why dId Sony abandon all of their first party RPG ips?

R

ReaperXL7

Member
I have been taking some time go back through many of the older games and consoles that I have owned over the years and thinking about their libraries and the one constant is that all of my favorite systems became so because of the RPGS that were available on them. Sega was my primary console in those old days and the only reason I ever really bothered with Nintendo was for RPGs and the occasional Capcom/Konami game mostly.

So when I think back to the reasoning behind my ending up with PlayStation when I did it was largely due to all of the amazing RPGS that came or were coming to their systems. It could easily be argued that most of the better known games were third party but that did not stop me from loving many of the first party RPGS that Sony had brought to the table.

A few examples of some of Sony's owned RPG IPs

Wild Arms:

http://youtu.be/VVOFibwVMw0

Awesome soundtrack, great wild west inspired theme, and lots of great characters.

Legend of Legaia:

http://youtu.be/1gWoy_ZLC2E

Really interesting battle mechanics and even though it's a game that has aged somewhat poorly I still remember being really intrigued by the idea of someone mixing fighting game combo mechanics into an RPG.

Legend of Dragoon:

http://youtu.be/DaMWwEgSYuo

Really had a fantasy power rangers vibe to it, and I liked the combat, music. And many of the characters. Saddest part about this one is that we almost got a sequel and Shuhei admits himself that after he left Japan SCEJ gave up on it...

Arc the Lad:

http://youtu.be/tOuwt2KDupo

I have the least familiarity with this one but plan to pick them up soon for my Vita so I can give them a shot.

Dark Cloud:

http://youtu.be/s0yznAnd_XY

Dark Cloud probably makes the most sense since it was developed by Level 5 who has largely transitioned to mobile/handheld development. Still depressing that it's dead.

There are a few others aswell like White Knight,Champions of Norrath, Drakkan, Demons Souls(Obviously BloodBorne is coming) but all of Sony's internal RPG IP have been left in the dust to rot and die in favor of stuff like Killzone or Drive Club.

At first my opinion was pretty much that they just did not sell well but then when I read stuff like this
According to Shuhei Yoshida, The Legend of Dragoon cost Sony Computer Entertainment $16 million to develop in over a span of three years and that most of the game's sales were made overseas, saying "the sales in the U.S. were very strong."
Click to expand...

It seems to go against that idea.

It's just something I never understood about Sony because while much of their fanbase was built on the back of stuff like Crash, Gran Turismo, Metal Gear, etc there is also a large portion of their fanbase that was there for all of the amazing RPGS that came to their systems both First and third party.

I don't think I have ever seen anyone at Sony actually comment on why they gave up on developing RPGS from a first party angle but it's a gap that I hope Sony considers fixing this generation.
 
ReaperXL7 said:
At first my opinion was pretty much that they just did not sell well but then when I read stuff like this
Click to expand...

Costs,expectations,development,interests are different now.

Legend of Dragoon was a different time, where other standards were set...
You can't apply that to todays market.
 
If that game took 16 million to make back in the 90s, imagine how expensive it would be to make in 2014 with the budgets games have now.

There is no way it would sell well enough to make back the investment.
 
I'd love to see a return of some of those series. I think with a series like Wild ARMs, it just ran its course - two PS1 games, three PS2 games over the span of ten years or so. I mean, that's a pretty good run for any series. Remember, those series all came out at a time when JRPGs were king and Japanese development was in full swing. The 7th gen definitely shifted everything over to a more Western taken on the industry, and away from the kind of development brought all of those series to light.
 
bigkrev said:
If that game took 16 million to make back in the 90s, imagine how expensive it would be to make in 2014 with the budgets games have now.

There is no way it would sell well enough to make back the investment.
Click to expand...

Bang. If RPGs sold more, they would pump them out no problem.

I don't like it, but FPS is where it's at.
 
Yeah, it's a shame they lost the wild arms guys at media vision. Those weren't often great rpgs, but they were good B-tier rpgs to fill the gaps.

Now they make Chaos Rings Ios games which are alright, but I'd rather have wild arms.
 
Maybe Sony thought because of it's great partnership with Square, and because Square was a leader in the field (RPG's), there was no need to have in-house RPG studios? So instead they spent money on other projects.
 
Would love more Dark Cloud or Legend of Legaia (only played the first but loved it, heard 2 wasn't as good). Wish Sony would fund at least one to see how it'd do in today's environment.
 
