"Unprofitable" Ports Forced CAVE Away From Console Development
The Xbox 360 and Western interest changed all of that.
Before the releases of Deathsmiles, DoDonPachi Resurrection and Espgaluda II on Xbox 360, CAVE has shied away from both console development and the international market. Why did it change its mind? According to CEO Tsuneki Ikeda, a combination of Japanese shmup interest in Microsoft's console, the platform's success in the West, and international publishers such as Rising Star Games.
"In the past CAVE has developed in-house some console games, including DoDonPachi for Sega Saturn," Ikeda continues. "But the conclusion from the executive parts of the company then was that it wasn’t very profitable, and the work involved for the ports themselves was very intensive. Ultimately, when the games were finished, we also had complaints from users that they weren’t arcade accurate.
"For a while CAVE decided not to port its arcade games for those reasons. We also didn't want to run the risk of holding a lot of inventory at our company. That all changed when the Xbox 360 came out, because there was a lot of movement from shooting game developers to bring their games onto that system. It looked like there might be the beginnings of a shooter boom on the platform."
Rising Star has published Deathsmiles and DoDonPachi Resurrection on the Xbox 360 in Europe within the last year, to cult success. But the executive revealed that he wasn't even aware that such an international fanbase exists.
"I didn’t even have any concept that there were 2D shooting fans overseas until recently," Ikeda revealed. "In the back of my mind, I always thought it was something that I’d want to do, but unless we had a publisher offer that was willing to get over the initial risk of developing the game here at CAVE, then it wasn’t something we were going to pursue."
Much more fascinating details - about the studio's international approaches, its business, history and its translation foibles (fans will know what we're referring to here) - in the full interview later today.
"In the past CAVE has developed in-house some console games, including DoDonPachi for Sega Saturn," Ikeda continues. "But the conclusion from the executive parts of the company then was that it wasn’t very profitable, and the work involved for the ports themselves was very intensive. Ultimately, when the games were finished, we also had complaints from users that they weren’t arcade accurate.
"For a while CAVE decided not to port its arcade games for those reasons. We also didn't want to run the risk of holding a lot of inventory at our company. That all changed when the Xbox 360 came out, because there was a lot of movement from shooting game developers to bring their games onto that system. It looked like there might be the beginnings of a shooter boom on the platform."
Rising Star has published Deathsmiles and DoDonPachi Resurrection on the Xbox 360 in Europe within the last year, to cult success. But the executive revealed that he wasn't even aware that such an international fanbase exists.
"I didn’t even have any concept that there were 2D shooting fans overseas until recently," Ikeda revealed. "In the back of my mind, I always thought it was something that I’d want to do, but unless we had a publisher offer that was willing to get over the initial risk of developing the game here at CAVE, then it wasn’t something we were going to pursue."
Much more fascinating details - about the studio's international approaches, its business, history and its translation foibles (fans will know what we're referring to here) - in the full interview later today.
Companies:
Cave
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