My bro doesn't understand why people don't buy Yakuza

[JC48573]

He knows that Sega is restructuring right now, so he is very concerned if Yakuza 5 is even going to be localized seeing how Binary Domain and Yakuza Dead Souls did poor in sales. What drives him mad is that gamers buy mostly for the name nowadays. He doesn't understand why people buy crap like REORC when Binary Domain is better in almost every way. So what do you guys think? What are the chances that Yakuza 5 will make it overseas?

Check out their upgraded engine

[Xeogred]

Think I'm going to buy 3-4 myself sometime soon.

[brunoafh]

It's Sega's own fault the Yakuza games (and pretty much all their games) tank in sales. Their marketing is absolutely terrible. Localizing Dead Souls was a huge mistake as well, it was bleedingly obvious that it wouldn't sell well and all localizing it did was lower the chances we'll get Yakuza here ever again.

I think Yakuza 5 might make it over since 3 and 4 did reasonably well but I have my doubts.

[JC48573]

the thing is, people keep assuming that Sega has the money to market, but you have to understand that they're no EA or Activision where they can throw in a stash of money to advertise their games. These big companies leave the impression that game companies do have this kind of money for marketing, but do you know how costly it is? It is a risk Japanese companies think it's not worth taking, especially when they're a little tight on cash. My brother actually blames the gaming community like you, me, or even your average consumer for not being a little informative or at least understanding. You're probably wondering "how will they know?" They don't really. What we hope is that people spread the word, so don't simply blame the company for lack of marketing. Let's say, Sega is a very old school company just getting ready to do business for reals, but they also need your support.

There are only a few Gamestops that I know of that really do advertise other kind of games to me because they know what I like, but I'm not sure if they do that with everybody else. I have a few classmates ask me what's new and I always end up telling them about other games they've never even heard of.

Aside from that, Yakuza games are actually worth every penny you put on. It is a very interesting game mixed with rpgs elements, brawling, mini games, and great storyline (can be cheesy) about yakuza affairs. It's also a fairly long game with plenty of quests to accomplish. My bro has yet to complete every single challenge mission in Yakuza 4 ever since he got the game on release date. He is so in love with the franchise that he purchased Yakuza kenzan even though he didn't understand Japanese. He beat the game with a guide.

Almost forgot to add:

Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown is finally out for 14.99 for download. 29.99 for complete game with all items unlocked for a limited time (2 weeks after release date) only on PSN. You want to know how addicting it is? My bro spent one entire day simply customizing his characters. He plays at least 4 hours a day.

Jet Set Radio coming out this summer and it will also be released for the Vita, which was confirmed at E3 2012.

[brunoafh]

the thing is, people keep assuming that Sega has the money to market, but you have to understand that they're no EA or Activision where they can throw in a stash of money to advertise their games.

I think this qualifies as throwing a stash of money around.



Sega markets the shit out of the Ryu ga Gotoku series in Japan. It's Sega USA that I was saying sucks at marketing, but Sega has a lot of problems these days period too. Take Max Anarchy for example. Platinum has the game completely localized as we speak. Sega USA's repsonse? Ehh... change the release date to tba. Poor sales for Sega games and pretty much every one of Platinum's games is a direct result of their crappy decisions (release Vanquish in the same window as CoD and Halo, release Resonance of Fate in the same window as FF XIII and not bother to even give a release date until a month prior, cut content from localizations and lie about it)

Believe me I'm always spreading the word on the Ryu ga Gotoku/Yakuza games. It's one of my favorite series ever and I've bought almost every one of them on launch. Another reason they don't burn up the sales charts in the US is because they're very heavily geared towards a Japanese audience and many of the themes don't resonate so well with foreign players.

[noiseredux]

I wonder how Dead Souls would have done as a $20 downloadable title on PSN instead of a retail release?

[JC48573]

the thing is, people keep assuming that Sega has the money to market, but you have to understand that they're no EA or Activision where they can throw in a stash of money to advertise their games.

I think this qualifies as throwing a stash of money around.



Sega markets the shit out of the Ryu ga Gotoku series in Japan. It's Sega USA that I was saying sucks at marketing, but Sega has a lot of problems these days period too. Take Max Anarchy for example. Platinum has the game completely localized as we speak. Sega USA's repsonse? Ehh... change the release date to tba. Poor sales for Sega games and pretty much every one of Platinum's games is a direct result of their crappy decisions (release Vanquish in the same window as CoD and Halo, release Resonance of Fate in the same window as FF XIII and not bother to even give a release date until a month prior, cut content from localizations and lie about it)

Believe me I'm always spreading the word on the Ryu ga Gotoku/Yakuza games. It's one of my favorite series ever and I've bought almost every one of them on launch. Another reason they don't burn up the sales charts in the US is because they're very heavily geared towards a Japanese audience and many of the themes don't resonate so well with foreign players.

Yea, you're always wondering where all the money went too? I'm glad they took down SEGA USA though (or did they?). You gotta admit that marketing in Japan would make more sense as opposed to here. Tbh, they did their best to market Yakuza 3, especially the first two games, but I just get the impression that people simply don't care. We also have people that buy the game and hate it with passion. They even go out and spread the word on how bad the game is.

[ZeroAX]

release Resonance of Fate in the same window as FF XIII and not bother to even give a release date until a month prior, cut content from localizations and lie about it)

Oh god, I had forgotten about when it was released. I bought both together I think

But I didn't like RoF enough to bother beating it . Cut content from localizations? What happened exactly?

[brunoafh]

I thought Resonance of Fate was really fun, never beat it either though.

I was referring to how they cut content from Yakuza 3 and weren't open about it. I guess they didn't outright lie, but "a few cuts had to be made" ended up being like a dozen sidequests, an entire portion of the game, and some other random stuff. Fans were pretty pissed.

[Xeogred]

I think bruno's on the money. Platinum Games' stuff is generally pretty amazing, but they completely bomb thanks to SEGA USA not doing any promoting whatsoever. They just suddenly hit shelves and nobody knows.