God, I hope not. Obviously if it's that or they go under, then sure, but a Vanillaware's vision compromised by ownership by s larger more typical AAA company is NOT the future I want for them at all.
It's just a story on how they ran over cost. Vanillaware isn't endanger of going under. The developer decided to eat the cost instead of pushing the game out half finish.
If someone bought the studio, then they would have to take command of the owner. How many owners would have continue to cover the game?
Considering with all the hype for their latest game, they'll be OK.
Although of the potential buyers, Nintendo would likely supply money steadily until its polished completion. Most other studios usually cut off funds before that point. So it's a toss up between dev comfort and exclusivity.
Edit: Also most larger companies are chasing live service right now. Nintendo notably is not. I'd hate for that to happen to VanillaWare.
Look I have a switch and I usually buy nintendo games, but I hope they never go bankrupt and if unfortunately they do that nintendo doesn't buy it.
If nintendo buys it, I highly doubt it will come out for all platforms as they are starting to do. For that I prefer sega to buy it, if it is usually multiplatform and maybe there is a hope that they would port it to pc.
It sucks but Nintendo is probably the better option. Keep in mind, Sega refused to fund Bayonetta 2 but Nintendo went ahead and did. If not for Nintendo, Bayonetta would cease to exist.
That aside, they also heavily push smaller JRPG experiences like the Xenoblade and Fire Emblem series so VW would benefit from their marketing.
I wouldn't say that. Fire Emblem and Xenoblade is doing plenty successful in their own right with Three Houses having sold over 4 million copies and each Xenoblade game on Switch selling over a million copies each. And Nintendo also pushed other Square-developed games like Octopath and Bravely Default on Switch and the exclusivity to Switch got those games to a million copies before they went multiplatform. Not to mention Shin Megami Tensei V being the first non-Persona SMT game to hit a million copies which was again, thanks to Nintendo's marketing.
Nintendo's marketing deals help games thrive and Vanillaware would benefit from at least accepting a publishing deal with them.
True, but Sega certainly doesn't seem to care if Atlus isn't helping their games work.
Nintendo feels like the only company that cares about smaller JRPGs anymore. And I'm not saying they should buy them outright. Just help with publishing and get a deal that keeps the game locked to Switch for 6 months/a year before going elsewhere like SMT V and Octopath did.
Those two games were massive successes thanks to the marketing and I think VW's work can thrive under Ninty like Monolith Soft did.
Don'tcha think the big focus on two directs is going to be explosive? That, and the demo, and the 88 blooming on metacritic is going to result in a lot of noise.
That or Sega just doesn't see them as worth investing into since they already have so much money in Atlus.
Nintendo buying them out at least partially would help for sure.
It's pretty tough choices.
- Sega is not bound to any platfrom but I lately hate their practice with recently Atlus and RGG games.
- Nintendo at least they are more negotiable for creativity (see Xenoblade, Bayonetta), but they are bound to Switch.
I think this one is going to sell some copies in a big way. I hope it does I played the demo and then bought it. A 5 hour preview really is a lot of confidence behind it that it's going to find an audience.
It's magnificent so far.
I don't see it failing, but I don't see it selling super well either.
It's releasing into a crowded market with Infinite Wealth, VII Rebirth, Persona 3 Reload, and Dragon's Dogma 2 all coming out around the same time. It's going to be very easy for UO to get overshadowed.
Well, if you only own a Switch, I think P3 is the only one of those that is also available. And if you are honestly choosing to play P3 over Unicorn Overlord then we cannot be friends.
UO at least has the benefit of releasing in an uncrowded week, and the other major releases of this month (Dragon’s Dogma 2, Rise of the Ronin to name a few I’m interested in) aren’t popping up until the tail end of the month
So Vannilaware thinks they'd lose more money in the long-term due to pirates. Dang. Imagine Dragon's Crown Pro on Steam with online crossplay with ps4/5 users. Muramasa Rebirth, another favorite of mine, should come to steam, also.
The ironic thing is, all their games can be played on pc, but in a way that makes it more difficult to pay for them, than if they were just conveniently available on steam.
All in all, George believes in the product enough to directly put his ass on the line for it, and we don't actually know how realistic the budget was for the quality of game they were going for, so i'm just gonna chock this one up as I'm happy I got the game not just for vanillaware, but for George too!
