Sentenza
Member
They aren't supposed to?
They are just supposed to release those games they are already making and exporting on a digital store with a worldwide audience.
Japanese devs/publishers - why no Steam?
- Thread starter Chairmanchuck
- Start date
They aren't supposed to?
They are just supposed to release those games they are already making and exporting on a digital store with a worldwide audience.
zeopower6
Member
There are MMO players in Japan too but they are likely eclipsed by the doujin/VN readers.
Plus, I think the Steam client still doesn't have official Japanese language support.
Most of japanese games are not relevant outside of jp. Don't need to waste money on pc?
Sentenza
Member
Not that it would change much, considering how even when Japanese publishers release games on Steam, it seems to be common practice to region-lock Japan outside of the countries where that game is available.
I can't imagine the reasoning behind it, but it already happened several times.
I mean, one thing is to lack faith on the PC market in your country (maybe even with good reasons). Another is deliberately trying to suppress it.
Then why translating and exporting them physically on consoles, which is a far more risky business?
Are you actually thinking about the answers you are giving?
TC McQueen
Member
Well yeah, with titles that have global releases, you get to sidestep the costly localization process, but unless you're working on Gen 8 consoles (Xbone and PS4), there's still a lot of work to do to port the game over to PC, which is part of why a lot of Japanese PC ports suck. Most of the developers over there have no PC dev experience and the Japanese publishers tend to ignore hiring a third party porting studio to handle that stuff.
Chairmanchuck
Member
Arent games like Tekken and FF selling better outside of Japan, because the market is far bigger?
I am talking more on other games like DQ, Gundam, Tales, other jrpg titles which already had their sales all commited for jp market.
zeopower6
Member
Region locking Japan out is pretty common for most mediums for Japanese made products available elsewhere. I think with music, Japanese releases with Asian presses should not be sold in Japan (30% cheaper for the same product) and for games, there was the big region lock on Persona 4 Arena to discourage reverse importation.
I can see the value in potentially releasing these games on PC ($$$$$) but it just seems rather hopeless since Steam is such a nonpresence to the people who would be making the decisions to release on PC. Also who would be doing the ports?
Valkerionseven
Member
A lot of people still have the impression that Japan and Japanese gamers do not have access to pc's as well. Just because the major publishers are not porting everything to PC, does not mean the Japanese gaming population is not gaming on said PC's. The amount of games adding Japanese support to their games has risen and continues to at the moment so the audience is there for sure. Personally all the Japanese gamers I know have steam. For them its a source of really fun indies or amazingly cheap sales. Probably just know people more in the loop than the average masses. Then again, same thing can be said overall in gaming.
Just like when we compare hardcore PC gaming to console gaming, PC can seem like the minority. Does not mean there is no significant presence of gamers on PC as we all well know.
There are a few Japanese devs using steam now, and more join every month. What they port or bring over is another question. It seems like it is going to increase in the future imo.
Other than going with the excuse that wanting to sell to the console base first and make that money before switching to the PC market I can't say I'm sure why games do not get ported more. Some do for sure, many games we don't get the PC versions of get ported, but not sure why some major titles don't. Possibly assuming they sold a majority projected, and an extra port does not surpass projected cost.
More surprised at how some of the major games like LoL, DotA, and Diablo ect. all have fairly large Japanese communities behind them but have to rely on their own translated wiki's to play the games half the time. The LoL one is massive just as an example. And the Battlefield PC community in Japan is really huge too.
Just like when we compare hardcore PC gaming to console gaming, PC can seem like the minority. Does not mean there is no significant presence of gamers on PC as we all well know.
There are a few Japanese devs using steam now, and more join every month. What they port or bring over is another question. It seems like it is going to increase in the future imo.
Other than going with the excuse that wanting to sell to the console base first and make that money before switching to the PC market I can't say I'm sure why games do not get ported more. Some do for sure, many games we don't get the PC versions of get ported, but not sure why some major titles don't. Possibly assuming they sold a majority projected, and an extra port does not surpass projected cost.
