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With live service games being an Industry Trend, why hasn't Sega localized PHantasy Star Online 2?

Shingi_70

Shingi_70

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,782
Live Service loot kinda mmo style games are all the rage right now. Destiny , The Divison, Sea of Thieves, Anthem, possibly Borderlands 3 are all going for the live service model and are kind of modern day versions of the Phantsy Star online series. With that genre becoming popular anyone else find it odd that Sega hasn't bothered releasing Phantasy Star Online 2 in the west. It feels like an anime themed live service game would be pretty well in today's market.
 
ILikeFeet

ILikeFeet

DF Deet Master
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
61,987
where would they start? from the beginning? then they'd always be years behind the japanese version. start where the JP version is? then the localized version would be content-starved relatively quickly. MMO rollouts are difficult like that
 
LightEntite

LightEntite

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
3,079
Because it's fanservice trash and you don't really want it anyway

But really because it's Sega, and they don't give 2 shits about their western fans unless it's Sonic where they know it's gonna sell


Even if they did localize PSO2, and it wasn't trash....anyone who suffered through Phantasy Star Universe (or PSOBB) should know that Sega doesn't give a single dusty fuck about its localized communities

They literally got Ruby Eclipse (Aaron Weber) to come to the PSO-World forums and explain that they weren't updating/localizing the X360 port of Phantasy Star Universe anymore because they viewed it as a completely different game that wasn't entitled to the PC/PS2 updates.

Most disrespectful thing i've seen a company do
 
ShinMaruku

ShinMaruku

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,125
It would require localization which is too much for Sega and all the collaborations need separate agreements. It would not be tenable to bring it over. Also the game is just sadness.
 
wwm0nkey

wwm0nkey

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,596
Due to all the licensing in the game, i'd imagine it would be a nightmare working all that out. On the other hand that can just not include that content and I would be fine too since it's mostly cosmetic
 
1000% H

1000% H

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,639
I think PSO2 is in a weird spot where the effort to expand across to the west at this point would be too much for what they could reasonably expect to get out of it.
 

Deleted member 18021

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,000
There's a crap ton of licensed content, and Sega is well aware that the hardcore players have been playing on the Japanese servers since beta. Said hardcore players are also well aware that Sega has never supported their NA servers nearly as well, and would not change versions.

This ship left port nearly six years ago.
 
demondance

demondance

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,808
Maybe they really are privy to something we don't know, but I think this is just Sega being Sega. At a time when there are whales spending money on all things service games and in particular all things anime, running a heavily instanced Japanese service game with progression/loot seems like a slam dunk.
 
Pellaidh

Pellaidh

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,184
It's not like we can know for sure, here are some possibilities I can think of of why they wouldn't want to (not all of them entirely serious):
  • They were simply waiting for some third party to do it for them, just like they did in the SEA region. I can't actually think of many free to play Asian MMO that would be brought over to the west by the same company that originally launched it in Asia.
  • They saw the incredibly negative reception the SEA version got and decided not to bother. When you localize a game and most of the community still uses proxies to play the original version, why bother. The SEA version is dead now, by the way.
  • There were divisions between the USA and Japan SEGA divisions that made it impossible for the USA branch to work on the game. I don't even know where I heard this rumour (probably on GAF). Not that internet forums are a reliable source of information, but you know.
  • The game is super dated, and most likely wouldn't be well received by today's audience.
  • The monetization model relies heavily on people whaling hard for limited time collaboration items, which would probably be impossible to licence in the west. Not that anyone in the west would whale for collabs with stuff like the modern day Shining series or Million Arthur that never even came out here. And that's not even going into other monetization choices that would probably not be well received here (selling on the auction house being locked behind a subscription, for instance. Or respecs costing real money)
  • They were scared off by the English community playing on the Japanese servers. This is mostly a joke, but honestly, if I was the one behind the game and saw what its current English community is like, I wouldn't even bother releasing a version for them.
  • They just want to troll people. After all,
    PSO2 being localized into English is now literally canon in the game's universe.
  • At this point, anyone who cares at all about actually playing the game has already played it. It's free, and it has an English translation that does a pretty good job. Or you can just play it in Japanese, the story is honestly more fun if you can't understand what the characters are saying, because your imagination can't be any worse than what's actually happening. And there's no way people already playing the Japanese version would switch to a lesser version of the game with less content just to start all over again losing years of progress in a game that is incredibly grindy. SEA players needed proxies to even connect to Japan's servers, but still chose to do that anyway.
Really, if you actually want to play the game, just make an account and download the fan patcher (which makes it easier to install the game than official sources). Then you'll see that it's really just not that great. The gameplay is pretty boring and involves mostly just spamming one skill until things die. The mission variety is pretty incredibly lacking, at least for the missions you'll actually want to run. (The best way to get anywhere involves just running emergency quests, that only spawn at specific times. And there's only a handful of different ones). It's also aged terribly (if it was even any good when it came out), and the story is a complete joke. Or maybe you'll like it and keep playing, in which case you also come out ahead.

The only thing it has going for it is the character customization thanks to the huge number of collab costumes that you can get off the auction house for dirt cheap (because the whales dump them the moment something new and exciting to whale for comes out). But that probably wouldn't even have been a thing if it ever did come out in the west, both due to collab licence availability and there not being enough whales to make the market affordable for non-whales (at least if the SEA version or even the unofficial English server are any indications).
 
blondkayvon

blondkayvon

Member
Oct 26, 2017
756
Give me PSU 2 (bring on the meltdowns!) with worldwide release and shared servers. The PSO2 ship has sailed.
 
nyttyn

nyttyn

Member
Jan 16, 2018
28
A *enormous* amount of the game's content (as it's one of the 'pretty looks are the TRUE endgame' types) is in licensed content, due to the game's plethora of collab events, and it would very likely cost them more to get those licenses for the west than they would ever make back. Doubly so as an enormous chunk of the potential playerbase has already chosen to simply start on the JP servers, and are so firmly established there that they would likely never be okay with simply starting from scratch for a highly potentially doomed western release.

The ship there has sailed so hard that the very port it came out of has since been deconstructed for scrap.
 
RexNovis

RexNovis

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,218
Because they hate money. And don't want to "risk" fronting the money for proper localization and infrastructure to support the game in the West. But we can totally get all the shitty Sonic games localized because those will totally make them so much money and good will... Yea it sucks.
 
NoKisum

NoKisum

Member
Nov 11, 2017
4,913
DMV Area, USA
At this point, if Sega gave two shits about doing anything PSO related outside Japan, they're better off just starting on PSO3 and design it for a worldwide audience from the get go.
 
Noroi_Kisaragi

Noroi_Kisaragi

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,711
MochaKoffee said:
There's a crap ton of licensed content, and Sega is well aware that the hardcore players have been playing on the Japanese servers since beta. Said hardcore players are also well aware that Sega has never supported their NA servers nearly as well, and would not change versions.

This ship left port nearly six years ago.
Click to expand...
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Everything here
 
Bahamut

Bahamut

Member
Nov 5, 2017
556
I played hundreds of hours of PSO as a kid. It was great for the time.

Is PSO2 any good? Seems to be uncomfortably similar to the original Dreamcast release.
 
Dooble

Dooble

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,470
Well Sega was planning it once upon a time.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ynoguchi/ (was localization producer in the pre production phase, before it canned due to Sega of America basicilly becoming Atlus USA and dying completly).

As far as PSO3 goes, you have to wait until 2022 for that. They still plan on supporting and updating the game for that long (10 years).
Maybe along that period they could still release it especially since Sega has found a new interrest in localizing games. However "live service" games require much more effort than self contained boxed game.
 
DuperGoon

DuperGoon

Member
Jan 29, 2018
93
Hey my dudes, I do SEGA stuff and basically...

Not enough people. The way SEGA is laid out at the time really doesn't have the people to run and manage the game. This isn't even getting started on the license issues, which itself are a nightmare.

SEGA America just doesn't exist. After they acquired Atlus, SEGA America was basically shut down and basically streamlined with Atlus USA. Right now SEGA America is Atlus USA (for the most part, at least thats how the workers paint it). SEGA Europe is its own branch and basically does PC stuff. Anything related to PC gaming, is through them. Stuff like Valkyria Chronicles on PC? Them. Total War? Them. They make more money than SEGA Japan and are highly successful. Could they bring it over? Probably the best bet but considering that they are so far behind content, when it wasn't approved back in 2011 (or was it 12?) it basically signed their death sentence. It also didn't help that SEGA Japan signed a exclusive 'English' contract with some South East Asian company that never updated it then killed the game in that region.

Some higher up at SEGA America didn't think PSO2 was worth the headache, even after they announced it. Like I said tho, those people are gone for the most part.

SEGA America aka Atlus USA is working hard on rebuilding their brand by bringing Japanese things. But they are still too small to do something that needs a big dedicated team. Personally think maybe in when the next game comes out it could.

While it does suck, the game has been playable and translated by fans for years...

Personally hoping SEGA announces localization for Yakuza Kiwami 2, Border Break, Fist of the North Star. I already played a ton of PSO2.
 
