Larian are pretty PC-based. Can't imagine them getting bought by Sony.
I mean, if you're a big fan of western RPGs, buying into the Microsoft ecoystem is a no-brainer now. Sony obviously still has CDPR's games and Bioware (assuming they're returning to RPG development with the new Dragon Age). But it's slim pickin's on the PS side, otherwise.
Same with Obsidian and Bethesda. I don't understand the excitement about this. None of the companies named in the article here are companies that currently make good games, much less good RPGs. It's been years, or even decades since some of these companies have made a good RPG. The companies don't even have most of the same people at them.
They're pretty much the only 1st party that doesn't bother with the genre. Nintendo is always doing tons of JRPGs, Xbox is now doing to tons of WRPGs and Sony is remaking Demon's Souls and that's about it. Maybe Horizon too if that counts?
A cRPG PS exclusive wont be as successful as Sony would hope either.Larian are pretty PC-based. Can't imagine them getting bought by Sony.
Pretty much. All we need is a good Mass Effect reboot and this gen will be awesomeAs a western RPG fan, I can't be happier.
Don't care a bit about JRPG
Sarcasm?MS has a history of trying to milk franchises to death instead of building out new IP. I'd be so much more excited if that kind of money was spent on creating new studios and foster new IP. This? It's just going to be a whole lot more of the same.
I can't believe I'm saying it, but them buying Bethesda, Obsidian and their Game Pass model is currently making me favor them over the PlayStation. Likely I won't buy either but if I do I think I'll buy the digital version of the Xbox
I'm just not really interested in the Sony first party third person style games anymore.
lol. what a take and the article is still not wrong you know. Xbox stands to be a WRPG powerhouse next gen.too bad it's artificial exclusivity for these RPGs. It's not like they didn't have these games before. The only difference is that they paid beaucoup bucks to take them away from other platforms, so honestly not sure how this makes any change for Xbox as a RPG brand
JPRGS are Sonys bred and butter, hell if i was sony I would try and get Atlas.
too bad it's artificial exclusivity for these RPGs. It's not like they didn't have these games before. The only difference is that they paid beaucoup bucks to take them away from other platforms, so honestly not sure how this makes any change for Xbox as a RPG brand
But the types of games that this publisher and recent acquisitions tend to be feels a bit tilted towards that western rpg/US 90s PC gaming type. Now I'm sure that makes no sense to you but its just not really a type of game I'm that interested in - I guess I've grown up more with C64/Amiga and then console games from SNES/N64/PS etc.
I can kinda see where you're coming from here. I.. sort of feel the same way? Idk. Maybe its that I'm older now, so I have less time to invest in games, or maybe its the past several years we've had so few WRPGs that I forgot how I much I loved them.
With that said, Zenimax does have several other studios under them who's production I'm really interested in going forward. Mainly Arkane and Roundhouse Games. I'll also give Doom Eternal a chance and see how I like it.
A new Enemy Territories Quake Wars would be dope tho.
You think established IPs can't innovate when Microsoft buys them? And isn't Starfield a new IP?MS has a history of trying to milk franchises to death instead of building out new IP. I'd be so much more excited if that kind of money was spent on creating new studios and foster new IP. This? It's just going to be a whole lot more of the same.
Larian are pretty PC-based. Can't imagine them getting bought by Sony.
In the past several years we've had Fire Emblem, Xenoblade, Pokémon, Mario subserires (sometimes), Zelda (sometimes), Tokyo Mirage Sessions, Ring Fit, Astral Chain, Miitopia, Ever Oasis, etc. Plus tons of 3rd party stuff Nintendo picks up like Dragon Quest, TWEWY, Octopath, Bravely, Yokai Watch, Monster Hunter (Stories), and so on.Nintendo does 'tons' of JRPGs? Only first party JRPGs I can think of are Xenoblade and Fire Emblem. Pokemon counts, I guess, even though it's not strictly Nintendo-developed. Certainly more than Sony, but the overwhelming majority of JRPG output on the Switch has been third party.
I wish what you're saying was accurate though. Golden Sun needs to come back.
