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Capcom’s Christian Svensson Comments On Monster Hunter 3G and 4 Localizations

By Ishaan . September 18, 2011 . 1:31pm

It’s no surprise that there’s already a fairly large thread on Capcom’s community site, asking for localizations of Monster Hunter 3G and Monster Hunter 4, despite the fact that both Japan-centric games were announced just days ago.

In situations such as this, Japanese publishers — Capcom included — usually like to play coy. But not this time, perhaps. Responding to the 3G and 4 localization request thread, Capcom’s Christian Svensson says: “Noted guys. Stay tuned.”

In a different forum thread about Monster Hunter Portable 3rd HD Ver. on PlayStation 3, Svensson discusses the challenges of bringing that game out of Japan, highlighting that it would need to be approved by Sony in order to make the transition overseas, as the game doesn’t support Trophies or PlayStation Network multiplayer and requires a modification of Sony’s adhoc party application, which would have to be created for the west.

In this same thread, on August 30th — ie; before Monster Hunter 3G or 4 were announced — Svensson also replied to a poster asking if we could expect to see Monster Hunter games other than Portable 3rd HD Ver. localized any time soon. Svensson’s reply was as follows:

“Soon is a relative term but I would say that Western MH fans have lots to be excited about for the future. Admittedly I do hope we can find a way to get P3 HD Westward somehow sooner than those other things but as I’ve mentioned, it’s an open item.”

Monster Hunter 3G is currently slated for release in Japan on December 10th.

Read more stories about Monster Hunter 3G & Monster Hunter 4 & Nintendo 3DS on Siliconera.

http://tristsantithesis.tumblr.com/ Tsunayoshi Sawada
Well, Im intrigued for 4, guess I will have to twiddle my thumbs as I idly wait in anticipation of a westward announcement.
James Beatty
It sounds like MH portable 3rd hasn’t come out in the west yet because of Sony’s PS3, so i would expect this game to be localized for the 3DS soon. :P

http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan
I think there’s still a chance for Portable 3rd. Capcom’s pushing for it pretty hard. I highly doubt they’d waste time trying to port it to 3DS just so it can be localized. They already have 4 to develop, which is on 3DS anyway.

James Beatty
I was talking about the 3DS tri-G being localized soon :P

http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan
Ohhh, haha. Yea, chances are looking good so far. :)

Kirbysuperstar2
“and requires a modification of Sony’s adhoc party application, which doesn’t exist in the west”
What? Yes it does. I don’t think EU ever officially got it, but it’s on the US Store as a free download.

http://www.jb2x.com/wordpress/ JB2X
Wait, hold on, are you talking about the application “AdHoc Party”? Or are you talking about the update TO the application itself. Because if you’re talking about the application and not the update, the update that is needed has not been applied to the American version of it. That’s what they’re trying to get at.
http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan
As @JB2X:disqus said, Svensson meant the modified app doesn’t exist in the west. I’ve edited the wording to make that a bit clearer.

Draparde
Awesome, if they start localizing it this early…maybe we’ll see it released closer to the Japanese release…that would be cool.
even though its not a yes or a no. the response is nice to see as it shows they did read it. im glad to see more company’s doing that. (though they all need too eventally)
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1116755538 Femi Adams
Um the threads on the unity forums are about the discussion of the games not asking for localization, quite a few people there don’t like the 3DS infavour of the original PSP, PS3 or PSVita… Operation cherry blossom is the only support thread allowed.

http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan
The title of the thread reads: “Can you localise Monster Hunter Tri G and 4?”
Most posts in that thread are about the games’ chances of being localized. The second thread about Portable 3rd HD Ver., too, is about that game’s chances of being published outside Japan.
I’m well aware of Operation Cherry Blossom, but considering that Capcom are providing replies to these other threads as well, clearly that isn’t the “only” support thread they’re reading. :)

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1116755538 Femi Adams
coolio

