Neverland Company will be ceasing operations

[Ryupower]

http://www.siliconera.com/2013/11/29/rune-factory-developer-ceases-operations-filing-bankruptcy/

developer of the classic SNES Lufia games(as well as the DS lufia(remake of Lufia 2)) and Rune Factory
Neverland are closing down as of today.
will begin filing for bankruptcy soon.


lets hope some one picks the IP and keep them alive

update:
http://www.siliconera.com/2013/11/29/rune-factory-series-producer-shares-brief-message-future/

 

[GamerzHell9137]

Rune Factory NEEDS to continue, its way to soon for it to end.

 

[Ergo]

That well and truly sucks: they made some great games throughout their history, including Lufia, Chaos Seed, Record of Lodoss War, Shining Force NEO/EXA, and, of course, the Rune Factory games.

:'(

 

[Skelletonike]

Someone better buy some of their IP's, namely Rune Factory and Lufia, the latest Lufia games were crap, but the SNES ones were great.

 

[Hop2089]

Mobile has killed another developer in Japan.

East Asian gaming is in a Dark Age.

 

[pokefloote]

SMT IV is released, Atlus gets sold. Rune Factory 4 is released, Rune Factory IP is sold (hopefully). The number 4 is cursed ;O;
Actually I think I remember something like 4 means death or is an extremely unlucky number in Japan. Huh.

Sad to see them go I guess, though I'm only familiar with RF series.

 

[FAST6191]

Re: "Someone better buy the IP"
Assuming it is not otherwise tied up in a publisher how much IP from at least halfway notable companies vanishes into the ether these days?

Mobile has killed another developer in Japan.

East Asian gaming is in a Dark Age.

An interesting concept. Got anything of note to read on that theory?

 

[dragonblood9999]

that sucks. i just bought rune factory 4 2 days ago

 

[UltraMew]

that sucks. i just bought rune factory 4 2 days ago

Can you still buy it?

 

[dragonblood9999]

Can you still buy it?

why would not be able to buy the game?

 

[Hop2089]

Re: "Someone better buy the IP"
Assuming it is not otherwise tied up in a publisher how much IP from at least halfway notable companies vanishes into the ether these days?



An interesting concept. Got anything of note to read on that theory?

I haven't found anything of note to read about this, most of this just comes from experience in playing current gen Japanese titles and venturing into various game forums, however some developers have made hints that support my theory.

http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=200357

I've noticed some trends in those mobile games as well, a lot of them tend to be pretty much geared only to the hardcore fanbase mostly the Otaku which explains why a lot of anime these days have mobile tie ends and some get to the point that the quality of the anime suffers just so the developers can force the game that chances are is terrible down their throat (ex. Fantasista Doll). The ones that aren't are also pretty much laden with every trope imaginable that pisses some of the Western and even the Japanese fanbase off, you will be surprised how many Japanese anime/manga/LN/game fans hate moe, lolis, and fanservice with a passion and don't like these mobile games since most of these have that kind of content in them and only sell because of it. This is also affecting console and handheld games as well, people now are just complaining at how Japanese games are being oversexualized, I've been seeing this trend spiraling out of control since 2007. Even worse, it gotten to the point that the only way to market and make a game in Japan so it can sell is to use sex appeal even if it's generally unnecessary, for example Girls und Panzer didn't need any marketing for bath poster bonuses in the game since it's a 3D tank combat game and the anime doesn't even have much fanservice in it.

 

[fafaffy]

Whaaaat? The company that made Rune Factory 4 went bankrupt? But it was such a good game ;_;

 

[Foxi4]

"It's mobile's fault!"

"It's the shrinking industry's fault! It's because making JRPG's takes so long!"

No it isn't - it's the developer's fault.

If the developer creates a product which does not sell to the contemporary demographic then the developer is to blame. Not the demographic and not the market - those are two things the developer cannot change and has to take into account.

If you cannot make money on your product then in all likelyhood there is something wrong with your product or the way you're creating it. It's the developer who fails to strategize, fails to analyze the market properly, fails to project sales, fails to plan out development and finally fails to market their product hand-in-hand with the publisher - it's nobody else's fault but their own. Additionally, making a JRPG game doesn't take any longer or any less time than making, say, a WRPG - if it does then you're using your resources poorly. Development time increased all across the board, not just for JRPG's - pushing the blame around doesn't change that.

 

[FAST6191]

No it isn't - it's the developer's fault.

If the developer creates a product which does not sell to the contemporary demographic then the developer is to blame. Not the demographic and not the market - those are two things the developer cannot change and has to take into account.

Not wishing to distract from the situation as they are very much the exceptions (and both quite evil to boot) but some of the most legendary advertisers did actually create new markets out of thin air or at least radically expand them.
http://www.prmuseum.com/bernays/bernays_1929.html
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-you-ever-tried-to-sell-a-diamond/304575/3/

Now whether you could do this in 2013 (especially after the Wii debacle) and with a product like Japanese games is a different matter.

 

[Foxi4]

Not wishing to distract from the situation as they are very much the exceptions (and both quite evil to boot) but some of the most legendary advertisers did actually create new markets out of thin air or at least radically expand them.

Now whether you could do this in 2013 (especially after the Wii debacle) and with a product like Japanese games is a different matter.

The general consensus outside of completely miraculous cases is that if your product made according to your standards used to sell and suddenly doesn't then the audience is bored off their butts with it and expects something new and innovative.

