"New" Suikoden Trademark

[Iesous]

Sept 16-19.

[KC_MCDOHL]

This is getting me so excited! Although just a rumour, I feel strangely positive about it this time. Also, I agree, revealing at TGS instead of slightly before is a good sign and shows a little more marketing maturity on Konami's part .......cant wait!!!

[Raww Le Klueze]

If Konami were making Suikoden 6 for PS3/PSP only, Sony would definitely save it for TGS itself. They got burned by this year's E3 strategy: reveal most of your stuff before E3 and let the momentum carry you through, which actually would have worked had Nintendo not come out of the gate swinging with a metric crapton of "core" games at their show.

That only makes sense if Sony is desperately clamoring for an RPG and are planning to support Suikoden VI with marketing, in a FF7 fashion of sorts. As it is, a surprise reveal of Suikoden would generate a "Whooo!" among the few fans and a "Meh..." with the rest of the gaming community.

Comparitively a surprise reveal of a new Metal Gear Solid would generate a "Whooo!" among most people in the gaming community, even those that don't play MGS would get swept up by it.

The Sony part is the least likely part of the rumor, but hey, if it's true I'm all for. The series might actually get the attention it deserves.

Just hope that the game is really good then, cause if it doesn't pan out then the series will be pretty much dead.

[Palmguy]

Yeah, that's true. Suiko6 will probably decide if the series stops right there or continue. If it sells bad or get horrible reviews I'm pretty sure it'll be the end of it. At least, I'm hoping that with Suikoden 5 getting good reviews, it'll help for the selling part, like how 4 was horrible but, I think, the best selling in the series? At least, I know it sold really good. Now, just to hope that the game is good...

Well... to hope that it actually comes out and then that it's good.

[eldrasidar]

well, Suikoden 6 has a certain advantage on the ps3 that suikoden's 1-5 did not have when they were released, in that there are almost no games to compete with in the genre of RPG. there's really only a handful of traditional rpgs, and none of them have been getting really impressive reviews, not even final fantasy 13. assuming 6 is done at least as well as 5, that means that it could actually get a lot of attention from critics, that it might not usually get, kinda like how Ogre Battles 64 got some extra attention of the N64, or skies of Arcadia got some extra attention for the Dreamcast, albeit not a whole lot more, but I remember when both games came out, they were hailed as "Finally a good solid RPG for a starved market." So I think it is possible that using tokyo game show as a marketing strategy is plausible, if unlikely.

[Rooks]

Overall, this is great news. I can't wait for TGS.

As far as a marketing strategy, it does make sense for Konami to push a possible SVI, as console RPGs have been weak so far in the PS3 era. At least here in the west, maybe Vextor or Raww could give more info on the japan RPG market. Suikoden is in a good position to market with a dedicated fan base and many gamers hungry for a more Traditional-Style RPG.

The problem is that this is assuming that Konami's marketing team are sane human beings. I have had my doubts about that. They seem more like a group of rabid screecher monkeys that are fed illicit substances, rather than any group that can for coherent strategies. At this point I think it is impossible to tell what will happen.

[daoster]

What kind of marketing do you expect from Konami (here in the States)? Some magazine ads, maybe an internet advertisment here and there, press releases, and positive previews from sites like IGN or Gamespot is the most we can really hope for. Maybe now with Twitter and Facebook, a more "grassroots" approach as well, but other than that, Konami really can't do much more for a niche series.

IIRC, other than the social media style advertising(Twitter probably wasn't that popular yet when Tiekres came out), Konami HAS done all of the above for the "recent" iterations of the Suikoden series.

[thcrock]

What kind of marketing do you expect from Konami (here in the States)? Some magazine ads, maybe an internet advertisment here and there, press releases, and positive previews from sites like IGN or Gamespot is the most we can really hope for. Maybe now with Twitter and Facebook, a more "grassroots" approach as well, but other than that, Konami really can't do much more for a niche series.

IIRC, other than the social media style advertising(Twitter probably wasn't that popular yet when Tiekres came out), Konami HAS done all of the above for the "recent" iterations of the Suikoden series.

I don't think it'd be very popular in the US, but it can sure be profitable in Japan. If Suikoden VI could get to the sales of the games at the height of the series popularity (II, III, and IV all sold 300,000+ copies in Japan, IIRC), it'd be comparable with White Knight Chronicles, which got championed by Sony because it was an exclusive with half-decent production values. In the PS2 days, Sony wouldn't have done that because there were just too many PS2-exclusive JRPGs for something like Suikoden to matter. Nowadays, with Dragon Quest on DS and Final Fantasy multi-platform, Sony could easily get behind Suikoden VI like they did WKC. An arrangement like that would be very beneficial to Konami, who doesn't have to worry about marketing as much.

[LanceHeart]

That only makes sense if Sony is desperately clamoring for an RPG and are planning to support Suikoden VI with marketing, in a FF7 fashion of sorts. As it is, a surprise reveal of Suikoden would generate a "Whooo!" among the few fans and a "Meh..." with the rest of the gaming community.

