Walkthroughs

Peter Payne Interview
Author: Lamuness
Updated: 1998-11-03

Interview With: Peter Payne
Company: Jast USA
Role: President
Date of Interview: November 1998

Well, here he is! Peter Payne, the person responsible for some of the recent English H-game releases. His releases include translations of Jast Co. Ltd.'s Runaway City, Three Sisters Story and Season of Sakura (as of date of interview).

Part 1: Questions about Jast USA

1. Mr. Payne, what is your position in Jast USA and what are your responsibilites as such?

I'm in charge of translation and development of software titles. You could call me the "head evangelist for hentai games."

2. What is the difference between Jast USA and Jast Japan? Is Jast USA a branch of Jast Japan?

JAST USA is a separate entitity from JAST Co. Ltd., although we work with each other to make the English versions of JAST's anime games. We do the translation and debugging and beta testing, and they do the actual English conversion.

3. How did you get into the involvement of making English H-games? What is your motivaton(s)?

Hmm, why does anyone start a company? Because they see a need, and have way too much excess energy ^_^ I have been interested in a wide range of Japanese pop cultre genres all my life, from manga to pop music to dojinshi, and the Japanese anime RPGs were no exception. When the Kimagure Orange Road novels came out, I knew there was no one who could bring them out for American fans to enjoy, so I translated them myself and put them on the Internet. With the anime games I was interested in, the only way they could be enjoyed by English-speaking fans was to contact the game companies and negiotiate to bring them out in English.

4. As you know, there are a lot of H-game companies in Japan. What made you choose Jast as the company to translate games of?

First of all, I love JAST's games, and I think they're just great -- great artwork, great stories, great "H"... To be honest, there isn't much sense of "venture business" here in Japan, and very few of the established game companies were interested in releaseing English versions of these games. Some of Japan's adult game companies are quite xenophobic, and not interested in pursuing the idea at all. Others, such as Elf, perhaps the most successful game company in Japan right now, are quite large, and would only show an interest unless we could prove that the size of the market for these games was substantial. JAST, on the other hand, was very interested in building a market in North America and elsewhere, and didn't mind a little "bootstrapping." The excellent attitude of JAST is what made the difference.

5. Is SakuraSoft and Jast USA the same company? If so, why did you change the company name from SakuraSoft to Jast USA?

Sakura Soft was the first generation of our venture. It failed for various reasons, mostly finaicial, but we are carrying on.

Part 2: Questions about English H-game market

1. Do you think that in general the western audience know a lot about the H-games or what they are? What type of audience (or ethnic groups) are you aiming for in the US H-game industry? White? Black? Others?

The genre is definitely not generally known to English-speaking fans, and that's why it's been hard to turn the anime hentai game genre into, say, a miniature version of the adult anime video market, which does quite well. The problem is that the basic concept of these games needs to be explained to each customer and potential retailer/distributor -- unlike, say, the popular La Blue Girl series of adult anime videos. Potential customers and deales don't "get" the anime RPG game genre as readily as, say, a "naughty tentacle" video.

There are two groups of people who will buy these games. The first are the current fans of the genre, most of whom are on the Internet, who support companies like JAST USA because they want to see newer and better games be released. The other group are over-18 fans of anime, nearly all male, who are interested in the interactive qualities of the games, or the fact that they're translated without any changing or "writing down" of the original story elements, and who give the games a try. At conventions and on the Internet, we see a high degree of people buying one title, then coming back and buying others. This makes us happy.

2. How well do you think the western audience take themes in H-games comparing with people in Japan? Do you think the western audience accept the themes as easily as Japanese people?

I'd say most of the themes are universal, at least to fans of these games, who want us to preserve the original Japanese stories and game themes. Some, like "naughty tentacles," take a little more time to get used to.

3. What do you think the western audiences look for in English H-games?

I'd say they look for good games with interesting stories, great artwork, and something JAST USA's current three titles do well in, long game-playing time. There are fans who really know their hentai games out there, and who email us, asking for us to address this or that sub-type of game. We try to listen to their input as much as we can.

4. If people do not seem to have positive feedback on the uncensored graphics, would you stop using it as a selling point of your products and instead getting games with quality graphics?

I'm not sure I understand the question. One of the basic precepts to selling products of this sort in North America is that there must be no censorship. All of JAST USA's products are uncensored. To sell anything with a mosaic censor on it would be comitting suicide, since even if some fans wouldn't mind the mosaic censorship, no dealer or distributor would touch such a product.

5. Will there be any repercussion if uncensored H-games somehow get back to Japan?

This is one of the concerns of Japanese game companies, and one reason why they are not terribly interested in exporting their software to the English-speaking market. I have not heard of any problem arising from any non-mosaiced anime products (either hentai games or anime videos) being reimported and sold in Japan. The Japanese police are quite on the ball when it comes to tracking down uncensored adult videos sold in Japan, so anyone trying to sell such products here would likely get into a lot of trouble.

6. What do your Japanese partners (Jast Japan) expect for current and future English H-game market. Are they satisfied with the progress with Jast USA so far? In general, how do H-game companies as a whole view the English H-game market?

