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Arc System Works Discussing New Game Setting For The Global Market

By Ishaan . January 23, 2012 . 12:00pm

Arc System Works Discussing New Game Setting For The Global Market

Speaking with Gamasutra, Guilty Gear creator and BlazBlue composer, Daisuke Ishiwatari, discusses download content for the BlazBlue games in a recently published interview.

 

Ishiwatari says that the effect of DLC sales is “pretty large” and that it has changed Arc System Works’ approach to developing their games. In the case of fighting games, Ishiwatari says, character DLC is what fans like to see most.

 

He shares that he believes sales of download content for the BlazBlue games have been strongest in Japan, where over half the players that bought the game also purchased DLC for it. Ishiwatari says this is because Japan enjoys the manga-like look that is present in most of Arc System Works’ games.

 

Merchandise is also an important form of revenue in Japan, Ishiwatari says. Merchandise sales are the reason that Japanese developers devote time to fleshing out characters and settings, and creating content that even people who don’t play the actual games themselves would like. This, too, factors into the development process.

 

That said, the same strategy doesn’t work in the western markets. Fans in the west aren’t in the habit of buying merchandise, and because of this, Arc System Works are discussing creating a setting that could be equally popular all over the world. At the same time, however, the company doesn’t want to give up its Japanese roots.


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  • http://www.genkaibreak.com Code

    I love you ASW… but I suddenly feel like you don’t understand me any more ಠ_ಠ” Although I love the efforts your making, I’d prefer my game’s all in one piece, keep DLC to smaller things >o>; And I’m positive fans all over the world enjoy your style, and would love more cool BB merchandise, it’s just that most have to import it from Japan owo;

    • Setsu Oh

      i just love how they think everyone is like the badly shaved greasy otakus who work to fund their buys and nothing else. most westerners have a life and decide to buy more games rather than pay twice the piece of plastic they will end up not even looking at after a while.

      • http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan

        Are you some kind of idiot?

        • Apache_Chief

          I’ll take “Things that only an admin can say” for $500, Trebek.

          • http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan

            …sorry, that wasn’t very mature, was it? I just couldn’t resist, looking through his commenting history.

          • Luna Kazemaru

            Its alright ishaan it was Real talk.

          • Apache_Chief

            Just looking through this page gives you enough of an excuse. 

          • Setsu Oh

            i guess so..

          • http://www.genkaibreak.com Code

            Ishaan did it on my behalf, he saw how very, very much I was suffering over those comments x3x’

          • Setsu Oh

            hmmm? sorry then.

        • Setsu Oh

          nope. just a very messy individual.

      • aoihana

        i just love how they think everyone is like the badly shaved greasy otakus who work to fund their buys and nothing else.

        First and foremost, did you even read the whole article before proceeding to looking like an ass? I doubt it. 

        …Arc System Works are discussing creating a setting that could be equally popular all over the world.

        Obviously, ASW acknowledges that their merchandising strategy will not be particularly effective overseas, and they’re working on that.

        Secondly, I don’t think you even realize how much of blatant contradiction your comment really is.

        You’re outright belittling people for wanting and collecting merchandise, proclaiming that they have no life, and you have the audacity to proclaim westerners, who according to you, actually have a life by deciding to buy more games. 

        If your idea of having of life is buying more games, you really have no room to belittle badly shaved greasy otakus.

        I think this is pretty high up on the list of the most ridiculous, ignorant things I’ve read on here.

        • PoweredByHentai
          • aoihana

            Honestly, I don’t believe @google-c776a463e0696ec3528f1a5b6b71b331:disqus is a troll, but rather a terribly confused human being. 

          • PoweredByHentai

            Dood, he wants to date FF8′s Quistis.

        • http://www.genkaibreak.com Code

          Woah, footage of Aoihana actually angry o3o!? …Let’s go Justinnn! 

