Nintendo of America confirms first half of 2013 release for America

[Juicebox]

I knew it all the time! Europe will probably get AC even 2 days earlier than NA, mark my words! I don't remember who it was, but someone here was always so convinced that NA will get this a couple of days later than JP because it's the same 'code' and stuff. In you face.
Anyway, game looks GREAT!!

Wouldn't it be nicer to wish for the games to come out simultaneously and making both NA and Europe happy? Why do you care so much if Europe gets it first?

But anyways, I'm happy that it is at least confirmed now. I didn't like having the release up in the air. Now I know where to put my hope.

 

[Prof Gallows]

...Guys. The US and EU don't get games on the same day. The US gets games on.. Sunday? and EU gets them on Friday.
There isn't going to be a simultaneous release.

 

[BellGreen]

Wouldn't it be nicer to wish for the games to come out simultaneously and making both NA and Europe happy? Why do you care so much if Europe gets it first?

But anyways, I'm happy that it is at least confirmed now. I didn't like having the release up in the air. Now I know where to put my hope.

I don't see why you have to put your hope now. They only said first half. It could be April 24, February 12....

How would they get it simultaneously? Dude, the developers/translaters work hard(er than us) and your pushing them to work faster? I don't want a sucky game. Do you?

 

[Envy]

How would they get it simultaneously? Dude, the developers/translaters work hard(er than us) and your pushing them to work faster? I don't want a sucky game. Do you?

The truth is that this delay likely has nothing whatsoever to do with workload. It likely has much more to do with pacing of releases, as well as the fact that the Wii U being released in late 2012. They already have Paper Mario coming out, they don't want to put out another heavy hitter, I suppose.

 

[Prof Gallows]

they don't want to put out another heavy hitter, I suppose.

That's exactly the point.

The Wii U would overshadow everything if it were released at the same time. A new console is going to get a whole lot more hype than a new game for an already released, handheld console. The time it takes for the Wii U to die down is when they're going to want to release big selling games like Animal Crossing, which would be a few months.

 

[Juicebox]

I don't see why you have to put your hope now. They only said first half. It could be April 24, February 12....

How would they get it simultaneously? Dude, the developers/translaters work hard(er than us) and your pushing them to work faster? I don't want a sucky game. Do you?

I don't know how I was unclear, but I didn't mean that. I meant that it shouldn't matter who gets it first, and there is no up side in being rude about it. I didn't know that America and Europe had different release, so now I know. But I'm a little offended that some of you thought that I was dumb enough to believe I meant the Japan release date and I said nothing demeaning to the translators.
I was putting hope now because now I'm sure that it's not 2012, even if it was obvious. I like things being as sure as possible, and now I know that it will come out 2013. I'm just going to hope it's early.

 

[BellGreen]

I don't know how I was unclear, but I didn't mean that. I meant that it shouldn't matter who gets it first, and there is no up side in being rude about it. I didn't know that America and Europe had different release, so now I know. But I'm a little offended that some of you thought that I was dumb enough to believe I meant the Japan release date and I said nothing demeaning to the translators.
I was putting hope now because now I'm sure that it's not 2012, even if it was obvious. I like things being as sure as possible, and now I know that it will come out 2013. I'm just going to hope it's early.

But you didnt even say you were talking about the Japan date; none of us could've known.
Who said we were calling you dumb?
I don't want to hope for it early because that results in a choppy game.

I really don't want to argue so let me do the mature thing and stop.

 

[RisingSun]

I have a feeling the game is ready, or at least nearly enough that it will be a good game for most of the regions by the end of the year. It is now a game of marketing, because the WiiU is supposedly coming out sometime around the holidays. They are going to put the game out at a time when it will do the most good, and that will not be this year because of the new system. They are not going to risk the sales on one or the other.

As I said in another post somewhere, I understand the tactic from a marketing student standpoint, but as a consumer, it really upsets me because I'm not purchasing the WiiU until all the hype is gone from it and people are not chasing UPS trucks store to store to get their console.

 

[ACking]

I'm excited! Finally a idea of when it's coming out!

 

[Paint]

I'm dissapointed in the release date, for obvious reasons. I don't really see how the Wii U could hurt its sales. So what if they both come out at the same time? Most kids get games at christmas, releasing it after will mean that less people will be able to get it.

Also, I really doubt it takes so long to translate a game into english, if you have hundreds of workers who speak tons of languages.

 

[BellGreen]

I'm dissapointed in the release date, for obvious reasons. I don't really see how the Wii U could hurt its sales. So what if they both come out at the same time? Most kids get games at christmas, releasing it after will mean that less people will be able to get it.

Also, I really doubt it takes so long to translate a game into english, if you have hundreds of workers who speak tons of languages.

It's kinda obvious that the Wii U would cause more hype than a game.
AND that NOA doesn't really have foreign speakers :/

 

[Paint]

It's kinda obvious that the Wii U would cause more hype than a game.
AND that NOA doesn't really have foreign speakers :/

Yeah, I suppose. :/ I guess we can just hope it gets put out there as soon as possible!