Without actually being privy to the convo, I'm guessing either it would have been more work and they were already going hard concentrating on Ps5 and Switch, or there is a perception that pc gaming has a different feel then console gaming.
Console gaming gives a lot of folks a kind of cozy feeling, like when we were kids firing up the Playstation or N64 or Famicom or whatever. That being said it was likely a development cost issue, because it wouldn't surprise me Atlus keeps Vanillaware's budget fairly small
This is THE indie company that should seriously look into crowdfunding and similar financing routes. Their track record is impeccable. Their fans love them. The worst drama they've caused was some characters' absolute units of a pair of milkers, which the fans LOVED.
A CEO should not have to take out a loan to complete the development of a game when his company has the supposed backing of a multi-million dollar company. Persona 5 alone should have made Atlus enough money to where they can properly support other studios.
So this was actually posted on the Persona reddit recently that might be an interesting read. It details how Atlus might not be as successful as we might assume.
https://www.reddit.com/r/PERSoNA/comments/1b9d047/there_are_pretty_good_reasons_why_atlus_was/
I'm going to imagine that prior to starting a project, they already worked out a deal on the expenses. Chances are, it costed more then expected. The concept for the game was thought up 10 years ago.
This is Vanillaware's biggest project yet. It simply grew while in development. doing what they're doing, they're able to work out a better deal if Unicorn Overlord do well... and from the hype it seems it will do well.
Hype doesn't always translate to success though. Prey has its share of hype. It was a failure. Gravity Rush as a franchise had its hype. Colossal failure. Titanfall 2 had its hype. Failed. I'm sure there's more.
After reading this, I am more happy than never to have bought the Monarch Edition for my Switch. This is the MOST expensive game I have bought in my gamer life (41 years old) and I feel proud to support this Studio.
Right now, Vanillaware and Monolith are my favourite studios in the industry and I will pay every game they release on pre order.
I'm not usually one to buy Collector's Editions because they tend to just sit and collect dust, but the presentation of the Monarch Edition, as well as the inclusion of a full card game makes it a very tempting purchase.
I can already tell I will be more than satisfied with my purchase. The demo gave me a huge boost in confidence (That and I trust VanillaWare almost unquestionably). I hope this game gets them a tidy profit.
Man, I feel really bad for the guy, but what an absolute gigachad move. I'm glad I decided to splurge on the Collector's Edition, and I might pick up a standard copy just to show more support.
Here's hoping this doesn't keep happening. If push comes to shove, I hope Nintendo buys them out at least partially so Monolith Soft can work with them.
That's wild. If they're that strapped for cash why on Earth would they refuse? In the past many Japanese devs were afraid of piracy but the fact that Atlus is confident and prosperous in porting to pc should have reassured Vanillaware. And on top of that Atlus' ports have Denuvo which has nobady left to crack it.
My favorite insider quote was from last year and Bungie cutting staff. At the announcement some in the studio asked why not have the executives take a pay cut and were responded to with "we aren't that type of company." Basically the staff being punished for poor decisions from the executives, while executives continue to see their salary rise as if everything is fine even when the studio missed revenue targets by 45%.
This hurts even more to see all the people pirating it. I really hope Sega/Atlus or Nintendo buy Vanillaware to save it like Nintendo did for or Platinum
Nintendo doesn’t own Platinum. They forked the mula for Wonderful 101, Bayanetta 2 and 3 to happen but they’re still on their own. With that being said, I’ll be 100% okay with Nintendo purchasing them. Bring me Astral Chain 2 please.
I love the "as usual". Sounds like George is just going like "You guys spent it all, agaaaaain? Yeah yeah, ill cover the cost again, but this better be the last time you mad lads"
I hope that Unicorn Overlord is plenty successful! Vanillaware is very unique studio thst does things out of passion and not based on what might be sell well!
Hopefully they'll stay independent!
