Marvelous sticking to sequels in future

By Oli Welsh Published 8 June, 2010

Originals like No More Heroes don't pay.

According to a NeoGAF post (via GameSpot), adventurous Japanese publisher Marvelous is to retreat from commissioning original games and stick to sequels.

The decision's been taken after the experimental policy that saw offbeat games like No More Heroes, Little King's Story and Deadly Premonition get made has landed Marvelous in financial trouble. It seems these games just don't sell.

Marvelous will now undergo a financial restructuring and focus on sequels to its successful franchises, notably Harvest Moon. It will experiment with development for Nintendo's 3DS, however.

Early this year, Marvelous executives took pay cuts after selling the company's stake in European distribution arm Rising Star Games - although Rising Star continues to publish Marvelous' titles over here.

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (37) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • hardtech #1 2 years ago

    ...This is quite sad. Honestly I can't blame them as it is the best way to make money these days, but the fact that gamers aren't buying into games like this is quite disappointing.

  • ignatiusjreilly #2 2 years ago

    adventurous Japanese publisher

    I guess we can stop calling them that then.

  • seabassuk #3 2 years ago

    So we call out for some original games that are also fun in some way, a studio decides to take notice and do so and then we repay them by not buying them...Yeah makes perfect sense ¬_¬

  • Shikasama #4 2 years ago

    A very liberal use of the 'we' there.

  • LR100 #5 2 years ago

    I thought Deadly Premonition actually sold quite well in the USA? I know it was a budget title, but surely it couldn't have hurt them that badly? This is a shame, because it means it's less likely we'll get it in this country now!

  • jstar #6 2 years ago

    sequels are not the best way to make money they are safest way. World of Warcraft anyone? Modern Warfare? Halo? The secret is really rather simple, just make good games for the right platforms. No More Heroes for wii? Please, no wonder they are in financial trouble. Anyone with half a brain could have called that one.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #7 2 years ago

    Little King's Story is fantastic but I'm not surprised it didn't bring in loads of cash. Obviously inspired by the brilliant Pikmin it played really well but I always thought the presentation just wasn't up to match the gameplay. I'm torn whether it should have been pushed more into the abstract (like Pikmin) or more into a RPG like (still cartoonish) direction.

    No More Heroes on the other hand is great new IP if you ask me. Not quite sure where they could go with it and maybe they shouldn't to make the two games stand out more.

    Whatever they do, Marvelous and Rising Star managed to really make a name for themselves as far as I am concerned. Whenever I read one of these two names I'm automatically interested, pretty much like it was the case with Konami/Capcom games in the 16bit era. Marvelous' games might not sell as much as they would like to but their games have been among the best I have played in the last couple of months.

  • Monkey_Puncher #8 2 years ago

    Releasing them on the Wii doesn't pay!

  • reelbigkris #9 2 years ago

    This is bull... No more heroes and little kings story are two of my fave wii games. the reason they probably did not do so well is that the Wii target audience have a great fascination in waving thier arms around in a poor attempt of getting 'fit'.

    Originality and creativity is being implemented into digitaly released games, a method of providing more affordable games at a cheaper price while also exploring new territory. While digital releases are excelent for small developers, I can imagine more mainstream developers testing the water by releasing digital new IP's and then re introducing them on a larger budget...

  • TonyHarrison #10 2 years ago

    Interesting timing on this, just a few short weeks after the HD version of No More Heroes bombed even harder than the Wii version did...

  • menage #11 2 years ago

    Sad, but then gamers should have bought the damn things.

  • patch #12 2 years ago

    A little hard to comment without knowing all the details, but from what I can make of it they'd have been better making more harvest moon as a cash cow and then putting through some investment on one new IP at a time. Maybe too much invested in unproven IP all at once?

  • bratmandu #13 2 years ago

    Japanese developer decides to play it safe with franchise sequels rather than taking a chance on doing something innovative?

    Shocking. Thank god Capcom, Konami, Namco and Square don't do that. (What number in StreetFighter/MetalGear/Tekken/FinalFantasy are we on now???).

    Get some balls, Japan.
    Edited by bratmandu at 08/06/10 @ 13:05

  • telboy007 #14 2 years ago

    No More Heroes: "Modern Warfare World Cup 2010 Edition" would have sold like hotcakes though.

  • varkdm #15 2 years ago

    HD or not it was still an old game and a port, they never do as well as they did on their target machine.. so if it didnt do well on the target machine... it would also have to deal witht he stigma of being a "wii game" a lot of console gamers would ignore it purely because of that.

    Being original does pay.. all those sequels started with an original somewhere, but like has been said... you need to choose your target audience properly. Original IPs are risky, but like all things high risk, the rewards are higher when they pay off.

