In GDC 2007, did Inafune imply: Clover failed Capcom's bottom line? |
Ó
Ouch.Kotaku reports on a GDC 2007 Q&A session with Lost Planet producer Keiji Inafune, and when he was asked about the closure of avant-garde Clover Studio, he had one thing to say. Bluntly. They didn't sell, therefore...
Keiji clarified that he DID think that Viewtiful Joe and Okami were great games (heck, critical acclaim agrees with him there). The problem was that "Games are not a work of art... it's a product... a commodity" (heck, sales of Okami sadly agree with that perspective. So do Lost Planet sales).
Based on this quote of Inafune's response, it seems that there must have been a clash of perspectives, and on approaches to promoting a game, between Clover and Capcom:
... the producer didn't do his work. The producers work is to make the team make good games and then sell those games. The producer has to do the promotion... Certainly to get good reviews is part of his job. However, the producer has to make sure the game sells [on par with the review]. I think the producer dropped the ball there. Capcom said they would do it, but Clover said "Oh, we'll do it ourselves." And I think this was a failure.
To paraphrase: it doesn't matter if you're the great Picasso, you STILL need a market-savvy marketer if you wanna make mad money (well, that definitely means advertising majors have their job secure in the gaming industry). A sad commentary in a mass-market industry, or the harsh Darwinian reality of the economics and psychology of gaming?
Verily, a company does sit on its bottom line, but where lies the line between the bottom line and racing for the bottom?
47 Jumps PSP homebrew - PSP live TV v0.3
44 Jumps PSP homebrew - PSP Live TV v0.4
22 Jumps PSP homebrew - QMixer v1.0
18 Jumps Buy two, get one free at Best Buy
15 Jumps Atlus now mass-recruiting debuggers
Contact Us:
The QJ.net Network |
 |
| Site | Feed |
| QJ.NET | RSS |
| Nintendo DS | RSS |
| PlayStation 3 | RSS |
| PSP Updates | RSS |
| Wii | RSS |
| Xbox 360 | RSS |
| MMORPG | RSS |
| Personal Computer Games | RSS |
| iPhone - iPod Touch | RSS |
| QJ.NET Forums | RSS |
Add QJ.NET
User Favorites - December
User Favorites - December
Categories
Archives
Accessories
Add-ons
Applications
Artwork
Batteries
Cheats
Deals
Emulators
Events
Featured Articles
Firmware
Flash Applications
Flash games
Game Demos
Games
Hacks & Exploits
Homebrew Applications
Homebrew Demos
Homebrew Development
Homebrew Emulators
Homebrew Games
Homebrew Themes
How-To
Humor
Imports
Interviews
Magazines
Mods
MY QJ
News
Off Topic
On Shelves This Week
Opinions & Analysis
Podcasts
Previews
PSP Go
PSP Minis
PSP Slim & Lite
QJ How-To Series
QuickJump QuickGuide
QuickJump QuickPeek
Reviews
Rumors
Scans
Screenshots
Site News
Titles
UMD Movies
Videos
Weekend Warrior
Wi-Fi
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
Comments [refresh]
Seeds is pretty much the new Clover, they went independent. Look forward to their games!
what do psp game sales imply considering no one even tries to make an interesting or original game for it?
If the reason games dont sell isnt base don the system or its fanbase than why dont they make more psp rther than just innovative ds games since obviously its the fault of the producers psp games dont sell not the platforms or sony's?
speaking of which check out what the dev of spore has to say:
http://wii.ign.com/articles/771/771051p1.html
"March 7, 2007 - During a session at GDC this morning titled 'Burning Mad - Game Publishers Rant,' time was taken about half way through to allow developers a chance to spew their own rants. One speaker, Chris Hecker, currently working on Spore at Maxis, took the opportunity to call out Nintendo for not taken games seriously. "The Wii is a piece of s-t!" Hecker began his talk, which was called "Fear of a Wii Planet." He blasted a few bars of Public Enemy to set the tone. Hecker said the Wii is nothing more than two GameCubes stuck together with duct tape, and that the console isn't powerful enough to provide the next-gen experience he has been waiting for. Although he stated the system is "severely underpowered," Hecker noted that he wasn't simply referring to the Wii's graphical capabilities. He wants to spend a console's CPU making games more intelligent, and he has found the Wii doesn't have the power to process things like complicated AI. Hecker also took Nintendo to task for not taking games seriously enough. "It's not clear to me that Nintendo gives a s-t about games as an art form," he said. To illustrate his point, he searched for references to games as art on all three console manufacturers web sites. While he found numerous such references on both the official PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 sites, Wii.com had none at all. He then shared quotes from executives at Sony and Microsoft talking about games as a serious artistic medium, and then a quote from a Nintendo executive saying the company only wanted to make "fun" games. Hecker ended his spirited rant with two demands for Nintendo: First, recognize and push games as serious art. And two, "make a console that doesn't suck a$$."
you are the reason this industry isn't taken serously
capcom should get the rights to marvel back.
i am going to admit, i do pirate games. i download games very often infact. But viewtiful joe and okami were of the very few that i actually purchased because they were so good. i am sad to see clover gone.
and its idiots like you who are helping destroy the industry, yeah, alright. glad you could drop a few bucks on TWO titles..
and its idiots like you who flame people on the internet.
funny how you're hating on guy who's hating on another guy. i'm not hating but stating the obvious and it's kinda funny.