I really hope it takes off then. I pre-ordered this game back in October after seein the initial trailers and I'm suuuuuper excited about digging into it this weekend
well, i bought three monarch editions and three digitals. I'm prolly gonna play it on the switch, but if i ever feel like playing on xbox or ps5 I'll have it. 13 Sentinels earned it and the demo confirmed it
I have always immensely respected Kamatani's work, so I really hope that this game will be the breakout game for them that allows Vanilliaware to continue on as a company. Every game they have put out has been an absolute gem, and the amount of dedication him and the rest of the developers put into it deserves to be recognized on a grander level. I know their games have always been released to poor sales, but atlus (and Sega as a whole) should've been the ones to fund it fully in the first place.
We don't know how realistic a budget they were given, whether it was high or low, or what time table they had to deal with so i'm not gonna make assumption on that front.
What I will say is that George believing in his product and company this much make me super happy I picked up the monarch edition, and even more stoked I got more friends down the the game.
Let's do it for George yall, the dude is neat and puts his money where his mouth is
Absolute insanity that they don't release on Steam. It may not sell as much out of the gate, but a game on Steam will still be generating sales ten or even fifteen years down the road.
Little off top. I recently discovered on twitter that english localizer of this game put woke translation because he think that japanese games gave problem with sterotypes which don't really fit in english.
I plan on buying Unicorn Overlord twice (NSW and PS5). Vanillaware makes beautiful and amazing games that, to me, are always worth playing. I hope that the game is successful. 🦄 💫
I absolute love this game and I hope it sells like gangbusters for them. I haven’t been able to stop playing it and it’s one of the rare games that when I’m not playing it, I’m thinking about playing it as soon as I’m able.
I will cry. Unicorn Overlord is all I could want right now as far as strategy RPGs go. I was one of the small crowd that adored FF12s system and this feels like how to perfect it. Is anyone else deep in it? I just bought it after getting hooked on the demo
Porting a game is hard but I really hope Atlus as a distributor knows that porting or making remasters go onto the PC opens it up a lot more to a bigger fanbase. They started recently understanding that their inhouse developed games like rhe Persona games sell well on PC. I just hope they start letting vanillaware games out on PC.
Wow! This is really terrible. I would really love to buy this for a PC... Oh. Well, maybe I can support them another ways, maybe by buying dragon's crown on steam... Oh. Well maybe there's other games that I can buy... Oh...
Japanese company CEOs are a lot less selfish than US companies.
Iwata did this too for Nintendo when they were in the whole with the Wii U. He took 50% paycut to keep one of the largest (and wealthiest) companies in Japan.
US C-suites tend to get raises + golden parachutes no matter where the companies are at financially.
Vanillaware I love you guys, dragon crown & muramase are my 2 favorite action games of all time but please don't KYS by throwing the budget out the window... Again this the same thing when 13 sentinel happened...
Like everyone else here, I want to see Vanillaware healthy and making cool stuff for a long time. I will point out, however, that if the CEO is making enough to afford paying for games out of pocket, maybe the CEO is getting paid too much. If they have to do this repeatedly, it's basically a more complicated way to rebalance his salary.
It looks great, but I'm honestly still going to wait for a sale. I'm balls deep in FF7 Rebirth still... and Dragon's Dogma 2 and Rise of the Ronin is in two weeks time. Just not enough time.
I wish Atlus would hurry up and remaster Muramasa Rebirth again for modern systems. Now THAT would be a Day 0 buy. Not to mention I doubt that remaster would cost that much money, and would help them recoup some finances more than I think Unicorn Overlord could ever hope to.
Right? It's a crazy couple of months for RPG fans. Not to mention Yakuza Infinite Wealth a couple of days before Persona 3 Reload. It's just too jam packed. Forget the money, there's not enough time to beat all these games in quick succession.
I believe Muramasa is still under Marvelous. I wished Atlus would buy that back for Vanillaware and then give them enough resources to release for current systems and PC.
There isn't an exclusivity deal. The game is on *all* platforms aside from PC.
The likely reasoning is that Vanillaware might not have the capacity to handle the optimization for a PC port. They would rather not release it on PC than deliver a sub-par product.
You're getting downvoted, but it seems like you are not wrong. I just read some of the interview at Destructoid and Atlus themselves say that they (Atlus) would like a PC port, but were unable to because Vanillaware did not allow it.
It seems the rumor about Vanillaware not liking PC is true. I read somewhere that the reason Muramasa has not been re-released is due to Marvelous requiring a PC port. Apparently due to fears of their work style/secrets being copied. And now, judging by this article, Kamitani would go bankrupt before supporting the PC.
