By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Sales - japanese needs to learn about simultaneous release

Netyaroze on 26 October 2009

We all use the same Currency first thing is that the Politicains act against the will of the People atleast in Germany because 80% of the population wanted the keep their mark.

And second the Europeans were all pragmatic. Infact for the mpst European Countrys it was a blessing to get the Euro its maybe 10times more stable then their old currencys. Its just a mater of time currencys will disappear anyway. Exchange rates are just slowing down the Economy.

And dont forget the UK agreed to EU Constitution the Irish disagreed. Dont forget that in most European Countrys the politicans act against the will of the people in matter of European questions. The Uk is as Eurofriendly as the most other states. The Currency is just the most obvious symptom. The Countrys with strong Currencys like Germany didnt want to give up their currency ofcourse the Countrys with weak currencys wanted the Euro. Like Spain Italy Greece Portugal and so on.

The EU Constitution is a 10times bigger and more important project then the Euro was. And Uk agreed instantly.

 

The reason for EU is pragmatic because its the only way how the Europeans can have a voice between US and China. And UK needs that too.



Around the Network
The Anarchyz on 26 October 2009

Yoichi Wada has no sense of vision, SE being as big as it is (and now having Eidos) can do easily simultaneous releases of their big franchises, I even accept that Dragon Quest takes delay (although they shouldn't considering they're trying to expand DQ to the West), but Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts??? those games are meant to have simultaneous release, FF is the JRPG king of the West (After Pokemon, of course) and KH holds US records for SE titles...

Sony also is an offender, Gran Turismo is meant to be launched worldwide, i mean, it's their biggest franchise, popular in all areas. Ico titles have a little excuse, but a title that is meant to the western audience (Demon's Souls) to let Atlus publish it???, and i understand SCE/Level-5 titles because they have moderate sales, but the excessive WKC delay is completely inexcusable...

But i think the biggest offender is still Nintendo, i mean, Mario, Pokemon, Zelda??? no, they're so niche the West can wait... Come on...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About the Western to Japan, i don't excuse them since they have the resources, but some publishers don't want to invest in a market really small, Japan doesn't like the majority of games from the West, even GTA, a franchise that is guaranteed to have huge sales, doesn't do even near as good in Japan, and when Rockstar and Take-Two see GTAIV numbers for example, they see this:

US: 7.06 million (53.69%)
Europe: 5.68 million (43.19%)
Japan: 0.41 million (3.12%)

That's why they don't even publish it in Japan, usually Capcom does it...



johnsobas on 26 October 2009
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.



currently playing: Skyward Sword, Mario Sunshine, Xenoblade Chronicles X

reaver_x on 26 October 2009
Kenryoku_Maxis said:
Untamoi said:
reaver_x said:
well if ur talking about the smaller companies like NIS, Koei, Atlus i can understand why they would have a japan release first. But if ur a company like SE, Capcom, Konami you really have no excuse. I mean look at FFXIII. Japan is getting the game for the holidays while we gotta wait about 6 months for the game to reach here WTF!!! Seriously they really should have simulataneously released this game. And especially since its the holiday season too, just imagine what the sales could have been like. it could have very well make it up to 7 mill WW for LTD if they did that. But alas thats not going to happen now

Well, because 360 port isn't even nearly ready yet so they could have only released PS3 version this holiday worldwide. Or if they wanted to release 360 version simultaneously, delay japanese launch.

The difference is, companies like Atlus, Koei and NIS specifically ARE doing better at releasing their games worldwide than the 'big' companies like SquareEnix, Konami, even Nintendo, who release then sometimes months later and with content missing.

In contrast, companies like Atlus and NIS are getting localizers who keep the original Japanese voice tracks and get the product out very quick.  Its a testament to their success when Atlus can pump out so many games a month (even in America and Europe) and still have MORE options (such as extra cd bundles, new missions or dual audio), and companies like Square Enix take 6-12 months just to release an inferior product with less options than the Japanese product and a weak dub.

you no u do have a point. Atlus specifically is doing things that most of the big companies like SE arent doing. Offering pre-order bonuses at launch. Mostly all of Atlus games (persona, Demon Souls, etc) has had preorder bonuses or deluxe editions to help drive sales further. its a tactic that seems to be working which is suprising why a company like SE cant do this. Plus most of atlus games come out very quickly compared to SE games which take like 6-12 months on end and they end up being fantastic. The company may be small, but they are getting the job done alot better than SE atm.




 

 

                     

Naum on 26 October 2009
Kenryoku_Maxis said:

is is the exact reason Dragon Quest has never caught on in America.  From the first game being released Three YEARS late to currently with all the DS titles being released over a year after their Japanese counterparts with no marketing whatsoever.  Some Japanese companies just don't care about the western market, yet expect games to sell here just because its a bigger market.

Its completely sad that Dragon Quest IX was actually starting to get hyped on sites over here.  But all of that hype is completely gone now and Square Enix has stated they aren't even going to start TRANSLATING Dragon Quest IX until sometime 'next year'.  If there's anyone to blame for the crappy sales of Dragon Quest, its Square Enix.

Say WHAT??? WTF are they thinking? damn here I tought I would play that game next year...



