Place Holder Release Date?

[Wooster]

http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=185024

Zavvi is listing the release date as 1/25/13… They likely know nothing, but I'm posting this for interest and discussion.

To compare, the only early year release of Fire Emblem in the West was for Shadow Dragon in the US, Feb 25th. Nintendo tends to favor early year releases for Adventure, Puzzle, and untested franchises. Though sometimes, but rarely, games that didn't make the christmas rush make the late Feb-early March window.

Edited September 8, 2012 by Wooster

[Ema Skye]

I gotta question the authenticity of that date, being only a month after Christmas. If it's going to be that close, why not just speed it up for the holiday season?

But I was expecting something like May/June 2013, so I'm totally cool with a January release in regards to how much I want this game.

[Murdok Dracul]

http://www.gonintend...story&id=185024

Zavvi is listing the release date as 1/25/13… They likely know nothing, but I'm posting this for interest and discussion.

To compare, the only early year release of Fire Emblem in the West was for Shadow Dragon in the US, Feb 25th. Nintendo tends to favor early year releases for Adventure, Puzzle, and untested franchises. Though sometimes, but rarely, games that didn't make the christmas rush make the late Feb-early March window.

I wasn't expecting a release so early, but I certainly hope that's it.

[ZemZem]

Get a 3DS for Christmas, then get FE13 for my birthday, which is in February. If this is true, good plan.

[Book of Ereshkigal]

I would have no qualms with this being the actual date.

please please pleaseeeeee, if it is let the US be just as soon.

Edited September 8, 2012 by L95

[cyron]

if this is the true date i will be the happiest fan ever

[Darros]

I gotta question the authenticity of that date, being only a month after Christmas. If it's going to be that close, why not just speed it up for the holiday season?

Because things that are rushed have high chances of being awful.

[Anacybele]

Hey, as long as it's out here before my birthday (May 5), I've got no complaint. I'm wanting the game for my b-day, so yeah. ^^

Edited September 9, 2012 by Anacybele

[Esaka]

They can't finish before christmas?

NINTENDO IS DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!

But it's likely due to competition and stuff, ok then. Anyways, chances are we'll get it a month or two later, maybe around the same time if we're lucky.

THINK HAPPY THOUGHTS DAMN IT!

[Baldrick]

E.T. was rushed for the Christmas sales.

This date doesn't interest me much because I'm in Australia. Even Europe laughs at us, and if it does come out, it'll be like $120 or something.

[Book of Ereshkigal]

E.T. was rushed for the Christmas sales.

This date doesn't interest me much because I'm in Australia. Even Europe laughs at us, and if it does come out, it'll be like $120 or something.

Don't EU and AUS use the same region lock? Import the EU version. I read that somewhere, anyway. :T That sucks, either way, though.

[Baldrick]

Yeah, I got my copy of FE10 from Europe. I'll probably end up doing the same with Awakening, because the other bad thing is that it's nearly possible to find cult games outside of Ebay unless they've just been released.

[Replica Model]

I hope we Americans can get the game in a month or two after the EU version. I don't want to have to wait another year for an English FE game. . . Awakening will be my first US release of an FE game, I became a fan after SD came out so I'm phych! I hope they won't screw us over like they did with Tales of Vesperia(which I still enjoyed, but would've been better with the extra content). I say, let them take their time but don't dawdle with the release date for too long.

[Wyvern_Lord]

E.T. was rushed for the Christmas sales.

This date doesn't interest me much because I'm in Australia. Even Europe laughs at us, and if it does come out, it'll be like $120 or something.

Nahhh, the prices here have gotten better over the years $90

Edited September 9, 2012 by TheValkyrian

[Onestep]

Honestly, a date like this wouldn't surprise me. IS seems to have a fairly low opinion of the popularity of Fire Emblem in the West, so they're probably not expecting to expand their market over here. They're probably thinking something along the lines of 'The fans will buy it and the non-fans won't.'. Which of course means that there'd be no need to rush for a Christmas release.

[VincentASM]

Hmm, the date seems way too early to me, but on the other hand, it's also pretty specific.

Of course, I'd definitely like it to be released earlier, but I'm not getting my hopes up : P

[Ein]

Hm. Were any of the characters born on said date?

[Book of Ereshkigal]

Grego was born on the 25th :T

And MU :p

I don't think the JP developers could predict the english release, though.

