Whats caused the surge in Japanese games on pc?

My friends, typically, Japan has never given a shit about pc. As a culture, they are very busy people, as such, fast, accessible gaming tends to be more appealing. Pc, is practically non existent.

However, in the recent 5 years or so, pc has seen a sudden surge of interest form Japanese developers, bringing many games over.

Being someone who doesn't read the news papers or understand how the world works, I ask you, why has this come about and will it continue?

Good sales numbers on steam for lesser known and unexpected titles,and the Japanese publishers and dev's have noticed despite the lack of PC in japan,simple as that really, you cant ignore a growing market.

And done.

In a related point, Xenoverse was Steam top seller for a whole week and dropped very slowly.

People on PC actually buy games they think are worth the time and money.

Nope, pc gamers just pirate. Ubisoft told me so

I think the main point is they will take a chance and put their money on anything as long as it has an interesting premise,some of the most unexpected games have been 1 million + sellers.

Just the way i like it.

Still Jelly about not getting to play the Order though, now there is a game that takes chances and tries something new, i'm so butthurt i don't get to play it ;) ...ah well, back to Kerbal Space Program :(

Also Valkyrie Chronicles has supposedly sold over 300,000 copies since its release, not bad for an unexpected port.

that's pretty good if true

Where is your piracy excuse now?

ok my bad it was 200,000 sales for 2014, 2015's sales numbers have not been reported yet, still pretty good though

Valkyrie chronicles sales

I think the celebration of rank indie games on PC has encouraged some sectors of the market who now know PC gamers will literally play any old shit and lie to themselves (and everyone else) about how cool it is so really if you're in the business why would you not want a piece of that action?

@foxhound_fox said:

@naz99 said:

Still Jelly about not getting to play the Order though, now there is a game that takes chances and tries something new, i'm so butthurt i don't get to play it ;) ...ah well, back to Kerbal Space Program :(

WUT?? how could you possibly laugh at my misfortune? !!!........................................................ok i cant do this anymore :D

Indeed. Nothing sells on Steam and VALVe jut announced they are going out of business.

i think a few things have got their interest over the last 5 years or so:

1) sega buying the creative assembly. what condition would sega be in without the reliable total war franchise bringing in the cash? a japanese publisher is seeing success on the PC and its one of their saving graces.

2) capcoms development strategy last gen was entirely PC driven (in the sense that all their tech was built on PCs. they didnt necessarily release every game on the PC) and it was hugely successful for them. this led to more japanese developers developing for the PC (not just on PCs for consoles).

3) japanese developers and publishers realising that they need to think more global (kinda relates to point 1). square buying eidos for example. the PC, as a gaming platform, may be small in japan but thats not the case everywhere in the world. if square are going to put deus ex on the PC then why not put their other games on the PC?

4) consoles and PCs are not as different as they used to be so developing for a PS4 or X1 means that a lot of work is also done for the PC. anything that has been learned from PC or console development can also be applied to the other side (unless its the 3DS...because thats just strange hardware :P). we saw this with dark souls. the developer actually got a lot better accross the board when they learned to develop properly for the PC because they could apply a lot of that knowledge to consoles also.

so i think a few stars have just come into alignment now where it just makes sense for japanese developers and publishers to also release a PC version. they make the games on PCs. PCs and consoles have a lot more in common now than before. there is also an audience on the PC for their games.

An excellent point. Thank you.

expansion. x86 consoles.

You got a real hearty laugh out of me for that one.

@foxhound_fox said:

@blueinheaven said:

I think the celebration of rank indie games on PC has encouraged some sectors of the market who now know PC gamers will literally play any old shit and lie to themselves (and everyone else) about how cool it is so really if you're in the business why would you not want a piece of that action?

Tears? I have a high end PC I play games on what exactly are the tears about? I would be crying if I spent 2k on a PC and played totally shit indie games on it LOL.

And the Derp Begins,our fault i suppose for thinking you had started a meaningful disscussion for once..

excellent point? LOL what nonsense,i buy what i enjoy and most are not over rated tired old experiences that i have to beat other people over the head with to justify my purchase.

At this moment in time my opinion is Indies far outclass anything the big boys have to offer,that may change in the future,but not now,i don't have to lie to myself i just buy what i like.

Lot of console gamers have swapped over to PC last gen, taking their interests with them.

What was the first big Japanese game to find success on PC in the international market? Dark Souls I think?

@blueinheaven said:

@foxhound_fox said:

@blueinheaven said:

I think the celebration of rank indie games on PC has encouraged some sectors of the market who now know PC gamers will literally play any old shit and lie to themselves (and everyone else) about how cool it is so really if you're in the business why would you not want a piece of that action?

Tears? I have a high end PC I play games on what exactly are the tears about? I would be crying if I spent 2k on a PC and played totally shit indie games on it LOL.

So you just blanket all indie games as shit, despite the variatin between them all?

Are you a gamer who plays games or do you only play AAA's and talk about budgets and metacritic scores?

