"It's interesting that you're working with Nintendo to release Dragon Quest IX in the U.S. Can you talk about why that decision was made?
YW: Final Fantasy sold evenly in Japan, U.S., and Europe. Batman sold in the U.S. and Europe. And Dragon Quest was not even released in the U.S. and Europe -- Japan is its predominantly strong market. In our thinking, this is fine for our purposes of globalization. It is okay to have some things lopsided in terms of the numbers sold, depending on the region. We do not believe that everything has to sell well and evenly in every market in the world.
In this environment, we feel that Dragon Quest is strongly Japanese -- the type of game that appeals to the Japanese more. We have made tremendous efforts to try and sell Dragon Quest in the Western market, too. And it was not a failure, but it's not that kind of success, either.
I talked about this with Nintendo, and they showed a strong interest in selling Dragon Quest in the European and American markets. So we thought we should try taking advantage of Nintendo's marketing power. Our expectation is that Nintendo may be able to do what we cannot do by ourselves."
What an idiot. This guy really needs to be fired. 'Tremendous efforts'? What a joke. One Final Fantasy Spin-off or one Kingdom Hearts game has gotten more advertising and focus than all of the Dragon Quest series in 12 years outside Japan. Its only because Nintendo came and slapped them in the face that the series is getting the proper support it deserves. At least he acknowledges they failed, but I'm glad Nintendo has a different point of view and doesn't just see Dragon Quest as a game that's only good for the Japanese Market.
Six upcoming games you should look into:
