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Tag: Japan
PSA: Steam Golden Week Sale Starts April 30
Hurray for everyone except the wallets.
Continue reading “PSA: Steam Golden Week Sale Starts April 30”
[Video] Emiko Shibamura “Akindo Fighter”
Today’s video has nothing to do with video games, in fact I wouldn’t even be posting it were it not to show up in the MMO Fallout inbox.
In case you decided to read this before watching the video, Emiko Shibamura is a 65 year old Japanese fashion icon, best-selling author, and self-help guru who is breaking into the American music industry with a rap video debut. It is possibly the greatest thing I have ever seen.
Surgeon General’s Warning: The above video contains more than your daily recommended dose of beefcake.
Blade & Soul Now F2P In Japan
MMO Culture is reporting that Blade & Soul has officially gone free to play in Japan. Players are able to play for free with an optional VIP membership, with details for that coming later this month.
The article notes that players in Korea are upset at NCSoft now that Korea is apparently the last remaining pay-to-play region for Blade & Soul
(Source: MMO Culture)
Blade & Soul Expanding Again…To Japan
Prepare your expletive buttons, as they are about to get a workout. The good news is, Blade & Soul is once again expanding. Following the game’s massive success in China, NCSoft is following up on its 2011 announcement to bring the game overseas…to Japan. Sorry, westerners, but if you look to your right you will find several expired issues of Highlights magazine* with which to pass the time waiting. There is currently no ETA on when the Japanese servers will launch.
*magazine delivery not currently planned for North America, South America, Europe, and Oceanic regions.
(Source: MMO Culture)
Phantasy Star Online 2 Delayed In North America
Saying that Phantasy Star Online 2 has been delayed is a bit of a stretch, particularly considering that Sonic Team has never actually specified a release date. Regardless, PSO2 will not be making the early 2013 launch that Sega asked for for Christmas.
“Originally slated for an early 2013 launch, Sega can officially confirm that PS02 has been delayed,” a Sega spokesperson told Polygon. “We don’t have any specifics but will update everyone as soon as there are more details to share.”
Phantasy Star Online is set to hit Windows machines in North America and Europe at some point in 2013, with versions for the Android, iOS, and Playstation Vita coming sometime after. By contrast, the game has already launched in Japan as of last July on Windows and has already launched its Vita version just last February. Not that many PSO fans would have noticed, having already downloaded the Japanese client and applied one of the many English translation patches created by the community.
(Source: Polygon)
TERA Will Remain Subscription Based In US/EU
Update: Gee that was fast. TERA’s European community manager has posted on the forums to confirm that more details will be released of the EU free to play transition in January.
Please understand that it is too early right now to talk about this but we will have more information for you about the EU version in January.
(Source: TERA Europe)
Original Story: Hold your horses, people. If you’ve been paying attention to TERA’s operations in Korea, you already know that NHN successfully launched a free to play server. Initially just a separate server and originally implemented as a temporary experiment, KTERA has announced that beginning in January, all servers will be converted to free to play:
Starting 2013 Jan 10th, TERA will go free-to-play, and with this start, new contents and changes will occur in political system, raid system, and massive pvp, with alliance and alliance training center?, 10man raid sorcerer’s fortress, and 20man raid kelsaik’s holyplace? and battleground of fire?.
What does this mean for the west, where En Masse Entertainment merged down to three servers? Nothing. TERA’s Community Manager, Minea, posted on the forums to state that TERA will remain subscription based in North America and Europe.
Regardless of the news from Korea, the good news is that TERA will continue to grow and improve with new game contents in North America, and all contents will be available for us should we decide to evaluate their use.
Korea isn’t the only country to be taking TERA free to play. TERA in Japan will also be heading free to play. The details of Japan’s transition are a little unclear, due to some poor translation, but the move appears to begin today (December 26th) with a single server and eventually open up the entire game in February 2013. There is little doubt that TERA will eventually go free to play in North America and Europe, despite EME’s insistence to the contrary.
(Source: TERA)
Hellgate: Global Shutting Down In Japan
Editor’s Note: Please note that the information is based off of a translated Japanese announcement. Some details may have been lost in translation.
I know what you’re thinking, “Omali, didn’t Hellgate Global shut down like three years ago?” No. Hellgate Global doesn’t make much news nowadays since Hanbitsoft hasn’t done much following the launch of Hellgate: Tokyo way back in September 2011. In a post on the official forums, player Lustar noted an email sent out to players of Hellgate: Global’s Japanese servers. The email discusses Hellgate’s history, from its creation at Flagship to the eventual move over to Hanbitsoft. The notice points out that they did not have full control of data from Flagship Studios, and were unable to upgrade the game to a proper level, and are thus shuttering service.
The game will officially end in Japan on February 27, 2013. You can find more details at the link below, but beware of very poorly translated Japanese.
(Source: Hellgate Forums)
NCSoft's Sales Per Region, Per Quarter, Mapped
I’ve mapped out the sales per region over the entirety of NCSoft’s financial statements, dating back to the first quarter of 2005. You’ll see that Korea makes up more of NCsoft’s sales generally than every other region combined, and occasionally even doubled. Sales in North America and Europe peaked in 2009 and have been on a steady decline since, with European sales you will see becoming virtually nothing in Q2 2012 (less than 1% of total sales for the quarter). Japan has its ups and downs but is on a general incline, and Taiwan has been relatively stable since its tracking began in 2007. Royalty sales are on an incline, with a few stumbles along the way.
NCSoft may be banking on Guild Wars 2 to save its sales in North America and Europe. Guild Wars sold millions of copies and did quite well in the West. Shutting down City of Heroes will cut NCSoft’s income by a small amount, small beans compared to the sales of Guild Wars 2.
Just a few notes:
- Units are KRW in Mn.
- Up until Q3 2008, royalties were included in Korean sales.
- Taiwan was not listed until Q1 2007.
- Up until around 2006, NCSoft changed its label “US” to “North America.” For the sake of continuity, N. America has been used for the entire list.
NCSoft’s Sales Per Region, Per Quarter, Mapped
I’ve mapped out the sales per region over the entirety of NCSoft’s financial statements, dating back to the first quarter of 2005. You’ll see that Korea makes up more of NCsoft’s sales generally than every other region combined, and occasionally even doubled. Sales in North America and Europe peaked in 2009 and have been on a steady decline since, with European sales you will see becoming virtually nothing in Q2 2012 (less than 1% of total sales for the quarter). Japan has its ups and downs but is on a general incline, and Taiwan has been relatively stable since its tracking began in 2007. Royalty sales are on an incline, with a few stumbles along the way.
NCSoft may be banking on Guild Wars 2 to save its sales in North America and Europe. Guild Wars sold millions of copies and did quite well in the West. Shutting down City of Heroes will cut NCSoft’s income by a small amount, small beans compared to the sales of Guild Wars 2.
Just a few notes:
- Units are KRW in Mn.
- Up until Q3 2008, royalties were included in Korean sales.
- Taiwan was not listed until Q1 2007.
- Up until around 2006, NCSoft changed its label “US” to “North America.” For the sake of continuity, N. America has been used for the entire list.
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