 multiplatform flops too.

The idea that everything needs to be multiplatform day 1 to succeed is honestly very wrong. It's all about product appeal and good marketing.

Too much open world stuff in the two latest FF games and too many mini-games in general. I shouldn't have had to run errands for 5 different people to get an audience with Don Corneo, for example.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Switch is an entirely different beast compared to the other systems though, and presents a huge challenge in of itself to many devs as they have to figure out ways to make it work on a lesser powered system (assuming Nintendo continues to avoid the graphics race) without making huge sacrifices along the way. Some devs even have to build entire new teams designed specifically for Switch development, and that takes money and resources. The question is if devs believe its worth the time, money, and effort to make all these accomodations for Switch, and historically, many third parties have continually treated the Switch as a low priority.

Nintendo systems have always been geared to family fun and solo play. Ya, fam can play Mario Kart and Smash Bro, but all the EA Sports, COD and such either dont release or get occasional games or get totally gimped games like Madden All Stars instead of just a standard Madden. And top AAA games rarely release. And if they do it's delayed and resemble a PS2 game.

So even though Nintendo systems can sell a ton, most third party devs dont bother. I remember reading Nintendo systems are most likely to be secondary systems. Sounds kind of odd since they can be top sellers so you;d think they would get priority playtime. But people who want power or online MP will do AAA and MP third party games on those platforms and then do Nintendo and unique games on Wii/Switch.

 

[mckmas8808]

this company is the xbox of Japan.

 

[Punished Miku]

Too much open world stuff

This is why it's so pointless to follow the whims of fan feedback. This is the FFXIII team being told "too much open world stuff."

 

[Bloody Crow of Cainhurst]

This is why it's so pointless to follow the whims of fan feedback. This is the FFXIII team being told "too much open world stuff."

I'm not the first person to bring this up, many people on Reddit and here have brought up how fatigued they felt 30-40 hours into FF16

 

[Punished Miku]

I'm not the first person to bring this up, many people on Reddit and here have brought up how fatigued they felt 30-40 hours into FF16

I believe you. I haven't played it yet. I'm just saying it's kind of ironic given how many years they dedicated to getting to this point because of the criticism they got last time lol.

 

[LordCBH]

As long as they keep making games I like then don’t give a fuck if they also release an Ngage port.

 

[ssringo]

The biggest problem for Square has been product quality and appeal, as long as they don't fix that, they will never succeed.

Anecdotal, but this is my biggest problem with them. I bought pretty much anything that said "Squaresoft" and eventually "SquareEnix" from NES to PS3. By that time I had largely migrated to PC with only occasional dips to console. When SquareEnix started putting games on PC, their releases always seemed to be an afterthought or even lazy. It didn't bother me too much until Nier: Automata (my all-time favorite game), which had to be fan fixed and remained that way for years until they finally released some proper fixes. Then FF15, which they were all about supporting PC modding officially with their own tools. Which wound up being super basic and then they didn't bother expanding. Of course they pulled the plug on the whole thing, released the last DLC and screwed over the previously good performance in the game, again not patching it for a long time afterwards. Every time I bought a game of their it just worsened my percetion. It felt like they wanted the sales without the effort. Even when I get something good, like Octopath Traveler, I see it as a one off that's not representative of SquareEnix as a whole.

So now, their name means about as much to me as Ubisoft or EA: shit. As such, whereas I used to buy their games without worrying about researching too much because I knew their name meant quality fun, I actively avoid all of their games unless I hear overwhelmingly positive feedback from other gamers and even then I'm iffy.

This is my perspective, and it may be incorrect, but it is the way I see them, and it absolutely affects my willingness to buy their games.

/2c

 

[Bloody Crow of Cainhurst]

I believe you. I haven't played it yet. I'm just saying it's kind of ironic given how many years they dedicated to getting to this point because of the criticism they got last time lol.

Waiting to play it on the PS5 Pro? A fellow man of culture, I see...

 

[Punished Miku]

Waiting to play it on the PS5 Pro? A fellow man of culture, I see...

PC when all 3 are out. We'll see. Xbox if thar ever happens. And on discount. Not playing a $210 remake.

 

[Woopah]

Switch is an entirely different beast compared to the other systems though, and presents a huge challenge in of itself to many devs as they have to figure out ways to make it work on a lesser powered system (assuming Nintendo continues to avoid the graphics race) without making huge sacrifices along the way. Some devs even have to build entire new teams designed specifically for Switch development, and that takes money and resources. The question is if devs believe its worth the time, money, and effort to make all these accomodations for Switch, and historically, many third parties have continually treated the Switch as a low priority.