Not only that, if Japanese developers expect to make money then they need to stop looking about as far into the future as to the tips of their noses and consider territories outside of Japan as potential customers, they need to adjust. The market turned global, that's a simple fact. Japan is just one country - going global would solve oh-so-many problems Day 1. You can't make massive console games with big budgets and expect to profit from them when you're selling in just one small region - those days are long past gone which is precisely why the mobile market is flourishing in Japan.

On mobile, you can fart out games with next to no budget and they're still going to sell - development and distribution is much more simple plus everybody and their dog has a mobile phone so it's only natural for developers to turn to that solution... which is a perfectly viable one and nothing to whine about.

 

[Hop2089]

Not wishing to distract from the situation as they are very much the exceptions (and both quite evil to boot) but some of the most legendary advertisers did actually create new markets out of thin air or at least radically expand them.
http://www.prmuseum.com/bernays/bernays_1929.html
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-you-ever-tried-to-sell-a-diamond/304575/3/

Now whether you could do this in 2013 (especially after the Wii debacle) and with a product like Japanese games is a different matter.

It could be done in 2013, it would be extremely difficult, and chances are pretty much zero when it comes to Japanese games, public opinion for the games even in Japan itself is far too pessimistic at this moment.

 

[Foxi4]

It could be done in 2013, it would be extremely difficult, and chances are pretty much zero when it comes to Japanese games, public opinion for the games even in Japan itself is far too pessimistic at this moment.

When even Japan is sick of JRPG, you gotta agree that there's something wrong with the way the genre progressed. Like it or not, a lot of those games are simply "samey" and the young Japanese gamers are looking for new experiences while the old JRPG-playing group shrinks every single day. To remain competitive on the market, they need to innovate and serve up new and innovative products.

 

[Hop2089]

The general consensus outside of completely miraculous cases is that if your product made according to your standards used to sell and suddenly doesn't then the audience is bored off their butts with it and expects something new and innovative.

Not only that, if Japanese developers expect to make money then they need to stop looking about as far into the future as to the tips of their noses and consider territories outside of Japan as potential customers, they need to adjust. The market turned global, that's a simple fact. Japan is just one country - going global would solve oh-so-many problems Day 1. You can't make massive console games with big budgets and expect to profit from them when you're selling in just one small region - those days are long past gone which is precisely why the mobile market is flourishing in Japan.

On mobile, you can fart out games with next to no budget and they're still going to sell - development and distribution is much more simple plus everybody and their dog has a mobile phone so it's only natural for developers to turn to that solution... which is a perfectly viable one and nothing to whine about.

It's too late for considering other territories due to how the games are, the chance for the considering happened around 1997-2000, they did not pounce on this properly, the Japanese games now are unlike the ones in years past, there are fewer and fewer that appeal to a mainstream audience, sure there were games that were completely Japanese through and through but now almost all of them are like this and unfortunately very few will appeal to today's mainstream western audience and end up being highly niche.

 

[Foxi4]

It's too late for considering other territories due to how the games are, the Japanese games now are unlike the ones in years past, there are fewer and fewer that appeal to a mainstream audience, sure there were games that were completely Japanese through and through but now almost all of them are like this and unfortunately very few will appeal to today's mainstream western audience and end up being highly niche.

The answer to the problem lies in your reply - adjust to the market and create products that sell. It's really not rocket science, if your old franchises are not working out it's your duty as a developer to develop new ones, preferably with global appeal. Even if they don't want to go global, they can still re-invent their franchises to make them innovative and fresh. There's a plaethora of tools at the developer's disposal that can revitalize the market and it's up to the developers to use them.

Sticking to old methods is not going to help, no matter how "good" the developers may think their products are - the product is only as good as well it is recieved by the target audience. Sure, they may recieve recognition later down the line for whatever reason, they may be contemporarily misunderstood but nevertheless, they're running a business. "Misunderstood artists" have a nasty habit of becoming famous and recognized post-mortem, if the developers don't want that to happen, they need to create products that sell.

 

[Hop2089]

The answer to the problem lies in your reply - adjust to the market and create products that sell. It's really not rocket science, if your old franchises are not working out it's your duty as a developer to develop new ones, preferably with global appeal. Even if they don't want to go global, they can still re-invent their franchises to make them innovative and fresh. There's a plaethora of tools at the developer's disposal that can revitalize the market and it's up to the developers to use them.

Sticking to old methods is not going to help, no matter how "good" the developers may think their products are - the product is only as good as well it is recieved by the target audience. Sure, they may recieve recognition later down the line for whatever reason, they may be contemporarily misunderstood but nevertheless, they're running a business. "Misunderstood artists" have a nasty habit of becoming famous and recognized post-mortem, if the developers don't want that to happen, they need to create products that sell.

Also, they need to embrace digital distribution more, Sony's been doing this well on the Vita having some nice discounts at times and freebies for Plus members, but it still needs improvement, I want digital versions to have more than a 300-500 yen price reduction over their physical counterparts. Another thing that should take place more often is Vita/3DS ports of both F2P and complete mobile games, there have been some great mobile ports last gen such as Front Mission 2089, there are actually a few mobile titles I'd buy if they were on the PSN/E-shop. Also, I hate to say this but the moe and other concepts like fanservice have to go in gaming in most genres (Idol games are pretty much the exception and dating sims/eroge since those are only marketed towards the Otaku fanbase), while it's not the only issue, it's one of the main source of negative opinion on Japanese gaming since it also has negative connotations as in liking moe might signal the person to be an Otaku (a bad thing in Japanese society). This will also lead to a better opinion of Japanese games in the Western mainstream over time since the west has similar problems with games containing such content.