No box for us
It comes out on October 22, with the start of the game available for free. After that, you can decide if you want to purchase the full game. It’s sort of a mixed demo/free-to-start method. It worked for Layton Brothers: Mystery Room, and I like its implementation here.
I expected fans to be displeased with the confirmation that Fatal Frame V is digital-only. What I didn’t expect was so many calls for a boycott of the game.
Four months ago, we rejoiced at the localization announcement. Until that Nintendo Direct, there were serious concerns we wouldn’t get the game at all. We’d sent tweets, letters, and petitions telling Nintendo that #WeWantFatalFrame.
After all that, we’re ready to abandon it just because we don’t get a physical copy?
Back when Dual Destinies, the fifth main-series Ace Attorney game, was released as a digital-only game, some fans wanted to boycott it. Their movement thankfully failed, but they accused those of us who bought and enjoyed Dual Destinies of ruining the future of Ace Attorney in the West. Hardly. If they succeeded, they might have doomed it.
The boycotters seemed to think if no one bought Dual Destinies from the eShop, Capcom would have said, “Hmm, we’re losing money on this game. Let’s spend even more money to release a physical copy!” No, a more realistic reaction would be, “Oh, it looks like there isn’t a market for Ace Attorney in the West after all.”
Fatal Frame hasn’t been released in North America in ten years. (Unless you count Spirit Camera, but that doesn’t help us.) Fatal Frame IV only came out in Japan, the second game’s remake came to Europe, and now Fatal Frame V is coming here.
We won’t get this, either.
But whoever it is, if Fatal Frame V sells poorly, they will attribute that failure to a lack of fans.
And then we might not get the next Fatal Frame game at all.
Like Koei Tecmo’s decision to not localize Dead or Alive Xtreme 3, there is no conspiracy theory here. Nintendo of America (or Koei Techmo) isn’t being mean. It’s being a company.
Petitions, letters, and tweets help. I believe companies like Capcom, Koei Tecmo, and Nintendo listen to their fans. You know what they listen to even more, though? Fans’ wallets.
The vote you cast with your wallet speaks louder than all the tweets you could ever send. That’s why some publishers have used Kickstarter as a measure of interest. When we go out there and say we want Dai Gyakuten Saiban or Fatal Frame V, we could be lying. Whether we buy it or not is what game companies really see.
Now, there are legitimate reasons to be upset about Fatal Frame V’s digital-exclusive nature. It’s almost 16 GB in size, which is massive when the Wii U is sold as an 8 GB basic model and a 32 GB deluxe model. So tell Nintendo you want a physical copy. Sign the petition.
But don’t boycott Fatal Frame V because it’s digital-only. You’ll only confirm the company’s decision to not spend money on a retail release, and you may doom the franchise’s future in North America. Agree? Disagree? Let me know your view on Fatal Frame V’s eShop-exclusive release in the comments below.
