Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles

From the (bombarded) Nintendo Facebook:

Thank you for your enthusiasm. We promised an update, so here it is. We never say “never,” but we can confirm that there are no plans to bring these three games to the Americas at this time. Thanks so much for your passion, and for being such great fans!

I'm sorry, but this is hilarious. Best. Response. Ever.

The Smurfs game is still scheduled though, isn't it?

BWAHAHAHA!!! Operation Rainfall is going to be protesting the big N for the next 5 years. I bet the next step is them sending in letters claiming that Reggie should be impeached.

Darn, oh well either I can stay on portable RPGs or I can import a EU Wii. Maybe Xseed will pick this one.

Aahahahhahaha, that is hilarious. Even though it's disappointing, I can't help but chuckle at that response.

Way to kill a angry mob, Nintendo...T_T

was that supposed to be dissappointing or unexpected?

Ouch... That's a kick in the teeth.

Do Nintendo dislike money?

on one hand, I'd like to say yes. Look at the support after a single week ( and not even that really) On the other hand, outside of Nintendo sequels and a couple of other games...look at Wii game sales. Yeah...

....and on the other hand LAST STORY CAN GET YOU TO SAY YOU ARE PUBLISHING A GAME FROM THE CREATOR OF FINAL FANTASY IN ADVERTISEMENTS YOU IDIOTS

Wow... that's like... three hands.

The point is...is Skyward Sword so good to justify an "isolated" release date, in which it is the only high-profile title in the console's whole season? Because it looks like they are deliberately keeping the Wii short of games just to push people to buy Skyward Sword out of desperation.

However, it's been a bit naive from people to think that 3.500 messages on Nintendo's facebook could make the difference...I mean, Nintendo thinks of "millions of copies", so 3.500 people asking for a game are peanuts compared with the quantity Nintendo wants to sell. Had they released Xenoblade in US and all the people who wrote these messages would bought a copy...they would have sold 3,500 copies, which would have made Xenoblade the biggest failure ever!

Even if it wouldn't sell as well as skyward sword, I doubt the people who commented on nintendo's facebook page would be the only people that would buy the game.

You are talking about a game that will sell around 5 million copies minimum, versus a game that in US could have sold 50.000 copies at best. It's not just that "it wouldn't sell as well...", it's that Xenoblade's sales would have been irrelevant.

Yeah, but not very many people. These games would have been released during the holiday season, where everyone is going to be purchasing Zelda as a gift or a 3DS and some games for that from Nintendo. I know for sure that Nintendo is going to spend a lot of money advertising for those products as well. The average holiday shopper has no idea what any of these JRPG are really, but if they own a Wii, someone in their household is aware of what Zelda is most likely. There's nothing about those games either that would really appear to the average consumer either. Say Timmy's mother is out shopping for some Christmas gifts. She is going to buy her son two Wii games, but there are 3 that are standing out in the front of the store. Here there is, Zelda, Mario Party 9, and Xenoblade. She knows she is going to get Zelda because her son asked for that, but she is going to buy Timmy one more game. Do you think she is going to pick the one with Mario on the front and advertises family fun, or the one with a sword in the grass, some Japanese writing, and a title she can't properly pronounce. Figure it out. 3 JRPGs that not many people have really heard of would need an extremely heavy amount of advertising so people can gain interest or learn what the games are, but overall, even a strong advertising push would not be enough to boost the sales of these games when there are so many other, dare I say, better, safer options for the consumer to purchase.

I haven't commented on that lame facebook page and I'd buy it and Last Story(want this one most though.) I also know various people I talk to online who haven't jumped on any of those campaigns who will buy it too if it comes down to importing, and a few said in spite they'd pirate it (can't blame them either.) 3500 may have signed on facebook, but that's just a taste of the interest.

like other things, pointing out that not 100,000+ people are with this campaign might have been relevent, if this didn't just start last week.

The point of it was originally letter writing, which doesn't even begin for another week.

And there are people like myself who are kind of part of the campaign, but haven't even touched Nintendo's facebook or anything.

@ballkirby

When you put that way... Ouch.

It makes perfect sense.

There really has to be a reason why NoA isn't releasing these games besides that factor. If anything, maybe bringing those titles to WiiU? It's a huge stretch, but I find that to be one of the legitimate reasons why those games aren't coming here.

As for NoA being afraid of publishing JRPGS, it's not true at all considering the push for DQ here in the states. Remember last year? That big event at Nintendo World? I have no doubt in my mind they'll be publishing DQX here (considering there's an apparent partnership between Nintendo and Square-Enix trying to promote DQ more than they ever have). If I miss out on Pandora's Tower, The Last Story and even Xenoblade, I'm not really going to lose any sleep. It would be nice if they did arrive here. Maybe early next year? You never know. Things change.

And DQ games take nearly a year to localize, so there's a chance for these games as well. Just because you don't get it now or soon doesn't mean you'll never see it later.

What I pointed out wasn't the fact that there aren't 100.000+ people in the campaign, but a couple of simpler questions: how many people are actually going to buy the game(s) in the end?! Is it convenient for Nintendo to invest money to release (and advertise) these games in the US?

I like the idea of the campaign, it's very charming to "let the voices be heard" and everything, but we have to face the truth: Nintendo of America wants to make a buck out of the games they release, they are not here to make romantic concessions to fans. I don't know what NoA's sale predictions are but it's clear that they want to focus the holiday season entirely on Zelda and Mario Party, and sell millions of copies of them. Zelda and Mario are already big names that the US audience is familiar with, so they can really milk these games to death with the minimum effort.

On the other hand, Xenoblade and The Last Story are relatively unknown in the US (not to mention Pandora's Tower, which is relatively new - period), so they would have to build an advertising campaign from scratches, and hopefully try hard to make a niche genre (JRPGs) desiderable to an average audience. Obviously that would steal money and focus from Zelda and Mario Party, possibly diluiting the potential sales of all the 5 games.

Even if the campaign reaches the 30.000 contributions (which is an enormous number on paper, but translated in "game sales" is still very poor) we still don't know how these games will sell for real. It's also very unlikely that every "soldier" of the campaign is REALLY willing to get all three games. When Zack and Wiki (which is an amazing game) sold 35.000 copies in the US, it was considered a gigantic disaster. Are these 3 games going to sell more than 35.000 each?!

Being european, I truly wish luck to the campaign but I can't help but think that the people involved risk to approach the thing from a too utopistic - sometimes too childish - angle...

IGN made a very good point in that Sony and MS have strong communities and places where players can express their opinion and what they want.
I think the playstation blog has the best on where you ask for something and people can vote on it, if it's a good idea.

Nintendo has none of that. It's like they are stuck in the 90s where consumer interaction is non-existent.

They've already discussed making sure to advertise this game (you know, that thing unknown games used to get) and do everything they can to make sure it sells if it's released.

And in no reality is JRPG niche in America. Compared to Nintendo's top franchises maybe but it's less niche than say, Sin and Punishment 2, that's for sure. It's another thing that's I've seen discussed, and even Lost Odyssey, which was considered a failure compared to usual hyped JRPGs, sold like 250,000 (at least IRRC). Do I even have to mention Dragon Quest IX?

also, as the biggest anti-whinyfans guy you will meet, I can tell you I would not be involved with this if I didn't think it was worth my time. And if the game does get released but fails to sell good enough, I'll be the first one to point out how much I hate the people who didn't buy it and how hypocritical they are.