From our other sites
The story
Regarding “Fate/EXTRA Record” (the Fate/EXTRA remake), TYPE-MOON announced on August 31 that the title’s publisher is changing from Bandai Namco to Aniplex, with the development structure also being overhauled. It was also revealed that director Niitsu, who had been leading the project, is stepping down due to health issues. Niitsu is a developer known for titles such as Etrian Odyssey, Seventh Dragon, and Dragon Quest Builders. On 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (Geha) board, users debated why Bandai Namco was chosen as the original publisher, the background behind the project’s long development period, and the relationship between Niitsu’s track record and his health issues.
Notice Regarding Change of Publisher and Development Structure for “Fate/EXTRA Record”
Source: typemoon.com / Original article here
What people said
Probably because Bandai Namco has a strong image as THE publisher for anime games.
I think voice recording was about the only thing that was actually finished.
Did he pick up some weird habits from guys like Kojima or Nagoshi?
There's a chance he was just made to take the fall.
He was an outsider on the project, after all.
Like, it's a Gundam game — why are you fighting monsters in it?
That's because they're always paying back favors to PlayStation.
Sounds like Bandai Namco finally lost patience because development dragged on way too long.
A dev team used to not worrying about deadlines, like a doujin circle, just couldn't hack it.
Also, due to ongoing health concerns, I will be taking a break from game development work for the time being.
Again, huh…
Complaining about someone's health is just cruel.
Being able to work in perfect health isn't something you can take for granted.
Heading for the same end as "Eiyuu Babarūzu" (a mocking nickname riffing on director Hideo Baba)?
Because with Baba, neither the game nor the studio survived.
Companies like Furyu or Compile Heart, who love marketing themselves with "from the creator of XX!", might be waiting for the right moment to poach him.
with Aniplex, maybe there's a chance for a Switch 2 version too?
The original was already multiplatform on Switch, PS4, PS5, and Steam though.
If anything, PlayStation tends to get left out when Aniplex is involved.
Even Etrian Odyssey 1, which he directed, launched buggy and shaky, and Seventh Dragon and the rest were pretty rough too.
He's probably better suited to talking a big game in advertising than actually directing one.
The original was just a low-budget PSP game — there's no excuse for a remake of that taking this long and still not shipping.
No, Etrian Odyssey's system as a dungeon-crawler RPG (DRPG) has real originality and genuinely works as solid gameplay — it's not just an old genre reskinned with moe art.
Maybe they mean the HD remaster?
https://mainichi-emiyagohan.com/
This one.
So it still hasn't come out on anything but Switch?
Those guys are part of the inner circle.
Niitsu was an outsider, so he'd get judged more harshly.
Given how this is playing out, it sounds less like TYPE-MOON got fed up and more like Bandai Namco's higher-ups did.
it's a mystery why they ever thought they'd work well together.
If they could've shipped it as a product even as a crappy or unfinished game, they would have — the fact that Bandai Namco threw in the towel says a lot.
What about all those story branches that still haven't been filled in?
Creeps me out that the Tsukihime remake came out a full five years ago already.
Makes you wonder if things would've gone differently if his Builders connections had led him to Koei Tecmo, which is stricter on budgets and deadlines, instead.
Looking at the career history in Re: #64, even on the titles Niitsu directed, he saw everything through to completion within three years.
And even on other smaller IPs, he consistently got the finished product out the door within four years at most.
Are the talented ones all getting poached by Chinese companies (using "Shina," a dated, derogatory term for China)?
> For a company raking in easy money from gacha games, they sure can't hold on to talented developers.
Throwing big money at it doesn't change game quality.
Even mighty Microsoft is proof of that.
Same goes for manga.
✕ doesn't change it
○ can't buy it
And then when they try to step in, developers leak it and users start up the whole "MS, stay out of it!" narrative.
But if they don't step in, five to seven years go by with nothing to show for it, so they're forced to lay off staff at the studios under them — and then users lose their minds over that instead.
Background and Key Points of Discussion
This remake had previously been cancelled once before, and was later relaunched as “Fate/EXTRA Record.” This time, the announcement is that the publisher is moving from Bandai Namco to Aniplex, with the development structure also being revamped. Director Niitsu, who has worked on titles including Atlus’s Etrian Odyssey, Sega’s Seventh Dragon, and Square Enix’s Dragon Quest Builders, was officially revealed to be stepping away this time due to health issues. Opinions in the thread were split over whether responsibility for the prolonged development lies with Niitsu’s own project management or with TYPE-MOON’s development structure and the terms of its contract with Bandai Namco. While some praised his past track record, others suggested this may not be the first time he has stepped away citing health issues — though it should be noted that this cannot be confirmed without an explanation from Niitsu or those involved.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread “Fate/EXTRA Remake: Publisher Changes from Bandai Namco to Aniplex.”
Leave a Reply