| morenoingrato said: Yet, if that was the case, those games would have never released in EMEAA in the first place. Any explanation for that? |
Things aren't black and white like everyone says. Firstly before I give some explanations I will remind you I said Reggie was likely involved in the decision I just stated he probably was not completely responsable for it. Nintendo of America has long had a policy of not bringing any software to North America that it didn't deem proper for the North American market. Whether that be for sales purposes or the purpose of keeping a developer happy.
Rather then give you a half dozen other reasons which I have. I will give you Nintendo's response, their was no evidence that titles like these titles had sales potential in North America. Now also keep in mind that Nintendo had stated in fact Reggie himself stated "We will be watching very closely what happens in Europe,”He followed that saying “Certainly if there are business opportunities and positive consumer uptake from some of those titles, that will be great data for us to consider as we look at what to do with these titles.”(Source)
Lets look at the titles XenoBlade sold 110,000 copies in Europe which would make it a worth while candidate for North America. However both Xenoblade and Last Story failed to break 200k in Japan where traditionally JRPG's sell the strongest. Now lets compare that to Mother which Nintendo in Japan did not see worth while for the North American market, well Mother 3 nearly broke the 400K mark in Japan while Mother 1+2 broke 450K. Nintendo in Japan obviously didn't think that 450K was high enough to warrant a release in NA why would that be any different with any of the three titles today?
Why did NOE bring the titles if Nintendo didn't see their marketing potential in North America. Well their are two very plausable reasons. The first is to test the waters if the titles could be hugely successful in Europe maybe Nintendo would need to reconsider North America. Another reason is Europe is becoming increasingly important to Nintendo's survival and by releasing the games in Europe Nintendo gains a lot of brownies with Europeans. Its an easy way for Nintendo to test the market while winning brownie points.
Lets say that XenoBlade could sell 200K in North America. Is it really worth the investment? Look at Advance Wars a series based in the Nintendo Wars franchise, the first title arrived during the GBA in North America. It proved that turn based strategy games popular in Japan could succeed in NA. Suprisingly VGChartz seems to lack much data on Advance Wars or Fire Emblem, but both titles were massive in Japan.
Look all three titles show promise but are any of them seriously big enough to warrant localization in NA? Now I would say yes but Nintendo in Japan has constantly said no. If Mother which sold 450K was not successful enough to warrant release in NA then their is no way Nintendo in Japan would think that XenoBlade or Last Story were.
Nintendo stated many times about Mother that releasing in NA would simply cost too much and it was too big of a risk for Nintendo to take. It started with Mother which Nintendo had apparently translated and even had the cartridge made and packaging etc...etc... but they cancelled it at last minute because they didn't think it would sell in NA especially with SNES coming out soon. EarthBound did make it but Nintendo didn't deem it a over whelming success the game was scarce and Nintendo was really scared to bring certain games to NA.
Look Nintendo of Europe is and was likely a test by Nintendo. Considering Reggie says the Wii will continue to sell for years to come their is still a chance that Nintendo will release the three titles next year or later. But the fact is at 200K is it worth while for Nintendo to bring the title to North America? Square Enix didn't bring a ton of titles to NA which performed way better in Japan then Last Story or Xenoblade.
Again it isn't Reggie entirely, if he was involved in the decision at all it was likely based heavily on Nintendo's policies with regards to North America. There are several good explanations as to why Nintendo released titles in Europe and obviously the titles have not done well enough for Nintendo to bring them to NA. Can't really put all the blame on Reggie.
-JC7
"In God We Trust - In Games We Play " - Joel Reimer
