Bitter Old Man
Gender: Male
Location: Home
Rank: Decisive Witness
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 7:38 pm
Posts: 178
9mayasato9 wrote:
Okay, don't get me wrong. I respect your opinion; I understand where you're coming from. I strongly prefer a physical release as well, and would prefer to buy that and only that. However, because of the circumstances, I'd like to ask you to at least reconsider.
I'm speaking from experience when I say a physical retail release is exponentially more expensive than a digital-only release, even without considering retail, shipping, and code revision (which if I remember correctly was stated by Sven before the layoffs to be a significant setback). A year and a half ago, I tried starting a manga magazine (a la Shonen Jump) at my high school, but it never got off the ground for two reasons. One was lack of support, and the other was lack of available resources. Long story short, we had no ink or paper to print, and no money for the ink and paper, let alone the printer, and we already knew it was extremely unlikely anyone would deign to visit our website, not even us (and even if anyone would, most of the people on the project gave up due to a sudden load of homework anyway...).
Now, I understand Capcom has far more money and resources to go around than eleven or so teenagers, and far more support than we ever did. But... Capcom also needs a lot more than a thousand copies of twenty pages of black and white. Nope. It needs... hmm, judging by the figures on vgchartz.com... somewhere between 5,000 and 30,000 copies for the first week in NA. Judging by first week sales in Japan, maybe a little more than 30k for the first week. And each copy has multiple parts that I'm betting are more expensive than black ink or newspaper paper. Each. And I remember reading somewhere that products tend to sell for prices lower than the cost of production. I don't remember how that leads to profit, but it does eventually, with good sales. Keyphrase, with good sales. Good sales that already might be a little less than realistic when considering AA in general is a niche series, in a niche genre outside of Japan.
Also remember that whatever team is working on localizing PW:DD is getting paid by the hour. Hours which add up. The longer they spend localizing, the more money Capcom loses. Add to that the money lost through shipping and the buyer chain or whatever it's called, and lo and behold! Capcom's wallet is suddenly quite sad.
Now, I might be overestimating costs, but my point is, if we want Capcom to give us physical copies of AA in the future --- not just PW:DD --- we need to give them phenomenal sales now. Digital or not. Like I said before, I know; if it had never been announced that we'd only be getting digital (partially revoked or not), I would be on your side, through and through, and wait for the physical, and if I had never had that epic fail with the manga magazine last year, I'd still be on your side even with the announcement. But... well... those things happened, so now I implore you to reconsider your decision. I apologize for the wall of text and if I managed to be rude or offensive at any point here; that was not my intention.
Thanks, I appreciate being able to discuss it like adults. In brief, I just don't believe Capcom when it says it just can't make money with DD physically. Yes, I know it's a niche title, but there are a lot of small companies that release much more obscure and niche titles and still make enough to turn a profit. Capcom isn't some mom and pop company and while niche, Phoenix Wright isn't some obscure Japan only title. I think it just comes down to the game probably not making ENOUGH money to make them happy so this is a way for them to release it cheaper for them and increase profit margin. Which is fair enough, they're in the business to make money, but I really feel this is just Capcom not being happy with profits and wanting MEGA (no pun intended) profits at the expence of releasing the game in a consumer friendly format that most people still prefer. It was also developed as a retail release from the get go which makes a big difference to me.
Tiagofvarela wrote:
This is my view on the matter:
You buy games to play them, not to be able to say you have a box or whatever. If you're not buying the game, because of Capcom's business decisions (which I'm not saying are good, bad bad bad) then it's absolutely ridiculous!
You're not buying a game because you don't want to compensate Capcom for their lack of efford? Well... Heck, alright, torture yourself, but it's not with fans doing that that they'll ever even bother considering a physical release. On the other hand, if you buy the games and show at least some suport, there might still be the possibility that it'll eventually get a physical release.
One can still show them they really want a physical release by talking with them (somehow, send ythem e-mails? I have no idea how it works with a company):
"Pleaseeeee

, I bought your game can you make it retail now?

"
Joking aside, I just have a question, what are you trying to acomplish?