Edited September 9, 2012 by L95

[Wooster]

You'd be surprised. I remember reading a somewhat suspect message from someone who made a suspiciously specific claim about the Ace Attorney Trilogy's release date in the West, back in February for August~September (The poster didn't go more specific then that and actually said "About 8 months from now", which turned out to be the PAX reveal. Obviously, they can't anticipate the unforeseen, but these things are planned out well in advanced.

That said, I still think the Jan 25th date is a bunch of nonsense. It doesn't make sense. Everyone is still playing their games from Christmas. If you wanted to mute a franchise, you launch it in January. Hence the emphasis on less popular games in February, and there's rarely anything of note in January. It's like the Winter's version of the summer drought.

Edit: On the other hand, the game was originally slated for 2012… so you could easily be right. My guess is translation went slower then anticipated. It pushed the game back, and so they couldn't make the holiday rush. I believe the date is pushed further then what's strictly necessary to milk the sales better.

Edited September 9, 2012 by Wooster

[Thunder Sage]

You'd be surprised. I remember reading a somewhat suspect message from someone who made a suspiciously specific claim about the Ace Attorney Trilogy's release date in the West, back in February for August~September (The poster didn't go more specific then that and actually said "About 8 months from now", which turned out to be the PAX reveal. Obviously, they can't anticipate the unforeseen, but these things are planned out well in advanced.

That said, I still think the Jan 25th date is a bunch of nonsense. It doesn't make sense. Everyone is still playing their games from Christmas. If you wanted to mute a franchise, you launch it in January. Hence the emphasis on less popular games in February, and there's rarely anything of note in January. It's like the Winter's version of the summer drought.

Edit: On the other hand, the game was originally slated for 2012… so you could easily be right. My guess is translation went slower then anticipated. It pushed the game back, and so they couldn't make the holiday rush. I believe the date is pushed further then what's strictly necessary to milk the sales better.

Not necessarily correct me if I'm wrong but Fire Emblem is a niche series and most of Awakening's sales will come from an already established fan base so when Awakening is released does not really matter because the fans of the series will pick it up anyway(That may be biased opinion on my part even if Awakening was released on the 27th of December I still would go out of my way to buy it). However I do agree with you about January the equivalent of a summer drought if Awakening was released in January it would probably would pass under the radar to all but the fan base and would bring few new fans to the series (something I think developers were keen to do in Japan) which may be intentional on the developers part due to some of the more controversial supports or maybe because it is the earliest they can bring it out which is reasonable when you consider most Fire emblem games that were translated took roughly 7 months, so it's not unreasonable for it to take 9 months when you consider the inclusion of Voice acting and the myriad of supports to translate. That being said I don't really trust any release date except the official one.

Edited September 10, 2012 by Thunder Sage

[Wooster]

Hmmm… yes and no. Fire Emblem is a niche series, as far as genre goes. But, compared to 2007's Hotel Dusk, there's no comparison. Niche genre, niche developer, niche art direction. The only thing not niche about it was the publisher, Nintendo. Hence, it got a late January release date.

Fire Emblem is mainstream enough that it doesn't get dumped in the bargain bin of release dates, (that piece of junk Shadow Dragon not withstanding). which also means that there's a significant enough non-mainstream audience. Second, those in game purchases are mighty tempting for Nintendo. For that alone they'd want to give their poster child for such things a better spot light.

So lets say Nintendo intended Awakening to be released in November, a fair assumption considering every game prior to Shadow Dragon has been internationally released in November, though only to one of EU or NA in each case. The latest a Fire Emblem was released ever was December 5th, but that gives less then 3 weeks to make major sales. That's not ideal, but lets say the November delays were serious enough that they couldn't make December 5th. Now what?

The holiday rush was missed. No one buys games after Christmas. And everyone goes broke buying gifts, and further the sudden arrival of gifts mean not only don't you have money, but the gifts you have placate you into not craving new stuff, so spending always hits a sharp decline for the month of January and slightly improves for February. So if you release it mid December, you might get a week of above average sales, and then crickets chirping from Christmas Eve until well past February, and by then, no one will care.

