Otome fans of the West: IT’S TIME!!! It’s time to show Otomate how much we want localized otome games to play, enjoy and support! Gloczus, with the help of our good friends at Otomate World, have launched a Kickstarter campaign that will aid in localizing Beastmaster & Prince, Snow Bride, and Ex Another story. It’s not just the base game, but ALL available games in the series! So, otome fans of the West, it’s time to support this cause that will surely get the ball rolling on having more and more otome games making their way over to us to enjoy and support.
Beastmaster & Prince tells the story of a girl named Tiana, who’s training to become as great as an animal tamer just like her mother. One day, when she returns home, she finds a strange man selling several animals to be used for “food:” a lion, duck, wolf and a rabbit. Since the animals look unwell, she decides to buy them by trading her brooch. Once she gets home, Tiana realizes that not only are the animals already tame, but they can speak! They claim that they’ve been cursed and turned into animals and ask for help to return to being humans.
There’s a lot to like about this game: a badass heroine who wants to be a BEASTMASTER. That’s already awesome enough, but how about the guys? You can tame (hur hur) a total of six guys, all whom you can PET in their animal forms…I’M ON BOARD! I’ve been wanting to play this game for a long time, so having the chance for it to be available in English is exciting!
Verde and I have aired our feelings on the campaign in our first podcast episode, but I will elaborate further. First, let’s talk about the amount of content we might be getting for our dollars.
Here you have the base game, Beastmaster & Prince, and BOTH the fandiscs, Snow Bride and Ex Another Story. You get ALL of those, if you pledge the $25 tier. Let’s think about the amount of content you’ll be getting for a mere $25…that’s A LOT of content! While it’s great on your wallet, it doesn’t seem to be helping the Kickstarter campaign any because, simply put, Gloczus seems to be severely undervaluing their own product. There’s hours upon hours upon hours of gameplay being offered here, and it’s only worth $25? In Japan, these games were priced waaayy higher than that! Like we said in our podcast, if they had created several tiers that adds one more game to the mix, this Kickstarter campaign would have a lot more pledges than it does now. For instance, if they had the $25 tier include the base game, then the $35 tier would include the first fandisc, and then the $45 tier would include ALL of them, making it a deluxe package. I feel like that would have made for a better business model, which would have netted them more pledges.
That aside, Gloczus has been hearing out fans with their suggestions and input on the campaign; they’re taking the feedback VERY seriously and they’re making changes to the campaign as it’s going. For example, they confirmed about the voice-acting, they confirmed which games will be included, and the included the option for add-ons.
They wish to see this succeed as much as we all do, so it’s excellent that they’re listening to all feedback that fans have to offer.
Now…let’s talk about the latest update on the Vita port. Okay, now I know that these news will break the hearts of MANY; even I’m a bit disheartened at the moment. However, look at what Gloczus is saying:
Sony’s network is divided into regions, namely, North America, Europe (also including Africa and Australia), and Asia. As our goal is to release the game worldwide, we would need to enter into negotiations with Sony to get their approval for each of these regions. For a digital version on the Playstation Network, we believe it would be difficult to get their approval before this Kickstarter project ends.
For those reasons, even if we made a stretch goal for the Vita version that was successfully reached, we cannot guarantee that we can make it a reality. That is why we’ve decided not to add such a stretch goal during this campaign. Once the game has been successfully released on Steam, we would like to reconsider the creation of the Vita version.
There are many famous and wonderful Otome games we would love everyone outside Japan to enjoy, and we are doing our best to make this project an opportunity to release one of them.
They want these games to be out for ALL regions to enjoy. In order to get that done, the amount of time (it’s Sony we’re talking about here) and money to get the approval for this both exceeds the time limit we have on our hands and the money goal they’ve set. So even though a chunk of people might not have pledged yet because they’re waiting on confirmation of a Vita port, let’s take some time to think what this is REALLY about: getting Beastmaster & Prince localized. This isn’t about the Vita port, it’s about having that chance to get our hands on the game so we can play, enjoy, talk about, and support the possibility of even more otome games getting localized in the future. I mean, check out this VERY IMPORTANT message that Gloczus left in the comments section of the campaign:
By supporting and pledging to this Kickstarter campaign, you’re essentially supporting the FUTURE of otome games in the West. I don’t know about you, but that’s a very important cause, especially if you claim to be an otome game fan. It’s time to put our money where our mouths are; let’s do our best to support this important Kickstarter campaign, not only to get all of the Beastmaster & Prince games localized, but for the FUTURE of otome games!
