Why are JRPGS not doing so well in Japan ?

W

Wanderer

Pro Adventurer
JRPG sales are not doing good in Japan, the original DQ3 sold 3 million copies in a week on the NES. The remake didn’t even reach 1 million sales in a month while being on the Switch, PS5, and PS4; the lifetime sales were only 1.1 million in Japan. DQ XI sold about 2 million while being on two platforms in a week, and Altus isn’t doing any better. Persona 5 sold over 300k in its first week in Japan, while Royal sold over 400k in about 2 months. Compare that to Persona 3 Reload, which only sold 170k in one year, plus Metaphor, which only sold 100k plus in a year. Is Japan falling out of love with JRPGS?
 
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X-SOLDIER

X-SOLDIER

Harbinger O Great Justice
AKA
X
So, to start with, I'd want to see information that narrows down the scope of what you're asking about:
  • First question: Is this actually something that's just specific to JRPGs in Japan, or is it true of JPRGs in other markets as well?
  • Second question: Is this something that's specific to JRPGs or is it true of other types of games in Japan?
  • Third question: Is this localized to Japan or is it a part of the wider things impacting the games industry?

I'm curious if there's any overall data about games data in general to compare that against, so that there's an easier way to get a sense of what those shifts look like in the context of the current absolute shitshow that is the games industry in general right now.

A big part of things struggling at the moment is that videogames aren't just competing with videogames these days, but they're competing with the entire social media & mobile app economy that are all attempting to prey on people's time. This makes comparing DQ3 releasing in Japan in 1988 and in NA in 1992 basically impossible to compare directly against sales for the remake releasing in late 2024.

This is a good perspective on the games industry itself right now that's good as context to try and consider:




X :neo:
 
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