Digimon Survive - What Happened? 

We messed up! Digimon Survive absolutely did chart at #8 in the July 2022 NPD sales charts! This is something we missed when we we really shouldn't have. Apologies for that. It certainly does paint a rosier picture of the game's American sales given that it managed to chart for July despite coming out in the aforementioned RPG sandwich- and so close to the end of the month, too! Here's a link if you'd like to see for yourself! t.co/BFoJdHJA1z

“…fans were left to their own devices.” DIGIVICES, MATT! IT WAS RIGHT THERE!

It's the same with most Digimon games sales wise. Namco Bandai releases a new Digimon game, barely promote it and then they wonder why it didn't sell well.

Something else to note: when this game DID finally come out, finding physical copies of it was actually very hard! I didn’t actually get Survive until a week or two later, when I finally found it at GameStop. It was the last copy. So I think that also messed with its sales numbers. Also also worth noting, is that Xenoblade 3 suddenly moved UP a month in release, which is practically unheard of. So that release date didn’t originally look so bad. There’s was still Live a Live sure, but it wasn’t dealing with a juggernaut like Xenoblade at the same time. Speaking of a game with lots of delays, as in over a DECADE of delays, but still managing to both release and be really good, I’d love a Wha Happun video on NEO The World Ends With You.

As a huge fan of Digimon this game was such a great addition to our catalog. I just wish Bandai Namco would give this series more attention and care, they always shaft Digimon over any other anime game.

Been hearing on and off about this game for ages now. What a miracle that it was finally released

Being a Digimon (game) fan is pain. Pain. And I appreciate Habu wanting the Digimon games to not be hindered by just being the samey games, wanting to tackle different types of Digimon games (like a Dating Sim!), and I'm open to more VN style Digimon games like Survive! But again, this type of market is a niche on games and I can only wish Digimon came close to Pokemon sales or popularity while doing a different thing.

The sad thing is that being sandwiched between XC3 and Live A Live wasn't even their fault, it was just bad luck. XC3 was slated to come out in September when they first announced Survive's date, but then it got pushed forward 2 months due to the change with Splatoon's release date, something no one saw coming. Games being "reverse delayed" are an anomaly in this industry. That said, I honestly think the game is great fun and really scratched that itch of "playing through a digimon anime" for me. But Bamco really, REALLY needs to invest more resources into Digimon. Their marketing for this particular franchise sucks so much for some reason.

oh man this one hits close to home. i’m a big digimon fan and when i picked up the game at gamestop that i preordered, the cashier said they’d only gotten in the copies that people had preordered and bandai ceased production on physical copies of the game. that stung.

I didn't think one of my favorite franchises would end up on what happun but now that I think about it it makes sense

Digimon Survive is a great game and I’ve been throughly invested in the narrative from the beginning. It’s honestly amazing that the game went through several delays and had to restart development and still released in such an excellent state.

The edited in Digimon clips were super on point, but Apocalymon's "I HOPE YOU LEARNED YOUR LESSON, ALWAYS SAVE YOUR RECEIPTS!" was perfect after the review bombing salt

Survive feels truly like the Marmite of Digimon games. For people who dig it it's super fun and has one of the strongest stories we've seen in Digimon games and people who don't it's the worst thing Digimon has put out. That wait though, while technically not that long really for the industry, was VERY hard to get through. Great video Matt, thanks for showing the Digimenz some love

Digimon Survive turned out pretty dang good. Highly recommended to fans of the franchise. It's kind of like it's own take on Digimon Adventure. Instead of a mostly fun adventure, it deals with the the actuality of being trapped in an unknown world with no idea what to do. The cast didn't just magically forget who they were before arriving either. They bring all that baggage to this terrifying situation and things fall apart. They just need to survive and hopefully find a way home.

Hearing stories of games switching developers and getting delayed a lot is so strange considering how modern and business the vg industry is so strict

10:35 Small correction, but just looking through their website I noticed that this company were the devs on Hometown Story, Harvest Moon Hero of Leaf Valley, and a Japan only Atelier DS game. So they do have a bit more semi high profile releases to their name than just a Tinker Bell game

I love this game. I'm not big on visual novels but I'm a fan of the approach to the lore of the digimon and the way the characters are reacting to thier adventure. The battles are a bit basic but I get a lot out of being able to digivolve digimons and having a cool looking party.

