Without getting bogged down in percentages … I think that yes, a fan translations results in more piracy than a legitimate release. For all three reasons you just outlined. Not everyone is capable of navigating a site like DLSite (if you know zero Japanese at all, it’s hard to navigate those sites; some have important instructions as parts of images that can’t be copy/pasted into Google Translate). Some people prefer physical copies and are not likely to buy from DLSite for that reason. And besides, cheaper will be a huge disincentive to piracy just by itself. And easier to get also is a disincentive to pirate something.
Or put another way: Fate/Stay Night was fan translated. If the game had been licensed legitimately by Jast USA, it would sell … I can’t say how much Jast games typically sell - I’ll ballpark estimate a few thousand units. I highly doubt several thousand Japanese-language games were sold to be used with the fan translation patch. The available evidence (from Planetarian at least) has been close to nobody.
That’s nice, I was playing on eve and logged off to check up on sankaku and got surprised at the news, didn’t even think this will be sold in usa at all.
But I’m bit confused now prolly cuz i’m kinda sleepy atm, so, Jast gonna sell the game in japanese or, it in english? Or I’m to buy japanese and dl the translation patch?
We’re producing a fully localized, uncensored English version of the game, similar to all the other games sold under the Peach Princess and G-Collections brands. You’ll be able to choose between a package and download version of the release.
I appreciate the gesture, Shingo. Considering that J-List used the nearly-finished fan translation to help promote sales of the import version of the game, I’m glad to see you’re taking responsibility for what could be construed as misleading your customers. There’s plenty of distrust toward JAST as of late thanks to the Xchange 3 and Family Project fiascoes, and I’m sure none of us want to add another case of deceptive marketing to your track record. Thank you very much for being so considerate.
Still, I have two questions regarding this solution.
First off, would it be possible to receive a discount coupon that can only be used toward the purchase of My Girlfriend is the President in lieu of a free digital copy? The reason I ask is because many of us cannot use digital downloads at all; my laptop is strictly offline, and no amount of well-reasoned debate can change that. This is precisely why I must reluctantly boycott most of MangaGamer releases (I already own retail copies of both Kira Kira and Higurashi). I have no qualms whatsoever with covering the shipping or disc manufacturing costs for a single copy myself (though I suspect that won’t be necessary given last year’s Christmas campaign - thank you again for the copy of Snow Sakura).
Second, I imported my copy of My Girlfriend is the President specifically because I knew that the English translation was complete, but I can’t say for sure if I bought it from J-List since I placed several orders with different retailers at around the same time. I’m fairly certain my copy of the game came from PaletWeb. Assuming that this is indeed the case, would I be eligible for the free copy you mentioned or have some other form of recourse open to me? Once I get ahold of a digital camera, I can photograph my copy of the game with any JAST / G-Collections / Peach Princess titles I own as proof of purchase, should you request it.
I still plan on buying a retail copy of My Girlfriend is the President; I’m just a little sour that I’ve once again wasted money doing what I thought was the right thing. I could have easily purchased four or five JAST/G-C/PeaPri titles with the money I spent importing my now-useless copies of Osanadai and Shuffle (or bought a copy of the recently-translated Muv-Luv or The Devil on G-String, both of which appear to have no hope of being licensed).
Well, back when I was doing mock english versions of hentai things, I did. But I was also generally pretty up front that I was not actually translating the work.
On a free fanpatch, I have no problem with editing things to suit my personal kinks and squicks. I probably wouldn’t remove loli because I really don’t care, but I have performed large-scale edits on things involving rape, bestiality, scat, and urine. If I’m making the patch for my own amusement, why SHOULDN’T I remove stuff that grosses me out? I had no incentive to be accurate.
The only person you can count on to definitely handle the job the way you would is you.
I’m not sure if this has been decided yet - I’ll check and get back to you.
This seems reasonable, I’ll have to check with the higher-ups but I don’t see why this wouldn’t be possible.
I’d like to see this happen for those who bought the game in good faith regardless of source. We’ll see if we can work out a system that’s fair and abuse-resistant, perhaps something tied to previous JAST or J-List purchases as you suggest. We’ll announce it here when we’ve got something figured out.
i am pretty sure they won’t fuck this up too much
i have no idea what went wrong with family project but i am pretty sure they won’t make the same mistake
and don’t look at the 2 mistakes jast has made look at the good releases they have made
and also they didn’t edit cat girl alliance and it had loli
When we press the master for My Girlfriend is the President we’ll make a post similar to the one that came before Cat Girl Alliance, so if any changes are necessary they’ll be announced well in advance of shipping. We don’t see anything we’ll have to change at this time, but we will definitely announce it beforehand if we do. If you have any misgivings at that point, I’d recommend waiting until the game is released and reviewed to decide whether it’s worth your support.