So what do you do, as Nintendo? You suddenly have all of at least December and January to finish localization, so there's nothing holding back the product now. Further, New Super Mario Bros Wii was delayed, not because it wasn't done, but because Nintendo didn't want it to fight for attention with Super Mario Galaxy at the time, so it's not unprecedented at all to sit on a product until the time is right. So, if you release now in early Feb you risk not gathering enough attention and hype. On the other hand, if you wait too long, the inertia of hype from the Japanese release will be lost completely and you create an awkward backlog of titles (Re: Professor Layton).

If you can figure out that sweet spot, I'm sure you can figure out Nintendo's release date, provided, of course, it's not competing for that date with another title.

[Samias]

Radiant Dawn hit the bargain bin pretty fast, even though I really enjoyed the gameplay. After that, Shadow Dragon was relegated to a February release. A late January release for Awakening seems a little hasty of a conclusion considering how little Nintendo has talked about the series, but I can't help but feel Nintendo doesn't care about the franchise very much because the gameplay is so much more about strategy than action. However, if Mass Effect is anything to go by, you CAN release after the holiday rush and still make great sales. With any luck, Nintendo will actually pour some advertising dollars into the game instead of the extremely sparse promotion of the Fire Emblem series since Blazing Sword.

[Thunder Sage]

Hmmm… yes and no. Fire Emblem is a niche series, as far as genre goes. But, compared to 2007's Hotel Dusk, there's no comparison. Niche genre, niche developer, niche art direction. The only thing not niche about it was the publisher, Nintendo. Hence, it got a late January release date.

Fire Emblem is mainstream enough that it doesn't get dumped in the bargain bin of release dates, (that piece of junk Shadow Dragon not withstanding). which also means that there's a significant enough non-mainstream audience. Second, those in game purchases are mighty tempting for Nintendo. For that alone they'd want to give their poster child for such things a better spot light.

So lets say Nintendo intended Awakening to be released in November, a fair assumption considering every game prior to Shadow Dragon has been internationally released in November, though only to one of EU or NA in each case. The latest a Fire Emblem was released ever was December 5th, but that gives less then 3 weeks to make major sales. That's not ideal, but lets say the November delays were serious enough that they couldn't make December 5th. Now what?

The holiday rush was missed. No one buys games after Christmas. And everyone goes broke buying gifts, and further the sudden arrival of gifts mean not only don't you have money, but the gifts you have placate you into not craving new stuff, so spending always hits a sharp decline for the month of January and slightly improves for February. So if you release it mid December, you might get a week of above average sales, and then crickets chirping from Christmas Eve until well past February, and by then, no one will care.

So what do you do, as Nintendo? You suddenly have all of at least December and January to finish localization, so there's nothing holding back the product now. Further, New Super Mario Bros Wii was delayed, not because it wasn't done, but because Nintendo didn't want it to fight for attention with Super Mario Galaxy at the time, so it's not unprecedented at all to sit on a product until the time is right. So, if you release now in early Feb you risk not gathering enough attention and hype. On the other hand, if you wait too long, the inertia of hype from the Japanese release will be lost completely and you create an awkward backlog of titles (Re: Professor Layton).

If you can figure out that sweet spot, I'm sure you can figure out Nintendo's release date, provided, of course, it's not competing for that date with another title.

Well assuming that by the end of January the game is completely translated and they have enough units for release the sweet spot would probably be mid-late February or possibly very early March at the latest although strictly speaking it's probably not the greatest time of the year to release a game.

[Anacybele]

Honestly, a date like this wouldn't surprise me. IS seems to have a fairly low opinion of the popularity of Fire Emblem in the West,

Now I see why FE's popularity hasn't gone up. Opinions like this are why franchises like FE die out sooner. If IS had more confidence in themselves, we'd see more gamers being drawn to this amazing series. I believe it has so much more potential. I'm drawn into the storyline just about every game (even FE7, my least favorite in the series so far. Eliwood's story just gets more interesting every chapter. Lyn's was kind of boring though), and I like the simple gameplay. It's also the only series to give me a challenge with every game. And I like a challenging game. And I like so many of the characters in the series. I feel like I can relate to them more than characters from other series.

Edited September 12, 2012 by Anacybele

[Onestep]

Just a quick update, though I'm sure that most people have kept up to date on this.

Several sites, such as gonintendo.com and nintendo3dsdaily.com have taken note of Zavvi's 'release date'. The overall opinion seems to be that Zavvi is making an informed guess, but that they could very well be on the money, particularly as January the 25th would be Friday, the day that most games tend to get released on.