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Discussion Letter to Nintendo from CyberConnect2's CEO Hiroshi Matsuyama thanking them for being easy to work with.

OpulentEmpress

OpulentEmpress

Get N Or Get Out.
Pronouns
She
note.com

第335号『任天堂への手紙』｜松山 洋 サイバーコネクトツー

先日、ある部下が私にこんなことを言ってきました。 「任天堂さんって、凄いです、もう感謝の気持ちしかありません」 実に端的な言葉ですが赤面しながら言ってきたので内容が気になって「うん、どうしたの？詳しく聞かせて」と伝えて話を聞きました。 その部下は女性社員で現在は各プラットフォームメーカーの窓口業務をやっていて、日々のゲームソフトの売上の確認や報告をしています。 感覚的というか一般的な会社のポジションに当てはめて説明すると『営業』と言ってしまった方がわかりやすいかもしれません。 弊社の営業担当として任天堂やマイクロソフトなどの各プラットフォームメーカーの業務部と呼ばれる担当者と
note.com note.com

Translated this with what Chrome uses.

"The other day, a subordinate told me something like this.

"Nintendo is amazing, I just have a feeling of gratitude."

It's a very straightforward word, but I said it while blushing, so I was worried about the content and said, "Yeah, what's wrong? Tell me more about it."

The subordinate is a female employee who is currently working as a window for each platform maker, checking and reporting daily sales of game software.

It may be easier to understand if you say "sales" if you explain it by applying it to a general company position rather than sensuously.

As our sales representative, we interact with the person in charge called the business department of each platform manufacturer such as Nintendo and Microsoft.

＊＊＊＊＊

Today's game business is much more complicated than it used to be.

Until about 10 years ago, selling game software that was made was a simple process of manufacturing, distribution, and sales, which was relatively close to the sale of toys.

However, at present, there is a separate download sale, and in many cases, a special version called "Deluxe Edition" is also released in addition to the "Regular Edition" for download-only game software, and it is also "included". The sales method is divided into "version" and "DLC single sale".

And they are prepared and sold for each platform.

Image 1


As you can see at a glance from this image, there are 3 types of products that can be sold with just one game software called "Fuga: Melodies on the Battlefield", and they are sold on 6 platforms, so there are actually 18 types of product lineup. That's why.

In order to sell each of these products correctly on each platform, it will only be released after applying to each platform manufacturer, completing the procedures, and obtaining approval.

＊＊＊＊＊

Even if all products are displayed on the store page of each platform and sales start, it is not the end.

You will need to compare the performance reports sold on each platform with the invoices to be processed.

This is because there is an error when comparing the performance report of the game software sold in a month with the invoice.

Some people may think it's stupid, but it's true.

Game software is sold not only in Japan but also in hundreds of countries around the world at the same time.

And even if the performance report says "Results at the end of the month", strictly speaking, the numbers will differ slightly due to the difference in closing time due to the time difference in each country. Also (unfortunately) the closing times for performance reports and invoices are different, and the rules are different for each platform manufacturer.

It is the job of the female employee introduced at the beginning to confirm the error, compare it, and make inquiries.

＊＊＊＊＊

The introduction has become a little long, but in short, "The current game business has a lot of things to sell depending on the version, and the procedures and rules for each platform maker are different, so it is very difficult, complicated and troublesome! "about it.

To be honest, when I first learned about this situation, I thought, "Are other game makers doing the same thing? Why is everyone silent without complaining about such annoying things?" When I asked him, he said that he was making requests for improvement to the systems of each platform manufacturer with exactly the same feelings, so I had no choice but to accept it.

And if there is something I don't understand each time, I have no choice but to ask directly, "Where can I check XX?". However, after all, the responses and responses are also brilliantly different for each platform manufacturer.

"There is no window on the Japanese side, so please contact North America directly."

"Please send another email to another department instead of here."

"Emails are not available in Japanese, so please send them in English."

"Please check again as it is described in the manual."

"I sent an inquiry to North America, but I haven't heard back in two weeks? It seems that the person in charge is currently on vacation, so please wait until the beginning of the week."

