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Forums - Nintendo - Last Story being released in Australia...Nintendo continues to crap on their most dedicated fans!!!

Gamerace on 14 October 2011
RolStoppable said:
mike_intellivision said:
The question is not why did NoA not release it here. The question is why did NoE release it.
According to a certain website, Xenoblade has sold 95k copies in EMEAA in eight weeks of release.
That is less than 5M euros of revenue (not profit, gross revenue) from which translation, preparation, production, shipping, and packaging will have to be paid.
For comparison, Just Dance 3 sold 120k copies in the Americas in its first week of release.

Mike from Morgantown

PS -- Yes, I want to play this game too. But economics say it is not as big a deal to most people as people here are making it out to be.

If you only look at it in revenue terms for the game itself, then you would be right.

But this is one of those titles that help to keep your passionate customers being passionate. Having them is the most powerful marketing tool for a company, because it is not only free advertising, but more effective too. Making decisions that make you lose passionate customers is not good, but making decisions that turn these customers into advocates against your products is even worse. The impact of not releasing Xenoblade and others in America could go far beyond pure revenue numbers for these games.

Xenoblade and The Last Story certainly aren't comparable to the likes of Disaster: Day of Crisis and Excitebots. The latter two are pretty forgettable, but those JRPGs are among the best the genre had to offer in the last five years, so losing out on these games is actually going to piss people off and casts huge doubts on Nintendo's promise of being more comitted to the hardcore gamer in the future.


This is the problem all right.  Especially when they are positioning 3DS and WiiU as more 'core' systems but pissing on their devoted 'core' on Wii.   They have destroyed their own creditablity in the Americas with even their euthusiast crowd.   I understand's Reggie's relunctance but if I was him, I'd take the straight UK versions of Xeno, TLS, PT and slap them in one package for $70 for the diehard NA fans.   Since they'd be doing no work and only distributing one game (collection) the costs would be inconsequencial but the goodwill would be immense.   However, if fans don't know they're coming it doesn't do Nintendo any good.  There's little point announcing and releasing them next year after the damage has been done.



 

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Nintari on 14 October 2011

I'm 32 years old. My first system was an Atari 2600 which I played when I was like...5? I remember getting the NES when it was brand new and ever since then I've been a fan of Nintendo's and owned every home console they've released along the way (even most of the handhelds as well).

But that relationship is OVER. Why? Because they moved on. Not only did they move on, they took a massive dump on my face before doing so. It's the equivalent of your girl friend or wife saying "I'm sorry honey but it's just not working for me anymore. I've changed and I just need to move on to something else. Oh...and by the way? I screwed your best friend and LOVED IT".

So in short, no more Nintendo. I've been crapped on one too many times. It'll either be PS4 for me next gen or nothing because MS has also gone casual (remember their ceo saying "Xbox is NOT a game console"? Yeah, exactly.)



Araknie on 14 October 2011

All this thread will be risolved by this.

It's released in Australia because it's PAL, so even Xenoblade and Pandora's Tower are.
This thing is known by months.



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Gamerace on 14 October 2011
RolStoppable said:
Gamerace said:

This is the problem all right.  Especially when they are positioning 3DS and WiiU as more 'core' systems but pissing on their devoted 'core' on Wii.   They have destroyed their own creditablity in the Americas with even their euthusiast crowd.   I understand's Reggie's relunctance but if I was him, I'd take the straight UK versions of Xeno, TLS, PT and slap them in one package for $70 for the diehard NA fans.   Since they'd be doing no work and only distributing one game (collection) the costs would be inconsequencial but the goodwill would be immense.   However, if fans don't know they're coming it doesn't do Nintendo any good.  There's little point announcing and releasing them next year after the damage has been done.

Can people please stop with this garbage for once? Always trying to find an explanation that portrays any situation as if people in the industry knew what they are doing. They can be wrong and Reggie is wrong.

There is no such thing as bringing these three games to America would not be financially viable. Nintendo isn't a company that is on the brink of bankruptcy, all the translation work will already be done by Nintendo of Europe and much smaller companies than Nintendo manage to make profits by selling 250k copies (or less) in America after covering translation and distribution costs. There is nothing to lose for Nintendo of America by releasing all three games individually for $50 each. They can only gain. Not taking such an opportunity is a sign of complete stupidity. There is nothing to understand about Reggie's relunctance to bring these games over, because there's no sound logic behind it.

If Xenoblade hasn't even sold 100k in PAL regions what makes you think it'll sell at least 250K in NA?  NA sales would probably be about the same, maybe a little higher but not 2.5x's the amount.   TLS sales would be worse because WiiU would be around the corner by then and forget Pandora's Tower's sales altogether because if critically acclaimed JRPGs can't manage it, there's no way a good-not great action game will.   There's little if any money to be made here with these games.  And NoA doesn't seem to want to alter their 'fun/accessible for all games' image for Wii.



