EX Troopers 3DS - "no plans" outside Japan

[chris888222]

Capcom's upcoming Lost Planet spinoff for the PS3 and 3DS faces and uncertain future as far as releasing it outside Japan.

Christian Svensson, Capcom's senior vice president, answered a fan's question on the "Ask Capcom" forum. He said there are "no plans to bring it Westward at this time".

SOURCES
Pocketgamer.co.uk article

Ask Capcom thread in question

Previous threads discussing the game on GBAtemp
First information on the game
Trailer release

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So EX Troopers (3DS) might not make it to the West; I think most of you won't care since it is a Lost Planet spinoff.
Hmmm.. How about the PS3 version?
Either way, it reminds me of Monster Hunter 3G and Virtue's Last Reward (not a Capcom title though).

 

[Hadrian]

No plans means nothing at this stage.

 

[RupeeClock]

Capcom isn't giving ANYTHING a chance outside of Japan, I hate it.

It's speculated that EX Troopers 3DS was built off the remains of Megaman Legends 3 as it is...

 

[Just Another Gamer]

Capcom isn't giving ANYTHING a chance outside of Japan, I hate it.

This. Isn't region lock great? I simply love it, its the best thing for gaming since motion control and portable consoles.

 

[Hadrian]

If I was Capcom I wouldn't even think about releasing it anywhere else until I see how well it does in Japan first.

The game has a lot going against it. The last Lost Planet sold poorly, it's using a new name, not particularly hyped up anywhere, has a style that doesn't sell too well in the West, it's on the 3DS and unless you're Nintendo or have a big name game on it it won't do that well etc.

People are assuming that Capcom do this because they hate the West or whatever, they don't, they like money! They're a business, they may have people in their that think about quality first but quality won't count for shit if sales aren't good. Just like MML3, they may have cancelled it because they couldn't get it to be any good (honestly the first two weren't all that so I doubt that was the reason) or most likely it would have cost more to carry on with the project than they thought they could make back.

 

[RupeeClock]

That's part of the trouble I'm seeing with Capcom right now though.
They seem to have lost all faith in their western audience, the fact that we will be getting Ace Attorney 5 is a miracle in its own right.

There IS an audience for their games in the west, admittedly not the largest as message board goers or video game fans online only make up a small percentile of a potential market.
But that's another part of the issue, Capcom's expectations for games sales are...a little too high sometimes.

Capcom have been known for notoriously sloppy and rushed localisations however. Mega Man Battle Network 4 and Mega Man X6 may be two of the biggest offenders.
But couldn't they just, do that? It's obviously a very cheap way for them to push out the games.

Part of what made the early video game industry thrive was a labour of love, and fans devotion to the products. We don't get much of that any more, development teams are now much, much larger than they were, whilst games like Call of Duty have pushed the boundaries of what a game is capable of selling.

 

[Hadrian]

Things are harder nowadays then they were before, even 5 years ago a company could release something risky and it might get it's cash back. Now there is so much more competition and people don't have much cash as they did then. Even a big company like Nintendo who doesn't have to pay a license fee to put games on their consoles and get much more press with a game than what most publishers would are taking less risks.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

What about the PS3 version? Ni no Kuni is in a similar situation right now.

 

[Hadrian]

What about the PS3 version? Ni no Kuni is in a similar situation right now.

Would probably go multiformat or get the same fate.

 

[FAST6191]

What Hadrian said as far as logic goes. It would be a pity if it did not come out in English though as it is probably the only thing the 3ds has had so far that would see me consider looking at it, not enough to bother getting a 3ds but steps in the right direction and all that.

 

[RupeeClock]

It's a shame that Capcom won't consider satisfying a niche market and want to go for the big payoff in seemingly every scenario.

That's the beauty of having so many IPs, some things can be just a labour of love. Wayforward really exemplify that! Their titles like the Mighty Series and Shantae are fan favourites among the many licensed games they do.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

satisfying a niche market
big payoff

Yeah, that doesn't happen.

Capcom aren't Atlus, simply put. Atlus thrives off being a niche developer and publisher. Still that doesn't mean they always get a lot of success and they're still not nearly as large as Capcom. For large companies like Capcom (so not just Capcom) it's either play it safe with a big name release or go digital. Seeing as the 3DS digital market is still a bit of an uncharted territory, especially with bigger games like this, there's just not much reason to risk it outside of Japan. What's less popular in Lost Planet in America is Lost Planet without the small bit of brand recognition it has and an anime art style.

 

[RupeeClock]

satisfying a niche market
big payoff

Yeah, that doesn't happen.

Capcom aren't Atlus, simply put. Atlus thrives off being a niche developer and publisher. Still that doesn't mean they always get a lot of success and they're still not nearly as large as Capcom. For large companies like Capcom (so not just Capcom) it's either play it safe with a big name release or go digital. Seeing as the 3DS digital market is still a bit of an uncharted territory, especially with bigger games like this, there's just not much reason to risk it outside of Japan. What's less popular in Lost Planet in America is Lost Planet without the small bit of brand recognition it has and an anime art style.

I know Capcom is a large company and not a niche one, but I was saying that they have some niche IPs and that sometimes there's room for them when you're working on the big money makers.

They can get their big payoff from their major IPs like Street Fighter and Resident Evil, and still make their smaller beloved titles.
But these days gamers would argue they've come to resent their blue bomber...

 

[Guild McCommunist]

I know Capcom is a large company and not a niche one, but I was saying that they have some niche IPs and that sometimes there's room for them when you're working on the big money makers.

They can get their big payoff from their major IPs like Street Fighter and Resident Evil, and still make their smaller beloved titles.
But these days gamers would argue they've come to resent their blue bomber...

They really don't do many niche IPs any more. I'd think Mega Man would be a good example of that. He gets some digital releases but nothing largely retail. At most he gets a handheld release. You'll most likely never see a $60 retail Mega Man release any more.

 

[Langin]

D: That's not fair..! Well in fact it is, if they can't make any profit here well, why bring it out with a loss..? The gamers(mostly in the west) are a dying race as we know.

Dang I feel so good about moving to South Korea now, it makes it a A LOT easier to import Japanese games for me.

Let's hope the situation changes in a few years tho.(That does not change that fact that I'll move to South Korea ;D)

 

[yuyuyup]

That topic is rather assumptive, I've never played a Lost Planet game and I was certainly looking forward to it due to gameplay videos.

 

[ferofax]

I wish they could just go digital distribution on this, take a chance, and then consider going retail if that works well.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

I wish they could just go digital distribution on this, take a chance, and then consider going retail if that works well.

TBH the only thing that would make less money than a localized version of EX Troopers is a localized digitally distributed version of EX Troopers.

 

[GameDragon]

That topic is rather assumptive, I've never played a Lost Planet game and I was certainly looking forward to it due to gameplay videos.

I agree. This is one of the games I was looking forward to the most. Shame we might not get it at all.

 

[Gahars]

Can't say I'm too impressed by what I've seen so far. Seems like "Ex-Lax Poopers" would be a better title. Ha ha, there goes mandatory poop joke.

As others have mentioned, the odds aren't exactly in this game's favor. Capcom going with the "wait and see approach" is pretty reasonable.