that pretty good for even a collection

It's pretty good for any collection on the PS4 in Japan which has a lower install base than the PS3.

i guess japan really kingdom there like how we like it here

That's great, didn't think many would sell fast in just a week.

This makes me so happy

That it sold more than 2.5 in its first week is great news, but also somewhat to be expected considering it has new content with 0.2. I also think DDD on 3DS so less than any other installment its first week so there's also potentially some people who have never played that game in those sales as well.

That is true, but there are also a lot of factors to take into consideration with the previous titles.

1.5 came out before the PS4 was even revealed in Japan and the PS3 install base was extremely high. Ideally, it should have sold more. Same for 2.5. The PS4 had a low adoption rate and people were still buying PS3 games and consoles. 2.5 should have sold more, especially because it featured two of the most well-received games in the series.

The fact that 2.8 got more units sold with less PS4 users out there is a really good sign for KH3, to be honest.

I'd also like to think that coming right after FFXV played a significant part in helping to increase those sales. The PS4's sales started to pick up around November, didn't they? But yeah, I think it's looking quite good for KH3 at the moment. It proves there's still that hunger for more KH.

Japan's home console market is abhorrent right now so this is a really good sign for the Kingdom Hearts franchise domestically.

I'd hope they'd have as good results in the west but SE is doing an abysmal job at marketing this game here, online or off.

Definitely true, but I can't blame them given Western comments always devolve into shaming and demanding KH3, which isn't a justification for ther "abysmal job at marketing".

I don't read up too much on how Japan reacts to more KH games that aren't KH3, but after dealing (and responding well too) the final mixes and such, I'm not surprised SE games continue to perform strongly there.

I'm not sure why 0.2 wasn't marketed more heavily as the prologue to KH3 instead of the sequel to BBS in order to secure more purchases from people fixated on KH3.

Because people want KH3, no 'Spin offs or remakes' . Considering people follow KH YouTube channels, if there's no news about KH3 or there's no KH3, they'll disregard anything. Hell I see people posting 'Now in development' just to trigger people or think we'll be old when it comes out.

Even if 0.2 was marketed as a sequel to BBS or prologue to KH3, would anyone listen, considering how mixed BBS is to people (or the series as a whole)

No one wins, just like a certain anime series.

Marketing is far more than posting on social media. A vocal minority saying mean things is no excuse for skimping out on the job, and it's unreasonable to say a company will only bother promoting a game well if they receive nice comments in return.

The marketing budget for 2.8 is so hilariously low, and the attempts at community outreach just feels out of touch and out of date.

Because they never got rid of the "2.8". Seriously, the name Kingdom Hearts HD: Final Chapter Prologue would have sold more copies by default. It's an easier name to understand and highlights the importance of the new content provided.

This game will sell, it just won't sell as well as it deserves to because of the horrendous name.

I'm no marketing expert and I would think SE would have thought through their options.

However, if KH3 really is too far off, getting people hooked on a 3-4 hour prologue might make people even more bitter after having the impression that KH3 is "right around the corner." Would that bitterness though even work against KH3's sales is something I'm just not sure.



You're right that marketing goes beyond social forums. At this point, SE has made their choices (for whatever reason I trust there are actual reasons), if the game under performs they'll just have to learn from that.

Perhaps SE just isn't really putting a lot of hope into this particular game and choosing to divert assets to other titles. Beyond the lack of marketing, there is the absence of a collector's edition and no merchandise really being put out dealing with this game's release, so at this point, I can only hope they're saving it to go big for KH3. It's not as if KH is a DOA franchise, so I would hope there is some rational (that we'll no doubt be privy too).

My two hopes for KH3 promotion are that:
1. They don't think the best way to promote the game is to spend, spend, spend and just waste money on things people don't care for
2. They don't give Nomura and Yasue fake nicknames to make them more endearing in the west like "Tabby"

however valid that might be, I feel as though 2.8 isn't exactly the problem here, but instead it might all of what their doing with Ux that might be shooting themselves in the foot. 2.8 itself should have done well, but I feel as though the horrible management that is Ux has a part to play in people's impatience with 3. Granted this may be a little irrelevant, but still.

i dont think nomura would aprove of this stuff and i think kh3 marketing should be handled by disney

UX really has nothing to do with it lol The audience playing UX isn't going on FB complaining about KH3 not coming out, or complaining about 2.8's existence.

UX is its own independent problem that needs a lot of fixing and is only really a symptom of a bigger problem going on at SENA on how they handle global titles (or rather how SEJP allows them to handle them), but UX definitely isn't why 2.8 likely got a bad marketing budget and why SE is failing so hard at making do with what they have.

2.8 should have been marketed on the idea that it is the "beginning of KH3". There should have been a much bigger and consistent social media presence for the game. There should be annoying online ads, compelling displays at retailers (all of the stuff at a store I part-time at is literally bland and your eyes slide right over it in comparison to eye-catching displays for Red Dead Redemption 2), YouTube ads and ads on services like Hulu and Crunchyroll, and just more coverage for the game in general by small and large game sites.

The game is full of Disney stuff. Sell it on the films featured in the collection. Work with companies that are already selling merchandise for the franchise to get the word out.

This game will not sell on word of mouth alone.



I think Disney should handle traditional advertisement like commercials and billboards along with a little merchandising, but I do not believe they should handle the whole thing. They are TERRIBLE at marketing games.

137k? wait a second..

137... (13) (7)

13 darknesses and 7 lights.

KH3 CONFIRMED.

