Embracer buys Tatsujin aka Torplan back catalog

[SeafoamGaming]

Considering an actual Slap Fight sequel was recently cancelled that seems like the least likely scenario.

frick, i saw that announced and it got canceled? damn, it and Strikers 2020 are games I've been waiting and hoping to see...

...any day now.

Bummed that it would likely be a Tatsujin III since it gets the name recognition and all that, but of all the Toaplan games I'd love to see sequels to it would be in the bottom 5 (The first is still pretty hard to top and the sequel sucks lol). I feel the Tiger/Shark duos would be better for a modern sequel and would have lots of great scoring potential to them, especially the Shark series. Caravan mode in a new, modern take on Sky Shark? Yes please... Slap Fight also has that amazing MD version which the sequel was gonna follow up on iirc so it's a pity that didn't happen

[FunktionJCB]

I'm just hoping that whatever new title that is coming, it's available on home platforms in the future, and not stuck on something like exA-Arcadia.

[Bassa-Bassa]

You can count on that. Otherwise it wouldn't be presented at Tokyo Game Show.

[Sumez]

I'm just hoping that whatever new title that is coming, it's available on home platforms in the future, and not stuck on something like exA-Arcadia.

Lol jesus, that would be a disgrace!
I doubt Embracer would greenlight an exA release, so at least that's one positive thing about their acquisition.

[hamfighterx]

You know what would be a really disappointing Toaplan-related TGS announcment? A Snow Bros 2 remake in the style of the not very good Snow Bros 1 remake. And it looks like that is indeed coming from CRT Games (same dev who did the Snow Bros 1 remake): https://www.destructoid.com/information ... ch-and-pc/

Let's hope Tatsujin has their own news too.

[Sumez]

CRT Games recently made a port of Psychic 5 as well. It was exciting because it's a really cool game that's never been ported before.

But the port has all kinds of dumb issues. Instead of emulating or porting the game directly, they rebuilt it from scratch. Not a bad idea, but apparently it plays completely wrong, and has incredibly screwed up hitboxes, which ruins the game. I heard they blamed a lack of source code, but that sounds like a really weird complaint when you consider that _if_ source code _had_ existed, it would be nearly 40 year old Japanese assembly code made by a very small team that probably didn't document much of what they did. You'll be just as well off with a disassembly of the easily accessible ROM.

In short, I don't really have any expectations from those guys any longer.

[hamfighterx]

Oh, I didn't realize they were the ones who did Psychic 5 - good info. I actually picked that one up on Switch, but I'm not familiar with the original at all so had no frame of reference for their changes.

The Snow Bros remakes are a little curious though in that maaaaaaybe those impact M2's decisions on the Toaplan Arcade Garage series? I would still assume that the arcade versions of Snow Bros 1 and 2 will still appear on M2's collections, but you never know if there's something there. Might at least cause M2 to think about spacing their own Snow Bros releases out a bit, as may also be the case for Batsugun - which I always expected to be the last TAG release, but especially so given City Collection's "Saturn Tribute" release this year.

FWIW, as far as other Toaplan games that M2 is not porting, I downloaded the Switch remaster of Spy Bros. Pipi & Bibi's DX, and that one feels pretty good to me. Not too familiar with the original game, but the newly released version makes a much better impression than CRT's Snow Bros and its ugly art. Spy Bros was done by a dev called Rawrlabs, who also did the Switch port of Donut Dodo. https://www.rawrlab.com/spybros/

[mycophobia]

torplan

[MJR]

I hope Torplan is going to be okay

[evil_ash_xero]

Can't read all of this.

Does this mean we're not going to get any more M2 Toaplan collections? Because if they wasted all their time making those ancient game collections, and didn't get to some of the later stuff.... that would be a shame.

[Steven]

It isn't a waste of time, especially because the early Toaplan games are the best ones, aside from Out Zone in 1990 and Teki-Paki the next year. V-V is cool, though.

