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This thread has been linked to the game 'Suikoden III'.
Here's why.
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The reason for not releasing Suikoden 3 in Europe is due to translation
problems, but not just the cost issue. Yes it is very expensive to translate a text based game such as Suikoden into several European languages, but we release all our games with 5 text language options and Suikoden 3 would not be an exception. There are other issues, because of the way that Suikoden 3 was programmed and coded in the first place, it is very difficult to go back and change the text. They practically have to start again and re-programme the whole thing from the beginning. They will have to do this for each language. This would mean that it would take a very long time to have the European version finished. We just don't have the time or the man power.
We are aware that there is a large RPG fanbase in Europe, I am one myself,
however these amount to very few in the overall market. In order to make the game more appealing to other people in Europe as well as the hard core fans, we need to release it in other languages. It is very text heavy and for someone who can not read or speak English it would be very difficult to play. I tried playing a Japanese version but I had to give up after about an hour, I didn't know what was going on and this made it difficult and boring.
We would be losing a considerable amount of money if we released an English only version in Europe, it would sell only to the fans and that is not enough people, we wouldn't even be close to breaking even. Yes, we released Suikoden 1 & 2 in English only, and they didn't sell, we hardly sold any at all and we made a loss, we can not afford to do that again. It is ridiculous to expect any publisher to release a game if they know that they are not going to make even the smallest of profits.
Best Regards,
Martine Saunders
European Brand Coordinator
On Behalf of Konami of Europe
****
And when asked about ALL the other dodgy Konami products that manage to find a space on the shelves.
****
First of all, you are right, releasing an English only version (American
English) in Europe is a good idea and is something that has been considered, but there are many other issues that need to be overcome, not just the language issue or the cost implications. The decision not to release in Europe was not one that was taken lightly, many aspects were thoroughly thought through first.
Now to your second point, how can we afford to translate and release poor
quality products and not Suikoden 3? Well, Konami Corporation acts a bit
like a holding company, within Konami we have many development studios, but they all act as separate, individual companies and in some cases even
compete against each other (hence our 2 football games, ISS & Pro Evo). Even though they are under the Konami name they have been set up as separate businesses so have separate overheads and targets etc. All their offices are in different buildings miles apart from each other throughout Japan, we also have a team in the US. When a team makes a game, the Konami parent company has to pay that team a royalty per unit sold. I have simplified this a bit, it is rather more complicated than that, but you have to see that some development teams have more money than others and also demand more or less money from Konami Corporation, all of this affects weather or not we can afford to translate a product or release it. Also some products are easier to localise, both language wise and converting to PAL, this depends on the actual code of the game, how it was programmed. It costs less to covert a game that can easily be localised without much time or effort, again affecting weather we can afford to release it or not. A game that was cheap to make and localise needs to sell less copies to make a profit than great games that were expensive to create and localise.
Best Regards,
Martine
Martine Saunders
European Brand Co-ordinator
Konami of Europe GmbH
****
****
The reason for not releasing Suikoden 3 in Europe is due to translation
problems, but not just the cost issue. Yes it is very expensive to translate a text based game such as Suikoden into several European languages, but we release all our games with 5 text language options and Suikoden 3 would not be an exception. There are other issues, because of the way that Suikoden 3 was programmed and coded in the first place, it is very difficult to go back and change the text. They practically have to start again and re-programme the whole thing from the beginning. They will have to do this for each language. This would mean that it would take a very long time to have the European version finished. We just don't have the time or the man power.
We are aware that there is a large RPG fanbase in Europe, I am one myself,
however these amount to very few in the overall market. In order to make the game more appealing to other people in Europe as well as the hard core fans, we need to release it in other languages. It is very text heavy and for someone who can not read or speak English it would be very difficult to play. I tried playing a Japanese version but I had to give up after about an hour, I didn't know what was going on and this made it difficult and boring.
We would be losing a considerable amount of money if we released an English only version in Europe, it would sell only to the fans and that is not enough people, we wouldn't even be close to breaking even. Yes, we released Suikoden 1 & 2 in English only, and they didn't sell, we hardly sold any at all and we made a loss, we can not afford to do that again. It is ridiculous to expect any publisher to release a game if they know that they are not going to make even the smallest of profits.
Best Regards,
Martine Saunders
European Brand Coordinator
On Behalf of Konami of Europe
****
And when asked about ALL the other dodgy Konami products that manage to find a space on the shelves.
****
First of all, you are right, releasing an English only version (American
English) in Europe is a good idea and is something that has been considered, but there are many other issues that need to be overcome, not just the language issue or the cost implications. The decision not to release in Europe was not one that was taken lightly, many aspects were thoroughly thought through first.
Now to your second point, how can we afford to translate and release poor
quality products and not Suikoden 3? Well, Konami Corporation acts a bit
like a holding company, within Konami we have many development studios, but they all act as separate, individual companies and in some cases even
compete against each other (hence our 2 football games, ISS & Pro Evo). Even though they are under the Konami name they have been set up as separate businesses so have separate overheads and targets etc. All their offices are in different buildings miles apart from each other throughout Japan, we also have a team in the US. When a team makes a game, the Konami parent company has to pay that team a royalty per unit sold. I have simplified this a bit, it is rather more complicated than that, but you have to see that some development teams have more money than others and also demand more or less money from Konami Corporation, all of this affects weather or not we can afford to translate a product or release it. Also some products are easier to localise, both language wise and converting to PAL, this depends on the actual code of the game, how it was programmed. It costs less to covert a game that can easily be localised without much time or effort, again affecting weather we can afford to release it or not. A game that was cheap to make and localise needs to sell less copies to make a profit than great games that were expensive to create and localise.
Best Regards,
Martine
Martine Saunders
European Brand Co-ordinator
Konami of Europe GmbH
****
Yeah, a lot of people know that : D
Here's why.