Already, the response of each platform maker's window was so different that I really wanted to sympathize with my female staff, and the rules were difficult to understand, so I was worried that she would be mentally damaged.

＊＊＊＊＊

Companies that don't say it's written here​

When I listened to the story while worrying about the female staff member, I learned that there is only one company that responds completely differently from the others.

It was Nintendo.

She said that Nintendo's contact person responded politely to any inquiries and gave detailed explanations.

At one point, after receiving a detailed response to the inquiry, another person in charge of our company pointed out that "Oh, you can understand all the contents of the inquiry by looking here", and the female person in charge said. He says his face has turned red.

Of course it was her own carelessness at that time. I'm embarrassed that I sent an e-mail with the content "I can understand it by looking at it", and at the same time, I feel sorry and thankful to the person in charge of Nintendo who answered such a question politely. It's probably full.

She looked up and told me:

"If the president meets Nintendo-san's window ... I may not have the opportunity, but if I have the opportunity to meet Nintendo-san's superiors or the boss of the business department, I apologize and thank him. Please tell us your feelings. "

"Nintendo is amazing! I don't say'I'm writing here?'"

＊＊＊＊＊

Of course, as soon as I heard this story, I told my vice president (sales representative) and thanked Nintendo's business department.

I think there are moments when everyone "doesn't understand what they don't understand." At the same time, if you get into a slight panic, you may even overlook information that is easy to find.

Of course, I would like to reach out gently in such a case, but the depth of the company Nintendo, which can reach out to the person in charge of other companies, and the warm behavior and attitude even in the socially invisible part. I created this article because I would like to thank you again.

Thank you, Nintendo.

Thank you for your continued support."
 
Here's a translation done by DeepL Translator, with some grammar corrections.
The other day, one of my subordinates said to me, "Nintendo is amazing. I can't thank them enough."

It was a very simple statement, but he blushed as he said it, so I was curious about what he said. I said, "Yes, what's wrong?"

The subordinate is a female employee who is currently working as a contact person for each platform manufacturer, checking and reporting on daily sales of game software.

If I were to explain it sensitively or by applying it to a general company position, it might be easier to say 'sales'.

As a sales representative of our company, I communicate with the business department of each platform manufacturer such as Nintendo and Microsoft.

＊＊＊＊＊

The game business today is much more complicated than it used to be.

Until about 10 years ago, selling game software was a simple process of manufacturing, distribution, and sales, rather like selling toys.

Nowadays, however, downloadable software is sold separately, and special versions of download-only game software called "deluxe editions" are often released in addition to the "regular edition".

And these are prepared and sold for each platform.

picture_pc_c8f0fc93709cc1eb89eed77c8057fcf6.jpg


As you can clearly see from this image, there are three different types of products that will be sold for the single game "Fuga: Melodies of Steel", and they will be sold on six different platforms, making a total of 18 different product lines.

In order to properly sell each of these products on each platform, we have to apply for and receive approval from each platform manufacturer before finally releasing the product.

＊＊＊＊＊

This is not the end of the process, even if all the products are displayed on each platform's store page and start selling.

You will need to cross-check each platform's sales performance report and invoice processing.

This is because when you compare the invoices with the performance reports of the game software sold in a month, there are sometimes errors.

Some people may think this is ridiculous, but it's true.

Game software is sold not only in Japan but also in hundreds of countries around the world at the same time.

And even if the performance report says "Performance at the end of the month," strictly speaking, the numbers are slightly different because the closing time differs depending on the time difference in each country. In addition, the closing time of the performance report and the invoice are also different, and each platform manufacturer has different rules.

It is the job of the female employee I mentioned at the beginning of this article to check, compare and inquire about these errors.

＊＊＊＊＊

This is a bit of a long preamble, but the bottom line is that the current game business is extremely difficult, complicated, and troublesome because there are many different versions of games to sell, and each platform manufacturer has different procedures and rules. That's what I mean.

