stratogustav
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Post by stratogustav on Nov 21, 2017 23:38:28 GMT
Of course there are many more PCs than consoles in people's homes in general, but the number of people who game on consoles over PCs is quite a bit more substanstial, especially in the case of a niche game like this, and even more so for the Japanese gaming demographic - hence the larger target audience console market, which includes the Switch I would still argue that there are more people playing games on PC in general, specially with all the piracy. However it is fair to say they don't count as they are not paying for those games. In Japan consoles have been dead for quite some time. Most people are playing on PC, handhelds, or mobile. It is only now that the Switch is starting to pick up because it is also a handheld. |
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leaon79s
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Post by leaon79s on Nov 22, 2017 2:19:50 GMT
Yeah, for games in general - i.e casual gaming and whatever else that isn't Valkyria.
But this particular title and its style are rooted in more dedicated console gaming, making the mobile base irrelevant for its case.
Of course they could have made it a phone game, but evidently they want a sequel that follows on from the original and the playerbase it garnered from consoles, predominatly Sony machines - making that its target audience, and accordingly its largest market.
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Cervantes
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Post by Cervantes on Nov 22, 2017 4:22:32 GMT
Of course they could have made it a phone game, but evidently they want a sequel that follows on from the original and the playerbase it garnered from consoles, predominatly Sony machines - making that its target audience, and accordingly its largest market. But this is the problem: the pc port vastly outsold all the Sony machines in Valkyiria's case, which is even more relevant when you remember that the pc port came years later, so it wasn't even a shiny new thing - imagine how many more sales it would have if it was on pc at its original release date, when the game was still new and even more impressive. The largest market for this specific series has proven to be on pc. While it's true that there are more consoles than gaming pcs in general, the main audience for a game may vary depending on various facotrs, especially its genre. This reminds me of a Gabe Newell interview in which he mentioned they expected Portal 2 to be more successful on consoles, but to their surprise the pc version outsold them. I would argue that niche games tend to have a bigger fanbase on pc, the reason why indie games tend to be more successful there - the pc just seems more adequate for players that become so invested in the game that they will create patches and mods and support the game for years. Strategy games certainly are a pc thing, even turn based ones, so much that the newer X-COM games were a success. Valkyria apparently hits those two notes, so the pc release of a game from a generation ago, with almost no marketing besides a few gaming sites mentioning it, managed to easily outsell the lifetime console copies of the entire series in a few months. I'm impressed by it, as jRPGs are more a console thing, especially on Sony consoles, and I thought Valkyria would not make a huge impact on pc because of that. But either I was underestimating jRPG players on pc or word of mouth got around that the game was closer to the strategy genre. Either way, it's not speculation: the series has a larger audience on pc than on any other platform, so I don't know why Sega would not make an effort to capitalize on that. |
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leaon79s
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Post by leaon79s on Nov 22, 2017 13:34:10 GMT
Ah, but it was only continued interest in the original console release that sparked the port to PC to begin with.
Remember that this trailer announcement comes on the heels of the PS4 remaster. The PC port of the original may have had surprising success, but it was likelier the remaster that confirmed continued viability of the series - and that's the playerbase that's being catered to.
The PC version will likely come along eventually, but it will have to prove itself on consoles first, even if that is with critical and/or user acclaim rather than sales.
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Post by Imperial Khador on Nov 22, 2017 17:03:56 GMT
One thing I would mention, as happy as I am with how much VC1 sold on its PC release, is that it released at $20 US, and is frequently on sale. I believe I picked it up for $5 CAD on a Steam sale. I'm pretty sure the PS3 version launched for $50 US, and the PS4 version for $30.
There are definitely a lot of PC gamers willing to drop a few dollars on a well reviewed game like that, but it wouldn't necessarily equate to all of those same people picking up VC4 at launch for $60. That said, I'm certainly hoping for a PC release so more people can enjoy the series. It would be great to see a remastered collection of VC2 and a translated VC3 as well for PC and consoles.
I'm glad they're sticking with the Second Europan War as a setting, as it does seem there is room for a lot of stories outside of Gallia, since the main Empire/Federation conflict was much more wide-spread.
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dschult3
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Post by dschult3 on Nov 22, 2017 19:44:45 GMT
This looks cool. I will have to get a copy on the Switch when it comes out.
