Report: The Last Remnant sold better in the West, poorly in general
by Ben Gilbert 
{ May 20th 2009 at 2:50PM } 
That being said, combined worldwide sales for the game totaled just over half of a million units, with 560,000 selling altogether (more than 400k of which were sold in North America and Europe). Hopefully the acquisition of Eidos will do more for the Japanese company in the west than The Last Remnant did.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Darkdoom123 @ May 20th 2009 2:53PM
A PS3 version could have sold at least another 200k in Japan.
Square's fault regardless.
Captain Planet @ May 20th 2009 3:25PM
Although that maybe true, the game sucked hard.
drdre74 @ May 20th 2009 3:39PM
It is their own fault. Gone are the days of just releasing a game on one system and ranking in the cash. Thats something i never understood. Why wouldnt you want to make as much money as you can by spreading your product all over and not in just one place. Dumb move even knowing that Japan doesn't like 360 that much. Oh well, enjoy the 500k sold thats still alot of money.
bigmac8855601 @ May 20th 2009 3:46PM
@ Stix Remix
Your attempt at attempting to correct grammar=Fail
You don't put a comma right in between "poor grammar trick". Really? You also messed up in another spot, but I'll let you figure that one out you doofus.
CTC XBL-supapaypamawio PSN-ctclaw @ May 20th 2009 3:54PM
...aaannnddd Big Mac with the epic fail!
BIGGEN (LIVE-PSN: BIGGEN1103) @ May 20th 2009 4:17PM
aaaaaaand he'll never be back again ;D
Matt @ May 20th 2009 2:53PM
I think that recent multi-million selling games have painted an unrealistic picture as far as sales for games goes. 560,000 is no slouch, and it's surely enough to have more than made back costs.
Rob @ May 20th 2009 3:07PM
I agree, just because a game doesn't sell 1, 5, or 10 million does not mean it is a failure. That said I do agree the Last Remnant was not the greatest game. I did enjoy Lost Odyssey more.
Kenny Powers Fastball (PSN johnnynumber5) @ May 20th 2009 3:28PM
Actually, this game probably lost money as most PS360 games do. Limiting your audience (especially in Japan where the 360 is non existent) was their biggest mistake.
ON A $60 GAME
25% (aka $15) goes to pay the art and design guys.
20% ($12) goes to pay the programmers and the engineers.
20% (also $12) goes to your friendly neighborhood retailer. EB / GameStop, whoever.
11.5% ($7) goes to a "Console Owner Fee" - ie. whichever one of the Big Boys made your hardware (Sony, MS, Nintendo.)
7% ($4) goes to marketing, and puts Mad World and Marcus Fenix on MTV.
5% ($3) goes to "market development" -- paying for cardboard Standees of the Gears Crew and elbowing other games out of the way for shelf space at your local retailer.
5% ($3) goes to actually manufacturing and packaging the disc.
5% ($3) is spent paying the Man for IP licenses or maybe hiring some big name voice actors. If your game isn't an original IP, here's where you get dinged by Marvel, Disney, or Ray Liotta's agent.
1.5% (just $1) goes into the publisher's pocket.
1.5% (also $1) goes into the distributor's pocket.
0.3% (about 20 cents) goes into corporate costs. Management, overhead, lawyers, etc.
0.05% (less than 3 cents) go into the cost of paying for the Developer's Hardware. Who knew an SDKs can cost tens of thousands of dollars?
And there you go. $60 of Gears, a la carte.
http://www.forbes.com/2006/12/19/ps3-xbox360-costs-tech-cx_rr_game06_1219expensivegames_print.html
Kinsey @ May 20th 2009 2:54PM
Guess they should have released it on PS3 at the same time. Maybe get more sales.
dunnypop @ May 20th 2009 4:25PM
in most cases that would be true, but for some publishers, they've stated that it's harder to develop on a ps3... which would up production costs...
deanb @ May 20th 2009 5:50PM
@dunnypop
The game is made by SE, the guys making there own custom engine for the PS3 the past 5 years, If they don't know how to code for the PS3 then the rest are screwed.
