It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
It definitely takes more than just a long flight over the ocean.

Japanese games are largely governed by a particular aesthetic approach, while at the same time offering a unique perspective in storytelling and gameplay mechanics. It's what makes them instantly distinguishable from their western counterparts, why we're so fond of them, and why we gathered them together for our current <span class="bold">Kawaii Sale</span>.

But some of these differences can also make their transition to the global market challenging. Ken Barry, executive Vice President of XSEED, is one of the people whose mission is to overcome those obstacles and bring some of the most popular Japanese games to the rest of the world.

What are the main challenges of bringing Japanese games to the Western market?

I would say cultural issues as they pertain to text are still a major challenge, though to varying degrees for each project. As a recent example, our parent company Marvelous put out a game called NetHigh for Vita in Japan not too long ago where the gameplay focused on solving puzzles a la the Ace Attorney games, but instead of solving cases in a courtroom you’re trying to reveal the true identity of people on the internet. Our hopes of being able to localize it were quickly dashed once we realized that most of the puzzles were based on Japanese puns and wordplay using written kanji characters which often have multiple meanings. Seeing that it also had a lot of text displaying from top to bottom rather than our way of reading from left to right sealed its fate of definitely not coming to the West.

The rest of the world seems much more receptive to everything Japanese these days but there are still things keeping the markets apart. What are those differences, in your experience?

I know this is something that’s been examined before, but the Japanese culture is much more tolerant of sexuality while graphic depictions of violence are frowned upon, whereas here in the US we are very tolerant of violence but much more conservative when it comes to issues concerning sex. This is a huge fundamental difference in the videogames being created in Japan, and their culture also having an affinity for cute and innocent-looking things and then often combining that together with sexuality can be quite shocking at times, resulting in such things as Hello Kitty sex toys.

Which are the necessary adjustments that you usually have to make for the jump to be as smooth as possible (subtitles, game names, dubbing, etc.)?

There is no single element, you have to factor all things and consider how best to immerse the player in the world created by the original developers that happen to be of another culture. For example, all our Senran Kagura games have only the Japanese voices in them because not only were we extremely lucky to get them, but also because we weren’t quite sure how the sexual nature of the content would be received in the West when first bringing over the series years ago. Seeing something lewd happening onscreen and hearing a girl say something in a different language while the sub-title “Don’t touch me like that” appears is very different from hearing a girl in English verbally expressing her objections.

Are there any kinds of games (due to genre of theme) that you can't really see making that jump in the foreseeable future?

We always thought the “otome” genre geared toward female players that often involves developing a romantic relationship with one of the many male characters would be difficult, but we’re not quite so sure anymore. We continue to get fan requests for this kind of game, so it’s one that we wouldn’t mind testing out in the future at some point to see if there really is a market for it or not.

Can you share with us a story about a game that you handled and things took an unexpected turn along the way?

Well, we published a cute game on 3DS a while ago called Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven that was by the producer of the Story of Seasons series and being made by the Rune Factory developers, and sure enough playing the first few hours it was just as cute and adorable as we had expected it to be given the pedigree. So I start pitching it to all our retail partners as our next family-friendly 3DS title because I’m expecting an ESRB rating of Everyone 10+, only to find out months into the project from our localization producer that there’s a totally gratuitous scene at a hot spring where the lead character, who had been a very nice and caring guy with nothing but love and respect for all the girls working at his inn until then, somehow gets convinced by his buddy to go sneak a peek at the girls as they bathe. This results in a completely out of place 30-second animated cutscene featuring the girls in the hot springs together, and we were lucky to get away with a Teen rating. Needless to say I had to go back and revise my sales pitch on the title to more of a “coming of age” type of story.