Dreamboum

Dreamboum

Member
Oct 28, 2017
22,883
Shingi_70 said:
Live Service loot kinda mmo style games are all the rage right now. Destiny , The Divison, Sea of Thieves, Anthem, possibly Borderlands 3 are all going for the live service model and are kind of modern day versions of the Phantsy Star online series. With that genre becoming popular anyone else find it odd that Sega hasn't bothered releasing Phantasy Star Online 2 in the west. It feels like an anime themed live service game would be pretty well in today's market.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

F2P games has been a thing for decades. It's not exactly what people means when they speak of live service.
 
Dreamboum

Dreamboum

Member
Oct 28, 2017
22,883
Gidim said:
Hey my dudes, I do SEGA stuff and basically...

Not enough people. The way SEGA is laid out at the time really doesn't have the people to run and manage the game. This isn't even getting started on the license issues, which itself are a nightmare.

SEGA America just doesn't exist. After they acquired Atlus, SEGA America was basically shut down and basically streamlined with Atlus USA. Right now SEGA America is Atlus USA (for the most part, at least thats how the workers paint it). SEGA Europe is its own branch and basically does PC stuff. Anything related to PC gaming, is through them. Stuff like Valkyria Chronicles on PC? Them. Total War? Them. They make more money than SEGA Japan and are highly successful. Could they bring it over? Probably the best bet but considering that they are so far behind content, when it wasn't approved back in 2011 (or was it 12?) it basically signed their death sentence. It also didn't help that SEGA Japan signed a exclusive 'English' contract with some South East Asian company that never updated it then killed the game in that region.

Some higher up at SEGA America didn't think PSO2 was worth the headache, even after they announced it. Like I said tho, those people are gone for the most part.

SEGA America aka Atlus USA is working hard on rebuilding their brand by bringing Japanese things. But they are still too small to do something that needs a big dedicated team. Personally think maybe in when the next game comes out it could.

While it does suck, the game has been playable and translated by fans for years...

Personally hoping SEGA announces localization for Yakuza Kiwami 2, Border Break, Fist of the North Star. I already played a ton of PSO2.
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This is fascinating if true. Atlus handling Sega in the USA is so surreal to me.
 
IronicSonic

IronicSonic

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,639
At this point I think we better just waiting for PSO3 honestly, It may happen eventually
 
Daingurse

Daingurse

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,749
I don't even care anymore lol. Just been too long. I'd rather have a re-release of Blue Burst on PS4/PC/XB1 at this point.
 
Dooble

Dooble

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,470
Dreamboum said:
This is fascinating if true. Atlus handling Sega in the USA is so surreal to me.
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It is true. Sega America and Atlus USA are the same. Sega of America completlly annihilated itself.

IronicSonic said:
At this point I think we better just waiting for PSO3 honestly, It may happen eventually
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As said, you will be waiting for a while.
Sega is still strongly behind PSO2, source: https://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/ir/library/pdf/printing_annual/2017/2017ar_all_e_.pdf

The expansion of existing intellectual properties, and taking on growth markets overseas. PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2 is performing well. July 2017 marked the fifth anniversary of the RPG's service launch, and a recent major update of the series, Episode 5, has garnered extremely strong endorsement. Already, we have begun planning measures for 2020. We will establish a stable system to ensure that the RPG performs steadily through to its 10th anniversary.
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Ridley327

Ridley327

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,505
Georgia (the state, not the country)
LightEntite said:
Because it's fanservice trash and you don't really want it anyway

But really because it's Sega, and they don't give 2 shits about their western fans unless it's Sonic where they know it's gonna sell


Even if they did localize PSO2, and it wasn't trash....anyone who suffered through Phantasy Star Universe (or PSOBB) should know that Sega doesn't give a single dusty fuck about its localized communities

They literally got Ruby Eclipse (Aaron Weber) to come to the PSO-World forums and explain that they weren't updating/localizing the X360 port of Phantasy Star Universe anymore because they viewed it as a completely different game that wasn't entitled to the PC/PS2 updates.

Most disrespectful thing i've seen a company do
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The insane part was that PSU shut down about two years sooner on PS2/PC than it did on 360. You couldn't make a story like that up if you tried.
 
mas8705

mas8705

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,497
I want to give Sega my money, but if they choose not to localize it, then that's that. I really do want to try out PSO2, but sadly never got the chance.
 
Vorador

Vorador

Member
Oct 28, 2017
463
It is kinda funny (and extremely sad) how SEGA ends up destroying their own business opportunities. PSO is still fondly remembered, so a proper PSO2 release in the west would likely sell enough to make money.
 
GuitarGuruu

GuitarGuruu

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,509
I would love it if they did, I can't be arsed to go through the hoops it takes to play in the US.
 
Panther2103

Panther2103

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,927
I would play it if they did, but I played the JP version when I felt like trying it out. It was pretty dang fun, unfortunately even with the English patch not being able to read certain things was a bit of a letdown so I just stopped playing. It's too late at this point to release it here.
 
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