        • Setsu Oh

          and i certainly agree.
          having a life doesn’t mean buying more games. i might have misshandled the whole sentence. it is having a life (thus spending money on something else than games altogether AND the swag) AND buying more games that makes them, IMO, not really care for all the items sold around the games they bought. i thought everyone knew, i’ll say  though for those who do not: i don’t have the keys to the epic knowledge of the world, those are just my opinion, of course influenced by my shortcomings in being impatient towards the anime industry catering more and more to otakus (ore no imouto, working!!,  etc…) nowadays than making a difference with quality epicness of awesome -yes that do sound douchy but it makes me laugh to talk like that so…- animes like seirei no moribito, ghost in the shell, …. .
          i understand i might have angered beardy AND shaven otaku -not to mention badly shaven too- and i’m sorry for that. my… impatience doesn’t concern them apparently… i would have liked a follow up to juuni kokki …i’m glad they are looking at berserk again but if they didn’t poison darker than black with a seemingly cute char in the second season ……aaaaaah here i go again…..

          i was just saying that otakus are known to spend a LOT without any afterthought on what they love…..and that they have that habit more in JP than in the US for some reason. nothing wrong about that…just that it makes me cringe to see more and more queen’s blade and the oppai anime while what i do want doesn’t get another go. 
          hence why i talked about otakus (i hope it is clear now, i digress even during my explanations of my digressions…..) 

  • http://twitter.com/DanijoEX DanijoEX

    I wonder how they’re going to do that? But I’m really curious on how it’s gonna go.

  • http://papped.webatu.com papped

    Ahh, is that why they charge $8 per character for their DLC….

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3ITUZUKPZYUV2VUCVXUW3DVO6Y AJ

    Yes, character DLC is nice…you know.  When it’s released further down the line and kept consistent with previous promises, like continuing to update a game.

    This is precisely why I will not buy Extend.  I wish them luck though.

    • KaruCgSt

      It sounds so Capcom…

      • Setsu Oh

        i was actually thinking about this. the added amount of the multiple dlc costumes packs equals another full game price. and i am wondering if in a game of 25chars ONE char really equals 10 bucks. if not……
        well that is why i wait for FULL versons of games one year after their release like MKKKollection with everything inside already. getting everything bit by makes me and my wallet sick. 

    • Luna Kazemaru

      missing out on something good is all i got to say.

  • http://profiles.google.com/zferolie A.J. Ferolie

    I am all for character DLC, if done right. If they honestly couldn’t get the character available for the game by release, that’s a good reason for character DLC. If the character is fully on the disk, and they just charge for a unlock key, that is bad. I mean, if the character is partially on the disk and buying it finishes them up with coding done after they went gold and what not, thats cool.

    As for merchandizing, if they marketed just toward the gamer/anime crowd it would work. Have a lot of stuff at con’s and anime shops or game shops.

  • malek86

    It seems to me that, whereas in the western console markets most people prefer to pay for bigger pieces at once (map packs, expansions), japanese players have fully embraced the concept of micro-DLC (accessories, single characters… maybe they’d even buy the fabled horse armor).

    I have to wonder how much of that can be blamed on Namco and its Idolmaster series, but I guess it doesn’t matter at this point.

    It does make things difficult for companies who want to approach the DLC angle from a worldwide perspective, though. And it might pose, once again, a problem in localization decisions.

    • http://www.genkaibreak.com Code

      For something like Blazblue, being a fighter, a whole character is more then equivalent to a map pack for a shooter as far as importance to the game. Where as colors, accessories, music packs etc. I think circle around the idea, that DLC is something that shouldn’t effect the core balance of the game. 

      I think only real notice consistent difference between west/east approach to DLC is the price, Japanese DLC tends to price gorge hard, it feels like DLC is aimed directly and only at it’s hardcore fans. In the west it usually seems to be price it lower and hit broad as possible. Which is probably the nature of a smaller market versus a bigger one.   

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Javon-Hernandez/706489182 Javon Hernandez

    Arcsys is probably the only game company that i’ll be a whore for. Blazblue is probably my most favorite game ever. So I’ll easily be suckered into any DLC or expansions for it. 

    • Setsu Oh

      mayonaka is in fact the first arksys game i really care about since the orignal GG …on ps1.
      it features char i care about and doesn’t have one ofthe most horribly designed orc of all time. actually potemkin was quite cute compared to that thing in BB.

