NEO: The World Ends With You Didn't Meet Square Enix's Sales Expectations

Damn shame. I love the original and enjoyed this follow up.

Who would had thought releasing a game with basically no coverage, marketing etc would make the game go under the radar, thus causing poor sales.

It's a real shame cause its actually a really good game, with a incredible soundtrack to boot. But this is all on Square Enix themselves. They screwed up.

There's nearly no marketing for the game, maybe squareenix should make this exclusive to switch for a while so nintendo can market it like octopath traveler and project triangle.

I have it but not played it yet.

I bought it day 1 to support the game as i anticipated it would be niche, but it didnt help that they only rereleased the original title on Switch. Should have been on PS4 too to drum up hype. Pretty sure it released near to some other hyped titles too

It's a niche game with poor marketing.

It's a good and unique kind of a game. I've never experienced a combat system just like this. A fun platinum for me.
I am glad it also came to Playstation, as oposed to other people wishing it was a Switch exclusive.

Was never paying $60 for it. Now at $29, it will do better.

This is sitting on my HD waiting for me to get to it. I’m hesitant to deploy the traditional “lack of marketing” gripe to excuse poor sales. I vaguely remember seeing online ads for it, but I also only vaguely remember what I had for breakfast yesterday, so that’s probably not a good metric to go by. Sometimes people just aren’t interested in things no matter how good they are.

What were Square's sales expectations, and how much did it sell though? I remember them being disappointed with Tomb Raider selling 5 or 6 million back in 2013.

@Orpheus79V Yeah, Squenix definitely has a history of setting the expectations very high for some games.

Yeah, SE is somewhat notorious for unreasonably high expectations. What was it a few years back, I believe one of the tomb raider or Deus ex games where they thought they had a FIFA on hand.

Unsurprised. The artstyle is hideous, it was poorly marketed, and I've heard almost nobody talking about it since release.

Also, as others have mentioned, Square-Enix's sales expectations can be... out of line with reality at times.

Is any one surprised? The game had little marketing. It's a sequel to a game most people have never heard of. The first game isn't on PS4. It is also overpriced for an unknown property for the general audience.

Throw the switch out of the equation and try again, please?

I guess Square will have to rely on those Marvel games.

@tameshiyaku It was both, funnily enough. Can't remember which Tomb Raider it was, but the other was Deus Ex Mankind Divided. Didn't meet Square's lofty estimates so Eidos Montreal had to scrap any future Deus Ex plans and get working on Guardians of the Galaxy instead...

And now that doesn't seem to have performed well, either. It's almost like Square Enix is a poorly managed company or something...

@ShogunRok It's a shame really. Overall great games, even Avengers wasn't as bad as the internet makes it out to be. I guess they'll just have to do jrpgs forever, nothing I'd complain about.

@ShogunRok I’m pretty sure Guardians would’ve sold much better if they hadn’t released Avengers before it. I still find people convinced they’re similar games.

Square Enix needs to stop expecting every game they release to sell 10 million copies in its first day. They make some nice varied games overall but they keep killing them with their expectations.

@Sil_Am aside from poor marketing, Square also didn't release TWEWY on PS4 and PC. If they had released it on PS4 and PC, then it could have sold better. Its basically a P5S situation but reversed in a way

I know some people were unhappy with the liberties taken with the "Localisation" not sure how much of an effect it actually had though.

@Feena ? what?

enjoyed the original. I think it was just a little too late for this game. plus no hype or marketing and perhaps an over reliance on the nostalgia of the fans for this niche game.
but hey, when it's on sale for $20 or so, I'd likely cop.

@Voltan For sure. I think initial impressions for Guardians weren't great either — could argue the first couple of trailers undersold the game.

But yeah, even then, people are watching those trailers with Avengers in the back of their minds. Must be really frustrating for Eidos Montreal!

It was great but the original obviously wasn't a big success despite being great and it only stands to reason the 2nd would perform wise 10 years later

I would have been all over this but I’ve never played the original. If they had ported it to the PS4, I would have played it and this one.

I've bought it, but I've barely touched it, too many other games to get through at the moment.

Sad for fans, but for me personally, the series just didn't click. I am not a fan of the art style and the demo of neo also didn't convince me on the characters. I figured it was simply aimed at younger/teen audiences.

@Ralizah It looks really cool i have ni issues with the game. I thonk thet should have released the first game along with the second on PS4.

@sonicmeerkat Im a little sick of those people who will destroy game for teeny tiny changes.

I had a guy go mental over Crystar because there was a second of little girl panties missing i had to watch the trailer three times to check what he was talking about. (also kinda weird)

And i asked him is that the reason you want to boycot game? I really find it weird why some people go totally berserk and go out of their way to take down a game.

I really dont care if there are some small changes especially with characters looking like 12 year old girls. I do mind stupid censored stuff when we cant see a but of a adult women or man.

@Agramonte $60? it's £50 in the uk currently, it's frustrating tho because playing the demo brought good memories of playing the ds version.

i just got to be patient with this one honestly lol

@shonenjump86 Square has way more than just marvel games.

@Voltan It still wouldn't have sold that well. THe IP is not that strong.

@Nem I know, I wasn’t being serious about that.

@Stragen8 I doubt their expectations were particularly high for this game.

Going to pick this up for black Friday. I played the first one a long time ago and watched the anime to NEO.

It is sad to hear that Squeenix didn't think the game sold well. Also, if they were expecting the anime was going to push copies. Well...then I guess they overestimated the name value this franchise has because they waited forever to make a sequel.

Wow, didn't know this was a sequel. I thought physical game was a remaster. Maybe they should've put a 2 in the name just to be super clear.

Kinda heartbreaking news but its a game for a niche audience imo

@Flaming_Kaiser my issue with some localisations is not so much the censoring but the change in script and dialogue to a point where a character's personality or a story narrative is changed. One example that comes to mind is sylvia from DQ11.

@Ultrasmiles I to that agree i have not played the game yet its in seal i dont know in what way she changed.

But i dont mind some censored but little girls stuff is damn creepy. Also grabbing of women is so weird i cant even play that its also creepy and weird.

And lets be honest im older and i dont want to play games where i have watch if someone walks in and that i feel akward for playing it.

Without any ads nobody knows about the gsme without pushsquare i would not have known that the game existed.

I just snagged this for $14.99 at Walmart.

@huyi $14.99 at Walmart right now PS4 and Switch

@Voltan Guardians was $25 with a free steelbook at Walmart right now. The special edition is $34.99 that should help. It does not look like my kind of game but for $25 I'll try it.

@Pkilla80 there are no Wallmarts in Eastern Europe but thanks for the tip
I just beat the game an hour ago, btw - it’s very good

Got it for my Swich but same day my PS5 showed up. Series S and Switch are on standby for a while now.