Does poor video game box art push you over the edge so much that you refuse to buy a game? Does it affect sales? That is a question that comes to mind whenever I see another wonderful game get the "American" treatment of shitty box art. One recent game to do this is Yakuza 3. With such an emphasis on open and cinematic gameplay, the cover the art depicts the game in a horrible light. Out is the slick and stylish black and white japanese boxart with a view of Kamurocho blistfully in the background, with a close up of the in-game model of the main character’s face in it’s place for the American version.
Another example of this is ICO. If you live under a rock, ICO was an beautiful atmospheric puzzle game released on the PS2 in 2001. Once again the american artwork looks like a pre-teen made for TV disney movie, with a full close up of the game’s main protagonists posing and ready for action. The japanese art on the other hand, looks like a piece of artwork you would hang your wall. Do americans really tend to buy a game based on this style of cover art? Maybe they misread their audience and felt this style of box art with bring children to beg their mothers to buy the game with box with horns and the giant stick.
Perhaps I’m over analyzing this whole topic. While I’m not gonna refuse to buy a copy over it’s box art anytime soon, I’m sure any gamer would love to have a box art they can show off to others and not be embarrassed over. However, in this day and age, most companies are allowing gamers to download and print out different covers for their games. Sony is currently planning on this for this release of Heavy Rain which also got the "American" treatment. This is a trend I like and I hope more companies follow suit.