More surprised at how some of the major games like LoL, DotA, and Diablo ect. all have fairly large Japanese communities behind them but have to rely on their own translated wiki's to play the games half the time. The LoL one is massive just as an example. And the Battlefield PC community in Japan is really huge too.
Sentenza
Member
Well, maybe you are, but others aren't. So why are you insisting on this?
Wiktor
Member
I think japanese devs and gamers have troubles wrapping their heads around DD a bit. I mean,for Christs sake, up untill recently most indie devs sold their games there primarly by making physical boxes and going to conventions.
It is changing however. But it's gradural process. It will take time before most japanese multiplats will also get pc versions.
It is changing however. But it's gradural process. It will take time before most japanese multiplats will also get pc versions.
zeopower6
Member
Mistake? Vita game coming to PC is like wat?
Sectorseven
Member
Are Japan's PC game sales still predominately brick & mortar, or do they buy online now like North America?
Infernal Monkey
Member
You do realise those Japanese indie games were developed for the PC in the first place, right? There's an enormous difference between getting them to agree to a localised Steam release and a publisher putting in the effort to entirely rework an old console game for a PC port. It's not 'free money' and there's nothing 'quick' about that.
PC games has very long legs. Look at gog or games like rise of nations doing very well on steam
Sentenza
Member
Apparently not, but it isn't even a confirmation yet.
http://www.siliconera.com/2014/06/12/idea-factory-comments-hyperdimension-neptunia-rebirth1-pc/
HypnoDarkrai
Member
Not sure if it's a mistake.
Neptunia PP is only listed as Vita, though that was localized by NISA.
Neptunia Remake is by Idea Factory International.
Edit: ^^^
Thanks for that Tuco, haven't even seen that article.
zeopower6
Member
Strange... I wonder how that looks and what is different between the two versions.
zeopower6
Member
Isn't that a general occurrence for most "average joes"? IMO, that is such a strange move but I guess it really depends on what you do with a PC.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
360 was like that too to an extent whereas DS/PS3/3DS is/was much more global. He knows (thinks) it's a slamdunk, I'd like to think it's a slamdunk, but there ya go.
8-4 duders were talking recently about how D/L is FINALLY making in-roads over there, but the love of release day, feelies-rich special editions, and the massive trade-in market over there may continue to slow this.
It's a damn shame. Fighters, Character Action, and JRPGs are Japan's forte and the PC/Steam is starving for more of these types of games. Actually, I throw this on the pile of EA's lack of Sports games(other than Soccer/Futbol) on Origin.
Edit: The 360 suffered poor sales/marketshare over there, but it still got Western releases of a lot of their games, and the PC should be receiving the same support.
Edit: The 360 suffered poor sales/marketshare over there, but it still got Western releases of a lot of their games, and the PC should be receiving the same support.
TheBryanJZX90
Member
Is it that hard to figure out? The publishers are unfamiliar with the western market in general, PC market in particular, and developers are unfamiliar with the PC as a platform. Nintendo and Sony have Japanese offices full of Japanese employees that pubs and devs can call at any time, and have longstanding business relationships. That is way more important to the day to day work of the Japanese staff. The western market is out of sight, out of mind, and poorly understood even by the people tasked with understanding it.
I don't disagree with your answer, but it seems like a terrible attitude for a business. The same thing could be said about xbox 360 development. I also realize a lot of niche games don't come to 360.
In Japan, PC games in their DVD ROM format is still more popular than downloading PC games.
Even the existing PC game market (mostly visual novels) that could technically exist on Steam isn't there in part due to the lack of familiarity with the platform and lack of Japanese language support.
And the Yen issue, as others have pointed out.
Even the existing PC game market (mostly visual novels) that could technically exist on Steam isn't there in part due to the lack of familiarity with the platform and lack of Japanese language support.
And the Yen issue, as others have pointed out.
Crimsonclaw111
Member
Besides the fact that PC gaming is extremely rare in Japan, Valve's contracts are apparently not very foreign friendly. At least, that's what it seemed like when Treasure spoke about porting Ikaruga.
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
Video games sales in general are still primarily brick & mortar in Japan. Digital distribution is slowly taking off, but it's going through growing pains.
