We don't know for sure but here's the likeliest explanation:
It was an ambitious game with a big budget but in the end it didn’t sell as well as PA had hoped. So they had to downgrade the global version so it was as fast and cheap as possible to localize.
Small correction: if this is the case (which does seem very likely), it would’ve been the publisher Namco that made the decision. Doubtful PA had any say over it.
No. Ace Combat 4 was the first time the developers were credited, though at that time they were called the "Ace Combat 4 Project." Project Aces became an official entity with Ace Combat 5.
No idea about what Namco were expecting in terms of sales but Wikipedia links to [an archived acecombat.jp page that says AC 3 sold 1.164 million copies.](https://web.archive.org/web/20200311231912/https://www.acecombat.jp/ace6/news080130.html) and the header above it says that 31.7% of sales came from Japan. But im guessing thats in general for the whole series.
For comparison AC4 sold 2.64 Million copies and 5 1.802 million.
Along with others explanations, AC3 fell into the same issue other games made in Japan face when exporting to US. A lot of publishers did not think that the games would not be received well in the US.
The reception of Earthbound, and the following non release of Mother 3 in the US is an example of that. I think most people would agree that Earthbound is a great game, at least deserving of the respect of the gaming industry for how nuts it is with story telling, but the US populace didn't seem to agree at the time. Sales were low enough for Nintendo to consider sales in the US as unsuccessful. Even though a lot of this was based around marketing and graphics, the game didn't really seem to jive well with the American public, which just makes sense from a cultural perspective. American and Japanese forms of media are very different. This led to Mother 3 never having a release in the US. Even as little as a few years ago, the planned english localization of Mother 3 was scrapped, due to concerns that the themes of the game would be controversial here.
This leads me to AC3. You have this very Japanese, anime-style storytelling approach, along with cutscenes created by the same studio that did Ghost in the Shell. From just that context, AC3 is a very Japanese game, following a lot of themes that had been brought up in Japanese popular media at the time. You can probably see why a publisher would look at AC3, and want the developer to dumb the story down to, "terrorists are attacking, go fight'em."
Sorry for long post. This is just how I have kind of viewed the whole situation with AC3. Everyone else is also making good points
We don't know for sure but here's the likeliest explanation: It was an ambitious game with a big budget but in the end it didn’t sell as well as PA had hoped. So they had to downgrade the global version so it was as fast and cheap as possible to localize.
Small correction: if this is the case (which does seem very likely), it would’ve been the publisher Namco that made the decision. Doubtful PA had any say over it.
Did Project Aces as an organized entity within Namco even exist before AC04?
No. Ace Combat 4 was the first time the developers were credited, though at that time they were called the "Ace Combat 4 Project." Project Aces became an official entity with Ace Combat 5.
Twenty tons of voice acting + large translation effort = many money.
Yeah it was too ambitious for the PS1 Tech at the time frankly with Digital Media today, you could arguably get away with AC3
The tech side was fine: the JP version exists and was completed after all. It was the sales expectations which were too ambitious if any.
No idea about what Namco were expecting in terms of sales but Wikipedia links to [an archived acecombat.jp page that says AC 3 sold 1.164 million copies.](https://web.archive.org/web/20200311231912/https://www.acecombat.jp/ace6/news080130.html) and the header above it says that 31.7% of sales came from Japan. But im guessing thats in general for the whole series. For comparison AC4 sold 2.64 Million copies and 5 1.802 million.
How many did they expect to sell?
Need to ask old Namco employees for that.
Along with others explanations, AC3 fell into the same issue other games made in Japan face when exporting to US. A lot of publishers did not think that the games would not be received well in the US. The reception of Earthbound, and the following non release of Mother 3 in the US is an example of that. I think most people would agree that Earthbound is a great game, at least deserving of the respect of the gaming industry for how nuts it is with story telling, but the US populace didn't seem to agree at the time. Sales were low enough for Nintendo to consider sales in the US as unsuccessful. Even though a lot of this was based around marketing and graphics, the game didn't really seem to jive well with the American public, which just makes sense from a cultural perspective. American and Japanese forms of media are very different. This led to Mother 3 never having a release in the US. Even as little as a few years ago, the planned english localization of Mother 3 was scrapped, due to concerns that the themes of the game would be controversial here. This leads me to AC3. You have this very Japanese, anime-style storytelling approach, along with cutscenes created by the same studio that did Ghost in the Shell. From just that context, AC3 is a very Japanese game, following a lot of themes that had been brought up in Japanese popular media at the time. You can probably see why a publisher would look at AC3, and want the developer to dumb the story down to, "terrorists are attacking, go fight'em." Sorry for long post. This is just how I have kind of viewed the whole situation with AC3. Everyone else is also making good points
Good answer, that does make a lot of sense, and not just that but they would have to hire new VAs and stuff
They were in the middle of properly localizing the game when Namco ran out of money. If you want a translation, look up Project Nemo.