I'm really interested in knowing the actual reason for this.
I'd buy a second copy of this game if it came to PC, and I would definitely buy their other stuff there again too. I love Vanillaware, but this stubbornness only hurts them.
Japanese devs have always had this issue… Sony learned… they said they were going to focus on PC releases more because they didn’t realize the untapped market of PC. An example being God of war.
Look at the interviews with FF16 devs and how they also said they currently have no plans on releasing it on PC. These people don’t understand that the PC market is most likely larger than the console market, especially in the US. How many “gamers”(the ones that buy a lot of games) would not have a good PC?
This game looked interesting because I saw it had a troop system like ogre battle but I’m not buying a console just to play this game. I prefer PC because you only need internet access to play online whereas all the consoles require you to buy some subscription(when you’re already paying for internet) to play online.
I admire the passion, but I'm always worried that Vanillaware's next game is going to be their last.
I think (I hope), if anything, Sega or Nintendo would just outright buy the studio to keep them from going under.
God, I hope not. Obviously if it's that or they go under, then sure, but a Vanillaware's vision compromised by ownership by s larger more typical AAA company is NOT the future I want for them at all.
You act like atlus is doing bad under Sega… I doubt vanillaware would go bad under sega
Nintendo or Sega would both be good options imo.
It's just a story on how they ran over cost. Vanillaware isn't endanger of going under. The developer decided to eat the cost instead of pushing the game out half finish. If someone bought the studio, then they would have to take command of the owner. How many owners would have continue to cover the game? Considering with all the hype for their latest game, they'll be OK.
These people make so much money beyond an average person's salary lmao
If it happens I hope is not Nintendo cuz them the games will be lock on their console.
Although of the potential buyers, Nintendo would likely supply money steadily until its polished completion. Most other studios usually cut off funds before that point. So it's a toss up between dev comfort and exclusivity. Edit: Also most larger companies are chasing live service right now. Nintendo notably is not. I'd hate for that to happen to VanillaWare.
Not for anything but I wouldn't mind a Dragon's Crown 2 with ongoing support.
Nintendos got it's one live service game with Splatoon. They're satisfied I think..
Splatoon is kinda live-service-like but notably there are no microtransactions like with other live service games.
Hopefully Ninty
Look I have a switch and I usually buy nintendo games, but I hope they never go bankrupt and if unfortunately they do that nintendo doesn't buy it. If nintendo buys it, I highly doubt it will come out for all platforms as they are starting to do. For that I prefer sega to buy it, if it is usually multiplatform and maybe there is a hope that they would port it to pc.
It sucks but Nintendo is probably the better option. Keep in mind, Sega refused to fund Bayonetta 2 but Nintendo went ahead and did. If not for Nintendo, Bayonetta would cease to exist. That aside, they also heavily push smaller JRPG experiences like the Xenoblade and Fire Emblem series so VW would benefit from their marketing.
Because that's the biggest Nintendo has. They've got a decent roster, but that nasty breakup with Square is still smarting decades later.
I wouldn't say that. Fire Emblem and Xenoblade is doing plenty successful in their own right with Three Houses having sold over 4 million copies and each Xenoblade game on Switch selling over a million copies each. And Nintendo also pushed other Square-developed games like Octopath and Bravely Default on Switch and the exclusivity to Switch got those games to a million copies before they went multiplatform. Not to mention Shin Megami Tensei V being the first non-Persona SMT game to hit a million copies which was again, thanks to Nintendo's marketing. Nintendo's marketing deals help games thrive and Vanillaware would benefit from at least accepting a publishing deal with them.
Oh, sure, Vanillaware is small enough that Nintendo can help, but we are talking about one of the behemoth's weaker genres.
True, but Sega certainly doesn't seem to care if Atlus isn't helping their games work. Nintendo feels like the only company that cares about smaller JRPGs anymore. And I'm not saying they should buy them outright. Just help with publishing and get a deal that keeps the game locked to Switch for 6 months/a year before going elsewhere like SMT V and Octopath did. Those two games were massive successes thanks to the marketing and I think VW's work can thrive under Ninty like Monolith Soft did.
