Japanese CD-ROMs: Rising Above Mediocrity
In 1994, an unexpected handful of CD-ROM titles received rave reviews in several US magazines and newspapers ó unexpected because they were developed in Japan, where "seedy" ROMs are the norm. This article takes a look at two of the better Japanese CD-ROM titles: Gadget and Cosmology of Kyoto.by Lionel Dersot
While Japan's installed base of CD-ROM drives cannot compare with the imposing quantity found in North America, more than 1.5 million units have been sold so far, giving Japan the world's second-largest CD-ROM user base. Yet, as a producer of CD-ROMs ó in terms of quantity as well as in excellence of concept and design ó Japan's creative community still lags far behind the US. Of the estimated 2,000-plus CD-ROM titles being sold in Akihabara, Tokyo's bustling electronic mecca, some 70% are of foreign origin (primarily from the US, though a few come from Europe). Japanese distributors and localizers fight hard to be the first to snatch new titles as they sprout from the US's creative garden.
The CD-ROM market in Japan is only now ripening to maturity, with "adult" titles still accounting for the bulk of sales. A significant proportion of the imported titles qualify as soft core pornography. (And hard core titles trickle in via direct mail order or stashed in the bottom of travelers' suitcases ó or did until Japan's customs inspectors wised up to the new technology. Even music CDs can now get held up for several days in customs while the inspectors check for smuggled porn.) Of the relatively small number of original CD-ROM titles being produced in Japan, more than half still cater to the never-satiated craving for sex-related graphics and games.
There are exceptions to every rule, however. In the realm of CD-ROMs, a handful of Japanese CD-ROMs have been acclaimed for their quality and creativity, not only in Japan but abroad as well.
High-Tech Gadgetry
As seen by the stunning success of Myst, a CD-ROM's ability to entertain can have more to do with fantasy than speed. Myst is a hauntingly slow adventure set on a mysterious desert island. No blood is spilled, no battles fought, no lives lost.Now, envision a similar mood in a retro-future world mixed with Hitchcock's mastery of suspense, Jules Verne's fantastic machinery, and H.G. Wells' dark science fiction. You are ready to board the Nova Super Express and hunt for Gadget. A superb CD-ROM published by Tokyo-based Synergy Corporation, Gadget was a 1994 winner of MacWorld magazine's Best Multimedia Game Award.
Synergy is a pioneer among Japan's CD-ROM producers. In 1992, when CD-ROMs were still almost unknown to the average Japanese PC user, the company was already active in an embryonic market with Alice and L-Zone. Those two trend-setting titles, aimed primarily at the American market, were available in English from the start; they are already considered classics in the short history of the media. Initially, Synergy had no well-defined strategy for the US market. As its CEO, Masanori Awata, recalls: "We were ready when no real market had yet emerged, whether in Japan or the US. We first entrusted a Japanese exporter with the task of bringing our titles to the US. L-Zone alone has now sold more than 40,000 units combined on both sides of the Pacific, which makes it a super-bestseller by Japanese measures."
Gadget hit the Japanese stores in December 1993, while "CD-ROM" and "multimedia" were climbing fast on the buzzword chart. It was immediately clear that Gadget stood far above anything seen in Japan before, with a charisma that transcended cultural borders. Its initial rise as a worldwide best-seller was hindered because the English version was not available in the US until May 1994, and then only by mail order. Copies did not find their way into US retailers until October.
Synergy learned some lessons from its experiences in marketing and distributing Gadget in the US, and has now switched from a third-party distribution system to a self-managed strategy. "Most of the time, middlemen want to steal the show and pose as if they are the developers of the titles they are only distributing," Awata complains. "We were contacted by several big US distributors who would invariably begin by painting in glowing colors the rewards that could be gained through their mediation. But when we sat for serious discussions, with lawyers in between, things always took a different turn. They not only wanted exclusive distribution rights, but the rights to alter the original scenario, add voices to the characters of Gadget ó although we had intentionally chosen not to do so ó and freely use the concept for derivative products."
"We were offered $3 on each CD sold in the US (average list price, $65). One major company even proposed a 'generous' $1.50 margin," Awata recalls. Synergy eventually came to the conclusion that, in the "Wild West" of California, one had better mind one's own business, and cautiously at that. This conclusion lead to the formation of a US affiliate, Synergy Interactive Corporation. SIC is staffed by less than 10 employees and located inside the offices of Mitsubishi International Corporation in Los Angeles. For Japanese companies eyeing the US market, Awata advocates a step-by-step approach. "Several Japanese firms, like software developer ASCII, have failed in the US because they did not have their own distribution channels. SIC is an investment for the future. We also want to provide artists we are working for with a structured local outlet. That is why we don't want to hurry."
