Falcom President Toshihiro Kondo said they are considering turning its 2015-launched PS Vita action RPG Tokyo Xanadu, which then received enhanced ports for PlayStation 4 and PC, into a franchise.
The following facts are from the Nihon Falcom September 2018 2nd Quarter Results Briefing, via Logmi:
- Tokyo Xanadu launched as a title within a completely new IP. While there has only been one entry so far, it was received extremely well, and Falcom is now considering turning it into a franchise and making it one of its mainstay titles.
- The Trails series has surpassed a total of 3.5 million units. Within that, the three entries in the latest series, Trails of Cold Steel, have surpassed 1.3 million total sales. They are currently Falcom’s strongest titles.
- The Ys series, like Final Fantasy, is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and has become Falcom’s representative work in western and Asian countries. Including the latest entry, Ys VIII, Falcom has many long-selling titles in the series. Even titles released 10 years ago still tend to sell 200,000 to 300,000 units in North America in a trend that long continues to repeat.
- Nihon Falcom has a select team of a little over 50 employees. Major companies with 80 to 100 people nowadays take over two years to produce one title, and that time is only longer when you’re talking about overseas game development. In the meantime, Falcom wants to keep up its pace of releasing one new RPG per year with its small, but efficient staff. The company’s high profit margin is thanks to its strength in management.