Comparitively a surprise reveal of a new Metal Gear Solid would generate a "Whooo!" among most people in the gaming community, even those that don't play MGS would get swept up by it.

The Sony part is the least likely part of the rumor, but hey, if it's true I'm all for. The series might actually get the attention it deserves.

Just hope that the game is really good then, cause if it doesn't pan out then the series will be pretty much dead.

KoRnholio went into the specifics of what could happen. It's not about having a huge hitting title, it's about throwing out a recognizable PlayStation title and saying "hey, this game series is back!".

Think of it this way: Microsoft went through the humongous trouble of making Star Ocean 4 and Infinite Undiscovery the major highlights of their past TGS showings. They weren't necessarily good or popular games in relation to, say, Dragon Quest. But they were exclusive and on 360. Sony did the same with White Knight Chronicles, somewhat less with Valkyria Chronicles 2 (first one was largely ignored by Sony until it franchised out into an anime).

Unless Sony is sitting on something of Monster Hunter PS3 proportions for TGS, expect them to pay attention to games like Suikoden if they're exclusive.

[27x4=108]

At least you can have the new manga of Suikoden I and II.

[daoster]

I don't think it'd be very popular in the US, but it can sure be profitable in Japan. If Suikoden VI could get to the sales of the games at the height of the series popularity (II, III, and IV all sold 300,000+ copies in Japan, IIRC), it'd be comparable with White Knight Chronicles, which got championed by Sony because it was an exclusive with half-decent production values. Nowadays, with Dragon Quest on DS and Final Fantasy multi-platform, Sony could easily get behind Suikoden VI like they did WKC. An arrangement like that would be very beneficial to Konami, who doesn't have to worry about marketing as much.

Eh, I was mainly talking about marketing in the USA, but I'm sure there'd be a much bigger marketing in Japan for a new Suikoden game. But on your point that Sony would help Konami market Suikoden or something...WKC was a Sony published game. It's essentially a Sony game developed by Level-5 (like Dark Cloud and Rogue Galaxy), of course they're going to champion the game. The Suikoden series isn't comparable to to WKC.

And if we're talking about only the Japanese market....DQIX going DS (and X going Wii) will probably suck for them, but they'll survive. And they (Sony of Japan) don't really care about Final Fantasy because XIII was exclusive to the PS3 (in Japan) and FFXIV is PS3 and PC only, with no 360 version in sight (XIV may eventually be released for 360, but the hype will have been over). While the Suikoden series enjoys some popularity, behind DQ, FF, the Tales series, SMT, and Persona, I don't think it's a system seller. Meaning, I don't think people who haven't bought a PS3 already will suddenly buy one just because the next installment of Suikoden is PS3 only. It might sell 300,000, but 300,000 of existing PS3 owners. Hence, I don't think Sony would champion a Suikoden as much as you're assuming them to, just because it's exclusive to the PS3.

Think of it this way: Microsoft went through the humongous trouble of making Star Ocean 4 and Infinite Undiscovery the major highlights of their past TGS showings. They weren't necessarily good or popular games in relation to, say, Dragon Quest. But they were exclusive and on 360. Sony did the same with White Knight Chronicles, somewhat less with Valkyria Chronicles 2 (first one was largely ignored by Sony until it franchised out into an anime).

Unless Sony is sitting on something of Monster Hunter PS3 proportions for TGS, expect them to pay attention to games like Suikoden if they're exclusive.

Uh WAT on the bolded part?

Microsoft made a big deal out of SO4 and IU because they're desperate for Japanese fans. RPGs are still a popular genre there, and Microsoft wrongly assumed that if they had some big name RPGs, then they'd be a competitive player in the Japanese market.

Sony doesn't have to worry about this. The PS3 is dueling it out each week with the Wii and the DS, and they're more or less even on even terms (unless Nintendo releases one of their own games). As far as the Japanese market goes...people still see Sony as the RPG machine. SO4 eventually came out for the PS3, and Tales of Vesperia eventually came out for the PS3, Final Fantasy XIII was PS3 only, XIV is PC and PS3 only, Tales of Graces (for the Wii) is getting a PS3 port, there's a new Tales game coming out only for the PS3. Add to that, Sony has a good relationship with Atlus, Nippon Ichi, Idea Factory, so they'll get all those other RPGs like the Atelier series, Disgaea, Persona, Ar Tonelico, etc.,

AS I commented on KoRnholio's post...Suikoden series is a popular series, but I don't think it'd be a system seller. Sony has no reason to waste significant resources on helping Konami market the game. Sony isn't as desperate for a Suikoden as we are.

[Nikisaur]

Just for the record, Final Fantasy XIII was not PS3 only, it was released on the XBOX 360 aswell.

[Raww Le Klueze]

Just for the record, Final Fantasy XIII was not PS3 only, it was released on the XBOX 360 aswell.

Not in Japan.

[Nikisaur]

I retract my statement then. That seems a bit off though...

[Hirathien]

Makes sense.