US publication GamesBeat recently chatted with Treasure founder Masato Maegawa via email to find out a number of things about the highly regarding developer. One of the things touched on was why the company struggles with the idea of creating sequels to their acclaimed back catalogue. Here’s what Mr. Maegawa told the site:
GamesBeat: Treasure has a stable of games that have never gotten a sequel that are ripe for iteration like Silhouette Mirage and Mischief Makers. What game in your catalog would you like to develop a new sequel for?
Maegawa: We’ve considered various sequels, but the wall is high. For instance, Gunstar Heroes is known for Seven Force, a boss that can transform into seven unique forms, but that wouldn’t have much impact if we were to create something similar to that in a modern sequel. At the time, it had a lot of impact because it featured a large-scale boss that was lively and moving around on game hardware with limited functionality. Now, the hardware is much more advanced, so that sort of thing wouldn’t make as big of an impression. We don’t have a strict policy of not creating sequels, but it’s a difficult decision to make.
I want…
Sin and Punishment 3
Alien Soldier 2
How can anyone ask for sequels if they don’t have any kind of damn access to the games before that?! Fans have long stopped asking for sequels and are just asking for Treasure to release their damn games on current platforms, but Treasure just keep ignoring those request and making excuses!
How the hell is Treasure even still around today as a game developer considering they hardly release any games, new or old.
All they have to do is just release a single collection with these games on it for the Switch and watch the sales go nuts
Silhouette Mirage, Mischief Makers, Guardian Heroes, Gunstar Heroes, Alien Soldier, Sin and Punishment, Sin & Punishment: Star Successor, Bangai-O, Light Crusader, Bangai-O Spirits, Gunstar Super Heroes, Advance Guardian Heroes ect.
I know one thing, whatever Treasure is doing to stay in business without releasing any games I say EA and Activision need to take lessons from them because the crap about game development being too expensive must be a load of crap if Treasure managed to stay in the business of game development without ripping people off through scummy monetization practices!
This 100%
” but Treasure just keep ignoring those request and making excuses!”
Ignoring? Probably not. I’d wager they’ve done the market research and determined, whether correctly or incorrectly, that it isn’t worth the effort. Excuses? Sure, but no PR rep can just say “The money guys say that wouldn’t be worth our time”.
“All they have to do is just release a single collection with these games on it for the Switch and watch the sales go nuts
Silhouette Mirage, Mischief Makers, Guardian Heroes, Gunstar Heroes, Alien Soldier, Sin and Punishment, Sin & Punishment: Star Successor, Bangai-O, Light Crusader, Bangai-O Spirits, Gunstar Super Heroes, Advance Guardian Heroes ect.”
The average Switch buyer has heard of *maybe* one of those games. I’m not saying you’re wrong. I think they’d at least turn a profit. I can just see why an accountant somewhere thinks it’s a bad idea.
“I know one thing, whatever Treasure is doing to stay in business without releasing any games I say EA and Activision need to take lessons from them because the crap about game development being too expensive must be a load of crap if Treasure managed to stay in the business of game development without ripping people off through scummy monetization practices!”
Kidding? EA and Activision are *spectacularly* larger than Treasure. This is like comparing what El Gato does to stay in business making computer hardware to what Apple has to do to stay in business making computer hardware. At that difference in scale, it isn’t even the same business anymore. EA has to have a constant stream of massive revenue to support that many employees and production in that scale, and they need that many employees and production in order to produce the hyper expensive AAA gaming scene that earns them that revenue.
I’m 30 years old. Games have stayed at nearly the same retail price point my entire life, in spite of inflation, and in spite of dev teams being literally 40x the size they used to be. Where do you think that extra money comes from? You have three options. 1. Scale back production and stop making the current concept of a “AAA” game. 2. Raise the price at retail, probably to around $80-90. People would never accept this. 3. Nickle and dime the customer after retail with DLC and “free to play” schemes.
Number three is the only one gamers accept, so they have to live with what they’ve chosen.
Given all the compilations of old games that have released on the Switch that accountant is perhaps not looking closely enough at the numbers. Even Konami, one of the stingiest companies is releasing a compilation of games on the Switch. The only reason they aren’t releasing a compilation of games now is because they don’t seem to be developing any games. So I could see them potentially releasing a compilation to say “remember us?” leading up to a new game release.
I mean, how many people playing today have heard of the SNK games being released this fall? So that is a poor argument.
“I mean, how many people playing today have heard of the SNK games being released this fall? So that is a poor argument.”
That depends on information we don’t have available to us. Treasure could release their games in exactly the same way, and sell exactly as many copies, and it not be profitable like it was for SNK. Does treasure have the available manpower to add that project? Would they have to hire new employees? If so, what would they do with those workers after that project? Do they have the physical space in their offices for an additional project? Are there any copyright issues related to old contracts about the rights of those games?
I’m not saying they shouldn’t release the compilation. I’m just saying that they probably have their reasons. Very boring reasons perhaps, and ultimately not very good reasons perhaps, but they assuredly aren’t “ignoring” it as was suggested.
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Treasure has made nothing but classic and cult gems. They have an impeccable library and are the #1 name in retro action shooters. Its sad to not see them in the game anymore and like others have mentioned. I think them releasing just a collection of their games would be awesome. They mustn’t be forgotten in gaming.
Also no one has mentioned the fan title Astroboy Omega Factor from their catalog. That game was sooooooo good too.
Omega Factor is one of my favorite games of all time and it plays, looks and sounds fantastic to this day, a true classic that looks especially good on the GB Micro. “Tender Recollection” is a track that captures the magic of this game perfectly, there’s just something very special about it. I also enjoyed Mischief Makers a lot, very unique and charming.
Mischief makers is till this day one of the strangest games I have ever played. Even thinking about it I still can’t comprehend where the ideas came from for that game lol HELP ME MARINNAAA !!