Gimmick! 2 Devs Issue Apology To Game's Original Creator

Tomomi Sakai was surprised by the sequel's announcement

by Jack Yarwood 6d ago

Gimmick 2 — *Image: Bitwave Games/Clear River Games*

Bitwave Games has issued an apology to Gimmick's creator, director, and designer Tomomi Sakai for not connecting with him prior to the announcement of its sequel, Gimmick! 2.

Clear River Games, Sunsoft, and Bitwave Games announced the sequel during the Limited Run Games Showcase last week for Switch, PS5, PS4, Xbox consoles, and PC, leading some to ask whether Sakai would be involved in its production.

The Japanese developer, however, quickly clarified online that he not only wasn't involved with the new project but that he didn't actually know about the game's existence until it was announced:

"I've been receiving messages about the sequel to Gimmick!. While I'm honored that the original game continues to inspire, I want to clarify I wasn't involved in developing Gimmick!2. The news of this project was a surprise to me as well. Thank you for your support."

This led to some irate responses from fans, including the following from the YouTuber/streamer Gigaboots, which argued that the creator should have been consulted prior to the development of the sequel:

"Infuriated to hear that the original creator of Gimmick! only found out they were making a sequel DURING THE LIMITED RUN GAMES SHOWCASE. It's already insane to make a sequel to Gimmick! of all things, but to do so without any input from the creator? Disgusting."

Over the weekend, we reached out to Bitwave Games and Clear River Games to hear their side of the story and a spokesperson for Bitwave Games confirmed that neither party had tried to establish contact and recognized they could have handled the situation better:

"I'm sorry to say that neither Bitwave nor Clear River Games reached out to Tomomi Sakai. As huge fans, collaborating with them would have been an honor, but my understanding was that he left the industry years ago. We deeply respect Tomomi Sakai's creativity and acknowledge that Gimmick! 2 wouldn't exist without the inspiration their work provided.

"One of my colleagues has already issued an official apology (attached below). I recognize we could have handled this situation much better."

Gimmick 2 Apology — *Image: Bitwave Games*

You can read the official apology from Bitwave Games below:

"To clear the air: we owe an apology to Tomomi Sakai. While we licensed the IP for Gimmick!, we failed to connect with its original creator. We deeply respect Tomomi Sakai's work—Gimmick! 2 would not exist without him. In hindsight, we should've done better.
Much love"

Does Sakai not being involved dampen your excitement for the sequel? Or are you still going to pick up the game regardless? Let us know!

Hailing from Manchester, Jack has a particular fondness for point-and-click adventure games. In the past, he’s written about lost games from studios like Sony Manchester, Genepool Software, and DMA Design, and has made a habit of debunking video game rumours.

Takes on stuff like this can be wildly inconsistent. Someone can make an unlicensed and unsanctioned fan game and owe the original authority nothing for it, and then further, when it gets negative attention from that authority people get upset it can’t exist. This developer follows the business rules for making a product, but now there’s a take on it that their own vision isn’t sufficient and they owe the original creator some level of input. Some double standards out there it sounds like to me

2
WaveBoy
6d ago

Wonder if they'll cut corners and give us garbage cheap half baked flash animated looking visuals. I'd rather have 8-bit graphics like in the original, but with a completely different art style to switch things up just like jumping from SMB 1 to 2, and then 3.

The difference between all three art styles was wonderful and was much needed, instead of reusing the same old assets that you would of seen in something like Super Mario Bros 2.(JPN)/Lost Levels.

@WaveBoy Nah it's probably going to be pixel art like BitWave's other title Wunderling, so I bet its gonna look just as beautiful as that

Why is this the first I'm hearing of a Gimmick sequel???
I love that game. I even got the LRG version that comes with the Yumetaro plushie.
I hope the sequel will be a good game.

As for not contacting the original creator.... I dunno. ...I don't think it's that huge of a deal to be honest - if he left the game industry then he's not going to be involved with the development, right? But I can see the other side of the argument too, it would have been a nice courtesy to at least let him be involved in its announcement and things like that.

Idk why it isn't as much of a big deal. Sunsoft simply owns the IP and LRG/Embracer wanted to have BitWave make a sequel, so they just got the rights and just started making it. It's just ip business stuff and getting the creator isn't fully required. Of course it would of been cool if he got involved, but I have trust in BitWave from their output so I have lots of excitement for when this releases

6
Zeebor15
6d ago

Really it should have been Sunspot's job to make sure he was contacted at all. They're the one's that would have had his contact information, after all.

7
KingMike
6d ago

@JackGYarwood It's fitting. Reportedly the famous "anti-piracy" in the original game (which would give a rather crushing end of the game to anyone found playing on a bootleg copy of the game, presumably with altered copyrights) wasn't even actually designed to punish the pirates but aimed at Sunsoft themselves: the creator wanted credit in the game and they wanted to make it a costly QA effort for Sunsoft to try and delete their name from the game.

8
Ryu_Niiyama
6d ago

If the IP was licensed then they aren’t required to contact the original creator if he doesn’t own the IP. Buuuuuuuut it is good faith to do so.

While I agree that it would have been nice to contact the original creator, I don't see it as a huge deal. If the current developers do a decent job with the sequel, is anyone going to hold it against them?

I feels like it's just people who love to complain about anything under the sun, no matter how insignificant, but don't do much about the things that actually matter in life.

And who the heck is this YouTuber/streamer who is upset and "disgusted"... Why does his opinion even matter?

How did I know Limited Run Games would be involved with this, before I even read the article? Gah.

Oh no, a YouTuber is infuriated. But seriously, I'm tentatively excited, hoping that the person making it is actually a fan of the original. And now the Hebereke sequel, and the trip world dx, could we see a trip world sequel?

EarthboundBenjy wrote:

Why is this the first I'm hearing of a Gimmick sequel???

I initially skipped the articles of the "Limited Run Games Showcase" because I'm not interested in their physical releases (because of the horror stories).