Yes, this campaign isn’t perfect. There are a lot of info that could have been delivered earlier, and their inexperience with Kickstarter as a platform shows. But you can’t deny that Gloczus is trying to make things work with replying and adding more stuff to the campaign. Also license negotiation takes time, so it’s not like they can announce something that’s not set in stone. Now, I believe they said that there will be more tiers this week…my personal hope is that the tiers are BIG MONEY tiers. What I mean by that is that they have to be $500-$1,000 tiers with a whole bunch of tier-exclusive goods to entice people to want to pledge more money. Having stuff like Otomate event-exclusive items in some of the tiers might help too, because I’m sure that plenty of you might want to grab those items! I know I’ll definitely want to get those!
With 10 days left, there’s not much time left, but it’s too soon to give up and do something dire, like taking your pledge back. Taking your pledge back will not help the success of this campaign; it only HURTS IT! Like I said before, the success of this campaign will pave way for more otome games to make their way over here; it impacts the FUTURE of these games in the West! If someone takes their pledge away, to me, it’s saying that they don’t care about having more localized otome games. Actions do speak louder than words, so if you truly wish to see more otome games being localized in the future, please consider supporting the Beastmaster & Prince Kickstarter campaign. Simply put: if this campaign fails, the possibility of having more Otomate games localized is GRIM. Let’s do our best and support otome game localization! Because, after all, don’t we love these games? Let’s keep the love going around so we can get more games coming our way! 💖
Until next time, happy gaming!
Figuratively Speaking 
Moral of the story: thoroughly plan out your Kickstarter. I’m still rooting for them (and debating how much to pledge), but I do hope that if they or any other company plan another otome Kickstarter, they try to get everything straightened out before the fundraising period, not during. I think they underestimated a bit on multiple fronts, like the demand for a Vita release.
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Agreed, especially with having to work with Kickstarter’s time limit on a campaign. I’m still 100% behind them and will support as much as I possibly can. However, if this fails, I’m not quite sure where the future of otome games lie… With that in mind, we need to work so that we can get this funded and secure the possibility of more of these games coming over.
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It’s sad because not only have people been removing backing, they’ve also said if they try to kick starter again they won’t support it
I get people get disappointed, but it’s hardly their fault considering it’s up to us to do it. I guess if they try again it’ll be with another game, and that is if they try.
I’d jokingly said now I’m learning the language it is when they’re going to localise everything, but that would be a good thing tbh
I do feel like they fucked it up themselves. They didn’t campaign hard enough to build buzz, and they did a lot of things during the kickstarter that should have been decided/done from the start, so this didn’t gain the traction it could’ve
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Removing their pledges is just hurting the community and serves no real purpose.
Getting any news article on huge venues like Crunchyroll and Anime News Network takes a lot more work than people think…they don’t always reply to every news tip, since they seem to rely on what’s popular at the moment. I’m wondering if they reached out to them from the very beginning though…
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Sadly news websites tend to want that clickbait aspect to their news, which doesn’t always function well for these companies just wanting a kick to spread the word >_< that's why I prefer Siliconera, they give it straight and really support Japanese games, but I know the website/community there isn't gigantic, but caters towards that niche aspect. They always talk about visual novels even if they're JP-only, and of course RPG and other games.
I do wonder if they started trying to get articles from the beginning or if they thought it'd happen after they started the KS. I think they should've waited until they'd polled people about rewards and so on, instead of doing it while the KS is going on cause I do believe it was a bit unstructured, which is sad
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Yeah, agreed! I like Siliconera a lot because of the same reasons. I think they did get an ANN article, but it was when the KS first started…which might have been a bit too early. You need to have one place in reserve in times like this, when it’s struggling to get funds. I’m just really hoping for the best here…fingers crossed!
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First of all, since Day One of this very campaign I’m been tweeting about just how important this one Kickstarter is and how important it is for it to succeed. It’s not just random random game by some random company, because its significance is much more than that.
Secondly, people have lost interest and/or trust due to how the Kickstarter has been going, the lack of planning for start and lack of marketing.
Just as in above point states, they lacked marketing. They announced the Kickstarter too close to the actual launch and they relied more on word of mouth than actual marketing. Which is sad. I don’t know about the fans that only play otome games in English, but I can’t imagine they are tighter or keep each other more up to date than the westerners that know Japanese and play these games in Japanese. Even within that community word of mouth is far too little to gain sales, because not everyone keeps themselves updated on what everyone says. It’s just not humanly possible. Hence marketing for this campaign has been lacking. A lot.
Finally, I do hope that they still will do a second try, but with a different game and with better planning and definitely earlier and more marketing. Why a different game? Obviously some has lost interest in the game and especially those who can play it in Japanese, like myself, have other means to play the games and don’t NEED it in such a way. I personally would still fund the project if it’s the same, but I wouldn’t trust it to go well, simply because of how this have gone. And this is coming from someone who has at least a somewhat decent understand how producer-consumer relationship works, as well as have a somewhat decent understanding of the what risks companies take when they try to cater such a niche genre as otome games in the west. There will also be those who simply will assume there isn’t enough interest. And certainly, that might be the case, but taking a risk that would be bigger than this first attempt is likely to be more hurtful unless they do a really good marketing job, which would expand the possible consumers.
