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Offline tylerohlew

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Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned by Japanese Majority
« on: February 28, 2013, 01:36:07 PM »

Find out what's preventing your favourite eShop games from making their way to Japan.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/33465

NCL requires publishers of 3DS and Wii U eShop titles to be majority owned by Japanese stockholders.

The news comes from Siliconera's report of Nano Assault Neo being published in Japan by Arc System Works (the studio behind the BlazBlu and Guilty Gear series).

This regulation means many independent studios must find publishing deals with Japanese studios to put their game on that country's eShop.

In speaking with Renegade Kid's Jools Watsham, we can confirm that this report is accurate, and that the studio is in talks with a publisher to release the studio's work in Japan.

Nano Assault Neo marks the first download only title to appear on Japan's Wii U eShop.

We've reached out to several independent developers for their opinion on the matter. We'll report our findings soon.

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Offline TJ Spyke

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned By Japanese Majority
« Reply #1 on: February 28, 2013, 01:47:21 PM »
What? This seems weird and a little ridiculous. The only reason I can think of is Nintendo wanting to help the Japanese economy by making sure Japanese companies get money from all games (besides just Nintendo, as they get a cut of every game anyways). This means small non-Japanese developers get even less money for their games as they have to share some of the revenue with another publisher.
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Offline supergtt

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned By Japanese Majority
« Reply #2 on: February 28, 2013, 01:52:18 PM »
yea, that will surely help the sorry state the japanese game industry is in. man, those indie devs will surely flock to put games on a store with this much hassle involved.
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Offline red14

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned By Japanese Majority
« Reply #3 on: February 28, 2013, 02:06:49 PM »
...Is this a similar situation with Mother on Wii Virtual Console?
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Offline TJ Spyke

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned By Japanese Majority
« Reply #4 on: February 28, 2013, 02:15:44 PM »
Quote from: red14 on February 28, 2013, 02:06:49 PM
...Is this a similar situation with Mother on Wii Virtual Console?

Um, what? What does Mother have to do with this? Mother is developed and published by Nintendo.
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Offline Pixelated Pixies

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned By Japanese Majority
« Reply #5 on: February 28, 2013, 02:19:56 PM »
That seems...weird.
« Last Edit: February 28, 2013, 04:09:56 PM by Pixelated Pixies »
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Offline ThePerm

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned By Japanese Majority
« Reply #6 on: February 28, 2013, 02:20:12 PM »
the reason mother isn't in wide release is because it has unauthorized samples of music.
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Offline Leo13

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned By Japanese Majority
« Reply #7 on: February 28, 2013, 02:37:57 PM »
Wait! What's NCL stand for? Is this a Japanese government agency?
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Offline Ceric

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned By Japanese Majority
« Reply #8 on: February 28, 2013, 02:54:12 PM »
Quote from: Leo13 on February 28, 2013, 02:37:57 PM
Wait! What's NCL stand for? Is this a Japanese government agency?
NCL is Nintendo Main branch.  So when someone says Nintendo they mean NCL.

I have more than a sneaky feeling that this is due to a Governmental regulation of some sort or someone interpretting one.
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Offline TJ Spyke

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned By Japanese Majority
« Reply #9 on: February 28, 2013, 03:23:44 PM »
Quote from: Leo13 on February 28, 2013, 02:37:57 PM
Wait! What's NCL stand for? Is this a Japanese government agency?

Nintendo Company Limited, it's the full name of Nintendo. Usually when people say it thought, they are specifically talking about the Japanese branch.

Perm, the original Mother doesnt use music samples.
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Offline AV

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned By Japanese Majority
« Reply #10 on: February 28, 2013, 03:35:08 PM »
Seriously this is stupid move and causes stagnation , is this some stupid isolationist patriotic ass backward Japanese  law or just Nintendo being stubborn.

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Offline TJ Spyke

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned By Japanese Majority
« Reply #11 on: February 28, 2013, 03:37:33 PM »
Shadow Complex was one of the 10 best selling Xbox Live Arcade games in Japan in 2009, and was published there by Microsoft Japan. Maybe a Japanese subsidiarity counts, otherwise I think it might just be Nintendo's policy.
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Offline broodwars

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned By Japanese Majority
« Reply #12 on: February 28, 2013, 03:54:20 PM »
*just shakes his head sadly*

Oh insane Japanese Nationalism...some things never change. Well, for the sake of the smaller developers Nintendo's been claiming to support, I hope Nintendo lifts this stupid restriction. It's not like Nintendo's in ANY shape to be making demands on developers supporting their hardware.
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Offline Ian Sane

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned by Japanese Majority
« Reply #13 on: February 28, 2013, 06:17:17 PM »
It's a dumb restriction but then don't non-Japanese games often not sell that well in the Japanese market?  Aren't their buying habbits pretty xenophobic?  Like for an indie dev it might not matter much in the longrun because there just might not be much of a market for their game in Japan in the first place.

