Video game publisher Xseed Games, Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon and the Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces, has recently begun to shed light on their facebook page on the troubles that anime and cutesy games have had on trying to get localized in America.
“We do take game requests, but games based on anime are very difficult to do – unless it’s a Dragon Ball or Naruto title, retailers refuse to carry them,” an Xseed staffer posted on Facebook after numerous fan complaints that One Piece Unlimited Cruise 2: Awakening of a Hero wasn't released in America. Although this done explain why the number of licensed anime games have dropped, as opposed to the late 90s and early 2000s when you can easily find games like Samurai Champloo and/or Inuyasha-titles, it's disheartening and generally plain sucks. Especially as someone who enjoys these off-the-beaten path type of games. The same goes with “cutesy” type games.
Although one can state that games with “cutesy graphics” like Zelda: Spirit Tracks has been released, perhaps those that aren't necessarily tied to an established franchise have trouble. I mean, look at any shelf in GameStop and you're bound to see several Natsume titles that have sat there for ages. Rockin' Pretty, Princess Debut, etc.
Thankfully, with online services such as PSN and Xbox Live, it's a little bit easier to get the approval of the respective companies and is why we see games like Triggerheart Excelia (X360) and Fate/Unlimited Codes on PSN. Still, there's a lot of resistance in the Western market to these types of games, including visual novels and games like Idolm@ster, and is why fans of these games need to start petitioning not to companies, but to retailers if they want to see more of them. Sure, every now and then a game like Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces, may slip through the cracks but I believe that gamers deserve more. After all, they control what's stocked on their store shelves and what is localized to a certain extent. If they think that a product will just sit on their precious store shelves, chances are…it's not getting a release.
