Nippon Ichi Software: If Disgaea 5 Doesn't Sell Enough, We Might Not Remain in Business [UPDATE]

Nippon Ichi Software: If Disgaea 5 Doesn’t Sell Enough, We Might Not Remain in Business [UPDATE]

By: Brandon Orselli On December 9, 2014, 11:00 pm EDT @brandonorselli

[UPDATE: We’ve been provided an update via NIS president, Sohei Niikawa]

The rise and fall of the AA games industry is quite a sad thing to have witnessed, as there is generally a wide divide between the indies, and the giant AAA games.

Nippon Ichi Software is arguably one of those few remaining AA studios left in business, and their statement made for the 20th anniversary Playstation celebration was quite, well, depressing:

“If Disgaea 5 doesn’t sell as planned then we might not still be in business the year after. Even though Bloodborne is now releasing the same day, we really hope people will pick up both titles at once.”

So there you have it. Although the game hasn’t been officially confirmed for the west quite yet, you might want to consider importing it?

Source: NeoGAF

Find more stories about: disgaea 5: alliance of vengeance, nippon ichi software | IMPORTS, PS4 on niche gamer

About Brandon Orselli

Founder & Editor-in-Chief at Niche Gamer. Italian, but I love Asian culture. I also write about music, comedy, noodles and beer.

Got a news tip? Email us via [email protected]

Zanard Bell

No PC version?

In the immortal words of Adam Savage: “Well, that’s the problem!”
Pdugna

0.0 how though, I thought localizations and such were doing pretty damn well.
Satori Mask

I hope NIS pulls through. I haven’t been compelled to buy & play Disgaea 3/4 but their PS2 titles like Soul Nomad & Phantom Brave are warmly remembered by me.
http://nichegamer.net/ bf313

Extremely depressing, doubt i’d be playing games at all if it weren’t for AA studios like NIS.
Siveon

“Even though Bloodborne is now releasing the same day”

R.I.P Nippon Ichi Software. Y’all made Unlosing Ranger.

I never liked their work as a whole (barring, again, Z.H.P) but that’s freaking sad. You guys over at NIS do know that freaking Agarest of all things is on steam now?

…You’ll kind of blow that series out of the water by simply porting over your FIRST Disgaea game, you know that right? Seriously, the PC platform is full of your target audience, it’s their main platform to watch all things anime for christ’s sake. Valkyria Chronicles did and I’m damn well skippy it sold like hotcakes. It’s not rocket science.
Landale

Honestly, I’m not really all that surprised. I don’t recall hearing any sort of confirmation on it, only rumors, but a year or two ago there was stuff about them shuffling employees around, even ones who’d been around for quite a long time, so they’d end up not getting raises or in some cases even getting pay cut down to the levels of brand new employees. That a lot of people left for various other companies including Idea Factory over it.
I could see that kind of mismanagement fucking things up enough to drive the company under.
TWE

We can all start panicking if there are talks of unloading IPs.
Landale

Not sure what they’d do with all the IPs but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Idea Factory get Disgaea. Etna, Flonne, and the Prinnies have been in quite a few of their games already.
https://twitter.com/Captain_Cy_kun Cy

That sucks. Soul Nomad is, IMO, the second best JRPG of all time, and they tend to put out some pretty unique stuff, even if they’re generally way heavier on the waifu bait than I like. I’ll be picking up a copy day one now, definitely.
KyoryuOrange

Agarest is a different company, NIS’ localization branch just brought it over.

Also, for some reason they decided Z.H.P. was “too old” for the current generation or something like that, hence why the following games that use its gameplay feature angels and devils like the Disgaea titles.
https://twitter.com/Captain_Cy_kun Cy

I’ve never met anyone else that played Soul Nomad before. Amazing game.
KyoryuOrange

A lot of their major staff left for Idea Factory and they haven’t been doing too well since.

