Thread's also on /v/ but because there will be overlap, figured it should be on here too.
Earlier Kern was saying that League For Gamers needs a lot more numbers so that it can be used as a representation of gamers who don't want any censored or watered down shit. Bigger the numbers, easier that gets. Simple idea but I think we can make this work in a slightly different direction: Instead of focusing on quantity, we focus on quality. There's two ways that numbers can impress a business:
A) Large numbers attached to a group, petition, etc to indicate interest. Stuff like Operation Rainfall, for example.
B) The number of actual potential buyers. Dollars, in other words. If you can prove that you have have 1000 people where 70% are your customer, they are going to be much more interested over a group of 3000 that may or may not be. It's using the other half of the equation: the 20% of people that do 80% of the business.
The second is the one to do. Considering our numbers, who we have, and who we can get to participate, a significant number of that 20% of people that make 80% of a company's profits may very well be found within the connections we've got. This gives us a chance to prove it.
That's the OP in a nutshell: Prove our value as individuals to these companies and have LFG's value as a special interest group go up. This needs fewer bodies, is something that can be fun, and can lead to organic growth for LFG. This goes beyond just GG so it can - and should - go beyond that if the idea gets traction.
What people would need to do for the OP:
1) Take pictures of your Japanese games. By this I just mean games developed in Japan. If you've bought digital, get screenshots of that.
2) Spread those pics online, probably on twitter with some kind of hashtag that hopefully can summarize this neatly.
3) Link to those tweets/pictures on LFG. Tentatively made this group for now:
https://leagueforgamers.com/group/shoot_for_the_moon
Maybe something better will come up, we'll see.
Now here's the deal:
Even if the community is small and only a couple thousand, if it can prove that it's a couple thousand of actual buyers and people genuinely considering to be buyers then it's not something that can be ignored for a lot of the smaller companies.
A group of 3000 that fit this description is potentially 10-20% of real business.
Instead of bullshitting here's actual numbers for two series: Miku and Senran Kagura. Numbers are from NPD and the weekly Japanese sales. Neither accounts for digital sales but in the times we can compare it, it adds between a quarter to a third more, not a terribly large amount. And yes, the NPD specifics are going to ultimately come back to GAF threads on it but NPD leakers are one of the few things they've consistently done well.
In 2013, NPD had the retail release of Project Diva F (PS3) at 16k. Sega was happy with this and released the game on the Vita, physical copies of its sequel on both, and DX on the 3DS. They continued selling physical copies and didn't go digital only in the process. On September 2015, Project Diva Mirai DX sold 24k in physical copies. This is still not a lot but if they were fine with 16,000 then you've got some super low margins that a group representing a couple thousand people's interests can directly impact.
Senran Kagura officially hit a million copies sold in the series worldwide late August 2015. The global release to the three games at the time likely played a big role. How big though? Well…
Deep Crimson's launch week: 50k copies.
In the US, it was 10,000.
Now yes, it released in a higher price bracket and that played role in both instances, but that's the gap that got made. If you can find 2000 buyers of it in the US, that'd still be a good 15-20% even after digital unless it bucked tends. You think that won't turn heads when things like say… Valkyrie Drive and Omega Labyrinth are up for assessment? I'm sure that the EU is responsible for its share of copies too based on the fact that Marvelous gives them the really nice LEs, though I don't know those. Will say that if you assume the EU and US each give about the same amount, you can account for the million pretty well. Regardless, this is another example where a few thousand can have a real, direct impact in what gets brought over and potentially what gets touched up.
If we can prove that we are a significant chunk of that 20% that accounts for the overwhelming majority of the money then even with few numbers, any direct appeal to Japanese devs and publishers is a strong one. Middleman "localizers" and bullshit positions that change things because of "different cultural norms" would be put at odds against those saying they want the games as is and to bring things over without fear. Money talks, bullshit walks, and if we can prove we're the former, then they're the latter.