DragonQuest9,will this be a lead for others to follow?
The gaming world in Japan is abuzz with rumors that Square Enix is not the only one to leave the Sony camp and this is just a lead for others to follow
This is another of a gloom story for Sony and Livedoor new portal in Japan has got some good insight with their article on the same here in Japanese
http://news.livedoor.com/webapp/jour...2853198/detail
I have posted a translation on my blog.
Copied below for anyone have access problems to the site:
Livedoor News has an interesting article on the recent surprise announcement by Square Enix to shift to the Nintendo camp after a long gap with the announcement of Dragon Quest 9 for the DS handheld.
The article says that game analysts believe this will
be a lead for other game development companies to follow. Now if that analysis is to be believed then
this is a very difficult position for Sony.
Numerically the article says that if X was the
development cost for a PSX game then the PS2 platform development is approximately 5 to 10 times the same which is followed by another 2-3 times the cost when one starts making a game for the PS3. So it all revolves around the simple logic of "we are here to make profit" scenario and Sony needs to do some hard thinking of the same.
The article furhter on sheds light on the fat that
the year 2006 has shown the PSP the door in Japan and Nintendo DS (in Japan) itself is all set to climb the 15 million units peak soon. A strong user base and the consumer preference in Japan tilting heavily towards simple and likable games like Super Mario brothers /Pokemon / Love and Berry etc business sense dictates DS as the future here. Square Enix has just begun the process which is bound to accelerate very soon. With PS2 the emphasis is on high quality rather than higher profits is what is deterimental to the progress of business and yes that i too would consider as common sense.
Analyst at J-Cast also further says that the cost to
develop a PS3 game is around 10 times that of DS , but honestly comparing a console based game's cost to a handheld is somewhat a naive approach. A high risk , low return scenario with PS3 does not augue well for business which can alternatively have a low risk, high return strategy with the DS. Its true somewhat considering that Namco is still to make money on Ridge Race for PS3 since there are not those many consoles yet in the hands of
consumers for them to sell the copies of. But this will change over the next one year as we see more number of PS3 consoles land up in consumers homes.
The article closes its argument with another quote from an industry watcher that SCE has been making statements like PS2 or PS3 are not only gaming consoles but more than that. For game makers this has reflects like the console being a mere machine to advance the DVD (in case of PS2) or Blu-ray (in csae for PS3). The focus which the japanese
so value is not there in the efforts of Sony and Nintendo feels better.
Well this is just one side of the coin I believe , there
is certainly a market for the integrated entertainment console in our homes and PS3 needs to expand its base soon enough for it to snatch back the no 1 position from the present temporary number 3 position for its next generation console vis-a-vis Wii and Xbox-360
