I have a theory why unicorn overlord is not on pc

[Dragon Fist Gaming]

I did not know this but this is actually vanillawhares first multiplatform release in the sense of multiple different familys of consoles. I am thinking that sense they are releasing the game oin xbox it can not be they do not think pc would be lucrative. therefore I think that they might be working on a pc release that they would release at a later date because pc is more daunting to work on then console. I hope they release there other games too.

[Dragon Fist Gaming]

Origineel geplaatst door toughnails:

The thing is, both 13 Sentinels and Unicorn Overlord are already fully playable on PC via CERTAIN means known to MANY people, it's just we can't pay for them, so Vanillaware is literally losing money because of their pants on head stupid decisions.

But it's a very Japanese thing. Some boomer higherup said "no PC because uhhh just no PC okay", and that's that, no one is gonna contest that.

And then the devil whispered "Put it everywhere except on PC"

[Dagný]

Origineel geplaatst door toughnails:

The thing is, both 13 Sentinels and Unicorn Overlord are already fully playable on PC via CERTAIN means known to MANY people, it's just we can't pay for them, so Vanillaware is literally losing money because of their pants on head stupid decisions.

But it's a very Japanese thing. Some boomer higherup said "no PC because uhhh just no PC okay", and that's that, no one is gonna contest that.

And it runs well even on low end laptops, if they don't want my money so be it.

[Arisato]

I really hope Sega could just brute force VW and release it on PC. I need more good TRPG on steam.

[Blackened Halo]

IMHO, there is a much simpler explanation. They just do not focus on PC. That is all.

[Dragon Fist Gaming]

And then the devil whispered to him "Put it everywhere except on PC"

[DaBa]

I doubt there is any malice here at all. You'd be surprised how stubborn and obstinate Japanese businesses can be. Square Enix almost went bankrupt not once, but TWICE purely because they were too stubborn and refused to adapt. It took AGES some of them to even consider porting their games to PCs. Capcom is literally an example of this. Majority of Japanese gaming companies don't even release their games oversees, let alone ports them to different systems, be it consoles or PCs. And it's not only video games companies.

How long did it take for Japanese companies making anime and manga to bother to start releasing them oversees, despite there being an obvious demand for it? And even when they did it, they didn't even bother to do it themselves, they just let other western companies do everything from translation to publication and distribution, completely hands of. Nothing is stopping them from doing all of that themselves with no middlemen, it would definitely be more profitable for them too, and they definitely know that. It's just that... they don't care, they want to do their own thing and that's good enough for them. That's how they are.

There's literally nothing weird about Vanillaware not releasing their games on PC. There is no conspiracy or malice. They just don't do it, because they never did it and they probably don't care to do it because that's just how they think. They have their way of doing things and they stick to it, that's it.

[Stoibs]

Origineel geplaatst door DaBa:

There's literally nothing weird about Vanillaware not releasing their games on PC. There is no conspiracy or malice. They just don't do it, because they never did it and they probably don't care to do it because that's just how they think. They have their way of doing things and they stick to it, that's it.

I think it's moreso just weird to us here in 2024, when times have changed as you pointed out with companies like Capcom coming around, and especially with their very own publisher ATLUS sort of being blindsided by this (The same ATLUS who also had their own come to jesus moment ever since P4G, and have enjoyed millions of PC sales across their ported RPG's since)

I'd wager most of us here aren't from Japan and so can't wrap our mind around the mindset or stubbornness that you mentioned, which is why it's kind of frustrating and hard for us to comprehend. I would have thought that in any given industry you follow trends and see what's popular, and especially take advice from your partners like Atlus. I guess the reasoning of 'It's just like that in this culture' is too alien for us westerners when it comes to business decisions.

[archonsod]

Origineel geplaatst door iriyap:

It was Atlus/Sega in charge of porting, not Vanillaware themselves.

