Big In Japan: D3 Publisher Takes On The U.S.

One question I've been thinking about for a while is when someone in Nintendo's new market purchases a game and they get Wii Sports or Wii Fit -- like a housewife or someone older -- will they buy another game? Ever? I don't know. I know it's a model that will work for Nintendo, because they sell their consoles at a profit and their games at a profit, but how about everybody else? I wonder. Will the mom of the family ever buy anything else?

YT: I think we as a publisher have to come up with a game design, produce a game, hire a developer, and take their concepts or designs, but we really have to think about how to utilize the Wii very well to whatever kind of game we want to make, be it an action game, adventure game, or RPG maybe. It's a software-driven business. It's not hardware. It's a software-driven business. If we come up with a great game on the Wii that utilizes the Wii controller very well, I think gamers will come back to the Wii and buy the games. Everything's software-driven.

I think ultimately it can be software, but my feeling right now is that for the very immediate term, Nintendo's business is hardware-driven. Wiis sell out immediately, even still in America. I passed by a GameStop, and they said, "We have six Wiis coming in today!" And I went to lunch next door, and when I came out they were taking the sign down!

YT: I think Nintendo is making the Wii because they want to sell their software. Tons of software. Ten million, twenty million, thirty million. Which they do. That's their business.

It makes sense. It's just that I'm a little worried about these millions and millions of people having Wiis with one game. That's what I'm concerned about. But we'll see.

YT: I share your worry, because I'm here to sell Wii games. We have three games coming out this calendar year, so that's my concern too. I think eventually, somebody will figure it out.

I know that Puzzle Quest is coming to Wii as well, right?

YT: Yeah.

But Dragon Blade is more of a hardcore gamer-type, right?

YT: Yeah.

D3 Publisher's Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire

But that's for the Western market, right? So that makes sense. Would that kind of thing make sense in Japan?

YT: The game itself?

Yeah.

YT: I think we are keeping some elements that are liked by Japanese people. I don't know if we are going to do anything to localize it heavily for the Japanese market. We haven't decided yet. But I was thinking about the Western market, to just capture the Wii momentum about a year and a half ago. So we'll see the performance. In Japan, I'm talking to D3 Japan, and we are discussing what to do with localization. [Ed. note: Following the September release of Dragon Blade in the U.S., the game is on schedule for a late November release in Japan.]

It's your job to take care of the West, though, not to worry about Japan.

YT: Well, the Japanese market is important too.

It is, but it's not your problem necessarily.

YT: The games we produce here, we put our heart in it, so we want to sell the game in Japan.