Hilarious joke article
Hilarious point-by-point teardown by a real games journalistMistwalker and Blue Dragon
How one company is selling the 360 to Japan.
by Patrick Kolan, IGN AU
Australia, April 2, 2007 - In Japan, one name stands above all others in the minds of RPG fans and traditionalists -- Hironobu Sakaguchi. His name can rightly be uttered in the same sentence as Shigeru Miyamoto and Will Wright. He is credited as the father of the console RPG, having birthed the company-saving Final Fantasy series, and steered the Square family through 20 years of successes and outstanding, trend-setting, genre defining gaming moments. In 2005, Sakaguchi dropped a bombshell that his splinter company, Mistwalker (founded in 2001) would be developing a new RPG exclusively for the very-Western and very locally unpopular Xbox 360.
You could almost hear jaws connecting with pavement and the sound of heartbeats beating dangerously rapidly in the chests of Sony execs.
This water tester, this breakthrough East-meets-West adventure, this saving throw was called Blue Dragon. Its importance is undeniable, and Sakaguchi's cooperation with Microsoft, a company struggling to understand and succeed in the Japanese market, is a curious tale. Let's take a stroll.
Background:
Who's Who:
Mistwalker is a Microsoft-backed company. Microsoft, therefore, want to see a fair bit of return on their investment, so expect to see most Mistwalker releases hitting 360 exclusively (with the exception of their forthcoming DS title, 'ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat').
Hironobu Sakaguchi, being who he is, is like signing The Rolling Stones to your record label. There will automatically be interest generated and expectations attached to his name - and with a lineage as loved and revered worldwide as Final Fantasy and the 'Chrono' titles, this was an incredibly wise, shrewd move by Microsoft.
Traditionally, the Japanese market has been very receptive to RPGs. They're adored over there and you need only look at the annual 'Top 100' lists that surface to see the top 30 slots are almost universally reserved for RPG releases (notable exceptions, such as Resident Evil and Nintendo titles aside).
Blue Dragon features some other 'names' attached to its development that undoubtedly helped to cement the legitimacy of the title. Nobuo Uematsu, composer extraordinaire, as well as Dragon Ball Z and Chrono Trigger character designer Akira Toriyama.
What's What:
Spread across a mammoth and virtually unprecedented 3 DVDs, Blue Dragon is a fairly typical-sounding adventure on the surface. Mysterious, evil purple clouds linger over villages, wreaking havoc. A team of teenagers, hearts of gold and troubled pasts in tow, set off to make things right. Of course, there is a hell of a lot more to it than that, but the basic premise fits nicely into themes touched upon in traditional Japanese RPGs.
This is intentional. Sensibly, this first major RPG release for Mistwalker toes the genre line. There is no sense in taking a massive risk with what is essentially an unproven platform in the region, and no amount of names is going to guarantee sales if the concept doesn't appeal broadly. Combat in Blue Dragon is a combination of real-time action and turn-based menus - also familiar territory for any Japanese RPG fan.
Hot Sales:
Thankfully for Mistwalker and perhaps luckily for Microsoft, Blue Dragon went on to do some serious business at the registers. On its release on December 7, 2006, Blue Dragon shifted 80,348 units within the first four days in Japan. Right now, the total number sits somewhere around the 150,000 units mark - by far the best performing Xbox 360 title in Japan, and responsible for a sharp spike in the number of consoles sold in the country. The game was also available as part of a package deal, featuring a Core 360 (sans hard drive) and a copy of the game. The success was such that it even outsold The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess during its release week. Impressive stuff.
To ensure Blue Dragon is permanently etched into the Japanese psyche forever, there was a sizeable marketing push leading up to the release - posters, billboards, commercials and ads were popping up all over the place. Similarly, the brand is also set to spawn an anime series by Studio Pierrot, of Naruto fame, to air from April 7, 2007. A manga adaptation of Blue Dragon is also underway, titled Blue Dragon ST (Secret Trick) to be drawn by Shibata Ami for Shonen Jump magazine in Japan.
This kind of push does not go out alongside your average release - least of all on a Western console in the middle of a typically unreceptive market.
The Implications:
Proving Grounds:
The Xbox 360 has smouldered quietly in Japan - which is a major market for Nintendo and Sony. The reasons mainly stem from a general lack of tolerance for Western consoles and the genres of games that usually stock the shelves alongside them. With releases from Team Ninja and Mistwalker, Japanese developers are trying to crack the market and prove that the 360 is worth buying. While the number of installed 360s in Japan hasn't risen dramatically, there was a definite spike with the release of Blue Dragon.
This jump might be the kind of impetus that other developers need to see in order to convince them that the 360 is worth supporting; or, as Microsoft might prefer, that developing exclusive content for the 360 is a worthwhile and cost-effective venture.
Sequels:
Like Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger and Cross, Dragon Quest and others, there are good financial reasons to develop a series. Blue Dragon is no different. By establishing that Mistwalker will continue to release more titles in the series, hopefully fans will continue to come onboard. That's the theory.
Other RPGs and Games:
Of course, that doesn't mean that Mistwalker are putting all their gaming eggs in one basket. There are at least three other games in the works over at their studio right now -- two of which are coming to the Xbox 360. These are Lost Odyssey, an RPG that's essentially the adult answer to the more kiddy Blue Dragon, and Cry On -- an action RPG with music by Nobuo Uematsu. To be sure, both of these releases will be huge. There is already a lot of interest in Lost Odyssey, with a playable demo now available in Japan, and with the right marketing push, Microsoft can expect a similar jump in sales.
Ensuring there is plenty of exclusive, Japanese-oriented content from other developers is also part of the strategy. Having nothing else of interest to play on 360 is part of the image problem that the company is trying to overcome. Titles like Tenchu Z, Dead or Alive 5 and the recently announced Ace Combat 6 will all hopefully appeal to the market. Ace Combat 6 in particular is a huge coup for Microsoft -- the series up until this point has been synonymous with Sony.
Highlights PS3 Insecurities:
That companies are even contemplating high-cost, high-profile development for a Western system in Japan is a clear indicator of two things - the market over there is changing, and Sony no longer has a stranglehold over consoles. The PS3 is being viewed as a 'wait and see' console, which is something that Sony hasn't been faced with since their entry into the market more than 10 years ago.
This kind of insecurity has played right into Microsoft's hands - in the face of the Wii too, the Xbox 360 is a more traditional console, with established numbers in the West that put it well ahead of the PS3 in other markets. By showing faith in Microsoft's strategy and product, it is a signal that something is amiss right now in the development circles ordinarily more than happy to support Sony.
East-meets-West Culture Clash:
Perhaps most importantly, the slightly insular, closed tastes of Japanese gamers are being challenged of late with the successful release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and the Xbox 360's Japan-centric titles. It's a gap in tastes that is rarely bridged, but as time passes and the market adjusts to these kind of foreign entries, we think that the 360 could easily continue to hold its own. Gamers will come to the console that features the games they want to play - Blue Dragon has proven this point resoundingly.
With Blue Dragon, Mistwalker has stepped out of its cloudy veil in a grand way. The promise of more RPG releases and further games under the Blue Dragon banner should be enough to ensure Microsoft can continue to shift its console and change the Japanese public perception about the Xbox 360 - it still has a long way to go, though.
With the US release pegged for August 15 and a European release slotted for September, it should be interesting to see if these markets embrace the game with the same kind of fervour as Japanese gamers did.
