Many gamers have realised that most foreign video game companies release their games in Japan last. Publishers have released several games, such as Pokemon GO, weeks, or even months, after it has been released everywhere else. One theory seems to have found the reason why.

According to Japanese Twitter user and game blogger @yokotaro,

“I heard this idea and I think I agree with it. Japanese gamers tend to give games the lowest rating possible if there’s just something small they don’t like about it. This brings down the score of the game and poorly influences sales in other countries. But if the ratings are high in other countries, then the ratings in Japan also go up. So that’s why overseas releases are made a priority.”

While other parts of the world have those gamers which fuss over the smallest details, they seem to be a lot more common in Japan. For reasons which range from the game not being free to not liking the cover art, Japanese gamers would tend to give a 1-star rating just for just any small reason. A chart comparing reviews for Final Fantasy XV and Pokémon Sun seems to be strengthening this theory:

Final Fantasy XV and Pokemon Sun/Moon have both received much love everywhere else. However, this does not hold true for the games’ own home country.

One commenter has said that “Well that explains Pokémon GO’s delayed release. They wanted other countries to make it a hit first before releasing it to cynical Japan.” Niantic released the game in the country weeks after every other country for “various reasons”. However, as the fans have theorised, this may be because of the country’s own bad reviews. Why not have the other countries have fun first and maybe influence Japan, right?

To be fair, whether liking a game or not is really up to the person playing. However, it is still kinda harsh to give a game just one star because it wasn’t free, right?

source: Rocket News 24