Famed WiiWare developer Gaijin Games and Robotube Games have worked together in the past – Mr Robotube appears as a cameo character in BIT.TRIP FATE, for example – but the two just got a whole lot closer, as Gaijin announces it has acquired Robotube in an "extremely hostile" takeover.
While this means two fine independent developers are now combined, the downside is that Robotube's WiiWare version of addictive Flash game Bloktonik won't be making it to the service after all. The official word from Jason Cirillo of Robotube goes like this:
We love Nintendo, but we were never able to secure a dev kit from them for a couple of reasons. So, we rely on partners to help us develop our Wii titles. Those are often tricky deals to secure, and there’s a lot that needs to be done, both in terms of labor and finances. Sometimes it doesn’t always work out as we plan, but we do still forge ahead. Making a game for Wii/PS3/XBLA is a lot different than making games for iPhones and iPads. ie: it’s a lot harder.
Now Robotube is a subsidiary of Gaijin Games, we look forward to seeing what the two create in future.
[source gaijingames.com]
Comments 16
Hope they have a great future together. Never understood why Nintendo likes to make things difficult.
Ah Nintendo, WTH. I know there are a lot of back stories that we won't know, but still. Oh well.
I'm sorry but just the fact Gaijin did an "extremely hostile takeover of another great indy company" makes me less likely to buy games of thiers that I'm on the fence about buying.
I've never liked companies that get ahead by doing questionable/illegal takeovers
Rest in peace Robotube & I hope all of it's employees get through this still having thier jobs.
@Rukiafan23 That bit about the "extremely hostile" takeover was a joke made by Gaijin: Robotube and Gaijin Games are good friends (from what I gather) so you needn't worry. Their quest for world domination through joining together awesome indie developers is all in good fun!
It was a joke, mostly at the expense of Activision and EA.
Now what's not a joke, though: am I doing something wrong in supplying news stories to Nintendo Life? I'd like to be credited for something I bring up... If this was found independently, fine, but if not, it's not the first time I've submitted something and posted it in the forums, but have been ignored.
@Wanderlustwarrior Did you post it in the forums or send it to the staff?
3DSWare, anyone?
@James: looks like he posted it to the forums.
@wanderlustwarrior: posting things to the forums isn't the way to go about submitting news tips to the site -- the admins don't exactly have the time to be trawling the forums all the time just in case something breaks, lol. next time, use the Contact Form. there's an option in the 'Subject' dropdown menu for 'News Tips' so that any tips you have to submit make it directly to the news team. :3
Well Gaijin games have Wii dev kits, so I can't see why this game can't make it if they are acquired by them
oh glad to hear
As I said (though not clearly), I did both: I posted it in the forums after I used the contact form. For the other news I sumbitted, since I still haven't seen it posted here yet, I'll resubmit it so it doesn't get overlooked. One piece might be important down the line, while the other might be cool for people who live in England.
It's not like this is a major thing or anything, it just bugs me.
@Wanderlustwarrior Activision... EA... and don't forget Square-Enix. They own everything from Bubble Bobble to Tomb Raider. That company is a monster.
I'd forgotten Square-Enix had gotten that big. But also, I specified Activision and EA because in the source article, those were the ones that they mentioned.
It was also tagged under their "dominance" category. I really like that they have a sense of humor about themselves.
One of the hardest aspects of getting into Wii development is that you need to have an office and have at least one employee for the business. This means that titles developed by "indie" groups are pretty minimal for WiiWare. Of course, how some devs pass that hurdle, I don't know; I suspect Nintendo lets some teams through if their projects are exceptional products or something to that nature.
As Bloktonik is already available elsewhere, I have a feeling the WiiWare version would probably not sell to expectations, anyways. Now that Robotube is part of Gaijin Games, I do suspect that Nintendo projects through them will be much more possible in the future.
And yet, I feel that Gaijin Games is leaving WiiWare development. Lifeline was going to be Kinect/Move based, and their projects seem to be currently focused on the new "indie" platform: iOS. Expect some 3DS work, but WiiWare is probably done for Gaijin Games.
@Wanderlustwarrior We received your e-mail after we had already circulated the news among the staff. After that, Jon tied it in with news he was already working on.
Please don't be offended if we don't credit you for news tips - many generous NL users submit them, and while we are thankful for these, often times we are already working on news pieces about them. We try to credit users who send them in, but we generally do this only if we don't already have something cooking.
Alright, thank you very much.
Never heard of Robotude before this story, however I must say this. The Robotube mascot dude is pretty frickin' cute:) I wouldn't mind seeing him pop up in an old school puzzley-platformery-arcadey game. Something similar to Bubble Bobble or New Zealand Story or something.
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