Big names demand big money for licensing. PP does not have big money, because the US market for these games is a lot smaller than the Japanese one.
So a lot of it is - who’s willing to give up their titles cheap? (Which sadly, is sometimes “companies that are about to go out of business and are therefore desperate”)
From what I understand they’re in good relationships with japanese softhouse Will, so most of the games are being picked from the catalogue of their sub-brands, like Crowd, Guilty, ruf and so on.
And like papillon said ‘big games’ cost money that small publishers like PP probably just can’t afford, besides I guesss it’s not that easy to build up good relations with japanese eroge publishers just like that even if you have $$$.
Just to further substantiate Papillon’s point… despite Kanon’s popularity overbroad, ranging from the recognition of the game iself (both h and non-h versions), to the popularity of 2002 anime, and the huge anticipation of the 2006 anime (what with KyoAni doign straight after the phenomena that is Haruhi Suzumiya)… Key will not license Kanon abroad unless someone pays them a minimum of a few million.
Oh, and Sega did want to license the Sakura Taisen games, but felt that the amrket would be too small for them (though there si rumour hat an english version may be released soon)
Looking outside PP, all the G-collection games were releases by companies under the softhouse of CD-Bros, which is relatively small as well (though Crescendo and KLS were one of the few good ones, with high ratings on the EroGamescape) as, from what I know, GC was suppsedly the Western subdivision of that company.
~
While it’s true that a majority of big cames cost extreme amounts of money, the fact that some titles that are licensed and di well at the Erogamescape (YMK was one of them, along with Crescendo), show that there is hope for the market abroad.
Crowd is not a sub-division of Will, but its own softhouse. The rest are subdivisions of Will.
That plan is dead. I worked as a translator for Overworks (which was a sub of Red Company) and have a few contacts with the company. Long story short, I asked about this a few months ago, and Sony killed all attempts to port it to the US.
My understanding is, they wanted to keep the Japanese voice acting, and use the text box for the English (i.e. like PP does for the eroge). The execs in Sony didn’t like this idea. End of plan. Game over.
Several other companies (I can’t name them though) expressed MAJOR interest in porting the title to the US as well, but Sony shot them all down too. Too niche a market, the “sexism” thing (i.e. the girls can’t do nothing without their male leader), the Japanese “jokes” about American culture, the gay supreme commander, etc.
Sony sucks…
[ 12-12-2006, 07:24 PM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]
I had more or less feared that was the reason they never came over. This is one of the big big things I hold against Sony USA. Pissing off the hardcore fanbase by pulling crap like this.
I knew about their “no 2D” bias, but not this…
WHAT ?!!
~
Oh God… that does it. Everyone… boycott the PS3 now !
WTF?!?!?! SONY YOU BASTARDS!!
Maybe the people of Microsoft will port it over for the X-Box 360 or Nintendo will take it up.
I don’t think this is possible. From the way Nargrakhan says it, I gauge that Sony is holding the license.
SEGA of Japan holds the license, and through them SEGA of America.
At least two other companies entered detail negotiations to purchase it from them. The way things work, SONY must first approve what games can come into the US. Many have voiced their disagreement with SONY’s micromanaging ways (Working Designs being one), but what they say goes. Only major groups - like EA and Square Enix - have enough pull to challenge Sony and make them change their minds.
I’m not sure if the rumor is true, but I’m told that once SONY denies a game twice, it can NEVER enter consideration again.
The Red Company crew is just as angry, as American fans. In some ways, they were grooming Sakura Taisen 5 for US release.
[ 12-13-2006, 01:17 AM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]
Sakura Taisen 5 was supposed to eb released in the US, wasn’t it ? I mean, it was American-based, which wa ssupposed to allow it to be better assimilated into it.
Wait a mintue… why is Sony in charge of the passage of licenses ?
And, I very much doubt that some major group like EA would be willing to localize it… (too many reasons not limited to emphasis on their own games, reproducing the same stuff all over again, bias, and so on)
Who ever wanted one to begin with?
The games on the second-geneartion-consoles are still pretty fine for me, so I already planned before to skip the entire third generation and wait for the fourth instead!
Errrmmmm… I still don’t really get the ful picture…
It’s not like SEGA and SONY are brands of the same company, so how come that Sony decides where and how SEGA’s game are ported?
Did they buy an exclusive porting-license from SEGA that binds the Sakura-Teisen-series to the PlayStation-platform?
Would you mind enlightening me - and perhaps some others?
Hey! I would have bought one had i had the money…so I could then sell it on ebay.
Sony may have bought exclusivity rights.
Not really. What happens is console makers have to approve everything that goes onto their console. So you simply cannot put the games out on PS2 without Sony USA’s consent. And Sony has apparently adopted a number of draconian release policies in an attempt to keep the Playstation brand from getting “diluted” (whatever that means). If it were just “quality product” that would be one thing, but apparently it’s not.
Ever wonder why the Symphony of the Night sequels weren’t on Playstation and all the PS games since have been the 3d ones? Sony doesn’t like 2D games.
Well, personally, I do like 2D games. 2D platformers and shooters can do things that just aren’t possible in 3D. Look at how well The New Super Mario Bros has done – it’s been in the top 10 on the best-seller lists almost every week (combined! Across all systems!) since it was released.
So it wouldn’t surprise me at all to hear Sony has a policy that says “no Japanese VA’ed games in America”. This seriously pisses me off, as someone who not only doesn’t mind them but likes them.
The games could be brought over – if Microsoft, for example, really wanted to port the Sakura Taisen games over, or Nintendo – but they’d have to be ported.
Sure, sure. We believe you. Not. 
So you’re saying one of the new Nintendo systems has zero appeal?
Exactly - at least as far as I am concerned!
Nandemonai covered how things work like I would have. Sony is a dictator. This is why other great games, like the Dragon Force remake, will never see US shores (Working Designs tried just that infact).
Yup. They also made the cast racially diverse along American statisics to reflect the US varied cultures (i.e. two whites, one black, one asian, one hispanic) and located everything in easily recognized New York city.
Naturally there were minor issues here and there, but on the whole the game was their best attempt for US release. It was the flagship of their “World of Sakura Taisen”. SONY killed that hard.
I’m gonna have to disagree there. The DS is a FANTASTIC system with a slew of great games. Phoenix Wright, Castlevania POR, Megaman ZX, New Super Mario Brothers… not to mention the upcoming Pokemon D/P and Zelda.
Given that Capcom & Konami can only make 2D games for Nintendo, the DS is gonna only get better (the next Castlevania and Megaman of course).
And have you seen Zelda on the Wii. God that game makes me drool… 
[ 12-13-2006, 02:01 PM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]
Actually it’s not because they don’t like 2D games. PS2 in Japan has tons.
Sony did some market research and came to 2 basic conclusions about the US:
People in US don’t like 2D games, except for handheld, and even then they’d like 3D games, ergo, Sony won’t allow 2D games into the US.
People in the US don’t like subtitles, ergo, all games must come with a dubbed track. Japanese subtitled track is okay if enough diskspace is left without increasing the number of discs from the Japanese version.
NOTE: That one it seems can be ignored for certain niche markets. My Romance of the Three Kingdoms series and BoF: Dragonquarter only had subtitles.
I only have a DS for the games. If they were on a GBA system, I would rather that. I do not care for their touchpad system.
As for the Wii, i’m not buying one yet. I’m waiting to see what system the games I want to come out will be on. 360 won’t have them, but i’m not sure if the ps3 or Wii will.