eFKac said:
As for the first paragraph, it's semantics. There are no legal definitions of bombing or selling poorly, although I like your description. Let me then say, that those games sold poorly, sold little numbers of copies. In the bolded, lies the problem in my opinion. I am arguing that, when it comes to Japanese gamers, the cultural barriers, specific preferences and close-mindedness play bigger roles those things you have listed. As for the last paragraph. No, I don't think it would change much, that's also the point. I think, that publishers could have less effect when it comes to Western developed games in Japan, than they could have elsewhere. I only brought up SE as a publisher, because you argued, that the reason why CoD got relatively big in Japan, is because SE have done a good job publishing it in Japan, localisation, advertising, etc. so I wanted to counter that idea, by providing examples of games published by the same company, so I assume published with more less the same effort, that sold relatively poorly, also games that got high notes from reviews. |
I'm glad you like my description. I still don't think that a game selling within expectations is a bad thing.
There's so much evidence to the contrary. There are plenty of American businesses that great success in Japan (like McDonalds, KFC, Coke, and Apple). If you offer a good product, and tailor to appeal to Japanese, you almost always find success. Japanese are no more close minded about games than Americans are.
My point with Square and CoD was that it was a good partnership and they did a very nice job pushing the game in Japan. That's all. And can notice a trend with Square's increased efforts and the increased sales.