To be honest, when I first learned about this reality, I thought, "Other game makers are doing the same thing? Why is no one complaining about something so troublesome?" But when I asked other game makers about it, they told me that they felt the same way and were making the same requests for improvements to their systems, so I had no choice but to accept it.

And each time I had a question, I had to ask them directly, "Where can I find out about ____?" I had no choice but to ask directly. However, the replies and responses to these questions varied greatly from one platform manufacturer to the next.

"There is no contact point in Japan, so please contact North America directly."

"Please send another email to another department."

"Please send the email in English as Japanese is not supported."

"It's in the manual, please check again."

"I sent an inquiry to North America, but haven't heard back in two weeks?" "Please wait until the end of the week as the person in charge is currently on vacation."

I really wanted to feel sorry for our female contact person, but the responses from the various platform manufacturers were so disjointed and the rules so difficult to understand that I was worried that she herself would suffer a mental breakdown.

＊＊＊＊＊

Companies that don't say, "It's written here."

As I listened to her, worried about the woman in charge, I learned that there was one company that handled things differently than the others.

It was Nintendo.

She told me that the person in charge at Nintendo responded to every inquiry carefully and gave detailed explanations.

One time, after receiving a detailed response to her inquiry, another staff member pointed out to her, "You know, you can see all the details of your inquiry here," and the female staff member's face turned red.

Of course, it was her own carelessness at that time. She must have felt embarrassed that she had taken the trouble to send an email asking for information that she could understand by looking at it, and at the same time, she must have felt sorry and grateful to the Nintendo representative for answering her question so politely.

She looked up and told me, "If you are the president of Nintendo, please contact them."

She looked up at me and said, "You may not have the opportunity to meet with your contact at Nintendo......, but if you do have the chance to meet with someone higher up at Nintendo, or your boss in the operations department, please convey my apologies and gratitude."

"Nintendo is awesome! They don't say, 'It's written here.' They don't say, 'Here it is.'"

＊＊＊＊＊

Of course, as soon as I heard this story, I told our vice president (in charge of sales) and thanked Nintendo's business department.

I think we all have moments when we "don't know what we don't know." At the same time, in a state of panic, we may overlook information that is easy to find.

Of course, in such cases, we would like to offer a helping hand, but I would like to express my gratitude to Nintendo for its deep pockets and warm-hearted behaviour and attitude, even in areas that are not visible to the public.

Thank you, Nintendo.

Please keep up the good work.
Click to expand...
 
Tangerine_Cookie said:
But remember, Sony hasn't abandoned the Japanese market, and it also doesn't matter because the Japanese market wasn't important. Or something like that.
Click to expand...

Well Sony has decided to focus on worldwide expansion through "brand synergy", first party software, moneyhatting third party stuff etc - and it has worked very well for them. Both Nintendo and Sony (and X-Box) have followed different paths and all are excelling.
 
Hentz said:
This should be in the OP. The translation in the OP almost gave me a stroke.
Click to expand...
I dunno, I think something is lost when we can no longer talk about "sales" applied to a general company position rather sensuously :p
 
Yeah I could easily see Nintendo being one of the easiest to work with for Japanese developers. it's no secret Sony has shifted a lot of focus away from Japan while Nintendo still focuses hard on it. So it makes sense that even the support is more helpful too.
 
User warned: hostility and aggression towards other user (BozPaggs, Donnie, hologram)
Hentz said:
This should be in the OP. The translation in the OP almost gave me a .
Click to expand...

Be careful what you beg for in life.

You can stay out of threads I start and sludge your nasty, filthy attitude back to that other site if you can't post like a human with any type of decency.
 
Wonder if CyberConnect will look into porting games sooner to Switch than later. But yeah, this is an obvious dig at Sony and somewhat to Microsoft.

Remember this is the same company that said “we have so much to thank for because of Sony, so there is a certain loyalty towards them” earlier this year. Its funny, Nintendo’s been criticized over the years for not being up to speed due to documentation, helping out etc. but they really buffed up during the Switch era. This isn’t the first we’ve heard it that developers/companies being happy about the support given by Nintendo
 
Sadist said:
Wonder if CyberConnect will look into porting games sooner to Switch than later. But yeah, this is an obvious dig at Sony and somewhat to Microsoft.
Click to expand...