I really hope they stick the story structure of this game and make a jrpg from it. I love how it captures the spirit of the anime where each digimon is just a reflection of their tamer. A persona style social link system that ties to the digimon's evolution is such a neat concept as well. I wish we had more of that explored and less of the vn selections filling in for time.

Survive did chart 8# on NPD overall for July in North America, this game for zero marketing it had may have actually been a reasonable success.

Holy shit it actually happened. I always joked this game would get a Wha Happun episode when it kept getting delayed, but I never thought I'd actually be right. Also, I thought the game was alright. It was always going to be fighting an uphill battle being three niches at once: visual novel, TRPG, and Digimon. But it's a passion project and it shows. A lot of love went into it. The game's biggest flaw was its choice of genre, which is entirely up to personal taste.

I guess it does make sense one why the TRPG side was so underdeveloped compared to the VN side after the developer switch. The writer and art team probably stayed the same but the people making the game changed so the VN side kept its good writing and art directions while the actual gameplay and strategy side got hit hard so it ended up simpler then everyone expected

Its a shame that things didn't go better for Survive. I have my gripes with it, but its a breath of fresh air for the series. It alongside the more horror focused Ghost Game anime have made Digimon feel more unique to its contemporaries this generation. Hopefully we can see more narratively driven games for Digimon within the better received JRPG format should reception to the story be good.

Once Digimon survive made it to the light at the end of the tunnel, then it turned out that the light at the end of the tunnel was the final boss which was Noah and mio, so I can see why Digimon survive didn't do well

Remember....wha happun doesn't mean the game is shit........

I am so glad this game finally came out. After finally sitting down and playing it (includiing all 4 pathways Harmony, Wrathful, Moral and then Truthful). This game was a pleasant ride. The story and characters really carry it. Yes the combat is very basic when compared to Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics but for a game that went through so much development hell, it still does a decent job. The Digimon roster is also very decent too, using digimon that are both classics and those that are obscure/less-known. I know the director of the game who came onboard would love to very much do a sequel provided the game sold well enough and I seriously hope he does get another shot at it. Wholeheartedly recommend this game to any fan of Digimon and those who like visual novel storytelling.

Honestly, I just really hope we can get more games exploring not only this level of dark maturity in the series, but also the big emphasis on Digimon partners being pure mirrors of their fated child’s heart. I always loved that aspect of the series and really want to see it your on more in the games like it was here

Wow...Didn't expect to see this game show up on here. Especially since it's actually pretty damn good. Like....actually better than I thought it would be when I spent most of its development time on the fence about whether or not I even wanted it.

This video is not about the game being bad (because it's actually good) But the fact that it took 4 years to launch a low budget game

Seeing how we're getting closer to the game's 10 year anniversary, can you do a What Happened on Bioshock Infinite? I remember hearing about how the game was originally going to be and it'd be nice to learn more about the making of process since there's been a re-evaluation of the game the last couple years.

For me admittedly I didn’t realize Digimon Survive the was coming out soon until I saw it advertised at a GameStop. Some people were really mad about this game being more of a visual novel? I mean if you were going into it expecting to be like the Cyber Sleuth games you’re gonna be disappointed. But it’s dumb that apparently a bunch people bought the game without really looking into it beforehand and probably not having an open mind.

Say what you want about the game, but that OST is incredible.

I'll be honest, I never heard of this game until it was released and I got it the day after it came out. I found the game to be fine but nothing special, and the battle system was more annoying than fun. But it definitely did something no other game did. It reminded me of how much I LOVE Digimon, I left the series in the late 2000s and never did anything with it since. But the game made me go back to a lot of the stuff I grew up with Digimon related and made me a hardcore fan again. Survive is nothing special, but it brought back a side of me I lost years ago and loved that it came back. And sure as hell, it's here to stay.

Being a Digimon enjoyer is rough. Survive isn't really my cup of tea but I got it to support the brand anyway. At least the TCG is amazing.

I've been hoping you'd cover this. Been really interested in learning about the shenanigans that happened with this game.

Thank you for including our article/interview! Big fan of your channel! ✌

Despite having a complicated development cycle, the fact the Digimon Survive managed to even be released is a miracle. I guess you can say the game SURVIVED

Something that also affected it was that the steam page was put up literally on the day of release. Normally steam pages get put up pretty early on for release estimates and wishlists and stuff, along with bringing more attention on the coming soon pages. It was doomed to just fly under the radar and the rpg competition of that month made it way worse.

