Akihiro Hino (translated by Noriko): "...Because the previous [Yo-Kai Watch] title was such a big hit in Japan, and so I want to make this into a huge title, just as big in the [United] States as well."
To paraphrase Ron Howard: He didn't, and now the story of how a pair of sequels meant to give the series its legs ended up losing to competition and the developer that just can't seem to make it work outside Japan. This is Yo-Kai Watch 2, five years later.
As another E3 winds down, and the first we've had since the before time; the long long ago in 2019, it's time to once again explore how Yo-Kai Watch 2 failed to set the world on fire; only selling a fraction of what it did in Japan and how it left the wrong kind of impact on the brand.
To give the proper context for the sequels' international failure, let's wind the clocks back again to 2013 in Japan. The first game released that July, and it sold a respectable 1 million copies in its home country alone. While nowhere near the 16 million sold worldwide by Pokémon X and Y; it did make a solid foundation for what came next.
Yo-Kai Watch 2 launched the following year in Japan in 2014; building on the success of the anime adaptation and the first movie that same year. This of course, led to the plans for the international release; where things took something of a drastic turn.
As the year 2015 laid out the plans for the US release; I made no secret of the fact that I was at best, skeptical and at worst; very much not onboard with the idea. I never bought into the "Pokémon ripoff" narrative (that would be like calling Fire Emblem a Zelda ripoff to me); and even though others keep insisting on that, I must continue to reaffirm that isn't the main stigma; and was never going to be as detrimental to Level-5 as the one of being an international failure. The anime and toys never drew the numbers that the people in charge hoped, and the game sold 440,000 copies in North America; much less than expected.
This brings us to the year 2016. Though the first game didn't pull the numbers that were expected; Level-5 and Hino were still convinced that the strategy in Japan for the sequels would work outside the country, when they released that September in North America. Here is where the trouble began.
Upon their release, while the sequels were admittedly more polished than the first game; the flip side to the coin was how the first stretch of the story was effectively a retread of the first game. The multiple versions also did nothing to help the comparisons to Pokémon, which was in the midst of its second big popularity wave that will be addressed in a moment. For now, another JRPG that released in the same season came out around the same time that eclipsed the sequels: Final Fantasy XV, which has sold over 8 million copies worldwide to date.
The summer of 2016 also saw the release of Pokémon Go, which; despite the bugs and mayhem of its initial launch, managed to accrue a considerable following on its own and help reinvigorate the franchise to a level not seen since its initial peak in 1999.
A side note before I continue: while other IPs such as Harry Potter, Jurassic World and Ghostbusters have also made AR apps with followings of their own, Yo-Kai Watch World unfortunately had nowhere near the same amount of success; and a proposed international release was canceled due to lack of interest from publishers wanting to take it on.
Despite Hino's best efforts, Yo-Kai Watch 2: Bony Spirits and Fleshy Souls ultimately sold 220,000 copies domestically upon their launch on September 30, 2016. The sequels ultimately met with mixed critical feedback as well, and despite fans' attempts to rationalize why; having to essentially replay the bulk of the first game's plot within the sequel didn't help matters at all. It's a tricky business whenever you include material from a previous game in a later one; something that's very difficult to get right and easy to screw up. For every Age of Calamity that makes it work, we dozens of titles like the infamous Ninjabread Man, Rock and Roll Adventures and Anubis II. I mean, what if you waited to watch The Bad Batch and you found out it was just the test footage from The Clone Wars at Comic-Con? You'd be angry, wouldn't you? Though the sequels did introduce features not present in the first game, they ultimately did little to win over new fans. By contrast, Pokémon Sun and Moon ended up selling over 16 million copies when they launched November 18, 2016; with many praising how they shook up the longstanding conventions of the games.
This ended up doing far greater damage to the brand than any ripoff accusations ever could, and the international failure stigma ended up replacing it instead. Instead of "blooming like a flower," this started a decline that has yet to be reversed domestically; and has even impacted the brand in its native Japan as well. What Hino hoped would be a "modern Doraemon" in terms of appeal has instead been on something of a downward spiral. At this point, it will be lucky if the new reboot will be remembered as a modern Gu Gu Ganmo; and I forgive you if some of you have to Google that one.
So, instead of following the same pattern they did in Japan, the sequels started a downward trend that had every subsequent game sell less than the one before; and Hino's goal of getting out content the same time or before Japan ultimately hasn't happened. The games sold less and less with each new title, the gap between each country's release got wider and wider; and after nearly two years; an international release of Yo-Kai Watch 4 remains in limbo (the recent closure of Level-5 Abby and potential closure of Level-5 International not helping matters).
Admittedly, the series isn't the first one to be less successful overseas than in Japan. Despite its influence on both sides of the Pacific, Lupin III has only proved to be a cult hit at best. Detective Conan (aka Case Closed) could never really find its footing here; and One Piece is only fairly recently getting the recognition it deserves.
So, as it has been observed before; there are a number of factors why the sequels and the series overall didn't "bloom like a flower" like Hino hoped; and might have even salted the land so it might never grow again. The inherently Japanese nature of the material didn't make things easy; and the attempts to downplay that didn't exactly pan out. As has been previously noted, yokai as a whole are as well-known there as zombies here; but most westerners don't exactly know about them. There was extensive competition no matter when they launched: even giving the sequels breathing room with a new Pokémon game was undercut by launching them the same time as Final Fantasy XV. Though the Japanese culture in the game's content (which the English translation did little to dispel) and ripoff allegations didn't help matters; I still submit the fact people as a whole simply weren't interested in the series stopped the momentum it had dead; especially as each subsequent game sold less than the one before it.
Now, we're in limbo about what's coming next; and near radio silence about the localization of Yo-Kai Watch 4 has caused many to wonder if it's even still happening. It's been nearly two full years since the game's initial JP launch and the informal announcement at Anime Expo 2019; though the recent closure of Level-5 Abby and potential closure of Level-5 International doesn't exactly inspire confidence. Seeing as how the Nintendo Direct and Treehouse today will likely have other stuff I'm more interested in; my next post about this subject matter will depend on what's said, if anything today about an official international release of Yo-Kai Watch 4.
Regardless of what happens next; it's kind of a disappointment on the fandom and company's part that the international plans for the series never came to fruition. Though there isn't much else that can be done right now; this further draws an uncertain picture for the future of the series. Yet, that's what's happened with Yo-Kai Watch 2 five years later: the sequels and series as a whole never did "bloom like a flower," and the series now seems further and further from the peak it once held in its native Japan. That will be all for now, and I will see you all again soon.
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