Nintendo is getting off to a pretty strong start to the year on Switch, with fun games to keep us busy with the summer. Despite the outcry, the Nintendo-distributed game at the top of this scribe’s list is Triangle Strategythis comes to us thanks to Square Enix and continues the visual style we first saw Octopath’s Traveler. Yes, there are also giant Pokémon and Kirby games, but for fans of strategy games, it’s hard not to get too impatient for a title that, to be honest, has a trashy name.
To clarify, although the interface and of course Square Enix’s leadership (especially through producer Tomoya Asano) in the projects are the same, Triangle Strategy and Octopath Traveler have contributing development studios. different. With Octopath Traveler, it’s Gainwhile for the Triangle Strategy, it Artdink. Both companies have a ton of experience and it stands to reason that different teams will specialize in very different genres, but it’s a reminder that Triangle Strategy is a lot of its own games and connections. with its predecessor HD-2D was largely limited to a pretty level. graphics tools.
However, the HD-2D series of games started the trend of Square Enix releasing games with a lot of literally name, away from the conventional approach to branding. Or, if you’re the generous one, the minimalist approach to the game’s name To be trademark. With Octopath Traveler, it started life as ‘Project Octopath Traveler’; The end result is clumsy and literal but arguably still relatively enjoyable. Octopath is an unfamiliar way of saying ‘eight roads’ and Traveler gives off a sense of adventure. It’s not our favorite game name, but it has a bit of a flow and could theoretically still draw interest from neutral gamers.
When you see a name like Triangle Strategy, do you think it has the potential to be a great fantasy story with a modern classic class strategy? Or is it like some weird 99-coin mobile puzzle game?
It’s important to remember that the vast majority of gamers and Switch owners don’t necessarily spend a lot of time browsing game media or tracking release progress in the months leading up to release. Lots of people enjoy their games, occasionally watching official trailers or game listings for upcoming titles, and perhaps relying on some word of mouth from their social media timelines. . And so when you see a name like Triangle Strategy, do you think it has the potential to be a great fantasy story with a modern classic class strategy set in a modern day setting? ? Or is it like some weird 99-coin mobile puzzle game? It can go either way, right?
When it started as ‘Project Triangle Strategy’, we thought “oh wow, they’ll definitely come up with something better this time”. They didn’t, and like a lot of pointed out in the months since it revealed that it’s not a good name or brand, doesn’t make any sense unless you’re an enthusiast interested in a referenced strategic approach. Unlike the Octopath Traveler, it doesn’t have a strange way of talking or a sense of adventure; The Triangle Strategy is a name with little appeal.
We understand market research can lead to that title, especially in strategy and strategy games. Usually, when a familiar IP gets a tactic, it gets a simple name to reflect that – Gears Tactics and Tactical Metal Slug suddenly thought. But those are just not very creative game names using familiar, popular brands. The ‘brand’ for the Triangle Strategy is that it comes from Square Enix and is using the HD-2D engine; how much of it will be missed by more casual, less enthusiastic players browsing for new purchases? To put it bluntly, most of it is.
It’s a bit annoying because this particular type of strategy game, specifically with an isotropic perspective and very steady, deliberate pace, has been quite niche. Yes, there is a huge following of enthusiasts for the genre, but it deserves to be a mainstream hit. However, even on the Switch platform with such an active and massive fan base, and with Nintendo getting involved and publishing it, we still fear that’s an underdog. It needs all the help it can get, but its name can be easily overlooked by anyone unfamiliar with the demo or the appeal of the project. Think about it, if you were scrolling through social media and saw an ad for Triangle Strategy and hadn’t heard of it, would you want to click from afar?
As a little proof of why branding matters, Nintendo of America YouTube Account uploaded some videos on January 25th. Here are some comparisons of views at the time of writing, more than four days later. It lags behind smaller download-only games, one of which is a no-game cinematic trailer.
The best-performing Triangle Strategy video on Nintendo’s channel is the announcement trailer from the Nintendo Direct almost a year ago, circa 383k. Not bad but, again, modest compared to the plethora of retail game trailers that upload on the channel.
The name isn’t the only reason it’s hard to sell in large numbers of the genre – ultimately – a genre that struggles to gain public attention. It could also be argued – in defense of this naming convention – that the Octopath Traveler was a hit with sales of several million, which could be considered a solid result.
We can only hope that Triangle Strategy can find a large audience despite its unlucky name.
