Whether it's Square Enix for Final Fantasy Type-0 and Dragon Quest7, Sega with Yakuza 5, Namco Bandai with the Tales of games on the Vita, and many others, there are a lot of Japanese games that us in the west want and have consistently been begging for releases.  Western games are frequently localized for Japan releases, but it's rare now days for the other way around.

Kickstarter shows up years ago and people are using it to fund development costs, what's the matter with Japanese publishers not using Kickstarter as a medium for localizations?  If say Square Enix wants atleast $40 per copy, then allow $1 minimum to donate, but $40 or higher to receive the game, maybe have a specific amount of collector's editions if people pay more.  It'd take them no more than an hour since all they'd have to do is use images and videos of the Japanese game as it's already developed. Put how much money they want as a minimum to fund the game, and everything they've sold to the consumer will cut out third parties like Walmart, Target, Gamestop, etc, so they'll get more money for that initial shipment. 

I don't know why they haven't did this yet as there's really nothing to lose by doing so, and games that do get funded will be profit for the company, and then more profit once they produce it for retail and digital to gain sales from the users who didn't donate to the Kickstarter campaign.

Thats a pretty great idea... Someone forward this to SE, Sega, Level5 and all the other Japanese developers/publishers

Maybe because kickstarter is for people who don't have money? Why should I donate to a billion dollar corporation because they're too damn scared to take some risks?

Because they would be forced to give 60 dollar games for 15 dollars/euros... most probably.

It certainly beats petitions i suppose.

Cause we wont be getting those japanese games that we want any other way? And technically, we are getting something back so its not 100% a donation

Also, I would rather pay for successful Japanese games rather than unproven new games in terms of risk vs safe bases

I've wondered why companies haven't tried this before Kickstarter became a household word. Get preorders on a localization with a defined goal, fans who donated or preordered get the game if the goal is met so there's little risk.

We wouldn't be donating anything, we'd be preordering before they localize the games.  And unlike a Kickstarter from an indie dev, these games are already completed, so a little research and we'll already know what we're getting and what kind of quality it is.  With indie games, we pay them $15 for the possibility of a game we'll enjoy having absolutely no idea how the final product will turn out.

How would they?  If Square Enix puts the Kickstarter to not be funded unless Type-0 raises $500,000 and you only get a copy of the game if you pay a minimum of $40, then how ware you getting the game for less than what they ask?  You can pay $15, but you'll just be donating and not receiving anything because it's not the $40 asking price to receive a copy of the game.

This works the exact same way that it worked with Class of Heroes 2.

It really depends on what they want to ask for it. Theres also the issue of having resources pooled for it.

To be honest... im all up for it if it allows more games to come over, but localisations are not hugely expensive if small companies can do them and still make a profit with small numbers. The problem here isnt risk, its that those companies want the big bucks and will pool their resources in the projects they believe will give them the most money.

Customer relationship? Fans? They dont have that kind of business strategy. That is the real reason behind it. They certainly can localise the games if they want. Valkyria chronicles 2 for example was touted by SEGA has a failure in the west. It sold 250k. That localisation broke even for sure. It failed to meet the ammount of bang for their buck they wanted.

That is the issue. I dont think any kickstarters would solve that big problem. But maybe they can be lured by the advance money.

This is all extremely daft when Namco brings out a Star Trek game that is so terrible and costly that a Tales of on Vita would've made them more money. Yet, they went for that terrible Star Trek project.

I know localizations don't cost that much.  There are plenty of people fluent in Japanese and English so why can't they just outsource to gain that extra little bit of income.  It's stupid of them to not release a game in a series and then later release the sequel and then bitch about how it didn't receive the numbers they're expecting.  If they released earlier titles in the franchise and built up their fanbase, then maybe they would be seeing more sales.