Shame they fell back on Unreal engine though. that really buggered the game. I got it on Pc just so it could muscle its way through the bad code. I think it was just Unreal being unable to render non-power armour wearing dudes.
Captain Planet @ May 20th 2009 2:55PM
As much as I hate to say this, Square Enix should just focus one their cash cor franchises *cough* Final Fantasy *cough* Kingdom Hearts.
Captain Planet @ May 20th 2009 2:57PM
*cow
CTC XBL-supapaypamawio PSN-ctclaw @ May 20th 2009 3:02PM
on*
Dirty @ May 20th 2009 3:04PM
Leave him alone, he has to save the rain forest. He ain't got no time for grammar.
Avatar @ May 20th 2009 3:06PM
Ah, the old defend his poor grammar with poor grammar trick, eh?
Stix Remix @ May 20th 2009 3:38PM
"Ah, the old, defend his poor grammar with poor grammar, trick, eh?"
You forgot these commas in the parking lot. Don't worry, I added them in for you.
BIGGEN (LIVE-PSN: BIGGEN1103) @ May 20th 2009 4:15PM
grammar cops? seriously? geezus
Avatar @ May 21st 2009 12:02AM
Oh no! I forgot to add random commas! I've become what I hate most!
Xanto @ May 20th 2009 2:57PM
The game was just put together poorly in my opinion. Had one of the worst battle systems I've seen in a RPG.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ May 20th 2009 3:00PM
Hmmmmm What system was this on again????
And they are SURPRISED that it sold Better OUTSIDE of Japan???
Wonder why that is??
nutman @ May 20th 2009 3:13PM
TLR was Square's attempt to make a Western-friendly RPG.
They kinda succeeded I think.
Kenny Powers Fastball (PSN johnnynumber5) @ May 20th 2009 3:31PM
Nutman
If by "kind of succeeded" you mean failed miserably then yes they did.
nutman @ May 20th 2009 4:05PM
How did it fail miserably? It sold over 400,000 copies in the West. It appealed more to a Western audience than a Japanese audience. So actually it succeeded in being a WESTERN-FRIENDLY RPG.
I know what you're trolling for though, so have fun.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ May 20th 2009 4:14PM
Ummmmm no.... it Did BETTER in the West Because in Japan it was on the Weakest system possible....I mean if it was really THAT good it would have moved 1/10 of what FF13 will do in the same amount of time....
Boggles my mind how people say Exclusives like LBP, R2, & KZ2 were FAILURES because they sold "nothing" yet when these numbers are mentioned and all the PS3 exclusives moved HIGHER numbers People want to say that TLR is a Success!?!??! GTFO!!!!
CTC XBL-supapaypamawio PSN-ctclaw @ May 20th 2009 3:01PM
"should just focus one their cash cor franchises"
What?
Captain Planet @ May 20th 2009 3:05PM
Huh?
CTC XBL-supapaypamawio PSN-ctclaw @ May 20th 2009 3:06PM
Your sentence made no sense.
Captain Planet @ May 20th 2009 3:24PM
I like to give people too much credit on the Internet sometimes hoping that they would see the tiny spelling/grammar errors of my post(s) and be able to decipher what I meant to type. You are not one of these people. Now I have to take 2 minutes out of my day just for you:
Original sentence in question:
"Square Enix should just focus one their cash cor franchises..."
A normal person on the Interwebz would have easily deciphered this as:
"Square Enix should just focus on their cash cow franchises..."
Now seriously, you knew what I meant to say/type and if you didn't, I'm sorry that the public school system has failed you.
What have we learned? No one is perfect and the most annoying people on the Internet next to Internet trollers are Internet spelling/grammar police. We're cool though, homie.
CTC XBL-supapaypamawio PSN-ctclaw @ May 20th 2009 3:58PM
That took you 2 minutes to type? I'm sorry.
Geist @ May 20th 2009 3:02PM
A crappy, bug-filled, poorly optimized game sold poorly? Shock!
BlaqueBeird @ May 20th 2009 3:07PM
You must have had the 360 version, then. I bought the PC version and I'm about 75% of the way through I figure, with nary a hiccup performance-wise.
