We had a Nintendo Direct earlier this week, but here’s the rest of what went down!
Losses of All Kinds
Tencent and NetEase have both expressed intention to pull out of Japanese game development, and NetEase has taken the first step out. Ouka Studios, developer of the just released Visions of Mana, is reportedly getting shut down by the Chinese holdings corporation. Tencent has reportedly backed out of multiple new funding ventures as well.
Take This, a nonprofit focused on mental health in the games industry, is in danger of closing. They are currently reporting that they are underfunded, and would need to raise $80k by the end of September or will have to cease operations.
The global version of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius will be shutting down. The Japanese version will stay online for the foreseeable future.
Hideaki Itsuno, director of Devil May Cry 2-5, both Dragon’s Dogma titles, Project Justice, Capcom vs SNK 2, and contributor to many more classic Capcom games, is leaving the company. Itsuno says he will be “developing a new game in a new environment,” which means he’ll still be in the industry.
Co-Creator of Wizardry, Andrew Greenberg, has passed away. Wizardry is considered the origin of the RPG genre, and was the direct inspiration to Dragon Quest and Megami Tensei.
Ports and Remasters, As Usual
Guilty Gear Strive is getting a Switch port. Releasing January 23rd, it’ll have rollback netcode, but will not be crossplay with the other versions of the game.
Naoki Yoshida, also known as Yoshi P, has said that the Final Fantasy XIV team is working on a version “for Nintendo consoles”. He isn’t saying it outright, but he is most likely referring to a version of the game for Nintendo’s next platform.
Long-running children’s MMO Wizard 101 is getting ported to current consoles.
Argonaut Games, joint developer of the original Star Fox games, has been revived after closing in 2004. To coincide with their rebirth, they will be releasing a remaster of Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, which is due out this year for consoles and PC.
