Switch Isn't The Right Platform For Yakuza, Says Series Producer

“I believe the myth that Nintendo users don’t want adult games because Wii u didn’t sell”

Solid logic

Panic button disagree luckily.

Yet we get Valkryia? Cmon. This is the absolute wrong stance. With the switch seeing Nintendo players opened up to new things, and enjoying them, I dont understand this take. Try one at least.

Poor decision foregoing the Switch based on Wii U.

What nonsense. Using a failed console's sales as a metric to gauge interest is flawed, to say the least.

This seems a bit short-sighted considering Switch has already surpassed Wii U's sales and the positioning for the console is very different. Surely it wouldn't cost them much to port the Wii U version and trial that?

Idiot developers nowadays. Parents were probably idiots too

Doesn't Sony have some kind of deal with Sega over this series? I thought they were funding the translations/ports of the games for the West, so maybe that has something to do with this thinking?

Wouldn't a Yakuza game for Switch be a better experiment than a Japan-exclusive Wii U port?

Well... it's SEGA so no wonder.
Their stupid strategy has killed many projects.
On their own wish

To be honest I didn't even know Yakuza 1 & 2 had a Wii U release.

It's firmly a PlayStation franchise and they've only recently started releasing them on PC. Can't see that changing any time soon.

Well sod them then I don't want to play Sega's stinky games.

Brilliant. Now we get another great addition to the forum thread of excuses for developers not bringing games to the Switch. Still makes me laugh.

You would expect big game studios to have informed reasoning behind their marketing, but this developer clearly doesn't even bother reading game related news regularly...

So they just consider Nintendo is for children. That's all.

Pfft. Been a long time since I saw such a joke of a statement.

Honestly, I could care less. Having played a few Yakuza titles previously I find them very repetitious, uninspiring and just not very fun.

I would buy it. I would buy them all. Its a series I know I would love until this incoming PC release, none of them have been out on platforms I own. Put it on the Switch (along with Vanquish) and watch those sale numbers soar.

Yes because Wii U was a failure, not the games.

Also, what do they mean Nintendo don't want adult games?
Erm heard of Bayonetta?
That's a Sega game and that has done VERY well.

This would be a day one, no questions asked purchase for me! I’ve been hoping this series would make its way to the switch. It would be one of my number one go to games on the go or at home. I would have no issues double dipping despite having them for PS4 already.

Somehow I missed these when they first came out (PS2 & PS3). Since they started remastering them again for PS4 I have been picking them up day one of release with no regrets. These have quickly become some of my favorite games of all time. I personally enjoy the Yakuza series so much more than GTA.

I thought Nintendo wanted more R rated games for the switch? It would be nice to see Nintendo try to convince SEGA this would be different than the Wii U release. I was hoping with the positive sales and feedback from Skyrim, Doom and Wolfenstein 2, the Yakuza series would ultimately release for the switch. Its disappointing to have no Shemnue 1-3 for the switch, now no chance of Yakuza. I understand from SEGA point of view. I work in Finance, its a lot of resources, time and money to make this happen. It is what it is, at least I can still play them for PS4. I just hope enough people request Yakuza, and we can convince SEGA to give it another go.

Doesn't make sense that Switch won't get the series, but can understand if Nintendo has a new console called "Swtich". Very risky there.

Perhaps a better strategy would be to actually take a look at switch third party sales, looking at the genres that are selling well instead of games from a system that didn’t sell well in the first place! What a terrible business brain honestly....

It only takes a quick glance to realise that switch users are loving the new found variety of games available for a Nintendo system!

So much negativity, shame. I've never played a Yakuza game before but downloaded a demo of the newest and actually enjoyed it. They seem like really solid open world games. I appreciate his honesty

Read carefuly: he said that Switch is not the “ideal” platform for the title. I think he’s right. In the same way Xbox is not the ideal platform for jrpgs.

This is absurd. People don't expect these games because companies keep assuming people don't want them, and rarely, if ever release them. And half the time when they do, they do so via a mediocre port.

Of course Yakuza failed on Wii U. Even the most mainstream, well known titles on Wii U were, at best, lukewarm.

Lol its their los.

Wow! If it was the first few months of the Switch life cycle I could understand the hesitation after the Wii U. The Switch has proved it strong legs right now. These devs are ridiculous, they need to strike while the iron is hot.

@Axlroselm

I think the exact same way as you... The Switch is effectively not the IDEAL platform and not for 1 reason but 2.

1st, the core and assets of the new yakuzas are built for a 1080p experience. Sega would have to rework everything by downscaling textures, 3D models etc... Probably cut some things here and there etc...

2nd, the public target for the kind of game is not big enough at the time on the Switch.

When you cross those 2 facts, you reach the point that it's definitely not profitable... They are sure too loose money...

Sato is totally right !

Well it's their loss too cos I would've bought a copy

At the end of the day the guy knows his business. Just because 25 people disagree with him on a forum, he still needs to find 999,975 other customers who own a switch and will buy the game on the platform.

At least he's being honest, upfront and respectful to Nintendo fans which is far more than EA and Activision have ever been.

To be realistic towards what happened, Yakuza 1 & 2 for Wii U was a significant failure. That being said, when it comes to Switch, I am convinced that it would not be the ideal platform on which to develop Yakuza games. Maybe the public is not expecting that kind of game on Switch. They may be used to different games.

