Category: Games

  • Is the Next Halo a Full Reboot? Report of Scrapped Storyline Sparks Debate

    Overseas outlet twistedvoxel.com reported that the next Halo game could be a full reboot that scraps the existing storyline entirely, sparking discussion on 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (“Geha”) board. Posters were split on the wisdom of ditching past entries — some noted Spider-Man kept its fanbase through a reboot, while Terminator saw mixed reception across its sequels. Frustration centered especially on the Cortana-related story arcs from Halo 4 onward, with many wishing the series had ended at Halo 3 or Reach, while others argued the franchise should just go for a total clean-slate reboot.

    It’s being reported that the next Halo game will be a reboot, with the entire existing storyline set to be discarded.

    Source: twistedvoxel.com / Read the original article here

    2AnonymousSep 26, 2026 01:25
    Eh, who cares?
    It's all gonna tie back together through the lore one way or another anyway.
    3AnonymousSep 26, 2026 01:25
    Just look at Terminator — flip the story on its head and nobody follows you.
    9AnonymousSep 26, 2026 01:27
    Re: #3
    Terminator 4 and 5 were both solid box office hits, actually.
    29AnonymousSep 26, 2026 01:40
    Re: #3
    Just look at Spider-Man — reboot it and the fans still show up.
    4AnonymousSep 26, 2026 01:26
    Wouldn't it sell better as a third-person shooter?
    7AnonymousSep 26, 2026 01:26
    Nobody gives a damn about Halo, Gears, or Forza — go start a Sony-bashing thread instead.
    8AnonymousSep 26, 2026 01:26
    'MicroSh*t' (mocking nickname for Microsoft) is a mess as usual
    They'll pull the same stunt with Gears and it'll flop too.
    10AnonymousSep 26, 2026 01:27
    I mean, if 1-3 are well-regarded, why not just do what Like a Dragon (Yakuza) did and restart partway through the timeline?
    11AnonymousSep 26, 2026 01:27
    Story reset!?
    If they're going that bold with the reboot, don't be shocked if Halo ends up with CoD-style paper-thin health bars.
    12AnonymousSep 26, 2026 01:28
    Yeah, honestly it stopped making sense a while back
    After the easy-to-follow story of the Covenant's war of extermination wrapped up,
    it turned into a mess of Forerunner lore, AI subplots, a new Brute faction, Covenant remnants…
    13AnonymousSep 26, 2026 01:28
    Forget that, just give us more Reach-style games instead.
    17AnonymousSep 26, 2026 01:31
    Re: #9
    Wait, even Terminator 2 didn't crack the US top 200 — the whole series is a flop.
    https://pixiin.com/terminator-series/
    24AnonymousSep 26, 2026 01:36
    Re: #17

    'The Terminator': worldwide gross $78 million
    'Terminator 2': $520 million
    'Terminator 3': $433 million
    'Terminator Salvation': $371 million
    'Genisys': $440 million
    'Dark Fate': $261 million

    T2 ranked among the top worldwide grossers of 1991
    18AnonymousSep 26, 2026 01:32
    Does anyone even follow Halo's story at this point?
    I lost track of what was even going on with Cortana somewhere along the way.
    20AnonymousSep 26, 2026 01:33
    Re: #18
    The multiplayer never took off either — what's even the point of making this?
    27AnonymousSep 26, 2026 01:38

    32AnonymousSep 26, 2026 01:45
    Re: #24
    Lol that's plenty successful
    Halo's in good shape then.
    36AnonymousSep 26, 2026 01:49
    Re: #32
    Inflation's a thing — $500 million back in T2's day is like $10 billion today
    Dark Fate's $261 million is chump change lol
    53AnonymousSep 26, 2026 02:58
    As a diehard fan, I honestly wish it had ended with Reach
    Everything from 4 onward is a stain on the series.
    56AnonymousSep 26, 2026 03:02
    Re: #53
    Couldn't agree more
    4 onward is completely unnecessary
    1-3 and Reach were genuinely great though.
    60AnonymousSep 26, 2026 03:39
    According to the 'trash can' loyalists (a jab at the Xbox Series X's boxy tower design), 5 is a worthless piece of garbage not worth playing or buying, so it'll stay buried forever.
    66AnonymousSep 26, 2026 04:06
    Re: #60
    Posting on 5ch from inside the grave, huh? Nice work.
    71AnonymousSep 26, 2026 04:12
    Now THAT's a reliable source
    72AnonymousSep 26, 2026 04:27
    Any request along the lines of 'bring X back' should just be ignored
    If there's ever a fork in the road, they should pick whichever option makes old-school fans the angriest.
    74AnonymousSep 26, 2026 04:57
    Re: #72
    That's basically the 'karinto' bit from New Sakura Wars talking (an in-joke referencing that game's infamous handling of longtime fans).
    76AnonymousSep 26, 2026 05:06
    Re: #74
    Unlike a super-niche series like Like a Dragon (Yakuza),
    Call of Duty is at the absolute top of the world in sales and marketing.
    It can ditch its past and still succeed just fine.
    If anything, the more you pander to old-school fans, the lower your odds of success.
    People still clinging to Halo are just out of touch with the times.
    77AnonymousSep 26, 2026 05:07
    Re: #76
    Coming from people who still cling to 5ch, myself included, that's a bit rich.
    78AnonymousSep 26, 2026 05:15
    Re: #76
    Then they might as well just make a brand new title.
    Ignoring fan feedback is fine, but
    I do want them to pay homage to the first game at least,
    and go against the political-correctness grain.
    Just let us live out that boyhood dream of playing space war lol
    81AnonymousSep 26, 2026 05:29
    Re: #78
    The first game's magic is pretty much gone by now anyway.
    The remake of the original, which took 5 years to make, reportedly only sold around 200-300k copies on Steam.
    Xbox leadership must be tearing their hair out over that.
    They shouldn't cling to the original — just borrow the Halo name and rebuild everything else from scratch.
    84AnonymousSep 26, 2026 05:42
    Re: #81
    The original Halo, the Halo remaster, the Master Chief Collection, and now this remaster…
    They've milked the first game so hard that even Microsoft probably didn't expect it to sell well — though I didn't realize they'd spent 5 years on it…
    86AnonymousSep 26, 2026 05:48
    Story doesn't even matter
    The real problem is the gameplay itself got boring starting with 2.
    88AnonymousSep 26, 2026 06:42
    Re: #86
    2 was fun to play but had a weak story
    3 wasn't as fun but had a good story.
    103AnonymousSep 26, 2026 07:44
    Wait, the story never even wrapped up, did it

    Whatever happened to the doctor after he lost an arm and defected to the Covenant?
    105AnonymousSep 26, 2026 07:48
    Re: #103
    The story wrapped up in 3.

    Background and key points of debate

    Halo has been Microsoft’s flagship FPS since the original launched in 2001. The story reached a natural stopping point when the war against the Covenant wrapped up in Halo 3, but from Halo 4 onward, new plot threads involving the AI Cortana’s rampancy and the Forerunners were introduced — and posters in the thread frequently say “the story got hard to follow” from that point on. Development has since been handed to 343 Industries, and criticism has often been aimed at the studio’s handling of the series. What’s driving discussion here isn’t so much the reboot report itself as whether wiping out past entries entirely is the right call — the thread contrasts Spider-Man, where a reboot didn’t cost the franchise its audience, with Terminator, where repeated sequels led to mixed reception. Note that the box office figures and remake sales numbers cited in the thread are fan estimates, not official figures.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry, “Geha”) thread “[Sad News] HALO’s Entire Existing Story Is About to Be Wiped Out wwwwwwwwwwwwww.”

  • New ‘Ocarina of Time’ Remake Footage Called ‘Weak by PS5 Standards’ — But Gaming Forum Praises It Anyway

    A thread appeared on 5ch’s Hardware/Industry board (Gehan) about footage of Nintendo’s newly announced full remake of Ocarina of Time. The original poster argued that the “shadow work,” “texture quality,” and “lighting” fall short by PS5 standards, going so far as to claim the game looks stuck with 20-year-old technology. This drew a wave of replies posting actual comparison images in rebuttal, and the prevailing view became that the results are more than impressive given the Switch 2’s hardware. The discussion eventually drifted off-topic into the Switch 2’s battery life and lack of waterproofing.

