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Motohiro Okubo, Tekken 7, Soul Calibur 6 and Pac-Man 99 producer, will be leaving Bandai Namco today
- Thread starter --R
- Start date
Correct. No SC producer has survived more than one game since it was moved under Harada's umbrella, despite the fact that it's always (yes, even SC5) a high seller.
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OP
OP
The founder of that studio for NetEase came from Bandai Namco/Project Soul IIRC
Sigh. The Japanese gaming industry is going through a really tough time right now. Hard to be excited for the future of major AAA Japanese games if people in charge of major franchises keep getting poached away by NetEase and Tencent.
I miss you, Soul Calibur. Please don't be gone for too long. :(
I miss you, Soul Calibur. Please don't be gone for too long. :(
Trying to look at the bright side...this gives up and coming talent the room to shine? I guess?
There are other smaller studios in the area, like Grezzo, but I don't see that either.
Yeah...it's just hard to get super excited for a scenario like that, since Soul Calibur has been a victim of executive interference for basically every single installment after Calibur I. VI seemed like a step away from that, but now if the leader is gone we're back to square one again. Who knows if Namco's leadership will boss the next guy around as much as they did the team working on SCV?
Hopefully he can continue to work on games he wants to create. Soul Calibur 6 was a great game and he definitely puts a lot of care into his projects.
What? It is doing better than ever in the post 360 timeline.
I can't keep up myself.
If Yakuza is losing Nagoshi and Soul Calibur is losing Okubo, those are two of the key Japanese franchises I care about becoming rudderless. Castlevania is dead, Metal Gear is gone.
I don't care about first person Resident Evil games or remakes of old stuff, so Capcom is effectively nothing to me until Dragon's Dogma 2 is announced. All I have is FF16 to look forward to. It sucks.
Not into SHMUPs, indies, Nintendo (they're Japanese lol), Square Enix, FROM, KojiPro, ATLUS, etc. I could go on and on.
Also Nagoshi hasn't been a director for ages now and the games are solid. Games are not just about one person.
Like I said in the Nagoshi thread, the problem isn't just losing Nagoshi himself. It's the fact he's going to take a ton of key staff with him when he leaves and blow a giant hole through RGG Studio on the way out.
That's the big problem with these high profile departures - the figureheads take their buddies with them and leave the studios they're bailing on directionless and leaderless. It's already going to be hard enough for Soul Calibur VII to get made in the first place - if Okubo takes a bunch of key staff with him to go to NetEase, that's only going to make SCVII even HARDER to make.
If that is so, wouldn't you be excited about Nagoshi's new project then? My point is that good games will still be made.
Kojima proved this leaving Konami. Death Stranding was amazing and a shot in the arm he needed creatively.
Man I loved Okubo and SC6, netcode aside is one tof the most underrated games this past gen. He'll be a big miss
Honestly, given the history of "hey, we quit our publisher, and now we're making the same kind of game as the one you like, this time for a different publisher" games being disappointments almost across the board...I'm not super enthusiastic for what Nagoshi's gonna do outside of Sega.
Similarly, I'm not particularly interested in a new fighting game IP out of Okubo. I care about Soul Calibur. Most new fighting game IP that have come out in the last decade or so (BlazBlue, GBFV, Persona Arena, etc) have not been my kind of thing.
This is sad. Soulcalibur VI was fantastic and I was pretty hopeful for the series' future with him there.
You gotta be more optimistic. I know it's your temperament lol, but gaming has never been better, yes, even if you only care about Japan only.
There are so few major 3D fighters that if we get a new one outta this, maybe it will be worth it.
I'm not enthusiastic about it, since virtually every new fighter we get nowadays has a tiny roster and virtually no offline content, but tons of expensive paid DLC. A brand new 3D fighter IP will almost definitely fall into that vein as well.
Actually got to meet Okubo at an event for SCVI, got a signed poster. Was cool. Wish him well in what he does next.
Hope SC isn't dead, but I'm pretty concerned
Hope SC isn't dead, but I'm pretty concerned
Hopefully Soul Calibur lives on after he leaves. Either way, I wish Okubo the best in his future endeavors.
Hopefully he lands at a company that gives him the budget and time he deserves.
Being an SC fan is suffering.
Being an SC fan is suffering.
Yeah this seems really bad for Soul Calibur. He did so much with so little for SC6. Sad to hear.
Wishing him all the best at his new company.
hope he's moving to better pastures. i remember he was constantly tweeting about how fucking awful his work conditions and the dev environment was for SC6. but man, he was truly great for the series - SC6 is fucking GODLIKE in both it's vs system, chars and SP content. it's truly insane given how little he was apparently given to work with budget/time wise.
RIP soul calibur, i guess. it sucks.
RIP soul calibur, i guess. it sucks.
He's had a great record at Bandai Namco and I hope he has an awesome time at whatever he chooses to do next.
hopefully Tekken can keep up the momentum for the next game. as for Soul Calibur... we'll see if the series gets another chance.
