I cannot imagine any publisher being interested in Level-5 for the IPs that they themselves ran into the ground and then proceeded to drive a railroad spike into.
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They milked the shit out of those franchises and nobody cares anymore
I cannot believe that they bought Comcept after the Mighty No. 9 debacle
The issue with Level 5 is that the problems begin from the top (Hino), but he's directly involved with the games too, not just an executive.
As harsh as it sounds I dont see any reason why we cant afford to lose them.
Goddamn.
For real though I love Level 5 and would hate it if they went out of business
Come on now, they really are a great developer. Yokai Watch, Fantasy Life, Dark Cloud, DQ 8&9, Rogue Galaxy, Ni No Kuni, LBX, all bangers.
And how long ago where those projects? When was the last time they showed that talent that made DQ8? For me it has been atleast like 10 years.
Yokai Watch 3 was a few years ago, great game. Fantasy Life was 5 years ago but that's one of their best games ever. Yokai Watch 4 is supposed to be very good as well
Are people seriously thinking that DQ8 and their PS2 games are the only great games that Level 5 has done?
Fantasy Life is a hidden gem that Level 5 could've turned into a great selling series that they again mismanaged by focusing on mobile.
Fantasy Life is a hidden gem that Level 5 could've turned into a great selling series that they again mismanaged by focusing on mobile.
I still want my White Knight Chronicles remake that will look like its first gameplay showing..... : /
LBX being localized would have done absolutely nothing. Little Battlers wasn't even a big deal in Japan, forget anywhere else.
At this point, L5 needs two things to turn their fortunes around:
1. A new franchise aimed at young-adults that does well in Japan. Kids' franchises are too hit-and-miss these days, and I believe it's in their best interest to stop chasing that market. Said franchise also needs to have a solid enough foundation/appeal that they can grow it in the west as well. This could potentially be Ni no Kuni, but it would require some changes in terms of visual direction/setting/themes.
2. A smartphone game that is of high quality and sustainable (the new Ni no Kuni MMO by NetMarble might fit the bill)
Once they have those in place, they can begin rebuilding their brand around these games, rather than relying on IP that is no longer viable.
Fantasy life was a 2012 game that took a while to get localised. Yokai watch 4 may be goods, but it bombed hard in sales and they're dragging feet on localisation so...
Dropping the partnership with Nintendo remains the worst mistake the company ever made.
While dropping the partnership with Nintendo hasn't been doing them any particular favors, I'd argue their bigger mistake was how fast and hard they milked Yokai Watch. They had a serious challenger to Pokemon in Japan (even if it wasn't doing nearly as well in the west), and they blew it because they milked it like it was fucking Guitar Hero. Seriously, it was like they were the Japanese Acitivsion with this shit!
I am not implying W being localized would've done them any good, I am saying it could be added to the list of good games that people slept on.
I kind of hope a company like Bandai Namoc picks Level-5 up, they kind of need to be acquired by some publisher that would take care of them.
When people jump on the "Sony / Microsoft / Others should acquire X, Y and Z" I often feel that the studios in question doesn't... Need to be acquired. Level-5 fits all of the boxes
We'll see what happens. But I hope that Level-5 sorts everything out and can return to their former glory. I do think that Bandai Namco is a perfect fit and would give them this stability.
Best of luck to everyone at Level-5 affected by everything
When people jump on the "Sony / Microsoft / Others should acquire X, Y and Z" I often feel that the studios in question doesn't... Need to be acquired. Level-5 fits all of the boxes
- Shitty management that pretty much ruined the studio.
- Seems to have a bad structure of projects, which leads to localization problems and the downfall of certain franchises (Again, mostly because of bad management)
- In dire need of A. Money, B. Stability, and C. Automatic localization (Depending on who'd acquire them)
We'll see what happens. But I hope that Level-5 sorts everything out and can return to their former glory. I do think that Bandai Namco is a perfect fit and would give them this stability.
Best of luck to everyone at Level-5 affected by everything
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Though you said it seems unlikely I would say Nintendo makes the most sense due to the IPs performing better on their platforms. If only Nintendo would open its wallet, they could probably get Level 5 for cheap. Otherwise like you said Bamco is a good company to acquire them.
The problem with acquiring Level 5 is that it is probably cheaper to wait until it is bankrupt and set up your own studio in the city where it was and hire all the talent (I don't remember which one but it is not the typical Kyoto, Tokyo or Osaka)
Their IPs are worth practically nothing anymore.
Their IPs are worth practically nothing anymore.
I imagine what would have happened if level 5 had decided to make games that were tonally appropriate to their art and narrative design. Ni no Kuni 2 was such a mess, but it was so close to being a truly great game. I don't know if they flew too close to the sun, or what. But they were so close. Instead the ship is sinking.
Fukuoka I think... Great city that should have more dev studios (there is Polyphony Digital - Gran Turismo and also Cyber Connect 2 - Naruto / DBZ/.hack/Asura's warth)
Level-5 is located on Fukuoka. And from what I gathered from the previous discussion, there aren't many studios around that arrea (Cyber Connect 2 being one of them ). In fact may not be the best area to gather talent / developers.
Level 5 would ideally be picked up by some Nintendo heavy publisher (or the big N themselves...). I know Ninokuni was a major title on Ps4, but the real bread and butter of level 5 this decade have been on Nintendo hardware with Layton/Inazuma/Yokai watch, and a number of one offs like fantasy life.
I don't really know that they've done any releases that would aim at the kind of audience Microsoft have cultivated, so I don't really think they're likely either.
They had huge success on NDS and 3DS, so the most logical choice going forward is betting against Switch going full mobile.
Level-5 can design very cute, unique characters and thats it. They could not go on aping pokemon collect monsters formula forever without good gameplays and passable plots (Ni No Kuni 2 story just so so bad)
Level-5 can design very cute, unique characters and thats it. They could not go on aping pokemon collect monsters formula forever without good gameplays and passable plots (Ni No Kuni 2 story just so so bad)
I echo your sentiments, Bandai Namco is the best fit for Level-5. They have a monopoly in the anime and anime licensed game industry so they can properly franchise Level-5 intellectual properties.
unless a big publisher hires them for a game soon, i don't think they can go on much longer.
also, no company is going to buy level-5. they're not worth much. a bunch of IPs worth nothing and a lot of redundancy for their publishing and cross-examination personnel.
also, no company is going to buy level-5. they're not worth much. a bunch of IPs worth nothing and a lot of redundancy for their publishing and cross-examination personnel.
Nintendo doesn't buy companies like that and they probably wouldn't want to take on the mess that is L5 multimedia IP's. Unless Hino themselves pleaded to Nintendo to buy them.
I personally don't care if they will ever use their IPs again. I care about them as developers cause I really think they can make some really great games and they have enormous potential.