 

Wyrdness on 14 October 2011
Galaki said:
Wyrdness said:

A lot of you wouldn't of survived in Europe prior to 3 years ago if 3 games sends you over the wall.

You're missing the point. We are NOT Europe. So, the hypothetical situation does not make sense.

No you've missed the point, Europeans have been dealing with this for decades we've missed more gems then anything so 3 games should they not make it over to the US seems pretty minimal to us over here as you could make a top 50 of games not released for us. Fact is the market has changed and US has been positioned in a situation to what Europe was in back in those days whether you're not in Europe is irrelevant as your situation is very similar, people here are talking about "I thought they're aiming for the core" and all that non sense well guess what they are just that core doesn't necessarily mean niche.

 

Reggie and NOA right now think of core as the COD:MW's, Arkham's, RE's and the GTA's, the 3 games you desire qualify as core games yes but the problem is it comes down to numbers as far as Reggie and NOA are concerned you all can talk about it being a nice gesture just to release it and what not but the reason people keep bringing up numbers is because minimal sales doesn't tell a company COO that the core are being satisfied that's how it goes. NOE only released the game because they want to capture the MH3 following over here as it's a cult following but very dedicated so all 3 games are being marketed to them, Xenoblade did better then what NOE expected but this was because NOE brought in low shipments people can't find copies because of it.



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Mr Khan on 14 October 2011
RolStoppable said:
Gamerace said:

If Xenoblade hasn't even sold 100k in PAL regions what makes you think it'll sell at least 250K in NA?  NA sales would probably be about the same, maybe a little higher but not 2.5x's the amount.   TLS sales would be worse because WiiU would be around the corner by then and forget Pandora's Tower's sales altogether because if critically acclaimed JRPGs can't manage it, there's no way a good-not great action game will.   There's little if any money to be made here with these games.  And NoA doesn't seem to want to alter their 'fun/accessible for all games' image for Wii.

Those games don't even need to sell 250k copies, because other companies like Atlus and NISA are profitable by selling less and unlike NoA they also have to cover translation costs. Besides, as I've said already in my first post, this isn't just about the games themselves, but trust in the Nintendo brand. This is a situation where Nintendo has to bite the bullet and say: "Okay, we may only break even or even lose a little bit of money on these three games, but it's necessary to keep our consumers interested in our products."

The thought that these games would harm the image of the Wii is laughable and if NoA really thinks that way, then Reggie should better be fired now, before his idiocy ruins NoA altogether. E3 2011 gave me the impression that Nintendo now actually believes in the hardcore vs. casual fallacy which cannot end well. The DS and Wii were about being all-inclusive, not segregation.

Reggie has an interview on GameTrailersTV on the 27th, and doubtlessly that will be a question, so perhaps we can get a bit of insight then.



Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.

Gamerace on 14 October 2011
RolStoppable said:
Gamerace said:

If Xenoblade hasn't even sold 100k in PAL regions what makes you think it'll sell at least 250K in NA?  NA sales would probably be about the same, maybe a little higher but not 2.5x's the amount.   TLS sales would be worse because WiiU would be around the corner by then and forget Pandora's Tower's sales altogether because if critically acclaimed JRPGs can't manage it, there's no way a good-not great action game will.   There's little if any money to be made here with these games.  And NoA doesn't seem to want to alter their 'fun/accessible for all games' image for Wii.

Those games don't even need to sell 250k copies, because other companies like Atlus and NISA are profitable by selling less and unlike NoA they also have to cover translation costs. Besides, as I've said already in my first post, this isn't just about the games themselves, but trust in the Nintendo brand. This is a situation where Nintendo has to bite the bullet and say: "Okay, we may only break even or even lose a little bit of money on these three games, but it's necessary to keep our consumers interested in our products."

The thought that these games would harm the image of the Wii is laughable and if NoA really thinks that way, then Reggie should better be fired now, before his idiocy ruins NoA altogether. E3 2011 gave me the impression that Nintendo now actually believes in the hardcore vs. casual fallacy which cannot end well. The DS and Wii were about being all-inclusive, not segregation.

We're agreed on releasing them to keep their hardcore fans happy but it you acknowledge that they'll all sell like crap anyway, what's your point about selling them individually rather than collectively?  NoA could have release NPC Metroid Prime and Prime 2 seperately (as they were in Japan) but they made a collection instead, even though it meant 90% would be buying Prime 3 a second time for the same system, for the exact same reason.   It made more sense to bundle them together, for a little more, than market and distribute individually.   The crowd who want these games will play well for a collection, especially a collector's edition, and it saves NoA marketing and distribution costs.   Heck, next to no marketing is needed, just announce it, we'll all know within 24 hrs.



