For the 3 people who care: SNKP's gaming division might get shut down! :|

[Shaka Khan]

Our friends over at DreamCancel are reporting some grim news about the King of Fighters series. Apparently, the producer of King of Fighters XII and XIII left SNK Playmore back in November. To make matters worse, the new company president "wants to shut down the video game division and focus on licensing instead, such as porting old titles and creating pachinko games and figures". Will we ever see a console port of King of Fighters XIII? The future seems uncertain. Check out the thread here on SRK to talk about it.

http://shoryuken.com/content/king-fighters-producer-leaves-snk-playmore-3215/

Wow.

It's fucking depressing for this news to break out before a console KoFXIII confirmation/release date. It sucks even more knowing that XIII is an excellent game and an improvement over XII in almost every way. It seems like it has a zero chance of saving the gaming division, judging by the company's president lack of faith in it.

[Himu]

[iconoclast]

Well at least they're going out on a high note. Outsource the KoF13 port to ArcSys and everyone will be happy.

They just spent so much time and money creating all those new sprites though. They could reuse them for years if they're able to keep making new games.

[Shaka Khan]

Yeah, I was hoping for the engine/sprites to be milked for years to come, just like the old KoF. I mean can't they re-balance, repackage, and sell that shit to recoup some of the losses like they always did? What a fucking waste.

[tiesto]

Damn it, another one bites the dust

[Cravis]

They just want to focus on licensing. I can see some of the old team members coming together and forming a new development company to license from SNKP and produce new KoF games.

[Akala]

They should at least port KOFXIII and go out with a bang.

[Robo]

Terrible news.  Won't someone please think of the hentai?

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

lousy, terrible news, but its not at all surprising.

they have good development, but they have been the most self-sabotaging company in the history of gaming.  Even the KOF movie ended up being a turkey.  I love the hell out of SNK, and it would suck if one of the last lights in quality 2D gaming went out, but perhaps the development talent that remains at SNK would be better served at a different company.

[Sho Nuff]

That team'd be a lot happier anywhere else.

I knew some people who were offered jobs there and they were like NO WAY. I mean, it's Pachinko-slot...

[iconoclast]

The official story: "In response to Internet rumors from earlier this week, SNK is planning to release a full slate of games in 2011, and expects to continue publishing games worldwide for many years to come."--An SNK Playmore representative.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6286721.html

yay?

[Robo]

Okay.

This thread reminds me, what happened to lyte?  I don't think I've seen him around lately.  Hope he's doing well.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

When the original SNK went tits up in 2001, I thought that SNK Playmore was lucky to last past 2004-2005.

If iconoclast's link is true, then I think we're pretty lucky.  In fact, how SNK Playmore manages to survive surprises me.

[Himu]

Fought Lyte on SSFIV the other night on psn

[EmCeeGrammar]

Okay.

This thread reminds me, what happened to lyte?  I don't think I've seen him around lately.  Hope he's doing well.

I think I saw him in the 'snk closing' gaf thread. 

[chronovore]

That team'd be a lot happier anywhere else.

I knew some people who were offered jobs there and they were like NO WAY. I mean, it's Pachinko-slot...

If I was offered a pachi-slo job, and there were no other dev jobs open, I'd open my own English school instead. No WAY am I dealing with that boring-ass, built-to-addict crap.

[bork]

I'm around guys...just been lurking more than posting lately.  Work+Getting ready to move+being tired from the day means less posting!

Onto the topic at hand:

It's funny; if you went back 10+ years, you'd find no bigger SNK fan on [boards like GAF and Neo-Geo.com) than me.  Hell, if you went back to 2005-2006, you'd find threads where I went nuts over all the Atomiswave offerings/ports at the time.  (SNKP's high point was NGBC/SS Tenka/KOF XI, no doubt about it.  I also love KOF '98 and 2002 UM, and Maximum Impact Regulation A.)

Now?  After the piece of shit that was Samurai Spirits Sen, and the mega-disappointing-beta-version-being-sold-as-a-full-game-known-as-KOF-XII, I don't even care anymore.

I know, I know...XIII is supposed to be so much better.  And I'd love to play it.  But I just don't care anymore.  If all of the bad stuff happening at SNK means their games end up in the hands of people who can do something GOOD with them, then I will be all for it.

It would be so awesome if Arc System Works ended up with XIII, though.  They saved Arcana Heart after the horrid port of AH2, and we know that if they were behind it, the online play would be the complete opposite of XII's.

But who knows where all of this is heading?  SNK recently issued a statement saying their games division wasn't going anywhere.