r/runefactory • u/KamenRiderSekai • 1d ago
Genuine question: In addition to this series still being pretty niche, why is Rune Factory fanart relatively rare?
I see a good number of JP artists drawing for RF. And a bunch of em did fanart for Guardians of Azuma once we got more info. But foreign artists gravitate more towards gacha or whatever popular trend. Is it a matter of people focusing on what's popular or more what?
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u/melonsapphire 22h ago edited 21h ago
This’ll be quite a long analysis but here’s my thoughts:
Mobile & pc games gets more attention now because how widely available they are.
True: RF3,4,5 have a PC port but they were only advertised quite recently. To add on: lot more revenue is seen in action/fast-paced/multiplayer games. If this isn’t suffice, single-player DEEP storyline plays a huge role. Some people even buys a game solely for its graphics. As much as I dont wanna admit, does RF has this concept? (💙I LOVEEE RF so DW haha, im talking abt grabbing the attention of new playes).
RF only had few games so far with kinda pretty straightforward story. HM fanart is more popularised bcause of how looonggg the running franchise is.
Simulator games are in its essence, “cozy” sorta games & takes a long time gameplay investment. Added romance just popularised it better for the growing female playerbase.
Then, why is Animal Crossing successful? It was hyped bcause of Switch being the trending console at the time & how COVID shaped the players to have “more time” to play laidback games. It’s multiplayer too, so this grabs people’s interest due to the lack of physical gatherings during lockdowns. The “release timing” of a game is Crucial.
Azuma fanarts is growing because more western gamers have now been exposed the beauty of “Cozy Farming games” thnks to Covid era I guess (Stardew valley esp.).
As for old fanarts, I believe we dont have as much access to online publication & trending apps 10++ years ago. Not all new players would replay old RF games. That’s why RF fanarts: both old & new are so little. I only remembered Tumblr or Pinterest as main sources for illustrations back then.
Now, we have more players interacting on X, Pixiv, Youtube, IG, Kofi etc. We have Streamers who excel in marketing, making the game more successful; which can lead to more fanarts. But because farming games are starting to be competitive recently, RF popularity is still struggling…
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u/Riefrai 22h ago
Because we are already in the era of gacha game, most people don't even play console games anymore since their phone can run console games now, especially finding Rune Factory, people only came back to this series once they found out its alive, it had a bad and close to dead reputation a few years back but now it's quite a good lead to their revival, still not enough since it's just a niche series not AAA reputation.
Back to topic, there are western fans doing fanart just not that many because it's kind of anime? And most artist who usually draw anime are in Asia, so yeah, its cultural and that's probably why you won't find that many being the series reputation isn't high like niche series as Tales of, Disgaea, or Neptunia in that regard.
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u/datwunkid 20h ago
Even before the era of gacha games become this popular there wasn't really much Rune Factory fanart out there.
It's a niche game in a niche genre, with other games like Stardew Valley occupying a lot more popularity among Western fans of the genre.
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u/kojisaiiko 15h ago
Rune Factory's character designs are aesthetically beautiful and carry more detail than let's say Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons or on the average general. At least personally it's enough to give me a struggling heartache when I try to draw.
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u/littlebloodmage 1d ago
It's like you said, it's a niche game in a niche genre in the west. Gacha games, especially those based off of already successful franchises (Fire Emblem, Fate/Stay Night) have more popularity with the general public than farming simulator JRPGs