What else do you expect from one of your once loyal fanbase, you released the game on a freaking island and for a platform that is not region free. How am I suppose to buy it if I'm not living there, Sega?

The Switch will inevitably be a failure because the WiiU was, previously.
The Dreamcast was inevitably a failure because the Saturn was, previously.

Discuss...

@Jayenkai You forgot Switch and Wii U was made by Nintendo and not Sega. Discussion over.

Well, considering Sega was apparently convinced that Valkyria: Azure Revolution was a good direction to take the series in, it might be possible, that they are not exactly the best at juding what about their stuff works and what doesn't. Just saying ...

An odd opinion after Sega itself greenlit three Bayonettas on Switch alongside the advent of games like Doom and L.A. Noire from other publishers. Besides, Switch's portability IS arguably ideal for open world games considering how much time it takes to explore them thoroughly. But regardless of the reasons, it's their decision, not ours.

Yakuza 6 and Kiwami 2 would never run well on the Switch. They barely run well on the PS4.

Amazing games though. Yakuza 0 was the best game of 2017, way better than Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey.

Still funny to see all those Nintendo fanboys in denial here. Adult games never sell well on Nintendo platforms.

I think they would do really good. Yakuza are being ported to PC, but there is still an audience which I think is profitable on the Switch. I just think basing your opinion on Wii U sales (I didn't even know Yakuza was out for Wii U, which says a lot) is not the right way.

“It could sell on Xbox One.”

Okay, release a game that is mainly only popular in Japan on a console that is a total bomb in Japan and then talk about how it failed on Wii U, and would also fail on Switch.

Also, didn’t LA Noire on Switch outsell the XBONE version? There is an audience for mature content, as long as you’re not giving Nintendo fans the short end of the stick!

Not surprised one bit to be honest. Yakuza on Wii U sold less then 1,800 copies.

That failure killed off any hope of seeing Yakuza in nintendo hardware ever again

SEGA Games are nothing for me because I once played a game by SEGA that was a mess... just to follow that logic

Stupid SEGA...

We all know what hides behind that vague statement: porting our game to a system with a different architecture is just too much effort for us to bother, especially when it doesn't run all that well on its target platform to begin with.

Can't personally argue against him. I never played Yakuza and probably wouldn't be interested in Switch versions.

No! I want all Yakuza on Switch. I won’t own another console. Give my wallet the chance to vote.
And if I am not mistaken they never brought Yakuza 1&2 on the Wii U to the west, so they did not even test those waters.

Well 1&2 was japan only, looked worse than the ps3 version (and it didn’t have to) had little to no marketing, had no promises of the rest of the series being ported and was released when sales started to tank for wiiu. EvenI passed on it and I have all the Japanese ps3 games.

It’s never the dev/publisher’s fault is it? Just always those ungrateful consumers.

@Shiryu I'm still hoping we see Vanquish sometime. Fingers crossed. A portable vanquish would make me so happy.

The Yakuza series is awesome and I have been buying every game on PS4 day 1. I even play these games via remote play sometimes, so I think they would be a perfect fit for the switch. It sucks to hear that they might not ever come to the Switch though, first Shenmue and now this. At least I have a PS4 Pro to enjoy these games, but if they ever decide to bring all the games to Switch I'll be there day 1 to buy them all over again.

"2nd, the public target for the kind of game is not big enough at the time on the Switch."
@Cobalt I assume you have solid numbers for a claim like that. Or are you speculating like the producer of the game?

@PhilKenSebben Plus a sequel. That plot isn't concluded.

His entire whole statement is trash.

The salt is real.

The Yakuza games are fantastic. Shame Sega won't port them over.

@Coxula

just goodsense !

Don't worry it doesn't require too much mathematical skills !

sort of 80 Millions PS4 sold : only 1/2 Millions copies sold of the last entry.

Do you get the point on your own with a base of 18 millions Switch on the market or... ?

Shame, Swtich could do with a game like this.

I'd be happy if Sleeping Dogs was released.

Admire the honesty

@Navitroid Yea he probably thinks the Switch is an add-on to the Wii U and will flop. I do understand he feels burned from his earlier experience with Nintendo consoles, but he should get with the times.

@Stocksy despite how impressive those ports are, they are not selling well.

Yakuza 6 is a brilliant game, but like Kiwami 2, its running on a new engine that seems to push the PS4, let alone the Switch.
I also think this is a series that has gained an audience over time, and is therefore particularly identified by its fans with the PlayStation.

Eh, I don't get it. They released Yakuza 1 & 2 only in Japan, and cry because it didn't sell well.
We all know the WiiU didn't sell well, and I was under the impression that Japanese gamers tend to buy handhelds more than home consoles, so it's no suprise that it flopped. If they had gone with a wowrldwide release it probably would have done way better.

Welp...That's Sega for ya. He probably has shell shock from the 32X/Saturn fiasco in his own company.
It's essentially the same logic that keeps airlines from serving peanuts on planes now. More money in my wallet, I suppose.

I have only one word: baloney!!

@Shiryu Absolutely. That and Binary Domain both need one.

@Cobalt Seems a good deal to me for downscaling some textures and adjusting the controls. We're not talking about a new game but about porting an existing one.
But tbo they can do what they want. I'm not interested in this game anyway!