IT'S ALL CONNECTED xD

I actually wondered this myself, but like other users have pointed out, I really think it would rub salt in the womb for a lot of these "WHERE IS KH3" people. They would play the three or four hour prologue, then go right back to being upset and screaming at Square every time some kind of KH related post is made on their social media sites because it won't be out this fall (as far as we know at least). I still think they should have marketed it as such though. Every single time the KH2.8 ad pops up on my Facebook, the comments are filled with people upset that it exists and almost NO one knows what it is or that it has the prologue to KH3 in it. Idk why Square has treated the marketing the way they have honestly.



BBS is a mixed game? I was always under the impression that it was one of the more praised titles in the series?

But yeah, there are always going to be people that won't listen and will ignore anything that isn't KH3, which is all on them of course. But marketing it as the prologue to the game (considering that it is called "Final Chapter Prologue") would have still made the most sense to me. It just seems like a good way to grab the attention of a lot of casual players.

Based on Metacritic, the scores for the games are ranked as follows:

KH2 - 87
KH1 - 85
BbS - 82
KH2.5 - 81
KH1.5 - 77
CoM - 76
358/2 Days - 75
3D - 75
KHUx - 70
Re:CoM - 68
Re:Coded - 66

Discounting the remixes, BbS still sits pretty high up. That being said, I was reading up on critic's opinions on the story and characters (since that would be what would mainly be continuing in 0.2) and it seems those reviews were more mixed.

Thank you for going out of your way to post this. This is actually pretty interesting. Typically when I hear BBS mentioned, I hear so many people praise it for being one of the best games in the franchise with an interesting story that is easier to follow than other entries in the franchise. Then again, regular gamers and critics have proven to have very different opinions when it comes to these sorts of things, and I probably haven't seen a lot of BBS hate out of pure luck.

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Honestly, I haven't seen much BbS-bashing out there either. Something that caught my eye when I was reading the official Wikipedia page for Aqua was the following passage:

Aqua received mixed reviews from game critics, citing boring plot lines and unenthusiastic voice acting combined with weak combat skills. With fans, Aqua was well received, and is one of Kingdom Hearts most popular characters.

Makes me wonder if that applies to many other aspects of the game as well because, as a huge Aqua fan, I only reinforce that passage.
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Out of the handheld-titles, BBS may indeed be one of the better ones (and being the title that was "advertised" with the secret endings of KH 2 and KH 2 FM surely also gives it some plus points), yet to put it generally something even I as someone who likes BBS can say is that as a whole BBS had lots of potential of which only the surface was scratched in the actual final Product.
This combined with a rather questionable dialogue script in some places sours the overall quality of BBS somewhat. BBS could have been a shining jewel with the potential it had yet the end result was a sort of unpolished jewel with a low shine.

Actual haters tend to be in the minority anyways, yet when they pop up they tend to be very loud and pushy hence why it often comes over with a bigger impact than it actually has.

In terms of overall reviews and scores though, BBS did almost universally well with nearly all scores in the 80%-range and won three awards, so in your words yes, it is one of the "more praised" titles of the series and arguably the "best" of the handheld titles.

Reviews on the characters and actual storyline were indeed more mixed, but those are always subjective in some regard and as far as I recall they were not as mixed/divisive as those Roxas got after KH 2 since back in the day there were quite some reviews that were very unfavorable towards Roxas as a character, something which might not be widely known considering his popularity among the fandom.



The characters in general do have a more mixed reception depending on personal preferences and which groups of the fandom and reviewers are involved, same goes for the battle system/gameplay decisions.

I dunno about America or whatever, but the German KH and SE page always markets it as a "foretaste of Kingdom Hearts III - now for your PlayStation 4! An absolute must-have for all Kingdom Hearts fans" and "KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep - A fragmentary passage is the first game with the new UNREAL ENGINE 4 graphics ;)" and another strange post, saying "It's Monday!", with a gif of Aqua getting hit xDD

If you see that advertisement again, please screen cap it and post it here. It sounds so incredibly wacky that I can't help be intrigued (which might be the point).

It's hard to screencap.


It's thid gif:

That's great! The weekend (using curaga) then being attacked by Monday (the Devils wave).

I never thought of it that way. xD Great interpretation!

I have a sort of feeling there will be more copies sold when it releases in other countries than Japan had.

I believe KH Games always sell more copies in the US than Japan.

Not 100% sure though

Yeah I believe this is true. I think it has to do with Disney's larger cultural relevance and influence over here. Disney is SUPER popular in Japan, as is Final Fantasy (to a certain extent), but you could smack Goofy's smug face on a roll of toilet paper here in the states and Disney would get enough profit off of it to buy out yet another company. So a video game with Disney characters I think is always going to do a little better here.

The game has released early over here and I am getting it later today. So excited :D

LUCKY! Tuesday cannot get here fast enough!

Media Create Sales: 1/16/17 – 1/22/17 - Gematsu
[FONT='inherit']01./00. [/FONT][PS4] Gravity Rush 2 (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2017.01.19} (Â¥6.900) - 74.361 / NEW
02./00. [3DS] Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World # (Nintendo) {2017.01.19} (Â¥4.700) - 39.555 / NEW
03./00. [PS4] Valkyria Revolution (Sega) {2017.01.19} (Â¥7.990) - 38.197 / NEW
04./01. [PS4] Kingdom Hearts HD II.8 Final Chapter Prologue Cover \ Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep - A Fragmentary Passage> (Square Enix) {2017.01.12} (Â¥6.800) - 22.758 / 160.555 (-83%)
05./04. [3DS] Pokemon Sun / Moon (Pokemon Co.) {2016.11.18} (Â¥4.980) - 21.036 / 3.092.277 [I](-34%)
06./06. [3DS] Yo-Kai Watch 3: Sukiyaki (Level 5) {2016.12.15} (Â¥4.800) - 20.831 / 629.229 [I](-10%)
07./00. [PSV] Valkyria Revolution (Sega) {2017.01.19} (Â¥6.990) - 18.219 / NEW [/I][/I]