KyoyaHibari
I’m just waiting on 3 HD, hope it gets here :/
http://www.youtube.com/user/Kamek20xxExtra?feature=mhee Michael Stevens
Here’s another question (lol I’m full of them). I have never played the Monster Hunter series. Is there a story mode in Monster Hunter, or do you just run around and hunt monsters? Basically what I’m asking is, what is Monster Hunter about? XD This might be a dumb question.

http://twitter.com/Pedazodezoquete Gabriel
It is about hunting monsters, lol I know it’s a simple answer but it’s all about you against a huge dinosaur like creature, it is exciting in it’s own way searching and attacking those creatures and it’s also fun to try out new weapons and gear made from the bones and skin of those creatures, I spent countless hours with the Playstation 2 version, and the game is really fun, so much fun I couldn’t afford to buy tri not because I didn’t want to play it but because if I bought it it would have consumed almost all of my time.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Kamek20xxExtra?feature=mhee Michael Stevens
That’s it? No story? ……..Okay then. lol

planetofthemage
There’s a story, but it’s really really minimal, especially considering how rich the world is in terms of information. Take a look at the huge guide books if you get a chance.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Kamek20xxExtra?feature=mhee Michael Stevens
Oh…..Huge guide books. lol This is why I ask questions on this site so I don’t have to read those kinds of books, but thanks for responding.
Zal_Yagun
Tri had a Story, you are a outsourced hunter sent to a village so you can get rid of a sea monster and help with the villagers and what not. Though you aren’t good enough to kill the said sea monster so you hang around killing other monsters until you can kill the said sea monster… then you kill another sea monster since the first one wasn’t the main problem …
The other games go along the lines of – Cover monsters barely killing you, some one in nearby village saves you, then you hang around and help the villagers by collecting or murderizing things for them… all while getting paid and making sweet swag.
you don’t need any back story to play the game, though some knowledge of the game’s mechanics will make the game more accessible…

http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan
There’s probably a lot of people that are way more qualified than me to answer this, but I’ll take a shot. Monster Hunter is a loot RPG. Think of it like Diablo 2, but with less story and from a third-person view. You start out in a village, and there are several wilderness areas that you can access either by just going out to them or by taking on quests that send you to them. Areas like rainforests or deserts or snowy cliffs etc.
Quests range from killing specific monsters or gathering certain kinds of resources that the village needs from the wilderness, or capturing monsters, and so on. Performing these quests is how you move ahead with the game. As you push further and further, new services become available in your village.
The game’s eco-system changes as you progress further, too. Aside from quests, you can also just run out into the wild in certain areas and start hunting stuff and gathering resources for fun or to craft new items and armour and weapons for yourself.At the start of the game, there are mostly relatively “less” dangerous (VERY relative) roaming about in the wild areas. As you do higher level quests and defeat bigger monsters, those monsters start to get “unlocked” for roaming about on their own.
It basically comes down to killing monsters, gathering materials and loot, customizing your weapons, becoming a stronger hunter. But that’s easier said than done because some of the monsters are really, really hard to hunt. It can be a pretty technical game. :)

http://www.youtube.com/user/Kamek20xxExtra?feature=mhee Michael Stevens
That’s neat! So does the series have like a ton of veeery large areas to explore and a lot of secrets and unlockables (other than creating items)?

http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan
The maps can be pretty large, yea! There’s a bit of a loading screen between areas in the different maps. It’s not super long, maybe a second or two. I’d recommend watching this to see what I mean: http://youtu.be/C_O4vlcxe1I
That’s one map, but there’s a little loading in between each area of the map.
As for secrets and unlockables…it depends. Unlockables are kind of in the form of new characters coming to the village and new monsters being made available to hunt. Other than that, almost everything you acquire will be by hunting and gathering. It’s very much like Diablo or maybe even WoW in that sense.
You can get different parts from monsters (horns, tail, claws, beaks etc), all of which can be used for a variety of crafting purposes. You can use them to create items, armour, weapons etc. So I guess stuff gets “unlocked” as you see more and more of the game in a sense, but you still have to work to actually create it yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Kamek20xxExtra?feature=mhee Michael Stevens
Thank you very much for the information. I watched the video. The poor monsters lol. There aren’t too many adventure like games that are actually good this year IMO, so I’ll be looking forward to the series for a very long time. I hope this game gets localized!
http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan
No problem. :)

eilegz
more like an offline MMO…

http://www.facebook.com/keishenra Kyle D. Johnson
Yes and no. There’s a hint of continuity, but only in the way of legends about hunters from other villages have some impact on the next game in the series, in a very minor way. (equips that are replicas from famous hunters of the past MH games, pretty much.)