  • funkateer #16 2 years ago

    "World of Warcraft anyone? Modern Warfare? Halo?"

    Modern Warfare = Call of Duty 4, so a sequel
    Halo = Enormously advertised, typical FPS game with loads of sequels where each sequel sells more than the last.
    Wold of Warcraft = The MMO based on the Warcraft universe, so in some ways a sequel (at least it had some of the same benefits a real sequel has)

    The point here is not that No More Heroes didn't sell because it isn't a sequel, it didn't even sell because it's a bad game, the sad truth here is that making something original (even if it's fantastic) is a big gamble that Marvelous just can't afford anymore.

  • Dylbot #17 2 years ago

    Sad news, everyone.

  • bluem4gic #18 2 years ago

    wrong platform

  • erp #19 2 years ago

    How depressing.

    When a publisher can't get rewarded for being behind something as wonderful (and as critically acclaimed) as Little King's Story, something has gone very wrong.

    Marvellous, at least you tried. We'll remember that.

  • shrinkwrapped #20 2 years ago

    The lack of sales for No More Heroes - on any format - baffles me. What's not to like about beating up legions of thugs with lightsabers?

  • kangarootoo #21 2 years ago

    I think you can make a distinction between an original game concept, and an original franchise.

    You can create original gameplay, but associate it with a rock solid franchise (Mario being a good example of this).

    You can also create unoriginal (if still very good) gameplay, and frame with it within a brand new franchise (Halo for example - and don't flame me, good as Halo is, it did not invent the FPS).

    Experience seems to show that the second option is far riskier than the first, as the franchise is what people see first. Grab their attention with a franchise and you can still sell them original gameplay, but lose them at the first hurdle and they won't get to find out what makes your original gameplay special.

    I suppose my point is that associating with a franchise, or even doing a sequel, doesn't mean your game cannot be original. Use the franchise to get market visiblity, but do something original in the gameplay, and everyone is happy.

  • Capa26 #22 2 years ago

    Surely this is more to do with lack of sales in the US? Still it's pretty saddening to see Little King's Story and No More Heroes going so cheap in retail stores through the second hand market (I saw both for under a tenner a while back).

    Mind you I'd feel a little more saddened if I'd actually had the opportunity to buy Deadly Premonition........ being adventurous and then feeling down about poor sales is all well and good, but people not being able to buy your product in the first place is a dick move...

  • hardtech #23 2 years ago

    @Capa26

    Actually, sales in the US for No More Heroes was better than japan. Hell, the second one might not even be released in the east.

  • Senate #24 2 years ago

    Actually like a lot of things this has to do with advertising - All kinds of people have a Wii and if you don't tell them about games like LKS and NMH they won't buy them. It was Marvelous's responsibility to push these games out there into people's minds for consideration.

  • CallousB #25 2 years ago


    The fact is..the majority of publishers have been losing money...regardless of how many sequels they make (or how big they are).

    Activision made a $286 million loss during the quarter Modern Warfare 2 came out. EA lost $677 million this year, Ubisoft lost $76 million.

    The industry is broken.

  • irve77 #26 2 years ago

    big shame !

  • riz23 #27 2 years ago

    You gotta have an original before you can have a sequel.

  • Machetazo #28 2 years ago

    Absolutely, I agree that it's a sorry turn of events.

    Deadly Premonition - that would be the one that they screwed themselves on, by failing to even permit the game to be in any way playable, for any interested importers outside of the US. No sympathy for you, when your severely niche target audience is unable to tithe things over, despite the best efforts of Jim Sterling, and US gaming podcasts. That one was going to have an uphill struggle, just becaiuse of what it was.

    As much as people might have liked to have played LKS, and No More Heroes, the fact can't be disregarded that they'd need a Wii to do so. The same Wii that for years seemed to go out of its way to alienate and underserve the kind of Nintendo faithful that then became disillusioned. So, they no longer had a console (with which to play ambitious, original games like these), because for them, and their taste of type of game the Wii was completely inconsistent and far too staggered in agreeable software, leading to the thing gathering dust, in the months of downtime. So, with them gone, Marvelous is then trying to foster interest in the core demographic (I neglected to mention the whole bludgeoning in the name of censorship, of NMH, further offputting the die-hards - plus, the response of Freeloader neutering by Nintendo, used by the Soccer moms - in the main I doubt it.