If it isn't turnbased it isn't worth playing   (mostly)

And shepherds we shall be,

For Thee, my Lord, for Thee. Power hath descended forth from Thy hand, That our feet may swiftly carry out Thy command. So we shall flow a river forth to Thee And teeming with souls shall it ever be. In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritūs Sancti. -----The Boondock Saints

Around the Network
nofingershaha on 26 October 2009

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

 

 

Yakuza 3 and White Knight Chronicles have one major flaw in their marketing strategy that is very similar to that of FFXII, their sequels are already announced and being developed before those games are even localized.

If you know the sequel is coming (there is even trailers for Yakuza 4 and WKC2 at the last TGS), whats to keep you from losing interest.



Exblackman on 26 October 2009
Kenryoku_Maxis said:
Exblackman said:
Kenryoku_Maxis said:
swyggi said:

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!"

 

No they don't.  In America, the most consistent sales comes from hype.  And there's 2 major drivers of that hype: 1) Word of Mouth and 2) Marketing.

Since most games don't get the type of marketing a major release such as Halo, GTA, Uncharted, Mario, Zelda, etc get, they have to go for the word of mouth hype.  If you stall a games localization for many months or a year, it loses that hype and people move on to another game.

Look at the sales for recent games like Muramasa, Little King's Story or like I stated in a previous post, Dragon Quest.  These games took close to a year to be localized from their Japanese counterparts and had little to no marketing outside of word of mouth (and some limited online advertising for Muramasa).  As a result, they're selling/have sold mildly (and in the case of Dragon Quest, horribly).

I can 't not say anything about dragon quest as I said above there is no way Little King Story and Muramasa could of come out at the same time worldwide it is impossible also those games would not have sold anymore if releases at the same time because of weak maketing... Your theory only makes sense for bigger games  that have  money behind it... small game will always suffer no matter what....

First off nearly any game can release in all regions simotaniously now adays.  The only reason they don't is if they are unsure of if they want to.  Muramasa and Little King's Story however were already being planned for international release before their main Japanese release.  Heck, Little King's Story released in Europe before Japan.  But then America and Japan had to wait 4 months for the game.  Why?  This is another reason why Japanese developers could speed up the process and have their games come out faster in other regions, because many times they already are planning to do it, yet it still takes 6-12 months for it to finally get to us.  And that leads to a loss of interest from the consumer, who will forget about that game and spend the money they were going to use on that game on something else over that 6-12 month period.

How many times have you heard of someone waiting for a perticular game to come out, only to buy something else instead because they're tired of waiting?  I don't know about you, but I heard about it all the time.  That happens more often to Japanese games because they have the long localization process to go through and Americans have the attention span of about 1-2 weeks.

Now they can't because different companies translate those small games in europe and USA ? Why would two completely who probably in opposition each other sync up to release the same game at the same time? Also no commercials for either games mean it was all internet hype and we all know that internet hype those not equal sales.



I love fighting games !!! Come on challenge me !

NiKKoM on 26 October 2009

Uhm.. you guys do know that in the real world it's quite expensive to launch anything worldwide simultaneous? You expect them to have millions of copies ready not knowing if it will sell well, make say.. 10+ different marketing campaigns for all the languages and countries, pay 10+ million dollar for just the marketing.. there are too many uncertain factors in a worldwide simultaneous release.. money isn't growing on trees..



 

Face the future.. Gamecenter ID: nikkom_nl (oh no he didn't!!) 

The Anarchyz on 26 October 2009
NiKKoM said:
Uhm.. you guys do know that in the real world it's quite expensive to launch anything worldwide simultaneous? You expect them to have millions of copies ready not knowing if it will sell well, make say.. 10+ different marketing campaigns for all the languages and countries, pay 10+ million dollar for just the marketing.. there are too many uncertain factors in a worldwide simultaneous release.. money isn't growing on trees..

Yeah, like Nintendo is wondering if Mario, Pokemon or Zelda do well in the West...

Same as SE with Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts

Or SCE with Gran Turismo



Kenryoku_Maxis on 26 October 2009
Exblackman said:
Kenryoku_Maxis said:

First off nearly any game can release in all regions simotaniously now adays.  The only reason they don't is if they are unsure of if they want to.  Muramasa and Little King's Story however were already being planned for international release before their main Japanese release.  Heck, Little King's Story released in Europe before Japan.  But then America and Japan had to wait 4 months for the game.  Why?  This is another reason why Japanese developers could speed up the process and have their games come out faster in other regions, because many times they already are planning to do it, yet it still takes 6-12 months for it to finally get to us.  And that leads to a loss of interest from the consumer, who will forget about that game and spend the money they were going to use on that game on something else over that 6-12 month period.

How many times have you heard of someone waiting for a perticular game to come out, only to buy something else instead because they're tired of waiting?  I don't know about you, but I heard about it all the time.  That happens more often to Japanese games because they have the long localization process to go through and Americans have the attention span of about 1-2 weeks.

Now they can't because different companies translate those small games in europe and USA ? Why would two completely who probably in opposition each other sync up to release the same game at the same time? Also no commercials for either games mean it was all internet hype and we all know that internet hype those not equal sales.

Uh...what?



Six upcoming games you should look into: