Agent Unknown
Member
Quoted/paraphrased from the Part Time Gamers Podcast:
Edit: This is from a podcast done August 3, 2015, the same week this thread was made. Search the ITunes Store or the Apple podcast app for "Part Time Gamers" if you want to listen to it.
That's in the first 12 minutes. I agree with him on Captain Rainbow, as much as I would have liked to try it, that game was super niche and fits the point he makes. But still insisting that Xenoblade Chronicles was too risky for NOA and NOE had to "take the fall"? Ok, unlike NOA, I think NOE was just more willing to try and make a move to please their core fans (especially Wii owners who were hungry for RPGs at the time) instead of having the rather antagonistic, derisive view of them which kind of seems to permeate NOA from Reggie on down these days (and also kind of permeates Pranger's tone during the duration of the podcast).
And in the end, that move paid off for everyone as Xenoblade did well in Europe and sold well in the U.S.
http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/r...-the-sales-of-xenoblade-last-story.452694055/
Per the quote above, Reggie says they brought the game over because were pleased with the sales in Europe, but to me that just demonstrates fact this wasn't NOE "taking the fall," they're just more open minded sometimes and have the guts to try things sometimes that NOA refuses to. Even after NOE did all of the costly voice work and translation work which Pranger complains about and uses as his key argument, NOA STILL dragged its heels before striking the deal with Xseed and Gamestop.
Near the end of the Podcast, Pranger says it really irritates him that fans on NeoGaf constantly complain about Wii U sales suffering due to confusion surrounding the 'Wii U naming convention' and says this complaint is mostly just fan overreaction to something we can only see now "in hindsight." I guess maybe I can kind of agree with him there as before launch I shrugged off the naming myself and insisted it was overworrying (talk about eating Crow, heh) but some like bgamer90 successfully predicted months before launch that branding confusion would be an issue (man, Crow pie is gamey). I also find this interesting in contrast with Dan Adelman's opinion on the endless consumer confusion surrounding the system and the name that he stated last August:
Anyways, aside from all that, I HIGHLY recommend listening to the podcast. Pranger shares a lot of fascinating insight to Sakurai's stressful, artistically obsessive qualities and a lot of interesting tid bits on the things they have to work around when translating Japanese text and puns to fit western releases, (some funny anecdotes about Kap'n). Hey, speaking of which, glad years ago that the Treehouse staff back then didn't see Animal Crossing as a huge localization risk/burden and were willing to beg NCL to let them bring the game over.
And Mr. Pranger, if you're reading this, please don't take offense at this thread, I really enjoyed your experiences in the podcast and look forward to hearing you as Boss #1 in Star Fox.
Edit: This is from a podcast done August 3, 2015, the same week this thread was made. Search the ITunes Store or the Apple podcast app for "Part Time Gamers" if you want to listen to it.
Chris a Pranger, localization employee for NOA, joined in 2012:
And they just say the classic Why do you hate money? Why do you hate money, Nintendo? (said in droning, "dumb guy" nasally voice)
And its like What are you talking about? Were trying to make obviously it has to make calculated risks, but at the same time, one of those risks and I mean theyll bring up games that are very Japanese games, like Captain Rainbow for instance. Theyll bring that up like Look how many people want this. Dont you want money?(repeats "dumb guy" nasally voice) And well be like Yeah, we do want money, which is why we know its a colossal waste if we ever try to localize that in this current market, because look at you people. You dont make up a big enough group.
You look at something like even Xenoblade Chronicles. People love that game, you know, within a certain group. That game is not the type of game that just pulls in enough to justify the costs on that. So thats like, we got it in the States by luck, that NoE decided Oh, well take the fall. Well localize that. Okay, cause someone is going to have to eat the costs somewhere, because that game is guaranteed to not sell enough to justify how big that game is. You know, hundreds of hours, all voiced. Thats a lot of money that goes into that.
And people are like Why do you guys hate money? (Dumb guy nasally voice) We dont. Thats why you literally cant make everything. And people dont like finding out that their fanbase is actually too small to justify the costs of the thing they want.
That's in the first 12 minutes. I agree with him on Captain Rainbow, as much as I would have liked to try it, that game was super niche and fits the point he makes. But still insisting that Xenoblade Chronicles was too risky for NOA and NOE had to "take the fall"? Ok, unlike NOA, I think NOE was just more willing to try and make a move to please their core fans (especially Wii owners who were hungry for RPGs at the time) instead of having the rather antagonistic, derisive view of them which kind of seems to permeate NOA from Reggie on down these days (and also kind of permeates Pranger's tone during the duration of the podcast).
And in the end, that move paid off for everyone as Xenoblade did well in Europe and sold well in the U.S.
http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/r...-the-sales-of-xenoblade-last-story.452694055/
Reggie on XenoBlade:
"We needed to make sure that there was really an opportunity for it. We wanted to see how it would sell in Europe, and based on the performance in Europe, we would look to bring it here to the U.S. It did well in Europe; we decided to bring it in here. We took a very smart approach and we sold it ourselves online in terms of physical goods as well as a focus on GameStop as a retailer, and it was a very good effort for us. (It sold) Quite well."
Per the quote above, Reggie says they brought the game over because were pleased with the sales in Europe, but to me that just demonstrates fact this wasn't NOE "taking the fall," they're just more open minded sometimes and have the guts to try things sometimes that NOA refuses to. Even after NOE did all of the costly voice work and translation work which Pranger complains about and uses as his key argument, NOA STILL dragged its heels before striking the deal with Xseed and Gamestop.
Near the end of the Podcast, Pranger says it really irritates him that fans on NeoGaf constantly complain about Wii U sales suffering due to confusion surrounding the 'Wii U naming convention' and says this complaint is mostly just fan overreaction to something we can only see now "in hindsight." I guess maybe I can kind of agree with him there as before launch I shrugged off the naming myself and insisted it was overworrying (talk about eating Crow, heh) but some like bgamer90 successfully predicted months before launch that branding confusion would be an issue (man, Crow pie is gamey). I also find this interesting in contrast with Dan Adelman's opinion on the endless consumer confusion surrounding the system and the name that he stated last August:
Dan Adelman says the Wii U name is holding Nintendo back
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/wii-u-name-is-abysmal-and-it-cut-sales-in-half-for/1100-6421558/
"Wii U is not selling as well as it deserves to. It has a lot to offer with great games you cant get anywhere else. The value of the GamePad hasnt been justified. But the name Wii U is abysmal. I think that cut sales in half right there."
Anyways, aside from all that, I HIGHLY recommend listening to the podcast. Pranger shares a lot of fascinating insight to Sakurai's stressful, artistically obsessive qualities and a lot of interesting tid bits on the things they have to work around when translating Japanese text and puns to fit western releases, (some funny anecdotes about Kap'n). Hey, speaking of which, glad years ago that the Treehouse staff back then didn't see Animal Crossing as a huge localization risk/burden and were willing to beg NCL to let them bring the game over.
And Mr. Pranger, if you're reading this, please don't take offense at this thread, I really enjoyed your experiences in the podcast and look forward to hearing you as Boss #1 in Star Fox.