Just play them on the PS4. The current Yakuza engine (Yakuza 6 and Yakuza Kiwami 2) is a PS4 engine which frankly doesn't run all that well even at 30fps. Shoehorning it into the Switch would produce a horribly compromised result.

More realistic would be a port of Kiwami 1, which runs on the old, much more simplistic engine at a pretty solid 60fps. But even then, what's the point? Just buy the PS4 version.

@Coxula

"Seems a good deal to me for downscaling some textures and adjusting the controls."

Are you nuts ?
you dunno the time you need to do that from a PS4-based game...

They'll probably sell 100 000 at best, NOT INTERESTING AT ALL !

That makes no business logic at all.

Yakuza is one of my favorite game series, too bad no plans for the Switch. Hey, it could still hit a Nintendo console someday. Regardless, I will probably buy all the games on PlayStation anyways.

I always supposed they can release it on the SEGA...oh wait they don't have a console. Maybe I should judge all their games based on the flop that is Dreamcast, Sega Game Gear or that dreaded Sega Genesis stackables turntable of nonsense. Not the genesis alone, that was great.

I was scared once too, Sato

@magnumc500 The Dreamcast is the best console of all time.

The Dreamcast didn't fail, gamers failed the Dreamcast.

@BigKing I don't see any other consoles after it here Insert Travolta looking around GIF here.

To be fair, I too greatly enjoyed a lot of fighter games on that console. It just didn't make it. I really don't know why. I was extremely young at the time so no idea why it failed.

Surely the reason Yakuza 1+2 didn't sell was because it was a port of the two PS2 games which by that point were clearly outdated? Also 0 helped properly launch the series in the west so I think there's a market now for it on the Switch. Kiwami and 0 are also coming out on Steam so obviously whatever deal Sony had with Sega has expired, similar to Crash Bandicoot.

Games were released with no announcement... Games were released with high price points... Games were released only in Japan... Games were released on a dying, underselling platform.

Won't bring them to a successful and Superior platform because of prev6listed reasons... Yeah, it's the 3rd party mentality again.

I would be interested and I am sure many others would be. Wii U didn't have the numbers but I think Switch would, especially for a digital release.

@magnumc500 Because gamers are dumb and have terrible taste. They just follow the hype. They closed the door on Sega and let Microsoft in. Come on now.

You can't blame Sega either. They put out so many quality products over the years, but gamers keep ignoring them. They will buy crappy Sonic games though.

Thats a shame. Id definitely buy Yakuza on Switch.

I don't know why people here are so upset. It's not like those Yakuza games were on the Switch to begin with. And everybody has a PS4.

I don't have a Switch for watered down PS4 ports, I want new franchises optimized for the platform.

Quite frankly, I'm a bit sick of all the industry mentality about Switch owners not being interested in games that are larger in scope than small & colourful indie productions, cartoon platformers and kart racers. SEGA's not alone in there. Practically all the big publishers, except maybe 2K and Nintendo themselves, seem to view the Switch as a console only good for small productions. EA isn't publishing anything serious on the Switch, Ubisoft isn't either...

It's like they all consider the PS4 and XB1 as "adult" consoles, and the Switch a console for kids.

The Switch, when talking about third parties, is almost like what the Vita was. They're not considering it anything else than a portable console with low capabilities compared to other platforms. They feel it's not a "legitimate" channel for their full-fledge mature games. So either they just don't care, or they appoint inexperienced branches of their studios to work on those, like it's an aftertought.

At least, there are good indies on it, but major, AAA releases (that interest me) are few and far between.... What the hell SEGA? Ubisoft? EA? Activision? (And no, Crash Bandicoot isn't a major AAA release). Anyone?

@ramu-chan You're telling people to play these games on the PS4, while telling them some games run like crap on the PS4. This logic doesn't make any sense.

Meh. I never could get into Yakuza games, and I did try. There's only so much subtitle reading I can take.

Fool!

@BigKing

No, the 2nd best one. 1st, comes the almighty PC-Engine DUO-R/RX !

But that's true on "the gamers failed the Dreamcast"... Kind of a similar story with the Wii U" :/

His reasoning is unbelievable to me! How anyone can compare the Switch to the Wii U is crazy talk imo. I would pick up Yakuza in a heartbeat on the Switch - granted I had the money for it. (I'm always low on funds it seems lol)

@MsJubilee The point is that if they don't run all that well on a PS4 then they're going to run a whole lot worse on the vastly less powerful Switch.

@mailman

The entire gaming industry is a completely different beast than it was during the 16-bit era. In a way, I'm glad that Nintendo isn't following the trends set by the companies that bend over backwards for Sony and Microsoft. 2K wants to see a butchered, half-arsed port of an already mediocre wrestling game to Switch fans? I'm glad it failed! EA wants to adopt a more stream'centric approach? I'm glad they're not throwing their full weight behind Switch. Capcom wants to offer lazy ports and streaming services to Switch? I'm glad that people aren't biting. One difference between then and now is that developers typically didn't treat Nintendo fans like second class citizens, when it came to porting their games over. Mortal Kombat 1 may have been censored, due to Nintendo's guidelines at the time, but it looked, and sounded, more authentic than what existed on competing systems. Mickey Mania, Street Fighter II, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Fatal Fury 2, etc.? They were the same game that was released on other consoles, and they were developed to take advantage of the SNES' strengths. In the case of Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat 2, etc., the reward was that the games sold! Mortal Kombat 1 sold relatively poorly on snes because it was seen as a butchered port. The rules really haven't changed, but developer practices have.

