
Atari CEO Wade Rosen has been speaking to Game Developer about his company's recent revival of the Infogrames brand and says that he wants it to become a "preservationist" publisher that can work with old IP and bring it up to date.
Rather than signing up new games to publish under the Infogrames label, Rosen wants to see it become a home to older titles with a proven track record:
Infogrames is pretty unique in that we had a lot of opportunities coming to us of games or IPs that people wanted to sell because they felt like they shouldn't just disappear. We felt like Infogrames was the right place to have those series and carry them on. So, for Infogrames it's really about games that developers and publishers have moved on from–that probably still have some life in them.
[We're really interested in] IPs that have been out for a long time, that people have moved on from. The people who want to focus on their future projects and want to raise capital to make new games and focus on those–that's really what Infogrames is looking for.
Why we don't typically look at unreleased projects is I don't think we're more qualified to do that than anyone else. I don't think we have a competitive advantage. I don't think we're the best in the world at it. Best in class at it. So, really, why would we do it?
One franchise Rosen would dearly like to work on is Quest's Ogre Battle / Tactics Ogre series, which began life on the SNES back in 1993.
The current owner of the IP, Square Enix, recently remastered Tactics Ogre on modern-day systems, but Rosen is nonetheless keen to work on the series in some capacity:
I loved Ogre Battle. I know Tactics Ogre, they just put out the remaster, which is basically a port of the PSP game. But love that world. I would love to see us to something with Ogre Battle at some point. Tactics Ogre is pretty well covered. Even if it's not an acquisition–if Square is reading this please let us remaster Ogre Battle.
Would you like to see Ogre Battle get a remaster? Let us know with a comment below.
How do you feel about an Ogre Battle remaster? (686 votes)
- I'd love it!
- I'd be up for it, but only if Square Enix did it
- It doesn't need remastering, give us a new game instead
- What the heck is an Ogre Battle?!
[source gamedeveloper.com]
Comments 14
I have a feeling at somepoint NIS is going to become an Atari division.
Unicorn Overlord did a good job of making a new game in the genre, but I wouldn't scoff at a remaster of the old game.
Yes please! They also have Brave Fencer Musashi just wasting away in a vault somewhere. Would love to see Infogrames become a preservationist remaster studio, the Atari Collection has a lot of great info in it.
While I'd love a remaster of these old games, I have to admit that I feel we are reaching a point where everything is just remade/remastered to the point where we are just replaying everything we used to love. There's nothing inately wrong with that, but fresh, new IPs or new entries would be more welcome than recycled old junk at some point.
@SmaggTheSmug Unicorn Overlord was so good! If I had enough spare time, I'd probably replay it on a harder setting and do me some min-maxing on the teams.
Unicorn Overlord definitely seems capable of scratching that itch, but if a remaster of Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen ever happened, I'd be all over it. See, my first game in the series was Person of Lordly Caliber for N64, so I've dabbled going backwards, but I can feel the age of the first game, making it harder for me to stick with. Of course, if a NEW title came out, I'd be just as happy.
I know Ogre Battle as that one game that got a special edition on the NGPC that costs like $2,000 nowadays, would be cool to see that again
Well, not from Atari.
square enix has a real issue with remaster they are all pretty bad why don't they releases their games in a rom collection instead of remaking them worse then the original. Front mission, Secret of mana, the list goes on
Them having Together or Ogre Battle 2 on PSP and remaster for modern platforms it did surprise me why they never did 1 or the N64 entry as remasters. Or why not just a port collection of all 3 they seem to be pretty lazy or pretty less interested and handing them off to other companies and seem to care less and less for those IPs which is sad.
I bought the remake of 2 and it's ok, not my thing. I'm glad I've experienced it though, I'll get back into it but it made it clear along with Front Mission 1st Remake and any others how careful I'll look at how older tactics games are (even the XCOM reboots were just as annoying at times) and I prefer the modern style ones quality of life and core design then older ones where while good just are enough to annoy me of grinding or core mechanics I just find tedious or not fun enough/flexible enough to enjoy.
I don't want to say only Disgaea, Valkyria Chronicles, Fire Emblem or some Warhammer ones or even Mutant Zero are the best. Others from the past are probably good too. It's just the structure of them I find so much more flexible and engaging then the older Japanese games remade. Can't say for older western tactics as not explored them as much. At least of both Square's remakes so far.
I can stand grind but the limits in the 2 remake for levels is just stupid, attacking and it won't pass them it hits your party member in front is so stupid as well.
Front Mission it's fair and was a better experience but the grinding/win to lose ratio and I would have liked more selecting parts to attack not whatever health bars work themselves out during either attack as a modern attack method option. You know more hit each limb and see what it does. But nope. The games are fine to be on modern platforms but some of their details do annoy me. Not because oh too old but I'd prefer some other options for things as they are still tedious or silly details in some of them.
They insult the Tactics Ogre Reborn team by saying it's just a port (when they made extensive changes), and then ask to master another game...
Square-Enix would probably let their stuff die rather than let someone else do it. But on the other hand, they do a ton of outsourcing (to save money…)
I’d love to see them remaster the quintet games instead (soul blader, Gaia, terranigma). I wonder if Enix still has rights to those.
@Pillowpants I think the real target audience for a remaster probably is people who have NOT played it. A lot of these were niche in the past, when gaming itself was niche. Now there’s a big audience. And if someone hasn’t played it, they don’t care if it’s recycled.
The more pressing concern with Quest is that they did make games without "Ogre" in the title.
Where's Conquest of the Crystal Palace or the infamously expensive game Magical Chase?
Famicom RPGs Dungeon Kid (a dungeon crawler with a creation mode) or The Adventures of Musashi might be cool (a VERY late DQ1 clone but it's got some charm).
Ogre Battle seems like a pretty cool game, but one you really have to want to make a time investment in.
I only rented it once as a kid and quickly learned it was too big-brained for me.
But also that the OST is awesome, almost enough to entice learning the game.
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