In the past several years we've had Fire Emblem, Xenoblade, Pokémon, Mario subserires (sometimes), Zelda (sometimes), Tokyo Mirage Sessions, Ring Fit, Astral Chain, Miitopia, Ever Oasis, etc. Plus tons of 3rd party stuff Nintendo picks up like Dragon Quest, TWEWY, Octopath, Bravely, Yokai Watch, Monster Hunter (Stories), and so on.
I'd agree on liking to see some historical Nintendo titles return though (Golden Sun, Earthbound, etc).
WRPGs were the thing that inspired JRPGs though...Once WRPG's became a thing I pretty much dropped JRPG's. The WRPG just skews more to what I want from a RPG game so yeah I'm excited for the future.
Bethesda is making Starfield currently, Obsidian is making Avowed.What becomes of Avowed? Can Avowed and Elder Scrolls 6 happily coexist?
Prior to Outer Worlds what was the last major new WRPG release on consoles?Series S + GamePass as a second? Anyways... This is a huge get, and does make them the go-to for western RPGs which, overall, are no slouch in terms of sales.. so yeah, big.
Oh, I'm not talking about platforms overall, just the first parties. I'm not saying PlayStation is hurting for RPGs, only that Sony themselves could/should be doing a lot more. And they used to really (Wild Arms, Popolocrois, Arc the Lad, Alundra, Dark Cloud, etc)Zelda and Astral Chain are JRPGs? I feel you're using the term very loosely there lol
They certainly put more support behind the genre than PlayStation though and support third party titles well. That said, PlayStation gets far more JRPGs than Xbox and far more WRPGs than Switch so fans of the genre who own the systems aren't hurting for titles.
Maybe that's why they don't bother, even though they damn well should be when it's one of the genre's their brand is built on.
Now you have jinxed it. I sure hope they stay independent as they seem to be doing really well now. Same with CDPR.
Atlus still publishes their games themselves. So if they were gonna support the Xbox, they would have been mentioned on their own.Sega owns Atlus. Tho Sony buying Sega? Who knows what'll happen in the future.
Oh, I'm not talking about platforms overall, just the first parties. I'm not saying PlayStation is hurting for RPGs, only that Sony themselves could/should be doing a lot more. And they used to really (Wild Arms, Popolocrois, Arc the Lad, Alundra, Dark Cloud, etc)
I'd say Astral Chain and Zelda (sometimes!) are action RPGs but yes, the genre definition can be pretty wide in it's application. Ghost, Horizon and Bloodborne/Demon's Souls could all also qualify imo.
Witcher 3 is WRPG unless you classify WRPGs having char creation be mandatory. Fallout 4 is another one and for all its faults it sold quite a lot. DAI also sold decently well, again, despite its faults.WRPGs were the thing that inspired JRPGs though...
Bethesda is making Starfield currently, Obsidian is making Avowed.
By the time Bethesda wraps on Starfield and has TES6 close to release Obsidian could be doing the same with The Outer Worlds 2/Fallout.
Having overlap in these IPs is only a big thing if they inexplicably line up the medieval fantasy games or sci-fi games on the same release window, which they're actually already not on, so it would take active effort to fuck that up.
Prior to Outer Worlds what was the last major new WRPG release on consoles?
Outer Worlds did ok by all accounts but it wasn't a Skyrim/Fallout 3 level success and was also of narrower scope.
We're almost a decade away from when WRPGs were major market drivers and the company that was at the forefront of monetizing that, the company MS just bought, was directly involved in that as they moved Elder Scrolls into the MMO space and Fallout into the GaaS/MMO space.
There is a lot of potential there, sure, but the industry as basically synthesized the exploration/loot/leveling mechanics of WRPGs into the gameplay/narrative of Action/Adventure games this generation, with Sony leading the charge there alongside the Assassins Creed games. Discrete WRPGs haven't been sales relevant outside of Skyrim re-releases in half a decade.
FFXV and FF7R have probably moved more units combined on consoles (especially Sony consoles) than the field for WRPGs, unless you include The Witcher 3, which is really an action RPG more in line with FFXV and what we've seen of FFXVI than ES or Fallout.
It is changing. Xbox never had a DQ ever, now the latest mainline one is coming and to gamepass nonetheless. Same for Yakuza.Only for Western RPGs. Even back in the OG Xbox days when they had KOTOR, Jade Empire, & Fable, PS2 had pretty much every other game. And while FFXVI will show up it'll be later on while Atlus sticks with Nintendo for SMT & Sony for Persona (though that can change).