Finally, the paranoia of the people who said Wii U's fate will result in Switch losing out is justified. You did it, everyone!

...I would buy it so he's wrong about me!

As a Nintendo fan, hearing them being labeled as a "babyish" company like this offends me.

I'll decide what I expect and hope to see on my machine, thanks. That said, the fact that you released two older games in the past, in ONE region, on a system that sold poorly, says absolutely NOTHING about what the audience that bought ANOTHER system that IS selling VERY well expects, let alone on potential sales numbers.
Of course, with this mentality, your sales numbers will be zero.

@emperor_ing i'm pretty sure it never left Japan, so claiming at this point that switch owners are not the right audience is like releasing an blockbuster movie on the northpole and then claiming that there was no audience for it.

@ramu-chan oh please, if it can run on ps3 then in can run on switch as long they put in the work in optimising the game

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/08/yakuza_1_and_2_hd_reportedly_sells_less_than_2000_copies_in_debut_week
It didn't even sell 2000 copies on launch. Thats awful by any standard, and says enough to the developer about the audience, Wii U or Nokia N-gage.

At this point they should really just be honest and say "but Sony offers us a good deal." Let's be real, "Switch isn't a fit", "We'd consider XBox". You're on Yakuza 6. You've only done Sony (with one failed attempt at Japan-only WiiU). There's got to be a good reason. Maybe it's not the best fit for Switch in terms of what people buy, but it's hard to say it's not, either. Companies seem to not evaluate Nintendo's ecosystem differently than other platforms. On other platforms games have a 2 week sales window and then it's just residual. Nintendo's platform tends to have slow, steady, long term sales. That needs to be kept in mind when companies evaluate metrics.

@PhilKenSebben To be fair, Valkyria was always sort of a Fire Emblem/Advance Wars mashup, so the Nintendo audience was already ripe for it (and Valkyria was moved to being a PSP series, of which the Switch rightfully succeeds) so that makes sense, and "gritty" games tend to not sell well on Nintendo.

Nah, bro. Switch is the right platform for every game. EVERY game.

The series producer is clearly naive and short-sighted if he's basing his decision on a failed console......

Project X Zone 2 had the Yakuza.
I'm pretty sure this could a least throw the Project X Zoners a bone.

@thisawesomecola I think people need to realise just how bad it sold on Wii U. less than 2000 is catastrophic.

@BigKing

Lmao, yeah okay little buddy. You can go sit down somewher now. That game was not even the 5th best game in 2017 ha ha. Even the chore that became horizon zero dawn was a much better title. It seems not too many people have ever given a damn about yakuza. As it has never garnered the sort of success this guy thinks that he deserves or it's worth. The only folks that I've ever known to brag about it or give it much reverence are uber die hard sony fanboys.

@magnumc500

Actually the logic is about as sound lol

Aside from sonic mania, I haven’t given Sega money since I bought the sonic games on Wii eshop. Even if this came to switch, it wouldn’t change that fact either.

@subpopz

Well a point could be made for that lol

@Stocksy panic buttons works on contracts. They do it or not. They don’t have an opinion on this matter. They get paid even if a game bombs.

Having owned Yakuza on ps4 and ps3, not that great of games..

Yakuza 1&2 HD for Wii U was a Japan-only game on a system with region-lock.
At least on the region-free Switch we could import and play a Japanese version.

@koekiemonster 73 other people got the point I was making.

I bet you are a ball at parties

I actually agree with them. Yakuza on Switch is not a good mix imo

@Deadlyblack

I honestly don't think most people care. It is simply being discussed because there's an article here is all me thinks. Like I said, it's not like yakuza has exactly been setting the world on fire as of yet dude. Perhaps this guy has a self inflated sense of worth about the series. Again, the only people that I've seen making the biggest deal over this series and going ga ga over it has been sony fanboys in all honesty.

And even then with the largest userbase this gen, it's not like the series has been doing gangbusters there either lol. Probably not even selling to 4% of that base I would wager. Hell, I'd be surprised that as a whole if the franchise has made it into double-digit million territory. And while I'm sure there are disappointed users here for sure, what exactly is there to be salty about?

I mean even if they never wanted to touch a ps4 controller, isn't this game coming to PC? It's not like they have to deprive themselves of the game. And if they do, then clearly the game isn't that relevant or important to them. I mean, these are JUST games after all

There's no rules stating that they can't play the game somewhere else bro. Not everyone is beholden to the box or the logo on it or some extreme fanboy you know. The overuse of the term salty is what's real. As is really just become a way to try to discredit someone's perhaps legitimate feelings. It's overuse is starting to feel like how you maybe would if you saw the whole club still enthusiastically dabbing when you walk in lol

Just because some people are indifferent or their opinion differs doesn't make them salty over this man's opinion or the companies decisions. I've owned all of sony home toys outside of rhe ps3. And not once have I been inclined to play a yakuza game. To those disappointed, I would personally tell them to buck up as it's not the end of the world. Go spend that money the guy helped you save on some other hard working dev work who IS going out of their way to get you "gritty " content.

