Sega to downsize, axe certain games

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

2. SEGA doesn't localize their shit.

Here in the US, SEGA is known primarily for one thing - Sonic the Hedgehog. In Japan, they're known for 99 things and a hedgehog ain't one. Here's a mosaic of over forty games that weren't localized in the past four years:

Holy shit, is that English of the Dead?!

Okay, we could probably do without the shovelware, Japanese sports games, and hiragana practice. Instead, let's just focus on two branches of the higher quality titles in particular.

I'd throw my money at them. All of them. Okay, maybe only the three in the upper left. But still.

Day one buys for Haruhi Suzumiya and Hatsune Miku games. I can't believe they didn't bring those games here. My PS3's hungry for them and I would BUY a 3DS just to play those games/visual novels.

Japan is so lucky I tell ya. They get the best games. They even get the best Western games too.

[Kuzu]

Day one buys for Haruhi Suzumiya and Hatsune Miku games. I can't believe they didn't bring those games here. My PS3's hungry for them and I would BUY a 3DS just to play those games/visual novels.

Japan is so lucky I tell ya. They get the best games. They even get the best Western games too.

Oh Sega of America, when will you realize that Sonic isn't the only franchise we care about from you? Ahh well, they'll learn eventually, or go under.

[Marcello]

I sure as hell don't care about Hatsune Miku and Haruhi games and I'm sure a huge majority of the western audiences don't either.

[Dobkeratops]

Look at their Yakuza releases, for example. The localizations are as bare-bones as it gets; there's not even any English voice acting in the game. They translated the text and that's it. That alone is a deterrent for a fair share of people; not everybody's going to put up with subtitles.

I've touched on this previously in the thread, but it bears repeating again: Yakuza games are a very special case that shouldn't be used in this subject - it's either subs or nothing. The cost of localization increases exponentially when you have to hire VA and the series here is niche enough to a point where it could negate the profits they get.

Going full out to try and grab mass market recognition might work, but if it didn't we'd never ever see a Yakuza game out of Japan again, a gamble fans aren't willing to take.

[Barry the Nomad]

Not sure if this points towards Anarchy Reigns still releasing to the West, but PG uploaded a new trailer to their Japanese YouTube channel:

Past trailers took a few days between the JP version and the West version, so we'll have to wait and see it SEGA West releases an english trailer.

Since the announcement of the restructure, SEGA West hasn't talked about Anarchy Reigns. They didn't have it at PAX. Makes me think it's canned in the West, or is getting published by another studio.

[Kuzu]

I sure as hell don't care about Hatsune Miku and Haruhi games and I'm sure a huge majority of the western audiences don't either.

....Because westerners totally don't like all that Japanese anime crap right? I mean, Final Fantasy is just a myth we made up, Kingdom Hearts? What's that?

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

I sure as hell don't care about Hatsune Miku and Haruhi games and I'm sure a huge majority of the western audiences don't either.

Dude, that's your opinion okay? Don't speak for the Western gamers. =/

[Kuzu]

I've touched on this previously in the thread, but it bears repeating again: Yakuza games are a very special case that shouldn't be used in this subject - it's either subs or nothing. The cost of localization increases exponentially when you have to hire VA and the series here is niche enough to a point where it could negate the profits they get.

Going full out to try and grab mass market recognition might work, but if it didn't we'd never ever see a Yakuza game out of Japan again, a gamble fans aren't willing to take.

...If they can get better know voice actors like they did with Sonic, and actually advertise the fucking game, I don't see a problem.

[Marcello]

....Because westerners totally don't like all that Japanese anime crap right? I mean, Final Fantasy is just a myth we made up, Kingdom Hearts? What's that?

Dude, that's your opinion okay? Don't speak for the Western gamers. =/

What? Seriously, both Haruhi and Hatsune Miku (Especially Hatsune) are extremely niche. Don't kid yourself in thinking they'd sell well in the west.

And Final Fantasy is Final Fantasy, it has a name from over 20 years behind it, so of course it's fairly big, while Kingdom Hearts had Disney characters and the company behind Final Fantasy to back it up.

[Milo]

Dude, that's your opinion okay? Don't speak for the Western gamers. =/

He said he was sure that Western gamers didn't care for those games.

