>makes a Pokemon competitor that's a huge hit in Japan>Nintendo catches wind, offers to publish and market games internationally >Agrees for the first two games and then spazzes the fuck out thinking his company has the money and international influence of NINTENDO to publish solo>Opens a localization branch so abysmally dogshit you hire Jan from The Office as the COO and literally sit on finished localizations for years for no fucking reason>Closes the branch, Yo-Kai Watch reboots bomb, entire company is in free-fall for the next 7 years>Returns in 2026 as an AIfag, ai usage is so blatant and ugly even the nips from his own country hate itIs there even a single game developer more comically retarded than Hino?
I have anti-AI fatigue.
>>747585782
Vocal minority of terminally online people. In japan especially, normal people will be buying them.I'm sorry to tell you this, but you're also utterly delusional if you don't think AI is being used in the development of every single major video game these days.
>>747585782>he says in every threadput on a trip already homo
>>747586207normal people don't play AI generated games. its the jeets that love AI.
>>747585637They also supposedly burnt all bridges with every western publisher due to how shitty they were to work with according to that one anon who did an AMA here, so they can't actually get a proper physical publisher to release their games here now. They've "returned" to the west, but all that really entails is adding English subtitles themselves and then self-publishing on Steam/the eShop. The new Layton game is digital only outside Japan and won't even have an English dub despite the western setting and the fact that Layton was absolutely huge in the west, especially in Europe. Seriously, think about it, there is hyper-niche Falcom/Mages slop that can get a dub and an extensive physical release here but Level-5 just can't do it anymore despite the broad appeal of their games, it's honestly fucking insane.
>>747586357Normal people play Layton and Yokai Watch 2, which were definitely heavily vibecoded just like any other video game in 2026.
>>747586539vibecoding is different from disgusting AI use like art/music.
>>747585637>>Returns in 2026 as an AIfag, ai usage is so blatant and ugly even the nips from his own country hate itIs there one of those collabs or shit about it as proof? I wanna see the AI slop made by actual corporative
>>747586207This wasn't solely about ai this was about Hino fucking his company so hard solely because of retarded decisions he made over the last 7 years to the point he's been forced to become an AIfag to keep his shit company afloat
IT'S HIM
says alot when nintendo wants to publish your gamethat is a direct pokemon competitorand you reject it because "muh ai= muh lower costs"
I just hope the new layton game is goodcouldn't give a shit about toddler watch
Greed will destroy us all.
I was going through a YKW nostalgia thing when that Direct dropped. The night before, I was listening to the King Cream Soda version of Don Don Dooby Zoo Bah. So whiplash of looking forward to the future happily, then realizing what the future really entails got to me a lot.
>>747587036No, he rejected Nintendo like 8 years ago, when Level5 was developing Yokai Watch 4. He wanted it to be multiplatform and obviously Nintendo didn't want that so they fucked off. At that point I think YW was already kind of dead anyways though. Still funny how he's doing a remake of 2 when YW4 still isn't translated.
>>747586207>>747586357Most (Japanese) people (AKA the primary consumers of L5 games) don't give a shit about AI.The issue was Hino flagrantly using it for basically 100% of their presentation a couple days ago, mostly because it was ugly and unprofessional. But they don't really give a shit if it's used in games.
Can I get a tl;dr on what went down with Level 5? I remember them being pretty big shit during the DS era and Yokai Watch was huge in Japan, but then some shit went down?
>>747589790To be fair I don't think 4 would be worth it. Its show isn't in English, so half of the marketing is just not there. 3 fucking bombed, so there's clearly not a market here. I can see why he thinks 2 has potential and why it's getting an English version and not Yo-kai Watch 1s remake. 2 sold like crack in japan.