I do commend them for trying and I’m really glad they 1) listened to those who gave suggestions and 2) did point out that they costs to localize a Vita version are HIGH and negotiation time with Sony is LONG. This is also something that people within my otome game community (mostly the English speaking-Japanese reading gamers) have been pointing out the entire campaign.
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To be honest, getting places like Crunchyroll and Anime News Network to write up a piece on this Kickstarter campaign is not an easy thing to do as folks think it is. At the end of the day, they’re thinking on what gets them the most clicks, and what’s most popular; you essentially have to build a logical case to present to them that will make them think that it’s probably worth writing about for the masses to read and hopefully support. But yeah, I agree with you that getting word out through bigger outlets will greatly help this project.
Why a different game? I don’t agree about trying a different game *if* this project fails. A lot of people want this particular series to be released over here. And just because a small fraction can play and understand these games in Japanese doesn’t mean that the rest of us can. To me, saying stuff like that kinda shrivels up the chance in getting more localizations in the future. People want these games in English, so we can play, enjoy and support. The focus should be with getting the games localized so we can have more of a scene here in the West. Visual Novels are getting more and more popular, so it’s a good chance to make that grow!
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I personally want this game localized, much like many other (some which are very unlikely to be localised) because it’s good, but I explained my case above. There are people who lost the interest (regardless of if they can or cannot play it), and trust is lost as well. On top of that – although not necessarily true – failing this Kickstarter show people outward a lack of interest in the game, which would make people less interested in trying to back it the second try. And a lot of the support (not just financial support exclusively) the localized comes from people like myself, who can play these games in Japanese. We want these to succeed and we want to support the English localizations. We want people to play these games and we want it passionately. And I’m not saying they can’t try again later, but I think choosing a different game to localize to prove that “We can make this happen, together with you all!” is more important. There are plenty of gems they could pick from and Beastmaster and Prince happens to be one of them and I definitely support giving this game another go at a later date. I am not saying it’s impossible to succeed with doing a Kickstarter with this game again, however, it comes with a bigger risk, in my opinion. Coming back to it later, however, is – again – something I definitely support.
Of course I’m aware that getting sites like that to write an article is not easy, but on the other hand they needed more marketing. Even just trying to spread the word earlier or wait a bit more before launching the campaign to promote it more would had probably been a difference worth noting.
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Marketing is not an easy thing to do either, so even if they did spread the word earlier, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference unless they reach out to huge outlets like Crunchyroll and ANN that will have the possibility of getting seen by a whole lot of more people.
Yes, people who have played the Japanese version of the games do support localizations; I am proof of that, since I have plenty of Japanese-only otome games, but I will buy every localization that is released over here. But what was said earlier was that it wasn’t “needed,” which I don’t feel it’s right. This campaign, like I said in this post, will pave way for future otome games to make their way over here, so just because people have already played it in Japanese doesn’t mean that it’s not “needed.” What is needed is anything that might aid the otome game community in getting future releases localized. Yes, we can all go to CDJapan and AmiAmi and Animate and order the games to mess around with, but to actually have Western support is WAY BETTER! It’s important to support the scene and the community that is rising over here.
At the moment, the important task at hand is to focus on what’s going on right now, and that’s this Kickstarter campaign, because depending on how that turns out, a course of action for any future possible campaigns or releases will have to be decided. But for now, let’s focus on supporting this cause as much as possible for the future of otome games!
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I do believe we are trying to say the same thing but are wording it differently, leading to miscommunication.
That being said, I have been supporting every localization so far by buying the games (except Amnesia, which I was given) and I will continue doing so and have gone over budget to support this campaign as well and am not backing out even though it certainly looks like the unfortunate end of this Kickstarter will be a failure. I do hope from the bottom of my soul and heart that it does end in a success, against all odds. My hope and my logical conclusion, however, does not agree with each other.
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Yeah, it seems so. My apologies on that. Like I said on this post, this campaign isn’t perfect, and there are some things that could have been handled better. We can point that out all we want, but in the end, what matters is trying to get this game localization funded. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with Sekai Project’s Root Double Kickstarter campaign, but it was pretty much in the same position funding-wise; they didn’t meet their goal until the day before it ended, I believe. And a lot of people were worried that it wouldn’t make it along with other concerns. So I feel that example is why we shouldn’t give up just yet. I’m looking forward to the new tiers that will be added, which I’m hoping will be even bigger tiers that we’ve seen before…we can only hope, right now…
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