If Captain Rainbow and that Tingle DS game were released over here, I don't think that would help out Nintendo's image too much considering how many people are anti-gay.

That being said, I would love to play CR, but ugh, a Tingle game. Gross.

Well, you have to understand that JRPGs are pretty niche in the first place. That by default harms how far and wide Mother's appeal can spread.

EarthBound was supported by a blitzkrieg of advertising and promotions. It came with a free strategy guide, in a super-sized box, at the cost of a normal game, had more commercials and magazine adverts than you could shake a stick at. It didn't fail miserably, but it didn't soar, either.

I don't really think that potential popularity can be used as an argument for a game not being niche, regardless.

What you are saying is true HOWEVER localisation for Europe is much more complicated than the localisation for US due to the fact that the US has only 1 language while the Europe has plenty.

Got it all figured out, huh Noname? I guess you missed the memo from NOA last year saying they won't release game information until just a few months prior to release.

This is why they won't confirm half of those games announced for Japan yet. It just isn't time.

That throws your whole argument straight out the window.

I apologize for being ignorant of Europes current economic situation. Last I heard(which was incorrect I might add) they were at 2 to 1 and expected to rise from there. So i was using flawed data about the present to explain things.

I asserted that there was less risk of releasing niche titles because of higher profit per unit in an area with a larger market. I thought I stressed it was all about less risk and not overall profitability of the market enough though apparently I was wrong.

Pardon me once again, I felt your mention in paragraph 3 at the beginning of the thread about Europe having exclusives seem to set the tone for contest between the two even though that was not your intention.

I would also like to apologize for the tone of my posts.  I should not have been so antagonistic. Your exaggeration and extra assertions didn't help me, but still I am soley responsible for the things typed from this keyboard.

Given thier practically unforseen domination of the playing field I wouldn't be too surprised if they have telented fortune tellers though ;)

1. Why NoE is getting more games localised, is propably because of new strategy; you'll eventually save money if you do all the localisation at the same time. If you do european localisation first, you'll have better localisation in the Americas too and the launches can be closer to each other. In the Americas, you'll benefit from english, french and spanish, which you are going to do anyways for the european market. Due to higher value of Euro, the costs associated are being paid in the higher valued market, which theoretically offer more profiting from the american market.

Also note, that NoE  is Nintendos gateway to african market.

2. I take that as you haven't heard about Nintendo DS. Comparing Americas with others should give a bigger picture about the sales percentages.

Now, in general, Nintendo always has done some games, that are in cultural context to an extent, which also explains why some of the titles are never seen outside Japan.

Some games have propably been left without publishing in the Americas because of supply constrains, like the DS had constraints with the cartridges, Wii with discs etc., and some games are delayed because of the HW supply constraints and are put into "hold" until the supply is at a level that you could release a game that can boost demand. Some games are left without release because of their content, such as Tingle and propably Captain Rainbow. I mean, you just can't publish a game that hints to sexuality in any ways in USA, Tingle appears to be homosexual character, in Captain Rainbow you're supposed to pick up a dildo for Birdo (who is considered as a transvestite in general), i mean, people get banned from XBL just because some flowerhat thinks a guys name has sexual context. DDOC has natural disasters and terrorists, it's not necessarily very clever to release the game close to 11.9 and even less in a time, when there is hurricane going on or just had been going. Also, not all games sell in all regions, so the games they think don't sell in "region X", they don't publish it there.

Sorry Viper1, but I'm afraid it does not. I'm quite aware of the new release strategy, thank you, and I'm quite certain that many of the new games announced will be localized sooner or later.

That has zero to do with the post.

The point of the post is simple: overall, fewer and fewer Nintendo games are being localized by Nintendo of America as time goes on. It is not that "Nintendo's not making gamez no moar!" It's not even "why isn't Game X being localized?" The post is simply pointing out that where once only one in ten Nintendo games didn't get localized, it's now one in four (despite the increase in total games created) and still rising. As an American Nintendo fan, that worries me.

So unless I did, in fact, miss NoA's memo from last year in which they tell us that games aren't going to be localized until at least three years after their publication in Japan, then I'm afraid the argument remains valid.

