SNKP announced they're focusing primarily on Pachinko.

Fygee

Fygee

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Is it as bad as it sounds? They say they're not done with video games, but its pretty clear their greater focus is on Pachinko. Of course, we already knew this, but never heard it from the horse's mouth.

The last we heard of SNK Playmore, they had been acquired by Chinese company Leyou Millenium. This left fans wondering what the future of the company's fighting game IPs held.

During a Beast Busters Pachinko slot press conference, a representative of SNK's president Koichi Toyama gave some insight on what their current plans are regarding Pachinko machines.

"Our mission as Pachinko Slot makers is to make hall owners and Pachinko Slot fans happy by delivering new challenges for them to enjoy," the SNK representative explained.

"Currently, youths in their 20s are losing interest in the market, which has become a big issue, and has led us to believe that it is very important to develop machines that will appeal to this audience.

"Our company is a Pachinko Slot maker, but we're also video game developers. We'd like to work hard to make video game fans into Pachinko Slot fans."

The SNK rep did remind fans that they are video game developers, so even though their current plans revolve around Pachinko machines, this doesn't necessarily mean the end for their fighting games.

Still, we have yet to receive word on what their recent acquisition under Leyou Millenium means for the future of competitive King of Fighters games.
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http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2015/...ans-snk-sheds-some-light-their-current-plans/
 
wataru330

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It's been five years since XIII.

The videogame makers are in remission.

May as well kill the lights, and call it a good night.

If only IGS would've got SNKP, instead of Leyou. Taiwan>Mainland.
 
I

insaneben

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A pachislot based on a smartphone game based on a lesser-known arcade shooter? This is probably the most creative SNKP has been in the last three years.

In all seriousness, though, the news, while sad, is not surprising. Continuing to go down the least-popular (yet most lucrative) route makes some financial sense, I guess. Still, I was hoping all the profit reaped from the numerous pachislot machines and smartphone games would've gone towards development of a new KOF. While I haven't completely given up on SNKP (TGS is next month, so the possibility of a big announcement, while increasingly slim, could still remotely happen... supposedly), Toyama's statement (which also sounds like a thinly-veiled insult) that they want to turn 20-something gamers into pachislot regulars sounds like a new arcade game (let alone a new KOF) is becoming (if it hasn't already become) less of a priority over time.
 
Yoshi

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You also have to keep the context in mind. If the guy were at TGS, would he have said they were video game developers but also pachinko slot makers? Maybe not, but the audience at a pachinko show doesn't give a damn about games.
 
DNSDies

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As I understand it, pachislot market is getting pretty overcrowded and losing profitability. Too much competition and declining youth interest.
Mobile market to a degree as well. I remember reading that these companies have to pump out like 5+ mobile titles a year and the vast majority never break even on the rising development costs.

oh well, the future will tell.
 
F

fernandeath

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It's funny to read this News & Rumors section.
For each 1 hopeful news about SNKP's future there are 5 tragic ones.
 
J

JacKc

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SNK & SNKP is dead many many years ago...We now only have a shadow of what the company was. All they can do now is to use again and again their great licenses to make some "androids" port and pachinko games.
The golden age of SNK & SNKP is gone since a long time (with the end of the Neo-Geo) and now there is nothing to expect from them...except maybe to release some protos like Ironclad (if they still have the source code?)
 
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Yeah, unfortunately this doesn't come as a surprise at all. I hope the Japanese videogame industry can revive itself eventually, but with so many revered publishers turning out like this it doesn't look like it will change unless both the pachinko and mobile bubbles finally burst over there.
 
Gummy Bear

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Ray said:
Yeah, unfortunately this doesn't come as a surprise at all. I hope the Japanese videogame industry can revive itself eventually, but with so many revered publishers turning out like this it doesn't look like it will change unless both the pachinko and mobile bubbles finally burst over there.
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Fingers crossed!
Mobile gaming needs to perish in a field of flame.
Even Nintendo is going that way...
 
mehguy

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Gummy Bear said:
Fingers crossed!
Mobile gaming needs to perish in a field of flame.
Even Nintendo is going that way...
Click to expand...

yup. mobile gaming is filled to the brim with shovelware and horrible clones of candy crush.

EXHIBIT A: Paula deens recipe quest

 
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novorod

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The problem is that Japanese developers cannot keep up with the West when it comes to big AAA titles (with few exceptions), and they are making games that are difficult to market in the West. The whole situations is bringing big developers to their knees and mobile games and pachinko parlours are a way to go. Of course the pachinko business is getting out of control, but mobiles are still profitable over there. Of course they need to produce some sick amount of games to survive, but they fight for almost 4:1 profits per download, that's a LOT.

There is this interesting graph: http://w5rq22m8rig3fs3zefz5zucyr.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/image01.png

And it's said that in 2016 Japan's mobile market will be worth $8b total.

Right now Capcom is fighting hard to survive, and I think if they will not be able to deliver Resident Evil 2 remake on time, they'll bite the dust. They don't even have money to go into mobile/pachinko route right now. Konami's also switching to mobile.
 
mehguy

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novorod said:
The problem is that Japanese developers cannot keep up with the West when it comes to big AAA titles (with few exceptions), and they are making games that are difficult to market in the West. The whole situations is bringing big developers to their knees and mobile games and pachinko parlours are a way to go. Of course the pachinko business is getting out of control, but mobiles are still profitable over there. Of course they need to produce some sick amount of games to survive, but they fight for almost 4:1 profits per download, that's a LOT.

