No more Yakuza for western gamers?

Yakuza 3
Inserito originariamente da Abriael

Matt Furtado of the Examiner just dropped the bomb. During a conversation with a Sega marketing executive (Ray Almeda), he's been flat out told that Yakuza 3 won't be published in the US (which probably excludes Europe as well) because Yakuza 2 only sold about 40000 copies, and this makes them assume that Yakuza 3 won't sell as well.

This is not the first time that I radically disagree with Sega of America's marketing execs. Many of them seem to be of the idea that Japanese games with a strong Japanese flavor wouldn't sell well in the west.

Well, I'm sorry but I have to disagree again. It means to be quite a bit out of touch with the audience to actually miss the fact that the Japanese culture is extremely popular in the west (even thanks to the popularity of the Manga and Anime market). Games retaining a strong Japanese flavor definitely have the potential to sell well, if not better than many western counterparts. Why? Because the market isn't oversaturated by them (while it definitely is oversaturated by the tens of western-made FPSs and TPSs most of which lack any decent storytelling and character development). One of the main reasons why the Playtstation 3 isn't selling as well as it could be is that the brand has always been associated with a good number of quality Japanese games, while now such games are missing, and many Japanese franchises actually migrated to the competition.

But Yakuza 2 sold only 40000 copies in the US.

Before writing off the franchise, though, one should ask himself the reason of such a commercial debacle. Expecially since it's not that hard to actually understand.
First of all, Yakuza 2 was released well into the lifespan of the Playstation 3, when the Playstation 2 was shifting it's target more and more towards casual low-cost gaming. Simply enough, the PS2 was not a console able to grant big sales to that kind of game anymore.
Let's not forget, then, that Yakuza 2 was released in the US a whole two years after it's release in Japan. It was, by all means, quite an old game compared to many newer releases.

Finally, let's get to the third and focal reason. Did you see any real advertisement for the release of Yakuza 2 (or Yakuza at that)? TV ads? Magazines? Let's not even talk about street ads. Zero. Nada. Zilch.
Yakuza 2 (just as much as Yakuza), was released without a scrap of a marketing campaign to help it sell. Many people didn't even know it was released until they actually (and accidentally) saw it on the shelves.

Unfortunately Sega is not new to this kind of problem. It started with the Dreamcast. It's lack of widespread success in the west was mostly due to the lack of advertising. Even Valkyria Chronicles had a seriously lacking marketing compared to the scope of the title.

Now I wonder. How can the marketing executives of Sega of America expect to sell a game that's already old, on a last-generation console without any kind of advertising and marketing campaigns? To be honest I doubt anyone would really expect it to sell well with those premises, despite the undeniable quality of the game. Games don't sell by themselves anymore, and that's any games. Even the biggest franchises struggle when the marketing isn't up to par.

Considering the flashy marketing stunts Sega did in Japan for the launch of Yakuza 3, I find it hard to understand why Sega of America insists on releasing their games without proper advertising campaigns. As much as I find it hard to understand why, given the priemises, the lack of high sales figures surprises them.

I'm almost on the verge of wondering if someone at Sega of America isn't purposedly sending on the shelves Japanese games without the proper advertisement to persuade the Sega Japan's management that they need to concentrate more on western gamers and that Japanese games don't have a market in the west. Of course it's completely absurd, since I doubt people would shoot themselves in the foot, damaging their own results, without an immediate benefit. But some of the honestly questionable marketing policies I described in this post almost brought me to consider that idea.

Maybe they should try releasing an high profile title like Yakuza 3 with the proper advertisement (like they did in Japan), without waiting two years since the original release (it does NOT take two years to work on the localization of ANY game, not even nearly). I'm pretty sure they'd be surprised by the game's performance, expecially given the extremely positive buzz recently given to the franchise by the press (but again, maybe it'd be a good idea to release before the buzz subsides?).
Personally, I'm pretty damn sure it would sell a lot better than absolutely unsightly western-made games like Golden Axe: Beast Rider.

Obviosuly, the comments of all the readers of the sites that reported the news show absolute outrage. People are already starting to talk about petitions and boycotts.
I can only hope this is all a misunderstanding and that Mr. Furtado mistook the personal opinion of Mr. Almeda for the official stance of the company. I asked for a comment over Twitter. We'll have to wait for a possible answer.