    1AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:30
    Come on, Nintendo…
    2026 and this is the remake quality we're getting? Playing on PS5,
    the "shadow work," "texture quality," and "lighting" all look like they're stuck 20 years in the past. And there's this whole vibe of "well it's an old classic so it's forgiven,"
    3AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:31
    Sony fanboys apparently go blind if it's not above 30fps, rough life
    13AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:36
    Re: #3
    That's just what a few people were saying
    14AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:37
    The Switch 2 barely has any portability to begin with,
    and honestly the specs are just too weak, it's done for.
    Only 3 hours of battery life, it's heavy, and it's not even fanless — there's seriously nothing about it that says "portable."
    18AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:40
    Re: #14
    Do you really play that long while out and about anyway?
    If it's a business trip or a hotel while traveling, you can just play while charging
    24AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:48
    Re: #14
    If you've played for 3 hours straight don't you feel satisfied and take a break?
    Wait, are you actually playing this outside?
    89AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:48
    Re: #14
    Nintendo has a history of trying to compete head-on in the home console space and getting crushed out of it, remember.
    They've learned they can't fight PlayStation head-on.
    That's exactly why they're throwing money around to force third-party flagship titles onto multiplatform releases to chip away at PS sales — not that it's selling at all lol
    23AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:46
    Re: #18
    If your smartphone only lasted 3 hours on a charge you'd replace it or send it in for repair, right…
    And this is a handheld game console doing that, brand new 😂
    26AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:48
    Re: #23
    Wait, gaming on a trip?!
    So you hole up in your room even at the hotel, not just at home?
    47AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:03
    Re: #23
    Ah, I see…
    I always thought something was off about you, so that's it lol
    28AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:49
    Wait, the Switch 2 came out in 2025 and it's not even waterproof? lol
    In an era where it's hard to even find a smartphone that ISN'T waterproof? lol
    31AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:50
    Looks better than Sony's new Wolverine game though
    33AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:51
    Re: #31
    Sad that Wolverine is the only thing you can even compare it to
    34AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:52
    Re: #32
    No waterproofing is rough when it's kids playing it
    36AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:53
    Re: #34
    Uh, what kind of household did you grow up in?
    37AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:54
    Back in the DS and 3DS days there was recipe/menu-planning software
    you could use in the kitchen while cooking,
    but water droplets and humidity are the Switch 2's worst enemy now.
    That's a downgrade if anything
    41AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:57
    Re: #37
    And… you actually use your Switch in the kitchen?
    39AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:56
    Is the PS Portal or the PSP3 (tentative name) fine even if submerged in water?
    43AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:59
    Re: #39
    No, it's not fine.
    Why would you even be submerging it in the first place?
    45AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:02
    Re: #1
    It's a game you'll never get to play on PS5, so all you can do is trash-talk it, huh 🥺
    57AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:10
    Re: #45
    Leave him alone lmaooooo
    49AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:04
    There's no way you get visuals like this without a PS5

    https://gzo.ai/i/V6Ategc.jpg
    50AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:06
    The gameplay hasn't changed one bit in 30 years!
    They even went out of their way to sell a separate physical gadget just for the flavor element of tooting away on the ocarina — a part that has nothing to do with actual gameplay!
    53AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:09
    Re: #50
    Can you really say that in front of Wolverine — a game you win by mashing buttons, that drives itself for you even when you do nothing, that guides you with farts, and that put all its effort into arm-hair detail?
    60AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:11
    Re: #1
    Wolverine

    Genshin Impact


    OoT (Ocarina of Time)
    63AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:13
    Re: #60
    This kind of "shadow work," "texture quality," and "lighting" is only possible on PS5
    66AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:15
    Re: #60
    Precisely because the Switch 2 is objectively weaker in raw specs, Nintendo's technical chops here are honestly impressive
    78AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:34
    Re: #60
    OoT looks amazing
    65AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:15
    You'd normally expect a clear gap between a handheld and a home console, but the fact that the Switch 2 is unexpectedly close — does that mean the Switch 2 side is really pulling its weight, or that the PS5 just isn't that powerful?
    67AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:16
    Re: #65
    Visual quality just comes down directly to the developer's skill.
    At their core, ray tracing and path tracing are shortcut technologies that save developer effort, not technologies that inherently make graphics look better
    70AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:22
    When I watched the Nintendo Direct, I didn't feel much of anything looking at OoT — probably because I'd been playing Ghost of Yotei on PS5 Pro around that time — but Nintendo fans were saying "amazing, amazing," so I figured if this level impresses them, they'd be blown away by Yotei (not trying to troll, genuinely just a thought)
    74AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:27
    Re: #70
    Yotei's graphics aren't even that good lol
    Have you actually played it, or are you just talking out of your ass? (エアプ, "air-play" — slang for pretending you've played a game you haven't)
    76AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:28
    Re: #70
    Lately I'm starting to feel nothing even watching PS5 footage.
    But when I see PC version footage, I'm like "whoa, this is insane!" just from looking at it
    79AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:35
    I want a new Zelda with the same level of freedom as Tears of the Kingdom
    81AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:42
    Re: #79
    Go dig up some MMO from the country they ripped the concept off from.
    Though that'll be rough for someone like you who's lived a cozy life on Japanese console games.
    Competing amid inequality is what those games over there are all about.
    Though it's rough for me too lol
    85AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:44
    Re: #79
    I think they're working on one.
    But release is probably still a long way off…
    93AnonymousSep 25, 2026 22:06
    Nintendo fans are losing it lol
    Full of people who've never even played Yotei talking like they have, lmao
    99AnonymousSep 25, 2026 23:09
    Re: #93
    What's Yotei?

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    The Switch 2’s design prioritizes handheld-friendly thinness and battery efficiency, so a straightforward comparison with the home-console-only PS5 will naturally tend to show a gap in achievable graphical output. The debate over this Ocarina of Time remake split largely along whether posters accounted for that premise. Critics measured the footage against a PS5-standard visual experience and judged it “inferior,” while defenders praised how much the game achieves within the constraints of a handheld device — the fact that the two sides were arguing from different baselines was itself a source of the disagreement. Notably, in the latter half of the thread the discussion drifted away from graphics entirely into other perceived weaknesses of the Switch 2, such as its short battery life and lack of waterproofing — what began as a debate purely about visual quality ended up evolving into a broader assessment of the hardware itself.

    *This article is compiled as excerpts and a summary from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry board, Gehan) thread “[Good News] Ocarina of Time Remake Turns Out to Be “Shabby Across the Board” by PS5 Standards.”

  • Fire Emblem: Banshi Senkou Feels So Smooth It’s Going Viral — Some Say ‘This Is Nintendo Going All In’

    Nintendo’s new release Fire Emblem: Banshi Senkou has been drawing a wave of positive comments on 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (“Geha”) board. Users who bought the game after seeing the exploration segments shown in a Nintendo Direct praised the short load times, the smoothness of fast travel, and the depth of character development. At the same time, some pointed out that while the game is rated highly overseas, opinion in Japan is more divided, and the thread saw discussion of how differently longtime simulation-RPG fans and newcomers are responding to the new map-exploration feature.

    1AnonymousSep 25, 2026 19:39
    Saw the exploration part shown in the Nintendo Direct, thought it looked fun, and bought it — the quality is insanely high.
    None of the usual issues you get with this genre, like long load times or half-baked fast travel between towns — movement feels great.
    The characters are charming and training them is fun, and exploring the field to train them is fun too. Time just melts away.
    2AnonymousSep 25, 2026 19:40
    By the way, I've only cleared Part 1, the Theodora route, so far — there are still 3 more routes to play. The amount of content is insane too.
    5AnonymousSep 25, 2026 19:43
    As for loading, going from the middle layer to the upper or lower layer is quick, but going back to the middle layer is a bit longer lol
    8AnonymousSep 25, 2026 19:44
    Re: #5
    Even so it's not annoying at all, that's impressive.
    Nintendo prioritizing load times even while staying at 30fps is impressive.
    9AnonymousSep 25, 2026 19:44
    10AnonymousSep 25, 2026 19:45
    Re: #9
    The manipulated reviews ("kousaku") will probably get filtered out eventually and it'll settle around 4.4 anyway.
    14AnonymousSep 25, 2026 19:46
    Re: #9
    One of these doesn't belong…

    Metascore: 8.9
    User score: 8.9
    Amazon reviews: mostly ☆5
    Amazon reviews: mostly ☆1

    12AnonymousSep 25, 2026 19:46
    At first → super tedious and boring
    Now → Part 1, Chapter 12… huh? This is actually kind of fun