  • http://twitter.com/EdgeKun Ed Powell

    I saw mention of Daisuke Ishiwatari talking DLC, and had hoped it meant there would be new songs available as DLC down the road. (Separate from coming with their respective characters anyway. =P)

    I was disappointed. ;_;

    As always is the case for me, I find myself in approval of DLC as long as it’s actually adding new content down the road. Not a fan of on-disc unlocks as DLC, so hopefully ASW isn’t getting any more keen on that idea (I can’t remember for the life of me whether the extra system voices were on-disc or not) with all the DLC success in the japanese market.

    Seriously though Ishiwatari. More songs/additional soundtracks as DLC. Make it happen. ;_;

  • ForeverFidelis

    They don’t want to give up their Japanese roots?
    Why not?
    It’s all the rage

    I can see it now

    Taylor Lautner standing over a ruined NOL Branch

    Takes a huff of his blunt

    Looks towards the screen

    “My name is Ragna”

    • Setsu Oh

      with k stew as Mu!!

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_I524CTBYVX2V574EVWRHO2L3AI Seizui

      Hahahhahaa. I laughed out loud at this.

  • Exand

    Extra colors and system voices I can understand because anime culture is so much bigger and tied more closely to video game culture than it is out West.

    But I think he’s missing the point on why character DLC sells well.

    For fighting games many people buy extra characters because they have to in order to stay competitive. It’s either you buy the character or you have to suffer fighting against character(s) you do not know well because you haven’t bought the DLC for it.

    • Setsu Oh

      ? new blackmail plan from devs? interesting….
      after tekken 6 and NO story bit whatsoever on the kazamajin thing (and others) but jokes and funny endings(what… 5 years of wait?) i wondered what mischief jp devs were ploting again ……

      when will they consider their games seriously? had vanquish the seriousness of a modern warfare and didn’t have the level of quality (dialogue and story depth) of the resident evil movies i would have bought it. don’t even get me started on bayonetta……
      at least ninja theory will give a decent char and story to the franchise. castlevania is superb work, needs more polish on the cinemas but is edible. when will mgs get its western lifting?

      • Nemesis_Dawn

        Uh…what?
        Who brought up Ninja Theory? Who brought up Bayonetta? 

  • Ryan Baer

    I’ll stop buying their games if they make it look like a generic American game.

  • konsama

    I’d love to play BB with GGXXAC+ OST, that’s one of the best soundtrack ever existed in a video game

  • MarkMario

    I wouldn’t mind having entirely new costumes for the characters instead of just different palettes.

    • Luna Kazemaru

      THis

    • Nemesis_Dawn

      I don’t think you realize that alternate outfits would pretty much have to be treated as a new character when it comes to hand-drawn 2D animation.

      • MarkMario

        True, and then they would  pretty much be the same price as new characters.

        • Setsu Oh

          i would in fact like less aliazing… skullgirls doesn’t look aliazed at all…..and a redesign of the orc…. he makes me sick everytime i look at him…no offense to the designers…..(sorry) well the game IS popular so i guess my opinion doesn’t matter much does it..

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/EnvyMizuhashi Garyuu

    True enough. We may buy limited editions, but most western publishers go out of their way to produce overly-expensive material figurines instead of profitable products for fans to dig into. The least we have are sheer novel adaptations and accessories that have a game’s logo on it. We may some comics book adaptions, but not enough.

    “and because of this, Arc System Works are discussing creating a setting that could be equally popular all over the world.”

    Starting with releasing your manga adaptations to the west….you know….like you should have. =)

  • http://twitter.com/JezzSan Jezzy

    They should stick to their roots and do what they’re good at, instead of trying to be something they’re not.

    • Setsu Oh

      you  want another BBlu with only four more chars that cost as much as a brand new just released castlevania with 1100 the play time? suit yourself! 
      i want them to go and explore and get me more good stuff. i’m tired of BB already the anuime art style is nice but skullgirls is more aliazingless than KOF13 AND the BB games. and it doesn’t have their pedigrees. so….
      guys go explore and bring me something else than bb so i can buy it. i played the dlc less version of the latest bb game and got bored after a week playing with my fav only char .  the others do not interest me much. at least i had ‘one arm’ and blondie in GG…

      • Herok

        you know if your only going to play with only one character you really cant say it has less play time then a new Castlevania, i have them all since SoN, except for PoR, and i can say i have spent more time with Blazblue overall because Blazblue has a long story on top of great mechicanics which adds infinite replay value since after you are done with everything offline you have new people to play online. character list size isnt all that matters like look at Street Fighter 4 AE sure it has about 40 characters but one-fourth of them are ryu clones and since every character is unique in BB i am fine with them releasing them slowly and then having everything in one package with extend even if it bothers me that the new characters have no story or arcade they can be used online which is all that matters.

