Clover Studios (Okami, Viewtiful Joe) closed...

[Jon Brittan]

News (in Japanese)
http://ir.capcom.co.jp/news/html/061012a.html

Capcom have closed 'Clover Studios', the creators of Viewtiful Joe, God Hand and Okami.
Their games weren't deemed profitable enough to continue operation of Clover.
All employees will revert back to being part of Capcom again.

Truly a sad day for the games industry.

PS. There are rumours that the team will leave Capcom to make their own studio.

 

[London Geezer]

News (in Japanese)
http://ir.capcom.co.jp/news/html/061012a.html

Capcom have closed 'Clover Studios', the creators of Viewtiful Joe, God Hand and Okami.
Their games weren't deemed profitable enough to continue operation of Clover.
All employees will revert back to being part of Capcom again.

Truly a sad day for the games industry.

PS. There are rumours that the team will leave Capcom to make their own studio.

I'm not too surprised. Okami might be probably the best game i've ever played but it's undeniable that it's a hard game to sell as at first glance it's not very "casual-y".

Capcom needed to promote this heavily as a "zelda beater" (though i HATE the whole "mario beater" or "halo beater" kind of mentality) to make sure that gamers knew about this game.

Maybe they will be picked up by Sony, which would give them a LOT of room to play with, and it looks like Sony are more open to funding small teams with amazing ideas (like the ICO and SOTC team) even though the games might not be best sellers...

Who knows, maybe detaching themselves from Capcom is better for them. If the team is just dismantled and spread around Capcom, it will be a real shame.

 

[slider]

That is a shame. Only yesterday I looked up Clover Studios on the internet.

Also, only yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away.

 

[London Geezer]

... This might become the most emotional thread on B3D ever...

Cause Clover Studios... You got me feeling emotions! Deeper than i've ever dreamed of!! oooh oooh you got me feeling... Emotions! Higher than the heavens above!










Sorry. I apologise in advance for the loss in IQ caused by reading this post.

 

[one]

English PR
http://ir.capcom.co.jp/english/news/html/e061012a.html

 

[London Geezer]

Clover Studio Co., Ltd. has met the goal of developing unique and creative original home video game software, however, in view of promoting a business strategy that concentrates management resources on a selected business to enhance the efficiency of the development power of the entire Capcom group, the dissolution of Clover Studio Co., Ltd. has been raised and passed at a Board of Directors' meeting.

Translated from PR into English:

"You made some really amazing games but we didn't want to promote them enough to make sure that they were picked up by the masses. You did your job (making great games) brilliantly, but we didn't. Because of our incompetence, we need to let you go."

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Sony need to pick them up. It's these eccentric games that flesh out the software library. They're the spices for gamers. You can't live of them, but they contribute a lot of flavour to the platform. Inventive, artistic, and generally great-but-different titles should be consider part of the loss-leader costs in creating a great gaming system, and it seems an area Sony seem to understand and invest in, which is in part why they're number one I think.

 

[London Geezer]

Sony need to pick them up. It's these eccentric games that flesh out the software library. They're the spices for gamers. You can't live of them, but they contribute a lot of flavour to the platform. Inventive, artistic, and generally great-but-different titles should be consider part of the loss-leader costs in creating a great gaming system, and it seems an area Sony seem to understand and invest in, which is in part why they're number one I think.

Definitely, it would be their second "Ico team". That would be amazing and push me even more into buying a PS3. Damn it.

 

[rabidrabbit]

Surely there's those "eccentric" titles on other platforms too.
The xbox360 has... it has... let me think now.......I'm sure it already has some one year after launch...... well....... it has the Live Arcade and there's some "eccentric" titles surely, like....... oh heck! I give up!
The Castle Crashers seems to be shaping up to be a fun "eccentric" title, though!

A console doen't necessarily need these not-so-massmarket titles to survive and succeed, I'm positive a game with only the EA games could still be fairly succesful

I've found I generally have not been disappointed with these games, many of my top favorite games are these that have not been commercial success, but have been a critical success.
It seems no matter how much you market these games, they just don't sell that well.
They should make "eccentric" games with not so "eccentric" characters.

An "eccentric" big bald space marine game could be interesting, though it could still turn out to be just too gay

The case LocoRoco, that was very heavily marketed and advertised, at least here in EU, but turned out to be just a mediocre success, I think the same with SOTC.
Or were they not a success? I think they were both no. 1 games at charts at some point.

 

[patsu]

I'm hoping this is a blessing in disguise, or I'll be d*mn p*ssed.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

A console doen't necessarily need these not-so-massmarket titles to survive and succeed, I'm positive a game with only the EA games could still be fairly succesful

Of course not, and I never said it did. But to stand out, and gain wider appeal, and push the industry to be more creative, it does. It's people trying out new ideas at the risk of financial failure that end up creating even whole genres, and it's the company that invests in these risky ventures that'll get the most returns on the unexpected hit success.

