They know a lot of US people are playing, so why didn't they make an NA block?

[CultOfPersonality]

You have to think they know probably more than half the people playing are US. (I'm making that # up I have no evidence to support it). I'm surprised they didn't make any type of "Americans go here" block.

A lot of people in America that don't follow the forums but know the game is out, simply have no idea how to purchase the AC. A lot of americans just want to simply hit "buy it now", enter their information and get what they paid for. I don't see many of the less hardcore Phantasy Star players going through the hassle of conversions, Japanese names, Japanese addresses, no paypal etc etc.

It's just weird to me they allow US players on and have restricted blocks, but none are for US players. I'd figure the'y at least put SOMETHING related to separation there.

I'm not sure what, if anything they will do for the US players (probably nothing), but you'd have to think they'll do something, rather it be bad for us or not.

I'm really curious to know the balance between NA players and JP players.

[Sizustar]

80% Japanese
8% Chinese (Ship 3(China<Simplified Chinese>) Ship 5+Ship 7(Taiwan/HK<Traditional Chinese)
2% English (Ship 2, only 2~3 block)

[CultOfPersonality]

I don't get it -_-

[pikachief]

Firstly I'm sure the US / EU players probably make up 4-5 whole blocks across all the ships, while JP players probably make up well over 100 blocks, seeing how full it got last night.

Secondly, their focus is Japan. It's a Japanese game. They don't need to even acknowledge (at least publicly) the US/EU presence in their game, and I don't think they will either.

[Kanore]

because they hate foreigners

Spoiler!

not really

[彩音~]

This is the same as Brazilians asking for a BR server on an EN game. Be glad that the Japanese are more tolerant of us than we are of the Brazilians in our games

[Retehi]

BR's don't need to have their own server made, they just infest one and take it over.

. . Oh wait.

[Lord Yurka]

saying that 50% of the players are native english speakers is way way way over the actual number. At the most extreme, I would say that only 5% are actually English speaking. We must also realize that the population exploded as a result of the official launch. Factoring that in, I can understand why Sega is focusing on the Japanese population's concerns and not even ours. While there may eventually be a server for us, your post makes it seems like it is your right as an english speaker to have a game company dedicate time and resources to give you something that only 5% of the people will use. Even if they decided to do so, one can only assume that the huge burst of players will happen with English players so dedicated just one server will not do it

[Natsuma]

Don't forget that even if english speakers represent only 5% of the overall 'population', we're spending money on ACs, I doubt they would refuse that.
As soon as we don't make any (major) problem and japanese players don't complain, they won't block foreigners IPs.

[Lord Yurka]

If 5% is the maximum amount of english speakers playing this game, then I would argue that 1-2% of us are actually spending money on AC. I'm going to use the follow figures as an example so bear with me: If 80% are japanese players, 10% are chinese and 5% are english speakers, lets assume that half pay for AC, so 40% japanese, 5% chinese and 2.5% english speakers. What company in their right mind would cater to the 2.5% on launch day or for the next few weeks afterwards when they have the convenience of working with consumers that are spending more money and also speak the same language? The fact that they are considering an international release means that they see potential for us, but the fact that we are using the Japanese launch and are demanding that they pay attention to us is a little ridiculous. That is like me going to a Japanese business office for the first time and demand that they cater to me even when I give so little to them