No one really knows why Clover Studio's Okami failed to light the gaming world on fire, only that if the sheer amount of people who claim to have loved the game actually bought the game, we wouldn't have to ask ourselves this question on an semi-annual basis. Now, in a recent preview for Okamiden, its spiritual successor on the DS, Capcom Producer Motohide Eshiro has weighed in with his own take on Amaterasu's downfall, stating that it was simply a matter of bad timing.
"I can't comment officially but, personally speaking, I think it had a lot to do with the announcements for new consoles," said Eshiro, in an interview for the upcoming February edition of the Official Nintendo Magazine, adding, "That was overshadowing any other game news at the time."
The man may have a point, but then THQ's Cars for the PS2 still made it as one of the top 5 bestselling gamesof the year. That said, the cold hard truth behind Okami's failure could very well be that only a select handful of connosseurs were truly able to understand its genius, and that the unwashed masses are to blame for its poor sales. Too snobby? All right, fine, let's go with 'bad marketing.'
Eshiro's comments were made in reference to Capcom's hopes for a future Okamiden, the upcoming DS entry which continues the Okami story through Amaterasu's child, Chibiterasu. In earlier statements made to Techland.Time.com,Eshiro explained, "We have developed Okamiden not as the sequel to Okami, but as its spiritual successor that derives its worldview from Okami. The original game received high critical acclaim, and because we also like that world, we wanted to ensure that we recreated it accurately. In order to deliver this great world to broader audience, we've decided to develop Okamiden for the DS."
Okamiden is slated for release on March 15th, 2011. Okami, on the other hand, is probably available now in the nearest used game store. Not like you need a copy, right?
Jan 24, 2011
[Source: Official Nintendo Magazine]
