Development studios come and go all of the time, but when the people responsible for Viewtiful Joe, Okami, and God Hand got their pink slips the news was particularly disappointing.

Newsletter

Be notified of site updates. Sign-up for the Newsletter sent out twice weekly.

Enter E-Mail Address Below:

Number 7:

Clover Closes Down

2004 - 2006

It may be tempting for some to say that there is a lot of demand out there for games that try to do something different. However, when the latest batch of sales charts come out this very seldom proves to be true. In reality, what dominates in sales is the familiar: sequels, and games that closely adhere to popular precepts of what certain genres should be like. Developers who veer from this are very much putting themselves at risk. If their game manages to sell well, that’s great, but if it doesn’t, the company may find itself broke, and have to shut down.

Sadly in 2006 Clover Studios fell down this hole. For many it came as a shock; it truly was disappointing news. Making the situation that much more of a bitter pill to swallow is that it so completely blindsided gamers. If a more avant-garde project is in the pipes, gamers may hold out hope that it may achieve commercial success, but most know deep down inside that the likelihood of that happening is slim and none. Did we hope that Rez would do well, and usher in a renaissance for the game industry? Perhaps. Did most of us seriously think that would happen? Of course not. The same fate has fallen upon countless other games as well.

Advertisement

What is interesting about Clover Studios, though, is that their recent games, while looking fresh, were not so irrevocably esoteric that they risked alienating a wider audience. The two games that the studio released this year that everyone was keeping an eye on were God Hand and Okami (both for the PS2). At their core, these games

Advertisement

adhered to traditional, time-honored approaches to their genres (action, and action RPG, respectively). What made them different, were adjustments to gameplay, and in the case of Okami, a vibrant, new approach to graphic design. There was a lot of anticipation for both games, as they looked to breathe new life into their genres.

Regardless of how much gamers may have wanted to see these games perform well at retail, they didn’t, and now Clover Studios is gone. This further shows just how difficult it is to try and do something different when making a game. When a game comes out that is admittedly over the top, and manages to be well received by critics, most gamers grit their teeth while they wait to see whether or not the title catches on en masse. In this case, Clover didn’t throw all that much of a curve ball (it's not as though they were trying to make the next Vib Ribbon). Their ideas were interesting with their releases this year, but relatively speaking neither Okami nor God Hand were so different that only a scant few people could possibly appreciate them. Whether these two games got lost in the deluge of fourth quarter releases, or are simply another example of the confoundingly fickle nature of the average game player is anyone’s guess. The fact remains that Clover is no more, and a growing shadow of doubt is looming as to whether the company’s publisher, Capcom, will continue down its recent risk taking path of late. The publisher has garnered a reputation for pumping out legions of sequels, the very antithesis of risk taking some may argue. The closure of Clover suggests that the party may be over in that regards, and that really is a shame.

<< On to Number 6 >>


PC \| DS \| Wii \| PlayStation 2 \| PlayStation 3 \| PSP \| Xbox \| Xbox 360 \| Retired: GBA \| Gamecube \| Xbox
News \| Reviews \| Previews \| Features \| Classics \| Goodies \| Anime \| Forums