So why wasn't the series is as successful as it should have been?
Please note that this is a mixture of personal opinion and research.
Was the series a victim of its time? Not the right publisher internationally?
The likes of youtube, twitter and social media in general were in their infant stages compared to today which could have played a big part. And it wasn't backed by a big company (especially for marketing worldwide), if a company like on the scale of square-enix published it (abroad) then it probably would have done much better.
- Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts was originally a ps1 game which apparently got shifted over to the ps2 quite late on.
And the release date did not help either as it entered at time of direct competition with Final Fantasy X especially in America when it was only 5 days apart, there was always gonna be one winner.
Two big questions are 1 was shifting from ps1 to ps2 a mistake. 2. Was releasing it so close to FFX another mistake?
- Shadow Hearts Covenant
Covenant was done on such a huge scale it is that quality of a game where I think no one would be surprised if the likes of Square-Enix released it back then. The budget was much bigger and even though it sold a bit better than Shadow Hearts 1 but because it had a bigger budget it did not make any where near what they would have liked. From the result of that Midway didn't want to publish the following game From The New World with some even joking that Covenant was part of Midway's downfall (or maybe not). Did the game also go through some late changes involving Nicolai?
- Shadow Hearts From The New World
Originally the third entry of Shadow Hearts was meant to have been a prequel. But due to Covenant not reaching their goals they wanted to try a different angle. The game is like a polish/reskin of Covenant and with that: There was much less development time (even slightly rushed apparently) and lower costs. But due to fans not caring since it is a spin off and not the greatest of marketing it ended up doing poorly in sales, being the worst performed of the series.
- A lot of reviews were made much later than the original release of the games.
I have seen so many youtube videos, posts of games sites that were posted years later than the release of the game. And looking at youtube likes of SuperDerek and Hellfirerpg done reviews within the last year which got multiple thousands of views. A lot of this kind of attention would have certainly helped the series back then. And some bigger youtubers like Jim Sterling who has mentioned Shadow Hearts multiple times in videos and his views are within the 100's of thousands. A remaster version would have probably done better than the original with social media and the internet being on really different level compared to what it once was!
Access to new players. Did piracy out perform?
Issue to spread the word is that there are only two ways to play the game.
Issue to spread the word is that there are only two ways to play the game.
Owning the original game or emulation and downloading the game / piracy.
There are potently more piracy downloads than actual sales of the games.
I knew a person who uploaded a copy of Shadow Hearts (PAL region) to a certain iso site *cough* ps2 and it done very well in the 10's of thousands of downloads!
The games can be pricey at times. Although they can shift a lot and sometimes you can get lucky.
Price hikes even started prior to from the new world coming out! Shadow Hearts 1 was already starting to go for around 100 euros.
Universal Entertainment have really distanced themselves from videogames.
The original team Nautilus who made the game was disbanded in 2009.
and Universal Entertainment who owns the ip just simply have no plans for the series.
For more info on Universal Entertainment and Nautilus more please check:
https://shadowheartsorigins.blogspot.com/2020/04/who-owns-ip-of-shadow-hearts-what.html
The gaming paradox
What Shadow Hearts needs is more fans but then for getting more fans there needs to be new content but then for new content there needs to be more fans! XDI knew a person who uploaded a copy of Shadow Hearts (PAL region) to a certain iso site *cough* ps2 and it done very well in the 10's of thousands of downloads!
The games can be pricey at times. Although they can shift a lot and sometimes you can get lucky.
Price hikes even started prior to from the new world coming out! Shadow Hearts 1 was already starting to go for around 100 euros.
Universal Entertainment have really distanced themselves from videogames.
The original team Nautilus who made the game was disbanded in 2009.
and Universal Entertainment who owns the ip just simply have no plans for the series.
For more info on Universal Entertainment and Nautilus more please check:
https://shadowheartsorigins.blogspot.com/2020/04/who-owns-ip-of-shadow-hearts-what.html
The gaming paradox
What fans are currently doing?
A lot of fans are doing great things like making a petition that started off great (but sadly died down quickly) hopefully it can pick up again soon.
People who talk about the series on blogs a lot like jcrcomicarts etc...
Lots of youtube videos some of which perform pretty well.
There was a fan game a couple of years ago called Shadow Hearts: Revenant but sadly it was never pushed it was only on the rpgmaker forum and one youtube video which I came across recently and unfortunately the link is dead, I have contacted the user posted comments so hopefully it'll be reup'd
zedorfed66 from ngplus made difficulty mods for the Shadow Hearts series you need an image game file and patch it. There is Dengarde who was doing a translation patch for the DC edition of Shadow Hearts covenant although it is still on-going and I haven't heard any updates in a while.
Also even translation patches for the original game, I came across a Russian one which was released about 2 years ago.
I feel that a lot of people do not have the information of the series, many not knowing who owns the ip etc... And hopefully some of the posts that I've done on this blog can help and shift the focus into making something happen.
