Go! Go! Kokopolo creator explains why the game is being pulled, sequel still in the works
Creator Keith Webb has finally provided an update on the 3DS eShop sequel to Go! Go! Kokopolo, and also explained why the original game is being pulled from DSiWare.
Regarding Go! Go! Kokopolo’s removal, Webb explained that publisher Room 4 Games shut down its office in the UK, which was used to bring the title to DSiWare. That means it can no longer be sold to consumers.
And how about Kokopolo 3D – Space Recipe For Disaster? It’s thankfully still in the works, but Webb “really can’t guarantee when that’ll be released.” We do at least know that the game will offer new levels, bosses, music intro’s, endings, and more. Currently, it’s about 60 percent complete.
Head past the break for all of Webb’s comments about Go! Go! Kokopolo and its sequel.
Okay everyone, so here’s the reason why it’s being removed from the eshop, it’s nothing too serious, but more of a contract licensing issue….
Even though my company, Tanukii Studios Ltd (basically just me at the mo 😉 ) owns all the rights to Kokopolo, the company that helped publish the game was/is called Room 4 Games ltd. They are based in Hungary, but in order for us to work together on the game, they had to set up a company over here in the UK. Their UK company was the one who had the contract with Nintendo to release the game on the European and USA DsiWare and eShop stores, so basically they are the publisher of Go! Go! Kokopolo.
After 3 years, as sales started to dwilndle to about a handful a month, it seemed a little counter-intuative for them to keep their company open only to get the revenue from the sales, whereas in actual fact, is was costing them more on the company insurance to keep it open, than they were making.
They chatted to me, and asked if it was okay to pull the game from the stores, so that they could close down their UK company, and concentrate soley on their Hungarian company which is much easier for hem, as that is where they are based.
I reckoned a nice time to take the game off the store would be on the anniversary 3 years after it was released, as I reckoned by now everyone who wanted it would likely have brought it. I emailed a few sites telling them about it just to allow anyone who didn’t have a chance to buy it before, or forgot, that they could get thier hands on it one last time.
Talking with Nintendo of Europe, they reckoned that anyone who already purchased it would still be able to redownload it if they somehow lost all their digital content, so don’t worry about that if you already purchased it 🙂
The other thing is, although Nintendo of Europe confirmed to me that it was going to be unavailable in “all territories” after 31st August, I’m not 100% sure they included the US in that or jusy all European territories. We did request from NOA to remove it as well, but if you are in the US, could you check on the eShop notifications this week and tell me if it mentions anything about it? If not, you USA peeps might have an extra week or so.
Anyway, that’s the basic premise. In a way, I think it’s quite nice that this version will become a limited release exclusive, and hopefully everyone who got it had a good time playing it (hopefully not too frustrating in areas 😉 )
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Now, onto “Kokopolo 3D – Space Recipe For Disaster”. I can confirm the plan is still to relase this sometime … but I’ll be 100% honest, I aint got a clue when. In terms of art assets and level layouts etc, it’s about 60% complete…but I am just waiting on the coders to finish porting the gameplay code from the original over to the 3DS hardware. When it is finished, however, it will be a brand new game, rather than a straight port of the DSi version, with all new levels, bosses, music intro’s, endings etc…so if you already have the original Kokopolo, this will be a new adventure for you 🙂
Circle Entertainment will be publishing “Kokopolo 3D”, but they have been very patient with me as I try to get everything done, so kudos to them. Chances are, I’d also like to release Kokopolo 3D around the $4 mark (the original had to be $8 as per Nintendo’s policy back then based on file size). This should hopefully make it more palateable for players who were on the fence with the first one.
At the mo, I really can’t guarantee when that’ll be released. I think in the past I may have announced things a bit too soon (prob the same with most indie developers) so I’ll keep quiet on Kokopolo 3D until I know it’s def ready for release so as no to prematurely get people’s hopes up 🙂
Anyway, I hope that answers any queries anyone’s got, but feel free to fire away any more questions, and I’ll try and answer them.
Thanks again for the concern as well. Nice to know people are wondering were I am (but please don’t ring me at 5am in the morning 😉 )
