>>724495191
>Normgroids who are scared of big boobs & butts in lewd outfits have no reason to buy into the sequel unless something else about it piques their interest.
That's mainly in Western markets and mainly in the US. And while the US is the biggest market for AAA games (Which is why it was smart of Shift Up to work with Playstation to make Stellar Blade an exclusive to the PS5), the video game market is global these days. Audiences from around the world have more access to high-end gaming hardware than ever before. But tastes aren't always the same in each region of the globe. So in places like China, the fanservice doesn't seem to have been a big problem and may even have benefited the game's appeal.
These days, the Chinese market is a big consumer of the AAA game, because most of the PC/Steam market is Chinese. If a AAA game fits the tastes of Chinese players, is localized well and well optimized for their PCs, there's a lot potential there. And in the case of Stellar Blade, its PC launch seems to have been a big reason for it's commercial success.
So, I think there could be a bigger market out there fore Stellar Blade 2. But I think it would be mostly on the PC and mostly in markets like China. However, I also suspect there could be more interest in a Stellar Blade 2 in the West and on the PS5/PS6 by the time it launches in 2027/28. If Stellar Blade 2 successfully addresses the weaknesses of the first game while improving on what it did well, there could be a lot more attention paid to the sequel years from now. Not to mention the cultural sentiment in the West is shifting again, so the fanservice might not be so divisive in a few years. But that's easier said than done.
https://alineaanalytics.substack.com/p/aaa-game-makers-cant-afford-to-ignore
