Why is it...?

[foreverfaded]

That a lot of games(I'm generally thinking RPG's here) see a north american NSTC release but often don't see a european PAL release. Thinking of some examples: parasite eve 1 and 2,vargant story,most of dragon quest,xenogears and xenosaga. It just seems rather unfair you know. But is there an actual reason for this or can they just not be bothered? And are there any chances that the above games will be released for europe?

[Raptorg]

i believe it's popularity rating vs costs...

if a game isn't popular enough to europe's standards... they won't put money into mass import or mass production...
at least, that's my assumption
i don't think i'm far off...

[Dreadnaught]

Europe has a lot more gamers in it who will play MMO's, RTS's and FPS's. Sadly, the only Japanese RPG's that have become a hit over here are Final Fantasy. They might be released on portable consoles such as PSP or DS in about 2-3 years as older non released games are very popular at the moment for conversions.

[ash2k]

I remember someone once saying that Europe does'nt have a massive RPG market that they prefer sports game and thats why some companies don't bother with us shame really

[Sir Kenneth]

Originally Posted by foreverfaded

That a lot of games(I'm generally thinking RPG's here) see a north american NSTC release but often don't see a european PAL release. Thinking of some examples: parasite eve 1 and 2,vargant story,most of dragon quest,xenogears and xenosaga. It just seems rather unfair you know. But is there an actual reason for this or can they just not be bothered? And are there any chances that the above games will be released for europe?

The Parasite Eve games and Vagrant Story, DID get a PAL release, and they WERE highly succesful. We are getting fewer Japanese made RPGs than the USA though, and I believe that there are several reasons as to why.

One reason could be the costs of translating the games. Countries such as Germany and France and (French and German speakers) make out a quite large part of Europe and if a game isn't available in those languages in those countries (especially in a dialogue heavy genre such as RPGs) then its chances of success aren't all that great.

[Hannya]

I think thats ironic you're saying that because I had a problem with a PAL game not being in the same was released as in North America (FFX). By "not being released the same way" I just mean the NA is lacking bonus content (bosses, abilities, etc.) and the way I got around it was by using magic swap.

[Crazy Chocobo]

Yeah it kind of sucks that the PAL region doesn't get much of a variety in RPG's unlike NTSC. I'm always looking for other RPG's to play but there is such a small selection out there. There is just a very little selection of games in general in my opinion, I am always looking at game stores and I see the same thing over and over again. That's just the way it goes though, I suppose they will only import games that are popular every where else or something. Perhaps they don't want to take the risk of selling certain games because it might do poorly over in the PAL region. I don't know! It's a shame really though.