A portion of an IGN interview with Ken Berry, Director of Publishing for XSEED...
IGN: Can you give us a little insight into how XSEED became the publisher for The Last Story? Was this an opportunity Nintendo presented you with? Was this something you sought out?
Berry: This was something that we sought out from our side. The Last Story had all the qualities we look for when determining a title to pursue based on the quality of the game and its marketability in the North American market, so we asked Nintendo about the possibility and they were receptive to our initial inquiry.
IGN: The Last Story has been complete for well over a year, and it has just arrived in Europe. Will the North American version of the title be exactly the same as the European version? Are you making any localization adjustments or changes?
Berry: The plan is to offer the same consistent product across all territories, so the North American version will essentially be identical to English versions released in other areas.
IGN: The European release of the game saw a limited edition version of the game, with a steel book case, soundtrack and art book. Are you considering doing the same for North America?
Berry: This is something that is still being considered right now. Though nothing is final yet, we hope to be able to announce something fairly soon.
IGN: Do you anticipate a limited run for the game? If demand is present, will you consider manufacturing another run of the game?
Berry: Yes, we do anticipate a limited run for the game as we already have a number in mind of how many units we can expect to sell of this title, and all our pre-production efforts will be geared towards being able to manufacture a final number somewhat close to our initial estimated number. It's too early to start thinking of doing additional runs, but as a general policy we haven't been very active on doing reprints of our other titles so far.
Full interview here
IGN: Can you give us a little insight into how XSEED became the publisher for The Last Story? Was this an opportunity Nintendo presented you with? Was this something you sought out?
Berry: This was something that we sought out from our side. The Last Story had all the qualities we look for when determining a title to pursue based on the quality of the game and its marketability in the North American market, so we asked Nintendo about the possibility and they were receptive to our initial inquiry.
IGN: The Last Story has been complete for well over a year, and it has just arrived in Europe. Will the North American version of the title be exactly the same as the European version? Are you making any localization adjustments or changes?
Berry: The plan is to offer the same consistent product across all territories, so the North American version will essentially be identical to English versions released in other areas.
IGN: The European release of the game saw a limited edition version of the game, with a steel book case, soundtrack and art book. Are you considering doing the same for North America?
Berry: This is something that is still being considered right now. Though nothing is final yet, we hope to be able to announce something fairly soon.
IGN: Do you anticipate a limited run for the game? If demand is present, will you consider manufacturing another run of the game?
Berry: Yes, we do anticipate a limited run for the game as we already have a number in mind of how many units we can expect to sell of this title, and all our pre-production efforts will be geared towards being able to manufacture a final number somewhat close to our initial estimated number. It's too early to start thinking of doing additional runs, but as a general policy we haven't been very active on doing reprints of our other titles so far.
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I wonder if they will fix the issues with the frame rate
@LegendofSantiago
Don't think there were too many times this was really a problem, outside of (especially) the fight against that tiger.
In that case, I'll take 5 copies! \:D/
I'm glad to see they are at least thinking about offering the stuff of the limited edition version. Bring that over to NA, plz. I'm drooling at the idea of owning that steel book case I saw of the game.
@Legend
They said it's pretty much going to be the same game that Europe got, so don't count on it. The frame rate drops hardly seem that bad anyway (and I should know, I'm playing Oblivion right now and that game's framerate is pretty wonky for an HD title, but I still think it's a pretty fun game).
Anyway, it is nice to see Nintendo being more open to letting a third party handle the distribution of one of their games over in North America. If only XSEED had been around a bit earlier maybe they could have handled publishing duties for games like Fatal Frame IV (though why Tecmo didn't just publish that one themselves, heck if I know).
Then I guess I'm going to have to preorder this as well.
"This was something that we sought out from our side."
I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.
Of course they sought it out, they were very supportive of the fans who were looking to every source to help get the 3 Operation Rainfall games localized. I remember hearing people looking to get this game and Xenoblade over were actually asking XSeed and Atlus about it and XSeed was very understanding of the fans and receptive to the idea but very hush hush about it.
I'm very glad to see that they did step up to the plate and although I hate to admit it, I'm glad gamestop also stepped up to the plate (though you know it was only a move to fight amazon). Either way, I'm very glad to see both of those games coming out and I will day 1 purchase both of them.
Huh. I'm only somewhat surprised. I suppose everyone goaded them into approaching Ninty enough (I doubt they'd lie about that). I'm pleased to hear that.
Very glad and not surprised that NoA is glad to support them, too. I would think, regardless of who approached who, they'd be glad to lend a hand with whatever.
Hopefully we'll get a LE of some form as well!
Even though I know the EU version didn't have it, and I know it isn't something that Xseed usually does (well, from what I've seen), I hope we get dual audio. ;u;
Awesome news. Now I just need someone to bring Pandora's Tower over and I'm solid.
That was the only game I was originally looking forward to, having been the only one I was following until everyone started going nuts over that and the 2 RPGs we are now getting.
But now everyone's convinced me that the other two are awesome.
I'm still waiting for Disaster and Fatal Frame IV though. And Another Code R.
Luckily DS was region free, so I have Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland and Last Window. <3
Haha, the framerates will stay low, all the extras except for the partial OST are not that great (especially the pointless metal case), but one thing will make you want to have it...
PLENTY OF BRITISH DUBBING AND ALCOHOL REFERENCES!
HOORAY!
You know what would be messed up?
Let's say Pandora's Tower still hasn't been guaranteed for an American release by the time that TLS hits.... but by some full-or-half-miracle, the sales for the Last Story and Xenoblade end up actually impressing Nintendo, so much so that they go ahead and decide to be the ones to publish Pandora's Tower themselves. However, Pandora's Tower, from most "objective" viewpoints I've read, is very much not on the same level as those games, not to mention even a "real" RPG to begin with. Thus, it noticeably underperforms, despite Nintendo banking a good bit on it.
And so what would Nintendo think in this messed up situation? I'd cynically imagine that they'd more or less think that we didn't care about these OpR games as much as we said we did, and this will be an excuse that they carry into the next generation regarding niche games like PT.
@Animerican_Redeemed
Couple points:
1. If I read you correctly, your hypothetical presupposes that the two games pushed by third-parties do well while the first-party published game flops. That would be more of a reflection of Nintendo's marketing than of the lack of viability of the so-called 'niche game' genre that all three titles quite loosely fall into.
2. As has been stated before, pure dollar-and-cent cost analysis is not really applicable to this situation. The most compelling reason to distribute Pandora's Tower (or any other game) in North America is not because the games is likely to sell a zillion copies and make a mint. Rather, they should release it (or allow someone else to release it) because in an industry built around cultivating an audience willing to make consistent repeated purchases in the long-term, branding is king.
Establishing a reputation of with-holding games from consumers and starving them of easily-providable content for prolonged periods of time is a bad thing, and it harms the company's finances in the long-run far, far more than a bum localization.
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