        • Setsu Oh

          i guess i didn’t express myself clearly enough..
          i do enjoy only one char but objectively speaking, after getting acquainted with each char through the diff scenarios, it really seemed like less content than the castle. i did know during my short life, people spending enormous periods of time per fighting games and i did myself invest (to my surprise: i never checked that part of the game before) 60 hours in SSF – with 20 or so of them i spent being bored and doing something else while playing- .
          even with those infos… BB still looks thin to me for some reason. thinner than a KOF ….and definitively not a reason to buy chars at ten a piece(well…8). i guess i feel strangely uninterested by the wrold and those chars. 
          i am interested by mayonaka though …..
          i wonder if my opinion wasn’t tainted by the fact that i hated that my fav ‘versus’ game , marvel super heroes had only ten chars and only 4 i really liked…..that might be it..

      • http://twitter.com/JezzSan Jezzy

        Face it, the whole DLC business is gonna stay even if they make a new franchise. I’m simply stating that their aim of “creating a setting that could be equally popular all over the world” might backfire, a la Last Rebellion.

  • Setsu Oh

    first: they don’t seems to care much about how much their games tend to cost with customs added. i would like to buy vesperia ps3 new but even an old game like this one cost at least 70 bucks and that is without including customs. how much do they think i’ll spend on a piece of plastic gathering dust somewhere i my room? oh and about the accesories too: i wanted the earphones the main char of persona 3 had. i can’t get them if i’m not in japan or taiwan and i don’t even want to think about the customs on that.
    Second: i hope they won’t sell us their next game with four  chars and buy the rest in dlc!  i would have another thing to be grugy about jp gamers! (i kinda hate seeing so many pervotaku games around when the games i want can’t be made. shadow of rome 2, the other chapters of xenosaga or gears, ff8 ps3 with the option of dating quistis instead of linoa, more yarudora like double cast and the other 3……that is what i dream about, not undressing people in the streets of akiba!

    why are the famously unable to cross the pacific games , unable to get to psn and xbla too? if nfss could why not vesperia! i don’t care if it is in jp i have a dictionary! it would be good practice even! 

    • SolidusSnake

      Sorry dude, but you’re in no position to criticize weeaboos / otaku if you dream of dating Quistis in FF8. Also, your posts are really hard to read. I’m gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and assume English is your second (or third, or fourth) language, but that’s still no excuse for such incoherence.

      • Setsu Oh

        yea, sorry about that. i’ll reread myself next time, beginning by this post.
        NO i don’t dream of dating quistis. i wanted the choice to be there instead of making me go through a chase i wasn’t really interested in(rinoa).
        I don’t hate otakus i just find games targeted towards them with weak excuses to justify the content rally boring : really? to find vampires in akiba you HAVE to strip the pedestrians? how about more clever means to find them like condomsbuckets filled with water to splash the mascara off ? -the movie Blade was funny about that-)

    • Nemesis_Dawn

      I’m not quite sure what your rant has to do with the article in question.

      • Setsu Oh

        the interviewee talked about selling dlc and comparison with westerners buying habits, i figured inserting a rant on things like customs and price was interesting… my bad.
        ‘That said, the same strategy doesn’t work in the western markets. Fans in the west aren’t in the habit of buying merchandise, ’
        my rant was about the games not being quite all there in western contries to begin with (like vesperia or others) so no wonder the swag doesn’t go off the shelves. i got carried away maybe? i tend to digress a lot…

  • Darkrise

    Except I would LOVE to have some of the merchandise in their japanese store… Like the Jin and Dead Spike Shirt… Some other stuff too. Hakumen plushie.

