E-can Factory

Left Out in Space Forever: Rockman Dash 3 has been CANCELED

7/19/2011

I thought it was going to be a happy day today,...but that sure came crashing down horribly didn't it? Thought I doubt any of you who would visit my site would of missed this sad news, I'll re-literate that Rockman Dash 3 was announced officially CANCELED today. The Rocket to rescue Rock has gone from 29% complete to 0%, with no hope of progress in sight. And to tell you the truth, I would not have ever thought that this news would affect me the way it does at the moment.

My condolences to the developers, as it was hard to not see the energy and excitement they had for the project. And to all the fellow fans, who not only had their heart set on this game, but contributed their own blood sweat and tears through the Dev. Room. The world has changed a lot since Rockman Dash 2 was released a decade ago, unfortunately that includes the business executives at Capcom, who's short sightedness failed to see the potential of this game. It's the same people who drove out Inafune, and Rockman's future looks rather bleak on the road ahead, regardless what spokesmen will try to claim.
If you have the spirit to try to fight it, I would implore you to right now go (with consideration that all of your at this site are English speakers) to the Megaman Legends 3 Project Developers Room and make as much of a clamer as you can about the cancellation via forum posts, and emails. Although very slim, maybe enough upset outrage communicated will give provide the development team enough ammunition to counter the Capcom Executives mistaken view that this game has no market.

8 Comments

#20 link

7/18/2011 11:16:25 pm

I had to write something too, just to be able to sleep last night. Even so, there wasn't much catharsis that followed. After all the talk of the Devroom's transparency between fans and developers, we still got blacked out even after the decision was made and the writing was on the wall, and we still have no direct or honest explanation why we got that close to a demo game release only to receive... absolutely nothing. A snub. A "well, they'll get over it when MvC3 news comes out!" Yarrgh. I seriously believed in the Devroom, in Capcom-Unity as a whole. That they were more than just corporate spin or sucking up to the fanbase. They were interacting with fans to create a product that we wanted. As a fan, I feel so jaded. In the end, they're still the corporation, we're still the fickle consumers who don't know what's best for ourselves, and nothing has changed, except hope which is deeply diminished.

Um... I'm sorry Auto. Looks like I'm still venting. I do support any activism people are willing to take. Channel that passion while it's still hot. Who knows... maybe it will turn a Capcom head or two. Just do it somewhere that it really counts.

Autotally Fustrated

7/19/2011 02:03:53 am

No, I say you absolutely put nothing against Capcom Unity or any of the people of the Project Developers room. This is all because of Capcom's Board of Directors, who short shortsightedly only saw a financial risk in Dash by completely ignoring all the positive output and only using the vague memory from 10 years ago that 2 didn't sell "THAT well". Remember these are the same bean counter mentality that drove out our beloved Inafking from Capcom despite his best efforts. I wanted to do mindless dancing for the next post, but no. Looks like I have my work cut out for me on my next writing piece,..

#20 link

7/19/2011 04:22:04 am

I may have to disagree with you, my friend. I can't wrap my head around a way that the developers should be absolved from blame. Can we really even say it was these corporate suits, and without other reasonable justification?
If we take what we are told of the project not meeting these multiple required criteria as true, then whose fault is it we did not meet said (unknown to us) requirements? If the game was after deadline and over-budget, if bug check was a nightmare, if controls were clunky and graphics were behind the perceived curve, if PR wasn't gaining the momentum it needed, if the Prototype wasn't ready when it was announced... With any and all possible failings, where did things really go wrong? We aren't being told what exactly was the death knell( or knells), so we are already out of the loop. Far out. We're not Developers anymore, we're the on outside looking in.

Who failed to show these bean-counters the reward that justifies the risk? And if the bar was set unrealistically high in some way, how did that bar come to be set there in the first place? Whose responsibilities were all these, to keep the project on track and push it through? I say it's the developers. It's the Devroom. It's us, the fans. Everyone. Although I would say, not all in equal parts.

With the failure of this project, which we fan developers are not even given a clear picture of how or why, this whole community-driven exercise is written off as a failed experiment. It isn't just a blow to the Mega Man community, it is a blow to the Capcom-Unity ideal of cross-communication and encouragement between fan and creator.

I hope your next writing piece comes soon, because what I'm even more afraid of is that in a few days, only the Legends-4-lifers will still care to remember...

Dr. Cossack link

7/19/2011 11:53:59 am

You say that "I seriously believed in the Devroom, in Capcom-Unity as a whole. That they were more than just corporate spin or sucking up to the fanbase."

To be honest, I always had a small doubt at the back of my mind, which prevented me from signing up on Capcom-Unity or getting involved. Still, I command them for the process they built up. It seemed to work, people reacted very positively, contributed, wanted to help even if they didn't know how!

The only huge problem we have? The Capcom representatives say that we got an insight on how game development is done. That's true. However, they're failing to explain exactly why the game was cancelled, which is also part of the whole process. I've gone through my share of projects that were pushed aside, but they usually had some solid motivation behind them. As it stands right now, we don't even get a "we're sorry" bit. Heck, they were very clear a few years ago on how the PSP sequels to Powered Up and Maverick Hunter X depended on sales, and how 100,000 was the magic target. Why aren't we presented with more information now?

#20 link

7/19/2011 11:32:41 pm

I guess you could say I "fell for it." It really did seem like the process was working, up until the Prototype got canceled.

And honestly, I think that might have been an unforeseen turning point in the US. I have no idea how Japan reacted to it, I must admit, but many news outlets here were reacting as if Capcom was charging for a demo, rather than for a unique game prequel. (Or would it be interquel?) And they mentioned that they needed these sales to get the project greenlit, and people started saying they were "holding the game for ransom"... I felt it was a big mess based simply on a misunderstanding that Capcom had essentially poorly communicated to... well, everyone. I don't know if that negative vibe was in any way part of the decision to cancel it, since it seems they're more concerned with how things are going in Japan overall than over here, but I can't rule it out either since those mysterious criteria will probably go undefined until either all the fans who are protesting goad Capcom into making a statement, or someone down the line close to the project leaks their version of what happened.

Dr. Cossack link

7/20/2011 04:01:53 am

Oh? I didn't know about people seriously complaining against the fact that the Prototype had to be paid for. That's an interesting take on the situation. I do wonder now about the Japanese side of things since, as you said, Capcom always put that country above all other considerations for the franchise.

From what I heard from my side, Nintendo simply doesn't allow third-party free downloads on the eShop at this time. As a result, Capcom had no choice but to charge a nominal fee for the Prototype. Of course, a positive upside is that they could better judge who'd be ready to actually pay for the full game, but a raw number of free downloads would have been a nice indicator too.

#20 link

7/20/2011 11:29:57 pm

Just as an example, here's a link to an article made post-MML3 cancellation that's still considering "paying for a demo" to be the "darker side" of Legends 3. If it had been billed as "our game's first chapter" instead of "the prototype", I can't help but wonder what that might have done for the demo's image...

http://www.gamesabyss.com/mega-man-legends-3-is-more-important-than-you-think/

#20 link

7/20/2011 11:32:28 pm

Sorry if this winds up a double post, I think I messed up the first one somehow. Anyway, here's an example of an article written calling "paying for a demo" the downside. At first I thought it was recent, but I guess it's actually older than I thought.

http://www.gamesabyss.com/mega-man-legends-3-is-more-important-than-you-think/

Left Out in Space Forever: Rockman Dash 3 has been CANCELED

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