So, in the last few weeks, 3DS received a lot of support in terms of niche games, something that sometimes was stressed to be lackluster; they mostly are slated for 2015:
- Assassination Classroom: Grand Siege on Kurosense! from Bandai Namco
- Kuroko’s Basketball: Ties to the Future from Bandai Namco
- The Seven Deadly Sins: Unjust Sin from Bandai Namco
- Rilakkuma Nakayoshi Collection from Rocket Company
- Doraemon: Nobita’s Space Hero Record of Space Heroes from FuRyu
- Terra Formars: Akaki Hoshi no Gekitō from FuRyu
- Dora English from Shogakukan
Personally I tend to feel what's missing is the same thing that's missing in the West, namely mid-tier titles.
Like here's a full list of everything that has done between 100,000 and 500,000 copies so far this year:
This is a list of 12 titles (I included downloadable here for Trozei since I felt it was primarily a DL title, but excluded it from all other categories to be more favorable to mid-tier games/against the argument I'm making). Of these titles, five (we'll count Taiko which is 197K) are above 200K, and one is above 400K.
By comparison:
-There are 29 games with LTDs below 100,000 excluding downloadable titles and ultimate hits.
-There are 5 games above 500K (with three being above 1 million, and one above 2 million).
Now, there's still a lot of time for releases given the holiday season is coming up, but this is the area I feel is getting dry. The mid-tier games seem to be fading in the same way we see it fading in the West between the blockbuster releases and downloadable indie titles.
That's what also stuck out to be about the TGS announcement window for the 3DS. We have a lot of almost assured super successes (especially given that shouldn't be a very high number anyway realistically), and a lot of really small titles, but how many of these are going to be over 100K? How about 200K or higher?
This is not a problem exclusive to the 3DS certainly, but I think it's part of the market that leaves people who bought those games feeling a bit left out, and I think that extends worldwide to dedicated devices in general.