japanese needs to learn about simultaneous release

[johnsobas]

Serious_frusting said:

nofingershaha said:

swyggi said:

nofingershaha said:

scottie said:

nofingershaha said: Perhaps the biggest gripe about Western game companies is that they take forever to localize their products for the Japanese market. Companies like EA and Activision don't realize that the longer time it takes them to localize their game after it releases in the West, the less we care about them as the hype dies down. Take GTA3 for instance, it took Rockstar 2 years to localize that game to the Japanese audience. The result of that long delay cost Rockstar over a million in sales due to the fact by that point the Japanese market was all geared up for the next generation of consoles. When we look at the world wide market for the video game industry, Japan is the 2nd largest in the long line of vital markets for this industry. From a business standpoint, this doesn't make much sense for these companies to continue these practices when Japanese publishers are producing and making games better than they are. Of course not all Japanese developers and publishers are like this. Hideo Kojima was smart enough to release MGS4 simultaneously worldwide. Of course this is because of the popularity of MGS franchise in the West. If this was Katamari, they can take all the time they want. However, for sure titles like Final Fantasy and Gran Turismo which will do well in the West, taking time to localize it after releasing it in a market that has shrunken so much over the years like Japan, it just does not make much sense. (I'm sorry, I can't satirise this paragraph. there are no western devs that have simultaneous launches, and the Japanese market is quite clearly growing at about 70% the rate of the American market) Now of course I'm not saying some of these titles won't sell unless they are released simultaneously, but life time sales will be compromised at some point.

 

Repeat after me

 

"The world does not revolve around the western world."

That was not the point I was trying to make, with the Japanese market shrinking and the rest of the world's video game industry still growing, it just seems wiser if they release it worldwide simultaneously if they want to compete with Western publishers.

Sales come from hype but the longer it takes to localize the game, the less hype there will be.

Most constant sales come from appeal.  If someone wants a game, then they will get it no matter what.  If they are riding on hype (newcomers to a game generally fit in this category), then they were swept by dogma's fury.  "Everybody is so eager to get this game! It has to be good!"

 

However, people do lose interest if a game takes too long to get released.

I agree 100%

All of these following games were going to be first day purchases from me. Now not so much

 

Tekken 6. I would have 100% got this game first day. But the long wait for it has just made me lose interest

Final Fantasy 13. I still might end up getting this first day but before it wouldnt have been a question.

White Knight Chronicles. I would have gotten this game first week. Now i aint sure if i will get it at all.

Demons souls. I would have gotten this game no questions asked, but the long wait for it has just made me lose interest.

Yakuza 3. This game i would have got first day. Now it is just a game that i might just get if i got money to wait.

 

What do all these games have in common?

1. I would have gotten them all first day

2. not no longer

3. All from Japanese devs

 

 

Tekken 6 is coming out tomorrow in the west, and a few days after in Japan.  What are you talking about?  Also FF can't come out because of the 360 version.  Yakuza has sold like crap in the west, and really i don't think demons souls would have done better.  They really screwed over WKC though.