Author Topic: Capcom to "Dissolve" Clover Studio (Read 9700 times)

Jonnyboy117 · « **on:** October 12, 2006, 10:13:42 AM »

Developer of Viewtiful Joe series will be no more as of the end of March 2007.

Capcom Japan issued a press release today stating that Clover Studio, developer of the popular Viewtiful Joe series (as well as PS2 titles Okami and God Hand), will be dissolved as of the end of March 2007. In the press release, Capcom cited the reason for the dissolution as part of a "business strategy that concentrates management resources on a selected business to enhance the efficiency of the development power of the entire Capcom group".

PGC will have more details on this announcement as they become available.

Jonnyboy117 · « **Reply #1 on:** October 12, 2006, 11:06:50 AM »

This is really tragic news. I could live without Viewtiful Joe, and Godhand sounds terrible, but Okami is perhaps the best Zelda game ever made.

ShyGuy · « **Reply #2 on:** October 12, 2006, 11:16:18 AM »

Best Zelda? Wow.. that's a charged statement there, Jonnyboy.

WindyMan · « **Reply #3 on:** October 12, 2006, 11:28:38 AM »

The only way a move like this can be justified is if Capcom wants to distribute the talent across the company studios, and not just have it all packed-in to one uber-developer. That's got to be the reasoning behind it.

Karl Castaneda #2 · « **Reply #4 on:** October 12, 2006, 11:57:24 AM »

According to Chris Kohler, word is buzzing around that the Clover folk are actually leaving Capcom. I hope Inaba's able to take Viewtiful Joe with him. It's unlikely, but I don't want to play Keiji Inafune's Viewtiful Joe 3. I really, really don't.

Viewtiful mario · « **Reply #5 on:** October 12, 2006, 12:17:56 PM »

oh no!!!! this is bad news. Clover maed awsome games! And by awsome games I mean Viewtiful Joe.

I guess if it's not redident evil or mega man, any other seres capcom has isn't important to them. Oh well, I'll still have Baiten Kaitos.

NinGurl69 *huggles · « **Reply #6 on:** October 12, 2006, 04:26:48 PM »

Get it STRAIGHT

Viewtiful Joe was made by Team Viewtiful/Production Studio4. They were absorbed AFTER the game was made.

Clover was responsible for:

- Viewtiful Joe 2 [flop, another multiplatform abortion that suffered from having to accomodate the ps2 twin]
- Viewtiful Joe Red Hot Rumble [red hot flawp]
- God Hand [god awful, flahped off the charts after 1 week]
- Okami [released at a time when no one cares, released on a system with less people who care]
- Whatever-was-soon-to-be-flop-but-now-terminated-since-clover-peeps-left-the-company

I'm not familiar with their handheld developments.

Bill Aurion · « **Reply #7 on:** October 12, 2006, 04:32:30 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Jonnyboy117
Okami is perhaps the best Zelda game ever made.

Hahaha...haha.......ha...

Mario · « **Reply #8 on:** October 12, 2006, 04:34:10 PM »

Hopefully this means they weren't happy with Capcoms decisions and left so they could make their own (Ruining the VJ franchise, Okami being PS2 exclusive, God Hand existing)

Karl Castaneda #2 · « **Reply #9 on:** October 12, 2006, 05:00:33 PM »

Pro, so help me God, call Viewtiful Joe 2 a flop again and heads will roll.

Svevan · « **Reply #10 on:** October 12, 2006, 05:04:10 PM »

Pro, do it now, Karl's arrest will be feature #1 on next week's podcast.

Bloodworth · « **Reply #11 on:** October 12, 2006, 05:05:44 PM »

Don't listen to him. He's trying to off Karl so he doesn't have to (mis)pronounce his name anymore.

Karl Castaneda #2 · « **Reply #12 on:** October 12, 2006, 05:27:50 PM »

SO IT WAS ALL A CLEVER PLOY! The truh comes out, Burchfield!

....

I'm on to you!

Djunknown · « **Reply #13 on:** October 12, 2006, 06:12:18 PM »

Its a shame really. Okami and the 2 original VJ's should justify Clover's continued existance.

