Paradox Takes “Marketing to Japanese 101”
- Categories: Games, News
- Date: Feb 24, 2012 02:33 JST
- Tags: Character Design, Comparison, Marketing, Oppai, PC Gaming, Translation
Paradox Interactive, Nitro Games and Cyber Front have been attracting considerable attention for their apparent marketing nous in changing the cover of “Pirates of Black Cove” so as to better appeal to the Japanese.
The contrast between the two covers is sufficiently striking to have attracted some notice…
The original western release, with hairy butch pirate:
The Japanese version, with buxom bishoujo piratess:
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*Asks Paradox for the Japanese cover*
PI Staff: "But you're European"
Me: "Uh... Ai no supeku Ingurisshu. Gibu Japan vaajon puriizu."
Seriously, if I were to get this game, and I could net the Japanese cover doing that, I so would.
Kids these days with no initiative. Printer, paper, ink, done.
Was just thinking was this the same game
On a related note, I'm currently playing Skyrim with Japanese voice files (the Japanese dub is excessively good). This together with mods for better (and naked if undressed) female bodies, faces and hairstyles and additional ecchi-fied clothing items for roleplaying in non-adventuring situations made for an even greater gaming experience than the already great vanilla "English version" could provide on it's own... Paradox is on to something here.
But if the actual art content of the game is unchanged, wouldn't that cover effectively constitute packaging fraud?
it is unchanged. The game sucks anyhow. Buy the Japanese version, keep case, burn CD.
So this is just our way of being considerate, like they were with Neir Replicant.
It wasn't our fault SE hired douchebags in their NA marketing dept. and actually made the Japanese dev team listen to them. That said, their redesign of Nier was awful in whatever standards.
The redesign was fantastic. He looked like a grizzled man who would give anything to save his daughter in a post-apocalyptic world. And the drive to save his daughter was realistic as well, the parent-child bond was there.
However, with young Nier, it's extremely hard to imagine him working the fields and fighting. He was a twig, it was easier to imagine him going into town for a perm and manicure than lifting anything heavier than a book. And for the relationship, it just seemed wrong, I mean yeah there's an element of realism to it if each other are all they have in terms of family. But for a brother to have such a one-track mind in saving his sister? I highly doubt it.
There's personal preference at play here, but it just seems so much more believable for a buff father to be rushing to his daughter's aid than a bishie brother saving his sister.
well they only change the cover unlike nier which change the main character
I really don't like it when they do something like this.
I don't give a shit about the girl bing fuckable. I like the stuff maintaining their original plans. >:V
I would rather have the Japanese cover than the original :)
I would rather have a better game.:)
I prefer One Piece and its females!♥♥♥ NAMI-SWAAAAAN!♥♥♥ ROBIN-CHWAAAAN! ♥♥♥
bishoujo > hairy old man, next?
It's a friggin pirate. Hairy old male pirates are okay. =O
Especially not if he's in bed with you! Ewwww!!!!
Hairy old males are never ok, nor interesting.
Really now?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI6CfKcMhjY
NIGGA YOU GHEY
Hairy old males are ok (in my ass).
Preach it!!!
Don't see a problem. Sex sells, I'd rather see some sexy pirate babe than a hairy fat guy.
Same reason I always play an RPG or shooter as a female character if given the choice. I'd rather look at good looking babes body (eye candy!!!) than some bulked up guy.
Definitely with you, but occasionally I do want to feel like a badass. I hate to sound sexist, but it's hard to get that feeling out of a game if I'm playing as a chick. I normally load my day with cutesy stuff, but once in a while I need some Battlefield or Asura's Wrath to balance it some way. Despite all this, pirate chick ALWAYS beats pirate dude.
This is why I import Games from japan, even if I don't understand the language.
Heck, I'd buy it for the girl on the cover.
Pirates of Black Cove, not Pirates of the Black Cove. Tut tut... Shame on you!
In all seriousness, I don't mind things like this, it's not the worst marketing thing they could do. And it's been done before. The problem is when they change the actual game, like with Nier - then we get different games, and that's a bummer. I doubt Paradox does that though.
Thanks for the correction!
Well yeah, this is nothing new. They've been doing this since the days of the Nintendo Entertainment System. This is kind of a funny example of it, though.
Please find me anyone in this world who would prefer that first cover so I can slap some sense into him.
I do, because I don't jerk it to fictional drawn characters. Problem?
They should moe-fy Bethesda and Infinity Ward game covers next time.
imagine all the other foreign games would look like such as Mass Effect 3 =P
Mass Effect 3 has a reversible cover with female Shepard on the other side. I wouldn't doubt if they made that the default for Japan.
god dammit!!! i want pretty girls on my game cover not hairy fat men!! ffs!
I wouldn't play either game but I'd be more likely to stop and read the back to see if it seems any good with the Japanese art.
They need to put her in the game... better, they need to change all the game graphic to anime style.
The game is weird to begin with, the Japanese cover doesn't really have anything to do with the game at all though.
It's merely trying to sell the game with sex appeal, making people expect something the game doesn't really include.
As for the effort that went into it, the Japanese version actually looks way brighter and like it has less details and is far less "clean" drawn. But overall has more stuff in the picture.
The American version seems more realistic and is more like what pirates actually looked like.
And no, I'm not American. I'm European. Couldn't care less about the bitch fight going on between America and Japan online.
We seriously don't care where you hail from.
Wouldn't this be like... False advertising?
marketing genius!
Marketing: They're doing it right.
This really makes me laugh, amusing indeed.
Awesome!!!
So opposite when Japanese games gets adapted in West and gets some ludicrous macho covers. Take Rockman for example.
it's about marketing stuff, apparently westerner like burly men...that's why to put it in the cover..otherwise it won't sell
Arrr! I'll be takin' the wench!
There are 3 main characters in the game. A girl character that looks somewhat like the Japanese boxart IS in the game.
US Cover: Pirate Captain
Japan Cover : His Cute Daughter
Nothing new. Disney, coke, and every other property owned by a corporation has been marketed towards it's audience for a thousand years. Look at fucking 7-Eleven commercials in Japan. They sell fucking soup! They sell shitty beef jerky, gatorade, and sometimes gas to my people, and old-folks soup to Japanese peeps. Money is god, and when you run a business making money is your goal above all. Public reaction and morals can be bought.
I just hope the pirate chick is in the game
I'm just surprised they didn't just go all in for the Japanese market and staple some used 6 year old's underpants on the front.
Thinking about moving to Japan myself...hmmm
think before you go...
no loli..
no schoolgirls..
no or bad censored ero manga / anime
police will hate you and arrest you for no reason..