• Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

Oregano

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,878
How are the rest of Forwardworks games doing?

World of Final Fantasy Meli-Melo got shut down last year and the game they were making with Compile Heart(the Tezuka one) seems to have disappeared?

Their track record seems pretty crap.
 

Deleted member 11413

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
22,961
Damn, I really hope NIS doesn't go down. They make a ton of unique, interesting games, industry would be worse without them.
 

SageShinigami

Member
Oct 27, 2017
30,474
Man, I really assumed someone was buying all those games they were releasing. They looked...boring to me, but everything isn't really for me. When you're selling 3k copies tho, it's time for you to re-evaluate what you're making.
 

Tohsaka

Member
Nov 17, 2017
6,796
Man, I really assumed someone was buying all those games they were releasing. They looked...boring to me, but everything isn't really for me. When you're selling 3k copies tho, it's time for you to re-evaluate what you're making.
They're in the same position as Compile Heart now. CH decided to stop focusing on Neptunia mainline games and did a bunch of new IPs, and they all flopped hard. Idea Factory International can't even afford to do physical copies of Arc of Alchemist and Mary Skelter 2 for America.
 

Skittles

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,274
I really hope they can still make Disgaea 6, it's my favorite IP from them.
Remember the "Sony is not friendly with small publishers"
https://gematsu.com/2018/04/nis-america-apologizes-for-seemingly-negative-comments-towards-ps4
seemed to be a misunderstanding

I don't think there's really anyone over there whose like devolver who could pick them up? I very much doubt nintendo would and sony is fairly iffy since they haven't done a studio acquisition in ages.
 

NeonZ

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 28, 2017
9,377
I think the Disgaea IP is still big enough someone would pick them up, although, yeah, I don't think it'd be any of the first parties.
 

SageShinigami

Member
Oct 27, 2017
30,474
They're in the same position as Compile Heart now. CH decided to stop focusing on Neptunia mainline games and did a bunch of new IPs, and they all flopped hard. Idea Factory International can't even afford to do physical copies of Arc of Alchemist and Mary Skelter 2 for America.

Those games look boring too. Like, I watch tons of anime but the style of their games never seems to appeal to me. I don't expect 9/10 classics so I need their art style to appeal and they just don't.
 

fiendcode

Member
Oct 26, 2017
24,926
I'd think the most appealing part of acquiring NIS would be NISA for a Japanese company without a strong western publishing branch. So maybe Kadokawa, Gungho, Level 5, Cygames, SNK, etc? Kadokawa seems like a good fit given NISA brings over most of their stuff already.

Or maybe something like a merger with Falcom given the close ties with upper management and Ys VIII being such a hit for both? Or if not Falcom maybe someone else (Idea Factory, Spike Chunsoft, Arc System Works, etc).
 

Deleted member 6730

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
11,526
Disgea is going to be one of those series that will just die for 5-10 years before some company picks it up and makes a new game.
 

convo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,377
Trillion: God of Destruction actually had some of the key staff from Disgaea.
I remember the talk of an exodus of a lot of people out of Nippon Ichi, and duckroll saying something about that for Trillions' announcement.
Cost saving and losing staff due to bad practices like the ones a few people mentioned made D5 look like a very desperate try to stay afloat, and it did sell well enough world wide to save them for a bit. If they can't be saved someone bigger will have to save the IPs i guess.
 
Oct 26, 2017
13,610
I'd think the most appealing part of acquiring NIS would be NISA for a Japanese company without a strong western publishing branch. So maybe Kadokawa, Gungho, Level 5, Cygames, SNK, etc? Kadokawa seems like a good fit given NISA brings over most of their stuff already.

Or maybe something like a merger with Falcom given the close ties with upper management and Ys VIII being such a hit for both? Or if not Falcom maybe someone else (Idea Factory, Spike Chunsoft, Arc System Works, etc).

Idea Factory is the most logical if anyone. Also with the western branch winding down on retail releases, they could just have NISA (now absorbed into IFI) take full charge of retail stuff.

