Grasshopper's PS3 game may make Marvelous 'bankrupt'

Grasshopper Manufacture has been quietly working on a PS3 game whilst working on their No More Heroes games on Wii. The mysterious PS3 game will be published by Marvelous Entertainment, but the ambitious nature of the project may compromise the small company's financial stability. "If we do that [game] we might go bankrupt," Yasuhiro Wada, president of Marvelous Entertainment, joked to Siliconera. "We are making it, but if we make everything then it's a little too risky."

http://playstation.joystiq.com/2009/06/16/grasshoppers-ps3-game-may-make-marvelous-bankrupt/

I don't want that to happen, that'd probably mean no more No More Heroes.

It did say he was joking. He obviously embellished the truth for comic effect.

Alvin Flummux wrote:I don't want that to happen, that'd probably mean no more No More Heroes.

It's not Grasshopper that would go under, so have no fear!

Alvin Flummux wrote:I don't want that to happen, that'd probably mean no more Harvest Moon.

More like it.

Harvest Moon is a CASH COW. I'm amazed how well it does.

Harvest Moon bored the crap outta me.

Oxx wrote:Harvest Moon is a CASH COW. I'm amazed how well it does.

To add to this, as two Marvelous threads might be pushing it:

UK + European game sales are killing Marvelous!

Q: The effects of the economic downturn is causing retailers to run low on funds and causing game prices to drop. How does your company plan to deal with these risks?

A: We have not seen much of the effects of the economic downturn in Japan, but we have been affected greatly overseas. Especially in Europe, where the retailers drop prices without informing the maker. And they would claim the price difference from the maker later, almost as if that is the way that everything is supposed work. We’re already charging extra to cover costs for the price protection, but past late last year the prices have dropped below what can be covered by the amount, badly affecting the profits for our subsidiary in Britain. For the current financial year, we’re starting to take more money to compensate for price protection.

Nintendo, a huge company who still make money, get away with rising UK prices all over the shop, but Marvelous keep the price the same (They actually suggest they rose them a bit there, but that must have been from £34.99 to £40, which nobody even noticed) and end up paying a terrible price. :cry:

Rising Star Games are also part of this, as they are the European branch of Marvelous. The recession must end! The lives of fantastic publishers are at stake!

Didn't know that retailers could claim money back from the publisher if they had to slash retail prices to shift stock.

That kinda sucks.

PS3 exclusive development.

Oxx wrote:Didn't know that retailers could claim money back from the publisher if they had to slash retail prices to shift stock.

That kinda sucks.

This is actually a pretty common practice, I believe. I remember first coming across the concept in David Sheff's Game Over, which described how the American toy industry would request "mark-down money".

I assume it varies from retailer to retailer. though.

Harvest Moon is, no pun intended, farmed rather well though. It's not pumped out year after year, meaning new installments are usually widely welcomed.

Yeah, I don't know how the console versions of Harvest Moon fare, but they shipped 450k copies of Island of Happiness to Europe alone. :shock:

Grasshopper's PS3 game may make Marvelous 'bankrupt'

Who is online

Affiliates