Their localization branch lost all of Gust and IF’s titles too one after the other on that note.
Landale

NISA had nothing to do with Agarest, that was Aksys and Ghostlight. And he was making a comparison rather than claiming Agarest was NIS.
Landale

It seems practically impossible to find. That may have something to do with not many people playing it.
KyoryuOrange

Well that would explain that. My mistake.
http://www.nichegamer.net Brandon Orselli

I can’t say much but a contact I had at NISA left and quickly got hired at a competitor.
Landale

Hadn’t heard too much about NISA in particular, aside from that some former employees there are part of IFI. And that one or two people left to start up their own.
dsadsada

Which is too bad since it was really great. Demon path was especially fun.
★ Wolfgang Wozniak

Time to buy my first Disgaea game……………
BigDrulez95

Damn it really is true. If they do shut down, I hope either Sony or Nintendo picks them up
DarkAngelRafael

This deeply saddens me as I’ve played all the Disgaea games and owned most of them (I’ve yet to own Disgaea D2 as I want the Collector’s Edition and saving up for it). If Disgaea wasn’t to exist anymore it’ll be a HUGE void in my heart. I even have a Disgaea Etna charm hanging off my PS Vita and a Prinny Plush that I proudly carry around. I’ll buy imports of Disgaea 5 if I have to. I’ll Support NIS however possible, doods.
dsadsada

I really don’t want to see NIS go. But even if the company is gone, I’m hoping that their IP will find their way to other publishers who can treat them well. Never was a big fan of Disgaea personally but I’m fond of a lot of their other stuff like Soul Nomad and Grim Grimoire.

Looking at what they’ve been doing lately, it’s mostly just been Disgaea though. I’m hoping htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary still comes out without problems.
Cody

If they go under I swear tears will flow.
Kain Yusanagi

Meet a third, then.
tetrisdork

Embrace the PC as a legit platform, NIS. Go the route of Steam and/or GOG with controller support as well as mouse/keyboard support and people will come.
Nonscpo

Damn what the hell happened to ya NIS?
Satori Mask

I recently learned there’s an arrange version of the soundtrack. It’s great stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5tqJaCEoYQ
Satori Mask

It was a niche title, even by niche standards. I think it embodies the best of NIS – Great storytelling, great gameplay, great soundtrack, great art direction.
Vholst

Sounds like they aren’t getting enough money to keep it rolling. The series has always been very, very niche.
sanic

Didn’t most of the talent sort of leak out of NIS? Heard rumours a while back about staff getting treated crummy but well was only rumours…
TiamatNM

This is sad news. I hope they can pull through.
Tyrannikos

Sorry, NIS. NISA pushes me away from purchasing your titles time and time again.

Try a last ditch effort of bringing your games to the PC crowd. I’m sure they’d love to have some more titles like yours.
Koroma

As someone who’s spent the last few yrs yelling at them i’m not surprised in the least. IF YOU’D STOP CENSORING YOUR GAMES NISA MAYBE I’D BUY THEM. The same goes for IDEA FACTORY.

As a side note however atleast they understand BloodBorne is a big deal for Playstation fans.
darke

I used to buy their games on release, but recently they’ve had one crash-bug after another. Haven’t bought one of their games as a result of them never fixing the crash bugs in The Witch and the Hundred Knight.

The fuss over Criminal Girls certainly couldn’t have helped NISA’s rep either.
NuclearKangaroo

this, i mean hell Valkyria Chronicles sold well, theres a market for SRPGs on PC

Falcom has also been doing great on PC, recently they released Legend of Heroes Trails in the Sky on the west, it became their most successful Steam release so far, and they are working to release the sequel next year

and hell, even try releasing your games on the Xbone and WiiU, the more platforms you release your games on, the better, specially if you go for an all digital release
Pepper

They should take what Nintendo did to Fire Emblem Awakening and go all out. Treat this game like its the last one to save the franchise. Otherwise, you’re just doomed to fail for a mistake you could have avoided. (Besides if you’re not going to say how much you need then you’re going to be as vague as Square Enix where 3 million is not enough to break even).
Landale

It’s less “saving the franchise” and more “saving the whole company”, which I would assume is a much greater task entirely.
Audie Bakerson

Pretty much everyone that made the good NIS games is gone now after corporate pulled shenanigans to avoid paying them their veterancy pay.

