PS3 Informer

Can the PS3 Survive Without JRPGs?

Recent hardware sales numbers out of Japan show that the PS3 has lost major ground to both the Wii and Xbox 360 in February. Long considered the underdog, Xbox 360 has been able to make an amazing comeback in Japan. Ask us a year or two ago and this would have seemed implausible. But like Mickey Rourke's miraculous resurrection in The Wrestler, Microsoft has fought tooth and nail to not only keep from K.O.'ing in the Japanese market, but with keen strategy and a bucketful of money they reinvigorated the Xbox brand. Their strategy has focused on getting Japanese developers to create games for the system that they know the Japanese gaming public will love: JRPGs.

Out of nowhere, Microsoft landed a huge right hook to Sony at last year's E3 when they successfully stalled the release of Final Fantasy XIII on the PS3 in order for the dev. team to catch up with a surprise 360 port. So not only did they swipe the triple A juggernaut from Sony's dwindling corner of exclusive games, they effectively kept it from being a timed exclusive for Sony, by having Square Enix agree to releasing the two versions simultaneously here in the US. Ouch! Just when you think they're down in Japan. That's what you call a rope-a-dope!

Microsoft hasn't let up on the pummeling. These past years, they've been pumping out Japanese RPGs left and right, seducing even the most devout PlayStation fanboys away from their beloved PS2s. While Sony sulks at home wondering why its phone calls go unanswered, Sony fanboys were creeping around and engaging in shameful trysts with 360 exclusives like Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Tales of Vesperia, and Infinite Undiscovery. Now the quality of these titles may vary wildly, some bordering on awful; one thing is for sure: the forbidden fruit tastes some good when it's hanging so low and juicy. Where are your J-RPG's, Sony? You were so hot back in your PS2 years.

Now Microsoft has landed yet another cool exclusive in the form of the extremely popular Star Ocean series. Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope for the Xbox 360 rocketed their sales past the PS3 and Wii. For the week of its release, there were 25,334 Xbox 360s sold, which handed a brutal beating to Nintendo's 16,973 Wii and Sony's 16,149 PS3 numbers. This is the fourth week that Microsoft has managed to outsell its competition in Japan.

Could the final bell be ringing for PlayStation? With lackluster performance the third year into its launch, has the grizzled veteran become too slow and battered to keep up the fight? We all agree God of War 3 will pack a nasty punch, but unless Sony can muster up a hidden well of strength in the form of very well-kept secret exclusives, it may be time to crown a new champion in the heavy weight division.

Where did you go wrong, Sony? Long the established favorite of Japanese gamers, your newest console has failed to achieve dominance in your home market. It cold be the high price of the console, which is definitely a factor in the current economy. But our bet is that the PS3 badly needs some exclsuive JRPGs to cement its status as a must-have device in Japan.

Thanks to exclusive Xbox 360 RPGs like Star Ocean 4, the console has been selling well in Japan.

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