It absolutely is a different beast, but it's one that can be a big boost to sales if approached in the right way.

Let's take SE's output in the last 12 months.Putting Rebirth on Switch? That would take way too effort and money. Not worth doing that.

But it wouldn't make any sense for Fantasian, Dragon Quest, SaGa and Star Ocean to not be on Switch because it "only" has 100s of millions of third party sales.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

I think Final Fantasy games are famous for their epicness.
Playing that on a tiny screen at 720p takes too much away from the game.

 

[pulicat]

Yeah, there's no way FF16 could pull off those sales numbers say if it were to be released exclusively on Switch, theoretically speaking.

Monster Hunter Rise sold ~10 million units on Switch.

Octopath traveller a niche JRPG from SE sold ~2.6 million units on switch.

Momotaro Densetsu sold 4 million units while being exclusively released in Japan.

So, it's not impossible for AAA budget FF games to sell over 3 million units on Switch alone. Japan is going to play a big part in securing those numbers.

 

[Evil Calvin]

Wow....who would have thought that putting out a game on a console with 35 million+ additional users may increase their revenue. Amazing!

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

The future for S-E and all Japanese 3rd partys is PS5+PS6, PC (Steam day 1) and Switch 2. They can skip Xbox as the remaining audience has been conditioned to not pay for games and so it's a waste of money, unless MS pay the full port costs.

 

[chokotoureiki]

Monster Hunter Rise sold ~10 million units on Switch.

Octopath traveller a niche JRPG from SE sold ~2.6 million units on switch.

Momotaro Densetsu sold 4 million units while being exclusively released in Japan.

So, it's not impossible for AAA budget FF games to sell over 3 million units on Switch alone. Japan is going to play a big part in securing those numbers.

But none of those are FF though. The remastered port of FF12 couldn't even sell a mil on Switch, and that game sold 6 mil on PS2. So what makes you think an AAA FF game could sell gangbusters on Switch? If that was true, I would've seen it from Square by now. Honestly, I think they're just gonna treat the Switch as more of a tertiary platform as to help reach sales projections rather than a primary driver.

 

[360fps]

Unpopular opinion: FF games best experienced on no commentary YouTube walkthrough videos while drinking gin, like a movie. You also save yourself 70§ to spend on much more based and wholesome games like Neptunia series. Umio best girl!

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

I bet the most profitable would be to release as console exclusives. Go to PS5 and PC Day 1. Get that bag from Sony; get console exclusive hype sales; don't pay for the marketing.
I bet not paying for marketing, the Sony bag, and console exclusive hype sales outweigh being on Xbox day 1 due to their soft sales. Hell you could probably just make it 6-12 month exclusive and come to xbox then.

 

[Oberstein]

Square finally learning what Sega learnt years ago.

If they'd realized that a little earlier, Triangle Strategy could have sold a lot more and we'd have had a sequel...

 

[Ozriel]

Of course I did. Did you? yeah it said more Xbox support, nowhere in the title did it say anything about a Switch 2.

You said: "Who buys 3rd party games for the Switch? People only buy the Switch for first party games"

Thread's about Square's games being more multiplatform, which would certainly include Nintendo's consoles. Switch 2 is launching next year and should be powerful enough to do justice to multiplatform ports.

 

[JimboJones]

Switch 2 support is all but guaranteed unless Nintendo fumbles big time or it's a "too big for Switch 2" kind of project.
Switch versions of multiplatform titles routinely outsell Playstation version (in Japan at least), just look at the recent Romancing Saga 2, it outsold the PS5 and 4 versions combined.

 

[chokotoureiki]

You said: "Who buys 3rd party games for the Switch? People only buy the Switch for first party games"

Thread's about Square's games being more multiplatform, which would certainly include Nintendo's consoles. Switch 2 is launching next year and should be powerful enough to do justice to multiplatform ports.

Doubt it. If history is any indication, even Switch despite being a console that's newer than PS4 and Xbone, still struggles to handle their ports. Outer Worlds, Bloodstained, and Witcher 3 spring to mind that while they played great on the other consoles, the Switch ports were pretty horrible. Don't shoot your hopes up or you'll be terribly disappointed.