There is this interesting graph: http://w5rq22m8rig3fs3zefz5zucyr.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/image01.png

And it's said that in 2016 Japan's mobile market will be worth $8b total.

Right now Capcom is fighting hard to survive, and I think if they will not be able to deliver Resident Evil 2 remake on time, they'll bite the dust. They don't even have money to go into mobile/pachinko route right now. Konami's also switching to mobile.
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well, western developers have problems marketing games j japan. good luck trying to sell a copy of call of duty to any japanese person on the street.

i suppose (according to that graph), mobile games only make a 10-20 cents per download on north america. compare it to japan and its a whole different story.
 
novorod

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mehguy said:
well, western developers have problems marketing games j japan. good luck trying to sell a copy of call of duty to any japanese person on the street.

i suppose (according to that graph), mobile games only make a 10-20 cents per download on north america. compare it to japan and its a whole different story.
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Sure, that's true, but I bet every Japanese company would want to publish a game like CoD and earn shitload of money in the process. Without worldwide audience, it's not possible. I think that around sixth generation of consoles the things started to change for Japanese developers. Big western cash hits like GTA (and a whole lot more) shifted the attention of the mainstream audience, and after that it became harder and harder to market games in the west. I even think that Japanese games got weirder with time, for casual players at least.

I can't recall it right now, but I think there was an article at Gamasutra about the situation in Japanese game dev companies and how high ranking officials have problems with letting people in their companies to do something different, to make something fresh and not cut off the coupons. I think it adds to the story.
 
Yoshi

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mehguy said:
yup. mobile gaming is filled to the brim with shovelware and horrible clones of candy crush.
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The PS1/2, Wii, DS, etc. are filled with shovelware too. Is that how we're evaluating platforms now? With the addition of bluetooth controllers, there is not a material difference between a Vita and a mobile device, other than the mobile devices have a much larger install base and are rapidly becoming significantly more powerful. A company like Square Enix is actually doing a pretty good job of leveraging the platforms. SNK Playmore is showing signs too. They have online-enabled Garou on mobile, playable with a controller. Where is the problem, other than the lack of arcade games alongside it?

edit: Now if you want to make this a Japanese vs. west discussion, that changes things a bit, because the west has full featured Knights of the Old Republic, Grand Theft Auto, BioShock, etc. on mobile, so they're arguably kicking Japan's asses in terms of premium games there too.
 
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novorod

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Yoshi said:
The PS1/2, Wii, DS, etc. are filled with shovelware too. Is that how we're evaluating platforms now? With the addition of bluetooth controllers, there is not a material difference between a Vita and a mobile device, other than the mobile devices have a much larger install base and are rapidly becoming significantly more powerful. A company like Square Enix is actually doing a pretty good job of leveraging the platforms. SNK Playmore is showing signs too. They have online-enabled Garou on mobile, playable with a controller. Where is the problem, other than the lack of arcade games alongside it?

edit: Now if you want to make this a Japanese vs. west discussion, that changes things a bit, because the west has full featured Knights of the Old Republic, Grand Theft Auto, BioShock, etc. on mobile, so they're arguably kicking Japan's asses in terms of premium games there too.
Click to expand...

That's a good point. The only shitty thing about playing games on mobiles are the touch controls and all those horrible virtual pads etc. Sure you can use some third party accessories or hook up a gamepad, but I'm talking about functionality out of the box. If they'll fix this, then nintendo and sony can say goodbye to their handhelds, or at least they'd loose much of their audience.

Heh, I don't want really, or this thread would end up hundreds pages long ;) I only wanted to say that the current game industry condition is an aftermath of years and years of changes on the global gaming market, and that Japanese developers have hard times keeping up. I'm just worried that the place of origin of all of my favourite consoles and game franchises is going through some horrible changes.

Premium mobile games is a whole different story for me, as they don't make that much of a profit for companies that publish them on Android/iOS.
 
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xorthen

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Silent Hill and Castlevania pachink too. its like there is a conspiracy to kill japanese gaming lol
 
Yuri-chan

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Not surprised by this. After KOFIII they really haven't done anything other than re-release classic titles on mobile devices. SNKP hasn't made anything new in a long time and definitely nothing like the old SNK did in the 90's. Even if SNKP is no longer focusing on video games, we can still love and appreciate all the classic glory they made in the past. I still play my Neo-Geo AES to this day. Nothing like a good fight of KOF or SS when trying to relieve stress from work and life on an afternoon.
 
Psygnosis8

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So sad...

For some reason I can't get into mobile gaming. I'd still much rather play a portable console than some game on my iPad. I don't know why. It just feels...lesser somehow.

I'm still interested in Japanese developers, despite their problems. I only bought a ps4 to have access to console-exclusive Japanese games. And there have been some recent AAA Japanese titles that are quite good. Platinum games and From Software are still putting out decent stuff. Atlus seems to be on the decline, however. Nothing but jrpgs for the 3ds.
 
B

Blue Steel

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Yoshi said:
They have online-enabled Garou on mobile, playable with a controller
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Did you actually buy the game? I bought it and could find no online matchmaking of any sort, so I got a refund.

The whole reason I bought it was to be able to play others online.
 
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