Oh oh's Sega's Moba Sakura wars flopped

高野和泉

高野和泉

"SAKURA FESTIVAL!"
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techraptor.net

Mobile-only Sakura Revolution is Bombing

Sakura Revolution has released to mobile recently, but unfortunately it hasn't performed as well as the developers had hoped.
techraptor.net techraptor.net

Tl;dr version:
However, sales of the role-playing game (RPG) app " Sakura Revolution ~ Hanasaki Maidens ~ " (development and operation Delightworks ) for iOS / Android, which was fully released at the end of last year, are not good. According to "Game₋i," an information analysis site specializing in game-related stocks (games and social games), the sales forecast for the title in December was 73.7 million yen, and the average sales ranking for smartphone game apps was 215th. Famous titles generally have sales of several hundred million yen in the month they are released, and are said to fail unless they are ranked within the 50th place on average. According to several game industry officials, the development cost of the title is said to exceed 3 billion yen, and there are constant rumors of a "catastrophe."

3 billion yen(approx. $30 million dollars) down the drain. Could of funded a shenmue full sequel or two. smh.
 
Facepalming so hard my hand has shot through the back of my skull. Literally typing this as ghost rn. They'll clam up when it comes to spending for the (relatively) safe and predictable console/PC market using established IPs, but they'll blow $30 million for a fucking phone game. I know mobile is absurdly profitable for the top games, but from what I understand it's also insanely risky in that almost every single game "fails".
 
Dietsoap said:
Facepalming so hard my hand has shot through the back of my skull. Literally typing this as ghost rn. They'll clam up when it comes to spending for the (relatively) safe and predictable console/PC market using established IPs, but they'll blow $30 million for a fucking phone game. I know mobile is absurdly profitable for the top games, but from what I understand it's also insanely risky in that almost every single game "fails".
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yup, exactly. Plus Yu Suzuki is a stabler bet for a break-even or profitable margin even if you're just banking on his legacy to deliver a great game/established Ip.

Sega needs to stop chasing that border-line dream of moba money when thier audience is in the console/PC space. And if they got that much cash to throw around, revive some more classics or make new sequels of classics.

Skies of Arcadia, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Shining...come on Sega. So many cult-hits and hardcore fans waiting for that switch to be flip and they'll rally.
 
高野和泉 said:
yup, exactly. Plus Yu Suzuki is a stabler bet for a break-even or profitable margin even if you're just banking on his legacy to deliver a great game/established Ip.

Sega needs to stop chasing that border-line dream of moba money when thier audience is in the console/PC space. And if they got that much cash to throw around, revive some more classics or make new sequels of classics.

Skies of Arcadia, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Shining...come on Sega. So many cult-hits and hardcore fans waiting for that switch to be flip and they'll rally.
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Yes, that makes perfect sense but why is it so difficult for them to understand something so simple, something so obvious!? Are those in charge even into gaming? It doesn't seem like it at all .. I even question their intellectual level. :mad:

If they just put this money in the Shenmue bag they could have supported the creation of a new Shenmue IV of the highest modern quality that definitely would be more profitable, or even massively so, than some effing mobile game!!

.. and a full remaster of Shenmue I & II was getting so expensive they had to ditch that project? But a mobile game!?

. . . . . . . .
 
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高野和泉 said:
Skies of Arcadia, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Shining...come on Sega. So many cult-hits and hardcore fans waiting for that switch to be flip and they'll rally.
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Well, we did get Shining Resonance Refrain, I guess.
Panzer Dragoon Saga will never happen unless some third party developer wants to do it (like ForeverEnt).
As for Skies, well... That should have at least seen a port back in the 360/PS3 era. But nope.
Nothing Sega does makes any sense and hasn't for a long, long time.
 
Well, we did get Shenmue 3, Streets of Rage 4, all the Yakuza remasters and also a proper Sakura Wars game. Plus, they're working on a new Virtua Fighter.

But 30 million for a mobile game... This is crazy.
 
Lets be honest: if this was a success , they wouldn't be re-investing that money in traditional software, all they would do is put that money into more shitty mobile games. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise.
 
hyo_razuki said:
Well, we did get Shenmue 3, Streets of Rage 4, all the Yakuza remasters and also a proper Sakura Wars game. Plus, they're working on a new Virtua Fighter.

