Capcom’s Svensson on Phoenix Wright – Dual Destinies digital route, series’ future, more
Capcom’s Christian Svensson addressed a bunch of different fan points about the Ace Attorney series in a new forum post. Svensson commented on concerns that going digital for Phoenix Wright – Dual Destiny will hurt the “aggressive” sales forecast originally set for the game in the west, the series’ future overseas, a bit about Ace Attorney Investigations 2, and more.
You can find his remarks below. For complete clarity, we’ve included the full comments from fans (bold) along with Svensson’s words.
My main concerns is that Sven has mentioned that Capcom has an “aggressive” sales forecast for AA5. Now that so many people have been put off by the digital only strategy, for various reasons, (Nintendo’s lack of system account being chief among them), are you guys not worried that you are turning away too many customers by limiting their method of purchase? Especially for a game that is supposedly a crucial entry for determining the future of the series outside of Japan?
Am I worried? I don’t think so. If fans really love the series and want to play the game in English, we’re expecting them to be there. If they’re not, well, that tells us something too. I’m betting on you guys.
And on the flip side, if a digital strategy is going to be the main focus of the series for English releases, wouldn’t it be prudent to give the fans more incentive to get on board with the new direction by making a more dedicated effort to assure them that this could lead to increased availability and support for the series from Capcom USA?
The reality is, there are no assurances I can make. It isn’t up to me or anyone else at Capcom USA on whether or not something ultimately comes to us. I get to put up forecasts for what I think we can plausibly sell and the producer has to see if there’s localization and dev resources available, costs need to be evaluated and we have to see if it makes sense. In this case, after the AAI2 miss, I’m hoping/anticipating/counting on fans to be extra motivated to show support given the fact they didn’t have the opportunity to do so the last time around.
I think it’s great that Sven has been so open about AAI2 and that he continues to bring it to the attention of Capcom Japan, but this may be the time to give it that extra push. I know all the attention is on AA5 now, but I think that an increased effort directly afterward to ensure that AAI2 is really given an legitimate shot would bring the fans around to a digital strategy. If you guys want to digital, then really give it all you got and give the fans the missing piece of the puzzle.
I understand the desire and I continue to make requests for AAI2 to Eschiro-san and Ichii-san (my boss). As it is, all dev and localization focus has been on AA5 and the last data point we have to work from was AAI, which as I’ve shared in the past, was poor at best. If AA5 hits its forecast, we’ll have a different data point to show from a different distribution mechanism. At minimum, there will be info to evaluate, one way or the other after AA5.
We’re being asked to show a lot of faith and patience here, and English speaking AA fans have already been through the wringer for the past two years.
I understand your point… on the flip side, by bringing AA5 to the West (which is a sizable commitment between localization, PD and marketing), I would say, Capcom is also showing a lot of faith in you.
