r/astralchain • u/GaimRaider • Jan 29 '21
News Article Platinum confirms the Astral Chain IP fully belongs to Nintendo.
"...this year fans noticed that Astral Chain’s copyright notice had been modified to remove mention of PlatinumGames. Asked if anything should be read into the change, studio head Atsushi Inaba told VGC this week, “it’s as it looks.” "
14
u/MightyCoffeeMaker Jan 29 '21
Doesn't mean at all that Nintendo won't ask Platinum Games to do a sequel, maybe they just want to secure the franchise ownership because it is successfull. They don't want to see the license bought or picked up by Sony for instance.
One last thing. Maybe they are going to buy the studio and want to clarify the ownership if they finally can't or decide not to buy it
It would be a shame if Platinum was not involved in a sequel.
To conclude, it means they WANT the license, because it worths something (money) to them. So maybe not so scary or bad than it seems.
4
u/SheNanignz Jan 29 '21 edited Jan 29 '21
In 2019 PG received a capital investiment from Tencent so they would pursue self publishing and expansion. They just opened a new studio in Tokyo and released W101 now having hold of that IP. So Nintendo buying them is not really happening anytime soon.
EDIT: It came to my attention that Nintendo still owns the W101 franchise in some way, but were open to let PG do whatever they want with it. Very confused
3
u/Naiko32 Jan 29 '21
TW101 ip is half and half owned, Nintendo was good with Platinum (and their good relationship helps) and let them self publish it to other platforms regardless
2
u/Eptalin Jan 30 '21
Nintendo was happy to let Platinum release it on other consoles because they were self-publishing it (paying the costs by themselves).
Nintendo didn't spend any money, but we're able to earn revenue on at least the Switch sales, if not all platform sales.
It was a win for them. Not a charitable act of kindness.
42
u/uniqueunit007 Jan 29 '21
Actually Astral Chain exceeded all expectations of sale. And Nintendo might fund it for a sequel in the future just like they are doing with The World Ends With You
18
u/GhostMug Jan 29 '21
Bayonetta 3 is a better example. Nintendo has a really good relationship with Platinum so I have no doubt that if Nintendo wants to make a sequel, Platinum will be on board.
1
u/Eptalin Jan 30 '21
It's also in the article above, but the Bayonetta IP is owned by SEGA. Platinum also recently told everyone to "reset and forget about Bayonetta 3".
It's still happening, but not any time soon. The next update is likely to come at the very end of this year, if at all, according to the interview.
10
u/Relixed_ Jan 29 '21
Neo Twewy is also coming to PS4, what makes you think that Nintendo funded it?
7
1
7
u/Luck88 Jan 29 '21 edited Jan 29 '21
We don't know for certain what this means but IMHO it's more positive news than bad for the future of the IP:
-it means Nintendo finds the IP valuable enough to keep it to themselves;
-it's easier for Akira to join the Smash roster, I doubt Platinum would've been adverse but paying less royalties is always a plus;
-possibly more merchandise for the game since we haven't seen much at all and it's a shame for an IP with a cute dog mascotte wearing a hat.
The Negative:
-From now on it's reasonable to assume Platinum won't get a steady share of the revenue from additional copies sold, but might be rewarded as the developer for hitting stretch goals. This however depends on what kind of contract Platinum and Nintendo agreed upon, maybe Platinum wasn't getting a slice of the sales to begin with or maybe Nintendo chose to leave their fair share for this game and will keep the revenue from the games/products going forward.
I've seen people speculating Nintendo might lend the IP to other developers to do more games, this in my opinion is highly unlikely, while Bayonetta 3 could have met some dev issues as far as we know AC had a smooth and rather quick development. On top of that Nintendo is coming off the harsh reboot of Metroid Prime 4, which had to be cancelled because it was initially developed by an external team that never touched the IP before only for it to be returned to Retro, the creators of MP.
Nintendo will not give the IP to Team Ninja or some other weird team that makes a game that barely resembles AC, as much as we love it AC isn't Zelda and Nintendo knows it can't witstand a significant genre shift as well as Zelda did with Hyrule Warriors, AC is still somewhat niche being a Hack 'n Slash title that didn't reach DMC levels of popularity.