I feel like Covid is going to be a reoccurring point in these videos for a long time.

The fact that you still can’t find the physical switch version is crazy. The mom & pop stores only got the Xbox version and barely any PS4 Going to wait until I can find this game on sale in a few months

Since the Rings of Power series is currently airing, I think it’s about time for a What Happened on The Hobbit trilogy. That has one of the most tumultuous productions I have ever heard of, with switching directors six months before shooting, reshoots up the ass, and Warner Bros. executives constantly interfering with basically everything right from the start. It’s honestly a miracle they’re as watchable as they are.

Sonic Origins: What Happened

The way they advertised this game, I’m not surprised that people thought it was just a Tactical RPG.

For what it's worth, the game turned out to be pretty great after all the delays.

I didn't even know people didn't like this game. Everyone I know who's a fan of the franchise and loves horror and visual novels loves Digimon Survive.

Absolutely wild to see Digimon on this channel. Granted, it's not undeserved! It's a miracle Survive came out and is as fantastic as it is, Producer Habu and co. really worked so hard for this to happen.

Digimon is still top notch with their storytelling/writing. I guess its fitting that its a VN, it’s personally not my go to game genre but it looks pretty intriguing

Check out Garden Guardian here! Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/1897320/Garden_Guardian/ Itch: liam-allen-miller.itch.io/garden-guardian

Digimon survive is such good game. With for people who like stories and novels and digimon. This game is really good one. It has more story and you can clearly see how much characters interactions mattered in it.

In another time and place, this could have been a strong analogue to SMT Devil Survivor, but I feel like Digimon dropped the ball on a lot of what made those games so strong. There was never anything wrong with the intent of making a conversation and narrative heavy strategy RPG, but things like philosophy of alignment, fleshing out characters, and how the game handles multiple endings all pale in comparison to how they should have hypothetically worked. Hopefully Survive does lead to the development of successors that reinforce its strengths and prunes the things holding it back,

Glad you covered Digimon Survive Matt, hopefully future "what happen" episodes you'll cover more jrpg games like Neo the world ends with you, Tales of Zestiria, Breath of Fire series, Fire Emblem Fates birthright/conquest, and more recently Soul Hackers 2 since everyone has mixed opinions on Soul Hackers 2.

Been watching alot of digimon lately, this video came at the perfect time!

wow dude that was quick, i didn´t thought you´d make an episode about this game so soon

Important note: As someone who is a big fan of Digimon and kept up with all of this, the issue a lot of fans had wasn't so much "This is a visual novel, ew" it was mostly due to the poor communication from the developers about how MUCH of a visual novel it was. This game was pushed hard as a visual novel / stratagy rpg hybrid, leaning slightly more towards visual novel (I believe the main dev said at digicon that it would be a 70/30 split between visual novel and stratagy rpg but I could be mistaken). A lot of fans were expecting something like fire emblem or devil survivor. This game is not a 70/30 split by any means, if anything you could argue it's a 90/10 split, danganrompa is less of a visual novel than this game. The strategy segments feel like small pitstops to make sure you're still paying attention. Don't get me wrong I think Survive is pretty good, but it wasn't just fans hating for the sake of it, a lot of them felt like they were misled.

Having waited for this game since the very first announcement, I'm so happy to have finally played this game! I often wondered through the multiple delays if the game would end up on your show HEH.

Thank you for covering this game my dude. I am enjoying this game and I want as many eyes on it as possible.

Sent here by the latest mr sunday movies youtube that dropped today, and because if their shoutout to you, ive fallen in love with your videos and style of editting Super informational. Thanks bro keep up the good work And send some love back someday to james and maso. Idk if you know them but that shoutout on todays video is deffinitely gonna get you some new subs.

In my case, I love this game. I hope it becomes bigger through word of mouth. It's a great story and the gameplay is serviceable.

When I had looked a week or two ago, the reviews were Mixed on Steam. Now, they seem to be Mostly Positive with the technical issues fixed. I'm going to wait after this gets the good old Bandi Steam Sale and pick it up for $15.00 LOL

Thanks for covering this

Hats off to you for using the DigiRap at the end.

I've never played a Visual Novel game so this game was my introduction to them! I am interested in the story its trying to tell and I do admit that the gameplay feels more of a after thought what with how very slow it is, however I still think everyone should give it a chance- maybe wait for it to be on Sale if you'd like. I love Digimon and I hope we continue to get new games in the USA soon.

