Valkyria Chronicles III Probably Not Coming to The West, but There is Still Hope

Valkyria Chronicles III Probably Not Coming to The West, but There is Still Hope

Giuseppe Nelva October 11, 2011 12:30 PM EST

In a recent interview mentioned on Gamespot, Sega’s team manager of the console sales’ team Hiroshi Seno confirmed that the company doesn’t plan to localize Valkyria Chronicles III in English due to low Western sales of Valkyria Chronicles II and the fact that the PSP isn’t massively popular on this side of the Pacific Ocean.

While hearing this is extremely sad (and I could talk about a certain amout of short-sightedness in blaming the franchise for low sales, when the game wasn’t really advertised in any sufficient or visible way. Can’t ask customers to purchase something if they don’t know it exists), not all hope is lost, as Seno also mentioned that the game could be released as a downloadable title on the PS Vita, and a decision on that will be taken at the next meeting between Sega and Sony.

As I mentioned in my previous open letter to Sega, an HD port on the PS3 or licensing the title to another publishers are also options that Sega should consider seriously, as they would preserve the visibility of the franchise in the west and grant some risk-free revenue.

All three options (A port on the Vita, on the PS3 or Licensing) would also solve the problems related to the lack of popularity of the PSP and the rampant piracy on the platform in one stroke, granting much better sales in Western territories than those of Valkyria II.

In the meanwhile, I still encourage you to join the Gallian Liberation Front and sign their petition. Valkyria Chronicles III is one of the best JRPGs (and one of the best RPGs overall) this generation and deserves to be localized. It may or may not work, but let’s get our voices heard about it.

Let me renew my call to arms by showing you the opening of the game below. If you don’t want to play this, you don’t have a heart.