[Dobkeratops]

...If they can get better know voice actors like they did with Sonic, and actually advertise the fucking game, I don't see a problem.

See, the thing is, Sonic is a million selling franchise already. There's no risk involved, it'll make back all the money.

The first Yakuza was decently marketed and dubbed to english, but didn't manage to find success, so they dropped it from 2 onwards. In fact, we never got Kenzan and only by going completely barebones we've managed to finally receive the games in a language we can understand.

If anything, we should be grateful they're still bothering with such low-profile releases. There are many things I can blame SEGA for, but the handling of Yakuza games is not one of them.

[Edward]

He said he was sure that Western gamers didn't care for those games.

[Carbo]

What? Seriously, both Haruhi and Hatsune Miku (Especially Hatsune) are extremely niche. Don't kid yourself in thinking they'd sell well in the west.

[Marcello]

He is wrong then. Wrong. In my university, we even have a fairly large group that supports Hatsune Miku. Besides, how do you know that the Western gamers actually care for those games if they never made it here in the first place?

And it's this attitude is to why we won't see most of Japanese IPs come in to the West. You said Western gamers don't care but as Ming Ming said that is your opinion. I'm a Western gamer, does that automatically mean I don't care for it too?

People who buys NIS America games are most likely going to buy Haruhi and Hatsune Miku games. I'm not saying their games will "fly" off the shelves but they won't sell poorly either considering these two characters are very well known if you're in to anime or Japan.

Edited April 18, 2012 by MarcelloF

[Milo]

Besides, how do you know that the Western gamers actually care for those games if they never made it here in the first place?

[Solkia]

>Someone disses Haruhi and Miku

>thisgunbgud

But yeah, if you honestly think Miku and Haruhi games wouldn't sell well in the west, you obviously don't know what you're talking about.

[Marcello]

OK, where the hell did I "diss" them?

[Solkia]

OK, where the hell did I "diss" them?

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

You know what's funny? If any of Hatsune Miku or Suzumiya Haruhi games comes to the West, I will guarantee you these games will sell better than Binary Domain.

Unlike Binary Domain, Hatsune Miku and Suzumiya Haruhi each have a huge fanbase in the West already. Have you visited the AnimeCons around the world? You will most likely meet these characters dressed up by someone before you leave the con. Suzumiya Haruhi (last movie) is currently ranked #7 (peaked at #2) in the all time top anime list. The series are no stranger.

If one of their games get localised, the word of it will spread like hot pancakes within hours. Across all anime AND gaming communities/blogs/news. Sega doesn't even need to advertise the game unless they want non-anime/Haruhi/Miku fans to try them out. Even for those people who don't like Haruhi or Miku, they can see Sega is trying to bring out Japanese IPs out to the West so there will be several more people who want to support Sega by purchasing the copy. Give Sega more confidence. That's also what needs to be happening here.

Edited April 18, 2012 by Ming Ming Love

[MykonosFan]

...

What are Hatsune Miku and Suzumya Haruhi?

Time to do some Googling so I can understand this thread again.

EDIT: And now I'm up to speed again! Somewhat. Obviously I have never heard of these before now and don't know anyone who does so I can't speak further.

Edited April 18, 2012 by Mykonos

[Badnik Mechanic]

You know what's funny? If any of Hatsune Miku or Suzumiya Haruhi games comes to the West, I will guarantee you these games will sell better than Binary Domain.

Unlike Binary Domain, Hatsune Miku and Suzumiya Haruhi each have a huge fanbase in the West already.

Then with that fact alone, how on earth is this a good example of Sega getting their priorities right?

The great crime here is that Binary Domain could have been one hell of a big selling title had Sega got their act together and promoed it. If theres a Binary Domain 2, I suspect most people who bought the first will run out and buy it and the reception might be a bit better in terms of sales. But having a fanbase alone was the least of this games problems.

Specifically the following.

1: Nobody had a bloody clue what it was about... Fault here is Sega, stupidly poor marketing and promotion.

2: The boxart is shit.... Fault here is Sega again. The boxart shows... well here it is.

You have a random guy carrying another random guy... shooting his gun in the air... At what is anyones guess, since theres no sign of the bullet hitting anything or even a monster/robot there that he's aiming at. I don't even think he's looking in the direction of the gun.