All of their self-published games (Fuga, Cecile, Tokyo Ogre Gate) are coming to the Switch day and date. The publishers for their other games seem to be the actual hurdle here, not sure how much of a say they have there.
 
0
Sadist said:
Wonder if CyberConnect will look into porting games sooner to Switch than later. But yeah, this is an obvious dig at Sony and somewhat to Microsoft.

Remember this is the same company that said “we have so much to thank for because of Sony, so there is a certain loyalty towards them” earlier this year. Its funny, Nintendo’s been criticized over the years for not being up to speed due to documentation, helping out etc. but they really buffed up during the Switch era. This isn’t the first we’ve heard it that developers/companies being happy about the support given by Nintendo
Click to expand...
Someone on the sales discord said that Matsuyama once described the Japanese industry as "everyone united against Nintendo" lol

Ray00101 said:
That’s Colopl, I think. They have a Switch exclusive coming next year, assuming it still exists.
Click to expand...

They also own Eighting and Mages, the developers of Pikmin 3 Deluxe and Famicom Detective Club.
 
Oregano said:
Someone on the sales discord said that Matsuyama once described the Japanese industry as "everyone united against Nintendo" lol
Click to expand...

rofl

I really hope that was just him using hyperbole. It makes no sense to oppose Nintendo when you stand to make more money by working with them.
 
Oregano said:
Someone on the sales discord said that Matsuyama once described the Japanese industry as "everyone united against Nintendo" lol



They also own Eighting and Mages, the developers of Pikmin 3 Deluxe and Famicom Detective Club.
Click to expand...
We can laugh this off, but I really hope this was just a joke. I think we can agree that if all manufacturers are doing great its good for third parties as well
 
Dardan Sandiego said:
rofl

I really hope that was just him using hyperbole. It makes no sense to oppose Nintendo when you stand to make more money by working with them.
Click to expand...

I think it was hyperbolic, but with elements of truth.
Sadist said:
We can laugh this off, but I really hope this was just a joke. I think we can agree that if all manufacturers are doing great its good for third parties as well
Click to expand...

Things may have changed in recent years but Japanese executives did not have that view point.
www.polygon.com

Final Fantasy 7: An oral history

An inside look at the creation and fallout of Square's industry-defining role-playing game, as told by those who were there.
www.polygon.com www.polygon.com
Yoshihiro Maruyama - Executive vice president, Square U.S.

Square was focusing on PlayStation only whereas EA was a multiplatform game company. They kept publishing on Nintendo as well as Sega as well as PC. So there was a bit of a different approach because they could spread out marketing across different platforms, but you know, we only published for the PlayStation. So there was that kind of discussion between us — why were we just doing it? [Laughs] We told them that the Japanese game market was always a “winner takes all” type of market. It used to be Nintendo. Now it’s PlayStation, so we had no intent to make any games for other consoles like Sega or Nintendo. But the U.S. market was twice as big. So they understood it, but they still wanted us to make games for other consoles. Which Square, you know, firmly refused.
Click to expand...
 
0
Turenne said:
Well Sony has decided to focus on worldwide expansion through "brand synergy", first party software, moneyhatting third party stuff etc - and it has worked very well for them. Both Nintendo and Sony (and X-Box) have followed different paths and all are excelling.
Click to expand...
Except Sony (and Microsoft) and now engaging in Studio/ Publisher Buyout, which is the 1st step into consolidating a monopoly. which will be the worst possible scenario
 
Dardan Sandiego said:
rofl

I really hope that was just him using hyperbole. It makes no sense to oppose Nintendo when you stand to make more money by working with them.
Click to expand...
in one sense I think is exaggerated, but on the other hand, on top of my head, there are a few JP directors/ studios that are more open about their "contempt" towards Nintendo, like Nagoshi.
 
