Nigoro: Hope For ‘La-Mulana’ On WiiWare Yet, Setting Example For Japanese Industry
A few weeks back, Nicalis revealed their decision to not publish the WiiWare version of Nigoro‘s highly anticipated 2D platformer, La-Mulana. They gave some fair reasons as to why – the market for the Wii had substantially declined since the contract’s initiation – so fans were left to nod along with the change of plans.
It seems that Nigoro completely disagree with the reasons given though, writing the following over on the official blog:
“The market of WiiWare may not be active. But it doesn’t concern people who was waiting LA-MULANA.”
Due to this viewpoint, they are still hoping for a North American and European release for La-Mulana on WiiWare, and say that they have even been contacted by some publishers who are willing to help them do it. This is more than just getting the game to the players who want it and on the platform they had set their eyes on for it though. This is about setting an example to the Japanese gaming industry.
They noted that no interest for their game has been shown in Japan at all, so their only choice has been to cater to overseas where the interest does reside. They note that this is true for all indie game developers in Japan, saying that there is a severe lack of interest in its native indie game developers. They’re hoping that if they can get La-Mulana published overseas then they may have a chance of starting to change the situation around.
“We want to release LA-MULANA overseas. However, to tell the truth, Our primary reason for it is to set a example that Japanese indie game can be released.”
Their cause only brings up the words of Phil Fish at the IGF this year, where he said that most modern games from Japan “just suck”. It seemed harsh but they shook up some realizations in the Japanese game developers, some of them reflecting on the state of Japanese game production at the moment, more or less agreeing with what Fish said. Maybe they’ll start looking towards the indie game developers, that’s what Nigoro certainly hope for, as they remarked, “Japanese indie games world is untouched vein of gold.”
More information on La-Mulana can be found on the game’s official website.
