Topic: Extra time needed to release European software?

Apologies if this has been brought up before, fairly new to the forum

My glorious ignorance is pondering the reasons why European version's of 3DSware for example Sakura Samurai and Mudds are taking so long or not appearing at all...

Is this a case of having the game processed by each individual European countries PEGI ratings board (or equivalent) before they can blanket release it across Nintendo Europe? Did I read somewhere that downloadable software doesn't need to wait for these ratings? and how many different regional languages does NOE translate for and could this be a contributing factor towards release delays?

Question bombardment over, I do hope these games make it over to these shores and I understand that although an American version of a game may exist, they cannot simply port it to the UK without releasing it to the rest of Europe but... hey one more question... are these Shaun the sheep episodes going to be released over all regions? do the US and Japan know what it is?? and since its all non-verbal anyhoo, why not release it over all regions...?

Question bombartment TRUELY over! >< thanks for your time...

I don't know about Sakura Samurai, but Mutant Mudds isn't out in Europe yet because Renegade Kid haven't submitted it to NoE for approval. In this interview they said:
“The release of Mutant Mudds outside of the US will be delayed. This is due to Renegade Kid being a small studio. We have to take it one step at a time. Unfortunately, releasing a game in different countries is a time-consuming and costly business. But, rest assured that we will get Mutant Mudds into the UK as soon as possible.”
Lots of games are also delayed for translation and PEGI rating. I believe that most games are translated into French, German, Italian and Spanish before being released, which also explains why downloadable titles often take up more blocks of memory in Europe. Lots of people say that it's an EU law that games have to be translated into those languages before being released in Europe, but I'm not so sure. Ace Attorney Investigations was released across Europe but was only available in English.

As for Shaun the Sheep, I expect that'll stay UK (or maybe Europe) exclusive for boring copyright/licensing reasons.

It's not an EU law for games to be translated into EFGIS, but Nintendo does require games to be PEGI rated to release on its formats — just like Microsoft and Sony — which is another reason iOS and PC download games can be cheaper. PEGI/USK ratings aren't cheap!

I never knew that. It seems kind of odd to me that a film can't be released (in the UK, at least) without a BBFC rating, but a game can be released without a PEGI rating.

There is a requirement of a minimum set of languages to support. This costs money. (Not sure about the law, but NOE requires it)
There is a requirement of PEGI and USK ratings minimum. This costs money.
There is a requirement of OFLC ratings if you want to release in Australia. This costs money.

Some developers wait to see how well a release goes in one territory before deciding whether to release in another. If the game bombs, they save money by not getting the above done, they just can the Euro version.

In addition to these factors, all these additional translations can produce "bugs" that NOE fail submissions for. For example, in English it is "L Button" and "A Button" but in german there is a different word for the trigger buttons as opposed to the face buttons. This is an easy mistake to make in translation and your game will be sent back for changes costing about another month in the submission process.

All good points, thanks for the replies, slightly disheartening that a game released in one territory may not be released in others depending on sales but I guess thats business... looking back at some of the old DS portfolio its amazing they managed to get on the shelves : /

I wonder then about the ratio of independent studio's working for Nintendo systems in the US and Europe not including the big (multiformat) boys, Are many games developed by smaller studios around Europe?

Thanks again.