It'd also allow the ex-NIS staff to reunite with their colleagues again. provided whoever made the call to not pay them is gone.
 

Oregano

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,878
They're in the same position as Compile Heart now. CH decided to stop focusing on Neptunia mainline games and did a bunch of new IPs, and they all flopped hard. Idea Factory International can't even afford to do physical copies of Arc of Alchemist and Mary Skelter 2 for America.

Compile Heart also have a collaboration with Forwardworks announced... :/

I'd think the most appealing part of acquiring NIS would be NISA for a Japanese company without a strong western publishing branch. So maybe Kadokawa, Gungho, Level 5, Cygames, SNK, etc? Kadokawa seems like a good fit given NISA brings over most of their stuff already.

Or maybe something like a merger with Falcom given the close ties with upper management and Ys VIII being such a hit for both? Or if not Falcom maybe someone else (Idea Factory, Spike Chunsoft, Arc System Works, etc).

Spike Chunsoft is part of Kadokawa Dwango.
 
May 13, 2019
1,589
I remember the talk of an exodus of a lot of people out of Nippon Ichi, and duckroll saying something about that for Trillions' announcement.
Cost saving and losing staff due to bad practices like the ones a few people mentioned made D5 look like a very desperate try to stay afloat, and it did sell well enough world wide to save them for a bit. If they can't be saved someone bigger will have to save the IPs i guess.
So do I. I recall something having to do with issues with the PC port of Disgaea that degenerated in a schism that lead to a lot of the original staff ditching NIS.
 

convo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,377
It'd also allow the ex-NIS staff to reunite with their colleagues again. provided whoever made the call to not pay them is gone.
That sounds so unlikley when i think about the splitting of Clover studios from Capcom and Platinum seemingly never being in contact again. It always seems like both sides will always avoid ever bringing up the relationship existed. Sure didn't have Gene in any other game since. I don't know of any examples of japanese devs getting back together again as if to make amends.
 

fiendcode

Member
Oct 26, 2017
24,926
Idea Factory is the most logical if anyone. Also with the western branch winding down on retail releases, they could just have NISA (now absorbed into IFI) take full charge of retail stuff.

It'd also allow the ex-NIS staff to reunite with their colleagues again. provided whoever made the call to not pay them is gone.
My only worry with IF is they're sort in the same boat as NIS right now.

Spike Chunsoft is part of Kadokawa Dwango.
Oh right. I do think either Kadokawa or Gungho would be the top two in a position for this sort of thing. Even if that happened though I'd still expect a major restructuring at NIS and we'd probably be seeing D6 asap.
 
May 13, 2019
1,589
That sounds so unlikley when i think about the splitting of Clover studios from Capcom and Platinum seemingly never being in contact again. It always seems like both sides will always avoid ever bringing up the relationship existed. Sure didn't have Gene in any other game since. I don't know of any examples of japanese devs getting back together again as if to make amends.
The closest example I can think of is Tadashi Satomi and Atlus. Satomi was the scenario writer of the first Persona games and he left Atlus, apparently on bad terms, due to the backlash regarding the fact he based the main heroine of a game he worked on an idol he was obsessing over and made her fall in love with his self-insert in Persona: Innocent Sin.

He returned to work on the extra scenarios of the PSP ports of Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment. He didn't stick around, though.
 
Last edited:

Oregano

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,878
My only worry with IF is they're sort in the same boat as NIS right now.


Oh right. I do think either Kadokawa or Gungho would be the top two in a position for this sort of thing. Even if that happened though I'd still expect a major restructuring at NIS and we'd probably be seeing D6 asap.

Yeah, you're probably right. I was only thinking the traditional publishers in which case Koei Tecmo is the only one I could see being interested. NIS(A) still does Limited Editions for Atelier/Gust.

IF/CH are doing the Azur Lane game which might help them. NIS should probably consider doing work on external IPs.
 