    (Same thing happened with) Derby Stallion 2 → wait, this is a masterpiece

    Seriously don't have enough time for this
    17AnonymousSep 25, 2026 19:50
    Re: #12
    I've been hooked on it until 3am every night lol
    26AnonymousSep 25, 2026 19:55
    Re: #14
    Is 4 stars the least common because the reception is genuinely good there? Or is it being deliberately spread out across 3→4→5 stars evenly to disguise review manipulation ("kousaku")?
    34AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:03
    Re: #26
    The fact that ☆2 is the third most common is probably the result of manipulated reviews ("kousaku"), right? Wolverine had a lot of 9-point scores too, for the same reason.
    56AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:19
    I wish fast travel let you get outside of town in one go. Also, there are way too many recruitable characters to scout — it's a hassle.
    61AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:24
    Re: #56
    You can get outside using the + button.
    66AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:27
    Re: #56
    You can get out though.
    80AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:41
    Re: #56
    There are 4 routes, so you don't need to recruit everyone at once — and even if you had everyone, you couldn't train them all anyway. Training resources are limited.
    79AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:41
    For some reason it's rated highly overseas,
    but Japanese users seem split on it.
    81AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:42
    Re: #79
    That's because a lot of longtime fans weren't asking for the map exploration the OP is talking about.
    82AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:42
    Re: #79
    Though most of the people criticizing it haven't even put in 50 hours — they're just talking without actually playing ("eapure").
    83AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:42
    Re: #79
    It comes down to playstyle.
    If you enjoy trial and error, it's fun.
    If you're chasing completion or efficiency, it's a drag.
    88AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:51
    It's a very un-Nintendo-like game in a lot of ways.
    Which, conversely, means it might click with people who normally don't get along with Nintendo's games.
    89AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:53
    Re: #88
    Doesn't make sense.
    It's a pretty Nintendo-like game with few of those cheap, unfair-feeling deaths ("kanku").
    91AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:54
    Re: #88
    That's because it's a game that feels like it's spilling out at the seams in every direction.
    You could say it still has that passion you used to see from Japanese third-party studios back in the PS1 era.
    94AnonymousSep 25, 2026 20:57
    I think this is a pretty bold, experimental game.
    I'm enjoying it, but in an era dominated by kids chasing instant dopamine hits ("dopa-gaki"), it's probably not going to get the recognition it deserves.
    98AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:01
    Re: #94
    Compared to Persona, which has a similar structure, this has a longer tutorial-like stretch, which is probably a weak point for reaching that younger audience.
    Though these days even Persona feels too "middle-aged" to kids and they won't touch it either.
    That's probably also a side effect of the series having shut itself up in a hardware base with a mostly middle-aged audience.
    102AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:07
    Re: #94
    But dopamine-chasing kids ("dopa-gaki") go nuts when rare weapons or rare materials drop while exploring, don't they?

    Background and Key Points of the Discussion

    This installment stands out for adding a major new layer to the series’ traditional simulation-RPG formula: exploring your base and its surroundings to train your characters. Praise in the thread was concentrated on how smooth movement feels and how much content there is to play through. At the same time, user scores on review sites tend to show a “polarized” distribution with lots of both high and low scores at once — a pattern commonly seen when a long-running series makes a major change to its formula — and nothing in the thread actually proves that either end of that distribution is the result of manipulated reviews. The view that gained the most traction in the thread was that the split between overseas and domestic reception comes down to whether players embraced the new exploration element or were expecting the series’ traditional command-battle-focused gameplay.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry, “Geha”) thread “Fire Emblem: Banshi Senkou is unbelievably fun — Nintendo is amazing for making this.”

  • Chinese Mobile Games Losing Their Shine in Japan — Genshin, Star Rail Said to Be Slowing Down

    A thread on 5ch’s “Nandemo Jikkyo G” (Anything Live-Commentary) board claimed that Chinese-developed mobile games like Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, and Goddess of Victory: NIKKE are losing their shine in Japan. While some posters recalled logging into Genshin, Star Rail, and NIKKE every single day three years ago, recent comments pointed to Star Rail’s slowdown, a lukewarm Fate collaboration, and cooling reactions to Genshin’s new characters. The thread also branched into debates over whether mobile-only revenue figures tell the whole story, comparisons of character modeling with Uma Musume, and just how much money whales pour into ad-heavy games like Last War.

    1AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:19
    Three years ago it was all Genshin, Star Rail, and NIKKE riding high…
    2AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:20
    Chinese games? Aren't they all basically the same anyway?
    65AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:37
    Re: #2
    Yeah, every single one of them has the exact same vibe.
    3AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:20
    Star Rail's already on the decline after just 3 years?
    85AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:44
    Re: #3
    The pressure to spend is way too intense.
    5AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:22
    Isn't it actually a good sign that Japanese players are spending money on Japanese games instead?
    6AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:22
    It's because they kept churning out more of the same thing.
    8AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:23
    Genshin was the undisputed king for a while there, though.
    9AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:23
    I used to log into NIKKE every single day for my dailies — haven't even opened it in 3 months now.
    10AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:23
    Um, that's mobile-only spending — it doesn't include the PC and PS revenue, which is where most of the real money is…
    18AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:25
    Re: #10
    The PlayStation Store is a tiny market though.
    89AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:46
    Re: #10
    Star Rail's revenue share from iOS and Google Play is pretty high though.
    117AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:56
    Re: #10
    Genshin's still sitting near the top of the PS Store charts.
    Guess it really earns that "basically a giant smartphone" reputation.
    12AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:24
    There's a ton of cookie-cutter games just like that.
    22AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:26
    Re: #12
    If they hadn't flooded the market with so many releases, Star Rail could've had a longer shelf life.
    28AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:27

    NIKKE peaked with the Chainsaw Man collab.
    37AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:29
    Re: #28
    Everyone was playing NIKKE back then.
    40AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:30
    Re: #28
    This doesn't capture NIKKE's raunchy appeal at all, and since it's just her back you can't even tell it's a Chainsaw Man crossover — what was even the point?
    46AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:32
    Re: #28
    Nah, that's not it.
    That's RED ASH.
    33AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:28
    Genshin hasn't had a character blow up like Furina since she launched.
    Running out of ideas, maybe?
    36AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:29
    Re: #33
    In Japan, Columbina's actually more popular than Furina.
    39AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:30
    At the end of the day, Uma Musume is still on top when it comes to character model quality.
    Chinese games have made incredible progress, sure,
    but something about Genshin's faces still feels a bit off,
    and Wuthering Waves' body proportions are straight-up weird.
    Zenless Zone Zero is doing pretty well by comparison.
    44AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:32
    Re: #39
    Uma Musume…? (seriously?)
    50AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:34
    Re: #39
    I play both Zenless Zone Zero and Uma Musume, and Uma Musume's character models are way behind in comparison.
    45AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:32
    Meanwhile you've got KONAMI, king of the mobile game world, sitting on both Messi and Pawapuro (Pro Baseball).
    55AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:34
    Re: #45
    Don't forget they've got Pro Yakyuu Spirits too.
    47AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:33
    My impression is that Overzone is the popular one in NIKKE.
    56AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:34
    Re: #47
    What users actually care about is the Goddess and everything around her.
    53AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:34
    Genshin aside, what happened to Star Rail?
    It used to rank every single year up until last year.
    58AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:35
    Re: #53
    Feels like they burned all their momentum on the Amphoreus arc.
    94AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:47
    Re: #53
    The Fate collab didn't get nearly as much hype as expected.
    The story got so out-there it couldn't hook new players, and a lot of existing ones dropped off too.
    57AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:34
    The fact that Monster Strike and Puzzle & Dragons are still near the top says a lot about the ceiling for mobile games.
    66AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:37
    Re: #57
    I feel like the real problem is that almost nobody's even trying to compete on being a good "game" anymore.
    79AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:42
    If Mugendai (lit. "Infinity," an upcoming title) doesn't end up dominating, mobile gaming's probably stuck for a while.
    82AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:43
    Re: #79
    From what's leaked, it's basically a collection of multiplayer-focused minigames…
    At the very least it's not a straight upgrade over the existing anime-style open-world games, so it probably won't take over the market.
    83AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:44
    Who's actually playing ad-spam games like Last War and Whiteout Survival, seriously?
    90AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:47
    Re: #83
    Honestly, it's CEO types who love flexing stacks of cash — there's real demand for games where, as long as you throw enough money at it, you skip the time-sink grinding you'd get in something like a hack-and-slash.
    98AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:48
    Re: #83
    I played it for a bit over a year — it's basically a bunch of ridiculously rich people with tens of billions in assets beating each other with stacks of cash.
    Even the top 30% of players routinely drop 20,000 yen a month.
    88AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:46
    Is it actually dumb to buy a high-spec smartphone just for mobile games?
    97AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:48
    Re: #88
    Nobody's out there playing anything demanding enough to need it — you'd be better off just buying an iPad Pro…
    99AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:48
    Re: #88
    Yeah, it's dumb.

    I tried streaming on Mirrativ (a mobile live-streaming app) once,
    and it told me to drop the resolution to something like 360×720 ><

    which kind of freaked me out lol.
    But I guess that's about all mobile games actually need, huh.

    Background and Key Points of the Discussion

    Genshin Impact launched in 2020, NIKKE in 2022, and Honkai: Star Rail in 2023 — all three were fixtures near the top of Japan’s mobile game charts early on. One important point raised in the thread is that these rankings reflect “mobile-only” revenue: since Genshin and Star Rail also generate significant spending on PC and PlayStation, app store sales charts alone don’t fully capture how popular these games really are. At the same time, the fact that long-running domestic titles like Monster Strike and Puzzle & Dragons continue to hold their top spots points to a market structure in which new releases struggle to build lasting popularity. Ad-driven strategy games like Last War and Whiteout Survival are known for business models propped up by a small segment of big-spending players, which lines up with the thread’s claim that “20,000 yen a month is considered normal spending.” As for why momentum has slowed, posters in the thread offered several different explanations — oversaturation and fatigue, excessive pressure to spend, and the quality of character designs — without settling on any single cause.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “[Sad News] Chinese Mobile Games Have Lost Their Popularity in Japan lol”.