In addition, in your opinion, why is it that people pirate H-games as opposed to buying it? How are your plans on stopping pirates from pirating H-games in the future? (eg CD-ROM filled with game data/better copy protection devices)

I think the market has been fine so far, but it's slow growing. I think the hentai game market is approximately where the Apple Newton was back in 1993 -- something with a lot of potential, but it's quite difficult to tell exactly how much from where we are now. JAST USA and JAST will be putting out more and more games, and as a distributor, offering the titles of other companies to online retailers, catalog sellers, comic shops, and so on. We hope to have three new products of our own out in 1999.

Let me get on the soapbox for a minute, though. There's one thing that's really going to harm the emergency of the hentai RPG game as a great new wave from Japan, and that's software piracy. Shiftless individuals put up homepage on free providers, giving away the hard work of JAST USA and other companies in exchange for 2-cents-per-click banner programs, cutting the potential commercial market for our games in half and robbing game developers of the funds and sales numbers needed to bring out really good games in the future. The same old rationalizations apply -- game developers deserve to have their products stolen, because they released this title instead of that, or because the games are not as good as XYZ game they pirated last week. Not only are the pirates setting themselves up for big troubles from the Japanese Software Morality Association and copyright holders, but they're going to destroy whatever future adult anime RPGs have before they get really started. People who enjo y these games and want to see more and more come out in English, and without censorship, should either buy them, to support the publishers and encourage more and better games -- or go without. The support of fans of these games is vital to companies like JAST, RCY, Otaku and Himeya, and without that support, we'll all go the way of Megatech. Then where will they be?

Part 3: Questions about English H-games

1. How much money and resources are required to translate a game?

I'd say at least $25,000 and six months, at our present level of staff. This is not an outright license, either, but based on sales of 2000 games. Some other develpers costs are probably higher.

2. How much does it cost to get a license for translating a game, and is it difficult to get one?

Very difficult, but with successfully release titles under our belts, it should become easier to approach game companies with proposals.

3. What do you think of other H-game competitors like Otaku, RCY and HimeyaSoft?

I like them very much. Since JAST USA is also a distributor for game titles, we work closely with RCY and Otaku Publishing to publish the best games we can. Each game company has something going for it -- Otaku Publishings's games have Japanese voice tracks, RCY's games have a great user-interface, and our own games have (IMHO) great stories and long playing time. I am not as familiar with Himeya.

4. Are the games published by Jast USA conform with RSAC (Recreational Software Advisory Concil) rating standard? Is it done the same way as what Japanese Hgame did with the Computer Software Moral Association?

We have "NR-18" on the games, meaning that the game isn't rated, and is for people 18 and older only. This is basically the same thing, although it's not a system we copied from anyone (that I know of).

5. What are your comments and advices on minors who play your games (or H-games in general)?

I have only one comment for minors who play hentai games -- stop. They're not for you. If you have that much extra testosterone, put it to good use playing basketball.

Part 4: Future plans and other opinionated questions

1. What is your favorite H-game and why? If it is not a Jast game, what Jast Japan game do you like best?

I love Season of the Sakura. It's got the lowest "story to ecchi" ratio compared with our other two titles, but the characters just really come alive. I love the emotional build-up, and the bitter saddness when you have to break the news of your choice to the girls who you didn't choose. When customers ask me at conventions to recommend a title, it's the one I always mention first.

2. Are you planning of creating your own English H-games (not just translating)?

I would say that we wouldn't be interested in doing "original" games, for the reason that fans don't really want "fake" anime products. Even if I lived in Japan for twenty years and walked in the footsteps of Lafcadio Hearn and comitted seppuku on the steps of the Imperial Palace, I'd never be truly Japanese. Before we did original hentai games of our own, I could see us working more with dojinshi and dojin-soft artists to bring quality dojin-soft (underground, fan-created anime software) out in English.

3. What are your future plans for your H-games translation? What English H-games will we see in the future?

We are working hard on Transfer Student now. This game is really great, based on a very successful title in the Tenshitachi no Gogo series (but with all-new graphics and story). I can't say what will come after that, because I'm not sure right now. We don't decide future projects until the current project is finished, so that we can choose from newer and better titles.

4. Are you planning to translate games by non-Jast companies?

Certainly. Currently, lack of time to follow up on discussions with other companies has kept me from getting to this. But this will hopefully improve in 1999.

5. Are you planning to translate non-H Japanese Anime-style PC games? (eg TGL, Fuga Systems etc)

I'd be interested in it, but to be honest, I think we'd stick with what we've got now. It's not a good idea to enter a business you don't understand, and I'm not as well versed in non-adult PC games as I'd like to be.

6. In general, what do you think of the future of Japanese H-games, English H-games, and the English H-game markert?

Very positive. I have a strong love for Japan's pop culture, and a strong belief that it will appeal to many for years to come. Hopefully, 1999 will be the best year yet for hentai game software.

Runaway City

3 Sisters Story

Runaway City

Season of Sakura

Transfer Student

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