The Sudden Spike in Localizing, a Coincidence or a Drive to Improve?

[FlareHabanero]

Recently, there have be multiple games that have been announced within a small time period coming to the west. SEGA 3D Classics Collection, Valkyria Chronicles Remastered, and 7th Dragon III were all announced despite people being in doubt because of past experience with SEGA's spotty track record.


I do have to wonder if it's a genuine attempt to improve their reputation, or if this is all just a coincidence. In a sense the former sort of feels like an experiment since some of these games are having an America only run (at least so far), while others are essentially old games repackaged. If my hunch is right, then if this "experiment" works it might mean more consistency with their IPs coming to the west.

[Happy Cat]

I don't think it's a test. I think it's just SEGA learning from Atlus, like Haruki said they were. I think it's the future. SEGA America is basically Atlus USA now. This is always what Atlus has done in the US, localized games. They are probably teaching SEGA cost effective ways to localize games and keep costs low on packaged distribution to help keep sales expectations in line. The plan is obviusly to build up a niche fanbase based on Japanese games in America.


This also marks the independence of SEGA America again, no longer part of SEGA West managed by SEGA Europe. SEGA Europe does great, know how to sell games in Europe, but Total War and Football manager aren't nearly as popular in America as they are in Europe. After seeing SEGA West execute over the years it's clear each branch needs to appeal to their territory. At the time it was a good decision to have SEGA Europe manage both America and Europe, but now I think it's clear that giving each branch their own control is the better way to go, as long as neither of them is destroying the company's reputation.


I wonder what localization SEGA America will announce before the end of the month? They are on fire.

[Aki-at]

New president, new direction.

Haruki Satomi was responsible, whilst digital VP, for pushing for games like Guardian Heroes and After Burner Climax to be ported so sort of fits his style.

Not like the precedent *didn't* exist at SEGA before anyway and it's not like there aren't still going to be some banana skins (Sonic: Lost World PC port, Cranky Food Friends) along the way but I don't think it's a coincidence. Rather they've come out of a patchy period (2010 - 2014 was bad and they'll probably still be one more quarter of pain though.) that saw multiple large scale failures, rebuilt their gaming division on digital sales and now looking to expand into the market they had to retreat from to solidify their positions.

[Happy Cat]

Something interesting I noticed. When noticing the new sites popping up for SEGA's new localization announcements, they didn't feel like a typical SEGA West site that we've been getting the past few years.

So i went and took a look at Atlus game sites, they have a very similar format to SEGA America's new game sites. So Atlus is definitely involved in every aspect.

Just something I found interesting, I know most people won't care.


http://games.sega.com/7thdragon/purchase/


http://atlus.com/legendoflegacy/purchase.html

[Berto]

Just something I found interesting, I know most people won't care.


http://games.sega.com/7thdragon/purchase/


http://atlus.com/legendoflegacy/purchase.html

That's really interesting indeed. I didn't notice it before.

Also now Atlus has full-supported SEGA for marketing.
Weeks before it's only Atlus and NISA games.
Now you'll find some SEGA titles on the left side at their sales site :

http://atlus.com/sales/7thdragon3.php

[Randroid]

It's kind of a dream come true for me. I never thought I'd see dengenki bunko, stella glow, yakuza 5 and 7th Dragon make it to our shores. Like happy cat said, this has atlus written all over it. welcome to the next level of SEGA building up the niche fanbase.

Too bad phantasy star nova fell through the cracks though. Still couldn't be happier.

[Tad]

One word: Atlus.

[crackdude]

Why aren't any of these localizations coming out in Europe. What is this

[Tad]

Atlus are quite slow on the European side of things unfortunately.

Shame really. SEGA still hold a lot of ground here and it would be a shame to see them go the way of Nintendo and ignore us.

[Phantasos]

New President trying to put Sega on the map and the recent Atlus acquisition probably made them realize that "English version good".

Ironically enough, they're becoming as sluggish as Atlus when it comes to European releases. Always a fucking catch.

[Sharky]

On the Yakuza 5 streams the guys streaming said 'You'll be seeing a lot more localization from now on,' back before Yak 5 shipped, so I can only assume it's a new direction.

[Kuronoa]

Atlus are quite slow on the European side of things unfortunately.

Shame really. SEGA still hold a lot of ground here and it would be a shame to see them go the way of Nintendo and ignore us.

Atlus has an excuse, having no proper branch.  They publish digitally if they release it themselves over there.  SEGA should be picking up publishing for them.
What is the deal with SoE anyways?  They seem far better at green-lighting Western games than SEGA America yet I'm assuming their publishing duties are lousy?  A shame indeed.

[Tad]

Atlus has an excuse, having no proper branch.  They publish digitally if they release it themselves over there.  SEGA should be picking up publishing for them.
What is the deal with SoE anyways?  They seem far better at green-lighting Western games than SEGA America yet I'm assuming their publishing duties are lousy?  A shame indeed.

To be fair, we don't know what conditions the head office of SEGA have put them under. Seems to me SoE have been taking a much bigger role in production (Total War series, AI, Ports etc) then anything else as of late.

Whatever the case, it's very weird. SoE are usually really quick off the mark.

[Nameless 24]

Atlus are quite slow on the European side of things unfortunately.

Shame really. SEGA still hold a lot of ground here and it would be a shame to see them go the way of Nintendo and ignore us.

I think Nintendo's done a great job with the European fanbase as of 2011 with Xenoblade Chronicles, the Limited Editions and the like. Probably even better than what most companies in getting stuff done over here.

SEGA usually is pretty good in Europe but I am now fearing that they are choosing to ignore us because ATLUS USA may have a say in the European Market. :|

I'm importing Valkyria Chronicles Remaster because as a fan I do not wish to miss out on exclusives because I unfortunately do not trust that we will get the same goodies (I am the same with buying XSEED localised games over Ghostlight, despite them at least trying to get ATLUS games in Europe at the time).

If you live in America, this is obviously a great year to be a SEGA fan, but I am very sceptical for those of us who live in Europe as the silence of announcements doesn't bode well given that SEGA as a whole should be announcing things roughly within a week of one another (I believe Namco did this with God Eater, because I knew of a few Americans being concerned of a lack of announcement of the God Eater games, but it was soon announced a few days later).

It's nice to see, but I honestly hope that ATLUS US doesn't have a say in Europe given their history of either announcing the games super late, over-pricing their products, not releasing them over here at all or even going as far as region locking a game so we can't buy the American copy. (for the record, I am not really into ATLUS games but I do honestly feel sorry for the fans who live in Europe that have to endure this bullshit)

Either way, I do believe in SEGA Europe as they do a great job otherwise! I just hope the American ATLUS side hasn't taken the reigns and destroying any good will we have with our branch.


To answer Kuronoa's post, NISA pick up any slack that ATLUS drops in Europe, and I do think despite having delayed releases on a few games that they have published, it is much faster than what Ghostlight, Zen Studios and probably even Marvelous have done as of late.


I wouldn't exactly say that NISA has a permanent branch here either, but that shouldn't be an excuse for ATLUS anymore, because SEGA are likely to give them a small branch in Europe to get things done. (if not, I guess we will have to rely on NISA again)

[Happy Cat]

https://mobile.twitter.com/sega_europe/status/694912696609853440