People have different tastes to you..........Ones man's shit can be another man's treasure

To be honest, you seem kind of insecure about it. But that's from an outsider perspective. Perhaps you just come across as incredibly insecure.

I'm going to help you out here. Instead of wasting your money on 'super cool indies' why don't you just buy an Amiga 500 and a SNES and play the real classics your heroes are regurgitating and making vastly inferior versions of? Why champion people who produce a load of absolute pigswill and laugh at you while they do it and you fill their pockets?

I'm just helping you out here. All these 'amazing' indie games you're playing with hilariously shit graphics, I played them all 20 years ago but they were much, MUCH better then. They were proper classic games. Emperor's New Clothes syndrome. Indie games can kiss my ass and so can people who have just 'discovered' age old classics being shat out in hugely inferior forms by your new Gods.

you played hotline miami 2 20 years ago?

Star Citizen is an indie game, has made over 70 million dollars and is going to be the graphics king for several years.

Yeah, total shit.

No but I played a million games like it. Like I said if you're that desperate for old school games in your case top down shooters there is Alien Breed or even Paradroid or a million other games that were better but if you want to support people taking you up the ass for your nostalgia by doing a 'me too' version of an ancient game go right ahead. It's a free world bro.

a million? really? do you have a link for that?

Star Citizen is an indie game? Do you even know who Chris Roberts is? lmao.

Yeah okay kid, you go ahead and support this 'new' indie developer. lol.

Sorry my mistake it's the first top down shooter ever made. Nobody else has ever made one. The Amiga, SNES, Sega Megadrive etc weren't absolutely choc a block with them I dreamed it all. I will wake up in a shower soon to discover it never really happened.

so no link then?

I guess it was too much to hope you could back up your statements

You don't even understand what an "Independent Developer" is. You are either pants on head stupid, or just trolling.

Chris Roberts is creating Star Citizen without any outside support from any publishing company. He and his team have self-funded and crowd-funded the ENTIRE game.

Stupid, i would go with stupid....

Apparently none of us should be playing indie games we should all be playing Snes or Amiga Unless we buy the Standard AAA games...what a douche.

"Super Cool Indies" ??? who said that other than you, and why do you keep comparing indies to old games?

Indie means independant developer even Star Citizen is an indie dev ,do you think all indies are platformers with only 8/16 bit pixel graphics?

I don't get what you are trying to say....are you saying we should only buy AAA games full of dlc and microtransactions from big publishers because only those games count and all other new games are old?????

You have literally been beaten with the derp stick.

Might as well....I mean literally that is like more than half his entire argument.

@notorious1234na said:

@blueinheaven said: indie games are not innovative.

Why?

@blueinheaven said: a game with shit graphics

What?

I'm insecure because you're a shit poster???

How did you work that one out......

It is clear you are utterly useless at holding a debate without turning into a dumbass.

......My Friend. :-/

don't get trolled by lobstrib. He never brings anything of worth to any discussion. Like not even once I've seen him write anything with any meaning outside of being a troll.

that's a pretty good description of yourself

well done, very insightful

You cannot be more wrong. PC gaming is huge in Japan. The obvious eroge aside, there are lots of doujin/indie groups making games on PC in Japan.

It's simply that in recent years those PC games have started getting translated and coming to the West. This may be due to some very huge successes some doujin games had in the West. For example, Recettear, a title made by a doujin group (more indie than indies), sold only some thousands in Japan, but the English version managed to sail past 300,000 on Steam (and still selling). Such a disproportionate success is going to draw a lot of interests from doujin groups who may now view the West as the Promised Land. The more recent success of Valkyria Chronicles on PC also cannot be understated, as this success may attribute to some bigger Japanese studios also bringing their games to the West.

http://kotaku.com/5977001/why-pc-gaming-is-still-niche-in-japan

http://kotaku.com/5974039/the-guy-who-made-bayonetta-is-not-interested-in-valve-and-pc-gaming-thats-common-in-japan-update-2

@notorious1234na said:

Might as well....I mean literally that is like more than half his entire argument.

@notorious1234na said:

@blueinheaven said: indie games are not innovative.

Why?

@blueinheaven said: a game with shit graphics

The order 1886 must a gem for him.

Two things:

• Death of consoles in Japan, and
• High sales numbers on PC for Japanese games

You are looking at it from a different direction. It's not about how popular PC games are in Japan, but rather how popular making PC games is in Japan. As said, there are lots of doujin/indie studios in Japan making PC games. Most of these titles only ever get under 10,000 sales, so something like Steam that is capable of pumping out massive giant numbers beyond their wildest dreams is going to attract the hell out of them.

My friend: you have been proven wrong. Try not to spent 100 paragraphs attempting to spit at the sun.

whoa you cited kotaku??????????

My friend < - originally was born in Japan. My stepfather would whole heartily agree with me if he was alive today. Countries like Korea are not Japan, this country has an MMO epidemic with children going into special MMO help camps.

A lot of money.

and find actual friends