On Selling Western PC Games In Japan

Thanks to GameSpot for their interview with the Japanese PC game publisher Cyberfront, discussing what it takes for a Western PC game to sell in console-dominated Japan. The company's best-sellers are Civilization III, which boasts "good name recognition", and takes advantage of "the... popular simulation genre" in Japan, and interestingly, SWAT III - apparently, "the tactical shooter struck a chord among this particular group: Japan's model firearm subculture." The company's founders argue that the first-person shooter genre can still be popular in Japan, pointing out that "Medal of Honor for PS2 sold 200,000 copies." However, the PC market is still relatively small, so "...a title that sells 10,000 copies in Japan is considered a hit."

Similarities and Differences

[Code Dark]

It seems that across cultures we have alot of differences (obviously), but despite the reasons for it, no one can resist a good shoot-em-up.

"the... popular simulation genre"

[KNicolson]

Unfortunately, the most popular facets of the simulation genre in Japan are those of "rapist", "pedophile", and "incestual pedophile rapist", judging by Something Awful's review pages [somethingawful.com].

On a serious note, they say:

If a game like Dragon Quest VIII came out on PC, they could easily sell 4 or 5 million copies, but there's just no incentive for Square Enix to move away from consoles

but surely there's not much bigger an incentive than 4 or 5 million sales for a port?

Re:"the... popular simulation genre"

[JExtine]

Final Fantasy 7 and 8 have been ported to PC, as well as 11. I'm not sure if 7 and 8 were released on PC in Japan or not...

Re:"the... popular simulation genre"

[Tisephone]

7 was. Interestingly enough... if I remember correctly, they also released the American version translated back into Japanese as "Final Fantasy 7 International Edition". I'm not sure why.

'Internation Editions'

[DeadScreenSky]

they also released the American version translated back into Japanese as "Final Fantasy 7 International Edition". I'm not sure why.

It was rereleased because it had more stuff added to it (not sure what, probably some sidequests, items, monsters, etc. - FFs not really my cup of tea). For some reason the Japanese will actually spend big money on these rereleases. (I suppose some truly obsessive fans combined with lots of disposable income, by American standards, is a good reason for that.) You see the same

Japan's model firearm subculture

[heldlikesound]

In case people are unfamiliar with this "subculture" they are referring to the sport/hobby of Airsoft, which are exact replicas of real firearms, accurate to every detail, including weight. These guns shoot plastic BB's, and are either spring loaded, or, on the more expensive models, gas-powered.

Aside from just collecting this guns, there are people that actually play with them ala paintball guns, with teams and everything (think real-life Counterstrike).

When I was a kid, me and brothers would have killed for a good, solid plastic BB gun, so in my quest to relive my childhood days, I bought a few cheap Airsoft Glocks (33 and 17) just for plinking around.

Here are some relevant links:

http://www.redwolfairsoft.com/redwolf/airsoft/Ho me
http://shop.airsoftdynamics.com/home.shtml
http ://www.airsoftelite.com/

Also, these are GREAT for shooting girlfriends/cats!

Re:Japan's model firearm subculture

[Aliencow]

Maybe it's because they shoot their girlfriends with BBs...or maybe it's because they don't have a sense of humor, who knows!

Re:Japan's model firearm subculture

[AlexMax2742]

Aside from just collecting this guns, there are people that actually play with them ala paintball guns, with teams and everything (think real-life Counterstrike).

I actually did this a year or two ago with some friends when I was still in high school. He bought some cheap airsoft guns, dished them out and we just shot the crap out of each other in his backyard. Most fun I've had in a while too.

Different culture, allright!

[obeythefist]

The Japanese have a very different market to sell for. They like smaller things that are more gadgety, which is why mobile phones and small game consoles are popular, where bulky PC's aren't seen as being as cool as they are in the West.

They also like different kinds of games, the Final Fantasy series is much bigger there than here. Games like Quake and Doom and multiplayer games are much more popular in the west. Multiplayer is a big driver for PC games that the consoles are only just waking up to (Th

Re:Different culture, allright!

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

Multiplayer is new for consoles? Hmm, that's odd - didn't the NES have two controller ports? Let's see - one controller was for me, that's single-player. Now who's going to use that second port if the games aren't multiplayer? Uh, maybe I was supposed to use the other controller with my feet? Silly me - I played Contra with a friend - and thus violated your law and engaged in multiplayer gaming on a console.

I realize you meant online gaming but the fact that you call it "me too!" mode, says a lot about your