Late last year, Capcom USA’s Senior VP, Christian Svensson, remarked that the sales forecasts he had put in for Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies in the West were “aggressive” (high), relative to the series’ historical performance. Then, earlier this year, Capcom announced that Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies would be released in the West as a download-only game.
Since the announcement, Svensson has been fielding a variety of questions from fans on the Capcom forums, and addressing concerns that a download-only release will hurt sales of the game. In a new thread, Svensson was asked if he is worried about his aggressive forecasts not being reached due to the download-only release.
“Am I worried? I don’t think so,” Svensson replied. “If fans really love the series and want to play the game in English, we’re expecting them to be there. If they’re not, well, that tells us something too. I’m betting on you guys.”
So, if Capcom have decided upon a digital strategy for future Ace Attorney releases, would it be possible for them to give fans some sort of reassurance that this will lead to future Ace Attorney games being guaranteed a Western release? Unfortunately, that isn’t possible, Svensson says.
“The reality is, there are no assurances I can make,” Svensson explains. “It isn’t up to me or anyone else at Capcom USA on whether or not something ultimately comes to us. I get to put up forecasts for what I think we can plausibly sell and the producer has to see if there’s localization and dev resources available, costs need to be evaluated and we have to see if it makes sense.”
He elaborates: “In this case, after the [Ace Attorney Investigations 2] miss, I’m hoping/anticipating/counting on fans to be extra motivated to show support given the fact they didn’t have the opportunity to do so the last time around.”
Svensson adds that he hasn’t forgotten about Ace Attorney Investigations 2, the only game in the series that hasn’t made it over to the West thus far.
“I understand the desire and I continue to make requests for AAI2 to Eschiro-san and Ichii-san (my boss),” Svensson shares. “As it is, all dev and localization focus has been on AA5 and the last data point we have to work from was [Ace Attorney Investigations], which as I’ve shared in the past, was poor at best. If AA5 hits its forecast, we’ll have a different data point to show from a different distribution mechanism. At minimum, there will be info to evaluate, one way or the other after AA5.”
One fan remarked: “We’re being asked to show a lot of faith and patience here, and English speaking AA fans have already been through the wringer for the past two years.”
To this, Svensson replied: “I understand your point… on the flip side, by bringing AA5 to the West (which is a sizable commitment between localization, PD and marketing), I would say, Capcom is also showing a lot of faith in you.”
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies is slated for release in the West this Fall. Capcom USA say they will have announcements to make regarding the game’s price in the future.