But 30 million for a mobile game... This is crazy.
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Shenmue 3 and Streets of Rage weren't developed in-house though. All Sega did was license out the IPs.
Yakuza seems to be one of the few games they keep churning out, like Sonic, when they have a rich catalogue of IPs they could fritter $30 million on.
Sakura Wars and Virtua Fighter were quite a surprise though, I'll admit. The question is will it be AM2 who oversee development of VF or will it be another outsource?
 
That might be sound a bit mean but I am not unhappy it bombed. Maybe it will teach Sega lesson to make games for bigger platforms like PC and consoles. It is much smarter to use the money for stationary stuff.

That are the platforms were the core radiance is.
 
9dragons said:
That might be sound a bit mean but I am not unhappy it bombed. Maybe it will teach Sega lesson to make games for bigger platforms like PC and consoles. It is much smarter to use the money for stationary stuff.

That are the platforms were the core radiance is.
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Yeah, that's a positive perspective (y)If this isn't a wake-up call to them then what is..
 
Just to put things more into perspective...

The (new)main entry actually broke even and is now starting to generate some profits plus it won some accolade/award:

Wikiwand - Sakura Wars (2019 video game)

Sakura Wars, known in Japan as New Sakura Wars, is a cross-genre video game developed and published by Sega for the PlayStation 4. The sixth mainline entry and a soft reboot of the Sakura Wars series, the game was released in 2019 in Asia and 2020 worldwide. It is the first Sakura Wars game not...
www.wikiwand.com www.wikiwand.com

since 200k-300k+ is the break even point must mean it was a 10-15m budget for the main entry and the moba is doubled that @30m but flopped while the main entry is more profitable...

*/facepalm* indeed.
 
I am a newbie to Sakura Wars and I gently enjoyed the game that came out last year. I for one hate mobile games. I was quite into the Sega Heroes phone game for a while, but when they closed down and opened everything up, it was a wake up call that I was wasting a good half hour a day playing it on the train when I could've done something more productive like read a book.

This is a cautionary tale for sure!
 
That is good news indeed. I really enjoyed the new Sakura Wars game, made me fan of the franchise and I hope we get another Sakura Wars for the current gen consoles. After playing the original I have to admit I like the tactical gameplay of the original more than the more action based gameplay of the new Sakura Taisen game. Not that I did not not enjoyed it, but the gameplay of the original game was more unique. But I would not mind if the future Sakura Wars title keep the more action packed gameplay.
 
xatruio said:
Glad to hear the Sakura Wars reboot broke even and long term digital sales will push slight profits (seen on two of last 3 or 4 PSN discounts)
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Likewise, additional PC and/or switch platform would def push this title higher profitability wise. Hope sega do the port asap.

9dragons said:
That is good news indeed. I really enjoyed the new Sakura Wars game, made me fan of the franchise and I hope we get another Sakura Wars for the current gen consoles. After playing the original I have to admit I like the tactical gameplay of the original more than the more action based gameplay of the new Sakura Taisen game. Not that I did not not enjoyed it, but the gameplay of the original game was more unique. But I would not mind if the future Sakura Wars title keep the more action packed gameplay.
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It is highly likely now it will get a Sequel. It's also the Ceo's personal Fav franchise and since it didn't flop they can continue using the in-house hedgehog engine 2 and assets to churn out another one. The team is also positive about the chances for another entry on JP SNS.
 
Satomi's personal favorite series are Sakura Wars? Interesting--didn't know! NO wonder got rebooted before Skies of Arcadia...!
 
@高野和泉 Thanks for the information. That's good news. I would be the Sequel day 1 if is going to be released on a platform that I own.
 
高野和泉 said:
Just to put things more into perspective...

The (new)main entry actually broke even and is now starting to generate some profits plus it won some accolade/award:

Wikiwand - Sakura Wars (2019 video game)

Sakura Wars, known in Japan as New Sakura Wars, is a cross-genre video game developed and published by Sega for the PlayStation 4. The sixth mainline entry and a soft reboot of the Sakura Wars series, the game was released in 2019 in Asia and 2020 worldwide. It is the first Sakura Wars game not...
www.wikiwand.com www.wikiwand.com

since 200k-300k+ is the break even point must mean it was a 10-15m budget for the main entry and the moba is doubled that @30m but flopped while the main entry is more profitable...

*/facepalm* indeed.
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Sorry if this is a stupid question but where did you get the break even point from?
 
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