It'd be interesting if Matt did a video on how Covid impacted games & the gaming industry

2:38 Man, I didn’t know Maes Hughes worked on this game. Seriously though, I don’t keep up with Digimon at all, but even when I’m unfamiliar with the subject matter, you still makes these videos super entertaining. Great work as always, Matt

Great Stuff, as always!

Surprised there was no mention of the myriad of release issues. Between the supply issues and game breaking bugs and the preorder bonus fiasco I figured that would’ve been mentioned

It says a lot that nearly every negative review I've seen of the game boils down to "I don't like reading." There are some valid criticisms of it, but overall, it's a great VN, I would definitely recommend it to any Digimon fan who wants to spend >40 hours reading. Heck, it doesn't even require any knowledge of the rest of the series; it's perfectly accessible for anybody who is interested but doesn't know anything about Digimon. And honestly, if you look at the physical Japanese sales, estimated Steam sales, and estimate worldwide & digital sales, it's probably a reasonable guess that the game has sold around 150k copies, which is pretty darn good for a VN. There are a lot of big-name VNs (like AI: The Somnium Files or Utawarerumono) that struggle to reach those numbers. I hope it's good enough we'll see a sequel, but the real question is whether than met BN's expectations or not...

This is the first What Happened I have watched at release after spending roughly the last 6 months watching all previous episodes. I now know the style of every time and how far down things go when they go down.

Great Episode! ^_^ The occasional updates on Facebook and Twitter were what really kept me waiting patiently for this game, and believing it actually would release eventually. I actually placed a preorder for Survive at Gamestop back in 2019, and as June 2022 approached, I double checked with them that my preorder was still active, which it was. I didn't expect anything massive, they'd made it pretty clear what the game was going to be, but I still love the game, and it has definitely exceeded my expectations.

I actually had nooo idea Survive had such a long development, I was surprised when I saw it for pre order and immediately was taken in by “visual novel but also digimon included” and wow I’m really impressed with the game after it struggled for so long. I think I prefer the world games over all (dusk/dawn my favs) but survive is a super solid side game I think

I honestly didn't know this game was a thing until an article popped up on my phone about release. Saw it on the Steam home page briefly, then it sunk back into the shadows.

I just thought it was funny how Matt brought up "Shaolin Monks" because I recently picked that game up for a great price (got it and 7 other games in CIB condition for $10) and I had no idea how different it was from the other MK games. Love you, Matt!

great video matt, also if I may add something. I think what also didnt help for the slightly negative side came from the fact that during its original announcement in 2018 (or was it 19), it was announced during pokemons somewhat lowpoint period after sword & shield disappointed/enraged a nice chunk of the fandom. So it kinda gain some hype from that side with them seeing digimon do somethings pokemon wont (for real take alook at the trailer on the playstation in 2019. over 1 million views)....however seeing as the the game didnt sell too much after 4 years of waiting....that didnt last sadly. ALSO DO X -BLADES! PLZ

This game was really good. It was close to being great in my opinion, but the lackluster gameplay was what held it back 🤷‍♂️. Love Digimon in general, really digging the darker stories they've been doing

My brother and I each got a Glow-in-the-Dark Digivice from Marshall's last week and I really have begun to appreciate the franchise much more.

Had no idea this even existed. Thanks for the video!

I was looking forward to a Vid like this, I just got back home after being stranded in Yellowstone, and decided to get this game when it came out a day after, apparently getting the Switch Physical Copies were by far the most difficult thing to purchase, and me and my friend were extremely lucky to grab two copies at GameStop due to two people missing out their pre-orders and getting the special Guilmon Bonus. Turns out they only have a Limited amount Physical Copies of the game until August 29! I played through this game, I was really hyped about it and my GF wanted to play along with me and see how we do and my goodness the Visual Novel was very long to go through especially being surprised to go into TJRPG mode and then it's over very quick. And honestly this game is a huge underrated gem, there is moments where I just took a break and try to get back to it, and they were not kidding about the Dark Themes. Honestly, I usually tell my friends to play Cyber Sleuth if they're first timers with Digimon because there is moments where Survive gets drawn out really quick. I really like the game but it just feels like something is really missing.

I'm still shocked that Xenoblade has come so far in terms of popularity that it is now a legitimate threat and competition to million dollar franchises.

If they’re ever able to try other genres with the Digimon brand, I’d like to see them do a Warriors game.

