View Full Version : Clover Studio gets shut down...
|MaguS|
10-12-06, 12:26 PM
This is ****ed up... The creators of Viewtiful Joe and Okami are being dissolved by Capcom because their titles don't bring the income in that the Street Fighter and other being franchises do... Such Bull****, closing a studio that creates unique titles just so they can focus on my of the same ****.
See this is why I like Sony, they encourage unique titles and new IPs...
R.I.P. Clover Studios! :(
karkrash81
10-12-06, 12:46 PM
yeah that sucks but it's a cut-throat business...they're there to make money too...
it's too bad that the really unique and creative games struggle in the market...
well, hopefully their creativity will transfer to their new jobs...
And I was just fawning over Okami lately too :( Disbanding Clover is a move of EA class stupidity.
Ah well, screw Capcom. Every game of theirs I've ever played has usually frustrated the hell out of me. Their games have great ideas, and usually show glimpses of real brilliance, but bad camera angles/saves/controls/irratic difficulty or some other issue that could have easily been solved by just playtesting the game usually ends up ruining the overall experience for me.
raystorm
10-12-06, 01:45 PM
Well its said that Clover wants to become independant from Capcom so lets hope thats the case and they will return in some form.
Okami is a brilliant game.
Peoples-Agent
10-12-06, 01:45 PM
That's another nail in Sony's coffin , I love it! LOL
Wow... this is bad news. I pray that Nintendo snatches up those devs. I'd love to see Okami on the Wii.
|MaguS|
10-12-06, 02:20 PM
That's another nail in Sony's coffin , I love it! LOL
Er how so? This has nothing to do with Sony... It's Capcom reorganizing themselves to be more cost effective.
NaitoSan
10-12-06, 03:08 PM
no... no... NO! :( Clover studio has became one of my favorite developers... :(
Ninjaman09
10-12-06, 03:09 PM
There goes another truly talented dev team... :P
oldsk00l
10-12-06, 08:06 PM
gah it seems like talent=dissolution
Marvel_us
10-12-06, 10:20 PM
Er how so? This has nothing to do with Sony... It's Capcom reorganizing themselves to be more cost effective.
Yea, I don't think some people are understanding. Sony has nothing to do with them leaving. If Clover forms their own studio there's no reason they wouldn't stick with Sony either.
It's Capcom who pulled the plug. Matter of fact Viewtiful Joe was for GC only but then appeared on PS2, along with a Sequel and Okami.
I blame Capcom though, I still don't remember seeing any commercial to date for Okami. Such a killer game that will probably go under the radar for the masses.
Zelda_fan
10-12-06, 11:45 PM
it's strage. Similar situation like this happened with Looking-glass studios (makers of Thief and Thief II). Two brilliant games (that actually sold quite well) but all in all the company didn't make money so it was dissolved.
Clover Studio was loosing money - a lot of money - and that's why it was shut down. It's easy to blame Capcom, but it was Capcom in the first place which decided to fund a division dedicated to innovative games outside the usual genres and known IP.
I've read some angry comments directed at Capcom and drawing comparisons with EA, but that's not the case. EA succesfully destroyed developers like Origin by interfering too much with their decisions, by setting improbable goals, by not adeguately funding them. That's not the case of Capcom which lost 400M of Yen in Clover. Capcom at least had the guts to try the experiment.
|MaguS|
10-13-06, 03:33 PM
Clover Studio was loosing money - a lot of money - and that's why it was shut down. It's easy to blame Capcom, but it was Capcom in the first place which decided to fund a division dedicated to innovative games outside the usual genres and known IP.
I've read some angry comments directed at Capcom and drawing comparisons with EA, but that's not the case. EA succesfully destroyed developers like Origin by interfering too much with their decisions, by setting improbable goals, by not adeguately funding them. That's not the case of Capcom which lost 400M of Yen in Clover. Capcom at least had the guts to try the experiment.
Um actually they weren't losing any money, Okami sold very well in Japan and I bet it sold decently here in the states, Viewtiful Joe on the other hand sold amazing. While on the Gamecube it was highlighted as one of the consoles selling points then it was ported over to the PS2 aswell as it got a sequel for both consoles. Let us not forget that it also saw a release on both Handhelds... if they were losing money why continuely fund a failing franchise? BTW The Viewtiful Joe franchise is so strong that it is seeing an Anime release in Japan aswell as a comic....
In my opinion, Capcom doesn't want to be risky in the nextgen. Its costly if the games fail and that can't be a risk any company wants to take. This generation though there wasn't too much at risk because even selling to 1/4th of the PS2 owners still made you a nice amount...
Marvel_us
10-13-06, 03:36 PM
Viewtiful Joe has a Saturday Morning cartoon in US as well.
Capcom reported a loss of 400 million Yen in its earnings forecast to represent the closure of Clover. Whether this figure stems from future lost revenues or consolidation of past expenses is not clear.