Can you guess when in the game you do this? You don't. At no point in the game does anything like this ever happen. The closest thing you get is if one of your allies goes down, you can revive them if you have a medical kit. Now in the background you see two characters shooting robots... the problem is that on the actual boxart itself, the physical copy... as in... the one I'm holding in my hand. The robots are so dark, you can't see that they are robots unless you pick up the box and look carefully at it... So the game just looks like 'random space marine shoots other space marines...

Which brings me onto point 3.

3: The boxart is shit for a whole heap of other reasons...

On a shelf of games, this boxart looks so crap. It just looks like random space marine shooting his gun whilst saving other space marine. There is nothing here to suggest excitement or any kind of difference from any other game on that shelf at the time... This is what Binary Domain looks like on a videogame shelf

Now also remember, here in the UK Binary Domain was one of the last games that GAME got before most of the publishers pulled out during their troubles, so the shelfs did indeed look like this as random as it may seem.

Oh but wait, before you all say 'well you should pick boxarts that are not as colourful.' Just look at it. Just look at every aspect of the boxart compared to those games which Binary Domain was competing against.

Look at the font on Both Catherine and SSX compared to Binary Domain, which looks the less interesting?

The placement of the title itself, Binary Domain's plain white text at the top of the package looks more like instructions for putting together a BBQ than it does an exciting piece of entertainment.

But also just look at what jumps out on all the boxarts... Binary Domain just screams 'I am shooting a pistol in the air in a dark space unless you squint your eyes.' You've no idea where they're fighting. The game is set in future where the ice caps have melted and old cities are in ruins... and there is a clear social divide of people living in the ruins and those living in a technological utopia on the newly built cities... where on the boxart do you get a sense of that? Even if you have picked up the box and stare at the background, the enemies they've chosen are the first enemies in the game, the boring green drone robots. Why didn't they pick the red assasin robots? The police bots? Or heck even one of the bosses? Any other enemy in the game would have been more interesting than the green drones.

Cathertine is full of colour and crazy images, you want to pick it up just because you'll be curious to read the blurb on the back to try and decifer whats going on. "This game has a woman taking her top off, a guy trapped between her bewbs and a sheep falling.... *picks up the box* what the heck is this game about!? *starts to read the box*"

SSX, the cover speaks for itself. OMG I'M ON A SNOWBOARD AND I'M FLYING OFF A MOUNTAIN AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD! I'M GONNA DIE BUT IT'S AWESOME!!!!'

There is an argument in retail, and it's one I kinda agree with, if you can make the customer pick up a Movie/CD/game, then you are one huge step closer to them buying it even if they had never heard of the product or had any intention to buy it.

If that argument is correct... would you pick up Binary Domain based on that box art alone? Because I wouldn't. As I've said, the only reason I bought the game as because I played it at Gamefest and thought it was a pretty cool demo.

4: Sega didn't bother to announce any of the games features until a day before release.

Binary Domain has a very large and for the most part quite a fun multiplayer... So why didn't sega announce it had a multiplayer... Until a day before the game came out!? Seriously, thats how long they left it! It's almost like they simply forgot that their cool robot shooting game had a multiplayer mode in it.

5: This game had tons of promotional content, both DLC and physical merchandise yet didn't tell anyone how to get it!

Why the hell did nobody get told this!? Pre-ordering this in Japan got you the Yakuza characters as well as weapon packs. Here in the west there was a weapon pack that was never announced or reported on by anyone. One retailer had it.

But the game also had a lot of merch made for it. Backpacks, T-shirts, keyrings etc. Did they have any of this at gaming events? Nope. Did they say how you could get any of this stuff? Nope... ... oh wait... there was a backpack given away during a Free Stuff Friday 2 weeks after the game came out.

Why did they make all that merchandise and promotional content, then not advertise or make any effort to... oh I dunno... Promote their game!? It's crazy,

Rep 1: We've got all these T-shirts and backpacks advertising our game... shall we give them out during Gamescom? Pax? Gamefest? People might wear them and we'll get more interest on our game.

Rep 2: Nah... I doubt it'll work... it doesn't work when all the other companies do it...

Me: Wait... What?

Binary Domain might as well have been made by an indi company for all the love and promotion Sega gave it, they did a great job making it... but a really bad job at selling it.

Hatsune Miku and Suzumiya Haruhi will sell... .... millions!

