The standard explanation is the Japanese fanbase grew up and only got time for games during the train ride to work, but this answer seems incomplete.
>>3940913There was JRPGs on consoles but they cost way more to produce, handhelds had a crazy install base, and with the way trends were going, and the dumb narratives around things it was just an easy choice to produce more for handhelds
1. Japan was a lot slower to adopt HDTVs, so the PS3 was just a lot less of a draw for ownership. "Cheapest blu-Ray player" doesn't mean shit if it's hooked up to a CRT TV. 2. So why not Wii, which wasn't HD? Yes, even Japan flocked to the Wii after turning their noses up to the N64 and GameCube. However, Nintendo's initial insistence on motion-controller nonsense (ground that they did yield quickly enough) seemed to have largely turned away third-party developers for more conventional affair like JRPGs. Furthermore, the Wii did ultimately struggle to form a hardcore fanbase that would be interested in non-casual genres. The PS2 was a console for everyone, but the same wasn't true for the Wii despite the market dominance for much of that period of time as can be seen by its poor software sales. Instead, the DS inherited the "for everyone" title with a slew of hardcore and casual titles to titillate various groups.3. A lot of the biggest publishers like Capcom and Konami simply had some JRPGs in their portfolio but were not strictly JRPG publishers (like Square-Enix) or self-published developers (like Falcom, Gust [prior to Koei-Tecomo acquisition], and NIS). In order to keep up with the all-consuming cost of AAA, those bigger publishers began to dump all resources into their AAA flagship (Resident Evil for Capcom and Metal Gear for Konami). Series like Breath of Fire and Suikoden were just one of many casualties as this also affected non-JRPG series in the long run as well like Mega Man and Castlevania. Hell, one key reason Capcom survived this era unlike Konami was due to Monster Hunter being a nepo-baby project that execs were forbidden from interfering with, so they didn't go tits up when Resident Evil 6's production turned into a black hole.
>>3940913I think it's also because JRPGs unironically are pretty good as these little games you can play during break in school or work commute. A small grind here, an inventory review there, quickly going to next town... and then when you go back home you can collapse on your bed and explore next dungeon or beat the boss.JRPGs on handhelds naturally filled the same niche that gacha games and mobile games are filling nowadays. There's a reason why a lot of gacha games opt for some kind of JRPG-ish gameplay.
>>3940913Development costs is a big reason. That and the slow adoption of HD TVs in Japan.Unfortunately, moving to handhelds didn't really save the genre in the long run - especially since handhelds eventually died and got replaced by mobile gaming, which required a completely different business model from standard video game releases.
>>3940913Tech had finally caught up to Japan's mobile culture. Japanese have America-level lengthy commutes, but they do it on trains where you could play games if you wanted to. Why buy a console you're never home to play when you can get a handheld that you can carry with you and play whenever you have a moment? That was the thought.And your premise is a little off. The handheld migration actually started with the GBA and Wonderswan proving that you could do handheld JRPGs at all. That set the stage for the DS, which was even more convenient for that kind of play because you could put the console to sleep.Also what the other dudes said.
>>3941070This. I think rpg games in general suit the hand held gaming experience better than many other genres.
>>3941174Flagship JRPGs were still being released on PS2 while GBA mostly got ports though. Wasn't until DS that we got a mainline DQ game exclusively on portable.