Salvare000
We agree that the timing of this licensing wasn’t the best. However I’d like to try to address a few misconceptions:
It isn’t our MO to go hunting for games with complete or nearly complete translation projects under way. In this case specifically, ALcot came to us with an interest in bringing their games to a Western audience. From the moment they approached us we proceeded with negotiations in an ongoing way until they were complete, and we announced the title as soon as this preliminary groundwork was laid. We couldn’t have done it any sooner.
The TLwiki team responsible for their translation of the game agreed to work with us on the localization process on a contractual basis. If they hadn’t been interested, we would have contracted other translators to do the work or done it internally. Per industry standards we would have requested that they remove their translation from distribution at the time of the licensing announcement, but that wouldn’t have prevented them from completing it and distributing it unofficially.
If you’re a customer who purchased the Japanese version of the game in anticipation of the TLwiki patch being completed, we don’t want you to feel like the rug was pulled out from under you. We’ll be happy to hook you up with a copy of the release as soon as it’s finished at no cost to you - contact me at pr@jastusa.com for details. If you waited on your purchase of the Japanese version, we think it’s a pretty good deal that you’ll be able to get the English version, uncensored, for less than half the price you would have paid for the patched Japanese version.
English localized bishoujo games are a small cottage industry at this point. They haven’t made us rich and I don’t think they ever will. We recognize that we can’t direct fans’ choices of how they consume our products, but we hope those who bear goodwill toward the future of these games both in Japan and in the West will consider purchasing games they consider worth it.
No matter how you choose to play My Girlfriend is the President, we’re working hard in cooperation with TLwiki’s team and ALcot to make it the most enjoyable experience we can.
Yeah, but poster doesn’t intend to pay for it no matter what:
So, from his point of view, the outcome is that he has to wait a little while longer for the free game he feels he rightly deserves. As such, he sees no benefits from JAST acquiring the game in question. Not to mention all those people who did buy the original game, who are suckers because TLwiki apparently ‘intended it to be free.’
Bland and pathetically predictable in my opinion, it’s more hilarious to see thieves robbed of their loot, I’m always snitching on hard-working cheats and their stuff on the net, I’m sooo Evil …
You sympathize with TLWiki translators, but you don’t feel anything for Alcott (and other eroge companies) who “put their all” into their games only to have them illegally downloaded with their expressed disapproval?
I waited a night to reply because his post really grossed me out. I think he doesn’t even sympathize with fan translators that technically went pro as they were officially compensated because the message is clear that he wanted it free and he felt disenfranchised when JAST was approached with an official release.
You’re incoherent. This was difficult to understand enough to reply to, but nonetheless, here’s an attempt.
You pretty much said that. How the hell else can “it was intended to be free by TLWiki (ok, it’s against law, it’s violations of author’s rights, and I’m sick bastard who enjoys seeing grannies get hit by truck on crossroads) and it WILL be free, whether you like it or not.” be interpreted?
Sure, for any given eroge the chance of it being licensed is virtually nil, so go ahead and play the fan translation.
That’s not the problem here, though. See, the chance of Osananajimi wa Daitouryou being licensed is 100%, given that it’s actually happened now, and it’s certainly not going to be ‘ten years or later’. The issues that plagued Demonbane (engine troubles) don’t really exist here either in this Kirikiri-engine game. JAST licensed Osananajimi wa Daitouryou, so the end result is that:
You have to wait a while longer
If you bought the game originally, you get the DL version of the translation for free
If you didn’t, you can get the game, DL or as a nice boxed copy you can keep on your shelf, for much cheaper.
yeah, you can still pirate it, nobody’s even denying that. Don’t, though
The total sum inconvenience to you is virtually nil; you get to wait a little while. That’s what you’re complaining about. I’ve been waiting since 2008 for Garden to be finished and it’s still not. On the other hand, the benefits of this localisation are pretty high:
Greater chance of more ALcot games, including the classic Clover Hearts and the exceptional Shinigami no Seppun, neither of which have translation projects, being localised. ALcot approached JAST with the view of getting their games brought overseas, so I doubt they’d just stop with one.
New revenue stream for ALcot, enabling them to make more excellent eroge.
Greater chance of more eroge companies looking to bring their games overseas, meaning greater number of titles localised, meaning more eroge you can read.
More money for JAST, enabling them to license more eroge companies that are interested in bringing their works across
Overall, the sum benefit to you is far greater than the inconvenience of having to wait a little while.
You may not be a troll, but you don’t make a great deal of sense. You’d do well to think more about this rather than just posting your initial emotional reaction (I’m going to have to wait even loooonger?!) to the news.
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