  • GTA6 Switch 2 Port ‘Doesn’t Make Sense,’ Says Ex-Rockstar Staffer — 5ch Split on the Take

    An article claiming a former Rockstar staffer said the Switch 2 version of GTA6 “doesn’t make sense” went viral on X, sparking a wave of reactions on 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (Geha) board. However, posters pointed out that the person who made the comment was a game designer rather than a developer, and that he left Rockstar back in 2020 — before Switch 2 dev kits were even distributed to third-party studios — which put the credibility of the claim itself in question. The discussion also expanded to cover theories about the Switch 2’s supposed lack of horsepower, how well the game would suit controller-only play, and the long-running overseas perception that “Nintendo is for kids,” leaving opinions split.

    A ‘Grand Theft Auto’ developer speaks out

    Why the Switch 2 version of ‘GTA 6’ “doesn’t make sense”

    Written by: Michael Gwilliam

    Source: x.com / Read the original article here

    3AnonymousSep 25, 2026 16:29
    They didn't even buy RDR, those 🐷 'piggies' (a mocking 5ch nickname for Switch fans)
    13AnonymousSep 25, 2026 16:35
    Re: #3
    Even on PlayStation it didn't sell that well in Japan…
    4AnonymousSep 25, 2026 16:30
    Isn't the Switch 2 just not powerful enough for this to begin with?
    5AnonymousSep 25, 2026 16:30
    Buhitch (a snide mashup of 'oink' and 'Switch') gets left out again! LOLOLOL
    6AnonymousSep 25, 2026 16:31
    If they're so worried about 'quality of experience,' why not put out a PC version alongside the console-only 30fps release?
    8AnonymousSep 25, 2026 16:31
    Sure, it can support mouse controls, but the Switch just wasn't built for that keyboard-and-mouse feel, so releasing it there is pointless.
    14AnonymousSep 25, 2026 16:35
    Re: #8
    Yeah, this really isn't a game meant to be played with a controller.
    10AnonymousSep 25, 2026 16:33
    (´・ω・`) Honestly this game barely sells in Japan anyway, so I don't think it's even necessary — though I'm a Japanese-games diehard who was never going to play it either way.
    Still, the call isn't up to the ex-developer or me — it's up to Take-Two's management.
    11AnonymousSep 25, 2026 16:34
    Re: #1
    That's just some ex-developer's super personal opinion.
    It's not worth anything as a reference.
    15AnonymousSep 25, 2026 16:37
    Re: #11
    But isn't this basically how developers who aren't accountable for sales or the business side tend to think?
    The mindset of 'making a blockbuster worthy of high-end hardware is the honor and the career move — no need to put it on the Switch 2, which is fundamentally a handheld.'
    18AnonymousSep 25, 2026 16:40
    Readers added context:

    Hartvick is a game designer, not a game developer. He left Rockstar in 2020 — well before the console was manufactured and dev kits were distributed to third-party studios.

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyhartvick/
    26AnonymousSep 25, 2026 16:45
    Re: #18
    2020, lol
    51AnonymousSep 25, 2026 17:06
    Re: #18
    Could it be… 'Ongiman'? (a 5ch in-joke nickname, apparently for someone whose info is way out of date)
    28AnonymousSep 25, 2026 16:48
    Re: #1
    >In Rockstar's case, people go out of their way to buy a console just to play their games.

    No way, don't be an idiot.
    If that were true, Rockstar could release their own console, make their games exclusive to it, and sell tens or hundreds of millions of units. Why don't they? Because nobody buys a console just for GTA, that's why.
    32AnonymousSep 25, 2026 16:51
    Re: #28
    Realistically, Nintendo's the only company that can actually pull that off.
    38AnonymousSep 25, 2026 16:55
    Re: #32
    Though the Switch 2 isn't exactly selling well.
    45AnonymousSep 25, 2026 16:59
    Sanke-tan (a mocking persona name used to needle a previous poster): "Re: #32
    Though the Switch 2 isn't exactly selling well."
    37AnonymousSep 25, 2026 16:55
    If they were going to release GTA6, they'd port GTA5 to Switch or Switch 2 first, right?
    40AnonymousSep 25, 2026 16:57
    Re: #37
    It ran on PS3, so it'd be a breeze on Switch or Switch 2.
    42AnonymousSep 25, 2026 16:58
    This isn't console-war trolling — it's genuinely how the average Western gamer thinks.
    Even though plenty of so-called heavy, mature-rated games have come out on Nintendo hardware, Sony and the media's decades-long campaign to brand 'Nintendo = for kids' has sunk in perfectly.
    Even developers end up thinking, 'Our game on Nintendo? No way, no way.'
    44AnonymousSep 25, 2026 16:59
    Re: #42
    But realistically, only kiddie games actually sell on it, lol.
    53AnonymousSep 25, 2026 17:09
    Third-party publisher: 'Whoa lmaooo, the SWU console is going viral! We could downgrade our game, ship it, and it'll probably still sell, right??'
    ↓ ↓ ↓
    Barely sells at all — total flop.

    Well, of course it did.
    58AnonymousSep 25, 2026 17:16
    Re: #53
    Well, there's no such hardware as 'SWU,' so of course it wouldn't sell.
    55AnonymousSep 25, 2026 17:10
    The fact that Cyberpunk ('Saipan,' 5ch slang for Cyberpunk 2077) and Elden Ring already run fine on it kind of kills the whole performance argument, I'd say.
    Though I get that Take-Two just doesn't have the technical chops to port it to Switch 2.
    59AnonymousSep 25, 2026 17:17
    Re: #55
    Those games came out on PS4 too, though.
    69AnonymousSep 25, 2026 17:31
    So basically, nobody's actually bothered by the status quo here.
    I haven't even heard anyone asking for a Switch release.
    79AnonymousSep 25, 2026 17:42
    Re: #69
    'I only own a Switch 2' 🥹 — that's basically a Japan-only thing, right?
    72AnonymousSep 25, 2026 17:34
    The fact that Rockstar isn't releasing a PC version — despite there being customers for it and plenty of machine power to run it — is the part that actually doesn't make sense.
    78AnonymousSep 25, 2026 17:42
    Re: #72
    Reminder: the high-end PC crowd is a pretty small population.
    80AnonymousSep 25, 2026 17:44
    Re: #78
    A game that runs on an Xbox Series S obviously isn't demanding high-end specs.
    82AnonymousSep 25, 2026 17:44
    Re: #80
    The Series S is actually pricier than a PS5 these days, though.
    81AnonymousSep 25, 2026 17:44
    On the flip side, for titles where Japan makes up the bulk of the sales, you absolutely can't skip the Switch 2.
    For those kinds of games, honestly a Switch 2-only release would be enough.
    83AnonymousSep 25, 2026 17:45
    Re: #81
    Says the guy after Resident Evil, Onimusha, Elden Ring, and Final Fantasy all flopped there together.
    Want me to post the Switch version sales numbers?
    84AnonymousSep 25, 2026 17:45
    Re: #82
    The price went up, but the specs didn't — so that's not even a counterargument.
    89AnonymousSep 25, 2026 17:47
    Re: #84
    At the very least, the Switch 2 doesn't stand a chance.
    It's not even confirmed to run on the Series S.
    They might just ship it with a choppy frame rate and call it good enough.
    91AnonymousSep 25, 2026 17:49
    Re: #89
    I wasn't talking about the Switch 2 at all.
    I'll take you dragging in something unrelated as your surrender.
    92AnonymousSep 25, 2026 17:50
    Re: #91
    Can you even read the name of this thread?

    Background and key points of this discussion

    The person who called the Switch 2 version of GTA6 “something that doesn’t make sense” was ex-Rockstar staffer Jeremy Hartvick — but as reply #18 points out, he’s a game designer, and he left Rockstar back in 2020, before dev hardware was even distributed to third-party studios. That means he likely wasn’t in a position to know the Switch 2’s actual specs or the state of its dev kits at the time, and the thread split over how much weight to give his comment. It’s also worth noting, as 5ch posters pointed out, that a Switch 2 version of GTA6 hasn’t even been officially announced — the final call rests with publisher Take-Two. The discussion also expanded beyond the technical feasibility of a port into a broader question of industry perception: whether the long-standing overseas image of “Nintendo = for kids” is shaping developers’ decisions. Some pushed back on the performance concerns too, citing GTA5’s track record running on both the PS3 and the original Switch.

    ※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread “Saying There’s No Value in Porting GTA6 to Switch 2.”

  • Leaked Capcom Document Calls Zelda and Mario ‘Outdated’ — 5ch Split: ‘Customers Just Didn’t Buy It’

    An image said to be an internal Capcom document caused a stir after it was posted on the Hardware/Industry (“Geha”) board. The document reportedly states that “character designs like those in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Mario are outdated” and that “SIE (Sony Interactive Entertainment) has a better grasp of diversity.” The thread split over the portrayal of female characters in Nintendo games, the long-standing criticism that Street Fighter characters like Chun-Li, Dhalsim, and Blanka are “stereotypes,” and the sales performance of Monster Hunter Wilds versus World.