Bethesda in partnering with Pan!c Button comes to mind. Maybe support Wolfenstein or Doom as they're laboring for you, respect you as gamers it seems, and trying to fill a void for you. Instead of worrying about what you're NOT getting, rally around and don't get complacent with what you ARE.

Put money where the mouth is. And maybe show people like this dude that he DOESN'T know you to typecast & stereotype you. I think that's what most (here) should find offensive afterall. The disrespect to a base that he isn't showing others

@gameboy1975 You didn't play Yakuza 0, did you?

@BigKing

If you actually read what I typed (even before the edit) the answer would be obvious amigo/amiga.

The switch will also be a flop with attitudes like this.

@gameboy1975 I was reacting to your previous message.

But it doesn't make any sense. Sony fanboy because you appreciate a game series? I own more Nintendo consoles to be honest, even the Virtual Boy.

Actually played BoTW, Odyssey and Yakuza 0. Yakuza 0 was the best. But you don't know, because you didn't play it because you like overhyped games. A bandwagon gamer.

There are tons of great games that didn't sell well and tons of crappy games that sold millions.

Clearly he's feeling the burn not necessarily from trusting the Wii U, but from trusting Nintendo. Ouch. Perhaps the real purpose of his "experiment" was to see if Yakuza could sell Wii U's, which obviously it, didn't-- In fact, no games sold Wii U's other than Splatoon, SSB4, MK8, and Super Mario Maker, and even those numbers were no where near what they should've been, so, sorry this guy had such high expectations of a doomed system. I'd have to research it, but perhaps Yakuza is a system seller for Playstation in Japan? All I can say is I didn't get to play Yakuza on a Nintendo system, so I can't really feel any pain from this. Ah well.

This guy seriously thinks a game will fail on the Switch just because it failed on the Wii U?

Newsflash: just about everything on the Wii U was a failure, the entire console was pretty much a failure. The Switch is not the Wii U. This is like not supporting Game Boy because the Virtual Boy didn't sell.

Sounds about right. Nintendo fans don't buy third party games in large numbers. Simple as. History tells us this, not just the Wii U. Ubisoft had to put Star Fox into Starlink just to get Nintendo fans interested in that game.

@MeloMan no yakuza 1+2 was released on Wii U as a test to see if there was a market for that type of game going forward. Selling under 2000 put an end to that pretty quickly.

Would it be the same on switch? No it wouldn't but I can understand why the Wii U experiment would put them off now.

Probably would've sold more by releasing in more than one region.

Oh no Sega. Fire your analyst. They are stupid.

@kobashi100 I see. But damn, they didn't even release it in NA from what i can tell... I would've bought it for sure. I'm thinking they should've tested west, but that's done and done now.

I have never played any of the Yakuza games, but if they released it on Switch (in English) I'd give it a shot. I've heard they are good.

We didn't get the remasters on Wii U here though. I didn't even know they had released them on Wii U. I bought AC IV: Black Flag, NFS: Most Wanted, Bayonetta 2, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and Watch Dogs on Wii U. I would have bought the Yakuza games too.

Like it or not, this is by far the best decision for them to make from a business/marketing standpoint. There’s no way the dragon engine would run efficiently on the switch considerig its specifications. It has trouble maintaining a constant 30 fps even on the ps4. That means they would have to rework the game to port it on the switch. It would be a bad move for them to expend money on time on a product for a system where the profit and outcome is unclear, especially considering the Wii-U Yakuza flop even if the Wii-U wasn’t as popular as the switch.

@BigKing @BigKing
"But you don't know, because you didn't play it because you like overhyped games. A bandwagon gamer."

I like how you say "because you like overhyped games" as if being "overhyped" is some sort of intrinsic, objective quality that everyone would agree about.

Of course, that's more than a bit presumptuous. It's nice that you're so confident in your opinions, but the simple fact of the matter is that they're just that - your opinions. Unfortunately, you seem to have mistaken your subjective response to a video game for objective truth.

That BotW is "overhyped" to you doesn't mean it's true for everyone else. In reality, it's quite possible for someone to have played all three of those games, and to still prefer the Switch games to "Yakuza 0."

Take me, for instance - I've played and beaten all three games. "Yakuza 0" was my introduction to the franchise, and I loved it enough to immediately buy "Kiwami" (and 6 as soon as it came out) - yet "Breath of the Wild" and "Super Mario Odyssey" were still more enjoyable experiences for me.

That's not a criticism of "Yakuza 0" - it's just that those two particular Nintendo games are all-time greats, in my opinion. You disagree, and that's fine - but spare us the condescending attitude of assuming that your opinion is the only accurate one, or that anyone who disagrees is a "bandwagon gamer."

"There are tons of great games that didn't sell well and tons of crappy games that sold millions."

Well, this is true, but it doesn't exactly prove your point. As is true with film, literature, music, and the other art forms, there is little correlation between video game sales and quality - some great games sell millions, and some great games sell almost nothing. Some of us are capable of appreciating both the "hidden gems" and the "mega hits" that are actually good.

"Adult games never sell well on Nintendo platforms."

Never? I'm not privy to any non-public sales figures, but I'm pretty sure "Bayonetta" has done decently - as have the Bethesda ports (like "Skyrim" and "Doom.") But you're right, in that it's almost always first party games that are the big sellers on Nintendo systems.