What fans can do?
I think it is always good to contact Universal Entertainment to put that bit of pressure (without going ott/spaming). But due to their stance of having no plans for the series we as fans need to do more.
I think it would be a good idea to contact Sony to push for a classic, honestly I feel that there is no chance for a hd remaster or new games going through Sony as it would involve them doing a deal to make the games or buy the ip rights the numbers don't match up for Sony do that. But a psn classics I think it is possible and could be a start to revive the series.
How about we form a team to make a fan game, something like what Thorfax13 tried to do with Revenant but this time to give it a bigger push on social media and youtube.
Make a game with the likes of RPG Maker or do something different and make a Visual Novel game.
Because to spread the word of the series and to give it a push there needs to be new content as if not well then there nothing much to do sadly.
When Wildrose releases a game show them your love!
Machida Matsuzo the creator of Shadow Hearts still has a huge passion for the series and would love to do something for the series. But unfortunately he is not in a position to make that kind of decision because of Entertainment Universal liked mentioned owns the ip and Wildrose would need an investor or a publisher to help do any deal to buy the rights. But main thing we can do is support Wildrose and hope they can get to the level needed to do something special!
Never give up!
Lastly keep making blog posts and keep making videos. Likes of the difficulty mods could be a good chance for making new content to watch.
Last words
I never mean to be negative, if it was just up to me I would love to see a remake of the 1st game, a prequel and more right now but thinking with a business mindset it needs to make sense financially and sadly right now it does not. I think with classics it will make the best sense, it is the least amount of work/money needed, lowest risk to take and they would probably make money, a good way to test the waters to see public interest, preserves all the games even fans who already have the game would most likely still want to buy them and could spark interest in the community for more videos and content. Most importantly of course if classics do very well, it would be the start of something more. Entertainment Universal can then get someone to make games like Wild Rose etc... or to port them to other systems. Maybe another company like Sony may want to buy/keep it exclusive etc... Who knows. It is sad not knowing what if or what could have been... Hope the series will be revived someday!
People who talk about the series on blogs a lot like jcrcomicarts etc...
Lots of youtube videos some of which perform pretty well.
There was a fan game a couple of years ago called Shadow Hearts: Revenant but sadly it was never pushed it was only on the rpgmaker forum and one youtube video which I came across recently and unfortunately the link is dead, I have contacted the user posted comments so hopefully it'll be reup'd
zedorfed66 from ngplus made difficulty mods for the Shadow Hearts series you need an image game file and patch it. There is Dengarde who was doing a translation patch for the DC edition of Shadow Hearts covenant although it is still on-going and I haven't heard any updates in a while.
Also even translation patches for the original game, I came across a Russian one which was released about 2 years ago.
I feel that a lot of people do not have the information of the series, many not knowing who owns the ip etc... And hopefully some of the posts that I've done on this blog can help and shift the focus into making something happen.
What fans can do?
I think it is always good to contact Universal Entertainment to put that bit of pressure (without going ott/spaming). But due to their stance of having no plans for the series we as fans need to do more.
I think it would be a good idea to contact Sony to push for a classic, honestly I feel that there is no chance for a hd remaster or new games going through Sony as it would involve them doing a deal to make the games or buy the ip rights the numbers don't match up for Sony do that. But a psn classics I think it is possible and could be a start to revive the series.
How about we form a team to make a fan game, something like what Thorfax13 tried to do with Revenant but this time to give it a bigger push on social media and youtube.
Make a game with the likes of RPG Maker or do something different and make a Visual Novel game.
Because to spread the word of the series and to give it a push there needs to be new content as if not well then there nothing much to do sadly.
When Wildrose releases a game show them your love!
Machida Matsuzo the creator of Shadow Hearts still has a huge passion for the series and would love to do something for the series. But unfortunately he is not in a position to make that kind of decision because of Entertainment Universal liked mentioned owns the ip and Wildrose would need an investor or a publisher to help do any deal to buy the rights. But main thing we can do is support Wildrose and hope they can get to the level needed to do something special!
Never give up!
Lastly keep making blog posts and keep making videos. Likes of the difficulty mods could be a good chance for making new content to watch.
Last words
I never mean to be negative, if it was just up to me I would love to see a remake of the 1st game, a prequel and more right now but thinking with a business mindset it needs to make sense financially and sadly right now it does not. I think with classics it will make the best sense, it is the least amount of work/money needed, lowest risk to take and they would probably make money, a good way to test the waters to see public interest, preserves all the games even fans who already have the game would most likely still want to buy them and could spark interest in the community for more videos and content. Most importantly of course if classics do very well, it would be the start of something more. Entertainment Universal can then get someone to make games like Wild Rose etc... or to port them to other systems. Maybe another company like Sony may want to buy/keep it exclusive etc... Who knows. It is sad not knowing what if or what could have been... Hope the series will be revived someday!
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