    1AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:41
    Men always cast as the protagonist/main character
    Fixed, stereotypical roles based on gender or race
    2AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:42
    Capcom's "black history" (Japanese slang for an embarrassing past best forgotten)
    8AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:53
    Re: #2
    Still haven't managed to make it "Black" enough, huh (playing on the word for "black/dark" in the previous post)
    16AnonymousSep 25, 2026 14:01
    Re: #2
    You don't need to make even "history" considerate of Black people…
    85AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:09
    Re: #2
    With thinking like that still around, no wonder Wilds won't cast a proper classic beauty as the lead either — she's got blemished skin, glasses, the works
    15AnonymousSep 25, 2026 14:00
    Especially in games, Princess Peach and Zelda are through-and-through classic damsel princesses who need protecting. Sure, there are exceptions with a twisted setup, but they're just that — exceptions
    38AnonymousSep 25, 2026 14:32
    Re: #15
    It's the old "why is the standard formula the standard formula" thing.

    At the end of the day, it's that way because people like it, and forcing a twist on it doesn't change basic biological instinct
    23AnonymousSep 25, 2026 14:07
    Nintendo even accepted reality and thought "fine, let's just make Peach the protagonist" with Princess Peach: Showtime! — and it bombed hard. For some reason everyone acts like that never happened
    35AnonymousSep 25, 2026 14:29
    Re: #23
    Nintendo put out a Peach-as-protagonist game 20 years ago too. And Metroid's had a female lead for 40 years
    40AnonymousSep 25, 2026 14:34
    What's weird about this kind of thing is that the "damsel who needs protecting" trope isn't treated as "fine to have or not have" — it's treated as something you "should avoid"
    57AnonymousSep 25, 2026 14:51
    Re: #40
    Because there are people who flip some weird switch and kick up a fuss… Gotta avoid the risk, right!
    42AnonymousSep 25, 2026 14:35
    Peach and Daisy being like that is just stylistic convention — they've properly headlined other games, throw shells at Mario and Bowser in kart racing, basically saying "I'm not just here to get kidnapped!"…
    88AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:11
    Re: #42
    I don't like that kind of counterargument, because it's like saying if they hadn't done any of that, they'd need to comply with political correctness. It should just be free to do whatever regardless — even if she were only ever a princess who gets kidnapped, that'd be fine too
    49AnonymousSep 25, 2026 14:43
    After World, Wilds kept the losing streak going and crashed all the way down to 980 yen. They put out "rushed job" info at TGS, and sure enough it's got a dead atmosphere — just recycled animation from old titles with a parry ("clash") system slapped on. There's a huge weapon imbalance around parrying too, so it just turns into a game where all anyone does is go for parries. PlayStation as lead platform is such a jinx it even killed off Palworld — no wonder the only thing it's got left is picking the Concord series. Concord is the future of PlayStation. Why not go down together with PS? lol. They just keep killing off one IP after another like this
    71AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:02
    Re: #49
    Lol, calling World a failure when it sold 30 million copies. Meanwhile "half-Rise" (a dismissive nickname for Monster Hunter Rise) couldn't reach those numbers even in a fire sale
    89AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:12
    Re: #71
    That's because World left a massive amount of unsold stock, and major nationwide retailers were literally begging them to stop shipping more, lol. Never seen anything like it — World was just crammed onto retail shelves without actually selling to customers, so retailers got stuck holding that huge pile of inventory and prices crashed. And now it's happening again — poor retailers
    54AnonymousSep 25, 2026 14:46
    Is Resident Evil about the only Capcom game with a female protagonist?
    70AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:01
    Re: #54
    Other than that, the only ones I can think of are Dino Crisis and Clock Tower 3.

    Nintendo actually has more of these than Capcom
    65AnonymousSep 25, 2026 14:59
    Why did so many companies genuinely buy into political correctness and adopt it? Where did they even get the idea it was worth paying consultants for? Nintendo seems to have rejected it — wonder what was behind that
    110AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:27
    Re: #65
    Because doing business in the West requires the pretense of favoring "people/organizations who understand political correctness." Blame the media. Though honestly, Asians and Asian companies have benefited quite a bit from diversity pushes too
    67AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:00
    "You can't portray women or LGBTQ people as weak" is actually moving away from diversity. True diversity is having both strong and weak characters regardless of gender
    84AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:09
    Re: #67
    Exactly right! Forcing women to be strong ends up denying the existence of delicate women. Capcom (mockingly written here as "Capunko") really is the height of stupidity
    69AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:01
    Even as an internal document, the fonts are all over the place and it looks pretty rough — is this even real?
    74AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:04
    Re: #69
    It's an image that leaked during the incident when hackers breached Capcom
    79AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:06
    Re: #69
    It's probably been run through machine translation — the type that overlays translated text right on top of the original, like the camera-translation feature on smartphones
    72AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:03
    The logic gets twisted from the start when you forcibly deny one thing just to affirm another. Also, lumping the traditional meaning of "political correctness" together with "woke" doesn't really work, does it?
    75AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:04
    Re: #72
    Right. If you're talking about diversity, both should be allowed to exist. But the customers just didn't choose it…
    94AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:14
    Re: #89
    That's a Japan-only thing. Overseas, retailers can return unsold stock, so you can't just over-ship like that. Even on Steam, concurrent player counts have World beating "half-Rise" too
    98AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:20
    Re: #94
    They don't bother counting and announcing how many units got returned overseas — has there ever been an announcement of "this many got returned so far"? Lol. And bringing up Rise's Steam numbers is embarrassing, just stop — that just outs you as clueless, since like 90% of its sales were on Switch, and it's already been said outright that Rise selling well is what bailed them out, lol lol lol
    96AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:15
    Even Zelda in Breath of the Wild ditched the "proper princess" outfit and got made a bit less pretty
    104AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:24
    Re: #96
    Not just the outfit — the eyebrows too. Thick eyebrows are a pretty niche taste
    100AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:21
    Chun-Li, Dhalsim, Blanka — characters steeped in stereotypical bias, unforgivable
    105AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:24
    Re: #100
    The fact that nobody said a word about it back when the game launched is the answer right there. Suddenly crying foul now is basically just a shakedown artist after cash
    102AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:22
    Capcom's a total weathervane, honestly. Back then they got swept up in the "political correctness matters" trend, but now that the trend's died down, they probably don't care much anymore
    108AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:25
    Re: #102
    If they don't care anymore, then Ascendance must be full of gorgeous characters, huh
    113AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:29
    It's impressive Street Fighter's kept going as a series. In Street Fighter II, almost every character would be "canceled" by today's standards
    114AnonymousSep 25, 2026 15:32
    Re: #113
    Way too late for that. Between the main entries and all the version updates, there've been dozens of releases, and those characters have appeared in basically all of them. Making a fuss about it now is just tacky. That's why the Street Fighter series never blows up into controversy — the more you criticize it, the more it just looks like "wait, were you not paying attention this whole time?" It's kept going strong regardless

    Background and Key Points of Debate

    Within the thread itself, one theory holds that this document is an image that leaked during the 2020 unauthorized-access incident at Capcom, though its authenticity hasn’t been confirmed. Some have also pointed out, based on the inconsistent fonts, that it may have been mechanically generated by machine translation software. It’s not unusual these days for overseas publishers to bring in diversity consultants, so the existence of such a document wouldn’t be strange in itself — but the full content and when it was created remain unknown. Opinions in the thread split because the discussion mixed two different things: an ideological debate over the merits of certain character designs, and a numbers-based debate over the sales performance of Monster Hunter World versus Wilds. Worth keeping in mind on the latter point: shipped units versus units actually sold, and differing return practices by country and region, make simple comparisons difficult.

    *This article is compiled as excerpts and a summary from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry, aka “Geha”) thread “Capcom Internal Document: ‘Zelda BOTW and Mario Are Outdated. SIE Is Wonderful’.”

  • ‘The Only Game Console Is the Switch’ Post Goes Viral — 5ch: ‘It’s Not Becoming That Way, It’s Been That Way for a While’

    A story spread online after someone, when asked about home consoles, reportedly replied, “Aren’t game consoles just Switch?” The tale became a hot topic on 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (“Geha”) board. In the thread, comments poured in saying “Switch is basically synonymous with game consoles now,” with many pointing to the gap in name recognition compared to PlayStation. Meanwhile, some argued the pecking order for gaming devices runs “smartphone > PC > Nintendo > PlayStation,” sparking further debate over whether that ranking itself holds up.

