kenshiro wrote:
It's really not that cost efficient to support legacyware like that, especially when the MVS systems aren't really sold to homes much and the number of MVS machines isn't really that high outside a few niche arcades here and there. Look at how much those cartridges and home systems cost, still $$$ b/c of scales of economy. It's probably now cheaper to produce a PS2 than the old cartridge based MVS boards. Also, since you are focusing all development on a single platform, R&D costs go down.
The installed base of MVS systems exist in far greater numbers than you may think initially...and that's the beauty of Playmore's current situation...they basically don't have a hardware division to support. Whatever the number of active MVS/AES systems exist is a finite number. They can focus simply on designing games for MVS first, manufacture exactly the quanitity of carts that they know will sell, and then port the property off to another system to continue to generate revenue to recoup their R&D costs. You see, the main plan is calling for them to support the newer systems, but with the initial launch being on the MVS in an effort to appeal to the hardcore who've been supporting the Neo throughout the years. The user base niche is easy for Playmore to target..both arcade and home, so their potential risk is relatively low in regards to the Neo platform...yes, the rom carts are expensive to build in comparison to a CD or DVD and keeping with your economies of scale model, remember, SNK's rom cart factories and process have been refined and paid for years ago so much of the high costs have been taken care of years ago. Kind of fits in with Nintendo's insistance on going cartridge with the N64. Also keep in mind that Playmore's releases usually always sell out...they make just enough and price them exactly right to ensure that money is made in the end.
kenshiro wrote:Playmore/SNK isn't in a highly lucrative niche, as you may remember, the original NeoGeo SNK company went bankrupt and Playmore (along with some Korean company) ended up buying their assets like a year or two ago. Playmore having a pachinko side business only gives them a way to subsidize the 2D fighters.
Of course the business isn't as lucrative as it could be, but the Neo Geo community is far more active than many people give it credit for. People buy their games, even the new releases no matter what the price. They will also go out and buy their ports once released on newer systems as well. This niche community is what Playmore is devoting their energy and resources to. SNK went bankrupt as the result of years of mismanagement and for failed hardware launches like the Hyper64, The NEO GEO CD systems, and the NEO GEO POCKET. Playmore is focusing on the Neo Geo and the XBOX/PS2/GBA at the moment and developing only games.
Sure, Guilty Gear may look nice, but who cares? It's the fighting system and playability that matter and many are willing to overlook the low res sprites. And yes, part of the appeal is the retro look and feel. Remember that retro gaming is making a huge comeback and there are ever increasing legions of gamers who are swearing off of the next-gen/3D saturated systems. Capcom Vs. SNK2 for XBOX was quite good. Did it matter if the sprites were jaggy and low res? In my opinion, and judging by how well the game sold, the answer is probably no.
The best looking 2D fighters to date come from Sammy. The Guilty Gear series were developed on NAOMI (Dreamcast Hardware was based on it) and look great. Capcom was just flat out lazy in using low-rez sprites and one of their excuses was b/c of the low rez monitors used in many cabinets. But Capcom 2D fighters still look better than any SNK one. They also sound better too.