 

oni-link on 15 October 2011
Gamerace said:
RolStoppable said:
Gamerace said:

This is the problem all right.  Especially when they are positioning 3DS and WiiU as more 'core' systems but pissing on their devoted 'core' on Wii.   They have destroyed their own creditablity in the Americas with even their euthusiast crowd.   I understand's Reggie's relunctance but if I was him, I'd take the straight UK versions of Xeno, TLS, PT and slap them in one package for $70 for the diehard NA fans.   Since they'd be doing no work and only distributing one game (collection) the costs would be inconsequencial but the goodwill would be immense.   However, if fans don't know they're coming it doesn't do Nintendo any good.  There's little point announcing and releasing them next year after the damage has been done.

Can people please stop with this garbage for once? Always trying to find an explanation that portrays any situation as if people in the industry knew what they are doing. They can be wrong and Reggie is wrong.

There is no such thing as bringing these three games to America would not be financially viable. Nintendo isn't a company that is on the brink of bankruptcy, all the translation work will already be done by Nintendo of Europe and much smaller companies than Nintendo manage to make profits by selling 250k copies (or less) in America after covering translation and distribution costs. There is nothing to lose for Nintendo of America by releasing all three games individually for $50 each. They can only gain. Not taking such an opportunity is a sign of complete stupidity. There is nothing to understand about Reggie's relunctance to bring these games over, because there's no sound logic behind it.

If Xenoblade hasn't even sold 100k in PAL regions what makes you think it'll sell at least 250K in NA?  NA sales would probably be about the same, maybe a little higher but not 2.5x's the amount.   TLS sales would be worse because WiiU would be around the corner by then and forget Pandora's Tower's sales altogether because if critically acclaimed JRPGs can't manage it, there's no way a good-not great action game will.   There's little if any money to be made here with these games.  And NoA doesn't seem to want to alter their 'fun/accessible for all games' image for Wii.

I'm with gamerace and rolstopper here, I don't care how NOA does it but they better do it!!! Otherwise my $$$ are going to MS 720 or the handhelds...because other than a new ZELDA being released on the Wii-U; they are not gonna get my support next gen!



woopah on 15 October 2011

NoE = good Nintendo
NoA = awful Nintendo

I think it is pretty clear that Last Story and Pandora's Tower will come to Europe but never to NA (tho maybe through Nintendo's downloadable service in about 15 years)



 nintendo fanboy, but the good kind

proud soldier of nintopia

 

mike_intellivision on 18 October 2011
RolStoppable said:
mike_intellivision said:
The question is not why did NoA not release it here. The question is why did NoE release it.
According to a certain website, Xenoblade has sold 95k copies in EMEAA in eight weeks of release.
That is less than 5M euros of revenue (not profit, gross revenue) from which translation, preparation, production, shipping, and packaging will have to be paid.
For comparison, Just Dance 3 sold 120k copies in the Americas in its first week of release.

Mike from Morgantown

PS -- Yes, I want to play this game too. But economics say it is not as big a deal to most people as people here are making it out to be.

If you only look at it in revenue terms for the game itself, then you would be right.

But this is one of those titles that help to keep your passionate customers being passionate. Having them is the most powerful marketing tool for a company, because it is not only free advertising, but more effective too. Making decisions that make you lose passionate customers is not good, but making decisions that turn these customers into advocates against your products is even worse. The impact of not releasing Xenoblade and others in America could go far beyond pure revenue numbers for these games.

Xenoblade and The Last Story certainly aren't comparable to the likes of Disaster: Day of Crisis and Excitebots. The latter two are pretty forgettable, but those JRPGs are among the best the genre had to offer in the last five years, so losing out on these games is actually going to piss people off and casts huge doubts on Nintendo's promise of being more comitted to the hardcore gamer in the future.


Rol -- You make a really good point. Essentially, to me your point appears to be that NoE is thinking long-term while NoA is thinking today.  Thus NoE will take a bit of a hit to ensure people will be buying their consoles while NoA does not want to do that.

And given the fact that translations already exist in English, the cost of bringing this to North America would be even less for NoA. (And other languages have also been done if you were going to release outside of US and most of Canada).

Personally, I wonder what NoA has up their sleeve for 2012 for North America on the Wii. Because it could get really really dry after the holidays.  (The same goes for NCL in Japan and NoE in Europe)

Mike from Morgantown



      


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