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SEEDS is Born - No Relation to FF VIII

Posted on Thursday 15th February 2007 at 16:48 by laszlow
Around four months ago, Capcom dissolved its Clover Studios development team, citing financial reasons. Clover Studios had been behind Capcom's Viewtiful Joe series, as well as the 2006 hits Okami and Godhand.

However, we may have seen a new beginning for Clover Studios in the form of SEEDS - an independent studio run by Shinji Mikami (the mastermind behind Resident Evil), Hideki Kamiya (creator of Devil May Cry and Viewtiful Joe), and Atsuhi Inaba (of Steel Battalion fame). Those three developers, all of whom have produced blockbuster titles as part of Capcom's production studios and the late Clover Studios, announced yesterday that they were leaving Capcom to work as a freelance developer - given the track record of those three producers, and the fact that they are essentially severing official ties with Capcom, this is some pretty big news.

Also of interest is that they haven't assembled a team yet. The revealing of their new studio also came with sort of a casting call. Here's a translation of their announcement:
Quote
Atsushi Inaba. Hideki Kamiya. Shinji Mikami. And a specially selected staff.

We are the Seeds that caused the vibrant flowers Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Steel Battalion, Viewtiful Joe, and Okami to come into bloom.

Although we alight upon a different earth, even though the soil is different, our hearts -- closely pursuing the dream of "play" -- have not changed.

Now, with a renewed spirit, we want to once again challenge the world of entertainment. But to do this, we need many, many more seeds.

So, we are currently searching far and wide for people who want to work alongside us. For people who want to build their future. People who are currently making games elsewhere.

Would you like to make some "preposterously amazing" games with us?

Sounds a little self-indulgent, doesn't it? Of course, even though they are no longer iwth Capcom, it isn't out of the question for any of these designers to work on Capcom games, or even further sequels to their signature franchises. If Nobuo Uematsu can still provide musical numbers to FF games (he was credited as Smile Please Inc. for his work on FF VII: Advent Children and his contributed song to FF XII) and Masahiro Sakurai can direct and design SSB: Brawl despite leaving Nintendo and HAL Laboratories nearly four years ago, then the SEEDS team can still work for Capcom, but not as part of Capcom.

SEEDS hasn't revealed any games in development, as they are still working on personnel, after all.

Sources:
WIRED
SEEDS official website (Japanese)
Posted in: Gaming Industry News, News from Japan

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Written by
laszlow

Comments

Del SComment 1: 2007-02-15 17:35
Del S WELL THIS IS INTRESTING BUT WHATS WITH THE ALL CAPS? I MEAN IT DOESN'T ACTUALLY STAND FOR ANYTHING DOES IT? IT JUST LOOKS LIKE THEY WANT YOU TO SHOUT THEIR NEW NAME.

I think this trend for big-names behind games often uprooting and forming independent but aligned studios is good for the future, though in the long run it can be bad for series of games, as loss of the people who made them often seems to lose with it some spark of the game: EA's descion to basically dump Westwood staff made C&C Generals a good game, for example, but it lacked a certain feel the previous Tiberian and Red Alert games had.
Silver_ZombieComment 2: 2007-02-15 23:08
Silver_Zombie If they actually complete the crew, then, maybe, we might see some interesting games produced by them. But I wouldn't be expecting anything anytime soon.
laszlowComment 3: 2007-02-16 14:02
laszlow
Quote (Silver_Zombie @ 15th February 2007 18:08)
If they actually complete the crew, then, maybe, we might see some interesting games produced by them. But I wouldn't be expecting anything anytime soon.

Well, actually, this other info I found might indicate that we'll see one of their games sooner than we think. Evidently this company was founded in August of last year, when these guys were suspecting that Clover might get the axe, and they already have 51 employees. They're still looking for more people to join up with them, but they have an earlier start than I originally thought.
Silver_ZombieComment 4: 2007-02-16 21:48
Silver_Zombie
Quote
Well, actually, this other info I found might indicate that we'll see one of their games sooner than we think. Evidently this company was founded in August of last year, when these guys were suspecting that Clover might get the axe, and they already have 51 employees. They're still looking for more people to join up with them, but they have an earlier start than I originally thought.


Would be easier for me if I spoke Japanese ;) The site doesn't give me anything (though I like the layout ;). Do they write anything about what kind of game their first project will be?
sweetdudeComment 5: 2007-02-20 10:57
sweetdude Haha I love the introductory message! It reminds me a bit of a Morrissey interview I saw once: "Yes I'm better than everyone else but I don't often say so. And the others can't compare to how good I am."

Del has it spot on. Resident Evil 5 will probably go down the route of Res 4 and, although it's good in it's own right, it doesn't have the same "feel" of Res 1,2 and 3; the third being the best in the series IMO. To put it better, it became an action horror instead of the usual survival horror. Seeds will hopefully keep it on the right tracks.

I hope they can produce a good new game series now that they have more freedom.
NytecrawlaComment 6: 2007-02-20 14:57
Nytecrawla I wonder...maybe the reason they left is because they were tired of making the same game over and over again.

I agree that they have more freedom, but I think they should use it to make great INDIVIDUAL games, like Okami.

Instead of hungering for sequal after sequal, just give me something new that stands alone, and offers a new genre defying experience.

Let's get some creativity.
laszlowComment 7: 2008-05-15 17:50
laszlow Remember this old newspost? Well, SEEDS merged with another small company called Odd, Inc (never heard of them), and renamed themselves Platinum Games. They just announced their first three projects, which are going to be published by Sega (the descriptions are from Gamespot):

Madworld (WII)
*Being developed exclusively for the Wii, Madworld is a stylised black-and-white action game with plenty of gore, chainsaws, special fatality moves, and even minigames.

Infinite Line (DS)
*A sci-fi role-playing game sees players embark upon a journey to become captain of a spaceship. With over 200 ship designs and a wide variety of ship parts to choose from, players will need to apply some thought, both when building their vehicle and when choosing the appropriate crew to man it.

Bayonetta (X360 and PS3)
*The game follows the eponymous protagonist, a witch reborn in a modern-day setting, waging war against angels with Devil May Cry-type action.

Now, none of those titles sound very "special" to me at first glance, but because it's from all of those ex-Clover employees, they just might turn out to be something awesome.
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