It's over, CAVE is dead... or maybe not...

[Jonpachi]

Hopefully someone cool like Yuge-san or M2 or Hamster buys the rights to their shit when they officially die so that proper home releases actually have a not-zero chance of existing in the future.

We've gotten new ports of Ketsui, Dangun Feveron and Esprade in the last few years. I wouldn't say there's zero chance of other ports of their back catalog. They still exist as an IP holder and seem to continue to function as a small business that licenses out past work.

[Buffi]

Hopefully someone cool like Yuge-san or M2 or Hamster buys the rights to their shit when they officially die so that proper home releases actually have a not-zero chance of existing in the future.

We've gotten new ports of Ketsui, Dangun Feveron and Esprade in the last few years. I wouldn't say there's zero chance of other ports of their back catalog. They still exist as an IP holder and seem to continue to function as a small business that licenses out past work.

Recent Galuda2, DFK and Mushi on Switch too. Also DS1 and 2 ports. They clearly are very fine with people porting their IP.

Also, Kai is wrong about them ”stopping mobile games”. Pretty sure the referenced news is only about a specific project. Expect further mobile trash.

[Steven]

Hopefully someone cool like Yuge-san or M2 or Hamster buys the rights to their shit when they officially die so that proper home releases actually have a not-zero chance of existing in the future.

We've gotten new ports of Ketsui, Dangun Feveron and Esprade in the last few years. I wouldn't say there's zero chance of other ports of their back catalog. They still exist as an IP holder and seem to continue to function as a small business that licenses out past work.

I meant like if they went completely bankrupt and literally ceased to exist entirely.

[yosai]

Cave Interactive has revealed that they will be acquiring Deluxe Games. The 5-billion-yen (roughly $38 million) deal will see Cave take possession of all shares of Deluxe Games, making the Monster Strike developer a subsidiary of the long-standing shmup developer.

https://automaton-media.com/en/news/20220606-13107/

[pja]

At first that sounded like maybe they're doing better than anyone else thought, but then I read the article:

As of the 3rd quarter of the fiscal year ending May 2022, Cave holds a cash equivalent of around 1.07 billion yen (roughly $8 million), which isn’t enough for the 5 billion yen needed to acquire Deluxe Games. The company will divide the payment into 8 installments, with the first being a payment of 1 billion yen.

So they're essentially buying them with money they don't have?

[Steven]

How the fuck is CAVE even still alive? Do they actually have anything that makes revenue/profit other than Gothic wa Mahou Otome and the Live Wire and exA licensing? It would be ironic as shit if they went bankrupt and everyone from CAVE went to Tatsujin.

[hamfighterx]

Recurring Deathsmiles urine sales gives them a very steady stream of... revenue, yeah. At least that's my assumption for how they're staying in business, seems like the most reasonable explanation.

[Steven]

lol yes, I forgot about the Deathsmiles piss. They still make that? Eh... I think I'd rather not know the answer to that.

I also forgot about the Dangun Feveron that LRG apparently did last year. I don't bother with LRG or similar companies anymore, so I don't really know about what those companies do.

I want to give CAVE my money, but they seem hesitant to rerelease their games for whatever reason. If I ever run into IKD, the first thing I'm going to say to him is "Put more of your shit on fucking GOG or Steam or M2 ShotTriggers or whatever!". Speaking of M2, still waiting for that Ketsui PS4 reprint. I wonder when they'll get that out. Hopefully soon.

Oh hey, looks like Deathsmiles I・II is going to be on Steam in less than 2 weeks. Good, it seems Cave/City Connection/whoever isn't completely clueless after all! Now where the hell is arcade-perfect DDP aside from on the PCB? That's right, nowhere~ Put Campaign Version out as well while you're at it, CAVE human who will never see this post and probably doesn't know English anyway.

[BulletMagnet]

Recurring Deathsmiles urine sales gives them a very steady stream of... revenue

Currently fist-bumping my screen.

[OmegaFlareX]

Recurring Deathsmiles urine sales gives them a very steady stream of... revenue, yeah. At least that's my assumption for how they're staying in business, seems like the most reasonable explanation.

Serious answer - I'd guess whales in that Gothic Otome mobile gacha shmup.

e:fb. Steve mentioned this already

[Creamy Goodness]

lol yes, I forgot about the Deathsmiles piss. They still make that? Eh... I think I'd rather not know the answer to that.

I also forgot about the Dangun Feveron that LRG apparently did last year. I don't bother with LRG or similar companies anymore, so I don't really know about what those companies do.

I want to give CAVE my money, but they seem hesitant to rerelease their games for whatever reason. If I ever run into IKD, the first thing I'm going to say to him is "Put more of your shit on fucking GOG or Steam or M2 ShotTriggers or whatever!". Speaking of M2, still waiting for that Ketsui PS4 reprint. I wonder when they'll get that out. Hopefully soon.

Oh hey, looks like Deathsmiles I・II is going to be on Steam in less than 2 weeks. Good, it seems Cave/City Connection/whoever isn't completely clueless after all! Now where the hell is arcade-perfect DDP aside from on the PCB? That's right, nowhere~ Put Campaign Version out as well while you're at it, CAVE human who will never see this post and probably doesn't know English anyway.

I feel like their licensing is kind of all over the place considering they've had recent games being released nearly concurrently by two publishers (3 if you count Progear). Their very early stuff would probably have to be done by M2 due to their connection with Atlus, but they are essentially balls deep in milking the Toaplan catalogue now.