Project Phoenix dev explains why game isn’t coming to Nintendo systems, says their hardware isn’t “exciting”
Project Phoenix is heading to the PlayStation 4 and PS Vita, but it won’t be on any of Nintendo’s platforms. Given how pleased indies have been with the company, you have to wonder why this is so.
Director and producer Hiroaki Yura did provide an explanation when asked about the situation. Most of Yura’s words were very much critical – he said “not a lot of people” purchase Nintendo systems, indicated that there are “so many restrictions” in place, and stated that the company doesn’t accept indie games in Japan.
Yura ultimately said that even though Nintendo may have “interesting” hardware, is isn’t “exciting”.
The problem with Nintendo… You know, I like Nintendo and everything…but not a lot of people buy it. I know a lot of fans buy it, but there are so many restrictions with Nintendo, and also the fact that Nintendo in Japan does not accept indie games.
We think Nintendo is taking a wrong approach towards games like ours. I think maybe it has to do with the Kyoto culture…very old companies. Nintendo itself in Kyoto is not that old, because in Kyoto there are companies that survived for hundreds of years, and compared to them they’re relatively young, but in terms of video game industry they are very old. They have a set of rules that does not fit with the core values of our game, basically.
They have interesting hardware, but it ends at “interesting”. It’s not “exciting”.
Our main goal is not to publish on all consoles. Our main goal is to make the best game possible on the best platforms. The reason why we’re going to work on PlayStation 4 is because we’ve been asked by a very small publisher who wants to publish for PlayStation 4, and they’re passionate, and don’t want to influence our creative side. I agreed to that because they understood the intricacies of indie games’ development. That’s how it came to be with the PlayStation 4 and the Vita.
