PS2 and Xbox 360 FFXI shutdown

[Castanica]

FFXI sold quite well on Xbox 360 but the biggest problem is that the Japanese players hate playing games on PC. They are very much a console or nothing playerbase.

What do you expect player numbers to be like when the JP FFXI payerbase is decimated in March due to closure of service for Xbox and Ps2?

[Roja323]

Well JP has universally hated Xbox, xbox 360, and xbox one. So americans might have liked 11 on the xbox, but i doubt many jp bought it.

I think people way over estimate the numbers of people on ps2/xbox. If it was more than 5% of the total population i would be shocked.

[Castanica]

Well JP has universally hated Xbox, xbox 360, and xbox one. So americans might have liked 11 on the xbox, but i doubt many jp bought it.

I think people way over estimate the numbers of people on ps2/xbox. If it was more than 5% of the total population i would be shocked.

I think it's probably around 50 to 75% of the JP playerbase, keep in mind Square refused to stop support for PS2 because it was a big enough portion of players.

[Roja323]

Well the key here is "you think' vs 'i think'... to square a 5% player base could have been enough for them to justify not getting rid of it.

[Castanica]

Well the key here is "you think' vs 'i think'... to square a 5% player base could have been enough for them to justify not getting rid of it.

Well WoW refused to release in Japan because the pc mmo market was way too small. FFXIV sold almost laughably badly on PC compared to PS3.

[bungiefanNA]

http://www.mmogames.com/gamearticles...mmo-mans-land/

Japanese people generally have a perception of PCs as a machine they use at work, not at home. Mobile phones for internet access, and consoles/arcades for games, are what they overwhelmingly use. Many JP PC game developers are small indie companies, like ZUN for Touhou, or the company that makes Melty Blood. Visual novels are a big thing on PC, but not much else. Japanese cell phones have been much more internet-capable than ours for years longer. Cell phone games were amazing there in the late 90s and early 2000s, before smartphones really became a thing here.

[Alhanelem]

FFXI sold quite well on Xbox 360 but the biggest problem is that the Japanese players hate playing games on PC. They are very much a console or nothing playerbase.

What do you expect player numbers to be like when the JP FFXI payerbase is decimated in March due to closure of service for Xbox and Ps2?

Actually the portion of players on consoles (the ps2 much more so than the xbox) is much smaller than the PC population- Even in Japan at this point most likely. Either they're on PC or on a backwards compatible PS3 since it's hard to even find a fully functional PS2 with hard drive anymore. Pulling the plug on PS2 specifically probably results from earlier surveys they did gauging how many players are on PC vs PS2.

Also your assertion that Japanese gamers are all console or nothing is not nearly as true as you think it is. There are a number of popular MMOs and online games on PC that are successful over there. Probably most notable being Monster Hunter Frontier which has had something like 20 expansions over the years.

Well WoW refused to release in Japan because the pc mmo market was way too small.

It's more likely there was just not enough interest in the game itself.

[Ritsuka]

Actually the portion of players on consoles (the ps2 much more so than the xbox) is much smaller than the PC population- Even in Japan at this point most likely. Either they're on PC or on a backwards compatible PS3 since it's hard to even find a fully functional PS2 with hard drive anymore. Pulling the plug on PS2 specifically probably results from earlier surveys they did gauging how many players are on PC vs PS2.

Also your assertion that Japanese gamers are all console or nothing is not nearly as true as you think it is. There are a number of popular MMOs and online games on PC that are successful over there. Probably most notable being Monster Hunter Frontier which has had something like 20 expansions over the years.

It's more likely there was just not enough interest in the game itself.

Maybe hee in the U.S yes but not in Japan you can still buy nintendo games from a store in japan >.>

[Shirai]

Maybe hee in the U.S yes but not in Japan you can still buy nintendo games from a store in japan >.>

Only in very specialized stores, mind you.
It's not like you can find stores that sell those ancient games and consoles can be found on every street corner either, most of them are either tucked away in the obscure corners of Akihabara and Den Den town if not on the outskirts of town.
Apart from that, keep in mind that all that equipment is second/third/fourth/etc. hand and that waranty expires at the cash register.

[Ritsuka]

Only in very specialized stores, mind you.
It's not like you can find stores that sell those ancient games and consoles can be found on every street corner either, most of them are either tucked away in the obscure corners of Akihabara and Den Den town if not on the outskirts of town.
Apart from that, keep in mind that all that equipment is second/third/fourth/etc. hand and that waranty expires at the cash register.

They have a whole district Shirai not a few stores. its called Akihabara its in the chiyoda area