Odd are 1: D5 won’t be very good 2: it’s probably better dead.
landlock

Honestly I’d be more worried about NISAEurope and America then I am about the Japanese arm. If something did happen hopefully they’d be able to find a way to carry on independently even under a different name.
RinSatori

They should go fully multiplatform.. not just PC.
Weeb

I’d hate to see NIS go, but on the other hand I’d love to see NISA go.
Matt McCoy

I’ll cry lots if this turns into reality…
William Calderwood

I agree they should look into going in PC. People will buy it.
Fenrir007

As sad as this might be, thanks to NISA, I ain’t touching your titles. Good luck.
SK

To be fair, Falcom was kinda always PC.

Well before steam started getting english versions, so yeah.
Zombie_Barioth

Not to mention PC is kinda devoid of JRPGs of any kind, much less SRPGs or tacticle RPGs like they’re known for. This is a good time to get a foothold in the market.
Hydroninja9

Just port it to PC. If the reviews are high , people will buy.
Crazy_O

I own all Disgaea titles but seriously stop the censoring of your games. Also, many already mentioned it, if NIS can afford to port the game on the PC it would really help. If they have contacts in the industry they could ask the people who already ported their games how it worked for them.

The Disgaea series was one of the best SRPG series I ever played – it would be a shame if NIS disappears.
Vyse_the_Stampede

Well, most of the games they have been releasing these past years have been for Playstation platforms, so they might be feeling a bit behind times when it comes to developing for PC.

It’s true that being used to a platform is a big plus when it comes to developing to it, quality and especially speed-wise, with that said… I’m not sure that should be taken too much in account considering most of their games for “PC” were produced…

Well before Valve was even founded XD.
Vyse_the_Stampede

I used to buy pretty much all of their limited releases a year or two ago… didn’t buy even a single game from them ever since they opened their European store, and forced most of their Europeans fans to buy those absurd prices for a single limited edition… I’m don’t know how UK citizens feel, but for many other countries here, those prices are not close to reasonable.

With that said, I agree with what most are saying (and have done it myself for the past years), if they are having so much problems having/keeping profits, they should definitely bet on PC releases (in particular Steam for profit, and GOG for… well, for improving their rep with the fans XD).

It’s almost perplexing how so few japanese companies have been releasing for PC (in particular Steam) when localizing their games for the West, especially considering the not-so-recent success of proper releases of falcom games (and more recently, Valkyria Chronicles).

I understand that most might not feel confortable developing for the platform, considering the japanese PC “scene”, but it’s clear as day for pretty much anyone that have a slight interest in the platform when it comes to gaming (and it has been for at least 3 years now, for those paying attention to it), that there is a big market for japanese games that has not been properly profited upon (in particular when it comes to japanense RPGs… I don’t mean RPG maker level here, they will end up getting “lost”… let’s thing closer to Persona levels here… see, first name that came to mind, and it sounds like a great, very profitting idea already XD). Visual Novels might be the exception… but that has more to do with their low cost developing that “recently” made a bunch of them appear from western “companies” that are… well, let’s say, not good… and they seem to make the better, mostly japanese ones, get lost in the middle).

So, to improve profits in this case is very simple NIS(A), make proper releases for PC (Steam and GOG mainly), keep releasing very limited physical editions (… I know, might not be the best idea if only thinking of profit… but… but… I want them ; . ;), and for God’s sake close the European store or lowern the prices drastically… I might have been ok buying just a few of your limited releases on the European store, if I had not been buying just over a year ago from your NA store, at considerably lower prices… everytime I see/remember that, I just feel like I’m being ripped off If I even consider the possibility of buying from the European store… and since I don’t think it’s a good idea to increase the NA prices, that’s my solution, just close the UK store or lower the prices :).

