Working Designs no more

[AndrewTS 0]

Working Designs Officially Dead

Victor Ireland goes on record and states the publisher is no more.

by Sam Kennedy, 12/13/2005

 

 

Just moments ago Victor Ireland made official what many have now long assumed: Working Designs is no more. For those unaware of the company or its significance, Working Designs, with its always outspoken president Ireland, were once a vital publisher of titles from Japan (particularly RPGs) and played a monumental role in raising the importance of quality localizations of games.

According to Ireland, all of the staff have been laid off and the office is officially closed. The game the company was most recently working on, Goemon, is likely to never see a release, despite Ireland's claims that it was almost finished and was substantially improved over its Japanese counterpart. "Goemon is dead for the US, and that was really the final straw," he said.

 

So what happened? According to Ireland, it had to do with not being able to obtain approval (from Sony) to release all of the games he had wanted. "If I can't guarantee that the games I personally choose for us to release in the US can actually get approved and come out, there's no business to be done," he said. "I know many of you will have lots of questions, and there will be some I can answer, and some I can't. Sony has made it clear that they do not want the details of their dealings with any publisher made public. Suffice to say that you would buy what we wanted to sell if we could sell it."

 

The changing publishing landscape surely also played a part. Nowadays, more and more niche or obscure Japanese titles are seeing stateside releases from the major publishers (Katamari from Namco, Phoenix Wright from Capcom, etc.), and with new entrants like XSEED grabbing rights to titles that were previously potential WD fodder (Wild Arms 4 and Shadow Hearts 3, for example), it seems as though the pickings were getting slim.

 

"I have been in touch with a number of other publishers and manufacturers," Ireland said, "and I will be working with some of the WD staff to do games for other publishers for the time being, but not as Working Designs. One thing that holds a ton of promise is XBOX 360 RPGs, and I've contacted Microsoft about getting what's underway in Japan out in the US and helping to get more done worldwide. We'll see what happens on that front, but please let them know that YOU WANT MORE JRPGs here. There's some amazing stuff coming for the '360 in Japan, and I know I want it - I think you will, too."

 

"Thanks for everything," he continued. "It's a tough road ahead for games that aren't of the least-common-denominator variety. The choices you make with your hardware dollars are more important than ever for the generation that is upon us."

 

To those unaware of Working Designs' significance, or to even those that are, know that this is a telling sign of the times. Say what you will about the company or its president, Working Designs once stood as the last bastion of hope for U.S. releases of niche Japanese games with the quality and care that they deserved. Whether it was its own undoing or whether it was due to the changing landscape, realize that this is the end of an era.

 

Sometimes Working Designs "localizations" would leave a lot to be desired (Lunar translation, Silhouette Mirage's gameplay) but back in the 90's they helped bring over titles that hardly anyone else would touch those games.

[Special K 0]

Boo. Poor WD. I bought almost everything they sold from the PSX on.

[10 Pounds 0]

I'm a huge fan of Lunar : Silver Star Story & Lunar : Eternal Blue. If there ever was a third Lunar game, Working Designs would be the only right company for publishing it. With the failure of the last two Lunar releases on GBA and DS, the chances to see a proper sequel to Eternal Blue are slim to none.

 

That royally sucks. It's been far too long since we have seen Ghaleon...

[AndrewTS 0]

Ubisoft (the fine folks who bring us Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia) published Dragon Song...however, consensus on that ranges from below-average to awful.

[Anya 0]

Too bad. I liked the Lunar translations and the guides.

[haws bah gawd 0]

I really liked all the bonus shit WD always packed-in with the games.

[AndrewTS 0]

I've heard some differing opinions on the Goemon game.

 

Some boards I've seen folks remark that the Goemon game was "not worth fighting for", and that Vic is blaming Sony unfairly.

 

I haven't played it myself, but even though it was supposed to be improved, it is a rather old game I guess.

[The Man in Blak 0]

Most of the people mention Lunar here, but I'll always be thankful that Working Designs brought Growlanser Generations over to the US, above all else.