Which is why I'm in a 'wait and see' mode.MS has a history of trying to milk franchises to death instead of building out new IP. I'd be so much more excited if that kind of money was spent on creating new studios and foster new IP. This? It's just going to be a whole lot more of the same.
It is changing. Xbox never had a DQ ever, now the latest mainline one is coming and to gamepass nonetheless. Same for Yakuza.
It's a long road ahead, but it seems Ms is finally making some strides in getting consistent support from Japanese companies.
Yeah, I get what you're saying. I'm just wondering why they don't bother supporting the genre as directly as Nintendo and now Microsoft, despite how well it does on their platform. Feels like it's negligence because the genre is so well supported on their systems, although that's just a theory.
I'd much rather they invested their money in funding RPGs than doing stuff like the FFXVI deal, even though I know it's markedly cheaper than putting a studio on a big AAA JRPG project for 4-5 years. The game would have come out on PS5 anyway and likely done better than it will on PC and Xbox anyway :/
PC was long there before there was any Xbox...that's the platform that identifies with western RPG's for me.
I played The Outer Worlds through to completion was kind of baffled at the great reviews, I feel like time will not be kind to that game.
Yup. They're taking the easiest road possible and in turn aren't giving their fans anything they wouldn't already have. It's really, really disappointing behavior, and it speaks to how little they care about the genre and its fans. It's effectively Sony going "meh, this'll shut 'em up".
Sometimes I feel like people saying you need a Playstation for the JRPGs are a gen out of touch. I think now that the gen is mostly over, looking back it's basically only Persona 5 Royal that will end up on PS4 that you can't get elsewhere? Bloodborne too, for RPGs in general. I'd also say PC is preferable to Xbox for WRPGs, if you have PC gaming accessible to you. I'd personally say for RPG fans you don't really need Xbox or Playstation. Switch/PC feels like the best combination. That said, the number of first party WRPGs that Xbox has built up is pretty impressive.
PC was long there before there was any Xbox...that's the platform that identifies with western RPG's for me.
It's hard not to feel that way. No one knows how much money they threw at Square Enix but it couldn't have been cheap, and I question the return of investment when the games sell overwhelmingly more units on PlayStation already. Almost feels like a "we did this because we could" move, rather than one that's actually going to do anything major for the brand.
We'll see though. I just don't understand why in a world where Microsoft and Nintendo have multiple first party RPGs in development, Sony doesn't.
Average Fifa/COD/Madden/NBA crowd did buy Skyrim, Witcher 3, Fallout 4, Assassin's Creed Origins/Odyssey, Horizons, etc... ARPGs and WRPGs can do great. As mentioned, Cyberpunk will do very well as well and then you got Starfield coming. Assassin's creed is going even deeper into ARPG/WRPG route now.They wanna make the Xbox the (W)RPG console? I dunno. Not exactly where the money is right now. Not exactly the kind of game for the largest community of gamers, I think. Sport games, shooters, BR's,... rather. Even Sony's 3rd person story shooters seem more appealing to a larger base.
Though Cyberpunk will do great & Skyrim/Witcher/… have done great (well that's been a while), I don't think the average FIFA/CoD/Fortnite/GTA-gamer is waiting for (W)RPGs.
And MS clearly aims to be n.1, so would they really want to associate their console with a genre that's not n°1?
I think they see it larger than that.
Like it wouldn't be so bad if they at least had ONE, but this "they have Horizon, they have Demon's Souls, so shut up!" mentality from the fans isn't helping. Horizon is not what any actual RPG fan is looking for when they ask for an RPG, and Soulsborne games are such a specific niche they barely even count.
You'd think fans of a platform would WANT it to have more games in a major genre but they seem dedicated to sidestepping the problem just like Sony is. I don't understand it at all.
I loved Horizon and hyped to fuck for Demon's Souls but, and I think I may have said this the other day, the former is closer to Far Cry than it is something like Elder Scrolls or Witcher. A RPG, Japanese or otherwise, from the right team from PS Studios and marketed like their own flagship games would do really well. Maybe we'll be surprised this generation but I won't keep my hopes up.