A final note, considering the censorship they practice… I definitely understand how most people feel very negatively about it (I do so myself), but I can also see why they choose to do it as to not have problems (and avoiding problems for the Japanese market as a whole)… solution? Choose games that you won’t have to censor at all (AT ALL!). Yes, doing so, might go against the niche market they have been catering to for a long time, but considering that releasing games censored is alienating that exact same market, it sounds like the best of two bad solutions. Want a better solution?… release the physical edition however you feel like (censor every scene you need to… but translate the entire game… wait for it, I’m getting there XD), release the same game for PC (mod-friendly), and don’t say a (“very official”) word about it… legal, better rep with fans… profit? yes (as long as, “those who seek, shall find”, it’s all good XD).
chaoguy

Damn. I’m gonna wait for the “complete” edition of 5, I got burned on Disgaea 4
because of that (literal got it the day the remake was confirmed). I wish them the best though. I think Bloodbourne will keep them going (even as someone who didn’t care for Demon or Dark souls, Bloodbourne really interests me). Gonna be picking up a Vita and Disgaea 4 Remake ASAP.
LurkerJK

Release it (and the previous ones) for PC, dumbasses!, in the west a big chunk of the RPG/Strategy market uses PC
LurkerJK

Release it (and the previous ones) for PC, dumbasses!, in the west a big chunk of the RPG/Strategy market uses PC
LurkerJK

They are very niche and refused to follow their market (outside japan) to PC while the western console market basically concentrated into AAA big budget 3d spectacle games

they are being hurt by the same problem Squeenix and Capcom have, old as heck suits that only think about the minuscule Japanese market
MaidKillua

I would import if I could read Japanese but I can’t and am too broke to buy things that I can’t use. If it gets localised i’ll definitely buy it though. Unles it’s digital only i’m sorry that shit doesn’t fly with me, I don’t wanna pay full price to not own anything. I love Disgaea and also, if NIS go out of business then we’re gonna be shit out of luck for most Japanese games here in Europe anyway.
https://twitter.com/YAMATO_English Yamato-san

I always took them not catering to mainstream western demographics to be a good thing.
https://twitter.com/YAMATO_English Yamato-san

Kinda putting a lot of stake into a game that’s exclusive to a still-new system that barely has a worthwhile library to speak of, aren’t they? Had they allowed the PS4 to gain a bit of steam, I’d understand, but as things stand right now, they’d need this to be a PS3 title if they have any hope of saving the company. Really unfortunate too, because I certainly don’t wanna see NIS go under.
Dewey Defeats Truman

I don’t like to wish death on a company but considering how their American branch treats their potential customers I can’t say I’d exactly miss them.
LurkerJK

making their game available in the platforms the west uses is not really “catering” to mainstream
eltonBorges

I’ve heard this before. But yeah, go full multiplatform, Nintendo, PC, MS, Sony, Android/iOS. Disgaea is the kind of game that cand be everywhere.
Guest

true, but i still think its worth a shot, i mean it sure beats gambling the future of your company on the sales of one single game
NuclearKangaroo

true, but i still think its worth a shot, i mean it sure beats gambling the future of your company on the sales of one single game

also id get to play their games
Game Guy

What they shohld do first and foremost, because I don’t want this company to die, is to drop NISA. NISA is the prime reason that many of their games haven’t done well lately, via mass censorship, creating glitches and game breaking bugs that don’t exist in the japanese versions. They need to have someone with competence and a spine handle the translations. Get Xseed or Aksys to do it, and there will be GUARANTEED more sales. People are sick of NISA’s shit and it’s showing
rupok

This is what happens when you have shittier NISA as your publisher censoring everything.

Release the game on pc, xbox, don’t censor shit and just make a good game. People will buy in droves especially if you get your game on steam.
RepeatingDigits

They NEED to ditch NISA, inmediately. NISA is shit, they censor and give bugs to everything they touch. (Which is why I’ve evaded anything NISA after Neptunia V, that was the last fucking straw.)
Just give your games to Xseed for translation and start releasing on PC. Watch the money flow in.
Pepper

Well they could start by not being so niche.
Random45

They’re releasing it on the same day as Bloodborne? That highly anticipated game that is INCREDIBLY popular and if given the choice, MOST people would choose to buy that over a niche RPG game? They might as well run into a lion’s den while they’re at it, since they seem so keen on making their release day go under the radar.

