Capcom looked at Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney western release as a “throwaway game”

When Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney was coming to the west for the first time, Capcom apparently considered it as a “throwaway game”. That’s according to Steve Anderson, a localizer that worked on the English release.

Capcom apparently didn’t have much faith that the game would sell outside of Japan. In fact, Anderson said the publisher limited how many units it produced for the first run.

Speaking with Time Extension, Anderson said:

“I had done work for Bowne Global years earlier… At the time, I remember Phoenix Wright being described to me as kind of a throwaway game for Capcom because they were pretty sure it was not going to do well. I know they only did a limited run of units for the first run.”

Ace Attorney hasn’t lit the sales charts on fire in the same way as something like Monster Hunter has, but overall, the series has done well for Capcom. We saw a variety of games with Phoenix Wright, but there have been other entries in the franchise focusing on other characters like Miles Edgeworth and Ryunosuke Naruhodo.