****
The reason for not releasing Suikoden 3 in Europe is due to translation
problems, but not just the cost issue. Yes it is very expensive to translate a text based game such as Suikoden into several European languages, but we release all our games with 5 text language options and Suikoden 3 would not be an exception. There are other issues, because of the way that Suikoden 3 was programmed and coded in the first place, it is very difficult to go back and change the text. They practically have to start again and re-programme the whole thing from the beginning. They will have to do this for each language. This would mean that it would take a very long time to have the European version finished. We just don't have the time or the man power.
We are aware that there is a large RPG fanbase in Europe, I am one myself,
however these amount to very few in the overall market. In order to make the game more appealing to other people in Europe as well as the hard core fans, we need to release it in other languages. It is very text heavy and for someone who can not read or speak English it would be very difficult to play. I tried playing a Japanese version but I had to give up after about an hour, I didn't know what was going on and this made it difficult and boring.
We would be losing a considerable amount of money if we released an English only version in Europe, it would sell only to the fans and that is not enough people, we wouldn't even be close to breaking even. Yes, we released Suikoden 1 & 2 in English only, and they didn't sell, we hardly sold any at all and we made a loss, we can not afford to do that again. It is ridiculous to expect any publisher to release a game if they know that they are not going to make even the smallest of profits.
Best Regards,
Martine Saunders
European Brand Coordinator
On Behalf of Konami of Europe
****
And when asked about ALL the other dodgy Konami products that manage to find a space on the shelves.
****
First of all, you are right, releasing an English only version (American
English) in Europe is a good idea and is something that has been considered, but there are many other issues that need to be overcome, not just the language issue or the cost implications. The decision not to release in Europe was not one that was taken lightly, many aspects were thoroughly thought through first.
Now to your second point, how can we afford to translate and release poor
quality products and not Suikoden 3? Well, Konami Corporation acts a bit
like a holding company, within Konami we have many development studios, but they all act as separate, individual companies and in some cases even
compete against each other (hence our 2 football games, ISS & Pro Evo). Even though they are under the Konami name they have been set up as separate businesses so have separate overheads and targets etc. All their offices are in different buildings miles apart from each other throughout Japan, we also have a team in the US. When a team makes a game, the Konami parent company has to pay that team a royalty per unit sold. I have simplified this a bit, it is rather more complicated than that, but you have to see that some development teams have more money than others and also demand more or less money from Konami Corporation, all of this affects weather or not we can afford to translate a product or release it. Also some products are easier to localise, both language wise and converting to PAL, this depends on the actual code of the game, how it was programmed. It costs less to covert a game that can easily be localised without much time or effort, again affecting weather we can afford to release it or not. A game that was cheap to make and localise needs to sell less copies to make a profit than great games that were expensive to create and localise.
Best Regards,
Martine
Martine Saunders
European Brand Co-ordinator
Konami of Europe GmbH
****
****
The reason for not releasing Suikoden 3 in Europe is due to translation
problems, but not just the cost issue. Yes it is very expensive to translate a text based game such as Suikoden into several European languages, but we release all our games with 5 text language options and Suikoden 3 would not be an exception. There are other issues, because of the way that Suikoden 3 was programmed and coded in the first place, it is very difficult to go back and change the text. They practically have to start again and re-programme the whole thing from the beginning. They will have to do this for each language. This would mean that it would take a very long time to have the European version finished. We just don't have the time or the man power.
We are aware that there is a large RPG fanbase in Europe, I am one myself,
however these amount to very few in the overall market. In order to make the game more appealing to other people in Europe as well as the hard core fans, we need to release it in other languages. It is very text heavy and for someone who can not read or speak English it would be very difficult to play. I tried playing a Japanese version but I had to give up after about an hour, I didn't know what was going on and this made it difficult and boring.
We would be losing a considerable amount of money if we released an English only version in Europe, it would sell only to the fans and that is not enough people, we wouldn't even be close to breaking even. Yes, we released Suikoden 1 & 2 in English only, and they didn't sell, we hardly sold any at all and we made a loss, we can not afford to do that again. It is ridiculous to expect any publisher to release a game if they know that they are not going to make even the smallest of profits.
Best Regards,
Martine Saunders
European Brand Coordinator
On Behalf of Konami of Europe
****
And when asked about ALL the other dodgy Konami products that manage to find a space on the shelves.
****
First of all, you are right, releasing an English only version (American
English) in Europe is a good idea and is something that has been considered, but there are many other issues that need to be overcome, not just the language issue or the cost implications. The decision not to release in Europe was not one that was taken lightly, many aspects were thoroughly thought through first.
Now to your second point, how can we afford to translate and release poor
quality products and not Suikoden 3? Well, Konami Corporation acts a bit
like a holding company, within Konami we have many development studios, but they all act as separate, individual companies and in some cases even
compete against each other (hence our 2 football games, ISS & Pro Evo). Even though they are under the Konami name they have been set up as separate businesses so have separate overheads and targets etc. All their offices are in different buildings miles apart from each other throughout Japan, we also have a team in the US. When a team makes a game, the Konami parent company has to pay that team a royalty per unit sold. I have simplified this a bit, it is rather more complicated than that, but you have to see that some development teams have more money than others and also demand more or less money from Konami Corporation, all of this affects weather or not we can afford to translate a product or release it. Also some products are easier to localise, both language wise and converting to PAL, this depends on the actual code of the game, how it was programmed. It costs less to covert a game that can easily be localised without much time or effort, again affecting weather we can afford to release it or not. A game that was cheap to make and localise needs to sell less copies to make a profit than great games that were expensive to create and localise.
Best Regards,
Martine
Martine Saunders
European Brand Co-ordinator
Konami of Europe GmbH
****