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Topic: Uneven Grounds

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Zach777

The update Nintendo sent out the other day (which was far more heavy for Europe and Japan while being incredibly less thrilling in the U.S) got me thinking. Nintendo fans are standing on drastically uneven grounds. Japan is Nintendo's home turf and as such, it is reasonable that they get a majority of things first. Logically they should get stuff first as most games are developed in Japan and in-game text is often in Japanese characters rather than English. It takes time to translate; that is fine. When it comes to territories of other languages, I often wonder why each area winds up releasing the same game at such different times. For example, earlier this year the U.S. was blown away by Fire Emblem Awakening in February as Europe twiddled their thumbs about it until April. Coming up here Europe will be playing Mario and Luigi's new RPG and Layton 6 while U.S will be a month behind for the former and over a year for the latter. Now that's a big spread in Layton's case. The whole thing just got me wondering... All, "Hmmmm... I wonder what the big deal is?" Why are the regions standing on such even ground when it comes to releases, content, etc.? Am I coming across as a whining fanboy or does this ever cross the mind of anyone else out there? Is anyone even reading at this point? Discuss!!!!

Edited on by Zach777

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Pokefanmum82

It's true in most cases. Only game that this isn't true about is the new Pokemon games. Why can't most games just start having an option to pick one of 7 languages? If all developers did this from the get go, then all regions would be on equal footing. But I think it more has to do with money. Pokemon is an universal game liked by all regions. Whereas other games might not be as popular so companies are hedging their bets. So that they don't lose money by bringing a game that isn't real popular in that specific region.

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Birdman

You've also got to factor in regional demographic differences and chances of success, as a developer/publisher, when it comes to releasing games at different times in different regions. Because of the widely different cultures of Japan, North America and Europe, a region may not "get" (understand) a game or find it appealing. Take the Operation Rainfall titles (Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, Pandora's Tower) from a few years ago. Nintendo was convinced the games wouldn't sell in North America, but fan support convinced them it was worth supporting (take a look at this article for proof).

Another factor is that a publisher developer may use one region's sales to predict how successful a game may be in another region. Most developers are not like Nintendo; they don't have cash mountains they can use to absorb losses from underperforming titles, and a game's poor sales may bankrupt a company (see: THQ). Why spend the money to license, localize, and manufacture a game for a different market if you're certain it will fail there?

Exactly.
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