Japanese developers cater to a different crowd than western developers. It's not racism, they simply develop for the Japanese crowds. They still have arcades in Japan, so a lot of games are developed with that in mind. I figure we are lucky to have even got Super Street Fighter 4, and the arcades in Japan have more characters. Translating a game is time consuming and expensive, which plays another part in it. The fact is, many Western games don't do well in Japan. They seem to want nothing to do with a Microsoft product.
When all is said and done, they develop games with their target audience in mind, just like in America.
Therumancer said:
To give some specific examples (and this goes back a while) when "Final Fantasy X-2" was coming out in the US we learned that there was going to be a third part in the story called "Final Fantasy X- Final Mission" which was going to finish the story and answer the remaining questions about that world and storyline, but was going to NOT be released to the US. At the same time, we also had the release of "Final Fantasy X- International" with additional content and difficulty levels, which was international *except* to the US, and like with "Final Mission" it was an intentional snub for the benefit of the Japanese fans, especially seeing as the series at the time was facing a lot of accusations of selling out. This move made almost no financial sense, yet it's still what they did, as the companies involved had enough money apparently, and simply felt some things were more important.
You'll also notice that if you take a look at the release schedules, that there are a lot of games, some quite high profile, that remain Japan-only despite the serious potential for international sales. The "Wizardry" series (based on the American RPG series) and "Super Robot Wars" tactical RPG series are two in paticular that would see a fairly successful release, but all excuses aside, seem to be being kept Japan-only intentionally. The comments occasionally made about liscencing and the like usually come close to being nonsensical when you stop think think about it.
I do believe that the reason we didn't see the release of extended FFX games is because the game was honestly not very well received. I know I didn't care for it, and X-2 was made with female audiences in mind. My girlfriend at the time LOVED it, but I didn't care for it either.
Just because a game is promising doesn't mean that they can just make it able to run on American systems and call it a day. It's more like, with a few exceptions, there is extensive amounts of work to be done to prepare a game for a foreign market. There is dubbing issues, in game voice acting if there is any, lip syncing, fixing social nuances so references in game make sense to american audiences, etc. On top of all that, by the time a game releases in America, they usually do add more content, even if it's just a few extra scenes, perhaps a movie that wasn't in the Japanese edition. I know that the releases of FFX saw some big improvements between the two releases.
For publishers that do not have international offices, they must also find an American company to back the game. That costs the American company money and they take a chance bringing a game that may not do well, even if the anticipation is high. I feel as though I should point out how companies like Activision and EA treat game properties, this is a big obstacle for games. Then their is the American development company that handles the translations. There were a few JRPG's I was looking forward too that were completely destroyed by the translations and horrendous voice work. It's situations like this that will destroy a games chances internationally.
I can't agree or disagree with what you say about their "racist" tendencies, but I have never gotten that out of interviews I have watched or things I have read.
Just a contrary opinion to your own, I mean peace.
Also, so many games don't make sense outside of Japan. Last time I checked there isn't a market for dating sims outside of Japan. In America people are offended by the concept of same sex relationship options in a game, let alone a whole game based around meeting and dating other people. Fighting games have taken a real crap here in America too. I love fighting games, but so many people only want more Call of Duty, it's honestly annoying. I feel lucky to have gotten a release of Tatsunoko Vs Capcom, which was a fantastic game.