 

[JimboJones]

Doubt it. If history is any indication, even Switch despite being a console that's newer than PS4 and Xbone, still struggles to handle their ports. Outer Worlds, Bloodstained, and Witcher 3 spring to mind that while they played great on the other consoles, the Switch ports were pretty horrible. Don't shoot your hopes up or you'll be terribly disappointed.

Not sure about the other 2 but Witcher 3 actually sold really well on Switch.

 

[chokotoureiki]

Not sure about the other 2 but Witcher 3 actually sold really well on Switch.

Not really . PC, PS4, and Xbone all smoke it.

 

[JimboJones]

Not really . PC, PS4, and Xbone all smoke it.

For context that version released in October that year while the rest of the platforms are accounting for the entire year(actually beat out xbox sales for instance). So actually pretty impressive considering it was 4 year old game at that point. All that matters is publishers where happy with performance.

 

[Matsuchezz]

Release games on a dying console y bad business.

 

[JimboJones]

Release games on a dying console y bad business.

Unfortunately we don't have any insight, but it might not be that expensive to get Xbox ports up and running given the console similarities and they are already heavily invested in PC, even if the sales aren't impressive compared to other platforms it might be worth it. They at least think it is for the moment given the alternatives.

 

[ArtHands]

What most japanese third-parties learned, even Atlus and Vanillaware. Square got way too dependant on Sony money.

Still funny to see folks trying to resist that change. Claiming that Switch is too weak or meaningless to port to Xbox

 

[StereoVsn]

This is all great and all, Square, but where is the damn FVII Rebirth on PC!?

 

[Furball]

It absolutely is a different beast, but it's one that can be a big boost to sales if approached in the right way.

Let's take SE's output in the last 12 months.Putting Rebirth on Switch? That would take way too effort and money. Not worth doing that.

But it wouldn't make any sense for Fantasian, Dragon Quest, SaGa and Star Ocean to not be on Switch because it "only" has 100s of millions of third party sales.

But they all coming to Switch except SO6 (which i dont think Switch can handle that fast pace open field action combat ) ? They better prepare for Switch 2 to give it new life .

 

[pulicat]

But none of those are FF though. The remastered port of FF12 couldn't even sell a mil on Switch, and that game sold 6 mil on PS2. So what makes you think an AAA FF game could sell gangbusters on Switch? If that was true, I would've seen it from Square by now. Honestly, I think they're just gonna treat the Switch as more of a tertiary platform as to help reach sales projections rather than a primary driver.

"Remastered port" is the reason here.
Monster hunter Generation HD port only sold ~1m on Switch but Monster Hunter Rise sold 10m because gamers wanted to play a new big budget games instead of port of old games.

A new mainline FF game design specifically for Switch is going to sell over 3m effortlessly.

 

[TGO]

All this talk when we all know that SE is just going to announce Triangle Strategy & Bravely Default 1 & 2 for Playstation & Xbox.

 

[chokotoureiki]

"Remastered port" is the reason here.
Monster hunter Generation HD port only sold ~1m on Switch but Monster Hunter Rise sold 10m because gamers wanted to play a new big budget games instead of port of old games.

A new mainline FF game design specifically for Switch is going to sell over 3m effortlessly.

Games like Monster Hunter that sell well on Switch are exceptions to the rule. Doesn't change the fact that most third party games generally don't sell on Nintendo systems. That's a fact. Otherwise we wouldn't be receiving complaints on why this game or that game isn't coming to Switch and then blaming it on lazy devs which is the typical Ninty fan argument.

Until I see hard proof that a mainline FF game can sell over 3 mil on Switch alone, there's no way it's happening.

 

[ArtHands]

All this talk when we all know that SE is just going to announce Triangle Strategy & Bravely Default 1 & 2 for Playstation & Xbox.

Ain’t they already on 3DS, Switch and PC?

 

[Ozriel]

No it isn’t a self fulfilling prophecy. SE put every FF game day one on 360 and xbone, along with every other major third party. Didn’t stop the user base from continuing to contract to the point where it is now borderline worthless for game sales.

It’s not even a third party’s job to sell consoles. That’s Microsoft’s job to build an install base. If they can’t do it then tough shit.

There’s already a critical mass of Xbox consoles in the market that makes it worthwhile for third parties to put their games there. We know this, because the vast majority of third party games are multiplatform.

This has nothing to do with the userbase. FFXV had decent sales on the Xbox One.

