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Forums - Nintendo - Nintendo now fully owns the Astral Chain IP

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Nautilus on 31 January 2021
twintail said:

I'm not really sure why Nintendo would need to do this, unless Platinum had the option of going multiplatform with the IP. I also doubt that any content from this game wouldn't have made it into other media (like Smash), because I doubt Platinum would disagree.

Clearly, Nintendo is not going to buy Platinum if they have gone through the process of securing this IP. So, I'm not really sure why there was any need for this. I mean, it's great I guess.

For once, I do agree with you. It feels unnecessary for Nintendo to fully buy this IP. But it's probably a similar situation to Wonderful 101, in that Nintendo is doing Platinum some kind of favor, in a way to thanks for their continued help with their systems(both regarding to past endevours and future ones)



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Zero_Revolution on 31 January 2021
mZuzek said:
Stuart23 said:

They already said that the game was intended to be a trilogy,

Dulfite said:

I mean they already said years ago they were thinking to make this a trilogy.

This isn't true, it was a mistranslation. They only said they had ideas/plans for sequels.

Either way, personally I'm not too happy about this news. On the one hand, it probably confirms an Astral Chain sequel eventually? Maybe not, cause nothing Nintendo does makes any sense, but anyways, a sequel was always likely to happen. The other hand bothers me more, and it's just that I'd much rather have Platinum owning the IP than Nintendo, because Nintendo makes... questionable decisions, to say the least. Hopefully Platinum continues to develop whatever new games come from this franchise, and also have the artistic freedom to do what they feel is right.

Not necessarily disagreeing on this point, but I don't see how it makes sense to say that in comparison to PlatinumGames, who has recently made decisions such as a kickstarter campaign for their finished game that they then didn't get copies out to backers for months and months after the date they were supposed to receive them (with no updates for a long time on whether they were even coming despite the game being out) and who have been developing so many games simultaneously that they haven't been able to put out more than 2 or 3 major releases in the last like 7 years, despite having announced a ton of future projects that likely won't be out for years.

Nintendo are the ones who asked Platinum to make Astral Chain in the first place, so them owning the IP in full now only means they probably have plans to continue the series and Platinum may not be able to take on that project for a long time. I could see them developing it themselves or asking for a smaller team from Platinum to co-develop the project if possible since Platinum is currently biting off far more than they can chew. Or if I'm completely wrong about that, they can still ask Platinum to make a sequel or vice versa and both parties would probably be cool with that. If Nintendo didn't care about the franchise whatsoever, they wouldn't have done this.



Leynos on 31 January 2021

The IP was successful. Nintendo wants a successful IP. People are overthinking this. Relax. Nintendo and PG will still partner up for more games,even AC2



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VideoGameAccountant on 31 January 2021
RolStoppable said:

Nintendo getting 100% of the rights to Astral Chain may be a result of Platinum's plans for self-publishing being off to a worse start than anticipated, so they were looking for a small money injection. Nothing too serious, but merely making use of an opportunity.

What Nintendo gains from this is that they don't need to discuss anything with Platinum anymore when it comes to the future of Astral Chain or using the IP in other games (such as SSB). They can hand off developing duties to anyone they wish, although it's almost a sure thing that they'd prefer Platinum again.

A potential problem that Nintendo could have seen in the previous co-ownership is that Platinum may fail as publisher and choose to end up as Tencent subsidiary or something. In such a scenario Nintendo would have then to discuss the future of Astral Chain with a partner that would be worse to work with than the current Platinum Games. Worst case would have been a deadlock where Astral Chain remains in limbo due to lack of any kind of agreement or Nintendo's new partner asking for too high of a price to part with the rights for the IP. The decision to make Astral Chain a co-owned IP dates back to before Platinum's change of course in a direction of self-publishing; circumstances changed, so Nintendo changed their mind too.

That's a possibility and, let's be honest, everyone except Platinum realized self-publishing was a bad idea. I'm thinking it could also be that Nintendo doesn't have much faith in them anymore and wouldn't want the IP tied up with other company. Something is certainly going wrong with these projects. Babylon Fall was delayed twice and we have no idea when this game is coming out, despite originally planned for 2019. Bayonetta 3 has been in the dark since late 2017 and we've only gotten a teaser. At the same time, they want to do another game in the "HERO" trilogy with Project GG......which will flop just like W101 did. I don't think Platinum looks that great in 2021 so Nintendo may be hedging their bets.

V-r0cK said:
PortisheadBiscuit said:

They should just buy Platinum Games

I respectfully disagree. 

They've done a lot of good work for Nintendo, but they've done more for multiplats and with a wider variety of games as well.

I get what your saying, but at a minimum, Platinum needs to be bought out if they are going to survive. Nintendo is a good fit because they give their developers a lot of freedom. In the case of Monolith, they've improved a lot under Nintendo. 



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curl-6 on 31 January 2021
Jranation said:
KLXVER said:

Its not a failure. Just decent by Nintendo standards.

If the sequel of AC and Arms sells close or more than the original then I can put them on the same tier as Xenoblade, Yoshi and Kirby games (Maybe DK and FE are also on the same tier) Which are all successful franchises. 

DK has a 9+ million seller, two games over 6 million, and four games over 5 million. It's not the same tier.



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mjk45 on 01 February 2021
twintail said:
mjk45 said:

 I'm sure Nintendo only did the deal because they own 50% not because of a need, most likely Platinum moving towards self publishing instigated the move to gain W101, and along the way it ended up involving them offloading their share of Astral Chain, most likely because part owning an IP with Nintendo who also own the publishing rights seemed out of step with their move away from contract work, so selling their share gave them one less complication to deal with why they embark on what they see as their future. 

Perhaps. I can see that. 

It does seem a bit premature though. Their self-publishing route may not exactly work out for them.

Like Rol talks about they may need the extra cash to help their cash flow, especially if the expected time lag between outlay and income has widened

plus they may feel confident that they will be called upon to develop any sequels.



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VMCJonCarter on 02 February 2021

i wish the game had more success.



CarcharodonKraz on 11 February 2021

oh good. maybe it will reach the heights of the fatal frame franchise...