Clover Studio’s long-since abandoned Okami IP was the straw that kinda broke the camel’s back, leading to the studio’s closure. The game had failed in terms of initial sales, only fostering a cult audience after the studio shut down a year later.
Discussions on YouTube (via Eurogamer) between Okami director Hideki Kamiya and background artist and Unseen studio founder, Ikumi Nakamura, who founded the studio following the tragic closure of Tango Gameworks, discussed the game. It was noted that if the title did better than it had, Clover probably would’ve continued on.
Okami is a rather niche game, having sold only around 4.1 million units, based on public sales data, that’s not bad for some, but for a game that had released so long ago, it’s only surpassed that number as of last year. Sure, some games were a worse failure than the artistic Japanese style game, but most of the titles and franchises that fail to surpass its 4.1 million units sold seem to mostly be relegated to games that only released in Japan, beyond niche even compared to the 2006 game, or hasn’t been touched in decades.
Okami is a mishmash of Japanese folklore and mythology set in the fictional Nippon. In it, you must vanquish the eight-headed demon, Orochi as Amaterasu. Much of the game’s appeal falls on its aesthetics and surroundings. The game has seen re-releases to modern consoles, though, those have been relegated to the PS4, Xbox One, and PC as well as the Switch as recently as 2018. It did have Okamiden, which was billed as a spiritual success to the game back in 2011 on the DS, but that’s about as far as we’ve seen.
Outside of Okami, before its closure, Clover Studio was known mostly for its Viewtiful Joe franchise, as well as God Hand, which saw mixed reviews when released.
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