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Phil Rogers, CEO of Square Enix EU: "Looking into localizing games via crowdfunding"

K

Kenzodielocke

Banned
Edit: SE EU stands for Square Enix Europe, not Sony.
Edit2: Nvm, but I forgot something

Square Enix must first establish a financing target for a candidate match . Then takes on the part of fans is sufficient demand exist that funding is ensured via crowdfunding - then the location could be made . " I think that is a partnership that can be built up in a very natural way . I would really like to see how we can do that," says Rogers .
Click to expand...

So, this is from a news site I normally don't visit, but they are reporting of an interview with Phil Rogers in the latest Game Informer, where he talks about the idea to let fans fund the localization for games that wouldn't come out in the west otherwise.

He also says that the localization process costs a lot of money and sometimes the risk of doing a localization is just not worth it.

Not much more from the german news site.

http://www.gamefront.de/index.html

What do you think of that ?


lock if old.
 
I'd kickstart the shit our of an Ace Attorney Investigation 2 port.

edit: for some reason I thought this was Capcom, got AA on the mind.
 
I love this idea. I know some people might not want that because of being a publisher. But you're not funding a game, you're basically pre-ordering your game and if there's enough demand, you get your localization. Far better than any petitions or so.
 
If that's what it takes, do it
The risks are smaller than for other kickstarters, so it really wont be much different from a pre-order
 
This....isn't actually a bad idea.

It actually makes a lot of sense, especially considering the localisation of particular niche games that wouldn't make profit in the first place.
 
Wow this seems crazy, but I'm kinda ok with it? If the game would never be released otherwise I'd rather this than nothing at all.
 
I hate the idea of letting fan contribute whatever they want to fund it.

But setting a preorder goal for localization isn't bad I think.
 
As long as crowdfunders secure a copy of the game then this seems like a win-win and only benefits consumers who want a niche game localised. This can only be a good thing if my point above is true.
 
Could be a noble idea, but its SE so lets see what they offer - could this apply to old games that never made it over?

ps3ud0 8)
 
This is a really smart, forward thinking idea, and given that it would be squenix's name on the line, I feel like the chances of failure would be pretty low compared to most crowdfunded enterprises.
 
It's based on a Game Informer interview, apparently. Does anyone have the original source handy? GameFront is known for mistranslations, so it would be nice to double check.

I like the idea when/if it leads to more obscure games getting a translation, though. But there might be a temptation to use this as a ploy to gather secure and definite pre-orders for games they'd have localized anyway...
 
If it's less like crowdfunding, and consumers are offered the same kind of assurances and protection that you get with an actual purchase, that would be fine by me.

Lets say there is some problem and a localisation gets cancelled despite having had a bunch of people pledge to buy it, everyone should get a refund.

SE are a massive multinational corporation, if this is more about engaging with people to discover whether demand exists for specific localisation, rather than offsetting the risk onto their userbase, I am OK with it. I don't know if they really need customers to put money on the table for this, mind, it's easy enough to just listen to people.

Their other crowdfunding initiative, The Collective, has been a colossal failure, and has been mismanaged since the start.
 
I think this is a fantastic idea, especially if I consider how they could tier things out for goals. X$ = game localised, X+$ = localised voice acting x++$ = later add-ons localised etc etc
 
Are they actually looking into it? Like did he bring it up, or is this one of those cases where the journalist asks a leading question and the interviewee gives a non-denial answer? Because the latter seems to happen a lot with Kickstarter and is usually meaningless.

Journalist: Have you looked into Kickstarter?
Interviewee: We're keeping all of our options open.

Headline: Company X looking into Kickstarter for their next game!
 
Christ, it takes them long enough to make games regularly.

Can't imagine how many decades it will take for a crowdfunded game to release.
 
I hate the idea of a publisher doing crowd funding... the only positive aspect I can see from this is gauging interest what people want localised but I think publishing polls across social media/forums is a better alternative.
 
dickgumshoe said:
A big publisher shouldn't ever do anything via crowdfunding.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

Small publishers like Ghostlight trying to bring over a super niche JP title? Sure. Companies that hire thousands of staff worldwide, who happily gamble hundreds of millions per year on Generic War Shooter 28? Get out.
 
GhostTrick said:
I love this idea. I know some people might not want that because of being a publisher. But you're not funding a game, you're basically pre-ordering your game and if there's enough demand, you get your localization. Far better than any petitions or so.
Click to expand...

I agree. This is a legitimate reason to pre-order. I know there's plenty of room for cynicism and manipulation, but localization is expensive and I'd rather hear "We don't think there is a market for this, but if you pre-order $50,000 worth of copies we'll do it." than "Yeah, fatal frame 5? It's digital only on the wii-u, when it flops we won't bother porting any more." or the mess we've seen with retailer exclusives like Xenoblade Chronicles on wii.

The way some of you guys act you'd prefer these games didn't get localized at all, which is currently the more sound business decision for these big companies looking at larger budgets.
 
dickgumshoe said:
A big publisher shouldn't ever do anything via crowdfunding.
Click to expand...

Eh, why not? There have been quite a few promising Square Enix games in the past that I'd like to have played, but that got passed over since localizations were deemed financially not viable. Why would a way to give those games a chance be a bad thing? The idea that big publishers can just afford wasting money because they are big is quite a flawed line of thinking. That's just not going to happen.

Judging by your avatar, you are an Ace Attorney fan. Currently, everything seems to indicate that Great Ace Attorney won't get an English release. Wouldn't you consider crowdfunding such a release?
 
What games are we really missing on PlayStation platforms? Only the Yakuza games really come to mind.

edit: Oh wait, Square Enix. Got confused too. :/ I guess this is a Dragon Quest 7 3DS thread then.
 
I'd be down for this for niche stuff, and even maybe some general platform port funding (provided the people making the port have a good history).
 
Sony made 8 trillion yen in latest quarter. The idea they would do Kickstarter amuses me.

Edit: I can't read.
 
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