Trauma Center didn’t sell through the roof in Japan yes, and 600.000 or so outside it; how is that a bad decision? I mean… Atlus usually sells much less. Why would they bother? monies, duh; and they got them from this game, more so than in persona with total sales across all regions.

Lost Odyseey sucking is besides the point, so did FFX, GTAIV and a lot of sucessful games, it’s a high profile game, one with budget comparable to a HD FF, and it flopped for what it is; nice excuse, but… I only gave Lost Odyssey because it was the top seller RPG in X360, all the other did WORSE, do they suck too? and even if they don’t, the platform is not flooded with RPG’s like PS2 was, if it had the demographic wouldn’t they jump on it anyway since they’re so much more “receptive” according to you? (answer: they aren’t, and the right demographic isn’t there; just the higher development costs)

Tales of Vesperia? lol, that’s a flop right there, the game that got it’s ass kicked sales-wise by a low budget spin-off on the Wii. terrible example that confirms our point. You’re saying they should be pleased with a game that seems to be the lowest selling main installment for a Tales game in Japan; and this while being the most expensive Tales ever to boot. Wow, they must be soooo pleased.

Wii and DS are not a third party graveyard, and if developers don’t put their games there it’s out of their own stupidity right now, look at it’s sales, before it was “oh Nintendo is just Nintendo fans” and now? the demographic expanded, a lot of people have acess to it and it’s the biggest demographic expansion since PSone; “let’s not support it” is not logic option, and you know it, you’re shielding the “oh RPG haven’t sold in Wii”, what RPG’s? ToSDotNW kicking ToV sales around? but what about the X360? it’s laughable when Lost Odyssey almost get’s it’s ass kicked by a DQ spin-off called DQ Swords (for the Wii no less)

Extremely viable platforms, no matter what you say… and comparatively cheap, with less risks and better for such developers altogether.

1. Square Enix and Capcom (Japan, both) both seem to think you’re wrong.

2. Marvelous and XSEED seem to think you’re wrong, too.

3. Ubisoft and SEGA seem to think you’re wrong as well.

And no, by Ubisoft I don’t mean their casual games division. I mean the division that is promising “near Nintendo-quality” games and is expecting over a million units sold for Shaun White on Wii.

XBLA and PSN are very niche. Not everyone uses them for downloadable games. For niche companies like Atlus or NIS to make niche games within a niche environment is ridiculous. They’re better off sticking with DS or PSP if they want to keep their budget relatively low.

“…there’s 43 million Wii’s, 60% of that is not the same as 26 million X360’s, let alone PS3’s userbase.”

It’s 60% of SOFTWARE sales, not HARDWARE. The attach ratio is higher on the 360. Meaning that the 80+% on the 360 of 3rd party sales is not 80% of 26 million. It’s 80+% * (26 million * attach rate).

In quick response to your other points:

Trauma Center sold like crap in Japan. Atlus Japan’s the developer, not Atlus USA. So, why would they bother developing a game for a system that’s not selling for them in their home territory? Answer: They likely wouldn’t. If you don’t have a chance to see solid sales out of all three regions, then you don’t sink the money into it.

First off, Lost Odyssey SUCKED. On top of that, near 800K worldwide is RIDICULOUSLY GOOD for a title with NO IP. Assuming that Mistwalker made an arbitrarily low $20 per copy, that’s 16 Million dollars right there.

Take a look at how Tales of Vesperia’s doing. I’m fairly certain that Namco Bandai’s pretty damn pleased. Even a legendarily crappy RPG like Two Worlds sold enough to get a collector’s edition and a sequel. You don’t think people are paying attention to this?

I’m not saying that the 360 and PS3 are guaranteed cash for developers. I’m saying that the Wii and the DS are a third party graveyard right now. Good games are going there to DIE. Companies are best suited right now to tread water and hold back their big guns. The downloadable avenue is the best bet.

Yet, the Wii is selling more than both platforms combined in hardware and of course that reflects in software sales as well, so… just do the math, 60% of Wii software sales are not the same of “over 80″ playstation 3 sales. And to make things worse… Wi development costs are cheaper.

Trauma Center games are niche, yet, it sold very well. The Wii version sold better than Persona 3/4 even.

Also DS numbers are great anywhere you go too, DS is market leader in US and PAL-lands, it sells more than Wii, PSP and… X360, PS3. It doesn’t have the tie-ratio of the home consoles though, but it has 80 million units sold, that’s quite a bucketload of consoles.

your point is very flawed, trying to say that the market leading platforms that sell more aren’t supposed to get the developers best effort/lead support, yet, the niche ones should get them with their more expensive development costs, and basing that on unphased statistic, there’s 43 million Wii’s, 60% of that is not the same as 26 million X360’s, let alone PS3’s userbase.

