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Nicalis explains La-Mulana cancellation, says state of WiiWare and development issues lead to decision

by rawmeatcowboy
01 May 2012
GN Version 4.0
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.