>>747590484The post basically summarizes everything
>>747590484Basically>Hino leaves his original studio after working on OverBlood 2, and partners with Sony back when they were securing small time talent in Japan to form Level 5>this partnership and his connections lead to Level 5 working on PS exclusive series Dark Cloud and exclusive games like Rogue Galaxy and Jeanne d'Arc, working on the newest Dragon Quest, DQ8>breaks away from Sony to largely work on Nintendo exclusive titles, the big two being Professor Layton and Inazuma Eleven>profile keeps growing as they get picked to lead the next Gundam anime (Gundam AGE), become the first studio to do a Studio Ghibli RPG (Ni No Kuni), and eventually create one of the few successful direct competitors to Pokemon (Youkai Watch)>was literally on of the biggest game companies in Japan at their peak>had several highly successful anime airing simultaneously A lot of their issues seem to come from multiple parties though.Hino himself is basically just an easily amused cheapskate. He has vision, but AI has convinced him that he needs to completely abandon traditional development- we still have yet to see how this will pay off but we know the following all have heavy AI involvement:>Youkai Watch 2 Remake>Professor Layton & The Curious Village Remake>Professor Layton New World of Steam>Holy Horror Mansion>Snackworld>DecapoliceThere's also the curious case of Keiji Inafune, who was the founder of a Level-5 branch studio and was with the company up until 2024/25. Inafune rather famously fucked over Capcom with really bad business insight and could be to blame for a string of terrible decisions Level 5 made in the late 2010s to early 2020s, including a massive dropoff in game releases.But ultimately, Hino is to blame I'd say. It's his company and his rules, and he was likely the person who chose not to become a Nintendo first party developer, which probably didn't help matters.
>>747591024>and not Yo-kai Watch 1s remake. 2 sold like crack in japan.I imagine, if 2 is successful, they'll do a Youkai Watch 1+ or a full remake. Given the state of things though, who knows.
>>7475910243 mainly bombed because A. Psychic Specters having a year long gap between BS/FS release and its release really detailed the hype for the franchiseB. It was like the last game release on a console already on its last legs
>>747591284How the fuck did they get the gundam gig?
>>747591284How the hell did they swing getting Dragon Quest 8
>>747586357>normal people don't play AI generated gamesWhy do normies think that only visual elements can be AI generated?
>>747591808They were fucking huge man. At their peak they had 3.2% of the Japanese video game market share, and they were probably known for being a great studio to work with on big cross media projects, especially ones for kids.Their Gundam anime, AGE, was notably targeting younger viewers, its aesthetics were in line with the Inazuma Eleven anime and the later Youkai Watch anime, and honestly, if I was a kid and that was my first Gundam anime, I would've loved it.But they've shit the bed since like what, 2018? That's why it's so weird to remember that they used to get all of these good connections.>>747591894DQ8 and 9. They did both, and DQ8 was like their third game or something as Level 5. DQ9 makes way more sense, they were a prolific DS exclusive studio by that point.
>>747591380I don't think they're gonna make a second remake of 1. That's stupid. If they're gonna remake any YKW game after 2, it'd be Busters/Blasters. 3 is also on the table, but I don't think 3 did crack numbers as 2 did. So I can see them skipping over that.>>747591421You also forgot that all Yokai Watch games never did well in the West. And I think after 2, they just gave up. But still put them out over here. Did Blasters ever get a commercial? I'm trying to remember how I learned about that one.
>>747592185>I don't think they're gonna make a second remake of 1.Well the first 'remake' was more a remaster wasn't it? It never came out over here, but I remember seeing images of it and it looked to mostly be full size assets from the original release and without any touch screen mechanics. But again, my idea is that if it's successful, they'll probably do something with 1 simply to revive the brand a bit.
>>747590484Basically the CEO, Akihiro Hino, used to make a ton of soulful games with a unique artstyle but now he's an old boomer with glaucoma. Like all other boomers, he's easily impressed by the speed and results of AI so he's pushing it hard because he thinks it's some sort of alien super technology. It's basically the antithesis of what people expected from the company. Personally, I wouldn't have an issue if it actually looked good, but as someone who's been somewhat positive about AI since the old DALL-E days (5 years ago btw), it genuinely looks like slop. It's like when some retarded normalfag uses that ghibli filter on everything.
