Why do you think games like Gears only do so-so in Japan?

[hashiriya1]

COD is very popular in Japan. All of the latest releases have sold immensely except for "World at War" which, for obvious reasons, didn't get released in Japan.

What reason is that? It can't be you fighting Imperial Japan, right?

I was living there at the time it came out so I had to call my sister back in the States to send me a copy (you could buy the U.S. version in Japan, but at the time it was almost twice the U.S. retail price). One of my good friends was totally addicted to Modern Warfare and I asked him if he wanted a copy of World at War as well. His reply was "I don't really want to kill Japanese." I kinda assumed that was the reason why Square-Enix (they publish Japan-version COD games) didn't release it in Japan, seeing as though they are a Japanese company.

I later found out some of the reasoning behind it not being released there is because when the Japanese soldiers in the game die they scream "Tenno heika banzai" (long live the emperor!) which is offensive and disrespectful. It probably even offended the top guys at Square-Enix. It seems harmless, but Japanese nationalism is a VERY touchy subject in Japan. Even the national anthem has a bit of a negative stigma attached to it. You'd never hear it at a ball game or in a classroom. I know what you're thinking...they could have just edited that out. Japanese COD fans thought the same thing. Seems like an easy fix but another reason and problem is the game's cutscenes shows Japanese soldiers torturing POWs. The game overall paints Japan as a savage, barbaric enemy. Many will agree that they were, but that is never taught in Japanese high schools (Pearl Harbor barely gets a mention) so the average joe is totally oblivious to the atrocities Japan committed during WWII. Just imagine playing a Japanese-developed game that depicts American soldiers as barbarians and it was your job, as a Japanese soldier, to kill all of them. That wouldn't fly here. Sorry, I'm digressing.

Game shops that carry imports had tons of the US versions so I am sure people who wanted it did get it, they just had to pay the price of buying imported games. It's dirt cheap now on Amazon Japan, so now it's even more accessible.

[BoringSupreez]

For similar reasons, IIRC MOH: Rising Sun either didn't come out in Japan or it did poorly over there.

I wonder what Germans think of average western-front WWII FPS games?

[isiolia]

I wonder what Germans think of average western-front WWII FPS games?

Probably used to it given how common Nazis are as enemies in all kinds of media.

Most of them would be probably be banned on release based on Volksverhetzung and other laws. At least, from distribution in the country (some other info here).

[ExedExes]

For similar reasons, IIRC MOH: Rising Sun either didn't come out in Japan or it did poorly over there.

I wonder what Germans think of average western-front WWII FPS games?

According to a Gamespot article from 2003, it did. Not surprising, because EA has a big Japanese branch.

A portion from it mirrors what Hashi here has been saying:

But it's interesting to note that articles in the mainstream game media have discussed the game's play modes and setting without ever commenting on the history the game covers: the Pacific campaigns of World War II.

A review in Softbank Games remarks: "This game is set in the Pacific, where deadly combat between the Japanese Imperial Army and the American Army unfolds." The reviewer describes stages like the landing on Guadalcanal as "extremely intense." There is no indication that the reviewer finds anything unusual about playing as a U.S. soldier trying to defeat the WWII-era Japanese army.

I also raised the question over in the Random Gaming Thoughts thread about the popularity of COD and MOH over in Germany, but they made their way over there too, I saw in the credits in those games that they had special teams handling the release for those titles in Germany, undoubtedly to make the games more favorable to sell over there. I don't think the Japanese releases saw that same "quality control", so to speak.

[MrPopo]

I wonder what Germans think of average western-front WWII FPS games?

Probably used to it given how common Nazis are as enemies in all kinds of media.

Most of them would be probably be banned on release based on Volksverhetzung and other laws. At least, from distribution in the country (some other info here).

Well, the way the Volksverhetzung works is that you can't use the symbols of the Nazi party, but you can have Nazi soldiers. So Return to Castle Wolfenstein was able to be released there, but first they had to edit all the symbols in the maps from the swastika to the Wolfenstein symbol. And all the multiplayer maps are the "international" version, where you can see spots that would obviously have been the swastika but now it's the Wolfenstein symbol.

I think the biggest difference is that the atrocities of World War II are not glossed over in Germany. Holocaust denial is illegal there, and the whole era is still a big national shame for them. So it's much easier for them to handle Germans being the antagonist.

Now, what would be really interesting is to see how a good World War I game would do in Germany if it was UK/US/France focused.

[lisalover1]

futile Japan