Don't take anything I said here as being mean, altough it may sound like it, I'm usualy quite sarcastic with everything I ever say, but you can't just convey that with writing. Also, I'm a joker, a bad one at that, but I still am.
Naw, it's fine, I respect your opinion. Lots of people would agree with you. It's funny though, because some of my friends would probably say I do just buy games to buy them and not play them. Of course that's not true, but I DO buy a lot of games. I love video games and I love playing them. Sadly, I simply just don't have the time to do so like I did when I was young. I will probably literally never be able to get to every game I own before I die, even if I would like to play them all. I guess that's a good problem to have though, really.
I honestly don't expect to accomplish anything though. Realistically, if the game isn't a success the way Capcom thinks it should be (in this case sold digitally only with bigger sales than any other game in the series) it's an adjunct failure and the reasons why it didn't meet their threshold don't matter. And it IS torture not to support the game, because I think it looks great. I really do hope we get a proper retail release though, because I do like to support the series if they'll let me.
Percei wrote:
As much as you may hate it, Digital Only releases are the way of the future, and they're never going away. They're a more effective method of release for producers, and frankly, they're more convenient for the consumer in many ways. Sure you can whine about the e-shop or this or that, but the fact of the matter you are clinging to something you really shouldn't be clinging to for no real reason except stubbornness.
That's a nice opinion you have. I do not share it. I don't dispute though, that everything is moving to digital and eventually it will take over. Digital offers consumers only extremely superficial benefits over traditional physical releases are extremely detrimental to the hobby as a whole over the long run. I don't "cling" to physical releases, I support them because they're infinitely more beneficial to me as a consumer and a gamer. Your view of the subject is obviously quite different than mine, so I'll leave it at that.
Percei wrote:
Don't get me wrong, I love physical cartridges as much as the next guy, but I wouldn't have been able to play a number of games if they hadn't had a digital release alongside their physical one. If you really are a fan, and you really are as excited as you claim to be, than it is you, and ONLY YOU, who are forbidding yourself from playing this game. You and anyone else who boycotts this game on the grounds of "principles" are the ones who would ruin it for everyone else. You alone. Not Capcom. YOU.
I don't think anyone has any issues when there is a digital release ALONG SIDE a physical one. Choices are nice. Having both only expands things for some folks. And again, you have no right to accuse me of not being a fan because I reluctantly choose not to support Capcom's business choices in regards to this game. Screaming at us doesn't change the fact it's Capcom who made the poor decison to release the game like this. And getting mad at the people who don't like it? That's extremely childish. I can't speak for everyone who isn't supporting it, but I think most of us certainly do it for more than "lol no box". You don't like that? That's fine. But you make yourself look very petty trying to casually dismiss legitimate complaints people have.
Percei wrote:
Because you are a loud and whiny minority who throws a fit when you can't get your way while the rest of us are excited to get the game.
Nice personal insult. Grow up.
Percei wrote:
I think Capcom made a sound decision, and not a bad one by any means. They are not fat, money-grubbing scum. They are a business trying to make money in a poor economy with a struggling medium, while trying to satisfy as many customers as they can. It's some tough choices they have to make. You on the other hand, do not have a tough choice, buy the game so you can enjoy it and support the series, or don't. I'm not saying everyone who doesn't by the game is bad for not supporting the series, I'm saying those who purposefully don't, like yourself, are putting the series at risk. And you've got some nerve trying to blame others for your dumb principles.
We obviously disagree on this point. Capcom has become infamous in recent years for it's poor business decisions and crusade to irritate/infuriate it's fans. And even that doesn't bother me so much anymore. They are, as you said, a business, and their job it to make money. It's their attitude of having to make huge profits at the cost of making profits or telling folks to go to hell. Capcom's dubious decisions are what has put the series at risk. The fanbase is here to support the series. That's not good enough for them. I choose not to support them because of that and other principals in general. I'm sorry if you find that offensive. I hope you enjoy DD. Have a great day.
<edit> oops, messed up my quotes a bit, sorry.
Doctor Mario is not a real doctor. Do NOT let him touch your genitals.