Is Nintendo banking on the Success of Kingdom Hearts?
The Kingdom Hearts series finally looks to be making its grand Nintendo DS debut in North America this September. Already selling over half a mission copies in Japan (as of this writing making it the fourth highest selling game this year), the game reaffirmed the selling power of the odd and sometimes awkward combination of Square and Disney. Now the game is making its way stateside. However, the sales of the game look to be not just a test for Square Enix, but one of Nintendo and its handheld platform’s viability to sell third party products as well.
It was unsurprising that both Square Enix and Kingdom Hearts got prime coverage during Nintendo’s Press Conference. The Kingdom Hearts series is quickly becoming the dominant JRPG Franchise in North America, already rivaling the ranks of Final Fantasy. For Nintendo, having an exclusive version of this acclaimed franchise on their handheld was a blessing, especially around the launch of the Nintendo DSi. In fact, Square Enix’s almost relentless support of the DS in itself is quite a blessing, as software has not been selling like some would hope from a console pushing PS2 like hardware sales.
It seems many in the development community have lost faith in supporting Nintendo systems with their most coveted titles. Many, Nintendo included, were hoping that the release and intended success of bigger titles on the system would increase development on the platform. It was only last year’s press conference where Nintendo debuted Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, another major franchise exclusively for the Nintendo DS. Fan base and media alike jumped on the potential, the best selling game series of all time on the best selling game console of all time, opening up the Nintendo DS to a new base of eager players, thus allowing development to thrive.
Sadly, this never occurred. Despite the fact that the title had a decent marketing push, along with the highest review scores of any DS game to date, it only pulled average numbers. While it’s true that the DS’ ability to sell games over time has not been tried yet with this release, it nonetheless did not pull the numbers or cause a spark in software sales that everyone was expecting, disappointing many worldwide publishers, who wanted to take advantage of this possible growth for the platform.
And this year, it appears as if Kingdom Hearts was the highlighted, core, third party game. It does have much more going for it however, including its all ages mass appeal, its dedicated fans who tend to buy and support any console their precious titles are on, as well as the built up Square Enix DS game buying base. For Nintendo, this title selling well compared to the series’ other handheld release could easily mean a continuation of the franchise on Nintendo platforms, including the Wii, as well as reaffirmed faith with the development community that quality titles and mainstream third party releases can indeed sell on Nintendo platforms. Only time will tell!
The Kingdom Hearts series finally looks to be making its grand Nintendo DS debut in North America this September. Already selling over half a mission copies in Japan (as of this writing making it the fourth highest selling game this year), the game reaffirmed the selling power of the odd and sometimes awkward combination of Square and Disney. Now the game is making its way stateside. However, the sales of the game look to be not just a test for Square Enix, but one of Nintendo and its handheld platform’s viability to sell third party products as well.
It was unsurprising that both Square Enix and Kingdom Hearts got prime coverage during Nintendo’s Press Conference. The Kingdom Hearts series is quickly becoming the dominant JRPG Franchise in North America, already rivaling the ranks of Final Fantasy. For Nintendo, having an exclusive version of this acclaimed franchise on their handheld was a blessing, especially around the launch of the Nintendo DSi. In fact, Square Enix’s almost relentless support of the DS in itself is quite a blessing, as software has not been selling like some would hope from a console pushing PS2 like hardware sales.
It seems many in the development community have lost faith in supporting Nintendo systems with their most coveted titles. Many, Nintendo included, were hoping that the release and intended success of bigger titles on the system would increase development on the platform. It was only last year’s press conference where Nintendo debuted Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, another major franchise exclusively for the Nintendo DS. Fan base and media alike jumped on the potential, the best selling game series of all time on the best selling game console of all time, opening up the Nintendo DS to a new base of eager players, thus allowing development to thrive.
Sadly, this never occurred. Despite the fact that the title had a decent marketing push, along with the highest review scores of any DS game to date, it only pulled average numbers. While it’s true that the DS’ ability to sell games over time has not been tried yet with this release, it nonetheless did not pull the numbers or cause a spark in software sales that everyone was expecting, disappointing many worldwide publishers, who wanted to take advantage of this possible growth for the platform.
And this year, it appears as if Kingdom Hearts was the highlighted, core, third party game. It does have much more going for it however, including its all ages mass appeal, its dedicated fans who tend to buy and support any console their precious titles are on, as well as the built up Square Enix DS game buying base. For Nintendo, this title selling well compared to the series’ other handheld release could easily mean a continuation of the franchise on Nintendo platforms, including the Wii, as well as reaffirmed faith with the development community that quality titles and mainstream third party releases can indeed sell on Nintendo platforms. Only time will tell!
