Just recently publisher PQube announced that they will be releasing the PlayStation Vita action game Valkyre Drive: Bhikkhuni in the West.
There’s been various news in the past that Japanese games will be altered for the Western release. PQube quickly confirmed on their Twitter that they wont be censoring the game for the West. They have now further confirmed this in a statement-via DualShockers:
I can confirm that Valkyrie Drive: Bhikkhuni will be brought to the west in its original form, with content completely intact. It will be with a Japanese dub and English subtitles.
We generally don’t take on these kinds of projects if we’re not confident we can release it in the west without cutting or changing content. Changing the source material kind of defeats the purpose of doing it in the first place, so that is not something we even consider unless we literally have no other options. In terms of platform holders and ratings boards, you’d be surprised what you can get away with. Gal*Gun: Double Peace passed quite painlessly for example.
Where issues might arise in terms of publishing, is selling the title in to retailers who might be hesitant to take it. A game doesn’t just appear at retailers when we release it; a big part of the process is to go around and sell the title to each individual retailer and negotiate numbers and prices. Trying to present a game like Valkyrie Drive to a group of executives at a major retailer, who might be in their 50’s and don’t play or particularly care about games, and convince them that Valkyrie Drive is amazing and would do really well on their shelves or their website, can be quite the challenge for the sales team.
The company seems to be hitting the same walls as other publishers. Promoting your game in the West becomes quite difficult given the material. Major news sites just wont give them press, and if they do, it’s not going to be “good” press.
Valkyre Drive: Bhikkhuni is coming to the PlayStation Vita in EU and NA.
What do you think of PQube’s statement? Let us know in the comments below.
