I'm not really surprised that Nicalis has picked up the publishing rights for the western release of Fresh, since they had worked with Studio Saizensen with Blade Strangers. It's great that it will at least get a physical release in North America, and yeah, I wasn't really expecting a physical release in Europe/AU/NZ, regardless. The delay is pretty disappointing, though; all I can say is I'm glad I was going to import it anyway.
The other, is since the Japanese release will also be in English, and be out several months prior, it makes for a hard justification to wait. Even at a cheaper price, fans or people interested will just import the game. Especially, as you mentioned sol-alpha, with Nicalis' mixed reputation for handling properties. A digital only in EU also makes it even more likely anyone in Europe or Australia will just import the Japanese title, which means the overall sales will be rather divided.
With the original release including English struck me as a move to encourage more people to import it, or for Studio Saizensen to possibly do something with it themselves. However, this drastically changes things. Not sure if they were approached later, or if this was the plan all along. Very curious, to say the least.
Yeah, it's kind of bizarre. The only actively interested English-speaking fans I can really see holding off for the western release (unless Nicalis do a special edition?) are those who specifically want to support their local release.
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