Please stop trying to splice up and downplay the main points and customer related benefits of localization with these tiresome arbitrary "example X vs example Y" devil's advocate narratives. If we're going to play that game, was Ni No Kuni a waste of time for Sony's western branches? And if you don't think it was a waste, then what's your point here other than defending NOA's past practices? If SCEA decides to help localize DQ 11 (based on DQ Heroes they surely will) and NOA doesn't, will that be a waste of time for SCEA when that spurs RPG fans to buy a PS4? Was DQ 8 a waste of time for both SCEA and SCEE's fan bases when that sold below a million in the west? No, because despite that, it surely still made a profit and helped foster the image at the time that the PS2 was THE go-to system for JRPGs in the early 2000s which either way you cut it was a win for Sony and their customers as a whole.
As has been said many times by others like Shocking Alberto, risk taking and being willing to take the occasional hit on non AAA sales number games is how you cultivate a fanbase which feels appreciate and those costs are recouped by other titles if necessary.
Is NOA getting better? Yes. But they have a LOT of work to do attitude and approach wise if Mr, Pranger's tone and toxically stubborn opinion on Xenoblade is a reflection of the overall culture there.
I heard nothing wrong in Pranger's tone, you've been called out on this who knows how many times. I listened to the podcast already and heard nothing wrong. You even tried to say that he was dumping on smash fans but he was not. You keep trying to spin this that he is in the wrong for a business decision he wasn't around for since he wasn't working their yet. In hindsight the game sold well now, but it could have very well been a risk AT THAT TIME. JRPGs did well on consoles in the past but not anymore. they all moved to handhelds. Get your head into that time and notice the market shifting heavily to handhelds and noticing a huge drop off in people purchasing console JRPGs and drop off of publishers and devs on consoles altogether.
Nothing said was anything at all antagonistic, wrong or toxic but you seem to think it is. You seem to think you're right but only in hindsight that something went well when MOST of the time it does not. Petitions rarely work and more often if a company caters to those demands that thing bombs huge because there wasn't enough people.
What if Xenoblade failed? What if it bombed hard after its localization like most petitions do. Why did we not get a lot of console games in the west? Because sometimes it's not worth the risk and losing tons and tons amounts of money. Look at the previous generation and how many studios went under. Look at the problems that generation had, look at the problems that still persist in this generation, look at the market and why things are considered a gigantic risk for some and why they would even think about not localizing something.
Toxic though? No, that's the current instability of this industry and trying to understand the risks and the very different regional markets.
I understand the point of being willing to take a risk for the sake of growing an install base, I agreed with Shocking Alberto's points on growing one and I understand the logic. But you can't seem to understand why it was even considered a risk and call it toxic.
Simple fact of the matter is Xenoblade was a financial risk and there is no erasing that. It was a AAA JRPG in a time where that was dying off outside a tiny few publishers like Square Enix.
What if the next Dragon Quest never comes to the west? What if the 3DS continues to outsell the console versions by a huge margin? Why is Dragon Quest multiplatform now when it has never been before? The market has changed a great deal and there are many more risks involved more than ever. You seem to be ignoring that by going on this crusade when every company is having the same problems and have said the same exact things that Pranger has time and time again.
Also...
JRPG era through the 90's and early 2000's? Try the anime domination era where anime was at the height of popularity and JRPGs were natural extensions of that. People who liked anime often gravitated to them and people who like JRPGs would gravitate to anime. there was a symbiotic relationship going on that no longer really exists in the west so the sales we saw no longer exist on consoles in today's market. They'd be lucky to even hit 500k these days let alone 1 million. Completely different market than anything we have at all. Period.
Anything you spend money on up front and hope to make a profit on after sales is a financial risk. Please stop saying that Xenoblade was a financial risk therefore it shouldn't have been localized. Say that NOA wasn't willing to take the risk. That puts the blame where it belongs.
No one at all is saying it shouldn't have been localized but it was a financial risk.