Possibility of J-List selling Japanese eroge?

Visual Novel Community Archive, 2000-2009
#1

From what I know, there are two major stores for purchasing untranslated eroge:

Himeyashop: Very large stock, reliable, but expensive, and with no cheap shipping option available.

Paletweb: Smaller stock - some new releases unavailable from there, probably less reliable (lots of Engrish on their website), cheaper prices, some second-hand games available, bonus point system, choice of a cheaper shipping option.

There’s also the proxy route, which I haven’t used before, but I imagine it would be a lot more expensive than the above shops, given the added cost of using the middleman.

Given this, I was wondering if J-List would consider selling untranslated Japanese eroge? There seems to be a potential market for it and J-List would probably do better in some aspects than the above companies. (I think this is probably the best place to ask this question, apologies if it’s not :oops:.)

#2

I too think this would be a great idea. If this were to be done, I think it would also be appropriate to have a small note in the description telling what level of Japanese proficiency is suggested, just like what is done with various literature sold on the site. For example the ??? (Jashin Hunter) series, which I bought because of how much I love Shirow Masamune’s work (even though I can’t read them yet), has a note in the description saying, “Perfect for advanced learners of Japanese and Shirow fans.”

#3

Already asked, already replied:

…And it’s exactly because of this if J-List doesn’t sell Japanese eroge :cry: .
However, I strongly suspect that also the fact Peapri is now the major(?) studio translating and releasing these particular games in the West plays a role in this policy (me, for example, I do NOT have thoughts on upcoming games since it’s 1+ years I don’t buy Peapri games after finally gaining access to one or two sources of cheap -or used- Japanese erogames catering MORE to my kink :twisted: )…

#4

Last year I made a suggestion to an Akihabara eroge dealer who sold at great bargain prices for even the newest games, to look into selling titles in the US. He was really keen on the idea and did some research and number crunching. In the end however, the answer was ultimately a negative. Reasons? The fluxing dollar value and the hassle of customs. He also feared that the amount of effort and time placed into setting up a system ¬ñ a website, hiring someone who spoke/read English, filling out the business forms ¬ñ would not recover the investment until the long run… and the erratic domestic Japanese eroge market made that a problem.

In light of that, I’ve come to believe that Himeya’s maxed out pricing is not only borne from them having a quasi-monopoly, but also to cover the expenses of just maintaining the importing. Even for the biggest name eroge titles, I doubt they sell more than few hundred copies to the US. I’d bet real money, that things like Ragnarok Battle Offline and Melty Blood were/are the best sellers. Plus there’s HUGE piracy rings in the US, which cut potential sales tremendously.

#5

Another major site tried introducing Japanese eroge last year. Their venture lasted about a month at the most.

#6

hate to be stereotypical but alot of japanese people are quite law-abiding and follow rules, partly on the fact that they dont want any trouble with authorities etc.

correct me if i am wrong but there are export laws in japan. i have friends who run a japanese bgame company (i wont reveal the company brand but its not related to peapri/gc in any way) and when they wanted to mail me stuff they said they had to mail it on as a personal package and if they mail it as a company (the sender) they have to go through alot of process (paperwork i guess) for export (might actually be illegal otherwise but dont quote on that since it was some time ago when he explained the situation)

and add to the mix of the typical japanese “blah dont bother, too tedious/cumbersome, too much trouble” mindset…thats why u dont see alot of ppl selling eroges stateside

but that said, last year when i went to AX i think i saw at least one dealer in the dealer’s room who is selling (presumably used) eroges…forgot how much they are selling though but my impression is that they arent cheap (as with most retailers in the dealers room so that’s doesnt hold much water :P)

#7

eroges aren’t cheap anywhere, unless you mean that they’re expensive for eroge, or expensive for that particular eroge (old titles that weren’t highly thought of can be pretty cheap - sub-3,000? Garden anyone? =p)

#8

Many (Most?) erogames become cheap very fast after release, see Comshop for a well known example.
In addition, the Japanese Postal Service doesn’t charge $19.00 for the first game + $4.00 for each additional game for its EMS :roll: …

#9

Simply for comparison purposes, what I paid for a doujin game (estimated):

$24 to buy the game (list price)
$13 to have it shipped to the middleman
$7 to have it shipped from the middleman to me
$11 fees for the service

#10

a little off topic , but that why I only order when I wanna get 2 or more things threw himeya, IE e xample got that nostradumas game, + arcana heart art book, + push ero game mag came out to like 27 dollars charge, saw the postage when I got it cost himeya about 4800 yen to ship it or about 44 dollars, win for me :smiley: but anyways I am all for having anothe us seller, personally I would order threw hobby search if I knew was gonna get pre bounas etc, well there my 2 cents on the subject

#11

yes this would be nice, I could get gore screaming show that way. Even though I dont know japanese I still want to play even though an english realse is probally just a dream. They do sell japanese ds games, like the petiet evaangelion one soooo cute. You never know what might happen.

#12