Miller

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
1,238
They would actually be a great acquisition for Level-5. Abby is a trainwreck, so merge them with NISA. Turn NIS proper into essentially Monolith Soft Kyoto where they do support work. The scale of console development is simply too large for Level-5's staff to handle more than one title at a time. They need more numbers ASAP, and their solution to this has been outsourcing. This solution has failed spectacularly and wasted a ton of money (through missed sales because of delays, the cost of paying staff to continue working through delays, the cost of outsourcing VS internal development, etc.). Cut out the middle man. Spend today to save tomorrow.

Then every couple years, churn out a Disgaea with Level-5 crossovers. Everybody wins.

(Unfortunately, I'm not convinced Level-5 even has the cash on hand anymore to pull this off.)
 
Last edited:

SilentStorm

Member
Apr 14, 2019
1,918
Or a ZHP 2 kind of game, at least it would have better than Cladun which looks like a game that won't attract that many people, or the Longest 5 Minutes, a game that seems really niche, that doesn't like it has a lot of content, and is 19,99 bucks.

Seriously, part of me wonders if the problem was that NIS didn't advertise enough, went for games that were a bit too niche without doing enough Disgaea games or ones that would guarantee some sales(not to mention making too many games) while they do their niche games.
 

foxuzamaki

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,560
I get the urge to lay this all at FW's feet, but people need to remember that NIS has been releasing almost nothing but flops for the last few years outside of Coven and Disgaea 5.

Pretty much all of their recent releases have either not charted at all, or barely. That's extremely not good.
Alot of their new ups have been doing well on switch in the west but that ofcourse that only falls under the NISA branch and not NIS itself so they arent actually recieving any of the benefits
 
Oct 26, 2017
13,610
Koei Tecmo would be the most ideal larger publisher. They seem to be pretty prolific and do quite a few things right. They're great at legacy ports like on Switch, and get a SHIT TON of mileage with the Dynasty Warriors engine (apparently called LTGL Engine).

Maybe they can get NIS ironed out, and maybe keep NISA around to localize non-KT games. Hell, they too can get KT's stuff out at retail in the west more, like Dynasty Warriors 8 Definitive Edition and the Atelier Arland Trilogy on Switch for example.
 

Desma

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,233
Koei Tecmo would be the most ideal larger publisher. They seem to be pretty prolific and do quite a few things right. They're great at legacy ports like on Switch, and get a SHIT TON of mileage with the Dynasty Warriors engine (apparently called LTGL Engine).

Maybe they can get NIS ironed out, and maybe keep NISA around to localize non-KT games. Hell, they too can get KT's stuff out at retail in the west more, like Dynasty Warriors 8 Definitive Edition and the Atelier Arland Trilogy on Switch for example.
Ew, no.

Gust games have been pretty terrible ever since KT brought them.
 
Oct 26, 2017
13,610
Ew, no.

Gust games have been pretty terrible ever since KT brought them.

Yeah, they seemingly have been... not as good from my observation.

But at least with NIS, how many alternatives are there besides closing down? Idea Factory may have issues of their own which would make it VERY risky for NIS to be bought by them.

GungHo hardly does anything, so I'm not sure how well they can handle NIS. Game Arts is basically non-existent.

Kadokawa may work but they have a lot of big folks already, such as Spike Chunsoft, Mages/5pb., and of course From Software. But they are huge so they could handle them.

Who would you recommend?
 

Deleted member 8593

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
27,176
Really sucks to read this, even though I'm not entirely surprised. Hopefully they can get their shit sorted out or someone else (SEGA? KT?) can step in and d it for them.
 

Onix555

Member
Apr 23, 2019
3,381
UK
KT buying them would be terrible, albeit realistic, all they do is pump out the most generic of generic trash yearly.


If Nintendos major purchase in the last 10-15 years has been a random Bandai studio that was mostly known for Titty Robot games; I see absolutely no reason why them acquiring NIS is unrealistic. Though don't take that as me saying it will happen, just that 1. it makes sense, 2. its its realistic.