    1AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:25
    lol (5ch laughter slang, literally "grass")
    3AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:26
    Lmao, they're just plain ignorant
    57AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:13
    Re: #3
    Saying "real gamers use PS5" is the ignorant take here
    4AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:33
    That's about the level of its name recognition these days.
    Though Madoka Magica Portable was a masterpiece, mind you (PSP spin-off of the anime).
    39AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:05
    Re: #38
    Correction:
    Home console: ✕
    Digital download: ○
    41AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:06
    Re: #39
    Maybe they mean the Vita TV
    46AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:08
    Knowing "Portable" because you memorized it for a vocab test is kind of cute, lol
    49AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:09
    Re: #46
    Right
    Such a student thing to say
    That freshness and innocence is different from us
    47AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:09
    No, there's value in it — now they know PlayStation exists. Once they look it up, they'll realize the Switch was garbage all along.
    50AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:10
    Re: #47
    Guess it'll come out that PlayStation isn't worth buying
    56AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:12
    Re: #47
    At this point, just learning it exists isn't enough anymore. For this person, dedicated home consoles have already become a thing of history, so the bar is set incredibly high.
    63AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:15
    "Game console" basically means Switch now —
    that's becoming the common perception.
    74AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:22
    Re: #63
    It's not "becoming" that — it's been that way for a while now
    67AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:18
    PlayStation was the #1 game console 25 years ago, but if you rank today's gaming devices by purchase priority, it's smartphone > PC > Nintendo > PlayStation — dead last at #4. It's in a spot only hardcore enthusiasts bother with.
    73AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:20
    Re: #67
    Slightly off — "PC" in everyday use includes PCs without a graphics card too
    97AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:32
    And even my parents back home only ever owned a PS1.
    Even people from that generation say PlayStation stopped at the first one, lol
    116AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:39
    Re: #97
    The real phase is coming next, where even parents won't know what PlayStation is. If you're already losing it over stuff like this, you won't last.
    123AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:42
    This really shows the kind of intelligence level Nintendo has cornered the market on
    126AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:43
    Re: #123
    Name recognition and intelligence level are two different things
    130AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:45
    Re: #126
    Isn't the whole point of name recognition how well it reaches even idiots?
    136AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:48
    Re: #130
    Oh, so PlayStation is "for people with high intelligence," is it?
    This one's a classic.
    138AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:50
    Re: #130
    Then PlayStation has even less name recognition, doesn't it

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    Platform rivalries are a frequent sight on the Hardware/Industry board, but this particular spark appears to have come from an offhand remark that took on a life of its own. In Japan, the Nintendo Switch has spread across a wide range of age groups and is increasingly used as a stand-in term for “home game console” itself. PlayStation, meanwhile, has a long history but is often cited as lagging behind in recognition among younger generations. The “smartphone → PC → Nintendo → PlayStation” purchase-priority ranking that came up in the thread is based on individual impressions rather than any official statistics. Indeed, some replies pushed back on the simple ranking, pointing out that “PC” as a category also includes ordinary computers with no gaming use in mind. The fact that what “game console” even refers to is shifting depending on generation and use case appears to be the underlying reason this reaction spread as widely as it did.

    ※This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Hardware/Industry, “Geha”) thread “Gamer: ‘What’s a home console? Aren’t game consoles just Switch?’ → Goes massively viral lol”.

  • New ‘Unicorn Overlord’ Follow-Up ‘DAWNGAZER’ Launches 2028 — No Xbox Version

    Takafumi Noma, who directed “Unicorn Overlord,” has announced a brand-new IP called “IGNISPHERE” together with Good Smile Company. The first title, the action RPG “DAWNGAZER,” is set to launch in 2028 for PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC (Steam). Noma reportedly left Vanillaware in March 2025 and has been developing the project at his new studio, Monochrome. On 5ch’s hardware board, opinions split over the lack of an Xbox version, doubts about carrying the PS5 generation all the way to 2028, and the reputation of the previous title, “Unicorn Overlord,” itself.

    New IP “IGNISPHERE” Interview: “Unicorn Overlord” Director Takafumi Noma and Good Smile Team Up to Create a New World. First Title “DAWNGAZER” Is an Action RPG Where the Story Changes Based on Which Allies You Choose

    2026.09.25 12:00

    A completely new IP brand, “IGNISPHERE,” from Takafumi Noma — known for “Unicorn Overlord” and other titles — and Good Smile Company has been announced.

    Source: famitsu.com / Original article here

    2AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:08
    🐷<SQUEEEEEEAL💢 (a mocking screech emote often aimed at rival-console fanboys)
    95AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:16
    Re: #2
    Lost again, huh?
    4AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:10
    Dragging this out on the 'crap Station' until 2028 seems rough, no?? (クソステ = a derisive nickname for PlayStation)
    72AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:49
    Re: #4
    Probably because it'll have backward compatibility with the next-gen console?
    When PS5 launched, there were like 2-3 years of vertical multiplatform releases alongside PS4 too.
    5AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:10
    It's coming to Switch 2 too though (´・ω・`)
    7AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:12
    So it's just plainly releasing on Switch 2, huh
    8AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:12
    It's more of a straight-up copy than I expected.
    Is this really okay, Vanillaware?
    10AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:13
    So it really was a falling-out with Vanillaware after all.
    Things like this tend to get better once you make a second one.
    37AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:28
    Re: #10
    Vanillaware basically only makes one game at a time.
    There's no telling how many years it'd be before it was Noma's turn again.
    The only way to get his next idea out into the world was to quit.
    12AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:14
    By that point PS5 will probably be download-only, huh.
    And people still buy it at almost full price, you know?
    59AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:38
    Re: #12
    It's Kadokawa, so if the 'Kado-Soviet' pattern kicks in (a jab at Kadokawa's heavy-handed business practices), there's a real chance it ends up digital-only across the board.
    14AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:14
    Have consoles cratered so hard they've had to lean on PC now?
    16AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:18
    >'IGNISPHERE' is the name of the setting, the name of the IP brand, and we'd like it to become the name of the studio too.

    What they're doing here is basically…
    'Fabula Nova Crystallis' all over again… (Square Enix's sprawling, over-ambitious FFXIII mythology brand)
    19AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:20
    This is the doomed pattern. It'll never surpass the original.
    20AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:20
    Guess even a title like this lists Switch 2 first now.


    An action RPG for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and PC (Steam), releasing in 2028: 'DAWNGAZER'
    21AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:21
    Developer:
    Guess it's not Vanillaware, huh
    29AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:24
    Re: #21
    They can't release a game solo anyway, and if Atlus is handling publishing, they'd definitely include Xbox.
    25AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:23
    Takafumi Noma

    A creator who has worked on the development and design of numerous games, including as director, character designer, and scenario writer on 'Unicorn Overlord.' He left Vanillaware in March 2025 and launched 'IGNISPHERE' (the name of both the original brand and the development studio) at Monochrome Inc.
    97AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:20
    Re: #25
    Monochrome itself is actually a company founded by former Vanillaware staff who left before Noma did.
    They made Grand Knights History at Vanillaware, left, and then put out its spiritual successor Grand Kingdom at Monochrome.
    Grand Kingdom focused heavily on online PvP but had this garbage mechanic where you could lose important items, so it ended up with a worse reputation than History.
    After that they couldn't put out any more in-house IP and basically kept the lights on doing subcontract work for FGO the whole time.
    31AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:26
    The Patlabor game Good Smile Company put out recently is way too poorly made.
    35AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:27
    Re: #31
    Their whole strategy is selling stuff without spending on budget.
    Makes total sense now.
    33AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:26
    Unicorn Overlord had this 'even enemy characters keep joining your side!' hook, and I figured, ooh, each one must have some elaborate backstory… then the payoff was just 'we broke the brainwashing!' and I face-planted.
    58AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:37
    Re: #33
    In a game where you already have to rack your brain understanding the systems, an elaborate story just gets in the way.
    If they make a second entry aimed at series fans, though, a proper, well-crafted story would be fine.
    38AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:28
    I think Unicorn Overlord is overrated.
    43AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:30
    Re: #38
    Vanillaware itself is overrated.
    48AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:33
    Re: #38
    I figured it'd keep getting more fun as you learned more skills, but then enemies started gaining skills too and I got bogged down dealing with them — ended up dropping it partway through.
    51AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:34
    Unicorn Overlord itself isn't even that great — overrated trash that anti-Nintendo folks were desperately hyping up.
    'Banshi Senkou' is overwhelmingly more fun.
    57AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:37
    Re: #51
    I don't think Unicorn Overlord is fun, but a tedious shovelware mess with a janky UI doesn't even work as a bludgeon to hit it with, blind believer.
    61AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:39
    Re: #51
    I mean, there's no bigger SRPG brand than Fire Emblem anyway.
    Saying it's worse than 'World Champion' — well, of course it is.
    63AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:44
    Re: #51
    Fair point.
    It's gotten rave reviews overseas too.
    62AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:43
    Since it's not coming to Xbox, no dev staff will end up as casualties.
    76AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:52
    Re: #62
    Funny thing is, the company that talked that trash looks like it's the one dying.
    78AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:55
    But the fact that they're leaning on the Unicorn Overlord name this much probably means they squared things properly with Vanillaware.

    Nice that there's some mutual understanding there.
    81AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:59
    Re: #78
    Then it turns out he was just bluffing, or got played by someone whispering in his ear — that's an industry cliché.
    Just like with Fire Emblem, even.
    104AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:27
    Another developer who'll die if they release on Xbox, right here too lol
    105AnonymousSep 25, 2026 13:29
    Re: #104
    There are actually plenty of games that never come to Xbox in the first place.

