Bushiroad’s first console game criticized for quality issues and low budget 

Bushiroad released their new Nintendo Switch title Rear Sekai on October 12. Rear Sekai is the debut title of Bushiroad’s recently established video game label “Bushiroad Games,” but it’s had somewhat of a rocky start, with the story and gameplay receiving negative criticism. Amidst the unfavorable impressions, the fact that the game’s development budget was in the $650,000~ range seems to be adding fuel to the fire. 

Rear Sekai is an action RPG set in two worlds – the real world and the fantasy world. You equip yourself with weapons and armor and work your way through dungeons as the secrets of the two worlds are revealed. The game was developed by studio HAKAMA, founded by Yoshifumi Hashimoto, who was deeply involved in the development of the Rune Factory series. 

An unfavorable start 

Since its release, Rear Sekai has been on the receiving end of negative criticism related to its story and game balance via social media and store reviews. The worldbuilding and characters are often described as lacking depth, and the re-use of same events for different characters is conspicuous. The story is also criticized for abruptly reaching an end with major plot points left unresolved. 

Gameplay aspects of Rear Sekai have also been raised as problematic, with poor balance being an issue in particular. Rear Sekai presents player builds as a big aspect of gameplay, but the actual balance of the game makes this questionable. The levels of the weapons themselves are a lot more important than the additional effects, so simply buying stronger weapons at the store works out better for you than searching for items in the dungeons or figuring out build combinations.  

Furthermore, elements aimed at increasing the game’s difficulty have been described as stressful and obstructing by users, including enemies who put a crimp in your battle from off-screen and large volumes of “small fry” enemies appearing during boss battles. Against this background, the game’s price tag of about $44 hasn’t been taken kindly to either. 

The one hundred-million-yen development budget 

Japanese game blogger Futaba Rayu brought attention to the development cost of Rear Sekai, revealed in Bushiroad’s presentation of financial results and future management plans held in August this year (Logmi Finance). In the presentation, Bushiroad representatives comment that they are planning to invest about 100 million yen per console title for the ongoing fiscal year. 

In response to this remark, Bushiroad representatives were asked about how they are able to develop games at such a low cost (having in mind that the standard investment for a medium scale console game in Japan is often over 10 billion yen (approx. $65 million), to which Nemoto Yuki, a Bushiroad executive, responded with the opinion that spending a lot of money doesn’t guarantee a game with a rich playing experience, and assures that Bushiroad games are well-made in this respect. 

How much is 100 million yen in the game industry? 

Although developers seldom make official statements on development costs, it seems that a budget of 100 million yen is quite cheap for a console game. To put things into perspective, Hiroshi Matsuyama, CEO of CyberConnect2 revealed that the company’s average monthly cost per staff member is 850,000 yen, including salary and overhead (Famitsu). This means that, if the company has 10 staff members working each month, the labor cost alone would amount to 102 million yen (approx. $680,000) over a 12-month period. That said, monthly labor costs vary from company to company, and the development periods of Bushiroad’s games are unknown. They may have a lower man-hour set point. 

As further reference, according to a survey on development costs conducted by CESA in 2021, more than 50% of participating companies invested over 50 million yen (approx. $340.000) into console games, out of which 37% had budgets over 100 million yen (approx. $650.000). 

Furthermore, in recent years, wages in the video game industry in Japan have been on the rise, and development costs are reportedly increasing (The Nikkei). Against this background, Bushiroad’s development budgets of 100 million yen are seen as small-scale. They could be aiming to first expand their video game label’s portfolio by lowering costs and getting multiple titles out, but their debut title Rear Sekai has not been well-received, and many users are attributing the quality issues to the cheap production cost. 

That said, Bushiroad Games has only just started with development of full-scale console games. They have Macross Shooting Insight and Goblin Slayer Another Adventurer: Nightmare Feast scheduled for release on January 25 and February 29 respectively. They’ve had a rocky start, but it remains to be seen how they will develop with future titles. 

Written by. Amber V based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2023-11-01 16:14 JST)