NIS have a large portfolio of IP's, as well as a large assortment of staff and studios. Nintendo and affiliates have been increasing in size the past 2 years, so adding NIS would bolster them even further.
 

Desma

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,233
Yeah, they seemingly have been... not as good from my observation.

But at least with NIS, how many alternatives are there besides closing down? Idea Factory may have issues of their own which would make it VERY risky for NIS to be bought by them.

GungHo hardly does anything, so I'm not sure how well they can handle NIS. Game Arts is basically non-existent.

Kadokawa may work but they have a lot of big folks already, such as Spike Chunsoft, Mages/5pb., and of course From Software. But they are huge so they could handle them.

Who would you recommend?

Speculating what company would buy them is kinda silly at this point.

But I have a hard time imagining them closing down instead of being brought. Even if just for their western branch
 

Deleted member 8593

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
27,176
If Nintendos major purchase in the last 10-15 years has been a random Bandai studio that was mostly known for Titty Robot games; I see absolutely no reason why them acquiring NIS is unrealistic. Though don't take that as me saying it will happen, just that 1. it makes sense, 2. its its realistic.

NIS have a large portfolio of IP's, as well as a large assortment of staff and studios. Nintendo and affiliates have been increasing in size the past 2 years, so adding NIS would bolster them even further.

You should probably look at the companies they haven't bought despite having way closer relationships to them than NIS.
 

Oregano

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,878

Onix555

Member
Apr 23, 2019
3,381
UK
That's so reductive and incendiary that you have to be trolling.
oh i'm sure it's 100% trolling

In case the sarcasm was missed, MSI is my favourite developer in the Nintendo-circle.

However, despite being good stories, I will continue to describe XenoSaga as Robo-Titty games.
The main issue being, Monolith didn't realise that the real money is made in the Robo-Ass games, Yoko beat them to the punch.
 
Oct 26, 2017
13,610
KT buying them would be terrible, albeit realistic, all they do is pump out the most generic of generic trash yearly.


If Nintendos major purchase in the last 10-15 years has been a random Bandai studio that was mostly known for Titty Robot games; I see absolutely no reason why them acquiring NIS is unrealistic. Though don't take that as me saying it will happen, just that 1. it makes sense, 2. its its realistic.

NIS have a large portfolio of IP's, as well as a large assortment of staff and studios. Nintendo and affiliates have been increasing in size the past 2 years, so adding NIS would bolster them even further.

As much as I'd be over the moon to see Nintendo buy NIS, I don't see it being realistic, especially as Oregano points out, they passed on Cing who was a pretty close ally.

The only dev I see Nintendo picking up now is Grasshopper. Platinum not as much just because Inaba seems very set on making the studio more independent. Suda at least is crazy about Nintendo and Nintendo is now a major client of Grasshopper.
 
May 13, 2019
1,589
You should probably look at the companies they haven't bought despite having way closer relationships to them than NIS.
Rare comes to mind. They pretty much kept the N64 afloat and Nintendo still passed the chance to buy them, allowing Microsoft to acquire the studio.

But again and supposedly, the relationship between Rare and the Big N had deteriorated significantly since the retirement of then President of NOA Howard Lincoln.
 

GarudaSmiles

Member
Dec 14, 2018
2,555
I loved NiS during the PS2 era. I played all of their SRPGs and loved them all to varying degrees. Soul Nomad was my personal favorite. I started to lose interest with Disgaea 3. It just felt so uninspired compared to their PS2 output which were all good in their own way. I've checked back in with Disgaea 4, 5, and D2, but I never felt that spark again. It just felt like going through the motions.
 

Deleted member 12352

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,203
NIS seem to have been fairly poorly managed for quite a while now, so it was only a matter of time before it caught up with them.

Personally, I've felt like since Disgaea 5 the quality of their releases has been dropping steadily. Not sure what they can do to turn things around tbh.

That's so reductive and incendiary that you have to be trolling.

Probably but it's not a totally inaccurate description of Monolith, lets face it :)