Seriously though, are the Souls games as popular in Japan as they are in the US? Does this game feasibly stand a chance against Bloodborne in Japan?
Doc Hammer

This! Falcom has been doing great on PC and SEGA saw Valkyria Chronicles top Steam sales charts on the day of it’s launch.
Doc Hammer

Lose NISA and get localization from XSEED. I’ll buy everything you release without exception. Or at least meet me half way and get some competent translators. Your call, NIS.
Brad Donald

Im just going to say, I actually did stop buying NIS games because of the stuff NISA has done. They need to think about that.
Brad Donald

Same for me NIS has lost sales because of NISA in my case.
Brad Donald

This NISA is why I stopped buying their games. I just felt it wasn’t worth it to risk BUGs and or Censorship.
Luna Kazemaru

ummm…..what
Guest

You do know that being niche is not by choice right?
Fenrir007

Wait, I don’t get one thing. I distinctively remember some NISA employee commenting that their games were all doing very well and using this fact as an argument in favor of the moronic censorship they enforce.

If the NISA released games are doing fine, how come NIS is in trouble? If their porjections for sales in the west are not only being met but surpassed with each title, how come they are having such a hard time?
Domhnall

Thirded.

NIS, get rid of NISA or at least stop letting them shit up your games and I’ll start buying them again.
https://twitter.com/YAMATO_English Yamato-san

Well, if it’s just a matter of availability, that’s fine. From what you were saying, it almost sounded like you were berating them for not pandering to the west enough. I’m sure anyone who plays NIS games can appreciate the fact that their games are distinctly Japanese. Too many companies try to design shit with aesthetics that will “appeal to western markets”, chasing after the GTA clones or whatever, and they only end up ruining themselves in the end.
Pepper

If its not a choice, what suggestions do you have for them? Saying “oh I hope things go well” and “oh I’m sorry to hear that” isn’t going to magically help them.
DynastyStar

I actually emailed them asking them to port to PC, they basically said they weren’t interested in porting to PC and recommended I subscribe to their newsletter the “Prinny Bomb” for future updates. I love their games, but I’m a PC Gamer now.
LurkerJK

for the record, i have no desire, at all, for them to make their games any less Japanese.

In fact, for the love of all that is holy, get those dubs away from me and give me the original voice overs, they are a waste of time and money, drop them, destroy them, burn them with fire
https://twitter.com/YAMATO_English Yamato-san

eh, not really big on dubs myself, but they have their audiences. I guess it’s really a matter of whether there’s enough dub fans warranting the inclusion of one…. given NIS’s audience, I doubt there is, though it should be mentioned that in spite of how “niche” they seem to be, they still manage to be one of the few weeaboo-appealing game companies left nowadays that could make so much as a dent in the western mainstream.
Raiiban

Fouth’d, I’m a big NIS game fan but haven’t bought one of their games in years because NISA does the localizations for all of them.

Also I’m primarily PC as well and would prefer it there at a lower price point, $30-40US for a new game from NIS is a very fair asking price.
Andrea Strata

the master petitions sour grapes race wins again
Bee Teknofiend

The JP market really deserves to die on whole if it’s going to be this stubborn. Your idea of exclusivity is strangling you these days and the fact your’d rather die than listen to your fans says it all. RIP NIS. What’s hilariously ironic is that Bloodborne’s developers have been porting to PC as well with great success.
Kainevil Rc

NISA=GARBAGE
Claudio Antonio Murgas

Nis should port the psp versions of disgaea 1 and 2, the ps vita versions of disgaea 3 and 4 and the PS3 version of disgaea d2 and disgaea 5 to the pc they’d make a lot of money
Alistair

Hmm there a moral to this story if this in fact is true that NISA will end up leaving the VG market it is not because of that game.

But whining SJWs that can’t tell fact from fiction & NISA self-censored themselves is the only way they go down.

I for one won’t missed they passing as I keep telling them it won’t put CG get AO, PEGI itself didn’t know that criminal girls was censored despite what NISA told us about taking to the rating boards.

I hope more Devs learn from this DO NOT TREAT YOU FANBASE LIKE KIDS & censored games.

I for one is well over 40 & I can happily make up my mind what is right & wrong.

& cartoon characters isn’t one of them because they just some-one work of art.

Bye NISA you took my advice then if you can’t manage echhi then echhi market not for you.
Millgiass

I haven’t had too much issue with NISA. I haven’t bought much outside of Disgaea though. The only thing they really did that pissed me off was botch the DLC for Disgaea 2 Portable.