--AMA coming up!--
But that's not all! If you're looking to learn more about the intricacies involved in this process, make sure to tune in today, Friday, at 6PM UTC. We're holding an AskMeAnything session with XSEED's Localization Producer, Tom Lipshultz, right here on the forum!
Post edited February 25, 2017 by maladr0Id
avatar
kohlrak: Since when has the west been less accepting of sexual content in games and movies than in the east?
It's not really the "west" but more the US and the UK and the other anglo-saxon countries.
avatar
JayBDD: Do you have any idea of how satisfied Falcom is with the sales of Trails in the Sky FC and SC on PC, and how much of an impact those titles' sales might have on the possibility of seeing more titles from the Tales series coming to PC?
Given that Falcom is having Aksys producing a PC port of Tokyo Xanadu and having NISA produce a PC port of Ys VIII:Lacrimosa of Dana, I'm getting the impression they've started taking the PC market a lot more seriously. (the same is true for JRPG developers in general, most of the Final Fantasy games and recent Tales games have been made available on Steam)

Within a few months, 5 out of 7 Trails games (not Tales) will be available in English. 2 of those are currently console-only, but since they use an engine that supports the Windows platform and both Tokyo Xanadu and Ys VIII run on that engine, there's a fairly realistic chance of Trails of Cold Steel 1 and 2 getting ported at some point or another. The console versions were received fairly well in the west.

The 4th and the 5th game, the only ones currently missing after the 3rd game comes out in a few months, are in a rather odd situation since they're PSP games (a dead system) that were given Chinese PC ports by a 3rd party developer in China. (who's currently getting them greenlit on Steam, but those will probably be region-locked to Asian countries) Falcom back-ported the Japanese script into the PC version of the 4th game and sold it domestically, but haven't done so with the 5th game yet. (the two form a duology)

In order for the 4th and 5th game to come out in the west, Falcom would have to backport the Japanese script back into the PC version of the 5th game as well and then hand them over to XSeed, presumably with the Chinese developer's blessing. It's a bit of a clusterfuck businesswise, which is a shame.

Brittany from XSeed mentioned that the best thing fans can do on their part to ensure more Trails games is buy the 3rd. That game will be the first Trails game that's exclusively released on PC in the west, so it'll be a good indication of how feasable additional games would be.
avatar
Erpy: Given that Falcom is having Aksys producing a PC port of Tokyo Xanadu and having NISA produce a PC port of Ys VIII:Lacrimosa of Dana, I'm getting the impression they've started taking the PC market a lot more seriously. (the same is true for JRPG developers in general, most of the Final Fantasy games and recent Tales games have been made available on Steam)

Within a few months, 5 out of 7 Trails games (not Tales) will be available in English. 2 of those are currently console-only, but since they use an engine that supports the Windows platform and both Tokyo Xanadu and Ys VIII run on that engine, there's a fairly realistic chance of Trails of Cold Steel 1 and 2 getting ported at some point or another. The console versions were received fairly well in the west.

The 4th and the 5th game, the only ones currently missing after the 3rd game comes out in a few months, are in a rather odd situation since they're PSP games (a dead system) that were given Chinese PC ports by a 3rd party developer in China. (who's currently getting them greenlit on Steam, but those will probably be region-locked to Asian countries) Falcom back-ported the Japanese script into the PC version of the 4th game and sold it domestically, but haven't done so with the 5th game yet. (the two form a duology)

In order for the 4th and 5th game to come out in the west, Falcom would have to backport the Japanese script back into the PC version of the 5th game as well and then hand them over to XSeed, presumably with the Chinese developer's blessing. It's a bit of a clusterfuck businesswise, which is a shame.

Brittany from XSeed mentioned that the best thing fans can do on their part to ensure more Trails games is buy the 3rd. That game will be the first Trails game that's exclusively released on PC in the west, so it'll be a good indication of how feasable additional games would be.
The announcement of the PC port for Ys VIII was a nice surprise - would love to pick that up. Also definitely want to get Trails the 3rd, possible double-dipping for both GOG and Steam versions just to show support and hopefully entice Falcom to get their act together regarding the ports of the other Trails games :D Sounds like a really complicated situation - hope they can work something out! Anyway, thanks for the info!
Zero and Ao no Kiseki were also both released on PS Vita in Japan.

