Phantasy Star Online 2 delayed in North America

[Xaeris]

At this point I pretty much want to register Arks-layer as an actual company and then just contact Sega to have us handle the localization and management of the NA release and then just pay Sega royalties for it. What mostly surprises me though, is that it's not the translations as much as Agrajag's patch file that really makes a difference. I mean we can already make files that work with the game client, rather than patching the Japanese files and then applying the English patch on top of it, if you already have a program that does that, then all you'd pretty much have to do is have the client connect to a different patch server depending on what language is selected. I'm sure it's either not that simple, or easier said than done. i'm just continually surprised and baffled that Sega can't do simple shit that the community pretty much does for them.

At this point, I imagine it's financial reasons holding them back as opposed to just not having the resources to translate. Either way, it's times like these I really want to take the time to thank the members of the community that go the extra mile to make the game more playable for the English speaking audience. So thanks, Kion. I'd thank Aga too, if he posted here. (I'm starting to get worried about cirnopedia though.)

[Zyrusticae]

(I'm starting to get worried about cirnopedia though.)

You shouldn't be. He's said he's been working hard on revamping the site. It's looking pretty good so far.

This game, man. Crazy-passionate fan base.

[Gardios]

Again, I doubt the problem is the translation itself--it (+ editing etc.) should be long done and not hinder the release.

Besides, stuff like that is easy for the community because we're not operating on corporate level. Worst case, SoA is not allowed to do anything at all with the code without permission of SoJ (which delays stuff immensely).

[Kion]

I don't think it's resources as much as time. Probably Sega made the game with the intention of releasing it in NA, but is probably bogged down by the shear amount of maintenance it takes to keep the game running. They need to reply to player forms, ban people, do something about RMT's. I get the sense that it was the JP development teams job to get the game ready for the international release but have their hands full with the Japanese release and just haven't gotten a chance to do that yet. Also they probably didn't realize that the Japanese version would do so well, so rather than spend the resources on putting out a new game, and paying all of the resources to keep it up to date, it might be a better move for them to keep focusing on the domestic market and keep getting money from that.

The lack of updates from SoA probably indicates that they haven't gotten their hands on the game at all and are in the dark as much as we are about how the game is actually developing. Normally you'd think they'd at least have a phone number to call to check in, but I don't think that's how the company works. When I went to SoJ in person, I didn't get a chance to talk to anyone, but there were no labels on the doors or walls, and everything needed a key card to get into. So it's likely that they have the company locked down so tight that not even different departments can exchange information meaning that SoA might have the same amount of difficulty getting in touch with them as we do.

The thing that I'd like to do is take Sega out of the equation for the international release. I'm really not sure what the problem is with how they run their company, but I'm pretty sure it can be agreed upon that there's definitely a problem. rather than having Sega do everything internally, it might really be ideal to turn over the rights to the international version to a different company like Nexon or something, give them the tools to run the game and then just have Sega collect royalties on how much they earn. That way Sega doesn't have to deal with any of the economic overhead or risk that comes with implementing the game in a different territory.

What mostly pisses me off is that Sega (and really tons of other Japanese companies) don't know their customer base and don't know how to market internationally. So while they may have a good product with a lot of potential, they squander it with a poor release and poor service and then say, "hey look we tried but it's just not worth it". The anime industry did this with jmanga.com. Jmanga.com is an official anime site where you can buy anime illegitimately online, the only reason I bring this up is because I've never heard of this until today when I saw the press release because they were shutting down because a lack of interest/profit. I went to the site and it sucks balls. And this is something that I think is the main problem with Sega and other Japanese developers that they have a good product, don't know how to market it and end up just sitting on it.

[Meta77]

prepare yourselfs. E3 pso2 for everyone else. fall 2013 haha

[Infiniteque]

Well, I just want to point out...

That reading Kion and AIDA's posts here have given me more hope for PSO2 than reading the news article itself. Thank you both.

Aside from that, this solidifies my decision about which PSO2 I will "take seriously." Time to get cozy on the JP version, because I'll be here for a long, long time.

[Miyavi-sensei]

*sigh* Why can't america get simultaneous releases with japan, why is there always this favoritism? What possible reason could JP have for releasing there games exclusively for themselves first? American games always release by them in the same release window as us.

[jooozek]

if i were soa i'd delay this turd too

[Agitated_AT]

I expect the game to fail here anyway. without any good marketing this game is gonna have a hard time attracting shallow people

[HeartBreak301]

Not surprised in the least. They were probably expecting this to be delayed or did it on purpose and just threw this out as a "Hey we didn't forget about you people we don't care about!" response to get people to shut up. Honestly at this point they'd be better off just converting the Japanese servers to global servers so they don't waste their time on a US/EU release that will inevitably flop due to zero advertisement.