Octopath Traveler 2 ‘ships’ one million

Here’s the tweet:

『#オクトパストラベラーII』の
世界出荷＋DL本数が100万本を突破しました！
本当にありがとうございます！

記念イラストはアートチームの漆原さんより、
とあるパーティチャットをイメージしたものです。

今後とも『オクトパストラベラー』シリーズを
どうぞよろしくお願い致します！#オクトラ２ pic.twitter.com/o78VPgKZkN

— オクトパストラベラーII公式 (OCTOPATH TRAVELER II) (@OCTOPATH_PR) June 7, 2023

Octopath Traveler 1 took one month to get to a million shipped. Octopath Traveler 2 took four months. Octopath Traveler 1 was exclusive to Switch for a little while. Octopath Traveler 2 launched multi-platform.

Why is Octopath Traveler 2 not performing as well if not better in a launch aligned manner?

“Terrible Square Enix Marketing.”

“Too much RPG competition!”

The big red flag is that Octopath Traveler 2, only out for months, is being discounted everywhere. Octopath Traveler 2 might be SHIPPING this amount, but the game is on a FIRE SALE!!!! These are artificial sales propped up by steep discounts!!!!

One big reason might be the macro. As the economy melts, more disposable income is being eaten up by inflation.

But I think the real reason is that Octopath Traveler 2 is a terrible sequel. The game did not fix what was wrong with Octopath Traveler 1 but doubled down on it. This is why you have the mixed reactions. Those who loved OT1 will love OT2. Those who had problems with OT1 aren’t showing up for OT2 especially with the same problems coming up.

All of this was very predictable when the game launched. This is clearly a case of Developer Myopia. They had no idea why Octopath Traveler 1 sold in the first place.