Considering Xseed's recent work on YS VI and LKS - two games that used to be console exclusives, one on PSP/PS2 and the other one on Wii - making a PC port of Zero and Ao seems certainly possible. Especially Zero which already has a PC version in Japan, as mentioned earlier.
The Vita versions of Zero and Ao are unlikely to ever make it to the west since they're team efforts by three separate companies, Falcom, Kadowaka and Chara Ani and having to negotiate a business deal with all those parties is just too much of a clusterfuck for just about any publisher. If the Crossbell games make it to the west, it'll be PC versions.

Actually, Ys VI had a PC version all along. It's the original game, the console versions are the ports. The one that's on GOG is the original version that's been heavily tweaked and enhanced by their resident programmer. Problem is, they only have one. She's extremely talented, having done stuff like adding a new gameplay mode and warp system to a game like Ys VI to implementing new playable characters into a game like Trails in the Sky SC. Still, on her own, she won't be able to do any porting. It's too large a job for a single person. If XSeed's gonna port stuff, they'll have to outsource it. Which is quite a threshold for a small company like them.
I know, I added that bit for completion's sake ;)

With that said, the only big difference between Zero/Ao PSP and Vita versions is the dub and because of that - among other things - it'll never leave Japan.

I didn't know that YS VI was released first on PC... My point still stands thanks to LKS though, and that was pretty much outsourced in the end as the current version is heavily modified by Durante.

Yeah, their programmer genius... I think she's named Sara ? Looking forward to her next work(s) :)
I am so pissed off with Tamsoft right now, if their shitty DRM prevents Senran Kagura from ever coming here, then they'll be a permanent addition to my blacklist.
avatar
ReynardFox: I am so pissed off with Tamsoft right now, if their shitty DRM prevents Senran Kagura from ever coming here, then they'll be a permanent addition to my blacklist.
What DRM?
avatar
omega64: What DRM?
No idea, but the reason XSEED has given as to why the game is no longer coming to GOG is that they have been unsuccessful in circumventing the DRM used in the game's multiplayer/online components. That is all we know.
Post edited February 26, 2017 by ReynardFox
avatar
kohlrak: Since when has the west been less accepting of sexual content in games and movies than in the east?
avatar
Offkorn: Too young to remember the uproar over modders restoring GTA's "hot coffee" content? All the frothing at the mouth over the first Mass Effect's Liara sex scene?
I'm old enough. I just return back to CD Projekt's game: The Wither III: Wild Hunt. Sales records show it's been pretty popular. The media has always had it out against GTA, for starters. What's one more excuse to blast it? Sales numbers of GTA, today, shows that we, frankly, aren't represented by the news. Heck, the most recent political election should say as much as well.

avatar
kohlrak: Since when has the west been less accepting of sexual content in games and movies than in the east?
avatar
Gersen: It's not really the "west" but more the US and the UK and the other anglo-saxon countries.
I can't speak for the UK, but the US has fairly sexualized content on it's shelves in video games, movies, etc. For those that are uninitiated, Playboy actually does exist, and you can get them just about anywhere. I think even Walmart sells them, but i'm not 100% sure.
avatar
JayBDD: Do you have any idea of how satisfied Falcom is with the sales of Trails in the Sky FC and SC on PC, and how much of an impact those titles' sales might have on the possibility of seeing more titles from the Tales series coming to PC?
avatar
Erpy: Given that Falcom is having Aksys producing a PC port of Tokyo Xanadu and having NISA produce a PC port of Ys VIII:Lacrimosa of Dana, I'm getting the impression they've started taking the PC market a lot more seriously. (the same is true for JRPG developers in general, most of the Final Fantasy games and recent Tales games have been made available on Steam)

Within a few months, 5 out of 7 Trails games (not Tales) will be available in English. 2 of those are currently console-only, but since they use an engine that supports the Windows platform and both Tokyo Xanadu and Ys VIII run on that engine, there's a fairly realistic chance of Trails of Cold Steel 1 and 2 getting ported at some point or another. The console versions were received fairly well in the west.

