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Working Designs. Few names bring forth a rush of fond memories for RPGamers like that one. From their humble beginning with Cosmic Fantasy 2 all the way up to their end with Growlanser Generations, Working Designs' games have satisfied their niche like few other. However, a company that only released 23 titles in all its 20 years was bound to be financially unviable sooner than later. It is sad to see such a legendary name die out. What is more sad, however, is that it could have been prevented had the company's leader, Victor Ireland, been more responsible.
There are things that need to be set straight in regards to why Working Designs went belly up. The "mainstream" did not kill Working Designs. Big publishers did not kill Working Designs. Sony did not kill Working Designs. Working Designs, and more specifically Victor Ireland, killed Working Designs. There are four things that led to the demise of Working Designs, all of which could have been remedied by better management at the top. Let's go over them one by one.
1. The constant, multi-year delay of products. This is a company that had been laughed at for years for their inability to keep a schedule, sometimes delaying games for years at a time. While the occaisional delay is understandable, a video game company cannot remain profitable without video games to peddle. That's simply common sense. And no, I'm not even talking about Goemon (I'll get to that game later). Magic Knight Rayearth was announced near the beginning of the Saturn's American life but was released as the final game for the system. Arc the Lad Collection was similarly delayed, as was Lunar 2 on the Sega CD (and the PlayStation almost a decade later). This is no way to run a business, niche or not.
2. Victor Ireland's confrontational nature. His battles with Sega management during the Saturn era were the stuff of legend. Working Designs nearly lost their liscence to develop Saturn games because Ireland was militant in refusing to change the names of the three main characters in Magic Knight Rayearth to coincide with a then-forthcoming release of the anime of the same name (that release was cancelled, and the anime was later released by Media Blasters bearing the original character names). He was very, very vocal about his misgivings with Sega management throughout the Saturn era, slamming them any chance he had over any issue. That attitude continued in his relationship with Sony. Biting the hand that feeds often results in the hand no longer feeding you.
3. The single-minded need to release Goemon at all costs. Even during their crisis with Magic Knight Rayearth, the company was able to release other games. Saturn titles Albert Odyssey, Shining Wisdom, Dragon Force, Sega Ages, and Iron Storm came from the company during their Rayearth-related mess, along with PlayStation titles Thunderforce V and Alundra. By contrast, the silence between the release of Arc the Lad Collection - which was after PS2 launch offerings Silpheed: The Lost Planet and Gungriffon Blaze - and the release of Growlanser Generations was deafening. What were they doing all this time? Fighting with Sony over Goemon and the manner in which to release Growlanser. Working Designs' problems regarding Growlanser probably had as much to do with Sony's misgivings toward Mr. Ireland as it did with Sony's concerns as to how primitive the games looked. Sony was in their right to have concerns in that regard. To make people pay full price for a single game that looks as though it were made a decade prior would have been a crime. Of course, Mr. Ireland continues to blame the battles with Sony for their lack of product, but that leads me to my fourth and final point.
4. Staunch refusal to publish games for other platforms. Rather than try to explain it myself, I'll analyze two quotes from an interview Mr. Ireland gave Gamespot.
GS [Gamespot]: Is there anything you would have done differently, any different direction you wish you had taken the company in?
VI [Victor Ireland]: We're a pretty monogamous bunch, and given the Xbox's poor Japanese sales and GameCube's relatively poor sales in the US, there wasn't a practical or attractive alternative.
Excuse me while I wave the BS flag for a moment. The GameCube's sales were poor in the US? Poorer than the various versions of the Turbo CD? Poorer than the Sega CD? Poorer than the Saturn? With all due respect, the GameCube probably outsold the Turbo line and the Sega CD combined, and moved a substantially larger number of units than the Saturn. Sorry, Mr. Ireland, I'm not that stupid. Also, while the Xbox did poorly in Japan, there had to have been some good games that didn't get released here, even if they were only shooters. After all, the Sega CD was a worldwide failure, but that's the console where Working Designs made its reputation. Barring that, looking into European games that weren't being released here would have at least been worth some effort.
GS: With the company's focus on role-playing games and 2D-friendly approach to graphics, why was the decision never made to publish for systems like the Game Boy Advance or Nintendo DS?
VI: GBA was too crowded a market, and DS came into the picture too late. The software for the DS is only now really starting to come on strong. It does have Goemon, too! That game alone made me rebuy a DS so I could play it. Now I'm glad I did because there's a bunch of great stuff.
I'll give him the newness of the Nintendo DS. However, to call the GBA any more of a crowded market than the PlayStation or the PlayStation 2 is beyond insulting. Most of the GBA's games are horrid movie tie-ins or SNES ports. Working Designs could have made a killing delivering games to those waiting months between good domestic releases.
In closing, Working Designs' failure lays squarely at the feet of Mr. Victor Ireland. Had he toned down his rhetoric, released more games, stuck to schedule more often, and released for other platforms while he tried to get Goemon approved, the company would still exist today.
However, there is no need to lament the death of the niche game. There are at least four companies that have combined Working Designs' dedication to great product with responsible business models (namely Atlus USA, NIS America, Agetec, and the newly-formed XSEED Games). In addition, larger companies like Konami and Capcom continue to feed niche markets, having realized their importance. In other words, the death of niche gaming isn't as close as some seem to believe. As Victor Ireland himself often said, don't believe the hype.
The full text of Gamespot's interview with Victor Ireland can be found here.
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