[BIL]

Does this mean we're not going to get any more M2 Toaplan collections?

AFAIK we've not heard anything of the sort; the fourth volume of Arcade Garage is said to be playable at TGS.

Should these shitbirds compromise M2's work in any way, I refer back to my earlier sentiments.

[doodledude]

Hopefully the contract M2 / Tatsujin would have signed before they started these Toaplan Arcade Garage releases means that whatever happens to Embracer won’t affect M2 from releasing what they like in the future.
I seemed to recall last year someone from M2 or embracer saying the takeover won’t affect existing deals.

[Sumez]

Yeah, they've already said as much.

Of course I'm sure they also said they wouldn't shut down Volition games, so there's that.

[CRP]

.
Of course I'm sure they also said they wouldn't shut down Volition games, so there's that.

Volition games Number of employees: 236 (2021)
Tatsujin: 5 (meantioned in the thread)

Ya realising that shuting down tatsujin wont notice at all in saving costs. Chill out !

They surely bought tatsuijin beacuse they love toaplan games nothing else.
They run a game archive here in sweden, so its no corporate fluff.

https://embracer.com/about/gamesarchive/
https://embracergamesarchive.com/

Archive status

-Currently have 80,000 games, consoles, and accessories in Karlstad, Sweden.
-A team recruited with CEO, archivist, archive assistant, technical engineer & supply manager.
-Next phase: Build a database and start cataloging in 2022.
-In the future: Network and collaborate with initiatives, museums, and institutions, provide help to researchers and journalists with inquiries.
-Long-term ambition: Exhibit parts of the archive locally and through satellite exhibitions at other locations.

[hamfighterx]

Get outta here with that corporate propoganda. Embracer hoarding a game library in Sweden (or hoarding game studios) does not mean they're just in this for the love of games. More likely they're looking for ways to monetize
their now substantial holdings, and when things don't pan out like they had hoped, well... we've already seen them closing studios.

Lol... "because they love Toaplan". Yeah, I bet that's also why they acquired everything else they did on their buying spree - they just really love Lord of the Rings, Saint's Row, and the dozens of other devs they've scooped up. Sure. Anyone who thinks that it's just because some Swedish conglomerate execs REALLY LOVE PLAYING BATSUGUN needs to have their head checked.

While I agree that there is little cost savings to be had in eliminating a tiny number of headcount, that's not the issue here at all. They have one internal dev team (Bitwave) releasing Toaplan games, to which Embracer now owns the IP. M2 is releasing the exact same Toaplan games, which could reasonably be viewed as a threat to Embracer's ability to sell said games on PC.

Embracer almost definitely just took on whatever pre-existing contracts were in place between M2 and Tatsujin. We don't know about things like the termination provisions in those contracts, but if Embracer does have the ability to terminate before M2 publishes the whole catalog (for instance, maybe they could terminate a license upon 2 months' advance notice), and it's viewed internally as a better revenue related decision for them to do so, it would not be shocking for Embracer to pursue that path.

[Sumez]

Volition games Number of employees: 236 (2021)
Tatsujin: 5 (meantioned in the thread)

Ya realising that shuting down tatsujin wont notice at all in saving costs. Chill out !

Chill. I said the exact same thing as you only a few posts back.
Closing Tatsujin isn't much of a risk, and even if they did it would probably be a good thing, as it would free up those five people to work independently.

The issue I was addressing was the Toaplan licenses. hamfighterx already covered it well.

[evil_ash_xero]

Does this mean we're not going to get any more M2 Toaplan collections?

AFAIK we've not heard anything of the sort; the fourth volume of Arcade Garage is said to be playable at TGS.

Should these shitbirds compromise M2's work in any way, I refer back to my earlier sentiments.

OK, that's good to hear.

[cfx]

Embracer is possibly selling Gearbox, which is of course much better than just killing them: Reuters