Solomon_Kano
Really, I just want MHP3rd HD right now. If Capcom can get that here, then great! If not, seeing as there’s a legitimate reason for why they wouldn’t be able to, then hopefully they’ll focus on MH4 rather than Tri-G.

theworldofnoboundries
I am afraid that the reason why Capcom won’t localize is no other than it is on PSP and the pirate that destroyed the console outside of Japan which is why they won’t release it here anymore. Well i am also hoping that it will come here but that is more like fake hope.

Solomon_Kano
I understand as much, that’s precisely why I’m holding out hope for the HD version and not the PSP version.

Advent_Andaryu
I would take this with a grain of salt. I wouldn’t take anyone’s word about something if they are from Capcom, they claim to “do it for the fans”, but if there’s not enough profit in it for them it’s just not gonna happen.

SalomeHarras
Err…you can say this for just about any developer/publisher out there…it’s not just Capcom…
No one in their right mind would publish/develop something knowing it’s going to generate a net loss. Likewise, if Capcom could make more money publishing/developing something else aside from Monster Hunter in the same period, it would be pretty smart for them to do so…

Advent_Andaryu
That’s not necessarily true. I’ve seen companies publish a game even if they were not gonna make a lot of profit from it, but they did it for the fans. Atlus is great about this. You think they are even gonna make a decent profit for localizing KOFXIII? Even though it’s not their own game, they just want to help it succeed and for fans in other countries to be able to play it.
Capcom on the other hand is different. They want games that are cash cows. They don’t care about their own fans like they claim, this is proven through their own actions.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Kamek20xxExtra?feature=mhee Michael Stevens
I hope that’s not true…..:(
SalomeHarras
Actually, yes, I’m pretty confident Atlus thinks they will meet their profit goals with KoF XIII or they wouldn’t be publishing it, period. You can see this in their aggressive marketing approach with the game, and intentionally releasing it in a period where it does not have to directly compete with any other major fighting game. Profit goals do not necessarily have to be “large” profit goals, but they are profit goals nonetheless that the developer/publisher would like to hit.
If Atlus truly were a selfless company that cared about their consumer’s wants and desires above their own solvency (which would be absolutely foolish, they would be bankrupt within a year), where is Luminous Arc 3?

http://www.youtube.com/user/Kamek20xxExtra?feature=mhee Michael Stevens
*DING DING DING!* A QUESTION THAT I CAN ANSWER lol! I read someone’s comment before on this website about Luminous Arc 3. It seems that the news from RPGamer stated that:
“Ignition Entertainment has revealed that they will publish Luminous Arc 3: Eyes for the Nintendo DS in North America.”
Yep. It’s releasing this year. I don’t know if Atlus will be involved in localizing it though.
https://twitter.com/#!/Ojsinnerz Firo_Prochainezo
I believe that was an april fools joke.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Kamek20xxExtra?feature=mhee Michael Stevens
@Firo_Prochainezo:disqus Awww….:( There goes my confidence….