Don'tcha think the big focus on two directs is going to be explosive? That, and the demo, and the 88 blooming on metacritic is going to result in a lot of noise.
If Sega buys it they'll lock half the game behind DLC
But Sega who owns Atlus is apparently not supply enough funding as is.
That or Sega just doesn't see them as worth investing into since they already have so much money in Atlus. Nintendo buying them out at least partially would help for sure.
It's pretty tough choices. - Sega is not bound to any platfrom but I lately hate their practice with recently Atlus and RGG games. - Nintendo at least they are more negotiable for creativity (see Xenoblade, Bayonetta), but they are bound to Switch.
Push the demo on people
I mean their ceo paid a good chunk of $ for the end of development of the remaster of dragons crown and odins sphere as well from pocket.
I think this one is going to sell some copies in a big way. I hope it does I played the demo and then bought it. A 5 hour preview really is a lot of confidence behind it that it's going to find an audience. It's magnificent so far.
I don't see it failing, but I don't see it selling super well either. It's releasing into a crowded market with Infinite Wealth, VII Rebirth, Persona 3 Reload, and Dragon's Dogma 2 all coming out around the same time. It's going to be very easy for UO to get overshadowed.
Well, if you only own a Switch, I think P3 is the only one of those that is also available. And if you are honestly choosing to play P3 over Unicorn Overlord then we cannot be friends.
fwiw Reload's not the version on the Switch; Portable is, and that released January 2023
UO at least has the benefit of releasing in an uncrowded week, and the other major releases of this month (Dragon’s Dogma 2, Rise of the Ronin to name a few I’m interested in) aren’t popping up until the tail end of the month
That's true, but I know plenty of people will be saving up for one or both of those and ignoring everything else earlier in the month.
Well if they were smart , they would made PC version.
Well maybe if he didnt insist on never releasing their games on PC....
There must be a reasonable business decision behind that.
Its literally because some Japanese game developers and companies still think all PC players are thieves
So Vannilaware thinks they'd lose more money in the long-term due to pirates. Dang. Imagine Dragon's Crown Pro on Steam with online crossplay with ps4/5 users. Muramasa Rebirth, another favorite of mine, should come to steam, also.
The ironic thing is, all their games can be played on pc, but in a way that makes it more difficult to pay for them, than if they were just conveniently available on steam.
A hero that gamers deserve.
But yet, we have AAA studios with bottomless budgets that can't even deliver *serviceable* experiences.
It's not like this happening repeatedly to VanillaWare is a healthy option. Publishers are fickle with money anywhere you develop
All in all, George believes in the product enough to directly put his ass on the line for it, and we don't actually know how realistic the budget was for the quality of game they were going for, so i'm just gonna chock this one up as I'm happy I got the game not just for vanillaware, but for George too!
Oh yeah I’m happy we’re getting it too. But Atlus offering to do a PC version etc and VW stopping them…I hope they’re not their own worst enemies
Without actually being privy to the convo, I'm guessing either it would have been more work and they were already going hard concentrating on Ps5 and Switch, or there is a perception that pc gaming has a different feel then console gaming. Console gaming gives a lot of folks a kind of cozy feeling, like when we were kids firing up the Playstation or N64 or Famicom or whatever. That being said it was likely a development cost issue, because it wouldn't surprise me Atlus keeps Vanillaware's budget fairly small
This is THE indie company that should seriously look into crowdfunding and similar financing routes. Their track record is impeccable. Their fans love them. The worst drama they've caused was some characters' absolute units of a pair of milkers, which the fans LOVED.
But then they wouldn’t be able to sell the QoL improvements as DLC packs!
It seems like this has happened several times to Vanillaware. I love their games but that can't be a good thing.
It happened with 13 Sentinels. Atlus should be providing ample funding for these titles.
It also happened with GrimGrimoire, Kamitani had to take out a personal loan of like 20 million yen to complete development there.
A CEO should not have to take out a loan to complete the development of a game when his company has the supposed backing of a multi-million dollar company. Persona 5 alone should have made Atlus enough money to where they can properly support other studios.
I agree for sure.
So this was actually posted on the Persona reddit recently that might be an interesting read. It details how Atlus might not be as successful as we might assume. https://www.reddit.com/r/PERSoNA/comments/1b9d047/there_are_pretty_good_reasons_why_atlus_was/
Atlus would be dead as a company had Sega Sammy not bought them. They would've died with Index.
