Nicalis explains La-Mulana cancellation, says state of Wi...

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Nicalis explains La-Mulana cancellation, says state of WiiWare and development issues lead to decision
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The decision to cancel publishing of La-Mulana was a tough call, but waiting two years for NIGORO to finish development has made it near impossible to sell sufficient units on Wii. The WiiWare market has a fraction of the players from 2008. The window for release and success of software on the platform ended in 2009 and took a very steep decline. Players have moved onto other digital download platforms.

La-Mulana was originally developed without DLC in mind and, I think being their first console project, that NIGORO got a bit ahead of themselves and spent two years agonizing on getting the DLC sort of working for Japan. Unfortunately, it never passed Nintendo’s submission process in the US or EU with DLC in place. As the publisher, we’re responsible for various things, but development (which includes programming, art, music and design) is and always has been in the hands of NIGORO.

With the Wii U in the not too distant future and WiiWare sales almost non-existent, I had to make a call today. I wish them the best. They’re good game developers and good guys - Tyrone Rodriguez, Nicalis

I can definitely understand the WiiWare perspective. Couple that with the fact that the game hit many development struggles and it seems like the perfect recipe for cancellation. With that said, I'm still going to miss having a chance to play this on my Wii.

Thanks to Tyrone Rodriguez for the comment.

[LegendofSantiago]

"state of WiiWare and development issues lead to decision" expected. It's a shame, it looked cool. I wonder if there is a chance for it to come out on the e-shop. They can get "my munny" if they do

[Shaanyboi]

So...WiiWare was too barren of a thing to be worth it.... gotcha

[shingi70]

Makes sense.

[OprahFTWinfrey]

I don't blame them, nobody even pays attention to wiiware releases anymore, there's no way they could've made a profit.

[MAGNUS-8M]

It really would be better if Nigoro went with an eShop version... a lot of the background designs have that sort of 3D-ish parallax scrolling, if it wasn't too much work to convert, it'd be pretty interesting like that.

That's if they'd ever want to work with Nicalis on publishing ever again though. I can understand not wanting to become MDK2 and all that nonsense, but still. I guess just hope for an eShop version or go for the new PC version if they're still doing that for NA as well.

[nGen]

WiiWare sales are barren? WHAT?! You mean titles like Carmen San Diego's Adventures in Math and 2 Fast 4 Gnomz aren't flying off the digital shelves? Colour me shocked.

[Battlestriker123]

Again... ESHOP! Or WiiUShop! Both ways work fine! (and they both support DLC, if that helps!)

[zeeroid]

awfully sad

[selloutwithme]

i'm kind of glad it got passed on because of dlc. hopefully when it hits wii u or 3ds it'll be a finished product and not something where dlc is already preplanned. not looking to get nickel and dimed on what looks to be a great game.

[NeroSuferoth]

I guess there's still a chance on the WiiU Ware.. Shop.. whatever

Hell, why not on PSN or XBL?

[selloutwithme]

i could see it getting passed on for xbla and ending up a "indie" title. those are as doomed as wiiware.

[brancaleone]

good! nobody needs games like that any more!

[Mike_Intellivision]

I guess there's still a chance on the WiiU Ware.. Shop.. whatever

Hell, why not on PSN or XBL?

Maybe because Nicalis does not appear to be associated with those platforms.

Mike from Morgantown

[stealth]

at least the pc localization is still on

[BigLord]

Steam. Do it.

[ZeroFlame16]

If Wiiware would release good titles instead of garbage titles like the Carmen Sandiego games, this would never have happened. I hate it when games that have potential gets no release while garbage games somehow always get in.Besides a few good wiiware titles, Wiiware sucks!

[HyperInuyasha]

good! nobody needs games like that any more!

I hope to god that's sarcasm.

I'm disappointed by this, but at least it's a legitimate reason and not the short comings of the WiiWare service. Actually, it's technically that too... I blame time for this.

[WesFX]

Why do even WiiWare supporters make WiiWare look bad?

Wii is the thing out of steam, and thus WiiWare suffers. WiiWare isn't a failing platform because of itself.

[ridleysaria]

More and more I see Wii as a little white tombstone.

[ninjablaze]

Maybe that's why, if you're going to release DLC, you should wait until AFTER your game is out to make it, and not completely develop it all up front before your game's even finished and then try to fit it into the actual game download itself so you can pay to "unlock" it weeks after you buy the game.

That's like the 3rd or 4th WiiWare game to do that, (not that it doesn't happen elsewhere by any means) and as great of a game as it may be I don't really feel much sympathy for them, especially considering the game started off free.

It's also kind of immature and rude (as true as it may be) for Nicalis to point fingers and lay almost all of the blame on Nigoro. They're big boys, and they had to know the trends and the way things were headed, and if they're going to cancel the game they shouldn't wait until after Nigoro had finally finished it and sent it in to them (http://la-mulana.com/en/blog/report-2.html)

[PaperLink64]

Nicalis is completely inept at handling even the simplest of localizations and port jobs.

VVVVVV 3DS being a recent example.

[mushroom_mage]

Good luck finding publishers for anything in the future, NIGORO.

[motherbra1n]

to be perfectly honest I really couldn't care less about wiiware/psn/xbla games, I'd just much prefer to play those types of games on my 3DS or even iphone in some cases.

regardless of that, it's quite saddening to see developers trying so hard and nintendo refusing to cooperate or just making the platform a pain in the ass to develop for.

[ninjablaze]

@motherbra1n

I'm pretty much the same way. I mean, I've bought, and still do buy, my fair share of xbla/psn/wiiware games, but almost every single one I buy I can't help but feel like I'd much rather be playing this game on a handheld.