Guest
They still make a profit. They’re not localizing a game just for fans no matter how much you wanna believe that.

http://twitter.com/Fillytase Stephanie Michelle
What about publishers like XSEED? This generation they’ve been a champion of localizing all kinds of niche games in North America. There are many games they’ve published here, e.g. Fragile Dreams on the Wii, that I simply cannot believe made a profit for them. One or two of these zero- to low-profit games wouldn’t be remarkable, but looking at their resume there are a LOT of them. So… sometimes I wonder how they’re staying afloat.
Guest
They stay afloat because they do make profits or at the very least make their money back. Most people think all these companies are on the verge of bankruptcy which just isn’t true. If all the games publishers like Atlus, XSEED, and NISA didn’t sell well (by their standards) they would’ve been out of business a long time ago.

http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan
Ultimately, the goal of all publishers is to reach as wide an audience as they can, and to remain profitable while doing it. The difference is in how each publisher goes about doing this.
Atlus are a smaller company, which is something important to keep in mind. Also, I’m not so sure about the KOFXIII thing. That game has its own goals, one of which is likely to test if there’s room for more games in the fighting games space.
Atlus are obviously interested in fighting games as a means for expansion because there’s such a loyal community there that will effectively advertise your games for you. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be developing the Persona 4 fighting game either. It’s a way to expand the brand, a way to generate word of mouth.
Capcom are a bigger company, playing on the same field as Square Enix and Ubisoft and all of those companies. For a publisher as large as Capcom, I honestly think they’ve taken a lot of risks. Ace Attorney isn’t a million-seller by any means, but we got all of the games, save for AAI2, which they say will eventually come over in some form. Monster Hunter has always been niche in the west and they’ve continued to bring those games over as well.

SalomeHarras
I also want to note that fighting games present Atlus a new model that they don’t really have at the moment: a (potential) yearly source of income with minimal development costs. The current model for fighting games is a new revision in 12 months or so (even less in Capcom’s case now) with a lot of assets being recycled and development costs minimized. Granted, if you go by Street Fighter IV’s numbers (of which aren’t 100% reliable anyway), each successive revision generates noticeably less revenue than the original, but that’s extra revenue (along with “free” marketing) that they wouldn’t have had otherwise, which is important for a small developer like Atlus.
I’m talking purely about Persona btw, Atlus obviously is not developing KoF XIII, although I have a strong feeling that their input was fairly critical for some of the console’s additional features.
http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan
Exactly. In fact, you could say Atlus are already “cashing in” (I don’t mean that negatively) on the Persona brand with the portable re-releases and re-makes. It’s the same thing as fighting games, in theory. If fans will pay more money for more content, there’s nothing wrong with giving it to them.

Tom_Phoenix
The thing is, there is a decent amount of profit to be had by localising Monster Hunter titles.
Granted, Monster Hunter is nowhere near as big outside of Japan as it is in Japan. However, Monster Hunter Tri sold about 450k copies in North America and about 300k copies in Europe, which is nothing to sneeze at. Plus, these aren’t exactly text heavy games, so localisation costs probably wouldn’t be very big.
Of course, admittingly, Monster Hunter Tri enjoyed the fact that the Wii had a large install base. Since the 3DS doesn’t have that at this time, that could play a role in Capcom’s decision whether or not to localise the title. But on the other hand, 3DS owners are preety desperate for new software right now, so they might give something they wouldn’t normally play a try.
Overall, even from a financial standpoint, there are reasons to localise these games.

Guest
TriG not coming over would suck but I already played a ton of Tri so while I would be missing a ton of content I would much rather have the new numbered game come over. I want both, I’d be happy with either one.
Yesshua
Wow, it really seems like Nintendo is bending over backwards for Capcom here. Capcom says moving Monster Hunter PS3 to the west would be tricky, but it seems that moving Monster Hunter 3DS over is manageable. Normally we hear about Nintendo being tough to work with, so I’m really surprised at this situation.
And there’s also the bit where Nintendo made a whole new peripheral and it’s being released with Monster Hunter. That also suggests that Nintendo is REALLY going out of their way to make sure Capcom is happy to work with them.
Street Fighter 3D has done pretty well, so I’m willing to bet that there are going to be a couple more Capcom releases coming soon to 3DS. If I had to guess I’d say either Street Fighter X Tekken or Marvel vs. Capcom. Any other ideas?

