[Image: YouTube]
Nintendo America, for example, allows comments on its YouTube videos. The company’s Japanese headquarters does not, and some people online in Japan don’t sound too happy.
This has been going on for a while now, but a recent 2ch thread shined a light on the discrepancy. It’s kind of strange that Nintendo doesn’t allow comments on Japanese YouTube, no?
But Nintendo is not alone. Sony also doesn’t allow comments on its PlayStation Japan YouTube channel. (PlayStation North America and PlayStation Europe most certainly do!)
[Image: YouTube]
[Image: YouTube]
Neither does Capcom Japan.
[Image: Capcom Japan]
Square Enix Japan doen’t even track Likes, which is nuts.
[Image: Square Enix Japan]
[Image: Square Enix Japan]
However, Square Enix North America tracks Likes and allows comments on its YouTube channel.
[Image: Square Enix North America]
There are exceptions, however! Atlus allows comments on its Japanese YouTube channel. Ditto for Sega. Good for them.
But, as pointed out on 2ch, it’s still odd to see the European trailer for Nioh with comments, the North American one with comments, and the Japanese YouTube one like this:
[Image: YouTube]
Here are some of the reactions to the comment-disabling practice on 2ch (be aware that the thread was centered around Nintendo’s decision to not allow comments.)
“I wonder why it’s like this.”
“Is it because they are ashamed?”
“Almost all official clips are like this.”
“Japanese people online have no common courtesy.”
“Are there people who look at the comments?”
“Other companies are doing this, too.”
“This is the right way to do it.”
“It’s obvious that this is because cockroaches* would lay waste [to the comments].”
*”Cockroach” (gokiburi) is Japanese internet slang for Sony fans.
“Japanese People: ‘It’s the same as outside Japan! In foreign countries, there are those fighting the console war! It’s not so different in foreign countries!
Nintendo & Sony: ‘Japanese people’s comments are banned.’
Japanese People: ‘Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh.’”
“It’s because the only thing you find on Japan’s internet is trash.”
“Japanese people’s comments are overflowing with dirty language.”
“They’re cowards.”
“Because foreigners with anime icons would swoop.”
“Of course, it’s because Nintendo is bullshit.”
“Nintendo is already increasingly casting the domestic market to the wayside and competing internationally.”
“This is a smart move.”
“It’s an issue of cultural norms.”
“Is this a cultural norm for Japanese people? How sad…”
“Well, Amazon Japan’s reviews are a video game battleground.”
“You can really understand the malicious spirit of Japanese people.”
“It’s a cockroach counterplan.”
“When I look at Japanese people’s comments, I see lots of complaining.”
“This thread answers why comments are banned.”
Comments
7 responses to “Japanese Game Companies That Won’t Allow YouTube Comments ”
They may be blocking comments for the same reason TotalBiscuit does – because YouTube’s comment system (including its moderation tools) is bad and during the integration with G+ a while back it got to a point where it wasn’t worth keeping them open any more. He directs people to the subreddit if they want to have discussions instead.
Games Workshop turn the comments on their videos off because most of them are painting tutorials that would draw negative comments about either the company, the games or offering over complicated advice/criticism that goes against the simplicity of their tutorials. Meanwhile there aren’t really any benefits to having the comments on.
We have all seen YouTube comments, not allowing comments is best for mankind.
I don’t mind if they disable comments, because YouTube comments are always a bit of a cesspit anyway.
Disabling likes/dislikes is where it gets sketchy, because that’s almost exclusively done to hide how unpopular the content of a video is.
It can be used to hide unpopular content, but I’m not sure I blame companies necessarily considering how quick the internet pitchfork mob can be to downvote-bomb anything over the slightest hint of something they don’t like. As the recent Overwatch story exposed (where ohnickel was accused of not giving a prize to someone when he definitely did), that mob doesn’t even seem to care if something is true before they go setting fire to the countryside.
more companies should do this, if the subject matter is one in which trolls will surely hijack it. Total Biscuit had the right idea, life is far too short to offer a place where a cesspool can form. Either watch and enjoy his stuff of bugger off.
I remember listening to the generic misogynist-in-training Rags on one of (many) videos where he rips apart a women’s much more interesting and nuanced video. he was complaining that TED removed the comment sections under a video of Ashley Judd critical video of male online hate. Whining that it was against freedom of speech, it silenced us men to have an opinion, it refused to give us a platform, or she was scared that we might put her in her place with ‘facts’. And a whole lot of other seriously hysterical, flawed and scary things. When the truth was far more simple… online comments sections are at the whim of companies, they arent guaranteed by law as such, especially in some international places and more importantly the reason such things have to be closed is that people cant not be trusted. Especially on a topic like she was talking about.
If people use the internet to mass down vote CoD just because the company didnt offer a game a reasonable price, use Steam or meta critic reviews to tank a game because the company did something they didnt like, or the mass racial issues with Star Wars casting a black person to lead or even more stupidly the same with Dark Tower. Or the flood of misogynist content creators. A critical state has to be reached sometime. If companies dont offer comments sections for videos there is only one person to blame, the viewers themselves. Or more correctly the commentators themselves, because lets face it not every watches things before they dive in on the hatefest
When there’s 1’000+ comments on a video and you can only see the top 10 there’s really no point commenting anyway.