    Background and Talking Points

    Takafumi Noma was a central figure at Vanillaware, working on titles like “Unicorn Overlord,” but the studio generally operates on a system where one director handles one project at a time, with no guarantee of when his next project would get greenlit — commenters in the thread cited this as the likely background for his going independent. His new development base, Monochrome, isn’t a company Noma founded himself; it’s an existing studio set up earlier by other former Vanillaware staff. Commenters pointed out that its flagship title, “Grand Kingdom,” got a worse reception for its online PvP elements than its predecessor “Grand Knights History,” and that afterward the studio mainly survived on subcontract work for other companies’ IP. The reason for skipping an Xbox version hasn’t been officially explained; the thread floated both a “lack of publishing capability” theory and a “some kind of deal” theory, though it’s worth noting both remain pure speculation.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Console Wars)) thread “[PS5] Developer of “Unicorn Overlord” Announces New Title “DAWNGAZER,” Launching 2028! [Xbox Excluded].”

  • Hideo Kojima: “Sony Hasn’t Contacted Me Once Since Terminating the Contract”

    Game creator Hideo Kojima revealed in an interview with IGN Japan that Sony has not reached out to him even once since terminating their contract. He says no reason was given for the cancellation either, recalling that he was informed of the final decision at a meeting in June. The 5ch thread sparked by these comments buzzed with speculation about the reasons behind the split — from the sales performance of the Death Stranding series to Sony’s strategy of prioritizing its first-party studios — with some pointing out parallels to other creators who’ve drifted away from PlayStation, such as Hironobu Sakaguchi and Toshihiro Nagoshi.

    ――You mentioned Sony didn’t explain the reason for the cancellation. Has there been any explanation since then?

    No, none at all. I haven’t heard from them once since then. But I’m not fighting with Sony. We’re not at odds. What I want to say is just that we worked together for 30 years and built this relationship. So if this was going to be the conclusion, I wish I’d heard about it a little sooner. But at that meeting in June, they just gave us the final notice.

    Like I said, my mind went blank, so I didn’t ask many questions. What was on my mind instead was, “What am I going to do with my company?” That’s what was going through my head at the time. I’ve always been a huge fan of Sony. I’ve used Walkmans forever, and all my cameras are Sony too. So I have no bad feelings toward Sony whatsoever.

    Source: jp.ign.com / Original article here

    4AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:04
    I mean, is there really anything to contact them about once a contract's over?
    5AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:05
    Re: #4
    Kojima Productions has to pay a penalty fee, right?
    6AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:06
    Re: #5
    If it's a contract you can walk away from anytime, there's no penalty fee.
    12AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:08
    Re: #6
    Idiot.

    A deal either side can unilaterally cancel anytime with zero risk isn't even a contract to begin with.
    96AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:49
    Re: #6
    A contract either side can unilaterally cancel anytime isn't really a contract, is it?
    11AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:07
    If they cared about the future relationship at all,
    Sony would've handled this more decently.
    That's basically what it comes down to.
    19AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:12
    Re: #11
    >If they cared about the future relationship at all,
    >Sony would've handled this more decently.

    The same Sony that spitefully refused to fund TGS (Tokyo Game Show)? 'Decent handling'?
    16AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:11
    The more Kojima talks, the worse his reputation gets.
    25AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:15
    Re: #16
    It's actually 'Sh*ny' (a mocking nickname for Sony) whose reputation is tanking.

    They blew 50 billion yen on the flop that was Wolverine, spent 600 billion yen buying Bungie only to sink Marathon, dumped money into Concord, wasted cash on the 'GOW wife' and 'Space Baldy' (mocking nicknames tied to Sony projects/figures), and kept funding that garbage Horizon Online —

    literally every single thing they've made is a dud 🤭
    20AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:13
    Interview: Hideo Kojima — "No contact with Sony at all since the June meeting"
    ↓
    Kojima Productions (official statement): "Our relationship with PlayStation remains as strong as ever"

    Textbook doublespeak.
    26AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:16
    Re: #20
    The Kojima Productions rep wants to stay on good terms with everyone.
    'Koji-kan' (Director Kojima) is a creator who just speaks his own mind.

    Neither one contradicts the other lol
    24AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:14
    Re: #19
    If someone asked you for money without giving a reason, would you pay up?
    If you don't even know why you're supposed to hand over cash, there's no reason to pay.
    30AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:18
    Re: #24
    Chairwoman Erikawa already explained the reason for that support request back when she made the statement.

    And besides, even Sega, who was struggling badly at the time, chipped in to help —
    so it's pretty clear SCE (Sony Computer Entertainment) was the unreasonable one here.
    27AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:17
    If they're serious about blowing past the Switch 2 with the PSP3, there's no way they'd casually cut studios and creators loose.
    123AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:06
    Re: #27
    Probably the opposite.
    Profits are going to shrink because of new hardware like the PS6 and PSP3, so what's happening now is financial restructuring to cover that gap.
    29AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:18
    As for Bungie — they shut down Destiny's service, which still had tens of thousands of active players, just to sink Marathon instead.
    Whoever made that call should be fired, honestly.
    40AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:22
    Re: #29
    There's a chance it could be Jim Ryan.
    46AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:24
    Everyone's just talking speculation, and
    it all traces back to the fact that Sony hasn't explained the cancellation reason at all.
    That's really all there is to it, right? People are only answering because they want to know why.

    If Sony had properly explained it, I could defend them all day.
    47AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:26
    Re: #46
    Why would they need to say something like that?
    Do you go blabbing your work secrets over dinner at Yoshinoya (a beef-bowl chain — referencing a famous meme about loose-lipped gossip)?
    51AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:28
    Re: #47
    Yoshinoya? Not sure what you're getting at,
    but he's just answering a question about the cancellation reason not being explained, right?
    56AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:32
    Re: #47
    Can't exactly say "We're pulling out anyway, so there's no point funding PHYSINT anymore," huh 😁
    50AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:28
    It's business, so a falling-out is something both sides just have to accept.
    Negotiating hard, getting cut loose as a result, and the side that gets cut feeling blindsided — that's all just how it goes.

    But as the face of a company — especially a B2C one — that "poor me" post was fatal.

    After a breakup, it should read:
    "As reported, we have ended our relationship with Mr. XX.
    This was by no means an acrimonious split — it was a decision made with mutual respect for one another.
    We're deeply grateful for the support shown so far, and we hope you'll continue to warmly watch over both of us going forward."

    Not:
    "In mid-June, the other side suddenly told me it was over.
    In the three months since, I found a new partner.
    Don't worry about me."

    Put it out like that and of course it blows up.
    60AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:34
    Re: #50
    It's literally just the facts lol
    64AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:37
    Re: #50
    So the point is: don't state the plain facts without dressing them up?
    62AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:35
    Honestly, aren't they just done making first-party software at this point?
    They'll probably still ship 'God Hag' and 'Space Baldy' (in-joke nicknames for a couple of in-development titles) since those are already mostly finished, but who knows if there's anything after that.
    There's no way to make a game that turns a profit on PlayStation alone anymore anyway.
    68AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:37
    Re: #62
    Exactly that.

    Demanding profitability from game development while also insisting on PS5 exclusivity — what a moron 😡
    71AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:39
    Not that I'm taking either side here, but
    if Sony sees both Death Stranding 1 and 2 as failures and he asks for even more funding on top of that, getting cut loose seems like the natural outcome.
    Let's drop the "poor victim" act.
    76AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:41
    Re: #71
    The thing is, from the very start Death Stranding 2 launched as a PS exclusive and only got a PC release later, multiplatform-only — that alone tells you they weren't even trying to sell it.

    'Filth Island' (a derogatory nickname mocking Kojima's name, playing on '-shima' meaning island) sold 13 million with the original, while the sequel stayed a PS5 exclusive and the numbers didn't grow — that's your answer right there.
    87AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:44
    Re: #71
    Name one first-party game that outsold Death Stranding.
    And letting an 'old hag' (56 years old) make the sequel, which reportedly sold only around 200,000 copies —
    what kind of call is that, seriously?
    90AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:46
    Re: #71
    Sony's the one who put up the money believing Death Stranding would sell 😁
    You think they let Kojima do whatever he wanted with zero oversight?
    And Death Stranding sold way better than the garbage coming out of Sony's own first-party studios anyway 😅
    How much red ink do you think Concord and Marathon alone racked up? 😭
    99AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:51
    Re: #87
    Cancel Wolverine
    ↓
    If Insomniac isn't immediately handed a new project, its developers end up idle (surplus staff), so Toji (Hiroki Toji, SIE's president) gets told to lay them off

    Cancel Kojima
    ↓
    Kojima Productions' employees end up at risk of layoffs

    Keeping in-house studio projects alive while cutting the outsourced one is obviously about protecting the in-house studios.

    For SIE, Insomniac, Guerrilla, and Naughty Dog simply matter more than Kojima Productions.
    102AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:54
    Re: #99
    Sure, as long as those studios don't end up getting cut too down the line.
    Kojima only went public because of the project handover — apparently he was actually cut three months ago.
    105AnonymousSep 25, 2026 11:57
    Re: #99
    The companies' positions are just too different —
    a wholly-owned subsidiary versus an outside business partner.
    132AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:12
    Re: #99
    "Protecting" the in-house studios (via layoffs).