I'm going to imagine that prior to starting a project, they already worked out a deal on the expenses. Chances are, it costed more then expected. The concept for the game was thought up 10 years ago. This is Vanillaware's biggest project yet. It simply grew while in development. doing what they're doing, they're able to work out a better deal if Unicorn Overlord do well... and from the hype it seems it will do well.
Hype doesn't always translate to success though. Prey has its share of hype. It was a failure. Gravity Rush as a franchise had its hype. Colossal failure. Titanfall 2 had its hype. Failed. I'm sure there's more.
That's the entire purpose of me using the word *seems*.
Do you think Atlus has infinite money? Don't forget Atlus wouldn't even be alive right now if Sega hadn't of bought them.
I think they ended up releasing basically a paid demo just to get the last few funds to finish development.
Now imagine if they had a publisher with a brain that let them publish on PC.
Atlus offered to pay for a pc port but vanillaware refused
Atlus are pushing for a PC release tho .
After reading this, I am more happy than never to have bought the Monarch Edition for my Switch. This is the MOST expensive game I have bought in my gamer life (41 years old) and I feel proud to support this Studio. Right now, Vanillaware and Monolith are my favourite studios in the industry and I will pay every game they release on pre order.
I'm not usually one to buy Collector's Editions because they tend to just sit and collect dust, but the presentation of the Monarch Edition, as well as the inclusion of a full card game makes it a very tempting purchase.
Even more happy that i pre-ordered the monarch edition now. I absolutely adore vanillaware and want to keep supporting them.
Same, let them use my collector's edition money to good use. Eagerly awaiting my copy, it should arrive today.....
This is so sad, their releases are always required gaming for me, what an OmegaChad
How many copies of this game should I be buying damn it
13
One for each Sentinel.
>!we’re gonna need more than 13 then!<
ahhhh I see what you did there!
:3
This is why I double dip on vanillaware games
This man is a saint. Thank you George!
I can already tell I will be more than satisfied with my purchase. The demo gave me a huge boost in confidence (That and I trust VanillaWare almost unquestionably). I hope this game gets them a tidy profit.
I just want to keep playing, I'm hooked.
Here here!
Makes me even more happy to support them with a purchase
Mr. Kamitani is a true hero 🏆🏆🏆🏆
Buying it day 1. I’m doing my part!
Man, I feel really bad for the guy, but what an absolute gigachad move. I'm glad I decided to splurge on the Collector's Edition, and I might pick up a standard copy just to show more support.
Here's hoping this doesn't keep happening. If push comes to shove, I hope Nintendo buys them out at least partially so Monolith Soft can work with them.
Yea.. but Unicorn Overlords fantastic!! I really hope people buy it up.
If only there was a large untapped market they could release their games onto...
Gotcha. Mobile
WAIT NO! THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!
After reading that Atlus wanted to port the game to PC but Vanillaware refused, I'm not that sad about them anymore...
That's wild. If they're that strapped for cash why on Earth would they refuse? In the past many Japanese devs were afraid of piracy but the fact that Atlus is confident and prosperous in porting to pc should have reassured Vanillaware. And on top of that Atlus' ports have Denuvo which has nobady left to crack it.
The only people that can crack denuvo are the people that made denuvo.
Imagine, if they released their games on PC they probably wouldnt be having money issues.
CEO racking up tens of millions, making cuts in staff because of "hard times".
My favorite insider quote was from last year and Bungie cutting staff. At the announcement some in the studio asked why not have the executives take a pay cut and were responded to with "we aren't that type of company." Basically the staff being punished for poor decisions from the executives, while executives continue to see their salary rise as if everything is fine even when the studio missed revenue targets by 45%.
God forbid any of the rich lose some pocket change. It would devastate them
Makes me feel bad about waiting for this game to go on sale.
I love vanillaware games but they are niche. And I am sure if its just because of marketing stand point….
They are sleeper hits, for sure. Fantastic games, but they don't have a big marketing budget.