    The minority attempt to increase the appeal of Wii for themselves - to combat the platform's bias - is nullified by the agenda-fuelled owner. I make no comment on their legitimacy to do so, but to help drive away interest in the machine...Was it worth it to reinforce that association? )

    So, NMH got off to a rocky start, and LKS pretty much just arrived (as if that should be a cause for relief in itself, another issue for gaming today, even with regard to the historical tradition of regional releases, which is rarely pretty.) but in the latter case, it was a bit underplayed. and to be kind, I think the hype had really burned out on it, after a Japanese release, and American one, for a subdued Euro outing with a "just release it" (imho) publishing effort, was not likely to cast LKS forward with the highest attention. Was the audience even there, by that point?

    It's all a big cycle of a situation that needn't have started as aggressively, as corrosively; that costs games like these, partially on the dominance of Nintendo's shadow of populasrity across its own platform. Some first-parties lead for others to follow, the closest analogy for Nintendo's approach is that they set a yard stick, and hope others will catch up. When Nintendo has the bit between its teeth and such a dogged fervour of driving the Wii Fit, and its related mantras, to the exclusion of much else, yes it's successful, but that comes at a cost - much like in the less succcessful N64 and GCN times. This time, they've made too drastic a position adjustment is my point.

    It's good they make profit, and great to have a strong Nintendo for gaming, but sometimes, I just would like to see an aspect of measure seep in, for them to really deliver on the fully inclusive platform they say they want to offer.
    Mourners assemble, but I'm surprised at the extent of negs in this thread. Remove your veil, Nintendo fans, in time, and reflect on the full picture?
    Edited by Machetazo at 08/06/10 @ 14:33

  • bratmandu #29 2 years ago

    @milky1985

    "Earm each of the FF games has been different to the one before, some of them having the same low level mechanics true but different implementations of them, same with street fighter and Metal Gear (except that 1 and 2 were very simular in my opinion, 3 and 4 seemed to mix thigns up a bit again)."

    This is mostly just not true, every FF after 8 became more of a fashion show than a game, recycling the mechanics of previous games, street fighter, whilst enjoyable, has seen plenty of iterations over the years since sf2, with the only real new innovations coming with sf4, an then they go an 'super' us. I don't even wanna talk about metal-gear-barely-interactive-movie, I refuse to awknowledge metal gear as a 'game'.

    You're missing my point though, yea western devs do the same, but Japan has a lot of creativity wasted these days because it's too much risk to try something new. The reason for this is that, not only does joe public tend to avoid new franchises, he also laps up tekken 8 and final fantasy 283 because of the brand name, even though these are only marginally tweaked versions of last year's FF/tekken/etc.

  • TonyHarrison #30 2 years ago

    How about a quick straw poll... Give me a negative vote if you didn't buy at least two of the three games mentioned in the story (NMH, LKS, Deadly Premonition), and a positive vote if you did buy 2 (or all 3)...

    I'd -1 myself because I only bought NMH.

  • Acrid #31 2 years ago

    Such a shame

  • CallousB #32 2 years ago

    Worth mentioning that at the time..No More Heroes on the Wii was the best selling game that Grasshopper had ever made on any platform.

    Little Kings story should have sold better..but the fact is it had zero tv advertising in the UK. There's no reason that couldn't have had Animal Crossing like success..if it was marketed.

    You want your game to sell on Wii you have to market on tv and instore. It's hardly surprising that Nintendo games sell best when they are one of the few companies to bother advertising their games (when Nintendo don't advertise their games bomb just as much as anyone elses).

  • Stuz359 #33 2 years ago

    Creating a new franchise is risky, but the console manufacturer can determine whether or not a game is a success or not. Epic get a massive boost for Gears of War because MS pushed it so hard. Similar occured with Assassins Creed (despite being awful), Mass Effect etc, etc.. If the console manufacturer views a franchise as a system seller, then they will make sure it gets advertised. If not, then it risks falling into obscurity.

  • Slipstream #34 2 years ago

    ...This is quite sad. Honestly I can't blame them as it is the best way to make money these days, but the fact that gamers aren't buying into games like this is quite disappointing.

    This pretty much sums up how I feel.
    Diamonds in the rough.

  • Incarta #35 2 years ago

    Disappointing news. I'm enjoying NMH2 as we speak.

  • telboy007 #36 2 years ago

    What an apt name the game now has. :)

  • dingo75 #37 2 years ago

    This is another indication that we are racing head-first into a videogame crash like back in the Atari era.
    The market simply can't absorb enough copies of all the stuff that is released to be profitable for more and more companies.
    All they can do is see how a few games sell through the roof but they don't get money from that.

    I'm proud to say that I own 3 of the 4 mentioned games (counting 2 No More Heroes) even if I don't have a Wii yet (should get one this month probably).
    I don't have Deadly Prem because it was not released in Europe or else I would have that, too...