Hey guys. We've pretty much confirmed on our streams that the Yamashita songs didn't make it into the Western version. I know for many of you that's a major letdown, and we absolutely are not deaf to that. I got my first #nosoubounobuy sent my way on Twitter not that long ago, and while it's disheartening, I understand where the sentiment is coming from. So let me do my best to recap what we've said about this across various platforms for you guys, since it seems some of this information got lost to the ether. Note that what I'm telling you here is pretty much all I can say, because discussing licensing, which correlates to a game's profitability, is generally a dicey-ass topic for "the localization" guy.
What Is This "Licensing" Thing You Speak Of?
Let's start here, because I think sometimes people do actually get confused by this. Some gaming companies pay popular artists to license their popular songs to put inside their games. This has been happening for years, and while maybe it wasn't the first, Final Fantasy VIII's "Eyes on Me" by Faye Wong was arguably one of the biggest and most impactful games to do it, at least for games made in Japan. But "licensing" is not as simple as "Hey [popular artist], we want your song. Here's 50 bucks." No! It's more like, we want to use your song and release it in our game in Asia, North America, and Europe, we want the right to put it on our soundtrack, release the game digitally, and nowadays, let players record their footage of this song over their gameplay and upload it to their own channels! Oh, and we want to be able to do this for the rest of the game's natural life, and perhaps even when we remaster this game in ten years, we'll need that too. How much?
The figure for all that would be astronomical. That's basically a buy-out. At least, for an established, well-known artist. An up-and-coming artist might be more affordable? I couldn't tell you. And bear in mind, the music industry in Japan is not the same as in America. It's different in ways I'm sure I'm not even qualified to speak on.
So things start getting left out. Okay, how much for just this region? Okay, we don't need it on our soundtrack. Or, okay, we can't afford to pay you [astronomical fee], but what if we give you a cut of every game we sell? Ah, very good then. Negotiations by professional negotiators and lawyers (not localization dudes) are finalized, contracts are signed, songs are put into games, share blocking is placed over scenes that use said song, digital rights are negotiated (or not), and the issue pops up all over again for remakes and remasters down the line.
So that's it, in principle. If I've made it sound easy, I've done it a disservice, because it's not.
How Popular is Yamashita?
Very. Ask any Japanese person if they've heard of them, the answer will probably be yes. I've been told he's essentially the Japanese "voice of Christmas." So perhaps a solid equivalent Western, and you don't have to like this, would be Michael Buble. It's important to stress - had you heard his name prior to his appearance in Yakuza 6? And remember, even if you had, I don't want to burst your... bubble... but you are the 1%.
So What You're Saying Is, in Japan, paying big yen for a major Japanese artist who everyone has heard of makes a lot of sense for marketing a game to a Japanese audience, but paying big dollars to an artist 1% of the gaming populace has heard of makes a little less sense?
Yes.
Can't You Just Negotiate Worldwide Rights? Isn't it Cheaper That Way?
Yes, it's probably cheaper to negotiate a package deal. But there's a wrinkle in that logic. Cheaper does not equal cheap. Like adding fries and a drink, the cost goes UP when you start including more regions. And per above point, does it make sense for regions where nobody has heard of the artist to pay that cost? Is the game going to sell enough to cover that? Questions that go beyond me, obviously.
Well Do You At Least Try!?
YES, every game. The numbers get ran. And if the numbers are making the game run the risk of being REJECTED in its entirety, well.... Would you rather have a Yakuza game with replaced music, or be in this thread asking why Yakuza stopped coming West? We believe it's the former, but if it's the latter, just let us know by not purchasing the game. That's the surest way to get the point across. I hope we're right, personally, because I love this damn series.
Who Replaces the Music?
The SEGA sound team. Shoji-san did Y0, and I'm actually not sure who did Y6. It just appeared one day.
Isn't This Censorship!? I Thought You Didn't Censor Games!! WHAT ABOUT PreSerVinG the ORIGINAL VISION of the CREATIVE INTENTION AND WARGLBLHAARLGHASD
...Licensing is a little different than us objecting to content and replacing it. But you can see it how you want to see it, I guess.
Is The Replacement Music Any Good?
If you go in expecting it not to be, because it can't compare to Yamashita, no. If you give it an honest listen, maybe you'll like it. Our fourth generation PR man, Jacob, IM'ed me one day after sitting down to play and said, dude, the music is so good! And I looked up at his screen, and he was on a scene with replaced music. I said... Oh. That's good to hear. He was new, and didn't know this was even a thing yet.
So there you have it. I hope this helps!