"Clover Studio has met the goal of developing unique and creative original home videogame software. However, in view of promoting a business strategy that concentrates management resources on a selected business to enhance the efficiency of the development power of the entire Capcom group, the dissolution of Clover Studio has been raised and passed at a board meeting
In other words, this enterprise was costing too much to us and we've decided to shut it down despite some good results.
toxikneedle
10-13-06, 04:18 PM
What's so shocking here? A corporation is run under the motivation of money and profit, not producing unique and original games.
And to think just this month they were getting so much praise in the Playstation magazine.
What's so shocking here? A corporation is run under the motivation of money and profit, not producing unique and original games.
I'm pretty sure that's the problem everyone is seeing.
"The original Viewtiful Joe sold 275,000 copies on GameCube and an additional 46,000 on PlayStation 2. Meanwhile, through December 2004, the GameCube version of Viewtiful Joe 2 sold through only 61,000 copies and the PS2 build a mere 18,000 copies. Not so hot, in other words."
This was a while ago, but I'm sure nothing has changed much since. Clover Studios (Capcom) made a mistake in switching publishing from Gamecube to the PS2. Yes, the install base is much higher, but what use is a large install base when the majority aren't interested in those creative type of games.
|MaguS|
10-23-06, 08:04 PM
"The original Viewtiful Joe sold 275,000 copies on GameCube and an additional 46,000 on PlayStation 2. Meanwhile, through December 2004, the GameCube version of Viewtiful Joe 2 sold through only 61,000 copies and the PS2 build a mere 18,000 copies. Not so hot, in other words."
This was a while ago, but I'm sure nothing has changed much since. Clover Studios (Capcom) made a mistake in switching publishing from Gamecube to the PS2. Yes, the install base is much higher, but what use is a large install base when the majority aren't interested in those creative type of games.
Well the game was better on the Gamecube but once a game is developed going multiplatform doesn't add that much to development costs. Oh and I hope your not talking about Sony as not interest in creative games when Nintendo is netorious for releasing sequel after sequel of its "mario" games (sports, party, gangbang, ect...). Sony has released more new IPs as a first party developer then Nintendo has in the last console generation...
BTW The main reason of the closing was due to Capcoms operational loss in total... not because of poor sales fo Clovers games (considering that Okami sold really well).
Clover will close its doors by March of 2007. As a result of the dissolution, Capcom will include a 400 million yen special loss on its earnings statement for the year ending that month.
Their sales are just low so they are cutting corners... just like all other publishers have been doing this year.
Zelda_fan
10-23-06, 09:45 PM
Well the game was better on the Gamecube but once a game is developed going multiplatform doesn't add that much to development costs. Oh and I hope your not talking about Sony as not interest in creative games when Nintendo is netorious for releasing sequel after sequel of its "mario" games (sports, party, gangbang, ect...). Sony has released more new IPs as a first party developer then Nintendo has in the last console generation...
Super Mario Gangbang. Instant classic.
Well the game was better on the Gamecube but once a game is developed going multiplatform doesn't add that much to development costs.
So you think the sales had to do with it being better on the Gamecube? :rolleyes:
Oh and I hope your not talking about Sony as not interest in creative games when Nintendo is netorious for releasing sequel after sequel of its "mario" games (sports, party, gangbang, ect...). Sony has released more new IPs as a first party developer then Nintendo has in the last console generation...
Nintendo has released its fair share of new IP this last gen, but that wasn't the point I was trying to make. I was referring to the gaming user base - not the companies themselves. The sales of Viewtiful Joe obviously shows this.
BTW The main reason of the closing was due to Capcoms operational loss in total... not because of poor sales fo Clovers games (considering that Okami sold really well).
Their sales are just low so they are cutting corners... just like all other publishers have been doing this year.
Not really...
http://www.etoychest.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5263&Itemid=49&limit=1&limitstart=0
oldsk00l
10-23-06, 10:50 PM
Well the game was better on the Gamecube but once a game is developed going multiplatform doesn't add that much to development costs. Oh and I hope your not talking about Sony as not interest in creative games when Nintendo is netorious for releasing sequel after sequel of its "mario" games (sports, party, gangbang, ect...). Sony has released more new IPs as a first party developer then Nintendo has in the last console generation...
BTW The main reason of the closing was due to Capcoms operational loss in total... not because of poor sales fo Clovers games (considering that Okami sold really well).
Their sales are just low so they are cutting corners... just like all other publishers have been doing this year.
:wtf:
|MaguS|
10-23-06, 10:55 PM
Not really...
http://www.etoychest.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5263&Itemid=49&limit=1&limitstart=0
Did you completely miss the whole "Each week he'll bring you his views on the hot story or stories of the past week, and tell you how he thinks things stack up."
There is almost nothing worth reading in there... but I guess you ingored my post completly on how Capcom will be posting losses for the year, all of Capcom is doing poorly... not just Clover. In the recent months how many titles has Capcom released that have Sold extremely well? I can only think of one... Dead Rising...
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