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How many of the new generation of gamers play RPGs? I bet you find the answer to be rather low. I often think about how much of niche market the RPG genre has become and ponder if this is a good or bad thing?
How many RPGs released in the last few years would be welcoming to new players? This writer would argue that no RPGs released in the last few years were welcoming to new players. Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey are two games that come to mind. Would you feel comfortable in giving these games to someone who has never played an RPG before? You could also take it one step beyond, giving one of these games to someone who has never played a game before. Nine out of ten people would not have a clue what to do. Is this approach killing the genre? Looking at sales figures of some of the bigger RPGs this generation you see that RPGs are still selling well. Blue Dragon had worldwide sale figures of 0.53 million, while Lost Odyssey around 0.81 million. It would seem to be the case that a lot of these sales come from existing fans of the genre.
The conclusion seems to be that unlike fighting games or platformers, the RPG genre is still strong. It has enough of a dedicated fan base to keep developers interested in making new games, but also publishers are able to make money from the genre as well.
This editorialist wanted to look at how welcoming to new gamers the RPG genre is, and the answer would be not very. Games such as Final Fantasy will always have a big pull for people who normally stay away from the RPG genre. This is not the case for other RPGs, and almost every other RPG released would have problems attracting people other then fans of the genre. How many readers of this editorial have grown up playing RPGs? I would guess that the percentage was around 95% or even higher. How did you get into the genre? While there will always be a dedicated fan base for the genre, there might come a time when we see fewer and fewer releases. This might be down to the sales percentages decreasing, as more and more new gamers are unaware of the RPG genre. One answer might be games such as Borderlands and Fallout 3, which bring together two genres. Both Borderlands and Fallout 3 bring together RPG and FPS gameplay combined together in one package. Looking at the success of Fallout 3 it is clear that there is a market for these type of games.
There is but one exception to what I have written about so far and that is World of Warcraft. The game has taken the MMORPG to the masses and made Blizzard a ton of cash to boot. I find it hard to see an RPG matching the sales of World of Warcraft One could argue that the Final Fantasy series will always be able to match the sales of World of Warcraft. With 9.72 million copies sold Final Fantasy VII is still the benchmark for bringing an RPG to the masses. I wait with baited breath the release of Final Fantasy XIII and to see if it reaches the heights of Final Fantasy VII. I look forward to many more years of quality releases from the RPG genre.
It would seem that the conclusion to draw from the original question of the article is that while the RPG market is a niche market, there are exceptions to the rules. The Final Fantasy series will always appeal to people who normally don’t play the genre. World of Warcraft has shown that not only can an RPG be mass-market but an MMORPG can become one of the best selling games of all time.
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