Back in March, Gaijinworks (created by ex-Working Designs president, Vic Ireland) and Monkey Paw Games teamed up to do a kickstarter for Class of Heroes 2. The kickstarter had a goal of $500k but only managed to raise $96k. Factors such as high base tiers ($59 for a physical special edition of the game or $100 for the game + digital copy), a mixed message (deluxe editions or more RPGs?), a lack of gameplay footage at launch, and the bad reputation of the previous game all contributed to the kickstarter’s failure.
Although the kickstarter didn’t manage to reach $500k, Gaijinworks & Monkey Paw Games kept working on the game and now Class of Heroes 2 is set to come out in a few weeks. Although they’ve abandoned the idea of doing a fancy deluxe edition of the game like Working Designs used to do, they are trying to garner up support to produce a small number of physical copies of the game for the diehard fans. They’re currently running a survey at the Gaijinworks website asking for people who would be interested in buying a physical copy (with digital code included) of the game for $35. As of the time of this article, they’re up to 1600 of the 2500 necessary pledges.
Even more interesting than this specific game being brought over is the promise of even more PSP RPGs being localized and released by Gaijinworks and Monkey Paw Games. Vic Ireland has stated that he wishes to bring over the entire Class of Heroes series as well as other PSP games if Class of Heroes 2 sells well enough. When asked how well Class of Heroes 2 needs to sell to justify bringing over more games, he said that they’re aiming low and just need to sell about 10k copies between the US & Europe. Even though the PSP & Vita aren’t selling that well, that seems very obtainable, especially if Class of Heroes 2 is as much of an improvement over the previous game as Ireland says it is.
I put my vote in on 1 copy on that website. I just recently got a PSP myself, mainly because I had a $100 walmart gift card left over from christmas, and I already got a DS back in May, so figured might as well fill out my handheld collection. So far I have only checked the games I bought for itt, and I will admit, after having a DSi XL, the PSP seems so tiny. Going to try to hook it up to my tv next time I play, and see how the games look.
We must also understand that that new Hakuoki game is coming out, as a physical release, later this month so it furthers the argument that the PSP still hasn’t run out of steam yet. If anything I am happy that Vic Ireland has expressed interest in Tengai Makyou IV: The Apocalypse and I think that he will localize it eventually. Maybe then we’ll see localizations of the rest of the Far East of Eden series.
As someone who just bought a PSP, I’m definitely interested in the release of more PSP RPG’s. Honestly, while I can understand the piracy risks, it’s almost a missed opportunity if a developer releases a Vita game and doesn’t release a PSP version right along with it. From what I understand, you can more or less get a PSP game certified for use on Vita, anyway.
Hammerfan, I am guessing that you don’t have a PS Vita either.
Man, this game seems really interesting, but I dont have (or plan to get) a PSP. I really wish it wasnt PSP exclusive. =(