Quote
It's unlikely, but I don't want to play Keiji Inafune's Viewtiful Joe 3.

What would happen if Inafune took over?

Quote
Okami is perhaps the best Zelda game ever made.

Actually, that's not a farfetched statement. Check here compared to here.Not too shabby...

Shin Gallon · « **Reply #14 on:** October 12, 2006, 07:17:33 PM »

Okami is amazing, and God Hand looks like the video game version of "Kung Fu Hustle". I enjoyed the first Viewtiful Joe, never played 2 though (other games came up at the time and I never got around to it)

This is a shame, Clover will hopefully get another publisher or the means to self publish...

IceCold · « **Reply #15 on:** October 12, 2006, 07:51:02 PM »

Quote
Quote
Okami is perhaps the best Zelda game ever made.

Actually, that's not a farfetched statement. Check here compared to here.Not too shabby...

What about this?

TrueNerd · « **Reply #16 on:** October 12, 2006, 09:03:38 PM »

Yeah, why buy Clover Studio games when there's tons of licensed crap available for your purchase? BASTARDS.

If Viewt is correct in saying that Clover employees are leaving Capcom, that actually is good news to me. I'd rather those guys do their thing then work on Mega Man sequels.

And as much as I head over heels LOVE Okami, it pales in comparison to at least five (soon to be six?) Zelda games in my mind. Too much hand holding and too easy to be considered the best.

KDR_11k · « **Reply #17 on:** October 12, 2006, 10:11:12 PM »

Okami is definitely a Zelda game, it has everything Zelda has, even the 5 month delay for the European release.

Djunknown · « **Reply #18 on:** October 13, 2006, 06:33:32 PM »

Quick update which I'm sure PGC will make a seperate article but the plot thickens:

Inaba and Kamiya go henshin-a-bye-bye...

Mikami is still around, so its not a total loss. Will he be working on RE 5, or was RE 4 his last ride with the franchise?

So what's in store for the other two? Join the ranks like Sakurai and Sakaguchi and do their own thing?

Mario323 · « **Reply #19 on:** October 14, 2006, 06:52:05 AM »

Let me translate their reason: "We are dissolving them because God Hand sucked the big one."

Jonnyboy117 · « **Reply #20 on:** October 14, 2006, 07:47:41 PM »

I'm near the end of Okami now and it just gets better and better. The story had slowed down for a long time (also typical of a Zelda game) but it takes some VERY interesting turns towards the end. Okami's visual style and the brush techniques are its main innovations; the actual gameplay and structure of the game are totally ripped from the Zelda series, but what's interesting is how Okami mixes together elements from so many different Zelda games. There are obvious nods to Wind Waker, Ocarina, even Minish Cap. And did I mention that Okami is really long? I'm at 50 hours right now. That's with doing many side-quests along the way (they aren't bunched at the end like in Final Fantasy) but also consider that I'm very familiar with this kind of game and almost never get stuck on puzzles or where to go next.

Next time I get on the podcast, I'm going to demand a couple of minutes to pimp Okami. Anyone who enjoys the Zelda series would LOVE this game. So I figure that applies to the vast, vast majority of our readers.

Artimus · « **Reply #21 on:** October 14, 2006, 07:54:54 PM »

I'd buy it if it was on the right system, instead of another Sony-whore by Capcom.

Jonnyboy117 · « **Reply #22 on:** October 14, 2006, 08:40:12 PM »

Do you really not own a PS2? I think all gamers should own a PS2 at this point. There are too many good, cheap games for the system that you will not be able to play otherwise.

Smash_Brother · « **Reply #23 on:** October 14, 2006, 08:44:51 PM »

Had one for DDR but it died in a modding accident and now I have Stepmania for DDR so I never needed another one.

KDR_11k · « **Reply #24 on:** October 14, 2006, 11:25:53 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Jonnyboy117
Do you really not own a PS2? I think all gamers should own a PS2 at this point. There are too many good, cheap games for the system that you will not be able to play otherwise.

Yes but this site attracts the irrational fanboy kind that refuses to buy a PS2 because it's not made by Nintendo.

News:

Author Topic: Capcom to "Dissolve" Clover Studio (Read 9700 times)