Spike chunsoft games7/1/2023 GamesBeat: Is Spike Chunsoft also going into Europe, or looking at places like Latin America right now? Or is the focus more on North America? That success has pushed us into making the decision to come here now. Through those opportunities, we saw that this is a good time to go into the western market. Each title has sold about 200,000 downloads so far. Since last year, we’ve started releasing Danganronpa on Steam, which have also been very successful in sales. But it still ended up being a very successful title. A lot of costs go into the localization and production. Danganronpa is a series with a lot of text. They raised their hand to sell our titles in the West, and it’s become a big success. Nobody believed in it except for a company called Nippon Ichi Software in America. Sakurai: Three or four years ago, we developed Danganronpa, and we didn’t think it was going to do well in the west. GamesBeat What is it about this moment in time that makes opening a subsidiary here a good idea? It’s just more about finding people, and our people having fun in that area. But it’s not as if we have games that feature surfing or anything like that. Sakurai: I do think that it’s a good match for the company and what we are. GamesBeat: Have you felt that there’s something about that location that fits the kind of things you want to do as a studio, the lifestyle and the type of people you’re trying to recruit? has terrible traffic.Īnd I’m a surfer, so it’s a good place for me. There are a lot of Japanese-speaking people around the area. In order to have access to that talent, we chose Long Beach, because it’s in the center of L.A. Sakurai: Because of the nature of the company, we need talent who are bilingual, who can speak fluent English and Japanese. GamesBeat: Why Long Beach, as opposed to somewhere more central in L.A., or up here in the San Francisco region? Sakurai: We were incorporated in California on October 16, and we opened the office on January 3. That’s where we’re coming in to sell our products, and that’s why we chose to establish an American subsidiary. And then the age changed and it went back to being accepted in recent years. Originally, there was a very big popular market for Japanese content in the West, and then we veered toward a time where it wasn’t as accepted. Are you seeing something similar in your audience here? players want Japanese games to be Japanese. and said, how can we make these games fit their market? But what I’m seeing is that U.S. GamesBeat: In the past, Japanese publishers and studios have looked at the U.S. Mitsutoshi Sakurai: We’re targeting the fanbase that’s after Danganronpa and a lot of niche titles like that. GamesBeat: At this point in Spike Chunsoft’s life, what is your target here in the United States? What kind of games are you going after? In addition to its success with the Danganronpa (and that iconic evil bear), it’s inherited the cult following of the Fire Pro Wrestling series and another visual novel series, Steins Gate, and the existing fansbase of the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon roguelike franchise. And it’s working on a new series, a blend of survival and role-playing that’s unique to anything I’ve seen - Zanki Zero: Last Beginning, which doesn’t have a release date yet in the West. Spike and Chunsoft merged in 2012, and since then, it’s been building upon the previous brands’ presence in the West. The series is blend of adventure games and visual novels, and it’s since helped the Japanese publisher carve out a growing business in the U.S., even leading it to open up a subsidiary earlier this year in Southern California. Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.ĭanganronpa was a surprise hit when Spike Chunsoft released it on the PlayStation Vita in 2014.
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