How do you think the Japanese otome game would fare in Southeast Asia?

At the recent Anime Festival Asia in Singapore we were able to playtest the English version of the Hakuoki app. Hakuoki is a visual novel franchise made popular in Japan, and it mixes traditional Japanese history with some romantic fiction. Visual romance novels are collectively known as otome games, which literally translates to “girl games,” As you’d imagine, these are usually tailored to a female audience, and are typically played like one would an interactive storybook, with the user tapping on the screen to make choices and to advance in the game.

There are a lot of otome games, such as the ones you can find here and here that have been localized for an English-speaking audience, but this is the first time the Hakuoki mobile game has been made available in English in Southeast Asia. Its digital distributor Gloczus says Hakuoki is the “highest peak of [the] Japanese otome game.”

Hakuoki has seen decent success in Japan, where it was developed by Idea Factory. Approximately 1,000,000 console units of the game were moved (Playstations 3 and Portable and Nintendo DS series combined) in its native country, and the Android and iOS app versions have a combined total of 100,000 downloads. The Hakuoki mobile game was first made available in Japan this past March, but the series itself was made known to the Japanese public via a video game in 2008.

Sho Yoshimoto, speaking on behalf of Gloczus, says that the tone of Hakuoki is a little more serious compared to other visual novels. It is set in the Edo period of Japanese history and features samurai and shinsengumi (a special police force), whereas other otome games feature situations like a maid (you, the player) getting sold on stage to the highest male bidder.

Some of the male characters in Hakuoki.

Yoshimoto says that the game’s tone is one of the reasons the franchise appeals to a wider audience than the otome game genre normally targets.

In Japan, Hakuoki has expanded from video games into anime, novels, musicals, movies, voice actor events, and collaborations in industries like karaoke lounges, izakaya (pubs), credit cards, and more. In total, it has reached out to more than a million players in Japan and is a pioneer of the otome games market, reportedly worth 14.6 billion yen (US$1.22 million), according to a press release sent out for Hakuoki. Due to the franchise’s popularity, North America and Europe have already gotten a taste of the Playstation Portable, Nintendo 3DS, and Playstation 3 editions of the game; however Asia will receive only iOS and Android apps first.

“Depending on fans’ reactions, we may expand to other platforms,” Yoshimoto tells us.

The otome game in Southeast Asia

The female protagonist in Hakuoki.

At Anime Festival Asia 2014 (AFA), held last month in Singapore, visitors were able to try the English version of the mobile Hakuoki game for the first time. The response Yoshimoto shared appears to be pretty encouraging. According to a press release, over 90,000 visitors attended AFA, and Gloczus, acting for developer Idea Factory, managed to distribute 10,000 flyers, have 2,000 people try the game demo, see nearly 1,000 people snap photos with the character panels at its booth, and then observe 100 of those people upload the photos on its official Facebook page.

According to Yoshimoto, the demographic in Southeast Asia that was most attracted to Hakuoki is the same as that in Japan: 15- to 24-year-old females. He added that there were also male fans in Hakuoki cosplay, who enjoy the series because of the samurai and shinsengumi.

Overall, Yoshimoto says that fans at AFA were already familiar with the Hakuoki game from anime and the internet, and that some of them were “very excited” for the impending release. Although Yoshimoto said at our first meeting that the aim of attending AFA was to gauge local response to Hakuoki, he now says that there is a market for sure, for judging from fan reactions, and that Gloczus would like to connect with both fans and the community.

Developers of otome games, take heed! Southeast Asia might just be your new market. Hakuoki has reportedly been released for Southeast Asia and we’ll update this piece when we get the direct store links.

See: Fantasy Life has strong female characters, and that’s awesome

This post How do you think the Japanese otome game would fare in Southeast Asia? appeared first on Tech in Asia.

How do you think the Japanese otome game would fare in Southeast Asia?