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Turenne said:
Well Sony has decided to focus on worldwide expansion through "brand synergy", first party software, moneyhatting third party stuff etc - and it has worked very well for them. Both Nintendo and Sony (and X-Box) have followed different paths and all are excelling.
Click to expand...
Hmm, not sure you can do worldwide expansion by ignoring one of the three main markets. That said, that was mostly me parodying a lot of posts in that other purple place.
 
Turenne said:
What publisher did Sony buy.
Click to expand...
thats why I said Publisher/ Studio, so putting the recent acquisition of the Spider man Studio, correct me if im wrong, wasnt Sony one of the front runner to buy the Atlus? (The Holding Company that owns Atlus)
 
0
Well that is certainly an interesting thing to write/say, coming from CC2. We may never get to know but i would be so interested in the reasoning he had for doing this. ^^

Imitatio said:
The big bad Nintendo back then. Scary D:
Click to expand...

Didn't anyone tell you? The moment Nintendo has the full power over the japanese games market, Hiroshi Yamauchi comes back to life and will bind them all to his will.

Like Sauron.
 
I think the concerns from third parties about Nintendo dominance evolved away from fear of a Yamauchi pretty quickly.

The main issue for them is the way each console manufacturer attained leadership of the market. Third parties enjoyed a decade plus of them being the king maker for consoles and when Nintendo reversed the tide of the Japanese market it was without their input.

You can even see that recently with the juxtaposition between PS4 in ~2016 and Switch now. Third parties were happy for the PS4 to be the only viable option because they were the kings of the castle on the platform, whereas with Switch Nintendo is by far the biggest publisher.
 
Oregano said:
I think the concerns from third parties about Nintendo dominance evolved away from fear of a Yamauchi pretty quickly.

The main issue for them is the way each console manufacturer attained leadership of the market. Third parties enjoyed a decade plus of them being the king maker for consoles and when Nintendo reversed the tide of the Japanese market it was without their input.

You can even see that recently with the juxtaposition between PS4 in ~2016 and Switch now. Third parties were happy for the PS4 to be the only viable option because they were the kings of the castle on the platform, whereas with Switch Nintendo is by far the biggest publisher.
Click to expand...

It's not like they ... you know ... could do something against Nintendo dominating on their own systems.

If there was a way ... something like ... might sound crazy ... releasing games.

Imitatio said:
Matsuyama looking up from his desk, after writing the letter
proxy-image
Click to expand...

Please, Nintendo is so rich they could make a Samus arm-cannon for Miyamoto.
 
OpulentEmpress said:
Be careful what you beg for in life.

You can stay out of threads I start and sludge your nasty, filthy attitude back to that other site if you can't post like a human with any type of decency.
Click to expand...
Err… what? Are you okay?

Why so aggressive when I just asked you to update your OP with a better translation? Jeez, calm down.
 
Bonejack said:
If there was a way ... something like ... might sound crazy ... releasing games.
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I'm pretty convinced that a lot of them (did?) view it as too risky, fearing to lose the battle for mindshare and sales. Jumping onto the platform that is or rather has been perceived as less risky and more open, thus a better fit, does actually make sense when following through on that line of thought.

By now there have obviously been enough changes and developments to call that behaviour into question, no doubt about that.
 
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Bonejack said:
It's not like they ... you know ... could do something against Nintendo dominating on their own systems.

If there was a way ... something like ... might sound crazy ... releasing games.



Please, Nintendo is so rich they could make a Samus arm-cannon for Miyamoto.
Click to expand...

They could but for the biggest guys they're never going to get Nintendo to bend over backwards for them the way Sony will because Nintendo "needs" them less.

For the most part Sony purposely reducing their support in Japan will make more of a difference than anything Nintendo could ever do.
 
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Oregano said:
I think the concerns from third parties about Nintendo dominance evolved away from fear of a Yamauchi pretty quickly.
Click to expand...
I guess it was hard to get over the annual third party release limit Nintendo enforced back then. There were lawsuits, Konami had to establish a secondary company to release more games on NES/Famicom.
 
9-Volt said:
I guess it was hard to get over the annual third party release limit Nintendo enforced back then. There were lawsuits, Konami had to establish a secondary company to release more games on NES/Famicom.
Click to expand...

