The Business Of Bringing Western Games To Japan

We often talk about the opposite, that is bringing Japanese games to the West, but what about moving in the other direction?

Gamasutra has an enlightening interview with Tetsu Takahashi that discusses the process, rating issues, and how to expand the market for Western developed games in Japan. In Takahashi’s eyes, investing more on localization and marketing helps.

As a counter-example, that’s a picture from the Xbox World Collection, a series of Western games published by Microsoft Japan with no localization whatsoever. Voice acting and text were left in English – for a Japanese game. Users only had a Japanese instruction manual and a series of web lessons to navigate through games like Simpsons Hit & Run and Counterstrike. That… didn’t work so well.

Anyway, read the interview, think about Takahashi’s points, and discuss if companies bringing Japanese games to the West should utilize similar strategies to expand the market here.