 

[Berry]

They wait until the EU-version is ready and then release it. This happenend to every major Nintendo game lately! Pokemon, Zelda, Mario, 3DS XL, etc. Everything came 2 days or more earlier. Even the new Layton is going to be 2 days earlier in Europe. Get used to it. And this will happen to AC as well. And yes, some of you even don't know on which day Nintendo releases their games in each region. (FR=EU, SU=US) I think it's more fair that the pace of releasing games has changed. A lot of people speak English, why do they have to wait months until a PAL-version appears? Just my opinion, sorry if it sounds a little harsh!

 

[PapaNer]

This saddens my heart. For a good while I stood pretty strong on my belief that we'd have it closer to JP release. I can see the reasoning though.

My theory now:

Since Nintendo is the developer, and those in Japan are bigger fans (Not to say any of us aren't big fans, but fanfare in JA is NUTS compared to what most of the world would consider even obsessive) and have more direct access to those working on the project. Since this is the case, Nintendo is putting primary focus on the original Japanese translation of the game as opposed to past releases where they completed work for all translations (or most, for a some) as to have a close release date.

So there it stands. Japan is staying loyal to home fans, and we are to sit while they put the finishing touches on our versions.

Thoughts?

 

[Juicebox]

This saddens my heart. For a good while I stood pretty strong on my belief that we'd have it closer to JP release. I can see the reasoning though.

My theory now:

Since Nintendo is the developer, and those in Japan are bigger fans (Not to say any of us aren't big fans, but fanfare in JA is NUTS compared to what most of the world would consider even obsessive) and have more direct access to those working on the project. Since this is the case, Nintendo is putting primary focus on the original Japanese translation of the game as opposed to past releases where they completed work for all translations (or most, for a some) as to have a close release date.

So there it stands. Japan is staying loyal to home fans, and we are to sit while they put the finishing touches on our versions.

Thoughts?

I'm pretty sure that they are spacing out the release dates because of how many things are being released in North America/ Europe in 2012. With the Wii U and all the games coming out in the coming months, it would be hard to maximize profit for Animal Crossing, because big franchises like Mario, or the Wii U are bound to make more money.
But feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, because that is just my understanding of the situation. I don't understand how marketing works, this is just how I understand what I've been told.

 

[Prof Gallows]

The release in Japan is exactly due to the fact that it's a lot more popular there, and because of the Wii U being released here.
In Japan, people are out and about a whole lot more from what I gather. Handheld games, especially the 3DS and the PSP, are the most popular consoles over there due to the fact that they can just sit down, turn it on, and know that there will be other people around to play with. Home consoles aren't as popular due to the fact sitting at home playing videogames isn't as popular as it is in the western countries.

So to make sure the game gets the best sales as possible, it's got a pretty spaced release date.

 

[smellsgood]

I think that they probably only have so many resources for localizing games, and they're focusing on getting other games out by Christmas. They might not have even started on localizing Animal Crossing yet. But, I hope that they're taking this time to add skin tones, because that's an important aspect of localizing for NA (although I mostly just want my AC avatar to have skin as fair as mine).

 

[RisingSun]

I'm pretty sure that they are spacing out the release dates because of how many things are being released in North America/ Europe in 2012. With the Wii U and all the games coming out in the coming months, it would be hard to maximize profit for Animal Crossing, because big franchises like Mario, or the Wii U are bound to make more money.
But feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, because that is just my understanding of the situation. I don't understand how marketing works, this is just how I understand what I've been told.

You have it exactly right...it all comes down to marketing, marketing, marketing. Nintendo did not get as big as it is by ignoring how to market their various products. To release AC at the same time as other major releases would come down to marketing suicide, probably for AC.

 

[Prof Gallows]

I think that they probably only have so many resources for localizing games, and they're focusing on getting other games out by Christmas. They might not have even started on localizing Animal Crossing yet. But, I hope that they're taking this time to add skin tones, because that's an important aspect of localizing for NA (although I mostly just want my AC avatar to have skin as fair as mine).

The games are finished, all of them. Right now it's just as RisingSun said, they're just making sure the game sells everywhere as best it can, so they've pushed the western release to next year to make sure it will sell.

 

[PapaNer]

You have it exactly right...it all comes down to marketing, marketing, marketing. Nintendo did not get as big as it is by ignoring how to market their various products. To release AC at the same time as other major releases would come down to marketing suicide, probably for AC.

I feel silly for not thinking about the fact that Nintendo is a business and it's main goal is max profits.

It would make more sense if they released it at the beginning of summer, actually. As most of the players are very young and attend grade school, they'd have plenty of time (and probably some odd job money) to play AC3DS. I hope they see it better to release it in January, however I guess that will have to do with WiiU and Nintenstars profits.

Sad days...sad days indeed.