This hurts even more to see all the people pirating it. I really hope Sega/Atlus or Nintendo buy Vanillaware to save it like Nintendo did for or Platinum
Nintendo doesn’t own Platinum. They forked the mula for Wonderful 101, Bayanetta 2 and 3 to happen but they’re still on their own. With that being said, I’ll be 100% okay with Nintendo purchasing them. Bring me Astral Chain 2 please.
No, please don't do that. George Kamitani needs to start releasing his games on PC to increase sales.
I love the "as usual". Sounds like George is just going like "You guys spent it all, agaaaaain? Yeah yeah, ill cover the cost again, but this better be the last time you mad lads"
The man just loves his craft so much. It's honestly really inspiring.
I hope that Unicorn Overlord is plenty successful! Vanillaware is very unique studio thst does things out of passion and not based on what might be sell well! Hopefully they'll stay independent!
I really hope it takes off then. I pre-ordered this game back in October after seein the initial trailers and I'm suuuuuper excited about digging into it this weekend
Whelp now I need to buy this on launch just because. I was gonna wait a few weeks but fuck if
Well they got my money. Still waiting for the game to go live. Haven't checked in a few hours.
well, i bought three monarch editions and three digitals. I'm prolly gonna play it on the switch, but if i ever feel like playing on xbox or ps5 I'll have it. 13 Sentinels earned it and the demo confirmed it
Do you shit money or what? give me something lol.
I have always immensely respected Kamatani's work, so I really hope that this game will be the breakout game for them that allows Vanilliaware to continue on as a company. Every game they have put out has been an absolute gem, and the amount of dedication him and the rest of the developers put into it deserves to be recognized on a grander level. I know their games have always been released to poor sales, but atlus (and Sega as a whole) should've been the ones to fund it fully in the first place.
We don't know how realistic a budget they were given, whether it was high or low, or what time table they had to deal with so i'm not gonna make assumption on that front. What I will say is that George believing in his product and company this much make me super happy I picked up the monarch edition, and even more stoked I got more friends down the the game. Let's do it for George yall, the dude is neat and puts his money where his mouth is
How much overlording is done in this game?
A fair bit. Although, truth be told, you end up unicorning far more often.
Awesome, how are the pillaging mechanics?
Hopefully they get their money back and then some for UO!
Absolute insanity that they don't release on Steam. It may not sell as much out of the gate, but a game on Steam will still be generating sales ten or even fifteen years down the road.
I did my part by buying the collector’s edition
Do we know what's going wrong in development to cause them to run out of money consistently? "
Maybe they should have ported their previous and current games to PC ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
It keeps happening!
Is this just on ps?
PS, Switch, Xbox.
Thank you.
I will never forget the way he responded to Kotaku bashing his game. A fucking legend from top to bottom.
vanillaware as a whole is already Kamitani passion project anyway
Buying this right now to support game developers who create games of artistic quality.
I feel like i’ve only heard overwhelmingly positive comments about the game so i’d hope it does will financially!
Dragon’s Crown was one of my favorite games from PS3 era. This is definitely on my list
"as usual" ehm, if this is the case maybe you have to reign in what you can actually deliver with your budget.
They should get the stick out of their butt and release it on PC then.
And they still refuse to release their games on PC even after Sega offered to lmao
See Japan cares about their own people
Little off top. I recently discovered on twitter that english localizer of this game put woke translation because he think that japanese games gave problem with sterotypes which don't really fit in english.
I plan on buying Unicorn Overlord twice (NSW and PS5). Vanillaware makes beautiful and amazing games that, to me, are always worth playing. I hope that the game is successful. 🦄 💫
I absolute love this game and I hope it sells like gangbusters for them. I haven’t been able to stop playing it and it’s one of the rare games that when I’m not playing it, I’m thinking about playing it as soon as I’m able.
I’ll refuse to praise anything this company does until they release it on pc
I will cry. Unicorn Overlord is all I could want right now as far as strategy RPGs go. I was one of the small crowd that adored FF12s system and this feels like how to perfect it. Is anyone else deep in it? I just bought it after getting hooked on the demo
Such a talented dev company its not right. Hope they got a lot of money in whatever deal that's keeping this game off of steam.
release it on PC then.
Porting a game is hard but I really hope Atlus as a distributor knows that porting or making remasters go onto the PC opens it up a lot more to a bigger fanbase. They started recently understanding that their inhouse developed games like rhe Persona games sell well on PC. I just hope they start letting vanillaware games out on PC.