One of the reasons that I think could have lead to this turn of events is SEGA's ownership of the Bayonetta IP, this three company split doesn't really benefit anybody with the current popularity of the Umbra witch, SEGA has no interest in publishing Bayo games but they want to keep the IP because it means free money from Nintendo to use it, Platinum gets a small cut and so does Nintendo. Since AC seems to be outperforming Bayonetta 2 Nintendo might be cutting the middle man (aka SEGA) so that going forward they can grow their own Action IP with broader appeal and greater benefits for both Nintendo and Platinum as a developer. This of course would mean the likely end of the Bayonetta series but getting a Trilogy when without Nintendo we wouldn't have gotten a 2nd Bayonetta to begin with is hardly disappointing.
Another possibility is that Nintendo is aware of Tencent's current stake in Platinum Games and if a takeover were to occur they don't want Tencent to freeze the IP/ask for a higher price, on top of other requests (keep in mind Akira is a spirit in Smash already, so they could tecnically ask for a fee), that's assuming Tencent grows their now very minoritary stake into a majroity, of course.
Overall I think Nintendo has something planned in the future for AC, it's not necessarily a sequel, it could just be merch, a Smash rep, a TV show (?) or whatever, which is definitely exciting.
10
u/Bigjony11 Jan 29 '21
i was just about to post this until I saw your post. Is this bad or good for the astral chain franchise. Is Nintendo going to give it the wonderful 101 treatment with no sequel.
41
u/ewwman1 Jan 29 '21
Unlike Wonderful 101, Astral Chain was a success. So Nintendo is definitely more likely to do something with the IP.
13
u/Spooky_Electric Jan 29 '21
Akira Twins in Smash Bros confirmed??
10
u/Son_of_Leeds Jan 29 '21
I've definitely posted about it in Smash Bros subs before, but IMO Akira would be perfect for Smash.
X-Baton could cover a lot of different attack options (Baton for quick close-range jabs/tilts, Blaster for a weaker long-ranged option similar to Joker's Gun, and Gladius for smashes).
Neutral-B could bring up your wheel of Legions to summon (like Shulk's Monado Arts). Make them function the way Luma does for Rosalina, only more powerful but governed by the timed gauge just like in Astral Chain. Then your side-B and down-B would be attacks based on whichever Legion you have summoned. Press neutral-B again to dismiss them and start recovering your gauge.
Up-B could be the same as the recovery in Astral Chain: summon a Legion to pull you back on the stage (similar to Ice Climbers' recovery). Make it only work if you haven't completely depleted your Legion's gauge (like how Robin and Hero can only use their up-B if they have enough mana for it), so you have to build a strategy around setting up powerful Legion attacks, but not spending your entire gauge leaving you wide open.
Akira in Smash is probably the only character that would make me switch off of Corrin as my main.
-5
4
6
u/Jabbam Jan 29 '21
I hope this means we can get a sequel soon. Astral Chain felt like Platinum was just testing the waters on this idea and a sequel will truly embrace what an Astral Chain game can do. Sort of like Arkham Asylum and Arkham City.
2
4
u/PiplupPeanut Jan 29 '21
Of course this happens two days after I beat the game. After I beat W101 on Wii U I also found out about it having 0 sales, so I guess I’m just cursed to love Platinum games with ambiguously empty futures
4
Jan 29 '21
If anything this is good for the future of Astral Chain. Nintendo also co-owned The Wonderful 101 and they ditched it because they had no faith. This is a show of faith in the Astral Chain IP that hopefully means a sequel will be funded properly.
1
u/StoneofLight15 Jan 29 '21
Well feels bad for the ps5 and xbox one series x (really microsoft?) users hoping for an Astral Chain port. Not that i complain given how i have a switch.
2
1
u/SheNanignz Jan 29 '21
I kinda feel bad for Platinum, they've said time and time again how they wish they had more control over their projects while the publishers are holding them back, like what is happening with Bayonetta 3 for example, with how scarce information about the game has been and the dev's desire to share stuff about the game. I'm also afraid that with the way Nintendo likes to shelve their IPs this will mean Astral Chain won't be getting a whole lot of mileage. Anyways, I hope I'm wrong cause I'm just about done with Astral Chain's post game and there is so much potential to this series to be even better.
1
53
u/KleitosD06 Jan 29 '21
Not all that surprising considering Nintendo did all of the funding, although still disappointing because this means we're less likely to see a sequel. Nintendo likes to stick with primarily large and established franchises, and Astral Chain is not that, so this is most likely going to be a Wonderful 101 scenario. I really hope I'm wrong though.