So Long, Clover Studio
In a move to promote business strategy, Capcom will be closing the doors of the visionary developer come March. [UPDATE] Capcom USA's VP of Marketing offers clarification.
Published: October 13, 2006
They say coping with the death of a loved one comes in series of phases. First, shock and denial. Then anger. But when the waves of varying grief subside, somewhere down the road there comes acceptance, and finally, hope.
While we would be hard pressed to get away with the argument that the death of a videogame developer takes anywhere near the same toll of personal grievance on a person than that of a family or friend, the closing of Clover Studios will no doubt still be taken hard by many.
“Why would Capcom do this?” many will question in disbelief, and it’s only logical to think so. After all, this is the same Clover Studio that, just in the past two months, delivered some of the most inventive and inspired games we’ve seen on the PlayStation 2 to date (and, as some may argue with Okami, ever), not to mention conceiving undoubtedly the coolest videogame superhero around, Viewtiful Joe. So what gives, Capcom? The answer comes direct from the company’s official notice of dissolving.
“Clover Studio Co., Ltd. has met the goal of developing unique and creative original home video game 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 Co., Ltd. has been raised and passed at a Board of Directors' meeting.”
Alas, the struggle between creative integrity and what’s good for business is an all too common one in this industry. Yes, Clover’s games have been critically lauded and will most certainly stand as landmarks of brilliance in this ever-evolving game industry, but the cold truth is, they never sold all that well, neither here nor in the homeland.
Therefore, from Capcom’s standpoint, it comes as a sound decision, if not in the best interests of business, to dissolve its wholly-owned subsidiary at the end of March 2007. The decision, aside from obvious reasons, will also have a financial impact on Capcom, who forecasts a loss of 400 million yen (which at the current exchange rate, is somewhere around 3.34 million in U.S. dollars).
If anything, the sad news of today leaves the hope that, even in a lifetime of as little as two and a half years (Clover Studios was established in July 2004, believe it or not), a developer with a vision can truly make waves. A leisurely trip over to GameRankings.com shows Okami as already standing at the 10th best-rated game on the PlayStation 2, while Metacritic has the game priding an overall score of 93, denoting “universal acclaim.” And hey, we liked it a bit ourselves too.
So farewell, Clover Studio, and may your uncompromised innovation of the modern videogame be forever remembered.
[Update]
Next Generation recently got the chance to sit down with the Capcom USA marketing VP Charles Bellfield to, in part, clarify the recent internal shifts at Capcom. As echoed by Bellfield, Shinji Mikami, creator of the Resident Evil series, is technically still a contracted producer at Capcom, while Viewtiful Joe producer Atsushi Inaba and Devil May Cry director Hideki Kamiya have both left the company towards new pursuits.
In regards to the dissolving of Clover Studio, Bellfield explained that is was more or less a matter of bringing in key individuals into the bigger Osaka-based R&D team of Capcom "rather than just having a separate team called Clover." He insists, "the name is gone, two individuals have left, but nothing else changes."
While we would be hard pressed to get away with the argument that the death of a videogame developer takes anywhere near the same toll of personal grievance on a person than that of a family or friend, the closing of Clover Studios will no doubt still be taken hard by many.
“Why would Capcom do this?” many will question in disbelief, and it’s only logical to think so. After all, this is the same Clover Studio that, just in the past two months, delivered some of the most inventive and inspired games we’ve seen on the PlayStation 2 to date (and, as some may argue with Okami, ever), not to mention conceiving undoubtedly the coolest videogame superhero around, Viewtiful Joe. So what gives, Capcom? The answer comes direct from the company’s official notice of dissolving.
“Clover Studio Co., Ltd. has met the goal of developing unique and creative original home video game 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 Co., Ltd. has been raised and passed at a Board of Directors' meeting.”
Alas, the struggle between creative integrity and what’s good for business is an all too common one in this industry. Yes, Clover’s games have been critically lauded and will most certainly stand as landmarks of brilliance in this ever-evolving game industry, but the cold truth is, they never sold all that well, neither here nor in the homeland.
Therefore, from Capcom’s standpoint, it comes as a sound decision, if not in the best interests of business, to dissolve its wholly-owned subsidiary at the end of March 2007. The decision, aside from obvious reasons, will also have a financial impact on Capcom, who forecasts a loss of 400 million yen (which at the current exchange rate, is somewhere around 3.34 million in U.S. dollars).
If anything, the sad news of today leaves the hope that, even in a lifetime of as little as two and a half years (Clover Studios was established in July 2004, believe it or not), a developer with a vision can truly make waves. A leisurely trip over to GameRankings.com shows Okami as already standing at the 10th best-rated game on the PlayStation 2, while Metacritic has the game priding an overall score of 93, denoting “universal acclaim.” And hey, we liked it a bit ourselves too.
So farewell, Clover Studio, and may your uncompromised innovation of the modern videogame be forever remembered.
[Update]
Next Generation recently got the chance to sit down with the Capcom USA marketing VP Charles Bellfield to, in part, clarify the recent internal shifts at Capcom. As echoed by Bellfield, Shinji Mikami, creator of the Resident Evil series, is technically still a contracted producer at Capcom, while Viewtiful Joe producer Atsushi Inaba and Devil May Cry director Hideki Kamiya have both left the company towards new pursuits.
In regards to the dissolving of Clover Studio, Bellfield explained that is was more or less a matter of bringing in key individuals into the bigger Osaka-based R&D team of Capcom "rather than just having a separate team called Clover." He insists, "the name is gone, two individuals have left, but nothing else changes."