(Incidentally, according to VG Chartz, "Yakuza 0" sold about 570,000 copies worldwide during the first year of its release - while, nine weeks after release, "Bayonetta" had sold 400,000. Not amazing numbers for either game - but not too far apart either, especially when considering the relative userbase size.)

@BigKing

Gtfo outta here dude. I absolutely NEVER said that you had to be a sony fanboy to appreciate a series that has been on it. Not even once. I said that the only ones who seem to make a big deal about it are mostly sony fanboys. I know that may be hard for you to decipher or conprehend because I did use the word sony & fanboys together in a sentence, but all the other words & context also matter.

And now your clown @$$ is starting to try & make it personal, I'm about to deal wirh that & be done with you. The fact of the matter is that just because you are in a select group (because I can't even say the minority are with you) that feels yakuza 0 is "the best" doesn't make it close to being fact or even remotely the consensus There were people out there who legitimately felt Superman64 wasn't that bad a game either. And they, just like you, have that right, but that doesn't make it so.

And before your comprehension skills fail you again, am I saying that yakuza is on that level? Nope, not even close. Superman64 was an awfully made game in my experience. Just saying that there's all types of anecdotal evidence, differing opinions or examples of people being fans of things that others aren't what the consensus doesn't or value as much. You can speak for yourself all the hell you want, but you're not going to tell ME that Zelda is overhyped or that Yakuza was the best game of 2017 because YOU say so. TFOH with that noise.

Hell, even when acknowledgements, GOTY (along with other) awards and even the prestigious recognition from his own peers was being doled out, none of them were exactly rushing out to put his Yakuza 0 in the conversation for their best games of 2017. Perhaps an honorable mention or some s#!t sure, but not much else.

You talking about I'm bandwagoning because I don't agree with your pretty unpopular opinion yet you're sitting in a wagon that needs pulling as there aren't as many folks that agree with how great yours is or where your pulling yours.

@Sondheimist

@Sondheimist

Boom. Preach my friend. PREACH. Even made some points better than I probably could have. This clown doesn't know me. I can appreciate the hidden gems like you said and the mega blockbusters. Yet this person is getting all up in a tizzy just because I don't want to play the same game that they're fawning over. I've watched them being played, but they never grabbed me enough to wants to go out and buy it myself.
Not saying it's the devs fault or that the games are bad. It's just that I wasn't impressed enough to purchase the game. There's more than enough out there for me to put my money down on that I will actually enjoy.

So instead of trying to tell somebody why they shouldn't enjoy the games that they do, crap on it without even playing it, making excuses to hate it or something like that, I just go play something else and let them do them. Maybe they should worry more about their own habits instead of what I'm doing with my money, time and games. You think that it's the bee's knees, cool. I was not exactly frothing-at-the-mouth to try it.

And if we want to really pull hairs, I technically HAVE played a yakuza game.However, since I didn't give it a sincere & fully fleshed-out play session, I wanted to be fair to the game and just admit that I didn't play too much of it As I feel that I would need to put a couple of hours in a game before I would say a game is great, terrible, middling or dog s#!t. Something that most people don't even do these days, but I like to to be fair to the people that made the game

@mailman

Is that really Nintendo’s fault, though? Aside from the SNES (in every area except for raw processing power), and the N64 (in some ways), Nintendo has never had the most powerful hardware on the market.

Nintendo gamers, by and large, are no different than any other type of gamer. I mean, look at the calamity that surrounded Battlefront 2 (the much-maligned paywall); sales leveled off, big time, because gamers didn’t want to be played for fools. GTA has sold through the roof because it’s a stellar game, and the online component is very generous, and fun! Had the game been a complete ripoff, it wouldn’t have sold 95 million units.

Nintendo themselves are offering just as much support as they always have. Third party sales would be there if they actually offered up games that were beyond niche or retro. If developers strived for the same level of quality that Nintendo strives for then they would see success. That’s what made those 8/16-bit offerings successes. When I was a kid, I couldn’t separate Mega Man from Castlevania from Mario 3. To me, they all felt like equals.

Sega = crap.

this excuse sounds like a cop out, which is unfortunate. in all honesty I would have grabbed a copy on the Wii U if it came out in the west...

People want open world titles on the Switch because of the play anywhere nature of the machine.

The funny thing here is that Yakuza would probably be just as popular on Switch as it is on PlayStation, particularly in Japan. How can you let sales of a hastily put together Wii U remaster dictate your whole thinking of the Switch as a viable platform...?

@Sondheimist My point is that there are no mature games on Nintendo consoles that sell millions (or even 10+ million in some cases) of copies like on the other consoles. The multiplatform games usually sell a fraction of what the PS4/Xbox One versions sell. The only ports you see are from older games or games with an engine that scales very well, like Doom/Wolfenstein. Basically games that can be handled by a small team and don't cost too much.
Yakuza is a niche franchise on a platform with way more competition and it's still outselling Bayonetta 2, which is basically the only real good action adventure hack n slash game on the Switch.

Odyssey was a fun game, but too easy (the only challenge was darker side of the moon) and more of a collectathon with very few memorable moons. Galaxy was better. BoTW was amazing for the first few hours, when it's actually challenging. Then you get access to better armour and weapons and it becomes too easy. The side quests were mostly boring. A lot of the shrines too. Most of them were really easy and all you get is a spirit orb which makes the game even more easy.

