@naoki-horii Because Japanese arcade games are difficult to obtain overseas, for many years people have only been able to play them through emulators or pirated copies. It's also the same for retro games, to some extent.
The sad reality is that, most of the products released by M2 are seen as mere "shelf items" or "assets" that will increase in value in the future. The numerous unopened "collector's edition" photos in this article illustrate this. In other words, these games aren't "enjoyed" in the West; they're simply being stored away, hoping that $60 will become $600 in 5 or 10 years. Specific smaller publishers specialize in this, they do not care about "the game", but rather, "the value of the package".
No matter how much bezels are added, soundtracks are added, or difficulty levels are changed, the reality doesn't change. Die-hard fans prefer playing on MAME to M2's "interpretation of MAME code" (frankly, every company in this field does the same thing).
Personally, I think M2's best real strength is new titles.
Combined with new, original IP, this would be an ideal combination. "Bloodstained" is a good example.
Large publishers own so many IPs that have been dormant for decades. But, M2 has to comply with the wishes of the publisher, who do not view video games as precious as M2 does...
I wish M2 could liberate more IP from greedy publishers.
Comments 1
Re: Interview: "You're Always Facing The Risk Of It Coming To An End" - M2 Co., Ltd.'s Naoki Horii On Creating Retro Perfection
@naoki-horii
Because Japanese arcade games are difficult to obtain overseas, for many years people have only been able to play them through emulators or pirated copies.
It's also the same for retro games, to some extent.
The sad reality is that, most of the products released by M2 are seen as mere "shelf items" or "assets" that will increase in value in the future. The numerous unopened "collector's edition" photos in this article illustrate this. In other words, these games aren't "enjoyed" in the West; they're simply being stored away, hoping that $60 will become $600 in 5 or 10 years.
Specific smaller publishers specialize in this, they do not care about "the game", but rather, "the value of the package".
No matter how much bezels are added, soundtracks are added, or difficulty levels are changed, the reality doesn't change. Die-hard fans prefer playing on MAME to M2's "interpretation of MAME code" (frankly, every company in this field does the same thing).
Personally, I think M2's best real strength is new titles.
Combined with new, original IP, this would be an ideal combination. "Bloodstained" is a good example.
Large publishers own so many IPs that have been dormant for decades.
But, M2 has to comply with the wishes of the publisher, who do not view video games as precious as M2 does...
I wish M2 could liberate more IP from greedy publishers.