It's already changing. We see it in our jobs everyday. Some developers we work with jump at the chance to get on Steam, because they know that's the best way to engage the Western PC market.
Nightengale
Member
Western publishers: What is 3DS and Vita?
Japanese publishers: What is Steam?
It works both ways.
Japanese publishers: What is Steam?
It works both ways.
Chairmanchuck
Member
I am not sure how contracts about ports/games are, but when I worked for an anime-label I can say that the contracts we worked out with japanese were the worst...
What maybe didnt sound foreigner-friendly to a japanese, might sound foreigner-friendly to a european.
in terms of the contracts for anime-rights, the japanese publishers wanted to dictate almost everything to us, the german publisher. How should the cover look? What other rights you have to buy if you buy anime XYZ? What bonus material you get? Send the cover-design to japan via post! Things like that.
The japanese wanted to have the upper hand instead of an agreement in which both parties can benefit without much disadvantages
The japanese wanted to have the upper hand instead of an agreement in which both parties can benefit without much disadvantages
Nightengale
Member
There's a reason why games released digitally everywhere else in the world gets retail releases in Japan.
There's no "official" support for most languages on Steam, most of the translation is done by community for free.
And you can't imagine how messed up could some Japanese publisher been, let's talk about KOEI, while Dynasty Warriors 8 was released on Steam seems like progression, but my story begins with Dynasty Warriors 7 on Steam.
There's a community hub (http://steamcommunity.com/app/211140) and update news (http://store.steampowered.com/news/8801/) for Dynasty Warriors 7 on Steam, but the game itself is not exist, no store page can be accessed, and it wasn't even caused by region-lock, so what happened?
KOEI use Steam as a DRM tool for Dynasty Warriors 7, the game was released in 2012 but only retail version is available, if you want add DW7 for your steam library, you have to purchase this game from some retail store in Hong Kong, throw away those box and discs, input the cd-key on Steam, the most ridiculous thing is: you can't even start this game without Steam (unless you pirate it).
When Dynasty Warriors 8 finally released a digital version on Steam, it's limited to English dub and sub, one month after that, the Japanese version and Chinese version released separately, and AGAIN, there's ONLY RETAIL VERSION for them, AGAIN, you have to active the code on Steam, and you can't start the game without Steam.
Living in 2014, KOEI Japan and KOEI Taiwan still treat Steam as a DRM tool, not a digital store, this is typical Japanese publisher.
GhostTrick
Banned
The problem isnt even the lack of small japanese pubs but the big ones too... I mean take Square Enix for exemple. FFXV, Type O and KH3 gets released on Xbox One... yet no PC version.
THANK YOU!
Finally one informed statement here.
Japanese PC Gamers are not "barren" it has a thriving Hardcore community that resolves around Doujins, ""normales releases"" and Eroges. It has not a big marketshare like PC in continental Europe, but certainly not lower than american shares.
Chairmanchuck
Member
What I kinda noticed from the japanese Gamers here in China is, that everyone just plays PC-Games instead of bringing their console here (and somehow they are quite happy they can pirate those Games here...)
slightly offtopic, but how do they get by in "todays" China? There was a lot of friction in the last months/year and a fighter near-crash just yesterday. Or is it just Nations doing Nation-things? (and State-news staging Protests?)
HolyBaikal
Banned
There's much more to the doujin community than just Visual Novels. Touhou is very popular and has many thousands of fansongs and fan video game fanart and things like this.
There's probably more than 1 million Touhou fans in Japan. So that's kind of popular.
And also, MMORPGs seem to be kind of popular in Japan.
There's probably more than 1 million Touhou fans in Japan. So that's kind of popular.
And also, MMORPGs seem to be kind of popular in Japan.
petran79
Banned
a lot of japanese games thrived on computers first, before moving to consoles after the collapse of the japanese computer industry.
This resulted in inferior and censored ports.
The erotic games are a direct descendant of that 80s thriving gaming industry, for which there was no place on consoles.
This resulted in inferior and censored ports.
The erotic games are a direct descendant of that 80s thriving gaming industry, for which there was no place on consoles.