Both fun games, but with Yakuza 0 I was actually laughing out loud, very rare for a game. Almost every side quest had a fun little twist. Every character in the game was full with personality. You had to rescue a daughter from a weird cult, then you buy a porn magazine for a kid, then you have to deliver a pizza, then you meet that Mr Libido who's dancing in his underpants, then you play a bowling tournament, win a chicken and hire it as a manager, then you meet up with Spielberg and Michael Jackson and have to fight off zombies for the Thriller music video. I will remember these moments years from now, unlike most of BotW.

@gameboy1975 Yakuza 0 is the best game of the decade. That's a fact. Just buy the game, you will love it more climbing, cooking and horse riding simulator that is BoTW.

It's nothing personal, you just didn't play the GOTY 2017 yet. It's in the Playstation Hits line for $20 now. No reason to not get it.

You can thank me later.

I am not sure the Yakuza games will do any better on Xbox than on Switch? It's not like the typical Western audience on Xbox is really into Japanese games at all. Why bother buying an Xbox, if you're interested in Japanese games at all?

I think a Yakuza Switch game will sell quite well, and better than on Xbox. Comparing the Wii U with Switch doesn't make much sense anyway.

Yakuza games does have its biggest audience in Japan. And Japanese gamers love handhelds and the Switch. Bringing the series to handhelds would make a lot of sense. How stupid are SEGA actually?

So he call the Nintendo fanbase babies basically. People that are mostly children and only play Ninty games...as an 31 year old woman that plays Nintendo consoles I feel insulted.

What poor judgement.

@BigKing

No thanks, you can keep your re-skinned shenmue, the bouncer influenced, gta/red dead remption & pretty much any open world game copycat/hybrid kiddo. Just because you are smitten by digital dudes going on top of rooftops & stripping before they brawl doesn't mean I have to be. Let it be great to you; but I will swerve.

So you keep telling yourself what you need to to sleep at night & fight yourself the good fight there lil' buddy. Still don't give a damn about your opinion & it still doesn't make yakuza 0 even an also ran in the GOTY discussions. DEAL. WITH. IT! Ha ha ha ha

@Cen

To be fair...it IS the folks at SEGA after all.

@electrolite77

Yeah, I see that this joker's pretty much entering into nyah nyah fingers in their ears territory now.

SEGA pretty much has figured it out. Keep Yakuza on Playstation and PC. But they need to make a massive high-end one. ZERO is good but they need to bring the presentation up a notch. Maybe for PS5.

Keep more cartoony games like Shining, Sonic and Valkyria on the Switch.

People not making Wolfenstein 2 a big hit on Switch. Crash, Hollow Knight, Kingdom battle and Octopath is what moves copies on Switch.

@gameboy1975 Way off the mark, it's more like Shenmue meets Wii Sports meets Wario Ware meets Streets of Rage.

You do know that Odyssey is the only Switch game with a higher user score on metacritic than Yakuza 0? BoTW is not even close.

Game of the decade

Lol what do you expect lol of course Wii u version didn't do well.I love the Wii u but it didn't sell so why would a game?I'm sure it would do fine on switch

@BigKing

Actually I was just being as silly as your you were with your summarization of The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild. And Jesus, is this gal/guy THAT desperate that we've moved to user reviews now to try & help themselves feel better about yakuza 0 being snubbed by...well pretty much everyone when it came to recognizing the best of 2017? Lmao

Okay kiddo, while you're mildly entertaining, it is starting to wear thin. First off, who the hell cares about user reviews when we know for fact that some folks have been proven to give bad ones to games not on their system, they don't like. While in other cases they've all to happy to do the opposite to games exclusive to their box & such.

I remember reading several threads & articles on other sites where people were getting caught & even outright admitting that they were trying to lower scores for games. There were even some extreme (and known) sony fanboys from n4g caught red handed doing this because they were pissed that Zelda burst their little horizon zero dawn bubble. So they did what many a fanboy & little hater (like your clearly being) does & went crying on the net because you're opinion was clearly shown to be abnormal & in the minority; as your love for a certain game/toy wasn't shared & was left majorly unrequited.

And just to spit on, expose & deconstruct your little user review argument further (& also show any & everyone that reads our back & forth here at Nintendo Life how desperate you are here) let's point out how you conveniently forgot to mention that there are at least 10,000 more reviews for BOTW than there is yakuza 0 lmao. I could probably go make a video of me farting in my bubble bath & get more interest in 36 hours than yakuza 0 has amassed on Metacritic currently. And even with the disparity as far as user reviews BOTW is STILL only .3 lower than yakuza. Funny how you forgot to research or mention that little tid bit kiddo😉. However, that score in the green though? Yeeeeah; that's not up for debate or even close though bruh!

So even though you keep popping up like a bad rash (and on your way to becoming as irritating) this is getting sad now. You like yakuza, cool man. More power to you. It never really piqued my interests, but it's great that it tickled yours. I'm just (like the majority of others it seems are) more into The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild than I would be yakuza 0. Now, can we be done? Please go away now

@Agramonte

And yet it (Wolfenstein 2) wasn't doing that great or becoming a huge success on the ps4 or other platforms at all either. So much for the vaunted userbase & all that with this example, am I right? Perhaps you should have checked your facts before throwing that particular quip & example out there. As it's been common knowledge for quite some time now that Wolfenstein 2 wasn't doing that great. Given your usual slant though, we can understand here how you may have missed that tidbit. So what point were you trying to make with that one again ace?