Yes. The bit that's missing from the conversation is Sega don't do that out of the goodness of their hearts even for studios they actually own. If you let them do the port they'll want a bigger cut.

Origineel geplaatst door toughnails:

The thing is, both 13 Sentinels and Unicorn Overlord are already fully playable on PC via CERTAIN means known to MANY people, it's just we can't pay for them, so Vanillaware is literally losing money because of their pants on head stupid decisions.

Porting isn't free, if you're not going to make enough sales on the other platform to cover the cost of bringing it over then financially speaking it makes no sense to do the port. The problem is people playing the game via those certain means are effectively invisible from the developer/publisher standpoint, and when you look at what is visible the PC is a far more competitive market than console with lower overall revenue despite a larger player base. It's one of the reasons publishers preferred to release on console first and port over to PC later. It's only recently that's really changed, and the jury is still out on whether it's actually worthwhile or not.

[UwU OwO]

In an interview with Destructoid, ATLUS SEGA literally wants to put Unicorn Overlord on PC meaning SEGA ATLUS are WILLING to use THEIR OWN FUNDINGS to do it as the publisher BUT Vanillaware is forcing them to NOT do it. As for the difficulty of porting it on PC, the game isn't demanding and plays like a mobile RTS game and the game was developed on PC using their modified Adobe Flash engine. If anything, the controls for UO are literally made for mouse+keyboard.

Thus the argument that "it will not sell well on PC + the added publishing cost" is nonsense when the Publishers themselves with their own fundings, back-up and support for the PC port are apparent BUT the devs are forcing them to not do it.

[toughnails]

Origineel geplaatst door archonsod:

Porting isn't free, if you're not going to make enough sales on the other platform to cover the cost of bringing it over then financially speaking it makes no sense to do the port.

Yeah, I'm sure they're gonna sell more copies on the freaking Xbox.

[Blackened Halo]

Origineel geplaatst door UwU OwO:

In an interview with Destructoid, ATLUS SEGA literally wants to put Unicorn Overlord on PC meaning SEGA ATLUS are WILLING to use THEIR OWN FUNDINGS to do it as the publisher BUT Vanillaware is forcing them to NOT do it. As for the difficulty of porting it on PC, the game isn't demanding and plays like a mobile RTS game and the game was developed on PC using their modified Adobe Flash engine. If anything, the controls for UO are literally made for mouse+keyboard.

Thus the argument that "it will not sell well on PC + the added publishing cost" is nonsense when the Publishers themselves with their own fundings, back-up and support for the PC port are apparent BUT the devs are forcing them to not do it.

wtf?? They are completely out of their mind

[mimizukari]

Origineel geplaatst door Yürei:

Origineel geplaatst door Sur_GalaHad:

because vanillaware hates pc.....

I still don't believe this.

People often forget that they're a very small studio. Idk where they would get the time and resources to port their games to pc.

Xbox is already effectively a PC in design, purposely so. so if a company isn't releasing on PC after making a build for Xbox then it's simple that they made a conscious decision not to enter the PC market.

[smidlee]

Atlus for a long time have totally ignored PC but now wants to put games on the PC. Hopefully Vanillaware will open up to the PC market.
Big-N is bad to overreact to piracy when Zelda: TotK still sold over 20 million copies within a year. A lot of PC gamers have jobs and spend money on better hardware so is more likely to buy games including for their children.

[KatherineFtw]

Vanillaware is still alive? The last game I heard of them making was Muramassa: Rebirth. I think it's silly and frustrating that they are willing to support a console as niche as the Vita but not a behemoth as big as PC.

[Yürei]

Origineel geplaatst door KatherineFtw:

Vanillaware is still alive? The last game I heard of them making was Muramassa: Rebirth. I think it's silly and frustrating that they are willing to support a console as niche as the Vita but not a behemoth as big as PC.

If their titles ever come to pc, I would recommend the game they released before this one. 13 Sentinels was a trip that I hope more people experienced.