SeventhEvening
Currently, Capcom is one of the only companies who’s even releasing 3DS titles. Most of the 3DS games that are currently out are either Capcom or First party.
eilegz
pokemon and MH are the most popular games in japan and the 3ds its a guaranteed success over there because of it, now lets hope that nintendo and other third parties could take advantage of the future userbase and make decent and better graphics games, which so far with the exception of capcom own games and tecmo doa, nintendo own games looks like crap on 3ds on a machine that should be more capable than the wii.

http://twitter.com/ChestnutBowl Chestnut Bowl
I both respect and hate Svensson’s honesty.
PrinceHeir
[edited by mod]

http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan
Sorry, I had to edit your comment. I really don’t want this turning into one of “those” comment threads.

PrinceHeir
nah it’s fine :P
it seems i didn’t think it would lead to those kind of comments
do what you gotta do :P

Yu_TheKing
Guess I missed something…
A bashing perhaps?

hush404
I really don’t see how, in today’s world, you’d announce a project/game without including a large part of the world – especially with an established and successful franchise such as Monster Hunter. The fact that they’re sitting back and saying “ahh… well, there’s lots of obstacles… so it MIGHT not make it outside of Japan” just baffles me. NTM the MHP3HD (or w/e it’s called) was shown off at E3… was it not? That’s an even harder kick to NA audiences.

http://www.youtube.com/user/jodecideion?feature=mhum TheWon and Only
If you can’t understand it all about money then I’m sorry. Monster Hunter on the PSP sold 4 to 5 million in Japan alone. Tri on Wii the most successful Monster Hunter released in the West region that’s US and PAL. Only sold or shipped according to Capcom’s own information 900,000 copies. You show me a audience worth putting in effort for ,and then they will think about it.

hush404
Yes, those Japanese numbers are larger, but still 900,000 copies at $50 a shot is an extra $45million. Seeing as home consoles seem to fair better than handhelds in NA (you even pointed out that MHTri on Wii did the best out of all the MH titles) would it then not make sense to prioritize the release of the PS3 “remaster” of MHP3?

http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan
Tri did well partly because of how heavily it was co-marketed by Nintendo. They even published the game themselves in Europe if I’m not mistaken. There was also that Classic Controller Pro hardware bundle going around for it.
I doubt Portable 3rd HD would get the same treatment, seeing as how it’s basically a PSP game running on PS3, and no support for PSN. Outside of the Monster Hunter fanbase, they can’t really reach out to anyone else with it.

hush404
Ehh, always worth a try. :P

SeventhEvening
Part of the additional difficulty is that it is rather easy to import Monhun on the PSP. The language barrier might be a challenge, but if you’ve got a grasp on the mechanics from playing other Monhun games, you’re really not missing much since the games have no story.
When Capcom is flaky about translating the title and then waits a year and a half without a real announcement (2ndG was this way) many fans get tired of waiting and either A) pick up a competitor’s localized game, as many people have mentioned, this is usually God Eater, or B) or Import the title. In either case, Monhun is a game with no story that people pour hundreds of hours into. God Eater has a story, but to my understanding is also a massive time sink. It is difficult to justify purchasing the localized version of a game if you’re really not missing out on much by playing it in Japanese and you’ve already sunk over a hundred hours into it. Starting over for no additional content isn’t very attractive. Nor is purchasing a game “just to support the localization”.
In fact, despite my love for the series, if 3rdHD was released in the US, I probably wouldn’t pick it up because I can’t transfer my JP save data onto it like I would be able to if I import it.

