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| Chris Winkler |
PS3/Xbox 360 offerings in the works.
06.30.09 - 5:08 PM
Marvelous Entertainment, the company behind the popular Bokujou Monogatari (Harvest Moon) series, is apparently planning to bring two games to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 each in Japan during the current fiscal year, (from now until March 31st, 2010). The company explained that it was necessary to develop such games for both platforms and release them around the world to decrease the risk associated with the high development expenditures for such titles. To recoup the development costs, one game had to sell at least 100,000 copies. That may be one reason why the Tokyo-based company is considering to bring successful Wii games to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in the future.
The online installment of Harvest Moon is still in development, but because Marvelous had no previous experience with online games, it was taking its time with the project. Company representatives would only say that they are aiming to complete development within the next 12 months.
During the current fiscal year, Marvelous' focus will be not on consoles, but handhelds. Out of the 31 games scheduled to ship in Japan until March 31st 2010, 19 are DS and PlayStation Portable-based titles. Those 19 games are projected to sell 830,000 copies. The 12 remaining games (6 Wii, 2 WiiWare, 2 PS3 and 2 Xbox 360 titles) are estimated to sell only 290,000 copies. During the same time period, eight games (sales target 258,000 copies) are scheduled to be released in North America. European fans can look forward to 18 releases (sales target of 880,000 copies) until March 2010.
During the fiscal year ending on March 31st 2009, Marvelous posted an operating loss of 1.24 billion yen ($12.98 million USD) on sales of 10.14 billion yen ($106.14 million USD). For the current fiscal year, company officials are more optimistic, projecting slightly higher sales of 10.3 billion yen (107.82 million USD) and an operating profit of 100 million yen ($1.05 million USD).
