[The Mako Reactor] Atelier Ryza 3 Interview – Gust Head Junzo Hosoi on Ryza’s Success, the Future, & Xbox Ports (Wants new platforms to grow brand)

[Jawmuncher]

Atelier Ryza 3 Interview – Popularity, Potential Xbox Ports, & More

Atelier Ryza 3 Interview – Gust head Junzo Hosoi discusses Ryza's Success, the future, potential Xbox ports, and more ahead of release date.

themakoreactor.com

Ryza's popularity led to the third game, but it was planned from the start

"When we started planning the Secret series, we had in mind to create a story about the growth of a single protagonist, so having Ryza continue throughout the series was our concept from the start," Hosoi says. "And thankfully, Atelier Ryza and Atelier Ryza 2 were positively received by the players, so we were able to continue with Ryza as the protagonist for this game."

Is Atelier on Xbox closer to becoming a reality?

With Ryza 3 now available, it feels like there has never been a better time to bring the series to more platforms. When I interviewed Junzo Hosoi last year, I asked about the possibility of an Atelier on Xbox. Since I had the chance to interview him again, I asked if there was any movement on that front.

"My thinking remains unchanged of it being possible if there is enough demand," he says. "But, I do think we need to positively consider new platforms in order to have more people enjoy the Atelier series."

---

There's a lot more at the article worth checking out if you're interested in Ryza 3 this week. Going over numerous aspects about the development and future goals of the brand.

As for the Xbox quote, the fan demand aspect is one of those things I'm not entirely sure what they want. As I've seen numerous comment tweets and more asking for the series to come to Xbox after the last news of the potential being there.

However, the part about wanting to grow the IP with new platforms does seem to hint (to me anyway) that they likely wouldn't mind giving it a chance at this point with a Gamepass deal.

As I can't think of any platforms that are missing Atelier/gust games and could potentially grow interest with a low barrier to entry.

 

[Dest]

In regards to the Xbox stuff, Gust titles seem like a great fit for GamePass.

 

[Dust]

This is a pretty simple situation.
Either Phil arrives with Game Pass money or he doesn't.

 

[Tailzo]

In regards to the Xbox stuff, Gust titles seem like a great fit for GamePass.

Click to shrink...

Yeah

I'd try several of their games on gamepass if I could.

 

[Helix]

MS brings the bag or it doesn't happen.

 

[Dale Copper]

I'm sure it will do as well as Phoenix Wright did on Xbox if they did it.

 

[The Lord of Cereal]

Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if Atelier is the next franchise to really get the Game Pass treatment. MS has already worked with Spike Chunsoft and Atlus most notably in terms of getting those devs onto Xbox and being familiar with the hardware and realistically I feel like Gust is the next big thing. Atelier isn't quite big realistically speaking, but it is an important and popular franchise within JRPG fan circles and is also growing with each entry.

Also if Koei Tecmo is happy with Wo Long's performance on Game Pass then I could see it happening easily too

 

[Gestault]

I understand many of the factors you have to consider before jumping in with the publishing investment (including how much overlap there is with platforms a given player already has access to). But uhh...consistently not releasing your games on a pretty major platform over a long period of time is a bone-headed approach if your goal is wider reach, at least assuming the opportunity cost for doing it isn't a big factor.

 

[Dale Copper]

I understand many of the factors you have to consider before jumping in with the publishing investment (including how much overlap there is with platforms a given player already has access to). But uhh...consistently not releasing your games on a pretty major platform over a long period of time is a bone-headed approach if your goal is wider reach, at least assuming the opportunity cost for doing it isn't a big factor.

Click to shrink...

Is the Xbox really a big missing area for smaller JRPG franchises?

 

[Gestault]

Is the Xbox really a big missing area for smaller JRPG franchises?

Click to shrink...

I mean the big platforms are Switch, PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. Once you've developed and localized for any one of those, the investment to convert/publish for the others isn't significant (relative to the original project). And if your goal is a wider reach, then yes, not even trying to market there is an obvious miss. Even more so if there's any chance of having a deal that would all-but-guarantee no financial loss like a Game Pass sort of thing during the early period of the game being a new release there.

 

[Fj0823]

I keep reading about these games and the only thing I see from the fanbase is "Waifu with thicc thighs" which okay, cool but...Are these games actually good?

They never go on sale for cheap and they seem to be super popular.

 

[Scottoest]

A Game Pass deal would be a good way to bring it over while also addressing any financial concerns they may have about demand for it - though as someone else said, I'm not sure what exactly they want people to do to prove it exists.