Omakuni, a peculiarity of the Japanese PC game market, explained à la Wikipedia

omakuni (no sale to Japan)

In the online sale of computer games, the Japanese word omakuni (おま国) roughly means disadvantage by Japanese game publishers toward the Japanese PC game players. More precisely, omakuni is the custom such that games by Japanese publishers originally sold for home consoles are later released for PC in download distribution, and that this PC version is not sold to residents of Japan.

There are variants of omakuni like omago (おま語) and omane (おま値). "Omago" means the deletion of the Japanese language in the PC version, as in the user interface or character voices. In "omane" the price for Japan is significantly higher than that for other countries.[1]

Omakuni is a common phenomenon and well known to Steam users in Japan. Omakuni affects most significantly Japanese speakers in Japan, but is also relevant to residents in Japan that are not Japanese speakers, and also to Japanese learners living outside of Japan.

The word omakuni is sometimes used, or confused, to simply mean regional restrictions or geo-blocking in general, too [2], but in this article we focus on the custom special to the video game market in Japan.

The term omakuni first appeared around year 2010 as a slang in the user community of Steam, a gaming platform. It is an abbreviation of "おまえの国には売ってやらない" or so. ("Omae no kuni niwa utte yaranai", which can for example be translated as: "We ain't sel t'yer country, fool.") It is now also used in media, starting from c. year 2019.[2] [3]

Forms

It is not rare for video games by Japanese publishers to be sold first for home consoles in Japan, and later for PC by download distribution to the worldwide market. In that case it is more than natural to expect that the game can be played in Japan and in the Japanese language. However it is often not the case, the play of games receiving restriction in some forms.

Before proceeding, we note that regional restrictions and/or geo-blocking are widely observed in download sales in general, and it is not limited to omakuni. They can be done for example by assigning differenet product keys to several regions of the world, where each key can be activated in a specific region. Another method is possible, where online stores limit the sales of each key to some regions. The entire aspect of geo-blocking is complexified by combination of various limitations.

The same applies to omakuni. Some stores do not ship omakuni titles to Japan. Or some keys can not be activated in Japan. Yet sometimes games that are not sold to Japan at some stores can indeed be purchased at other shops..

Background

There is an explanation of the reason of omakuni that the worldwide trading itself is already complex enough.[4] One case in 2010 looked like omakuni, but that was not intended by Square-Enix, the publisher of those games, and they later became purchasable in Japan, following fans requests.[5]

In Japan the ratio of PCs for gaming devices is exceptionally low compared to other conutries.[6] Some cite this fact as the reason of omakuni. In a similar vein some game manufacturers attribute omakuni to the costs of Japanese voices and fonts.[4][1]

Such explanations are however questionable, as indicated by the case of 真・三國無双8 (Dynasty Warriors 9). Its Steam version was initially announced not to contain Japanese and Chinese subtitles. But after its release, users discovered these subtitle data existed, and by modifying the registry they could be displayed during the gameplay. The publisher Koei Tecmo responded by deleting these subtitle data in an update. (This decision raised extreme rage among fans, and in the end Koei Tecmo was forced to provide these subtitles in a later update.) In addition, in the Xbox One version of 真・三國無双8, which was not released in Japan, Japanese subtitle was available.[7]

One commonly believed cause of the omakuni practice is that game software companies do it for the two game console makers, Nintendo and Sony Computer Entertainment, which possess big power in the Japanese game industry, helping their competency over PCs.

There still exists a game developer that clearly denies omakuni, saying "there is no choice for us that we dare not to sell to Japanese gamers."[8]

Example of Dragon Quest series

Actual degree of omakuni is not uniform — here we see the example of the Dragon Quest franchise, a JRPG series extremely popular in Japan[9][10][11][note 1]. It can be seen that each title has its own case of omakuni. (Or not at all for Dragon Quest Builders 2.) As of 2020, 4 installments are released for Steam.[12]

Comparison of omakuni states for Dragon Quest titles
Title
(linked to Wikipedia article)		 Steam Store page Original release date Steam version release date Can be played in Japan? Does Steam Store sell to Japan? Japanese language support
Dragon Quest Heroes Link 2015-02 2015-12 Yes[ref] Yes[ref] Limited (Voice only)
Dragon Quest Heroes II Link 2016-05 2017-04 Yes[ref] No[ref] Limited (Voice only)
Dragon Quest XI Link 2017-07 2018-09 Yes[ref] No[ref] None
Dragon Quest Builders 2 Link 2018-12 2019-12 Yes[ref] Yes[ref] Fully supported
XI S - Definitive Edition JP ver / WW ver 2019-09 2020-12 Yes JP: Yes / WW: No JP: Full / WW: Limited (Voice only)

Note: The field "Can be played in Japan? - yes" means that if you can buy a key from somewhere, you can play it.