First of all, up until a few posts ago I had never heard of these... I still have no clue who or what either of them are despite looking...

Secondly... that quote isn't a direct quote, but this seems to be the thinking thats going on. Do we seriously believe that? The last Spiderman game barely sold, despite it being Spiderman on the cover. Ace Combat Assault Horizon has struggled in the sales too. Hyperdimension Neptunia MK2 which is probably a good comparison if we're talking about localising random Japanese RPG's has also sold very poorly in the west despite it having a bit of a cult following. Even the first one didn't sell that great so the excuse of people having bad memeories doesn't fly too much with that one. Even Final Fantasy 13-2 has also suffered from poor sales (well much poorer than they wanted), this is despite a barrage of DLC and it being Final Fantasy.

But Hatsune Miku and Suzumiya Haruhi is different? Urm... Why?

[Carbo]

Secondly... that quote isn't a direct quote, but this seems to be the thinking thats going on. Do we seriously believe that? The last Spiderman game barely sold, despite it being Spiderman on the cover. Ace Combat Assault Horizon has struggled in the sales too. Hyperdimension Neptunia MK2 which is probably a good comparison if we're talking about localising random Japanese RPG's has also sold very poorly in the west despite it having a bit of a cult following. Even the first one didn't sell that great so the excuse of people having bad memeories doesn't fly too much with that one. Even Final Fantasy 13-2 has also suffered from poor sales (well much poorer than they wanted), this is despite a barrage of DLC and it being Final Fantasy.

But Hatsune Miku and Suzumiya Haruhi is different? Urm... Why?

Hyperdimension Neptunia completely outsold demand and is NIS America's biggest series alongside Disgaea. NISA's stores went out of stock for several weeks, and the special Gamindustri edition that was made for mk2 sold out a month or two after preorders went up.

The game, and the series, was a big hit. Perhaps the biggest niche series to bust out in the west.

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

Then with that fact alone, how on earth is this a good example of Sega getting their priorities right?

The great crime here is that Binary Domain could have been one hell of a big selling title had Sega got their act together and promoed it. If theres a Binary Domain 2, I suspect most people who bought the first will run out and buy it and the reception might be a bit better in terms of sales. But having a fanbase alone was the least of this games problems.

Edited April 18, 2012 by Ming Ming Love

[HunterTSF]

Just going by Facebook likes alone Hatsune Miku alone has more vocal fans than BlazBlue and Disgaea combined, by a long shot (half a million fans, oh snap). She had some live concerts in California a while back that sold out fast. She's in American Toyota ads, and is currently plastered on a NASCAR.

So yeah, kind of a big deal. If her games were localized, they would sell. Simple as that. These titles get plenty of coverage from Japanese gaming news sites like Siliconera and Andriasang as it is, and if you knew anything pertaining to otaku culture of the past five years you would know that she's an icon. If you were to walk into an anime convention and not know who she was, you would get a lot of strange looks.

Sure, Hatsune Miku's still a niche franchise that won't amass more fans than Call of Duty here in the U.S. or whatever anytime soon. They would still be niche titles. But they would be very popular niche titles if they were brought overseas.

Edited April 18, 2012 by HunterTSF

[HunterTSF]

I apologize for the double post, but oh hey this is actually relevant to the subject at hand!

Sega of Japan (yes... you read that right) just worked right behind SoA and SoE's collective backs and published the iOS game Miku Flick to the American and European iTunes stores last Monday! We haven't really heard about it because this SoA and SoE had absolutely nothing to do with it; you won't even find them mentioning it on their blog or Facebook page.

...and that's not all! They even made an English site for the game right here!

I'm all sorts of confused. Sega of Japan just localized a game that Sega of America/Europe didn't all by themselves? That's... a bit unexpected (isn't that the whole point of having American and European divisions? :v). Does that mean we could see SoJ making digital download English releases of future Miku titles? Because that would be both really weird and incredibly awesome all at once. If they released Next Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA on PSN that would be a fiscally easy risk to take, and I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one making a day one purchase on it.

Anywho, go show your support for Miku by getting this App in droves. Looks like SoJ's testing the water here with this one, and maybe if it sells enough we may actually see more Vocaloid titles being localized here!

Edited April 19, 2012 by HunterTSF