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Cervantes
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Post by Cervantes on Nov 23, 2017 1:42:01 GMT
I'm glad they're sticking with the Second Europan War as a setting, as it does seem there is room for a lot of stories outside of Gallia, since the main Empire/Federation conflict was much more wide-spread. Yeah, I also like the idea of having each game explore a different front in the same war, it makes the setting feel much more complex. About the sales thing, consider that the US PS3 release only sold 33.000 copies at full price - most of the copies sold there were after they dropped the price to 30$ just a few months later. Also, there was an expensive marketing campaign for the PS3 release, besides the cost of manufacturing and distribution, while the pc version had almost none of those costs - so, even if it was cheaper (it was a six years-old game after all), the huge amount of Steam sales certainly make up for the price difference. My point is: a six years-old game, no marketing campaign, managed to outsell the likes of CoD: Advanced Warfare and Assassin's Creed Unity, which were released around the same time on pc - and those franchises are huge on pc. So imagine what a proper release of a new VC game could do. I think Sega is sitting on a goldmine. leaon79s - I also thought the series was ported because of its cult following on PS3, but, by then, the series was mostly considered dead - at least in the west, so much that Sega had already passed up on the localization of the 3rd game in 2011. The reason why it was ported was a new Sega policy of investing in the pc market, which led them to start porting a lot of games in their library (The Typing of the Dead: Overkill was also among them; Bayonetta and Vanquyish are the most recent ones). It was the renewed interest after the pc release that prompted the HD rerelease on PS4, which prompted the develpment of Azure Revolution, which seemed to kill the series again until this new release... Man, this series has the strangest history, doesn't it?  Anyway, I just hope the game is great and I'm glad they went back with the Canvas engine, as it makes the game look beautiful without needing all the work and money that goes into making a photorealistic game. I'm still curious about Azure Revolution, have any of you guys played it? |
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scipioafricanus
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Post by scipioafricanus on Nov 23, 2017 1:52:23 GMT
I'm glad they're sticking with the Second Europan War as a setting, as it does seem there is room for a lot of stories outside of Gallia, since the main Empire/Federation conflict was much more wide-spread. Yeah, I also like the idea of having each game explore a different front in the same war, it makes the setting feel much more complex. About the sales thing, consider that the US PS3 release only sold 33.000 copies at full price - most of the copies sold there were after they dropped the price to 30$ just a few months later. Also, there was an expensive marketing campaign for the PS3 release, besides the cost of manufacturing and distribution, while the pc version had almost none of those costs - so, even if it was cheaper (it was a six years-old game after all), the huge amount of Steam sales certainly make up for the price difference. My point is: a six years-old game, no marketing campaign, managed to outsell the likes of CoD: Advanced Warfare and Assassin's Creed Unity, which were released around the same time on pc - and those franchises are huge on pc. So imagine what a proper release of a new VC game could do. I think Sega is sitting on a goldmine. leaon79s - I also thought the series was ported because of its cult following on PS3, but, by then, the series was mostly considered dead - at least in the west, so much that Sega had already passed up on the localization of the 3rd game in 2011. The reason why it was ported was a new Sega policy of investing in the pc market, which led them to start porting a lot of games in their library (The Typing of the Dead: Overkill was also among them; Bayonetta and Vanquyish are the most recent ones). It was the renewed interest after the pc release that prompted the HD rerelease on PS4, which prompted the develpment of Azure Revolution, which seemed to kill the series again until this new release... Man, this series has the strangest history, doesn't it? Anyway, I just hope the game is great and I'm glad they went back with the Canvas engine, as it makes the game look beautiful without needing all the work and money that goes into making a photorealistic game. I'm still curious about Azure Revolution, have any of you guys played it? I have it. It's alright. It is just a Dynasty Warriors clone. It is also a budget game. Not all the activities have voice acting. All those extra missions in Valkyria Chronicles... VEGETABLES!!!... a lot of the squad interactions don't have voice acting. I haven't finished it yet. Got distracted. |
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stratogustav
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Post by stratogustav on Nov 23, 2017 2:51:20 GMT
I want to believe, I love my PS4, but it is hard to say we have the biggest market. There are not even PS3 levels of PS4s sold yet. The amount of people that play RPGs like Valkyria on PC is insane.
There is a loop hole though, if we count out piracy, then we can compete with our Sony machines, and ultimately that's what the publishers care because they cannot make money from piracy.
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scipioafricanus
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Post by scipioafricanus on Nov 29, 2017 0:49:39 GMT
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scipioafricanus
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Post by scipioafricanus on Dec 21, 2017 23:10:13 GMT
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Post by Imperial Khador on Dec 23, 2017 5:41:13 GMT
About the sales thing, consider that the US PS3 release only sold 33.000 copies at full price - most of the copies sold there were after they dropped the price to 30$ just a few months later. I was reading into this a bit recently. Those 33,000 copies were from the first month of North American sales, not the total lifetime PS3 sales. Not sure on the source data, but vgchatz has the lifetime sales of the PS3 version at 0.71 million in North America, and 1.27 million worldwide (though as you note, there was a price drop fairly early on). The PS4 version is listed as only 0.31 million worldwide. Nothing there for the PC release, but Steamspy shows the Steam version is owned by just shy of 1 million, so PC copies from other digital storefronts probably pushes it comfortably over the 1 million mark. |
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Cervantes
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Post by Cervantes on Dec 23, 2017 6:24:28 GMT
Yep, 33k copies for the first month, that's right; then they soon had the price drop that made them sell more copies. Though it must be noted that VGChartz data is unthrustworthy: it's literally purely based on speculation and can have margins of error as wrong as, literally, 100%, especially for niche games like this. Here's an article digging deep into their methodology and confirming that yes, they just do "educated guesses". I stopped using them for reference, their data can wildly differ from other reports. |
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Post by Imperial Khador on Dec 23, 2017 7:16:20 GMT
Good info Cervantes. Thanks  |
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scipioafricanus
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Post by scipioafricanus on Jul 18, 2018 22:58:50 GMT
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