The 4th and the 5th game, the only ones currently missing after the 3rd game comes out in a few months, are in a rather odd situation since they're PSP games (a dead system) that were given Chinese PC ports by a 3rd party developer in China. (who's currently getting them greenlit on Steam, but those will probably be region-locked to Asian countries) Falcom back-ported the Japanese script into the PC version of the 4th game and sold it domestically, but haven't done so with the 5th game yet. (the two form a duology)

In order for the 4th and 5th game to come out in the west, Falcom would have to backport the Japanese script back into the PC version of the 5th game as well and then hand them over to XSeed, presumably with the Chinese developer's blessing. It's a bit of a clusterfuck businesswise, which is a shame.

Brittany from XSeed mentioned that the best thing fans can do on their part to ensure more Trails games is buy the 3rd. That game will be the first Trails game that's exclusively released on PC in the west, so it'll be a good indication of how feasable additional games would be.
This.... This has proved highly informative for me. All I have thus far is Trails in the Sky FC purchased. Completed it (feeling that slight each to now play it through Galaxy for achievements), now deciding as to whether I need to buy SC right now
If you enjoyed the first game, getting the second game is a no-brainer. It literally picks up a day after the cliffhanger at the end of the first game.
Question for XSEED: You've now released quite a few games on GOG.com, has it been a struggle to convince Japanese developers to allow the games to be released DRM-free?

EDIT: Man, I completely missed that the AMA had already happened. Saw in the OP that it was "upcoming" and assumed that questions were still being collected. Damn.
avatar
EndlessKnight: Does anyone understand what he means by "Graphic depictions of violence are frowned upon"? Is Mr. Barry referring to video games specifically? For decades, video games and anime from Japan have been filled with graphic depictions of violence, so I am curious as to what he means.
Well I don't have any background information, but I know that only the US version of No More Heroes featured enemies exploding in a fountain of blood, in the Japanese and European versions they exploded in a fountain of pixels and coins. I think only the US version fully depicts decapitations as well.
Post edited February 26, 2017 by SirPrimalform
avatar
Offkorn: Too young to remember the uproar over modders restoring GTA's "hot coffee" content? All the frothing at the mouth over the first Mass Effect's Liara sex scene?
avatar
kohlrak: I'm old enough. I just return back to CD Projekt's game: The Wither III: Wild Hunt. Sales records show it's been pretty popular. The media has always had it out against GTA, for starters. What's one more excuse to blast it? Sales numbers of GTA, today, shows that we, frankly, aren't represented by the news. Heck, the most recent political election should say as much as well.
It's not the sex per se that's the problem but respective age of the characters involved. Then there's also problem with, shall we say, consent matters. Were you aware the uproar when Rapelay could be bought with AO rating (on Amazon was it)? And if you think Illusion made only one game with this controversial theme, then think again. And that's only one company...
avatar
kohlrak: I'm old enough. I just return back to CD Projekt's game: The Wither III: Wild Hunt. Sales records show it's been pretty popular. The media has always had it out against GTA, for starters. What's one more excuse to blast it? Sales numbers of GTA, today, shows that we, frankly, aren't represented by the news. Heck, the most recent political election should say as much as well.
avatar
mirek83: It's not the sex per se that's the problem but respective age of the characters involved. Then there's also problem with, shall we say, consent matters. Were you aware the uproar when Rapelay could be bought with AO rating (on Amazon was it)? And if you think Illusion made only one game with this controversial theme, then think again. And that's only one company...
This is my overall point, though. Eastern developers think it's sex and sexy designs, when in reality it's the fact that complaints are more centered around flirting with legality borders. A simple rule of thumb to save alot of confusion: if the characters wouldn't be old enough to play the game, why are they being presented in those situations? To make another reference to Dead or Alive, wasn't Sweeden's representative character (Marie Rose) banned because of the borderline sexual nature of the game and the fact she looks 12 but is listed to be 18 years old in the west (to be fair, they were handling Marie carefully enough that i actually made her my main character)?