Thank youuu, I lost track of the game's development a bit after 2020... Now I want it!!!! 💖 I love visual novels and digimon games were barely like that!!! (Btw I love your channel intro 👏 so 90's TV!)

I managed to get this game a few weeks after release and have had tons of fun with it since then.

The history of the TurboGrafx-16 would probably make a pretty good Wha Happun. There was a lot of conflict between NEC and Turbo Technologies, who would just straight up not allow them to release certain games that probably could have made the system compete well against the SNES and Genesis, as NEC believed they knew what the Western audiences wanted, despite being completely out of touch about it. Turbo Technologies was only allowed to release games that NEC approved, and as a result, games such as the PC Engine port of Street Fighter 2 and even Mortal Kombat, which Midway actually was interested in making a port for, was rejected by NEC.

The only thing I found massively stupid was the whole thing about the day one bonus of an extra recruitable Guilmon only being available digital only if you were a European at least.

I didn't even realize that this game got delayed so much -- I _am_ glad it finally got released though! Me and my partner haven't gotten through it fully yet, but we've been enjoying what we've seen! it's so rough to get localized Digimon games released outside of Japan. (It's also stupid as hell that people got mad that a visual novel was a.... visual novel >__> but I'm not surprised at all by that fan response lmfao) edit: it's also nice to see you cover something Digimon-related, mostly because you keep using Cyber Sleuth music in these videos and I didn't even realize you were a fan of the series lmao

I'm glad it was released. The game is a great breath of air for digimon.

I have been waiting for that one for a while. Both the game and the upcoming episode.

Digimon Survive may have survived coming out, but it couldn't survive getting away from...... .... The Digirap.

I'm just pissed about how due to how little the game was advertised, I wound up missing out on the free Guilmon DLC. And now there's no telling whether the game will patch the line in later or add it in as payable DLC. I hope either happens, because I do not mind spending a little bit more if it means I can have Guilmon in the game.

Oh my god acknowledgment of Digimon? Yes!

i stayed up to date with survive news since announce ment and oh boy has it been a ride. games actually pretty solid if your big on story but i'll never stop laughing at the people complaining that the game they bought which shows its a visual novel is in fact a visual novel

Upcoming Biomutant episode?!? Been very interested in that one

I led the QA on this title closer to it's release. Though it's not really my cup of tea, the tactics gameplay is pretty fun and I'm happy that a lot of people ended up enjoying it. Those of us who worked on it from a QA standpoint have a good idea of why the development went the way it did and the reason is extremely simple. Regardless, thank you for making this video and I hope it'll introduce this game to more people.

That Apocalymon clip in the end caught me off guard

Digimon Survive was fantastic just people got the wrong impression about what kind of game it was. Maybe it was the marketing? Of course I'm the worlds biggest digimon stan so I'm biased af.

just adding a point, at least here in Brazil the price of the game is outrageously high. perhaps this affected sales in the region

Oh wow we got an episode of this so soon. Anyway im a big digimon fan and I followed every word on this game. Waiting those 4 years was P A I N. That being said I didn't have high expectations for it honestly because of the delays. But after playing it surprised me by how good it turned out. As a digimon fan I am extremley pleased with this game as a product. If you aren't really into digimon I can tell you its not usually this dark so the things that happen in the story are so insane to me to happen in a digimon game. For fans of digimon this is a high recommendation and for people that aren't fans I recommend waiting for a sale and checking it out. Its a very chill, slow paced game that is low effort so great to play when you're tired. The story might stress you a bit though haha

Thus was a great episode matt. Not because of the story which was the usuallevel of excellent, but the Digimon anime reaction reels you used were fucking great

After all that has happened to this game, the delays the change in developers the everything, I'm not only amazed that Survive even released at all but that it also kicks so much ass. I was expecting it to really show signs of its disastrous development history, but... not really, it's one of my favourite games of the year actually, certainly my favourite Digimon game I have played yet and the best nostalgia cash-in of the entire franchise, understanding what made Digimon Adventure so much fun better than any of Adventure's official follow-ups did. I honestly recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in the franchise, this game rules. ...Now if only Bandai Namco could also have been bothered to market & translate it properly, that would have been lovely. :/

Love this game! Great story and characters, on my third playthrough now 😃

I absolutely love the game and it’s insane how much content is in the game. Surprised it turned out so good despite it’s hellish development. This game got me back into the franchise so I appreciate that.

I'm literally rewatching the Digimon series lol. Nice video tho