I don't know it's only a theory but it seems to make sense. Alot of games that come out here that are obscure and Japanese are from Larger companies the SNKs, The Capcoms, Ark sys. Some smaller companies do take chances and release Japan only games here like UFO and XS games, D3 publisher as well. With a HUGE execption being made for Senko no Ronde and I'll get to the why for that in a sec. My guess is alot of Japan only games stay Japan only because the cost of releasing said game overseas is just too expensive a venture and they figure the people in the west who want the game will just import it anyway since it's a niche game it's more financally viaable to keep the game in Japan and let it be imported than to release it overseas. It's not hard to import enable a PS2, or a gamecubePortables are region free. So that brings us the 360 and Wii, Notice how an aweful lot of Japanese Wii games are getting localized? Senko no Ronde is another one, there's no way to really play imports on a 360 with out pissing Microsoft off so a chance was taken with Senko no Ronde it was released about the same price as importing it would be and that niche audience that wanted the game bought it. I could be wrong but that's just my thoughts on why some games stay in Japan and aren't localized.
You got some good points, usually a larger company will pick up a game from these smaller studios for an overseas release, if they think it has potential. This is assuming of course that said game isn't in a genre that has no chance of selling at all overseas (dating sim, or pachinko or something.) Could be also if it's a sequel, then the original didn't sell well enough overseas to invest in. There's a lot of different reasons. Which is all really quite sad, seems like there's always tons of games every year you'd love to play but never see the light of day outside Japan. I really do think the market for games is a lot larger than everyone thinks it is, and if done right some of these niche games you mention could sell very well.
I see you point and sort of agree. Some games don't even need translating. There are many western games released in Japan that are still fully in English with not one single hint of Japanese (they must read the instructions). Then again there are Japanese games made with the main menus in English for a simple port that never make it to the west. One thing that really pissed me off over the years are internal politics and sly behind the scebes deals. MSR was even featured on Japanese Dreamcast demo discs but did it get a release? Bollocks it did. Bloody Microsoft did the dirty to keep Project Gothem a Microsoft exclusive in Japan. Why though? It's not as if MSR and Project Gothem are the same game. Well, MSR was originally called Project Gothem in it's early days. Yakumo
Sometimes it just comes down to licensing rights for that zone, or regional management. We never used to get bandai games in the usa, until the overhauled their US operations. Konami is the current king of clueless in the US, just look at their web site...
I've pretty much always thought that about some Japanese games. Some of them the Japanese might think are too "Japanese" for Western gamers, probably, but I don't know. I do however find it odd that Namco had to be basically forced to Localize Tales of Phantasia for the SNES and the first Star Ocean game never came to the US. I'm guessing emulation and translation sites for Emulators and Roms might have had something to do with it, but I'm not sure. After all, ToP came out here for the GBA, but the translation was god awful. For example, the Ragnarok sword's name was translated to..... Wait for it........ Keep going..... "KANGAROO!!!" WHAT THE HELL Ahem, anyways, I'd like to import some of those Japanese Defense Force games for the PS2 one day.
As Yakumo touched on, the flipside is that a number of western games don't get converted to the Japanese market. So what's the difference? MSR was criminally not released on the Japanese DC. There are also games that don't even get released in the countries they are made in. Wonster World II was not released on the Master System in Japan even though it was written then and I was disappointed when Sunset Riders and Viewpoint both failed to be released on the Megadrive in Japan.
Depends on the game. The majority of the dating sim-type games tend to stay over there, and the visual novel games like Phoenix Wright tend to only be brought over as a trial thing (The DS versions of Gyakuten Saiban 2 and 3 wouldn't have come out if Phoenix Wright didn't do well). Some just don't have a market. There are many shmups that are released in Japan that are never brought over due to how poorly they would do unless they are a particular series (Like Gradius). Other times, its translation issues (Happened more in the SNES/Genesis era), where a game has too much text to translate and is not worth the time (Mother is a prime example, sort of the poster boy of being screwed over in non-Japanese areas multiple times). Europe had issues getting RPGs back years ago due to the amount of time it would take to translate into each language. Then there is just culture differences. Mahjong games are like Solitare to the Japanese and come out frequently in Japan, but rarely in the US. Like I mentioned before, Dating Sims and Anime graphical novels do not come over unless they are hentai based (And that is a even more limited market). Then there are some games that just suck so bad that they would never be translated, or their developer is too small. Granted, it isn't just the US that has this issue. Many games made in the US do not get released in Japan, such as some of the many FPS games that come out (Some do, like Halo and such).
No, and neither was that alien tank online game thing (Forgot the name) and it was developed by a Japanese team AFAIK. This is the strongest point in the thread. Major players set aside, look at a micro company like Cave. They don't eve sell their own games in Japan. AMI does. There is no AMI in the US. For them to release a game the west, they would need a branch there, which they don't have. So, if no other company picks it up, it stays in Japan. This is beside the point that there's absolutely no market for those types of games outside of Asia.
Shooters were like the main point of my point. it's a small niche and the people that want them are just going to import them any. And yet still some do get released in the west, Like Raiden 3 and Shikigami no Shiro 2