BadWolf said:
They are rumored to be currently working on a Final Fantasy rivaling big JRPG project.
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I feel like this is going to be the "secret PS3 game" of this gen. I highly doubt that Sony is working on such a project.
 
I guess Oreshika 2 is a FPS now ...

Wld Arms, Dark Cloud, WKC, Alundra, etc. were all in decline. SCE doesn't know how to properly build brands and RPGs are expensive to make.
 
Not everything should have a sequel, some games have a time and place to exist. Also the market has changed, besides Final Fantasy i don't see a lot of triple AAA JRPG on the market nowadays.
 
Because the console market is dead in Japan.


Don't get me wrong, I continue to wish for a Legend of Dragoon sequel that will never happen, but virtually all JRPGs on non handhelds are dead.

Maybe you disagree, but put it on context of the time of the PS1. There was a new JRPG every week (not literally but felt like it at times). Japanese stopped buying as many consoles, so developers switched focus.

There's still hope, but it's just not great.
 
This is good question. Looking at TLG and what has happened with that project, a JRPG may be an insurmountable undertaking; there is just not enough time for its hypothetical completion.

baekshi said:
Because their first party studio's have no talent and japan studio cant keep up with the generation.
Click to expand...

You mean in general or with respect to RPG development?
 
Don't open old wounds, man.

Wild Arms alter code F and Arc the Lad Twilight of spirits are awesome.

And LOD of course, which for some stupid reason I can't buy in the european Store. Thanks Sony.
 
nbnt said:
I feel like this is going to be the "secret PS3 game" of this gen. I highly doubt that Sony is working on such a project.
Click to expand...
Why not? Sony probably has tons of in-house ideas in the work. There's almost no doubt they're working on a big RPG (in my mind) among other projects. The more important question is if anything will come of their work or if it'll be scrapped.
 
According to Verendus, Sony is working on big a JRPG, similar to Final Fantasy.

It will be a risky Project, and if it fails, they will never try this again
 
I enjoyed most of those games. Sony consoles are mainly aimed at a western audience now so not surprising they don't invest in many JRPGs like they used to. It is a shame though.

Perhaps a WRPG would do well though.
 
baekshi said:
Because their first party studio's have no talent
Click to expand...

kjLyUNH.gif
 
Because Sony knew they would have the genre locked down in the PS2 generation either way. Besides, most of their first party JRPGs weren't all that good to begin with.
 
OuterLimits said:
I enjoyed most of those games. Sony consoles are mainly aimed at a western audience now so not surprising they don't invest in many JRPGs like they used to. It is a shame though.

Perhaps a WRPG would do well though.
Click to expand...
Question. Do we have any idea what China likes in terms of genre? Shooter, MOBA, RPG, etc? If there's is a market for RPGs there maybe we'll see a resurgence of Eastern RPGs?
 
Games have become far more expensive to produce. A first party jrpg can no longer get by with sprite based graphics, click through text dialog with occasional (if any) voice overs, etc.

Now the expectation would be a fully explorable 3d world with all the bells and whistles of this new gen. That doesn't come cheap, and the risk is high because even though lots of these IPs are well remembered, it doesn't mean they'd magically do well in stores.
 
Gexecuter said:
Not everything should have a sequel, some games have a time and place to exist. Also the market has changed, besides Final Fantasy i don't see a lot of triple AAA JRPG on the market nowadays.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying that everything does demand a sequel, but it's not like they have eeven tried to build any new internal RPGS since then either. If the rumors of GG making an RPG are true then that's a step in the right direction but anyone who thinks RPGs don't sell just is not paying attention.

Yes there has been a decline in interest when it comes to JRPGs, but it's hard to really gauge how true that is when they are pretty much exclusive to mobile and Handhelds now.

Games like Diablo/Skyrim/Fallout etc prove that RPGS can be very profitable in today's market though.
 
Begaria said:
I'd love to see a return of some of those series. I think with a series like Wild ARMs, it just ran its course - two PS1 games, three PS2 games over the span of ten years or so. I mean, that's a pretty good run for any series. Remember, those series all came out at a time when JRPGs were king and Japanese development was in full swing. The 7th gen definitely shifted everything over to a more Western taken on the industry, and away from the kind of development brought all of those series to light.
Click to expand...

It also had a PS2 remake of the first game and an excellent strategy/RPG spin-off on the PSP.

There were some rumors a little while ago that they were considering reviving Wild Arms but nothing solid has shown up.
 
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