Geist @ May 20th 2009 3:13PM
Yeah I hear the PC version is much better, and I'm tempted to get it, but I imagine most people don't purchase jRPGs on the PC. Plus, by the time it was finally released to the PC, the 360 version had already gotten a beating.
Mazrael @ May 20th 2009 3:30PM
Last Remnant runs better on friends Jasper, uninstalled, than it does on my Zephyr Installed. only gets the typical Unreal-pop-up, & the odd slow down..
jsut @ May 20th 2009 3:40PM
I have the PC version and really enjoyed it. That's probably more down to the abject lack of JRPGs on the PC though (what do we have? FFVII and FFVIII? Are there any more?) than the game being especially good.
Eggman @ May 20th 2009 3:45PM
The game didn't have any bugs or glitches.
scratch @ May 20th 2009 3:06PM
i think the numbers in this article are a little messed up.
if it sold 220k in the US, with an install base of ~ 17.3 million (VGcharts) ~ 1.3%
and 160k in japan, with an install base of ~ 1.05 million (VGcharts) ~ 15%
seems like it was much more popular in japan.
also, the first paragraph states that it sold 160k in japan. the second states that it sold 560k total, and "over 400k in the US and europe." pretty sure 160k+400k = 560k, so it didn't sell "over 400k" it sold exactly 400k (to the appropriate significant digits)
nitpicking perhaps, but still...
R @ May 20th 2009 3:08PM
+1 for sound use of logic and reasoning, which is a rare find on the interwebs.
OhJustSomeRandomGuy @ May 20th 2009 3:19PM
It would be sound logic, if it were based on actual numbers and not leet intarweb estimation technomagick.
Any calculation using VGImaginaryChartz numbers can be summed up with this old computer science axiom:
"Garbage in, Garbage out".
Vidikron @ May 20th 2009 3:21PM
It could have sold "over" and then been rounded down.
scratch @ May 20th 2009 4:42PM
random guy:
i realize that VGcharts does not have the most accurate numbers in the world, but surely you can agree that the relative magnitudes of the install bases and percentages I derived are correct.
I.e, in US the % of xbox 360 owners that bought it is roughly an order of magnitude less than that in japan.
Mr Khan @ May 20th 2009 4:44PM
You just love trolling VGChartz, don't you, RandomGuy?
Find a better source for filling in the gaps in between NPD releases, then, instead of bitching all the time
OhJustSomeRandomGuy @ May 20th 2009 6:45PM
Scratch: Yeah, your point stands. I just had to make my own.
Mr. Khan: No, I don't have to come up with a better solution. Because I could literally roll a series of d10s and be just as accurate as VGChartz. Roll a series of d10s, post numbers, wait for NPD numbers, adjust my own numbers, never admit wrongdoing.
Why reward institutionalized self-wankery? They don't have numbers. They claim to provide numbers. If they cannot possibly have what they clain to have, what reason is there for them to exist? It's stupidity in the extreme that they're even viewed as a source for ANYTHING.
JMARR @ May 20th 2009 3:25PM
"maybe I should swear more? more explosions? just tell me!"
maybe you should let the gamer have more control in combat
jsut @ May 20th 2009 3:43PM
I quite liked the combat, but what is with Square Enix's love for douchebag protagonists lately? I'm looking at you, Final Fantasy.
atrimus @ May 20th 2009 3:27PM
in this day of downtrodden economies, videogame budgets being through the roof, and the two competing consoles selling near equal...i somehow doubt this will discourage Square from concentrating so heavily on one home console only.
Unit @ May 20th 2009 3:37PM
it seems xbox gamers don't like jrpg's wheter they're good or not
CannabisPrime @ May 20th 2009 3:44PM
We're still waiting for the good one.
ess @ May 20th 2009 8:07PM
The game would have been a bigger success if it didn't drive like a U-Haul. I wanted an RPG; I wanted a Square game; I wanted something epic sized. Last Remnant would have delivered if it had played more smoothly without breaking up and freezing all the time. Square's fault, not the audience.