    Even PlayStation fans have caught on that SIE is a sinking ship,
    flailing around trying to lighten the load just to delay the inevitable a little longer.
    129AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:09
    Sakaguchi, who lost FF, and
    Kojima, who lost MGS — they really overlap, huh.
    Guess no matter what gets said, you're supposed to grit your teeth and cling to the company.
    133AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:12
    Re: #129
    Sakaguchi never went around badmouthing Square Enix, though.
    135AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:13
    Re: #129
    Sure, if you can stomach losing your title and being treated like a regular employee.
    136AnonymousSep 25, 2026 12:13
    Re: #129
    Same with Nagoshi, who lost Like a Dragon (Yakuza).

    What they all have in common, without exception, is being 'creators' who got hyped up during PlayStation's heyday.

    Background and Key Points of This Story

    Kojima’s partnership with Sony began after he left Konami in 2015, continuing through Death Stranding 1 and 2 and into the new title PHYSINT. The fact that the reasons for the termination haven’t been disclosed is likely tied to how these kinds of business partnerships are often covered by non-disclosure agreements, meaning one side frequently has no obligation to explain itself. Within the thread, opinions clashed over how to weigh the Death Stranding series’ sales performance against the major losses at Sony’s own studios from titles like Concord and Marathon, with some pointing out parallels to other creators who’ve left PlayStation-affiliated companies, such as Hironobu Sakaguchi and Toshihiro Nagoshi. That said, it’s worth noting that the specific financial and business reasons behind the termination haven’t even been explained to Kojima himself, so the thread’s speculation remains just that — speculation.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread “Kojima: “Sony Hasn’t Contacted Me Once Since Terminating the Contract”.”

  • Palworld Loses Players to Similar Game ‘Animo,’ Sales Rank Plunges to 149th

    It’s become a hot topic on 5ch’s hardware/industry board (Geha) that Palworld’s App Store sales ranking has plunged to 149th place, after the free-to-play game “Animo” — said to be nearly identical to Palworld — earned a Metacritic score (78) almost matching Palworld’s own, sparking comments like “if the scores are the same, might as well go with the free one.” The thread also brought up reports that Palworld’s operating company posted a 42 million yen loss, along with news that resale prices for related trading cards have been falling both in Japan and overseas, with many posters contrasting this against Pokémon’s reportedly strong financial results.

    1AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:21
    Is that seriously okay?
    6AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:26
    Pokémon's doing great, so why…
    7AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:28
    Re: #6
    If people are fine with a ripoff, they'll be fine with any other ripoff too 🥺

    Even setting aside the Pokémon skin, Palworld is blatantly a ripoff of Ark.
    12AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:30
    Re: #6
    You mean "not doing great," right? lol
    16AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:32
    Re: #12
    The Pokémon Company's revenue has grown about 4.4x over 5 years, reaching roughly ¥531.4 billion for the fiscal year ending February 2026. Net profit is up about 13.6x over 8 years, to around ¥120 billion.
    https://news.denfaminicogamer.jp/news/2609072e
    37AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:43
    Re: #16
    LOL they're absolutely thriving.
    Bigger than Disney at this point.
    14AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:31
    ■This year in Palworld:

    – Full release → sales end up mediocre

    – Full release means Metacritic finally scores it → lands at a crappy 70

    – Trading cards launch → flop hard

    – Gets eaten alive by a ripoff → completely finished


    What a year of collapse this turned out to be 🥰
    21AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:34
    The cards are crashing hard too, is that fine?


    [September 2026 Update] Palpagos Dawn Buyback Price Rankings — How Has the Market Changed One Month After Release?
    https://palcardlab.com/palpagos-dawn-buyback-price-september-2026/?utm_source=chatgpt.com


    Tsuppa-nyan Soul SSS, the biggest chase card from "Palpagos Dawn":

    August: ¥110,000–150,000
    ↓
    September: ¥72,000–120,000
    25AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:36
    Re: #21
    Of course it's not fine lol
    71AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:02
    Re: #21
    Only one card went up in price, and even that was a measly ¥1,000 → ¥1,300 — both the base price and the increase are pathetic.
    Outlook's grim.
    23AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:35
    Meanwhile, here's Palworld's company earnings…

    Palworld
    Loss: ¥42 million
    https://gamebiz.jp/news/408257
    24AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:35
    Re: #23
    Oh… (yeah, I get it)
    27AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:37
    Re: #23
    Palworld spent 3 years making the 1.0 release, and it only sold a million copies.
    With a dev team that size working for 3 years, there's no way you break even on just a million units…
    55AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:53
    Re: #23
    It's obviously a tax write-off scheme~ 😊
    31AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:39
    Palworld cards are crashing overseas too, not just domestically.


    What's more, according to overseas price indexes, 253 tracked card types fell an average of 11.8% over the 13 days from September 9–21. In just the last 7 days alone, prices dropped 7.8%, with 170 cards falling and only 35 rising.
    35AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:41
    Re: #31
    It's over…
    36AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:42
    Re: #31
    Sounds like the scalpers who bought in thinking "maybe this'll sell!" are starting to realize it's a lost cause.
    32AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:40
    It really hurt Palworld that streamers hated it and basically refused to stream it.
    34AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:40
    Re: #32
    Big streamers treated it like a cursed item guaranteed not to sell if they touched it 🤣🤣🤣🤣
    54AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:53
    Re: #32
    No one wants to voluntarily attract crazies, whether they're fanboys or haters…
    It's basically guaranteed the comment section turns gross.
    40AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:44
    149th is rough.
    Before the ripoff showed up, it was at least holding in the low double digits even at its worst.
    42AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:46
    Re: #40
    That's a massive drop.
    41AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:46
    Palworld
    – Paid, Metascore 78

    Palworld's ripoff
    – Free, Metascore 78


    Yeah, the ripoff's just the better deal.
    43AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:47
    Re: #41
    LOL.
    Same score? Obviously going with the free-to-play one.
    53AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:53
    Animo's just doing to Palworld what Pocketpair's president did to Pokémon, so it can't be helped.
    56AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:54
    Re: #54
    Mokou was wild, huh — the moment he streamed Palworld, Palworld fanboys swarmed his comments and just started bashing Pokémon nonstop.
    61AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:55
    Re: #56
    Those aren't Palworld fanboys, they're Nintendo haters.
    There's no such thing as an actual Palworld fanboy.
    65AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:57
    Re: #56
    It was huge that a big-name streamer basically demonstrated exactly what happens if you touch it.
    If nobody's willing to even give it a shot for the small chance of it blowing up, that says everything.
    57AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:54
    Re: #53
    Is Animo doing controversy-marketing on purpose?
    60AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:55
    Re: #57
    In the West it actually blew up pretty badly with people calling it a Palworld ripoff — it got bad enough that Palworld's company had to put out an official statement.
    63AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:56
    Re: #60
    That's hilarious lol
    64AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:57
    Re: #60
    From that alone it just sounds like Palworld's the one making noise.
    Did the Chinese side actually copy the character designs on purpose or something?
    67AnonymousSep 25, 2026 08:58
    Come to think of it, Palworld threads don't get made anymore.
    Guess the "Palworld cudgel" (slang for the stick antis used to beat Pokémon with) didn't just break — it shattered into dust.
    75AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:04
    Bottom line, the characters are just gross-looking, it's got nothing to do with Pokémon comparisons.
    Honestly, I'd hesitate to even go on an adventure with these things.
    77AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:06
    Re: #75
    Bringing up the character designs just ends up proving how good Pokémon's designs actually are.
    94AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:35
    ■To put it simply, here's the timeline:


    – Animo, a blatant Palworld ripoff, launches free-to-play

    ↓

    – Animo's Metascore ends up almost tied with Palworld's, sparking a "might as well just play Animo then 😄" mood

    ↓

    – Palworld, having lost customers to Animo, crashes to 149th on the sales chart ♥
    95AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:36
    Re: #94
    Looking at it this way, if Palworld had actually been a masterpiece that scored high on Metacritic, none of this would've happened.
    98AnonymousSep 25, 2026 09:38
    Re: #94
    Palworld losing out is an extremely fitting outcome.

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    Since its release, Palworld has been described as “a mashup of Pokémon and Ark,” and after three years of development, the full release reportedly sold only around a million copies, with the operating company posting a loss of ¥42 million (gamebiz.jp). Meanwhile, Nintendo and Pokémon are thriving — The Pokémon Company’s revenue is said to have grown roughly 4.4x over 5 years to ¥531.4 billion, with net profit up about 13.6x over 8 years to around ¥120 billion (denfaminicogamer). The game at the center of this discussion, “Animo,” is free-to-play and has earned a Metascore (78) nearly identical to Palworld’s, and many posters in the thread felt that “if the scores are the same, of course you’d pick the free one.” It’s worth noting that the 149th-place sales rank and the double-digit-percentage drops in trading card resale prices (both in Japan and abroad) are all snapshot figures at the time this article was written, and don’t guarantee a continuing trend. Still, given that Palworld itself has faced longstanding accusations of copying, the “imitator gets overtaken by its own imitator” narrative drew a lot of attention.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread “Palworld, Beaten by a Ripoff Game, Crashes to 149th on the Sales Chart 😭.”