BombStrike
Member
The crazy thing with Steam in Japan is that somehow even for western games we sometimes get them long after everyone, we had that for Dark Souls 2 (1 month late), Watch Dogs (not out until end of June) or Wolfenstein TNO recently (2 weeks or so). I mean what the hell is wrong with that.
Azure Wolf
Banned
I agree with OP, I'd love to see more Japanese games on Steam, but the situation has definitely improved over the past few years with increasing numbers of even relatively obscure Japanese games like Killer Is Dead now getting Steam ports.
Also, without being pedantic, Steam does already have a Tekken game of sorts, Street Fighter Vs Tekken, but I'd love to see a regular series release too.
Although it wasn't a great port, Dark Souls getting ported to PC via a petition was a huge landmark. It shows that Japanese developers will listen to demands from Western PC gamers, and they improved significantly with the release of DS2 in terms of PC optimisation.
The ironic thing is that one of the key benefits of Steam is being able to fit a massive game library in the space of a single harddrive, in a country like Japan where a lack of space is a key concern this could potentially be hugely popular.
We'll have to see if Japan embraces direct downloads over physical media, but at the very least it could have some scope.
A standardised small dimension Steam box running Windows thus allowing for all the business and educational software benefits could surely have some potential in Japan, but only if they embrace direct downloads and if more Japanese developers jump on board.
Also, without being pedantic, Steam does already have a Tekken game of sorts, Street Fighter Vs Tekken, but I'd love to see a regular series release too.
Although it wasn't a great port, Dark Souls getting ported to PC via a petition was a huge landmark. It shows that Japanese developers will listen to demands from Western PC gamers, and they improved significantly with the release of DS2 in terms of PC optimisation.
The ironic thing is that one of the key benefits of Steam is being able to fit a massive game library in the space of a single harddrive, in a country like Japan where a lack of space is a key concern this could potentially be hugely popular.
We'll have to see if Japan embraces direct downloads over physical media, but at the very least it could have some scope.
A standardised small dimension Steam box running Windows thus allowing for all the business and educational software benefits could surely have some potential in Japan, but only if they embrace direct downloads and if more Japanese developers jump on board.
Mobius and pet octopus
Member
Is money popular in japan?
HolyBaikal
Banned
I get the feeling that mobile might be playing a part in this.
I hear a lot that digital distribution isn't popular in Japan. But I also hear that mobile is the most popular platforming in Japan. And mobile platforms like iOS and Android are digital distribution only.
Yeah...
Wait what ? Where are you people living exactly ?
Console gaming has never been anywhere as horrid as it currently is in japan. More people have PC there than ps4. I'm not even gonna start talking about how bad the xbox one is gonna do there.
Since they are making xbox one games ONLY FOR THE WEST, I don't see how getting them on Pc would be a stretch.
That being said...... I play on both pc and ps4 (and 3ds), and I don't mind having console exclusives because it kind of help making the consoles stand out more. Otherwise there would be no point getting them at all except for halo and uncharted, which is not saying much.
It's not about Steam, it's more specifically the market for their games stateside.
Who are their potential buyers?
Initially I believe it was just ignorance. Many developers had no idea that Steam was becoming so popular last gen. Only recently have publishers caught on. As for "why don't they just dump all their old games on Steam!" they probably don't have the resources or experienced staff to create a worthwhile PC version. Look at how terribad the Dark Souls 1 port was.
I think more publishers are catching on for sure. The inferior state of Steam in Japan is very annoying though. Basically any Japanese game that comes to Steam in the US doesn't in Japan. I seriously wonder if it's some sort of publishing deal, like maybe Sony said "you can only release this game on PS3 in Japan!"
I think more publishers are catching on for sure. The inferior state of Steam in Japan is very annoying though. Basically any Japanese game that comes to Steam in the US doesn't in Japan. I seriously wonder if it's some sort of publishing deal, like maybe Sony said "you can only release this game on PS3 in Japan!"
Sentenza
Member
But you're wrong, it's precisely about Steam (and every other digital store, for all that matters).
And the (conservatively) 100 millions people who use those digital stores... They are the potential buyers.