Some thoughts and info from Sega chief creative officer Toshihiro Nagoshi on Pierre Taki's arrest.
Source: Gematsu
Japanese Source: Gamestalk
I'm still really annoyed about this, because I didn't buy the game right at launch. I really enjoyed the two demos and intended to buy the game a few months later when I had more time, but I'm not sure when I'll get to play the Japanese release now.
Scrub my existence from history for using drugs if old.
A commenter named Rob on Gematsu pointed out that it actually reached the number one spot on Amazon, and not three as Nagoshi believed:Gematsu said:• I was surprised to hear Pierre Taki was arrested.
• When I looked at Yahoo! News in the middle of the night, it seemed like my phone was ringing through the screen. (Laughs.) From there the calls and messages wouldn't stop all night, and eventually I was like "I know!" (Laughs.)
• After that we started discussing how to deal with the problem.
• We decided to halt the game's sales fairly quickly.
• There is no correct way to deal with the situation. In the end, I also cast my vote for halting sales. Some thought and pointed out "This is going too far" and "It's unrelated to the game itself," and I don't think those opinions are unreasonable either—I can see it from both sides. So when it comes to why I voted for halting sales, it's because it was just after release. If it was an older game released a considerable amount of time ago, our priorities may have been different, but when it was something that had been released only several months prior, I think it's a different conversation.
• I saw news stating that Judgment 2 had been decided and that we had plans even for Judgment 3, but I thought "Who the hell?" (Laughs.) They're talking nonsense; absolutely none of that is true. (Laughs.)
• Regarding the incident, there were both messages of support and comments like, "Serves you right," but to speak against that, just because you use a celebrity, it doesn't mean that these kinds of situations are easy to get into at all. Even if our own staff crosses a dangerous bridge, these kinds of things could happen—it is not just celebrities. If you do something bad, you have to take responsibility.
• I'm bummed that it sold like there was a last-minute surge in demand. It reached number three on Amazon's sales rankings. But I did kind of think, "Why didn't you just buy from the start?" (Laughs.) Of course I'm glad in any case.
• Sell-through was about 97 percent. Worldwide inventory is nearly gone.
• If there is a sequel, Hamura won't appear in it at all. (Co-host Ayana Tsubaki: "Will you change the character or something?"). Regarding that, I think there'd be various ways to approach it.
Source: Gematsu
Japanese Source: Gamestalk
I'm still really annoyed about this, because I didn't buy the game right at launch. I really enjoyed the two demos and intended to buy the game a few months later when I had more time, but I'm not sure when I'll get to play the Japanese release now.
Scrub my existence from history for using drugs if old.