So... Capcom is going to be Japan-Only now?

[Quaidis]

I can't give any links, which is why I'm asking you guys to help me confirm is this is only a rumor or not.

I was checking out some Monster Hunter fan club type thing and this guy says that Capcom wants to be a Japan-only company (because games in Japan sell, apparently), and that therefore there would be no more Monster Hunter games for the rest of the world anymore.

Is this true? If it is, will all Capcom games be Japan-only from now on? Will the rest of the world have to rely on second licensing companies or pirating to carry Capcom games over?

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And hey, speaking of which, why are many games I want these days Japan-Only suddenly? I want to play NinoKuni, The Last Story, Monster Hunter G, that one Xenogears sequel, that one Tales of game... Fact, most of the games I would buy this year (and last) just aren't coming out... What's up? I'm feeling deprived. I was really looking forward to these games. ... Who can I angrilly e-mail and yell at?

 

[Herr Schatz]

Maybe if you're talking about the Wii, but I'm sure Capcom wouldn't want to deprive the World of their popular fighting franchises and their many, many, many add-on's/upgrades/DLC oppurtunities. Funnily enough, the only fighting game that seems to have been free of that horseshit in recent times was Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom. A Wii exclusive.

What's the dilly-o here? Can't DLC be offered to Wii consumers? And yes, this is a serious question. I don't recall any instances of DLC for a Wii title...

That would certainly explain why Capcom wouldn't bother to support it outside of Japan, as far as I can see.

 

[cryogeist]

well Capcom's from japan...not surpriseing...although i don't think they would because the more cuntries you sell to the more money you get
(dammit i miss not having spell-check D

 

[ferd mertz]

There's no way Capcom will stop bringing games like Resident Evil over to the states. There's a new Resident Evil, Dead Rising, and Devil May Cry game coming from Capcom in the near future and there isn't a snowballs chance in hell they're only releasing those in Japan. Now as far as those Japanese sounding games you mentioned........

 

[poppabaggins]

For Monster Hunter, at least, there are generally translation patches. I know that there is one out for MH Portable 3rd now. If you have a hacked PSP, you can import the game from japan and dump the iso from the disk so that you can apply a translation patch (to all of you anti-hackers, this is a legitimate use of hacking your system. in fact, capcom would be making more money from this occasion.)

RPGs on the other hand, generally have too much text to translate (look at how long the Persona 2: Tsumi team took), so your best bet there would be to take some time learning Japanese (a significant undertaking, obviously).

 

[aba1]

I have a hard time seeing a major game developer like capcom wanting undo all the work they have gone through to expand to being such a popular developer that they have become.

 

[Towowo2]

What's the dilly-o here? Can't DLC be offered to Wii consumers? And yes, this is a serious question. I don't recall any instances of DLC for a Wii title...

It's technically feasible. Biggest example are the Rock Band games. DLC could easily be done on the Wii if developers bothered to make use the SD Card functionality.

 

[Toriver]

I think it might have something to do with Japanese perceptions of what sells in the West vs what sells in Japan. And I'm betting that the thinking is that in the West, fast-paced games with a lot of combat, guns and pretty explosions are big sellers. The games you list are generally slower, require a lot of reading and/or level grinding, and may even involve backtracking, stuff that sells in Japan but is often bashed as bad game design in the West. It's not just a difference in culture or an issue of localization costs, but a difference in game-making philosophy. And past attempts at selling those types of games in the West have really only paid off for Square-Enix and Atlus with the support of their flagship franchises, Final Fantasy and Shin Megami Tensei respectively. Other companies have tried, but can't seem to break those games out of a niche gaming market.

Capcom will certainly continue to bring their games that seem to have more of an appeal in the West over to us. Stuff like Deadrising, Resident Evil and Devil May Cry, along with its fighters, have that fast-paced, action-packed gameplay. But don't look for the slower, JRPG-type stuff unless we can actually show them through SALES, not just word of mouth, that we'll buy them even if they don't say Square-Enix on the box.

 

[StBishop]

well Capcom's from japan...not surpriseing...although i don't think they would because the more cuntries you sell to the more money you get
(dammit i miss not having spell-check D

Just copy paste any word you're not sure of into google. It's better than most spell checks anyway.

OT: Nothing to add.

 

[AyaReiko]

1. Oust Inafume
2. Cancel Megaman Legends 3 and Universe
3. Isolate yourself to Japan (a dying market)
4. ??????
5. Profit!

 

[mireko]

No, that sounds absurd unless you exclusively mean the Monster Hunter franchise. MH doesn't move very big numbers over here, after all.

Well, unless the poster you're referring to had some kind of evidence. Did he?

And hey, speaking of which, why are many games I want these days Japan-Only suddenly? I want to play NinoKuni, The Last Story, Monster Hunter G, that one Xenogears sequel, that one Tales of game... Fact, most of the games I would buy this year (and last) just aren't coming out... What's up? I'm feeling deprived. I was really looking forward to these games. ... Who can I angrilly e-mail and yell at?

Probably because we didn't get as much info about never-to-be-localized games in the past.

Oh yeah, and if you're referring to Tales of Xillia then you have to consider the fact that Namco Bandai's Western branch is releasing Tales of Graces F some time next year. Xillia won't see a localization until they've finished up with that one.

 

[Quaidis]

Hey, update here on some of the titles I mentioned towards the end of my post:

I learned through a random note that Ni no Kuni will be eventually released in the West. Then some ramble about how the tsunami fucked up things a bit with translations or... something... I checked up on websites like IGN and it does say a random 'to be announced' under the release outside of Japan.

So, well, yay? Yay!


The rest of the games, excluding maybe Tales of... (read Mireko's post above), are still not coming. Then there's XenoBlade, which will be making its way to Europe and Australia eventually. But not the US. Why? I don't know. Maybe NOA hates Americans. I don't get it.

 

[icame]

Didn't the recent resident evil and all the iterations of street fight 4 sells millions over here? A company that likes to suck its fans dry as much as capcom would never leave such a market.

 

[Belgian_Waffles]

Monster Hunter is not coming to America anymore?
I blame American's and there shitty tastes.

 

[BlastedTheWorm]

Somehow, I don't think Capcom will become a Japan-exclusive company. Some American firm would bring the games over anyway.

If there's anything to this rumour, I assume it'll be Monster Hunter specific. I know Monster Hunter is one of the most popular franchises there is in Japan, yet it doesn't do nearly as well overseas.

 

[Dragunai]

I would love to have been in the business meeting where a guy offered the idea of cutting out the EU and the USA from their sales regions considering those 2 regions must generate more money than hell for a games company.

Yes the modern Japanese culture for the younger generations is very anime / gaming motivated by I doubt they would shut down their international divisions and kill off what I imagine to be like 60-80% of their profit margin :s

 

[Your Fearless Captain]

Since Capcom is run by the worlds biggest douches that's probably true.

 

[BlackLurker]

1. Oust Inafume
2. Cancel Megaman Legends 3 and Universe
3. Isolate yourself to Japan (a dying market)
4. ??????
5. Profit!

I may be wrong, but the proper phrase to use here is "This"? Seriously, I saw someone talking about Nintendo needing to be saved, but Capcom seems to genuinly be suffering from problems.