Back to my analogy, EA and FPSes are the meat and potatoes of gaming. You can't have a successful platform (meal) without them. But meat and spuds is boring, and those eccentric games are the rich flavourings that are used sparingly but make the whole meal (platform) a darned sight more appealing. They help advertise your platform (show people Okami and they will be interested in PS2, even if they themselves only buy FIFA etc.), generate media coverage (magazine's cover big names and the ecclectic, and not mediocrity, while winning awards adds credibility to a platform), and give a sense of a deeper platform with more options. If platform A has FPSes and Sports, and platform B has FPSes, Sports, and lots of other titles, and you're main interest is FPSes and Sports, which would you buy? All things being equal, wouldn't you prefer the one with more variety, just in case it comes up with something that appeals to you?

If eccentric games aren't worth bothering with, then the gaming world is condemned to an eternity sequelitus and recycled genres. I say boo to that!

 

[Jon Brittan]

Surely there's those "eccentric" titles on other platforms too.
The xbox360 has... it has... let me think now.......I'm sure it already has some one year after launch...... well....... it has the Live Arcade and there's some "eccentric" titles surely, like....... oh heck! I give up!
The Castle Crashers seems to be shaping up to be a fun "eccentric" title, though!

It has "eccentric" titles coming out though, ultimately though it depends on your definition of "eccentric".
For one example, Viva Pinata is a more Europeanised Animal Crossing in many ways. Arcade has plenty of games also which could be considered "different" in their own little way, think of the impact Geometry Wars had initially, Cloning Clyde is an entertaining little oddity (although you could argue it's just a platformer), Wik and others...

Granted, there is no Okami, yet, but it all depends on perception, Dead Rising takes a lot of new approaches, enough to define it's own genre almost and the games will come this generation, I would like to think, especially as more Japanese devs (and let's face it, they're generally the best for "eccentric") seem to have an interest in 360 than the original Xbox.

A console doen't necessarily need these not-so-massmarket titles to survive and succeed, I'm positive a game with only the EA games could still be fairly succesful

Agreed, but as already stated, I think it's these titles that give a console much of it's flavour and enforce the strong, partisan fanbase more than that of the casual gamers.

I've found I generally have not been disappointed with these games, many of my top favorite games are these that have not been commercial success, but have been a critical success.
It seems no matter how much you market these games, they just don't sell that well.
They should make "eccentric" games with not so "eccentric" characters.

I think you're more likely to find that the majority (numerically, not vocally) of console gamers are the casuals, with nothing like the games collection many of us here will have and as such they have very definite interests. They probably don't even watch games adverts and take them in, they probably don't buy gaming publications, so they miss the adverts entirely, all they know is that they love their football (American or Rest of the World ) and the latest FIFA or Madden is out...

 

[rabidrabbit]

They are "the flavour" of gaming industry, yes, and I wouldn't want to live without them either (...well, maybe I wouldn't go that far ), but I disagree that the casual consumer, who only plays fps and sports games, cares at all whether his/hers platform of choice has these "eccentric" games at all.

If he doesn't like ketchup but loves mustard, he'll have his hot dog without ketchup and doesn't care if the hod dog stand has the best choice of ketchups. He chooses his hot dog seller based on who has the best choice of mustard.
But then there's of course the customer who likes to experiment, and samples the different combinations of ketchup and mustard, sometimes with not so much success but is also often pleasantly surprised by new experiences.

Oh, I didn't disagree with you after all

 

[cthellis42]

The inner rage I feel right now means I cannot make an unbiases, cogent post, so I am instead going to pretend I didn't hear this until SOME publisher makes it right!

 

[ChryZ]

NOOOOOOO! Damn you Capcom.

 

[Qroach]

This is such a shame... I hope somone pick this entire team up. These games were both original and fun. I doubt MS would pick them up as they have a good relationship with Capcom. Still I wish they would...

 

[DieH@rd]

Such a shame. I just hope that they will continue to make great games.

 

[darkblu]

way to go, capcom!

first the RE team, and now Clover Studios. brilliant. just brilliant.

the world needs less atmospheric titles and more actionware.

two middle fingers up!

 

[Angelcurio]

I just waked up today just to find this news. This is sad, very sad indeed. Its the first time i actually get emotional about a game developer, decissions like this simply show the way our industry is headed.

As i said in another forum, looks like the future of gaming will be based on Madded 8500, Final Fantasy 18, Halo 15 Gran Turismo 20 and Pokemon Raimbow, while innovative and funny games just simply end up being canned.

I really hope that Sony picks them up, since they have the potential of becoming the next Team Ico.

As shifty said, those kind of games should be embraced by the biggest players of the industry even though they dont turn a profit, they should be considered as added costs of supporting the platform since they keep the game library fresh and original. Thanks to clover games like Viewtiful Joe (the first one), God Hand and the critically aclaimed Okami wouldnt probably exist.

 

[Bobbler]

Good lord, what horrible news.

Capcom can go to hell. I hope they leave capcom -- they were easily one of the best teams capcom had, if not the best -- and I hope Sony or Nintendo or even MS pick them up (although I'm not sure MS would be all that interested right now)... this is the kind of studio that needs to be first party so they can get the support they deserve.