Capcom VP Talks About "Westernization"

[Sylveria]

Just going out a limb here: maybe the word of mouth for Sengoku's pre-orders and word of mouth was weak because it had already flopped as Devil Knights and your marketing budget didn't include emphasizing how different the games were? If a game is good for a reason in Japan, it's going to be good for the same reasons in America.

Or simply because they suck at marketing this sort of game? It seems like unless the game already has a huge fanbase (Devil May Cry), they don't put any effort into trying to market such games.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Does making too much of your profits of the American Market bring shame upon their families?

Yes, and seppeku is the only way to restore it.

There's nothing inherently wrong with aiming a game toward the west or incorporating western themes and ideas.. the problem is when you start infusing western themes and ideas in to pre-existing series that already had their own themes and ideas. Often, it ends up as a big mess and creates a product that won't appeal to the "western" gamer or the people who were more interested in the original concept.

 

[BrotherRool]

What a twist! Seriously I love the build up all leading up towards a 'and then it flopped again'

 

[lapan]

But it's not all doom and gloom, as Capcom does hit some home runs in regards to localization. The Ace Attorney series had pretty much all of the main character's names changed, but kept the majority of the other content intact. It went on to sell surprisingly well in the US, and prompted Capcom to localize the other games in the series.

Bull. Fucking. Shit.

This asshat is lying through his teeth. Cause if he cared about AA, then AAI2 would be here. Also, we had to fight to get the 2nd and 3rd game. Yeah you care so much about this series.

Just admit it Capcom. Your target audience is the FGC nowadays. And with that whole Cross Assault incident people aren't gonna want to support those guys and Capcom's gonna go down with them.

Indeed. They don't localize a lot of games from loved series like Ace Attorney or Monster Hunter, and when they do they come up with absurd sale expectations.

(f.E. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116429-Capcom-Thinks-It-can-Sell-10-Million-Copies-of-Dragons-Dogma or the trice lowered expectations for DmC http://www.ninjatheory.com/forums/showthread.php?4854-DmC-Devil-May-Cry-Forecast-Lowered-To-1-2-Million&s=d5d7998576f1196d9bae1240d2e4963b)

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Westernization can be done well. Silent Hill 2 is an example of a game subtly influenced by western culture and media that sold well and was met with commercial success.

However that western influence clearly came more from an interest in western culture rather than an interest in making a lot of money off westerners. I guess that's where the difference lies.

That's not really Westernization though; the team took influence from stuff like Twin Peaks and Jacob's Ladder, but that's just influence. Even Kurosawa was inspired by Western films, but he also Japanified it to give it a unique twist. What Inafune did was basically tell CAPCOM's teams to be ashamed of being Japanese and just blindly copy the West, not aware that Japan is actually better off just being itself and not trying to outWest the West

 

[VinLAURiA]

Capcom, you don't get to say anything until I have my hands on Investigations 2. You got that?

 

[zidine100]

*deleted*

what there is no delete button here? got a problem with that eh?