But if Nintendo is doing this and Sony isn't, it will just provide an excuse for an indie dev to not go with Nintendo.  "Well I can make it for this system where I know I can't get a release in Japan OR I can go with this one where I have that option if I want it."  The meer option, even if it is never used, can affect someone's decision.  Of course if this is Japanese law then Sony is stuck with it as well.
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Offline joshnickerson

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned by Japanese Majority
« Reply #14 on: February 28, 2013, 08:32:23 PM »
Somehow, someway, people will find a way to blame Reggie for this.
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Offline ShyGuy

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned by Japanese Majority
« Reply #15 on: February 28, 2013, 08:34:48 PM »
Jingoism! This is what Ken Levine should preach about in his next Bioshock.
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Offline broodwars

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned by Japanese Majority
« Reply #16 on: February 28, 2013, 09:54:27 PM »
Quote from: ShyGuy on February 28, 2013, 08:34:48 PM
Jingoism! This is what Ken Levine should preach about in his next Bioshock.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not, but he is preaching about it in his next Bioshock. Bioshock Infinite is all about jingoism.
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Offline tendoboy1984

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned by Japanese Majority
« Reply #17 on: February 28, 2013, 10:23:29 PM »
I thought Nintendo was open to supporting indie developers? What the hell Nintendo? How do you expect to get any support at all in Japan if you enforce ridiculous rules like this?


Thank God Nintendo of America isn't this strict with indie developers...
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Offline TJ Spyke

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned by Japanese Majority
« Reply #18 on: February 28, 2013, 10:27:29 PM »
Quote from: tendoboy1984 on February 28, 2013, 10:23:29 PM
I thought Nintendo was open to supporting indie developers? What the hell Nintendo? How do you expect to get any support at all in Japan if you enforce ridiculous rules like this?


Thank God Nintendo of America isn't this strict with indie developers...

Digital games are not as big in Japan as they are in other regions, so it's not as bad as it would be in other regions.
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Offline tendoboy1984

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned by Japanese Majority
« Reply #19 on: February 28, 2013, 10:31:05 PM »
Quote from: TJ Spyke on February 28, 2013, 10:27:29 PM
Digital games are not as big in Japan as they are in other regions, so it's not as bad as it would be in other regions.


Then explain why Sony is pushing digital distribution so hard with the PS4, given the fact that Sony is also a Japanese company...
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Offline TJ Spyke

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned by Japanese Majority
« Reply #20 on: February 28, 2013, 10:36:24 PM »
Quote from: tendoboy1984 on February 28, 2013, 10:31:05 PM
Quote from: TJ Spyke on February 28, 2013, 10:27:29 PM
Digital games are not as big in Japan as they are in other regions, so it's not as bad as it would be in other regions.


Then explain why Sony is pushing digital distribution so hard with the PS4, given the fact that Sony is also a Japanese company...

I guess you did not read my post. I meant the situation is not as bad since digital sales in Japan are not as strong, so the eShop having a few less indy games in Japan would not be as big of a deal if that was the situation in North America or Europe. I think most indie games will still be released in Japan too (albeit with Japanese publishers), but something like Nano Assault Neo will have a bigger impact here compared to with Japan.
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Offline Pixelated Pixies

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned by Japanese Majority
« Reply #21 on: February 28, 2013, 10:41:34 PM »
Quote from: TJ Spyke on February 28, 2013, 10:36:24 PM

I meant the situation is not as bad since digital sales in Japan are not as strong, so the eShop having a few less indy games in Japan would not be as big of a deal if that was the situation in North America or Europe. I think most indie games will still be released in Japan too (albeit with Japanese publishers), but something like Nano Assault Neo will have a bigger impact here compared to with Japan.

Is it not possible that it's the other way around? That, in fact, the reason indie games aren't big in Japan is precisely because of these exclusionary policies? The great thing about digital content is that it's possible to make games easily available between regions and borders.
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Offline tendoboy1984

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned by Japanese Majority
« Reply #22 on: February 28, 2013, 10:44:03 PM »
Quote from: TJ Spyke on February 28, 2013, 10:36:24 PM
Quote from: tendoboy1984 on February 28, 2013, 10:31:05 PM
Quote from: TJ Spyke on February 28, 2013, 10:27:29 PM
Digital games are not as big in Japan as they are in other regions, so it's not as bad as it would be in other regions.


Then explain why Sony is pushing digital distribution so hard with the PS4, given the fact that Sony is also a Japanese company...

I guess you did not read my post. I meant the situation is not as bad since digital sales in Japan are not as strong, so the eShop having a few less indy games in Japan would not be as big of a deal if that was the situation in North America or Europe. I think most indie games will still be released in Japan too (albeit with Japanese publishers), but something like Nano Assault Neo will have a bigger impact here compared to with Japan.


So does this situation only apply to Nintendo? Because Apple doesn't have this sort of problem over in Japan, where their devices are incredibly popular.


Like Pixelated_Pixies said, maybe the situation could be remedied if Nintendo wasn't so strict with publishers in their home country. You don't see the European and American branches being this draconian with publishers and developers...
« Last Edit: February 28, 2013, 10:46:27 PM by tendoboy1984 »
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Offline Kikori

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned by Japanese Majority
« Reply #23 on: March 01, 2013, 12:01:01 AM »
Ok guys, give me money to make a publisher.  :cool;
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Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: Japan's eShop Requires Publishers Be Owned by Japanese Majority
« Reply #24 on: March 01, 2013, 05:39:26 AM »
If this had been going on for a while, you'd think some sort of reverse-Atlus would have popped up, a small company dedicated to distributing Western indie games in Japan.
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