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Capcom removes fan translated Great Ace Attorney videos from youtube

Raitaro

Member
Fucking Capcom.
Unless some surprise localization is announced (lol), this is really shitty.
But then again, their treatment of this IP in the West has been pretty bad.

Indeed. I mean, if they had released one Dai Gyakuten game and then found out they couldn't localize it due to the Sherlock license or something, ok that's unfortunate but somewhat acceptable I guess, but for them to then actually decide to develop a second game that won't make it over either is a big, big slap in the face of AA fans in the West. Why greenlight such a sequel in the first place as a global company (that prides itelf on its loyal global fanbase), especially within a series that already has such a troubled Western release history (with digital releases only for many of the games and no AAI2 localization either after the first one did make it over)?!

I was just listening to Giant Bomb's third E3 night where they had Capcom community manager Tim Turi on telling Jeff that he is always listening and looking for fan feedback. I have to wonder what good that does, and what his role is worth in general, if a single old man from the Japanese side of Capcom can just do someting like taking down a fansub channel that pisses off all AA fans here in one fell swoop. (Same goes for the absence of Switch announcements even for retro games heavily tied to Nintendo consoles historically.)
 

BiggNife

Member
Maybe im stupid, but is this a universal law?
A game company cannot protect their own IP, becouse the fans cannot play the game in English?

I mean, yes, it's legal, but how are they really protecting their IP in this instance? They're not losing sales because the people watching this LP literally can't play the version Capcom is selling. They're not losing any money here.

Just because something is legal does not mean it is morally justifiable. Your posts make it sound like you think it's ridiculous anyone could get upset over this because Capcom is just protecting their IP, but in this case Capcom has literally nothing to gain from this except pissing over their fans because they've outright said they're not localizing TGA.

I can definitely think of examples where I understand why a big company shuts down a fan project -- in the case of AM2R, the fact that Nintendo had a Metroid 2 remake of their own in development to sell at retail makes it completely understandable as to why they'd shut down AM2R (even though it still sucks). In that case, Nintendo is genuinely protecting their IP. In this case, Capcom has no plans to sell TGA in America, so all this does is give a middle finger to English-speaking Ace Attorney fans.
 

Takeru

Member
Just skimmed through the thread so sorry if someone already said it.

He should try to contact Capcom's NA or EU representatives and see if they can help out.

I have YT friends that are close with Bandai Namco, but for certain games, as expected out this Japanese businessmen out of the loop, BN Japan gave them Content ID and/or Copyright Strikes. All they did was contact Bandai Namco US to see if they can help and they were able to. I know the entire channel got shut down but I've seen many shutdown channels being restored once things get cleared up.
 

Koppai

Member
If you're going to take it down, do the fans a favour and localize it, Capcom. Hell, hire some of them to do it.

Or, if it's because of the Sherlock Holmes/Doyle estate rights situation in North America and Europe, communicate to fans on exactly why you can't bring it over.
Couldn't they just change the characters names if it was really a licensing issue?
 

Vibranium

Banned
Couldn't they just change the characters names if it was really a licensing issue?

Yeah they absolutely could. I keep seeing people saying that the rights would stop a localization, but Capcom USA could easily call him "Herlock Jones" or something hahaha.
 

Koppai

Member
Yeah they absolutely could. I keep seeing people saying that the rights would stop a localization, but Capcom USA could easily call him "Herlock Jones" or something hahaha.
I tweeted to Capcom_Unity and MYCAPCOM (Japanese account) about them bringing the game over...lol
 
Couldn't they just change the characters names if it was really a licensing issue?

They could, though for full disclosure it should be mentioned the game as it was, or at least my impression of it based on fan sub, was fairly deeper into Holmes related lore than it had reputation of. It is nothing a skilled localizer could not handle, but those references are everywhere.
 
Old Japanese companies are so trash with this, and they hold so many beloved IPs in hostage like that.

Nintendo, Sega, Capcom, they all are fucking horrible with youtube and are abusing a system that has no consequence for them.
 

Joqu

Member
They could, though for full disclosure it should be mentioned the game as it was, or at least my impression of it based on fan sub, was fairly deeper into Holmes related lore than it had reputation of. It is nothing a skilled localizer could not handle, but those references are everywhere.

Considering the work that was put into changing all the Japan stuff in the other Ace Attorney games, changing the Sherlock Holmes element strikes me as something similarly feasible if it turned out to be an issue. Those references have been everywhere too.
 

Jawmuncher

Member
Capcom USA gets treated like trash and it seems nothing has changed even from the days when Sven worked there. As said above there was always a lot of the "We take feedback and Japan just shoots us down".

Capcom USA literally does nothing more but put the PR up in English
 
Couldn't they just change the characters names if it was really a licensing issue?

There are only 10 Holmes stories that are still under copyright. If the game doesn't reference events and developments that are specific to these stories, they shouldn't have to license the characters at all. The Holmes character is in the public domain.
 

Mr. RHC

Member
Investigations 2 is one of the best in the series.
Great Ace Attorney is probably the best game in the series.

Oh well.
 

zulux21

Member
Couldn't they just change the characters names if it was really a licensing issue?

I mean they could, but there shouldn't be any licensing issues related to sherlock holmes.
it's a public domain IP at this point.

you can go out and make a movie about Sherlock Holmes fist fighting Dracula and Frankenstein's monster and wouldn't have to buy any rights since they are all PD.

edit:
There are only 10 Holmes stories that are still under copyright. If the game doesn't reference events and developments that are specific to these stories, they shouldn't have to license the characters at all. The Holmes character is in the public domain.

oh yeah I forget that a few of the stories are still not PD. but yeah the character himself totally is.
 
Ever since the PS360 days, it's felt like Japanese devs are always a generation behind.

They couldn't adapt to HD gaming last generation and now they can't adapt to the YouTube and streaming generation
 
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