And of course, PSN and XBLA are meant for smaller games that are not worth the money of a full game, if developers who did PS2 games have to go through that to release games oin HD platforms they might as well not go there. It’s not benefiting for them and as you seem to admit with that suggestion… costs a lot of money, too much to be lucrative through the regular means. (and you seem to assume HD console software sales are through the roof and the market is there, yet stuff like Lost Odyssey hasn’t even reached 800.000 worldwide. What a hell of a market when games like that, with that budget sell like that (and not to speak of Valkyria Chronicles in PS3’s case)

Those platforms are not logic choices for such developers, and even less so when the Wii and DS sell like they do.

“As for third party’s, there is market, why do you think they’re flocking to DS? and how many of Wii software sales do you think it’s third party? more than 60% of the total software mate, and although Nintendo is strong, with what third party’s have been ofering they’re selling like mad.”

360 and PS3 third party sales are over 80%. Also, try telling Atlus Japan about how awesome 3rd party Wii games are selling. Neither of the Trauma Center games even showed up on the top 40 charts over there.

Also, while the DS numbers are great IN JAPAN, Japan is no longer the #1 video game market in the world, and they haven’t been for quite some time. Most companies rely on a multi-region strategy to stay afloat, and big first week sales in Japan and a huge second week drop-off plus anemic US sales doesn’t make enough to keep a company in business.

As far as the 360/PSN online markets go, they’re not huge in Japan yet, but you can also build stuff to sell on the PSP. Which is a pretty sizeable chunk of the audience. Then it comes to the US and Europe and you hit a very nice slice of the RECEPTIVE audience on the PSN and 360. It’s currently the best global strategy to go for.

DS is already massive in Japan…I expect DQIX is going to make it even bigger, and maybe…just maybe…Phantasy Star 0 will help.

DS is hands down the most saturated RPG platform now, how’s that Nintendo-centric? it’s only “centric” if third party’s don’t even try to put their games on it; I mean “wii doesn’t sell RPG’s” do you judge that due to opoona alone? lol, that’s like saying PS2 doesn’t sell RPG’s because Okage sold crap.

As for third party’s, there is market, why do you think they’re flocking to DS? and how many of Wii software sales do you think it’s third party? more than 60% of the total software mate, and although Nintendo is strong, with what third party’s have been ofering they’re selling like mad. (also, Wii is surpassing X360 sales in total third party software sales too). that’s a beast right there.

Ishaan is right, DS, Wii and PSP are the platforms for RPG’s at this point, and the only logic choices at this point, going for HD’s and through the horses door with PSN/XBLA to fund a big game “eventually” is being nothing more than stubborn (and you know it, I suspect)

they’re free to be stubborn though, of course, but that doesn’t mean it does market sense. (to make the point short: it doesn’t)

As for units sold, you have games with FF production values in HD (meaning way more expensive than it’s PS2 counterparts) that sold 700.000 units worldwide, do you think that is even recouping costs when FFX back in it’s day sold like… 8 million? the bigger risk is by a blind mile on the HD’s, and some might say unjustified. (and you might say “I just want the games for my HD, I don’t care about all the rest” and only then, your rant will make some sense)

DS is hands down the most saturated RPG platform now, how’s that Nintendo-centric? it’s only “centric” if third party’s don’t even try to put their games on it; I mean “wii doesn’t sell RPG’s” do you judge that due to opoona alone? lol, that’s like saying PS2 doesn’t sell RPG’s because Okage sold crap.

As for third party’s, there is market, why do you think they’re flocking to DS? and how many of Wii software sales do you think it’s third party? more than 60% of the total software mate, and although Nintendo is strong, with what third party’s have been ofering they’re selling like mad. (also, Wii is surpassing X360 sales in total third party software sales too). that’s a beast right there.

Ishaan is right, DS, Wii and PSP are the platforms for RPG’s at this point, and the only logic choices at this point, going for HD’s and through the horses door with PSN/XBLA to fund a big game “eventually” is being nothing more than stubborn (and you know it, I suspect)

they’re free to be stubborn though, of course, but that doesn’t mean it does market sense. (to make the point short: it doesn’t)

As for units sold, you have games with FF production values in HD (meaning way more expensive than it’s PS2 counterparts) that sold 700.000 units worldwide, do you think that is even recouping costs when FFX back in it’s day sold like… 8 million? the bigger risk is by a blind mile on the HD’s, and some might say unjustified. (and you might say “I just want the games for my HD, I don’t care about all the rest” and only then, your rant will make some sense)

What any mid-size RPG developer should be doing is canning any DS/PSP projects they have and converting them to Live Arcade and PSN games. Use those profits to fund a bigger budget RPG project on the 360/PS3, and let Nintendo make money on their Nintendo-centric console, because there’s no room for third parties (especially not RPGs) and Nintendo doesn’t give a damn.

While it may cost less to develop for the less powerful systems, it means less than nothing if you can’t sell enough units to cover the costs.