Japanese developer Cave is beloved for their hardcore focused, bullet-hell shooters like Mushihimesama and Donpachi, but it appears their dedicated cult following isn’t enough to keep them in the black: the company announced today that it was lowering it sales forecasts for the year, and that they had incurred a loss of 31 million yen rather than the 10 million in gain they had hoped to make.
Cave, best known in America for their excellent gothic lolita themed shooter Deathsmiles, blames their loss on market stagnation and a lack of interest in their product from retailers. In an effort to try the recoup their losses, the company has placed several of their current projects on hold while they attempt to break into the lucrative social games market.
Adjusting to the general paradigm shift in gaming sales and marketing has been difficult for many companies this generation, especially Japanese developers, and it’s depressing to see a company so focused on making core-focused, quality games like Cave struggle to turn a profit. While it’s sad to see them shift gears away from the arcade SHMUPs that made them legendary and towards the casual cell-phone and social media games that hardcore gamers love to hate, Cave is just doing what they have to in order to survive. Here’s hoping their current financial situation is just a temporary setback, and they can get back to making the games we love soon.
Rian Quenlin
How about both things? A bullet-hell MMO with social elements? Valkyrie Sky did this and it was a very good game.
Hell, team up with ZUN and make a Touhou-based MMO set in Gensokyo, complete with spellcard duels and PvP. Give ZUN a slice of the profits and maybe he can see his lifetime goal of opening a brewery be realized.