  • Nemesis_Dawn

    Funny how he says this, but if I want to play as Relius or have endings for Makoto or Platinum or Valk, I have to buy an entirely new retail disc, instead of just being able to download what cannot be that much information. I’m done with the BlazBlue series at this point. I bought Calamity Trigger on disc. I bought Continuum Shift on disc, even though everything on it could have worked as DLC for Calamity Trigger, if they had programmed it for it. Continuum Shift Extend should have been a Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition-style DLC pack/retail disc. Instead, I feel like I wasted money on the 3 DLC characters in Continuum Shift and I will not be supporting them anymore.

    • Herok

      the problem with having everything download based is that it makes it harder to set up tournments because on top of setting up games and machines they would have to download everything which would be costly and for the people who have no way to connect their ps3/360 to the internet they would be screwed out of all the new stuff for CT if they would have kept it on download, finally what about the people who only have a 4 GB 360 they wouldnt have any room to download a lot of patches which is why having a new disc version is good seeing as the last one released in 2010.

      • Nemesis_Dawn

        That’s why you do what Capcom did with Resident Evil 4 Gold or Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. You make it both disc and downloadable. People who never had it before can buy the new disc. People who already own the disc just have to update.

        And as someone with both a PS3 and 360, I put a 500G HDD in my 120G PS3. I haven’t downloaded enough on my 360 to justify buying a new HDD on that, but I know they sell them, so there’s not really any excuse for people to not be able to fit stuff on their systems.

    • Luna Kazemaru

      Yes new net code,more game modes,a complete revamp in the balance of the game is does not call for it. If you think that extend was just for those relius and the dlc characters you clearly have no idea what you talking about and yes I already have the game.

      • Nemesis_Dawn

        The only two things that couldn’t be patched would be the net code and the 4 player matches. Otherwise, EVERYTHING could’ve and should’ve been DLC. Huge balance patches happen all the time. In fact, Continuum Shift got one a while back. Game Modes can be added. And if you already have it, then I guess congrats on not feeling ripped off.

        • Luna Kazemaru

          >spent about 100 bucks on CS’s JP LE
          >Spent 60 for the US version
          >Spent about 70 bucks or so on extend’s JPN version
          >will spend 60 bucks on the US LE release of it (since the stand lone is 40 buck)

          Yep I don’t feel ripped off at all and clearly enjoying the game. Love how you are supporting capcom doing this but get mad that ASW did this that’s pretty funny.

          • Nemesis_Dawn

            I didn’t support Capcom on MVC3. Never bought UMVC3 and never will.

            Supported Capcom doing it on Resident Evil 5 and Super Street Fighter IV (was not happy about the change from SFIV to Super SFIV, but I didn’t buy the original anyway, because I was worried about Capcom’s previous history with updates). 

            Of course, if you’re willing to buy the same game over and over again, just to have different regions’ versions, then I can see why you wouldn’t feel ripped off. Those of us who want things done efficiently and feel that a new retail release should contain enough content that it’d be IMPOSSIBLE to make into DLC, on the other hand, are not happy.

          • Setsu Oh

            i laughed at the change from SSF to SSFAE and sold my SSF. 
            if they release a SSFAE plus all the other SF on one blu ray i might buy it (SF’s 25th anniversary is this year), but i call bullpoop on an AE wich has twonew chars and still NO costumes included. oh and a pc version that was released late  certainly to find a way to protect better against the hack that let people put their own costumes in the game -which for some are even better than the ones sold-. all that just to make more bucks….

          • Setsu Oh

            thks for making their world. maybe your money will help them make something i might buy in the future…

    • Go2hell66

      CS definitely wouldn”t work as. DLC, even the backgrounds were changed from 2D to 3D, a bit much for a patch

  • Göran Isacson

    An interesting interview- Daisuke comes across as a very… relaxed sort of guy. Not too overly humble and evasive, but not in your face either. He’s just chilling, telling it like it is. We need more of that.

    So, American fans do not buy the DLC they release as much as Japanese fans. I wonder why that is? Are the american fans more likely to just hold out and wait for the inevitable re-release that includes all the DLC released until that point? Do they not want new characters? Prices too high?