Guest
I dont remember ANY reports about P3rd HD ver. being at E3.

hush404
Maybe it wasn’t E3… sorry. I just remember the whole PSP remaster thing being announced around the time of June (that was when E3 took place, no?).

http://www.youtube.com/user/jodecideion?feature=mhum TheWon and Only
There is a difference when a company who creates a game, controls the marketing, translates the content, and then ships the product. Decides not to bring a game over. Then you have a company who doesn’t create anything. Still they take on the responsibility of shipping, and marketing the game. Decides to bring a game over to another region. Of course a company like XSeed who doesn’t create any games can bring a game over, and feel it’s justified. They are just hoping to make their money back from translating, marketing, and shipping. Companies like Capcom are trying to cover development cost, and everything else that goes into it. That’s a risk you may not want to take when you have a product with a niche audience.
Michael Vincent
Monster Hunter prints money for Capcom so they’ll translate it. Ah, because of this, I suddenly remembered Ace Attorney Investigations 2 which Capcom refuses to localize. I guess Miles Edgeworth can’t print money for them. ^^

Guest
He can’t. AAI sold like crap in the US which is why they didn’t wanna localize AAI2. Okamiden outsold it in one week. AAI had months been out for months already.

Michael Vincent
Yep. I have read the actual thread where Sven said that Okamiden oursold Ace Attorney. ^^

http://www.facebook.com/people/Abel-Liegod/100000072534559 Abel Liegod
You cant trust anything Capcom says these days.
http://twitter.com/wenchwogg Trent Borders
I would literally do anything to get 3rd HD here on PS3. anything D:<
Go2hell66
Finally some good news from capcom, they’ve really been getting on my badside lately
http://www.myspace.com/Juan_Rod bluejuan85
I hope they come over I would like to try these games but I prefer to play them on the go so these will be added to my library if they come over.
Polantaris
Sven keeps changing his story for MHTG, and MHP3rd. First he blamed Sony for P3rd not getting localized, now he acts like that was never and issue and just say “It’s open”. Which is it? Then he says MHTG is not coming to the West, there’s no plans for it, and now he acts like he’s working on it right now and it’s gonna happen. Which is it? I can’t trust anything this guy says, it’s all lies and bullshit to keep people settled down so they won’t start a riot because they’ve been jerking us around for months.

http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan
It’s “open” because they’re still discussing it with Sony, so there’s a possibility that it may eventually come over. I don’t think he’s ever lied about anything.

Polantaris
If it was truly all up to Sony, and they’re the only reason we don’t have P3rd, Sven would have continued to blame Sony for it, but instead everytime he talks about it he has a different story to give us. That’s just what it is, a story.

http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan
I don’t think you actually read before commenting…

Polantaris
Blatant insulting. u so funneh.

http://twitter.com/ExceptionL ExceptionL
the lack of these being here, is giving games like god eater, and lord of arcana a chance. which is a mistake by capcom.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Steven-Pierre-Louis/667684607 Steven Pierre-Louis
I got Gods Eater Burst because of the lack of new MonHun games here and now I prefer it. If Portable 3 had gotten here I would have just picked that up and wouldn’t have given Gods Eater a look.
http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan
Neither of those games even come close to Monster Hunter’s community. :p
eilegz
phantasy star portable 2 > over any of those games gameplay, story and graphics wise
what its sega doing and where its infinity….

http://twitter.com/ChaseBurr Chase Bonner
dis man gonna get himself fired lol
http://profiles.google.com/dnlblue Daniel blue
Sorry Capcom. Bought Portable 3rd last month and the HD version is on it’s way from Hong Kong, so I can do multiplayer with a PSP/PS3 combo (which, incidentally, is impossible if you guys release only the HD version overseas).
If you take too long beating around the bush people get tired of waiting and either give up or import. In both cases, you lose a sale.

http://twitter.com/furdworetzky Fur Dworetzky
Actually, I’m pretty sure Capcom gets a sale in your latter case.

SeventhEvening
Capcom Japan does. Then Capcom America releases the localized version, but they miss out on many of the sales of people who already imported the game. Then Capcom America whines about Monster Hunter not selling well in the west.
I’d love for a localized version of Portable 3rd, but I don’t know if I’d actually buy it since I already own an import copy and my Monster Hunting friends do too. It isn’t really appealing to start a game over from scratch if you’ve been playing for a year and put a hundred hours into it just because it is in your native tongue.

eilegz
lets hope that other than localization they improve the gameplay, dated mechanics its just bad…. BTW here in america we got adhoc party too so its not an excuse.

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