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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Is it true NoA has no independence and is like a "slave" to NoJ?

the2real4mafol on 14 December 2012

Nintendo of America, is just an expansion of Nintendo of Japan, nothing more. Since, Nintendo of Japan is the bulk of Nintendo anyway. I can't even think of any Nintendo games that were made outside of Japan.



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snakehead43 on 14 December 2012

no surprises here



MARCUSDJACKSON on 14 December 2012
NoirSon said:
MARCUSDJACKSON said:

Reggie is incompetent. if he wasn't, then ninty fans wouldn't have needed operation rainfall. Reggie/NOA has no idea wht the ninty fans of america (NFOA) wants.

we want it all!

NOJ rues all cause Reggie is to incompetent. 

Actually, what this thread and most allude to, is that NoA has no power.

And honestly, I can completely believe that somewhere between the GC era and the present, the NoA branch has indeed lost some power. They obviously still influence decisions on games and getting developer support, but you sort of got the feeling in previous generations (especially the early N64/late SNES period) that they had a bigger say on getting games developed. Somehow, that seems to have disappeared, as NoA has reverted back to being just the localization and distrubution arm, although given how most of Nintendo's internal development has shrunk this might not be intentional.

Reggie probably didn't have much say in Last Story/Xenoblade because Nintendo pretty much thought that if the games didn't sell in their home country, they likely wouldn't sell well in the US. Take a look at the last few RPGs and RPG like games outside of Pokemon, that they released, the sales weren't great. If Nintendo has released Xenoblade without the good buzz of Operation Rainfall, it might not have gotten the same amount of publicity nor sales.

Does it suck for NoA (and NoE as well) to not have much power in the games they get to release in their territories without getting the main office ok? Yes, but that is business

 

can't argue with that.

so from now on, we'll have to do more operations just to get the games they won't release here! yea business. i understand that.

 



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Gamerace on 14 December 2012

NoA deals with PR, NA 3rd Parties, marketing and does decide which titles get released here and when (but can be overruled by NoJ). They don't seem to do any development of games anymore. The last (non-Retro who report to NoJ) NoA developed game was Excitbots (I believe) - which was a miserable failure.

NoE has been far more active in localizing and publishing both 1st, 2nd and 3rd party titles (Xenoblade, The Last Story, Pandora's Tower, Fatal Frame II, Inazuma Eleven) as well as developing their own (Quiz Party). While this might seem to be far superior to what NoA has been doing (jack all) sales of WiiU don't suggest all that effort has paid off any. (However, I am very grateful to NoE for those excellent titles!!)



 

sperrico87 on 14 December 2012

First off, it's NCL not NoJ.

Second, NCL is where all product development and localization decisions are made. NoA and NoE are merely marketers, retail partners, and distributors of what NCL decides to bring to them to sell. Reggie actually does have a lot of pull with Iwata, as Reggie was actually one of the vocal supporters of the Wii's blue ocean approach to traditional game consoles. Nevertheless, Reggie's job is to sell Nintendo's games to North Americans, make sure there is adequate supply, make sure there is appropriate marketing, and make sure his territory makes a nice profit for Nintendo's main headquarters in Kyoto, Japan.



 

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sperrico87 on 14 December 2012
Gamerace said:
NoA deals with PR, NA 3rd Parties, marketing and does decide which titles get released here and when (but can be overruled by NoJ). They don't seem to do any development of games anymore. The last (non-Retro who report to NoJ) NoA developed game was Excitbots (I believe) - which was a miserable failure.

NoE has been far more active in localizing and publishing both 1st, 2nd and 3rd party titles (Xenoblade, The Last Story, Pandora's Tower, Fatal Frame II, Inazuma Eleven) as well as developing their own (Quiz Party). While this might seem to be far superior to what NoA has been doing (jack all) sales of WiiU don't suggest all that effort has paid off any. (However, I am very grateful to NoE for those excellent titles!!)


Monster Games makes the Excitebots/ Bike games, among others, and they are an independent developer that Nintendo often calls upon to make game for them.  They don't really have anything more to do with NoA than any other North American studio. 



 

Mr Khan on 14 December 2012
Xxain said:
SEGA Is a perfect example of what happens when arm is allowed to work independently of the main company and just not now SoA and SoJ have a long history of horribly communication and just disdain for each other. Part of the many reasons Dreamcast died. One of the final games for DC was secretly based on SoJ dislike of SoA.

Long story short company arms should not be allowed 100% freedom.

Segagaga?



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Alby_da_Wolf on 14 December 2012

NoA has a lot of freedom: Reggie is even allowed to wear his shiny chin trollface and troll American Ninty gamers, and also to be the head of the world record human centipede the body of which is made of the aforementioned American Ninty gamers.



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Jumpin on 15 December 2012

They are a marketing and distribution firm owned by NCL. If you have a store chain, they are like the store for the US. Reggie of NoA is a PR guy who directs marketing events to help lift the value and demand of products, whether Xonoblade or any other games got released in the US would have been NCL's decision.



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Mensrea on 15 December 2012

I think that NOA should be given a little money, start up a few western studios, and start making games for a more western crowd. The 3DS for example has almost no western games. It's a japanese console. Giving NOA a little money and a little freedom could go a long way.