Localization of niche Japanese games by western publishers.

[Rebel Ninja]

Hi there. I just have a few questions which I am looking for (rough) answers for.

Firstly is anyone able to give the sort of price that it would cost a western publisher for the licence of a visual novel, shmup or TRPG? Any company or game would be fine.

Secondly how would the publisher receive the original game to start work on and whats the average time it would take a team of people (any size) to finish localizing the product?

Lastly are there any common rules that the developers give to the Publishers for the localization of their work?

Thanks

[PC Engine Fan X!]

If you recall the USA based Working Designs localization firm, they would take existing import titles and add their own unique brand of humor and designs with the intention of selling in the North American market base. Some folks griped about them doing this and have said that the original import game title is better in terms of gameplay and/or game difficulty. Not to mention that some particular WD released game titles like Thunder Force V and Ray Crisis were delayed time and time again despite their announced intial retail release dates would come and go. They sure liked to anger their fans doing this back in the day.

I recall placing a $5.00 pre-paid deposit at my local Funcoland for the upcoming WD released PSX TF-V port and was told that on the said release date, that it had been pushed back even further. Finally, when I got the call that it had come in, I was told that only four copies were available, three which were on reserve and the last one, anyone could buy it off the street without any reservations whatsoever.

A classic example would be the USA region WD released Playstation Raystorm game compared to it's original JPN PSX counterpart of the same name. By default, on the WD RS game, you can't select the difficulty level below #4 or else you'd enter "Training Mode". This was done for the $10,000 WD sponsored RS contest that they had in late 1997-early 1998 timeline.

Sadly, when WD folded, they never released a single PS3 game title for that matter.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Kiken]

If you recall the USA based Working Designs localization firm, they would take existing import titles and add their own unique brand of humor and designs with the intention of selling in the North American market base. Some folks griped about them doing this and have said that the original import game title is better in terms of gameplay and/or game difficulty.

A classic example would be the USA region WD released Playstation Raystorm game compared to it's original JPN PSX counterpart of the same name. By default, on the WD RS game, you can't select the difficulty level below #4 or else you'd enter "Training Mode". This was done for the $10,000 WD sponsored RS contest that they had in late 1997-early 1998 timeline.

Sadly, when WD folded, they never released a single PS3 game title for that matter.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Remind me again how this answers any of Rebel Ninja's questions?


Rebel Ninja, you're better off directly asking a company like Valcon, UFO Interactive or Aksys Games. I doubt any of them will divulge hard data like their licensing fees, but I'm sure some of them may be willing to give you info regarding length of translation time, size of team required, or maybe the odd specific or two concerning localization requirements.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The PR folks at those third-party localization firms probably might not want to divulge such info but it wouldn't hurt to ask anyways from a business perspective viewpoint (if it helps out on your potential firm opening to conduct business with possible future developers).

Are you looking to form a team to handle localizing such import titles for sales/distribution in the UK, Rebel Ninja?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Rebel Ninja]

Are you looking to form a team to handle localizing such import titles for sales/distribution in the UK, Rebel Ninja?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Actually I am doing an assignment on starting a business and I need to create a rough financial plan.

[MR_Soren]

Are you looking to form a team to handle localizing such import titles for sales/distribution in the UK, Rebel Ninja?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Actually I am doing an assignment on starting a business and I need to create a rough financial plan.

Some of the niche publishers might be willing to give out some general info on the subject, but I doubt you would have much luck getting a Japanese developer to begin negotiations with you if you don't already have some contacts and experience. I realize this is a class project, but that could be a significant obstacle for this hypothetical business.

[Alec]

Name, time and place escape me, but I vaguely remember talking about this with somebody (sorry if you're reading this I'm bad with names). One huge difference in publishing games in America and Japan is the minimum print run. To publish a USA Xbox 360 game you're looking at printing a minimum of 30,000 discs, in Japan, more like 5,000. These numbers are from memory, and likely incorrect, but illustrate that its not a matter of a game selling as many over here as in Japan, but selling a lot more.

Otomedius being announced for US release blows my mind out the water. Deathsmiles seems risky enough, but Otomedius, yeah somebody at Konami is getting fired for that one.

[Acid King]

Otomedius being announced for US release blows my mind out the water. Deathsmiles seems risky enough, but Otomedius, yeah somebody at Konami is getting fired for that one.

When did that happen?

[Jockel]

Deathsmiles seems risky enough, but Otomedius, yeah somebody at Konami is getting fired for that one.

Wait 'till word get's around how the laggy controls render the game borderline unplayable.

[Specineff]

How about the fact that it lacks everything that made the Parodius series fun to play. (FUCK THOSE DIORAMA BACKGROUNDS.)