As for Dragon Quest XI S (Definitive Edition), there exist the Japan version and the worldwide version. These names are ad hoc, not official - Notice the distiction is not always clear to customers. The Steam store implicitly sells the Japan version exclusively to Japan, and the worldwide version not to Japan. You can not choose. In GreenManGaming, they are called "Japanese edition" and "ROW edition". (GMG geo-blocks you to the above cited web pages, but from the URLs it is clear that these pointers direct to DQ11S of the Japan and the ROW versions.)

Comparison of the Japan version and the worldwide version of 11 S
Version Can be played in Japan? Does Steam Store sell to Japan? Supported languages Extra feature(s)
Interface and subtitles Voices
Japan Yes[ref] Yes, but not to the rest of the world. Japanese Japanese and English Includes an audio drama (See below)
Worldwide Yes[ref] No 8 languages, but not Japanese Japanese and English

N.B. Cross-region trade or gift is impossible.

The Japan version includes a 10-story (Japanese) audio drama.[ref] Interestingly, in the Japanese Switch version, the "bonus content" (= extra items like Trodain set), as well as the audio drama, present in the Steam version, were not free, but was included in the more expensive "Gorgeous" version.[13] On the other hand in the worldwide version, it was already included in the Switch version (as a DLC "Champion pack"[14]) and remains in the Steam version.

The author's personal impression: For the DQ 11 S Definitive Edition, I first wondered "Why a new kind of omakuni, by preparing two versions?" My guess is it is to include the audio drama for the Japanese version, but the true reason is unknown. (Anyway omane, the price difference, exists. The Japan version costs 4980 JPY + 10% VAT, roughly 50 USD, compared to $40 WW ver.)

Note: Dragon Quest X, an MMO installment, is available in Windows, too, but it's not for Steam. It can only be played in Japan, and the UI is only in Japanese.

See also

Footnotes

Notes

  1. ^ These references are copied from the article Dragon Quest (series), Dragon Quest Wiki, 2020-01-22, retrieved 2020-01-24

References

  1. ^ a b なぜ日本製ゲームで”おま語”が起きるのか？―CD PROJEKT本間氏がTwitterで語る【UPDATE】 (in Japanese), GameSpark, 2017-06-29, retrieved 2019-11-03
  2. ^ a b 購入したゲームが特定国ではSteamでプレイできなくなる措置に独占禁止法違反の指摘 (in Japanese), Gigazine, 2019-04-08, retrieved 2019-11-03
  3. ^ STADIA発表で殺到した「おま国」とは何か　日本ゲーマーたちの悲痛な叫び (in Japanese), J-CASTニュース, 2019-03-20, retrieved 2019-11-03
  4. ^ a b 【ゲームの企画書】激動のゲーム業界を“変わらないこと”で生き抜いてきた日本ファルコムのスゴさとは？【業界初、加藤会長×近藤社長対談】 (in Japanese), 電ファミニコゲーマー, 2018-07-24, retrieved 2019-11-03
  5. ^ 「Steam」の一部作品で日本からの購入ブロックが解除。きっかけはスクウェア・エニックス和田社長とユーザーとのTwitter上でのやりとり (in Japanese), 4gamer, 2010-06-30, retrieved 2019-11-03
  6. ^ 西田宗千佳 (2018-01-15), 米欧日の家庭用ゲームソフト市場は5：4：1の比──なぜ日本のゲームメーカーは世界で戦えなくなったのか, ニコニコニュース, retrieved 2019-11-03
  7. ^ Steam版「真・三國無双8」が“日本語UI”に正式対応へ。今後の無料アップデートにて, 2018-02-01
  8. ^ 日本向けタイトルのSteam展開って，どうなんですか？　日本一ソフトウェアの新川社長に聞く，英語版配信の成果, 4gamer, 2017-02-22, retrieved 2019-11-03
  9. ^ Reviews Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, GameSpy, 2005-11-22, retrieved 2020-01-24.
  10. ^ Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies - Preview, Nintendo World Report, 2007-05-15, retrieved 2020-01-24.
  11. ^ Dragon Quest 9 Set for DS, IGN, 2006-12-12, retrieved 2020-01-24.
  12. ^ Steam Curator: DRAGON QUEST, Steam Store, , retrieved 2020-01-22.
  13. ^ 商品情報 | ドラゴンクエストXI　過ぎ去りし時を求めて S (in Japanese), SQUARE ENIX, , retrieved 2020-08-01
  14. ^ DRAGON QUEST® XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition game for the Nintendo Switch™ system, Nintendo, , retrieved 2020-08-01