Falcom recently held a press conference about its financial results, and an investor reacted to the graphics during the event And. President Toshihiro Kondo responded with some interesting comments.
Kondo points out that Falcom emphasizes graphics in its games, but the main issue seems to be timing. Since the company wants to release at least one new game every year – be it Ys, The Legend of Heroes or something else – maximizing graphics is no easy task. Even with less than 100 employees, Falcom introduced new titles.
Here is the full translation of our exchange (originally transcribed by user X missuzu in Japanese)
Ys X: Nordic countries are fun to play. However, the PS5’s graphics were noticeably grainy. I really don’t think HD will help either. What is the root cause? Was it a technical, cost or scheduling issue, or was it due to the game being released on multiple platforms and the Switch taking over?
Condo: I’ve talked about Nihon Falcom’s game graphics a few times and it’s an important thing we know. Graphics are expensive and require time and money. When we talk to designers, they say, “If we have the time and money, we can do it.” Our main plan is to launch a new game every year.
We are working hard to stay in this area. We might spend four or five years on each game, but there’s no other company in the country with 65 employees that publishes RPGs every year. We are aware of the graphics issues, but I think it gets better with each game. Think about the long term.
The same investor briefing gave us insight into Ys X: Nordics sales. The Switch accounted for 30 percent of game sales, up from the PS4’s 20 percent but less than the PS5’s 50 percent. Kondo believed that Falcom was able to “reach new players” with the Switch version and ensured future support for the platform.
Ys X: Nordics sales were expected? They have said in the past that “development resources were limited, resulting in a narrow development focus on specific platforms.” However, this time they have the resources to release it on multiple devices. With the switch in mind, do you have any ideas for speeding up the development process?
Condo: As far as sales figures go, we refrain from revealing specific numbers, but percentage wise PS5 is around 50%, Switch around 30% and PS4 around 20%. At the planning stage, PS5 hasn’t arrived yet, but we envisioned a 50:50 split between PS and Switch, but in reality the results are different.
Switch is the second best selling console after PS, so we were able to reach new players. As for the future, it’s hard to know what comes after the Switch, or if the PS5 might grow in numbers. It will be important to choose the platform.
I want to continue publishing games on PS and Switch. Originally I wanted to release it on Steam as well, but there was a resource issue. We have to do what we can first and then aim to increase sales.
Ys X: Nordics launched in Japan and Asia last September. No announcements have been made for the West, but looking at previous games, it’s likely that NIS America plans to localize at a later date.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak will be released on Switch this year. Also companies clearly There is an unannounced game in the works on the platform this week.
Translated by Simon Griffin, Philip Proctor and SatsumaFS on behalf of Nintendo Everything.
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