@gameboy1975 Yet that still meant #4 in the UK chart... and had more to do with a crazy crowded month that saw AC: Origin sucking the air out of the charts for months. Another game the publisher skipping the Switch and concentrating on more Switch friendly Kingdom Battle. That turned out the best selling 3rd party game on Switch.

Also, I don't remember how Wolfenstein 2 was a failure in other platforms and a futile port by Bethesda leading up to the Switch launch... It was all on how another great AAA port from Panic Button and ending with a glowing review by NintendoLife. Nice try.

@Agramonte

Lol what in the hell are you going on about? So all that crap and incoherent spewed just to make excuses & change the subject. So now it's because of AC, Pan!c Button and whatever the hell else you're rambling about. There are plenty of games that are released in stacked months that are successful. And even if they're not successful that month they continue to sell to a base. You do know that games sell outside of the opening mouth, right? Titles like gran gurismo usually accumulate the bulk of their sales that way.

I also love the little tidbit where you tried the throw a little dig like someone cares about what Ubisoft is doing by not putting AC on the Switch. Wait, was that supposed to be a burn or something kiddo? Oooo so sick brah! Lmao, I have an Xbox One X lil' buddy. I have the option to play THE best version of that game that's available for consoles if I so choose. And yet to this day, I have an unopened copy of Black Flag sitting over there on my coffee table for crying out loud. Clearly Assassin's Creed isn't that important to me. And it it ever became so, since I'm not beholden to one toy,/company/console maker. I don't have to miss out unless I choose to miss out So like you said earlier, try sgain. 😅

See, instead of moving the goalposts, making excuses, and blabbering all over the f'ing place like yourself here, I simply addressed your point (or lack thereof) about Wolfenstein 2. I saw the info posted in a thread at reddit, resetera or somewhere else, but I'm sure that you can look for yourself and find the same info that I saw if you really want evidence of it not doing gangbusters on those larger userbases (and supposedly sure bets). WELL before the game hit the Nintendo Switch. I've heard that this Google thing can help you out with that. Maybe that's a big damn reason why when people are talking about how you can get a cheap on other systems that they can.

Anyway, you're starting to get annoying. The good thing about this place though is that there's an ignore option here. Time to test it out and see how well it works. There may be others who may be willing to put up with your & see your garbage around here, but I'm not one of them. Maybe if more people did that, you'd be less inclined to spew it. I'm sure though you'll have fun "setting me straight" but I'll be too busy not knowing or giving AF. 😉😁 Have fun wasting your time, because I'm tired of wasting mine with you .

@gameboy1975 Don't turn this into a popularity contest, that's for 13 year old girls. It's about the opinions of those who played it. Best selling usually means watered down to appeal to the general public. I'm pretty sure McDonald's has way more reviews than Din Tai Fung. Of course there are way more fat children are playing Zelda. I heard that looking underneath rocks for seeds spark their imagination.

The user reviews are accurate though. Yakuza is a near 9 on average, while BoTW is a solid 8/10. Fun mechanics, but otherwise forgettable and with some really boring characters.Fish people and a giant parrot with an accordion. The only other characters I can think of are the badly designed enemies.
But I can see it getting rated higher, depending on how much you're into crossdressing to get into Gerudo Town.

@BigKing

Lol @ how triggered this kid is. Why are you so mad? I pray that you're a woman, because not even my baby sister has ever whined this much. Sit down kid. And as all that jibba jabba that I am not going to bother with reading...Yaaaaaaaawn.

First off, you're the same clown that saying that it's not a popularity contest and yet failed tp remember that YOUR dumb @$$ was one that felt the need to introduced user reviews & suxh into the discussion to try & prop up your garbage @$$ point kiddo..

Not going to lie, I skinmed through most of that & checked out through the rest I would say. You're devolving to quickly to consider going any further with. I'm beginning to feel like Usain Bolt racing Stephen Hawking in a 100 metres at this point.

So you go ahead & get whatever you need to get off your chest lil' buddy. As I forgot that there's an ignore feature & I won't have to hear you felate yakuza anymore. Because your gargling at this moment. Go get 'em tiger!😅

@gameboy1975 Triggered? Mad? You sound real insecure now, I'm chilling man.

Do I really have to explain to you the difference between quality and popularity(quantity). Just because more people have an opinion doesn't make it right. It's a given that most people have an horrible taste when it comes to basically everything. I'm pretty sure more people share your opinion that Katy Perry is a better musician than Aphex Twin too.

And ofcourse you don't like Yakuza. Yakuza is a game that celebrates manliness. You identify more with a silent little boy who collects mushrooms, cooks, gets cold, then too hot and now it's raining or you're tired so you can't get any further. You do everything to get to a girl. Link is a hero to all friendzoned men.

@gameboy1975 You don't need to write all that if you had no idea what I was saying 🙃

One more time..., SEGA has released Sonic Forces, Valkyria, Shining, Sonic Mania Plus, TSR to Switch. I think they doing a good job so far - And agree that they better off bringing something like Sakura Wars and Shin 5 to Switch before Yakuza Zero.

I rarely post on anyones comment directly here. I do a general post - feel free to block me, you can also simply skip my comment. 😉

@Shiryu I TOTALLY agree!