End of XSeed retail releases?

[Wyrdwad]

For a change, I'm with Slur. I'm not sure how doing what we have to do to survive counts as "inadequacy" when we're releasing wave after wave of niche games with top-notch localizations. Rising Star may have determined that there's a physical market for it in Europe, and that's great for them... but this isn't Europe. The market is different here, and WotS4 being an (almost certainly) M-rated niche title means retailer interest is low (unless we censor the game to get a T rating, but that's something we won't do on general principle). And there are other factors as well... ultimately meaning, it just couldn't happen. Believe me, if it could... it would. We'd much rather release all our games both physically and digitally. We only limit ourselves to one or the other when there's simply no other choice available to us.

-Tom

[omgfloofy]

I can see this work. No Physical realese before the company have 10000 preorders or something.

That's the thing. The 1,000 copy preorder didn't work for NISA. What's to say that 10,000 copies would be likely in a very niche title? I imagine that if the game was released physically, most of the people arguing against digital distribution probably wouldn't actually buy the game. How many people are actually willing to put their money where their mouth is? I doubt that it's more than half- or maybe even more than a quarter of the people, to be honest.

Clearly, I don't have much faith in these people.

[GeekyJuuu]

That's the thing. The 1,000 copy preorder didn't work for NISA. What's to say that 10,000 copies would be likely in a very niche title? I imagine that if the game was released physically, most of the people arguing against digital distribution probably wouldn't actually buy the game. How many people are actually willing to put their money where their mouth is? I doubt that it's more than half- or maybe even more than a quarter of the people, to be honest.

Clearly, I don't have much faith in these people.

This is sort of my issue too. And that was only 1,000 copies. That's a really REALLY small number when you think about the big picture. How many copies of the game were pirated? I bet over 1,000, sadly. People just....don't jump for niche titles in general. So if having a few hundred downloads is enough to bring over a game that couldn't even get 1,000 preorder copies, it's better than nothing, don't you think? ^^

I think it will be interesting to see Xenoblade's sales numbers. That will be a good test of a vocal group of fans and their ability to, as you said, "put their money where their mouth is."

[JiggiUp]

@GeekyJuuu: I've heard that Xenoblade has already sold better in the US than in either Japan or Europe.

Well, from now on I'm going to think of XSeed as the last resort for getting a game localized if every other publisher passes on it.

A dubious honor, but an honor nonetheless. Rising Star has set up shop in the US (taking over from Marvelous USA), and I hope they can pick up the slack. They've remained committed to physical releases so far and have shown no indication of changing that, even in the US. I will continue to support both companies, but RSG will take the higher priority.

That's about the end of my input on this discussion, then. I hope American localizers and Japanese rights-holders alike will eventually be able to wake up to the massive potential of Kickstarter for pleasing fans and letting them prove their support, and that negotiations will allow the massive amounts of red tape to be cut.

[Wyrdwad]

Well, from now on I'm going to think of XSeed as the last resort for getting a game localized if every other publisher passes on it.

That's... kind of what we always have been, really! We pick up the games that English-speakers deserve to play, but no one else will take a chance on.

And yeah, that goes for Samurai 4 as well. We're the ones who translated it, remember!

-Tom

[Serge]

That's... kind of what we always have been, really! We pick up the games that English-speakers deserve to play, but no one else will take a chance on.

And that's why I love XSEED. I simply love JRPG niche titles, so I'm happy if a new game is released regardless of its possible platform or DD only. I know there are a lot of beautiful titles that no other localization companies are willing to take here in the west (ex. Trails in the Sky), so I count on them: it's better having the chance play them, than having nothing on our hands.

[IcedEarthaholic]

Hey, I love any company that is willing to grab a title for US release when no one else will, however, I am sorry but I can't support DDL only, I find myself passing completely, or if there's a physical release on another system, I grab it for that system instead. If DDL only happens with Grand Knights History and both versions of Dragon's Crown, ugh, God it'd sadden me to do this, but I'd have to pass on both titles.

[Wyrdwad]

Hey, I love any company that is willing to grab a title for US release when no one else will, however, I am sorry but I can't support DDL only, I find myself passing completely, or if there's a physical release on another system, I grab it for that system instead. If DDL only happens with Grand Knights History and both versions of Dragon's Crown, ugh, God it'd sadden me to do this, but I'd have to pass on both titles.

...I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but may I ask why?

I mean, a game's a game. Whether it's on a disc or on a memory stick, it still plays exactly the same and delivers the same level of fun and entertainment. Why does the release format matter? Isn't that pretty much the same as saying you won't watch a movie unless it's on DVD -- if it's on TV or Netflix, you might as well just not watch it?

-Tom

[conurebleu]

Because people are collector.

[Chaosblade]

...I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but may I ask why?

Oh come on, it's not even a horse anymore at this point.

And Netflix is more like Gamefly. Digital or not, you're not paying to "own" anything, just a fee to use the service, so the expectations aren't quite the same.

TV is a good point, but I'd be willing to bet a lot of the people (maybe not necessarily everyone) with the adamantly anti-DD mindset aren't paying the cable bill anyway, so that's "free" to them. I guess you could also use the above logic too (it's a fee for the service, the show/movie isn't the "product" in the same way a digital game is).

Enough devil's advocate though. I only dislike poorly managed digital distribution and bad DRM. The lack of a disc or cartridge or whatever doesn't really make a difference.

Because people are collector.

People say this... but I don't know, a list of Steam games can look pretty nice.

http://i.minus.com/iblFfedm5Faxzw.jpg