@bdbdbd: The specific game references don't really belong in this conversation; considering the volume of games Nintendo's making two or three in the past few years is statistical noise. And the majority of Nintendo games remain family-friendly and culturally agnostic: they're just not being brought over as much as they used to.

Your other points are more persuasive. I still don't buy the argument that localizing in one market really affects the other (Treehouse does the localization in the Americas, while I believe Europe does its own thing). But the remark about the DS sales may point out what's going on...

I've noticed that almost every Wii game has been localized, but that NoA's really been dropping the ball in regards to the DS. I know that the stereotype is that the DS is doing worst in the Americas, while the Wii's doing the best. I'm hesitant to say that the reason NoA is doing less with the DS is because of that (after all, it's not like the DS is dead here. Granted it's doing worse than the GBA did, but it's still a beast on the hardware and software fronts). But I think I'll look into it when I have some free time. Perhaps that's the key to our dilemma?

That is weird.

Nintendo manages to make money hand over fist, it's not like they can't pay for the localization/marketing of these titles.

Lots of Wii/DS owners would love to get their hands on Japan-only games. And if you're not going to do that, at least make the Wii region-free, so that you can import the games :S

@ Viper

I thought the whole not announcing games until they were close to release had to do with games that were not announced in any territory. I didn't know it had to do with games already released in a territory? How many months could it take to localize a Japanese game to America when MS and Sony manage to do so post-haste? I mean, it's not like it's going to take a year to get the game over here, so why not announce the date?

noname2200 said: But the proof is in the pudding:

Am I the only one who actually looked at this chart? It certainly doesn't show a trend of "fewer and fewer localizations" for North America. (Note: ignore the red median line and look at the actual data.) All that I see here is a lack of any consistent pattern in NoA's localizations. Consider this:

2000: 30% failed to localize
2001: 18% failed
2002: 35% failed

Wow, Nintendo really hated America in these years! Let's keep going:

2003: 18% failed
2004: 8% failed
2005: 13% failed

Wow, Nintendo really loved America in these years! 2003-05 must have been the *BEST* time to be the owner of a Nintendo console. After all, we all know that this is when the Gamecube was tearing it up and seeing new releases left and right. [/sarcasm] Have you ever considered that Nintendo was localizing more games because the third-party offerings were so atrocious that they felt they had no choice? That's what happens when first-party games have to carry a struggling console.

2006: 23% failed
2007: 20% failed

This is pretty much right around the average number (which is 20.5% over the last 18 years). Where is the pattern of less and less localization? I don't see it at all. Please tell me how numbers right at the 18-year average indicate a disturbing rising trend.

2008: 44% failed

All I see from this chart is that a lot of 2008 games released in Japan haven't been localized yet. Well - duh! They just came out! Come on guys, this isn't rocket science. Do you really think Disaster isn't going to be released in America?! A year from now, many of these games will have been localized and released overseas, and this percentage will be lower.

So, to sum up, I have two real responses to this thread:

1) Localization isn't decreasing in any meaningful way.
2) Even if it were decreasing, it would be a pointless statistic. Maybe Nintendo is simply making more Japan-centric software. Maybe third parties are taking up some of the slack, and Nintendo doesn't feel the need to fill gaping holes on their software library. Whatever.

This whole chart is an exercise is ridiculous cherry-picking. I can't believe so many people at VGChartz got sucked into such a stupid argument.

It doesn't really matter to me, as long as Monster Hunter 3 reaches my mitts, heck I'll buy someone to translate for me if need be after I purchase a J-Wii and a copy of the game if it isn't localized.

Point is life isn't fair, if you don't like Nintendo of Americas new business pattern the best advice I could give is a letter towards the President of that company Cc the head of Sony and Microsoft as well as NoJ's CEO and express your issue and that you will no longer require their products or services. ^_^

I'm sure Sony and Microsoft would be impressed and exploit the possible sink hole in Nintendo's armor, which could be the better for your case.

Yes all of that made very little sense but hey there's nothing I can really do to ammend the situation, I'm not nearly hardcore enough to make a petition.