Breaching the Japanese Game Market – Mission Impossible?

Have any of you tried to promote your game in the Japanese market?

This article has some good insights for the brave ones that are trying. http://bit.ly/2fC8oCX
It would be interesting to hear from developers who have succeeded in Japan considering only few western games are popular there.

Any of you out there?

 

This article was incredibly insightful! It for sure made me think that all my games should push towards portrait mode and easily accessed UI with the thumb for one hand. All of it was very interesting, and I would like to know more about the differences in UI layout / text layout / monetization / etc to really get deep into this. But I guess I could just analyze the games on those charts for that.

 

nice article!

 

Hey Azmar,
so happy you found this article useful. It really is so important to get to know the culture of the audience we target for games. I would have never known that the difference between horizontal and vertical design is so important.

 

Glad you enjoyed it

 

Apparently the Japanese like stuff like Horse racing sims, the kind of stuff that wouldn't sell over here, I played a few decent Japanese fighting games on the PS1 20 years ago as well.

 

It's a huge difference in game culture. That's why it's so important to know what your'e getting yourself into before entering or trying to enter that market or any foreign market for that matter.

 

You don't have to cross international borders to be blocked out of cliques, it's the same with most everything...musical genres, food, novels, television, movies, clothing, and so many other things even within schools and work places. Some mistake these cliques for being something more than what they are but those cliques eventually get reality checks. So make what you like and have fun. If you like Japanese culture and it is very interesting, go for it as Japan has 127 million people.

 

And: No, I've been thinking about it but the whole Devil-may-cry, Final-fantasish look doesn't do it for me. Add to that the translation issues and so on and there you go. If I ever try it, it will be full time dedication, not just porting.

 

I def agree that you shouldn't let the differences in culture prevent you from attempting to do the things you are interested in/love. But, it does depend on your purpose. If you're not looking to make any revenue and just want to try out your game in Japan, go ahead. If your whole monetization strategy is based on your game/app succeeding in Japan or any other foreign market then do your research before.

It really depends on your goal.

 

Well I have particular interest in certain aspects of Oriental culture and am making a game based on those aspects and those aspects are what I research. The monetizing, if I decide to do so will be IAP, but not the over the top sort that has players pumping quarters for various virtual merchandise. Others may do that, go for it.