    • http://www.genkaibreak.com Code

      Likely has a lot to do with pricing. Outside of Japan, DLC prices tend to be marginally lower, and I think $8 a character caused a lot of shock among US consumers, since it contrasted so highly against typical DLC in North America.

    • a b

      8$ a character was the reason i didn’t buy dlc for bbcs. 3x 8 is 24$ i paid 30$ for a new copy of the game. i only got the dlc once i was 50%off

    • Setsu Oh

      indeed.

  • Apache_Chief

    Just keep writing music for it. I don’t care if your newest character is a potted plant, his theme song will still be amazing.

    • ShadowWolf

      i wish to see a potted plant fighter.

  • Souji Tendou

    Where is my new GG Ishiwatari-san????? Aaaaaagh. >_<

  • MrSirFeatherFang

    If this wasn’t a 2D game then costumes would be the biggest seller lol. I’m in for more story dlc. If I’m correct on how the BB world operates, then all endings are all canon and could possibly happen. I didn’t play Continuum Shift, but I’m getting Extend :)

  • PoweredByHentai

    Okay, I haven’t played enough BlazBlue but did Noel just dodge Jin’s swipe?

    That’s a really nice screenshot though.  O_O

  • z_merquise

    A very good interview! Thanks for sharing this, Siliconera!

    Some bits of the interview and my reactions:

    //
    Japan’s game industry has a long history of developers making games in secret, without credit. Arc has done that as well, for example with the PS2 version of Ys IV. Do you still do that sort of work?

    Daisuke Ishiwatari: Well, secret games are secret, so… (laughs) I can’t say what, but certainly.
    //
    Wow, Arc Sys was involved in one of the Ys games!?

    //
    Daisuke Ishiwatari: That’s something we’re definitely aware of, yeah. Still, the way we use Japanese culture is one of our primary weapons, and that’s not something we want to just do away with. Games developed overseas have progressed massively in terms of technical skill, and I don’t think there’s any way that Japan can win in that battle, so I think it’d be nice if we can approach the world market in a Japanese kind of way.
    //
    It’s good that Ishiwatari didn’t plan to imitate Western game developers approach for their audiences and stick on what they do best. Japanese game developers may not have the resources for uber-realistic graphics or big-budgeted presentation and other technical marvel that Western developers can mostly do but at the same time Japanese got their artistic and game design that Western cannot imitate. All in all, everyone got different styles and different advantages. Imitating the other wasn’t always good.

    //
    You like shooting games; what do you think about the FPSes Japan has made?

    Daisuke Ishiwatari: There’s Vanquish, as well as that one Konami made. I don’t think they’re very good games. The AI, in particular, was just no good; that field is a lot more advanced overseas, and there really isn’t that drive in Japan to make intelligent AI. Enemies just go in the direction they’re given and react in preset ways to the player in battle.
    //
    I may not comment much on AI but for me, Vanquish is the best shooting game I ever played and the game’s control, pacing and overall design are something I wish other 3rd person-shooting developers should take note. Too bad, he didn’t like the game.

    //
    What was the first game you worked on?
    DI: That would be the first Guilty Gear on the PS1.

    Anything before that?
    DI: There was… what was I doing at the time? I was involved with the debugging of a couple of RPGs on the Super Famicom.
    //
    Okay, so that finally cleared my mind. Daisuke Ishiwatari didn’t work on SNK’s Last Blade like some people in other forums were claiming.

    • SolidusSnake

      To add to your comments on Vanquish, I’d say that it’s not really fair to judge it based on the AI since it’s simply not a tactical shooter like Gears of War or Halo. It’s all about boosting around like crazy and slaughtering legions of enemies; if anything it plays more like Serious Sam with a big dose of Sega arcade craziness. I’d also point out that the COD single player campaigns (yeah, I’m bringing up COD since it’s the most popular / successful western shooter) have pretty poor AI. The main appeal of those campaigns is the cinematic style that brings to mind Hollywood war films.

      Honestly the constant comparisons with Vanquish and Gears always baffled me, since the games play almost nothing alike, though I’m a big fan of both :). Total apples and oranges.

  • PrinceHeir

    Guilty Gear 3 please :P

    i just hope they slow down their DLC model once in awhile :P

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