XSEED (Ken Berry) Interview with RPG Gamer

[stealth20k]

i felt sad after reading it

[perrandy]

nice article,thanks

[Ryos]

It's probably Little King's Story (I think they worked on the Wii game).

Edit: Just found out it could be Ragnarok Odyssey since they worked on the DS iteration.

Could be either. I'd prefer RO but guess we'll have to wait and see which one pops up. Decent enough interview here, though as mentioned, none of it is anything that we wouldn't have guessed at by following what's been stated here.

[Shizuka]

I don't want the Vita game to be DD-only...

[Chaosblade]

It'll probably be digital too. *trollface*

Seriously, for the Vita game, that is a safe bet.

Oh, and I am going to try to support XSEED, but digital games do not really have any priority for me, so... :/ Mmm.

I wouldn't really be disappointed. With Falcom putting up most of their OSTs on iTunes, XSEED is probably not going to be able to do a LE with a musical selections disc, or at least not for the prices offered before. Kind of like Tom has said regarding offering them with the Steam games - it's possible, but they would be stepping on Falcom's toes.

And a LE with a soundtrack(/OST selections) is about the only reason I'd go for a physical copy over a digital one anyway.


Edit: Then again Sony has been really crappy with PSN and game takedowns. Console DD and all. So maybe I'd still prefer a physical copy.

[conurebleu]

I'd be. That is why I'm holding on buying a PS vita. If the game I want to buy is going DD-only. I won't clack 250$ for a system that's not worth it. All this DD war is really making me sad.

[KnightofAncient]

From what I read in the article, the reality is that the problem are the retailers not the publisher. If retailers do not want to stock more niche titles, then thats their prerogative and that makes them the rust in the gears of producing physical releases. That leads to the whole production cost debate which we all have seen on this forum.

Since few people are so focused on setting a blame, Ill help you here:

• Retailers

• Sony for abandoning the UMD.

If you do not want to accept the reality of this situation, then so be it.

*If this post comes out as harsh, then apologies. The answer to the DD question in this interview came out pretty clear.*
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Good article, nice to know that Brandish was once a option and that the PSP is not dead, yet.

[conurebleu]

Your post is not harsh at all. There are a lot of people to blame for the industrie going down that road.

[Serge]

From what I read in the article, the reality is that the problem are the retailers not the publisher. If retailers do not want to stock more niche titles, then thats their prerogative and that makes them the rust in the gears of producing physical releases. That leads to the whole production cost debate which we all have seen on this forum.

Since few people are so focused on setting a blame, Ill help you here:

• Retailers

• Sony for abandoning the UMD.

If you do not want to accept the reality of this situation, then so be it.

*If this post comes out as harsh, then apologies. The answer to the DD question in this interview came out pretty clear.*
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Good article, nice to know that Brandish was once a option and that the PSP is not dead, yet.

Yeah, that is absolutely true. The UMD is no more usable, and that's very sad... it should have had more success, but I can fully understand why it had not. So I will support every good DD games that XSEED will take here for us, it's not their fault if the situation is this afterall. I think it is better play some niche games in this way, than not play them at all.

[Wyrdwad]

Well, it looks like I won't be buying many XSEED titles in the near future. It's sad really, considering I used to buy just about everything XSEED released. There are ways around adopting a primary digital focus, like direct sales (in addition to digital), but it seems like a safer route was taken at the expense of some of their customers. :/

Dude, there's no need for the accusatory tone! As Ken said, we'll do physical releases whenever possible... but sometimes, it's just not possible! Even with direct sales, there are still things to keep in mind like production costs and minimum build requirements -- to say nothing of the time and money needed for packaging and shipping what would HOPEFULLY amount to tens of thousands of games to customers located HOPEFULLY all over the world.

Honestly, direct sales would indeed be a viable alternative for SOME titles... but for others, even direct sales would end up losing us money (and would be a huge headache, to boot!). In some cases, digital is literally the ONLY WAY we can possibly release certain games at all.

It's the unfortunate reality of being a tiny publisher the modern gaming market. It may sound like a tired and overused line, but... really, I'm just glad we're able to release some of these games at all! They're a pleasure to work on, and hopefully they're just as fun for you guys to play.

-Tom