>>747592010I'm looking at their profile and I know dark cloud, Jeanne, and wkc weren't big. Was layton and inazuma really that big? Actually how did they even get dq8 with just 2 dark cloud games under their belt?
>>747592376Inazuma was huge in Japan and I believe a good few non-English countries, because it was like the big soccer anime game for a long while and had a TV anime that was really popular with kids. Inazuma Eleven the anime aired from 2008-2014 and had 268 episodes as well as five or so movies.>Actually how did they even get dq8 with just 2 dark cloud games under their belt?Presumably just good relationships with everyone and being a mostly freelance Japanese developer that did work on 3D RPGs (which DQ had been wanting to branch into).
>>747592350They could just remake the anime or something to do that. Hell, do they even need to make another version of YKW1 to do that when they're remaking the sequel that's better in almost every way? They could also just give that version DLC of some kind. It's just that 2 iterations of the same game on one console seems like a parody that wouldn't exist in real life.
>>747593095>They could just remake the anime or something to do that.Despite everything, I do hope for more Level 5 anime. I love pretty much every single one they've done.Another Keita centric Youkai Watch anime would be pretty fun.
Jibanyan and Layton's shots in smash are officially in hell
>>747593295>if Hino just let Nintendo publish his games, he probably would've had three characters in Smash by this point
Level 5 games were never good. Mid at best.
>>747585637goes to show how much lightning in the bottle pokemon and clones are.
dunno AI wouldn't be so bad but you just know they will still demand the same price as if they didn't use it, if it was cheaper and faster to make why are we going to pay the same price
>>747593386This but unironically
>>747590484Studio once famous for its art direction went full on ai slop and everything they make looks like dogshit because, no joke, 80% of anything they now make is ai generated.If it was good gen it'd be a thing but you can spot the artifacts even at a glance
>>747593667"muh soul" was all they had lmao
>>747592376>Was layton and inazuma really that big?Yes. They're the biggest international hits Level 5 has ever made.
>We still never got Yokai Watch 4 in EnglishFUCK
>Bare in mind this happened during what was during Nintendo's worst years and where the Pokémon franchise was at its lowest point after Gen 5 underperformed so Nintendo would have pushed the shit out of Yokai Watch give how desperate they were at the time for a hit franchise Hino, you absolute fucking retard.
https://files.catbox.moe/ko2d0u.mp4
>>747596834There is a complete fan translation floating in the internet.
>>747597208Nintendo would have ruined it.
>>747597208Bro, have you seen the ads Nintendo put out? Getting someone other than Nintendo to peddle their games was the right choice. It's just that they didn't do it themselves, instead of getting a good replacement.
>>747599374Nintendo put out some bad ads, but according to VGSales, the worldwide sales for YW1 were nearly 3 million, and for 2 it was over 7 million.A fair chunk of that is absolutely Japan, but there's still a massive dropoff going over to 3 and then the JP exclusive 4, both of which were made after Hino pushed back on Nintendo.Also, partnering with Nintendo in this way basically saved a prior L5 game in the west, Dragon Quest IX. Without Nintendo's ad campaign, it likely would've flopped like all the other DS DQs.
>>747586637like it's not bad as long you have the capacity to fix shit that might go wrong, but too many cases i'm seeing if shit that's pushed out and whoever made it has no idea how to fix it
>>747585872
>>747585782I have anti-anti-AI fatigue.
STILL BUYING DECAPOLICESTILL BUYING HOLY HORROR MANSIONSTILL BUYING FANTASY LIFE i DLCSTILL BUYING SNACK WORLD REMAKESTILL BUYING YOKAI WATCH 2 REMAKE
>>747585637Why did her shorts become a skirt? Why did the entire street change?Why did his hair suddenly fall off?I can't imagine not only willfully buying such a low quality product but also actively championing it and telling others they're just mad troons if you don't see anything wrong here.
>>747585637he needs to go back to his roots