I doubt any of that has been a factor for a long time though.

It's easy to lose perspective but the NES-SNES era was about a decade (mid-80s to mid-90s) and the PS1-PS2 era was roughly the same(mid-90s to mid-00s) but the DS-3DS-Switch era is already much longer than that.

We're so far removed from any of those issues that most of the people making decisions now weren't even working in the industry at that point.
 
Oregano said:
I doubt any of that has been a factor for a long time though.

It's easy to lose perspective but the NES-SNES era was about a decade (mid-80s to mid-90s) and the PS1-PS2 era was roughly the same(mid-90s to mid-00s) but the DS-3DS-Switch era is already much longer than that.

We're so far removed from any of those issues that most of the people making decisions now weren't even working in the industry at that point.
Click to expand...
That was one factor but it was big enough for everyone to jump ship after SNES. There were several other Nintendo decisions made the Japanese publishers to remain there for a long time, like going with cartridge instead of disc media (this kept Square away, who loved having long ass FMV's in their games). Nintendo ecosystem was a dictatorship to them "if I can fit my games into a space of couple of megabytes, so can you" attitude didn't win anyone back. This continued well into Wii era (anyone remember 40 mb limit for WiiWare?), but this time Nintendo was begging them to come back, even granting several requests for them (CCPro for Capcom, for instance). It was a slow process and we're still in the middle of it.

Sure, newer generation of game devs might not know the hardships of older devs working on Nintendo but the bad rep still remains and Playstation still is viewed as the "THE platform" (while still ignoring the market). CC2's comments prove that things still are in motion for Nintendo and there are still a long way to go. This should not end until Nintendo gets more mainline series on their system, including new FF games.
 
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Tangerine_Cookie said:
But remember, Sony hasn't abandoned the Japanese market, and it also doesn't matter because the Japanese market wasn't important. Or something like that.
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Sony no longer giving the star treatment to Japanese developers is going to do more damage to their support than the Switch's success in Japan. Support from platform holders goes a long way for small developers who don't have the manpower to deal with every problem that comes up.
 
Sony may no longer give the 'star treatment' to Japanese developers, but they're also not going to mess around with a lot of them - especially big names like Bandai Namco, Square Enix, Sega/Atlus and Capcom will likely be left alone. Small developers will likely have to find a way to figure things out themselves such as D3 publishing a wholly separate version of Omega Labyrinth Life for PS4 or just leave the PS ecosystem entirely and either migrate to PC (unlikely, given the lower popularity of PC gaming in Japan) or other consoles (read: whatever Nintendo does, no one cares for Xbox outside of the big names).

Frankly, as a consumer, I don't really care. If they choose to jump ship from Sony and on to PC or Nintendo, I'd welcome it - one less device to buy! 😉
 
Hentz said:
Err… what? Are you okay?

Why so aggressive when I just asked you to update your OP with a better translation? Jeez, calm down.
Click to expand...
Word your desires better without being rude, next time.

Everyone can be a bit more courteous to each other in this world.
 
0
Oregano said:
I think the concerns from third parties about Nintendo dominance evolved away from fear of a Yamauchi pretty quickly.

The main issue for them is the way each console manufacturer attained leadership of the market. Third parties enjoyed a decade plus of them being the king maker for consoles and when Nintendo reversed the tide of the Japanese market it was without their input.

You can even see that recently with the juxtaposition between PS4 in ~2016 and Switch now. Third parties were happy for the PS4 to be the only viable option because they were the kings of the castle on the platform, whereas with Switch Nintendo is by far the biggest publisher.
Click to expand...
In a sense thast is a self fulfilling prophecy.
Sony and Microsoft have great in house games but their output is super low. So 3rd party fill ik the gaps in between those releases.

On Nintendo, as 3rd party refused to put out games (some with valid reason, some with pants on head stupid ones), So Nintendo had to becomes its own money maker too. And out of that the self sustained universe of Nintendo hardware and Software was born.

Hell WiiU was the chance for 3rd party to “prove themselves” and we all know how that car crashed, No Survivors
 
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