Cultural vision
Contrary to some US media directors seen bragging in the aisles of last December's Tokyo Multimedia Show about their new "waaay cooool!" CD-ROM titles, caution in approaching foreign markets seems to be a common trait among Japanese CD-ROM producers. Yano Electric, for example, a Kobe-based computer storage peripherals manufacturer, has been active in the development and licensing of "edutainment" software. The firm readily admits, however, that software accounts for less than 10% of its overall business.Cosmology of Kyoto, Yano Electric's unique CD-ROM title that is a cultural adventure set in the ancient capital of Heian-kyo (now Kyoto) some 1000 years ago, has sold only 4,000 units in Japan. While not a cash cow, it has made the company a respected content creator. The CD-ROM's relatively poor showing in Japan has been blamed on its depiction of the city as a desolate Middle-Ages slum infested with demons, thieves, and throat-slitting wayward samurai. The average Japanese, nurtured from the cradle with an idyllic image of the imperial capital as a paragon of art, beauty, peace, and harmony, may suffer from culture shock on viewing the CD-ROM. The gloomy setting of Cosmology of Kyoto, however, is asserted to be closer to the historical reality of those times, and it ushers the user through a mind-bending trip into Japanese culture, traditions, and beliefs that are still relevant today.
Yano Electric's interactive 12-cm jewel was developed to be bilingual from the beginning, and visitors to the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco in January 1994 were supposed to be the first to have a glimpse of it. In the end, however, the CD-ROM was first released at the MacTokyo show a month later, and it took six months before Cosmology of Kyoto arrived on US shores. A Yano Electric representative explains this cautious attitude as akin to "shyness about the business and cultural gap" between Japan and the US. As with Synergy, it has been difficult for Yano Electric to find an acceptable US distributor.
Because of this difficulty, Yano Electric's presence in the US has been low key, beginning with a listing in October 1994 on a non-exclusive basis in the catalogs of Educorp (a US CD-ROM mail order firm). Yano Electric's representative acknowledges that one hindrance to Cosmology of Kyoto's entry into the US market is its high list price of $98. This makes for a US street price of about $70, which is nearly twice that of the big name software on the US best-seller charts.
Yano Electric expects sales of Cosmology of Kyoto to reach 4,000 units in the US by March 1995, as the title slowly makes its way from mail order catalogs to retail shops. And the scheduled release of the disc in Windows format (the original was Macintosh-only) should put some more thrust into the title's velocity.
Is American success essential?
Why do Japanese CD-ROM producers want to crack the US market, given the nuisance and expense of creating an English-language version and the difficulty of finding a good distributor? For one thing, it is a safe bet that having Japanese titles reviewed favorably in the US media will help sales in their homeland; just as US titles are popular in Japan, the Japanese consumer will be eager to buy Japanese titles that have made it in the US.A dangerous trend now looming over the Japanese CD-ROM market is that of mediocrity. Japan remains a small market for CD-ROM titles, with the best selling titles being cheap ones crammed with demos and shareware. In addition, numerous Japanese magazines bundle a miscellany of programs on CD-ROM with each issue, generally at a total cost of less than ·2,000. Without high-quality "must have" titles, the typical Japanese consumer finds little incentive to buy CD-ROMs, and a flood of quickly bundled, poorly developed titles could ultimately frustrate customers and destroy a burgeoning market. Even firms known for their creative ability risk being sucked into a downward spiraling trend. Most CD-ROM titles now sell only an average of 2,000 to 3,000 units in Japan ó far too few to motivate companies into creating quality content. To make development worthwhile, Japanese companies have no other choice but to look toward developing content aimed at both Japan and the West. In the long run, the success of a handful of Japanese CD-ROM titles in the US may determine the fate of the CD-ROM market in Japan.
Users wishing to add to their Japanese CD-ROM collection would do well to look at Synergy's enchanting saga The Yellow Brick Road I and II, inspired by the story of the Wizard of Oz. This year will also see publication (by Sony) of an English version of Tong Nou, a game set in a unique multicolored and fantastic realm invented by Osamu Sato, a major Japanese multimedia artist and musician. Yano Electric is reportedly preparing a Cosmology of Asia , and Synergy's is said to be embarking on an exciting new CD-ROM project.
Contact information
Synergy Phone: 03-5272-8950 Fax: 03-5272-9610 Yano Electric Phone: 078 974 2931 Fax: 078 974 40 21