This is about a third party that took some money to ignore the install base on other platforms. Including PC where Valve has a large base. And the people who are In the know - Square Enix themselves - are telling you that they’re seeing the consequences of their past choices.

 

[MAX PAYMENT]

I was always surprised they haven't done simultaneous releases for as big as a company they are

 

[ArtHands]

Release games on a dying console y bad business.

Which is why they are releasing on more platforms.

 

[pulicat]

Games like Monster Hunter that sell well on Switch are exceptions to the rule. Doesn't change the fact that most third party games generally don't sell on Nintendo systems. That's a fact. Otherwise we wouldn't be receiving complaints on why this game or that game isn't coming to Switch and then blaming it on lazy devs which is the typical Ninty fan argument.

Until I see hard proof that a mainline FF game can sell over 3 mil on Switch alone, there's no way it's happening.

Square Enix games sales on Switch

Octopath Traveller - 2.6m
Project Triangle Strategy - 1m
Bravely Default 2 - 1m
Live Alive - 500k
Dragon Quest Monster Dark Prince - 1m
Dragon Quest 11 DE - 1m(Japan)

The next SE game for Switch, Dragon Quest 3 Remake is going to sell 2 million units on Switch alone.

A big budget mainline FF game exclusively build for Switch is going to sell over 3m easily.

 

[Neofire]

They say this but so far it's just been Switch games coming to PlayStation & Xbox ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What I think they mean is they not keeping games exclusive if they know they sell a lot on another platform.

What they aren't saying is porting SE games to Xbox isnt moving the needle at all. Even if the SE ports that are day one have no tangible difference in the Xbox moving software for SE.

 

[graywolf323]

Square Enix games sales on Switch

Octopath Traveller - 2.6m
Project Triangle Strategy - 1m
Bravely Default 2 - 1m
Live Alive - 500k
Dragon Quest Monster Dark Prince - 1m
Dragon Quest 11 DE - 1m(Japan)

The next SE game for Switch, Dragon Quest 3 Remake is going to sell 2 million units on Switch alone.

A big budget mainline FF game exclusively build for Switch is going to sell over 3m easily.

why leave off Octopath Traveller 2?

 

[pulicat]

why leave off Octopath Traveller 2?

Multiplat release instead of Nintendo Switch launch exclusive.

 

[graywolf323]

Multiplat release instead of Nintendo Switch launch exclusive.

the whole point of this thread is Square-Enix going away from launch exclusives

 

[DeepEnigma]

I have always said this.

Xbox is benchmark for Japanese developers. If they crack that market, they have games that will do well worldwide.

Skipping it is just moronic. Unless they just wanna cater to Japan and weebs.

The worst takes of the year award goes to...

 

[Neofire]

The worst takes of the year award goes to...

More like the most delusional of the year award.

 

[DeepEnigma]

More like the most delusional of the year award.

Lots of delusions in this thread for the sake of console warring.

 

[pulicat]

the whole point of this thread is Square-Enix going away from launch exclusives

We were discussing about the potential sales of an exclusive mainline FF game on Switch.

 

[chokotoureiki]

Square Enix games sales on Switch

Octopath Traveller - 2.6m
Project Triangle Strategy - 1m
Bravely Default 2 - 1m
Live Alive - 500k
Dragon Quest Monster Dark Prince - 1m
Dragon Quest 11 DE - 1m(Japan)

The next SE game for Switch, Dragon Quest 3 Remake is going to sell 2 million units on Switch alone.

A big budget mainline FF game exclusively build for Switch is going to sell over 3m easily.

Keep trying. It's not Final Fantasy is all I'm saying. We can dream up fantasy/theoretical/overly optimistic scenarios all day long but at the end of day, Square said they want to do multiplats. They never said anything about making a mainline FF Switch exclusive. If they're not confident about Playstation, then they sure as hell aren't confident about going Switch only either, that's why they're throwing everything at the wall with multiplats and seeing what sticks.

 

[Woopah]

But they all coming to Switch except SO6 (which i dont think Switch can handle that fast pace open field action combat ) ? They better prepare for Switch 2 to give it new life .

That's my point. The poster was asking if it's worth making the effort to bring games to Switch, and I'm saying that it was worth for those games.

There couid be some ports for Switch 2, but SE needs to publish new games there too to maximise potential.

why leave off Octopath Traveller 2?

We don't know how the Switch version of OT2 sold.