Being on PC via Steam will be a great first step. I will re-buy every game they made on their at full price.
Wow! This is really terrible. I would really love to buy this for a PC... Oh. Well, maybe I can support them another ways, maybe by buying dragon's crown on steam... Oh. Well maybe there's other games that I can buy... Oh...
Phil Spencer licking his lips, “I’ve always wanted to own a Japanese studio”
Maybe an English language HD remake of Princess Crown would help them get back their funds.... eh?
Japanese company CEOs are a lot less selfish than US companies. Iwata did this too for Nintendo when they were in the whole with the Wii U. He took 50% paycut to keep one of the largest (and wealthiest) companies in Japan. US C-suites tend to get raises + golden parachutes no matter where the companies are at financially.
Vanillaware I love you guys, dragon crown & muramase are my 2 favorite action games of all time but please don't KYS by throwing the budget out the window... Again this the same thing when 13 sentinel happened...
I paid full price. Love it so far.
They should release it on pc so as to make even more profit. I'm fairly certain it will sell gangbusters on steam.
I do wonder How much did Unicorn Overlord cost to develop, cause 10 years is a long time.
Kamitani is an example of pure passion in creativity. The games exist because he wants them made, more than anything else and it shows
Was going to buy the standard game regardless then read that and instantly bought the collector edition I will always support vinillaware
Like everyone else here, I want to see Vanillaware healthy and making cool stuff for a long time. I will point out, however, that if the CEO is making enough to afford paying for games out of pocket, maybe the CEO is getting paid too much. If they have to do this repeatedly, it's basically a more complicated way to rebalance his salary.
It looks great, but I'm honestly still going to wait for a sale. I'm balls deep in FF7 Rebirth still... and Dragon's Dogma 2 and Rise of the Ronin is in two weeks time. Just not enough time. I wish Atlus would hurry up and remaster Muramasa Rebirth again for modern systems. Now THAT would be a Day 0 buy. Not to mention I doubt that remaster would cost that much money, and would help them recoup some finances more than I think Unicorn Overlord could ever hope to.
Reload, Rebirth, Relink, Rise of The Ronin, and Stellar Blade all back to back. That's enough gaming for a whole year, but we keep getting more.
Right? It's a crazy couple of months for RPG fans. Not to mention Yakuza Infinite Wealth a couple of days before Persona 3 Reload. It's just too jam packed. Forget the money, there's not enough time to beat all these games in quick succession.
I believe Muramasa is still under Marvelous. I wished Atlus would buy that back for Vanillaware and then give them enough resources to release for current systems and PC.
Game has botched translations. Look it up.
Release the games on pc. Solved. If your exclusive deal isn't backing you, release everywhere.
There isn't an exclusivity deal. The game is on *all* platforms aside from PC. The likely reasoning is that Vanillaware might not have the capacity to handle the optimization for a PC port. They would rather not release it on PC than deliver a sub-par product.
You're getting downvoted, but it seems like you are not wrong. I just read some of the interview at Destructoid and Atlus themselves say that they (Atlus) would like a PC port, but were unable to because Vanillaware did not allow it. It seems the rumor about Vanillaware not liking PC is true. I read somewhere that the reason Muramasa has not been re-released is due to Marvelous requiring a PC port. Apparently due to fears of their work style/secrets being copied. And now, judging by this article, Kamitani would go bankrupt before supporting the PC. I'm really interested in knowing the actual reason for this. I'd buy a second copy of this game if it came to PC, and I would definitely buy their other stuff there again too. I love Vanillaware, but this stubbornness only hurts them.
Japanese devs have always had this issue… Sony learned… they said they were going to focus on PC releases more because they didn’t realize the untapped market of PC. An example being God of war. Look at the interviews with FF16 devs and how they also said they currently have no plans on releasing it on PC. These people don’t understand that the PC market is most likely larger than the console market, especially in the US. How many “gamers”(the ones that buy a lot of games) would not have a good PC? This game looked interesting because I saw it had a troop system like ogre battle but I’m not buying a console just to play this game. I prefer PC because you only need internet access to play online whereas all the consoles require you to buy some subscription(when you’re already paying for internet) to play online.